By Golly, I"m Back

Sorry for the tremendously long break folks. Here is the run down of what's been going on:

• We had a death in the family that I don't care to share at this point. I will let it be known that Chris, Alexander and I are doing well, and we are all healthy, happy, and chugging along.
• I am on vacation form school and I am loving every minute of it. Alexander does go to day care for two mornings a week so he won't forget Lina, his sitter. I wish I didn't have to send him, but I don't want to be anxious in September when he has to go back. Plus, he gets to play with his little friends when he's there.
• I am 1/3 finished with my last graduate course for the summer. This will make 24 credits (8 classes) since February. I'm hoping they all get final approval from the lady in Human Resources so I can move from the +60 pay column to the +90 pay column.
• I bought a fancy new MacBook Pro, which I am on right now. I love it, but I'm finding a little bit intimidating as I've been using PCs for years. So far, I love it, but I haven't had a lot of opportunity to use it other than typing things up for graduate classes, and frankly Microsoft Word is Microsoft word for the most part no matter what type of machine you happen to be using.
• I want to start doing the Manic Mondays again, and I'm hoping to do so this Monday. The following Monday might be a challenge because we'll be on vacation. I'll see what I can do.
• Alexander is turning 2 in less than 2 weeks. Can you frickin' believe it? I certainly cannot. He is giving me issues about taking a nap these days. He won't stay in his bed, he climbs out of the pack and play. I can rock him until he's drowsy and then put him down, or drive him around in the car. If I wait too long to put him down, he gets wound up and totally nutso, which is funny until he starts putting his feet in my shirt whenever I pick him up and then he's stuck. He thinks it's hilarious, I find it frustrating. I think he gets it from Chris, who gets really dumb and silly when he is lacking sleep.

Well, there you go. My drive-by update!

No Resolutions Here

Sorry, folks.  I didn't mean for so much time to go by without posting, but sometimes life gets in the way.  Eh, it happens.

I decided that this year there would be no resolutions with the new year.  Instead, I decided to make habits. I'm figuring if i can start and maintain a new habit every 2 or 3 weeks my health will improve and I'll probably loose weight without tryting really hard.  Right now, I'm working on drinking a lot of water.  Pretty easy to do at work.  Not so easy on the weekends, but I'm really working on it, and it's getting easier. 

My next habit will be to plan out dinners for the week; healthy dinners, that it.  This habit will help me to be sure to get in more veggies at dinner, and it will help me budget food money better and will help to use leftovers more effectively.  Roast chicken yesterday?  Okay, faux chicken pot pie today.

On another note, things at work are getting weird.  The weirdo that I had such issues with a few years ago is pregnant again.  I'm very happy for her.  She and I had to have a meeting recently and we were talking about our sons. (She has twin boys about a month older than Xander).  The baby she is carrying is a girl, so we were talking about baby names.  I told her that if Chris and I were blessed with a girl the next time around we'd have trouble naming her because I love really ethnic Irish names and he doesn't.  To this, she replied, " I really don't think you're ever going to have a baby girl."  Wah?  Who says that kind of thing?  Especially to someone you're not friends with?  I dunno.  She's just a tad strange.

And just for fun, a picture of the baby for no reason. 

New school, new faces

I'm digging being back at my old campus. It's a little bit closer to home. It's a little bit closer to Alexander's sitter's house. I have other reading people as neighbors, which is nice. My office is in the school library, which is ever so conveinient.

The downside of being on the main campus is that there is the lunchroom. It's catered by the student chefs, and right now the food is okay, but in another month when they learn how to make chicken cordon bleu and it's delicious and it's super cheap it's hard to stick to a diet. I think I will have to look over the menu and choose one lunch a week to buy in there because otherwise I am dead.

In other news, look what I did to poor Alexander's hair. (The pic is from my phone, so excuse the poor quality)

The kid looks shocked, right? Stunned, even. When I was doing the deed, he started to wriggle and I panicked and made the cut above the fingers holding the hair instead of below. I don't think I will be making that mistake again. Yikes!

Jeezie Creezie What a Day!

I have had a crazy 24 hours. It all began this morning with Alexander being awake at 5:45 when I went into his room to rock and nurse him. Usually I wake him a little, nurse and rock him and put him back into his crib where he will sleep until Chris wakes him up around 8:20 to get him dressed for the day.

So Alexander is already awake, I have him in the rocker and he's nursing and I'm rocking and he's not dozing off. Reuben is running in and out of the room being supremely annoying, especially since Alexander really wants to watch the dog. Reuben finally leaves for a few minutes, and I start to relax. That's when Alexander bit me. On my right nipple. Ugh! I suppose there is a first time for everything.

Reuben comes running back into the room and he's frantic. Two feet away from the rocking chair he squats as if to pee on the baby's rug. I stand up, put Alexander back in his crib- he starts crying, I'm trying to explain to him what's going on, Chris gets up to see what the commotion is all about. I take Reuben outside and he urinates for a full 65 seconds. That's a lot of tinkle. I don't think I've ever EVER seen a dog pee so much before in my life. Well, maybe a great dane, but not a weim-sized dog.

Back in the house, Chris is patting Alexander's behind. I pick Alexander back up to nurse him, and he bites me again. Finally it's 6:30 in the morning and if I don't start to get dressed I'm going to be late to work. I give Alexander some stacking cups that he loves to run across the bars of his crib like a hardened criminal. He fusses, but I have to get dressed. He's still awake when I leave.

As I'm driving I realize I'm exhausted. Great. Being exhausted at my job is like having an open wound in shark infested water. My students smell any kind of weakness. I start sharing with people at work that I am being moved to the other campus for next year, and I get a lot of "whys", which I can't answer because I don't actually know why. I know the sugary coating I got to make me feel good about the move, but I really don't know the real reason. Whatever it is, I'm just glad to have a job that I enjoy and being at the other campus won't change that.

My reading appointments go well enough, but A, G, and P smell my fatigue and decide to fight me every step of the way. Students who aren't mine also smell the fatigue and try unsuccessfully to wreak havoc in my classroom and office. Not happening.

Finally, the students go home. I walk out to my car, put my work bag in and take my breast pump out. I walk back to my office, like I do everyday and when I get to my office door the English teacher is there. She's 7 months pregnant and needs her afternoon snack. She grabs her snack, and tells me she's locking my door so I don't have to get up. I proceed to set up and I start to pump. Five minutes in, the dean walks into my room to tell me that if I get to the meeting early, we can start early and leave early. I tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Not one minute later the male social worker walks in to tell me something. Thank God my office is set up so that my back is to the door. Neither knew what was going on, but it was a tad unsettling.

So, there is my day. Probably the most interesting one I've had in quite a while. I'm hoping for a long series of bland until the school year!

I've gotta get better at this...

I have become so awful about blogging, and I feel terrible about it, especially since when my favorite blogs don't post for a while I get a little pissy. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be tossing stones around in this here glass house.

House update: My dishwasher is now hooked up. No more dishpan hands for me, no sirree! Now if I could us get my washer and drier hooked up we'd be in business.

Work Update: We thought we'd be looking at tons of cutbacks, but our districts keep sending us kids and it seems that they will be with us next year, so our budget gap is slowly closing. There will be layoffs, but our supervisor believes that he will be able to hire everyone back before the summer is over. I have seniority over 4 people, so I'm fairly sure that I will not be affected. The other major work related change is that they are taking the 4 high school programs (emotionally disturbed, psych fragile, aspergers, low IQ) and creating one large program. Over the past few years the lines of the programs have blurred so they decided to merge the programs. Should be interesting.

Alexander Update: Alexander is almost 9 months old and is awesome. His 2 bottom teeth are halfway in, and one of his top teeth is just about to break through. He can crawl, get into a sitting position on his own, and get up on his knees when he's in his crib. He is a fabulous little guy!

Hopefully I will be back soon with another post...I will try to be better!

we never once talked about a blow dryer

I am resorting to using the Subject-o-Matique on yahoo to get blog titles. It works for me, so I'm going with it.

Alexander is now 6 weeks old. I can't believe that 6 weeks has flown by already! And strangely, it seems as if he's always been around. I don't know what I would do if he weren't.

Last night he went to bed at midnight, which is a little late for him, but he was a tad fussy and at this point in his life, I like to go with the flow. This morning I woke up at 6:30 and I freaked. I ran over to his bed and put my hand on his belly...and yes, he was breathing. He has never slept more than 5 hours straight before, and 6 and a half hours is quite a jump!

I had my 6 week post-partum check up yesterday and all is well. My doctor did advise me to stay home from work for another week because of the c-section, so instead of going back to school this Thursday, I go next Thursday. I'm glad that I have plenty of sick days to cover the extra time and still have some left over in case I get sick during the winter.

Tomorrow night is the big WW night. I've decided to go back to the Wednesday night meetings, even though they is a big gap between work and the meeting, but I figure I can pick up the little guy and go grocery shopping during that gap as there is an A&P down the road from the WW center.

Some random things

I don't have much energy at the moment, but I need to update the blog! So I'm going to do yet another list for all of you who are interested.

1) I finally finished registering for baby things. I never realized how tiring that can be. Thank goodness I have people who gave me good advice as to what to get. I don't know who the heck is going to buy me all the stuff I registered for...I don't even think I know that many women!

2) Work is going okay. My new lead student is still having trouble adjusting, but she and I are certainly seeing eye to eye more often now. She understands me for the most part and that's a big step.

3) I have an odd hobby to share. It makes me think of my friend Cathy from work, because she will probably find this to be funny. One of my favorite thing to do is to appear in stranger's pictures. If someone is taking a picture and if I'm even remotely in the background, I will turn to the camera and smile like I'm supposed to be in the picture. There have been occasions at shows, or at the zoo when people take a huge group photo with a singer or in front of an animal cage, and I've found my way in to the picture. Don't worry, I don't stand in for every shot. And I don't do family shots...that's just wrong. I have to admit, it makes me chuckle to think that someone, somewhere got pictures developed and they point to my smiling face and ask "Who is this?" Good times.

4) I'm now in my third trimester. I waddle, I get really tired at night, and I have trouble bending at the waist. I think about chicken pot pies all the time.

So, yeah

I am totally a terrible blogger. I would like to use the excuse that I'm too tired and have been too busy to hang out...but it would be a total lie. I'm too lazy. Not lazy enough to not read your blogs...I have been..but too lazy to write anything. Shame on me. In order to run through my updates, I might have to do it list style.

1. We bought a house. We saw it, we bought it. We closed in a week. It was a for sale by owner and the lady selling it (for her mother who is now in a nursing home) needed to be rid of it before the bank foreclosed. It was a sad situation, but she was happy that we were buying it and that the bank wasn't going to get their hands on it. She told me that it warmed her heart to know that a new family was moving in instead of a contractor flipping it. It is a bit of a fixer-upper...but no structural repairs are needed. I'll post pictures soon. I have them, I just haven't uploaded them.
2. The baby is doing well. I got for "the big" ultrasound next Friday where the doc looks at the heart and lungs and all those important parts to make sure everything is growing the way it should. I'm confident that it will go well enough...after all whenever I go for a Doppler or a regular ultra sound the baby is swimming and kicking. The only issue is that Chris might have jury duty, but we're working on that. He has a copy of the 'script and of my appointment confirmation. Hopefully that will take care of it.
3. Work is going well. I still love my job. I think that 3 of the kids have realized that I'm pregnant. Half the fun is waiting to see which kids figure it out. I'm thinking of making a betting pool. Maybe like the Dead Pool, but with a better name. Maybe the "Duh Pool"
4. I saw crazy co-worker today, who is due around the same time I am but will probably go earlier because she is carrying twins. During our department meeting she looked like she was going to cry the entire time. She does not look happy. In fact, I'd venture to say that she looks miserable. Afterwards, when the new teacher remarked on her belly, Crazy immediately blurted out "Alanna has one, too" because she doesn't want any attention to any belly. In fact, the rumor is that she's been telling people that she only eats one meal a day so she'll only get a bubble and not a real belly. Yeah, she's like that.
5. I've been treating myself to massages on my teaching payday. It rocks. Since I've gotten pregnant, my left hip aches and the massages really help. It usually keeps the ache away for almost the entire 2 weeks between massages.

I think that's it. Number 5 was not actually a real update, but I threw it in there because tomorrow is payday so I have a massage appointment and I'm psyched.

I promise that I will be better about blogging. I've got to stop being so scratchin' lazy!

Woah!

I am a really selfish blogger...I read your blogs on a daily basis and I amd totally bummed when ya'll take a day off and here I am posting once a week! I think I've got way too much going on at the moment. My school had a terrible thing happen, which I can't talk about at the moment...but I'll set up a link or something soon, if I can. We're still interviewing for new reading people, but we had a really great interviewee this afternoon and our administrator is trying to get her to come back tomorrow for a second interview. Yay! I've also got some other small things in the works that I can't mention right now, but I promise I will soon!

I am off to make cookies for the reading department baby shower! Woo-hoo!

Drowning in Christmas

I think I might literally be drowning in Christmas. Chris and I did about 25 Christmas cards...mostly family and extended family. We're going to finish up the last bit tonight, plus we need to go over our Christmas lists and see who still needs gifts. We are also going to try to decorate our tree tonight, but we may have to put that off to another night. Exhausting.

Our weekend was nice...a ton of good food and dozens of great people. Fun, but tiring.

Work has also been busy. With the upcoming vacation, my students are getting more and more stressed out. They hate coming to school, but they really hate spending time with their flesh and blood more. A number of them are acting out for that reason alone.

I personally can not wait until vacation...9 more school days...or calendar days. Woo-hoo! Then I can sleep for 3 days straight and still have more than a week to do whatever I want. Whoopie!

Update of the Future

Future...future...future.

Meh, I'm bored. I feel as if I have a million things to talk about and no words in which to express them. I'm not feeling creative at all...completely unmotivated, but I've got this underlying feeling that I have to post...about what? I'm not sure. I'm just blah.

We're currently interviewing for a new reading specialist. And by we, I mean, the reading department interviews candidates and gets to pick who moves on to interview with the supervisors. How awesome is that? We lost 2 at the end of last year; one to retirement, the other to be an at home mom to her 4 active kids....The first interview went kind of, uh, beige. The woman was nice, but didn't seem terrible enthusiastic to work with our team. It didn't help that Looney answered all the questions before the interviewee had a chance. The rest of us can't figure that out...Looney already works there, we're not testing her. Candidate number two was awesome. She is lively, well spoken, passionate about working with kids, and knowledgeable about current literacy theories. We liked this candidate so much we called and left a message with our supervisor to hurry up and set up a second interview. It also helped that Looney didn't sit for this interview. Nor can she sit for the next 3...so we might get some more decent candidates that will actually get a chance to talk.

In other new, my ears are feeling better. It's all allergy build-up for me. I bought Mucinex nasal spray and that helped a ton. Made my nose run like mad, but that was the point. I was congested and I needed my sinuses to clear out in a big way. The way people clear out a room when a dog toots...that bad.

In other news...I'm tired. It's Thursday night and I'm at the library. I came here directly after work where I worked an extra hour and 45 minutes due to the interview. I am exhausted. Woo!

I almost forgot....one of the students on this campus was being fresh, so another student told him to stop or I would pick him up and throw him...."cuz Alanna's mad strong and she doesn't take any garbage"...I love that my students think I'm really strong, and that I don't take garbage. Fab-u-lous.

I think tomorrow is going to be a gym day for me, and a run day on Saturday. Or if it's nice enough tomorrow I might opt for a short run and then a trip to the gym with a long run on Saturday. That would work out nicely.

Wow...I know that I just post random stuff, but I think this post takes the cake!

Save some funk for Sunday

I love Yahoo's subject-o-matique. It's a title lifesaver for me at times.

So, whooo, I haven't been here in nearly a week! I haven't exactly had blogger time this past week. The English teacher at my school was out until Friday afternoon, so either I was teaching English (I have the license, so I might as well pitch in) or helping the sub by giving her the class plans, removing disruptive kids, teaching the harder classes for her (there's no teacher aid to help out). Plus, I was doing my own job as best I could. I was keeping appointments with my scheduled reading students, plus, I was asked to write an unofficial reading report at the last minute. Yikes! It all got done...the district was happy with the reading information, determined they wanted him to get one to one reading and they are now paying my school extra for reading services. The kid is happy, the district is happy, and my school's billing office is happy.

I also re-entered my gym a couple of times this past week and I went running twice. I am a maniac....actually, that 's not true. I decided to stop worrying about nonsense and I decided to start training for the Webster Lake Danskin Tri that is held in July. I haven't done it in 2 years, and I figure if I focus on training for that I'll a) have time to sort things out mentally as I run...and that's when I do some really great thinking and b)I'll fall asleep quicker at night and won't have time to worry about useless things. It seems to be working.

So, between being tired from work, and then hitting the gym or trail, I have been too exhausted to do anything!

rotating platinum pants

I had no idea what to title this, and I nearly titled it "Happy Thursday", but I used the subject-o-matique on yahoo email instead. Rotating platinum pants is loads more interesting.

I decided that I need to post more frequently...that way anyone who comes here might be compelled to comment more frequently. Sounds like a plan, right? So here's what going on in my life:

1. Had to skip the gym yesterday. Ian (the baby brother) had a meeting at 3 that went long. I could have gone to the gym, but I was not willing to give up my WW meeting.
2. I gained a pound last week, but I figure that sometimes the 3 steps forward and one step back approach is not a deadly one and I still have a total loss of 2 pounds this WW go around, so I'm happy. I decided that I'd like to lose 2 pounds this week, so I took a bright yellow garage sale sticker with a pink "2" written in it. It's now living at the top of my computer screen so I see it all day. It's rather bright, so my eyes are attracted to it. It disappears after a bit, but it's still there, reminding my subconscious mind that my goal is 2 pounds.
3. Tonight is parent-teacher night. I like meeting the parents. Unfortunately, we don't get to see so many because apples don't grow on pear trees, and if you have and ED or school phobic kid, you can guess that more than likely, the parent is ED or school phobic. It's not true in all cases, but enough to make it true.

This is all I have for you lovelies. I'll come back again soon with some pictures I took this week that I think are totally cool. Check ya then!

Week One? All done.

I lost 3 pounds this week despite my falling off the core wagon a couple of times. I'm happy...but the true measure will be when I take my chub rub measurements next Sunday. Then all will be official.

I'm sorry that I haven't been around as much as I'd like...especially when it comes to reading all your blogs. I'm still reading, I'm just not commenting. Work has been a bear. I don't have my set schedule yet...but I'm getting closer with every moment. I've been pitching in extra at work to help out because I don't have the set schedule yet, so I have the flexibility to do so...and it's running me ragged. It's completely worthwhile because it helps keep the kids "in line" and my principal has told me more than once this week that he appreciates how much extra work I'm doing when times are tough. It's always good to make a positive impression on the new boss-man. I would have done it anyway...it keeps things calm!

Can't Keep Up!

I can not wait to get completely back into the swing of things here at work. I'm struggling to get it all done. I know, I know, it's a working woman's cliche, but it's so true. I'm tired all the time because I'm not used to the sleep schedule yet. What's worse is that I went to VA over the weekend to visit with old family friends, but more on that later. I'm trying desperately to get back into the Core thing....I did pack lunch today and I've been good at keeping core foods in my work fridge. I'm hoping that it'll start to get easier at least some of the time instead of being hard all of the time. So I'm back to tracking my food. I'm trying to make use of my Komen Pink Ribbon pen as a physical reminder that by losing the weight again I reduce my chances of getting breast cancer, and that if I do get it, I'll be healthier and have a greater chance of kicking it. (I don't think I've ever mentioned it here, but my maternal grandmother died from breast cancer)

There are good bits to work. I now carpool with my baby brother, Ian, who got a job as a 1 to 1 teachers aid at another division of my school system. He's working with elementary school kids who have emotional disturbance. He started yesterday. Lucky for me, his school building is a block away from Starbucks, so I'm not really going out of my way at all!

Although I complained about the lack of sleep I got from going to VA this past weekend, it was wonderful to visit with old friends. They're a couple that my family used to go stay with every summer when I was a kid. Bill went through school with my dad and they were the best of friends. Bill met Sue when he was in college. They both have art degrees and are artisan leather workers. They things they make are amazing.

I'm also hopping on the band wagon when it comes to taking pictures of what I'm eating. I'll do it was much as I can and I'm not going to chastise myself if I don't get it done. It's a fun little project is all, and it could possibly help in the future when I can't decide what to eat...I can go back and look and perhaps psyched myself into eating something that's good for me...

Breakfast was fat free, plain Greek style yogurt with ground flax (I count that as core) and a FF latte from Starbucks.

For lunch I had whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, broccoli, red pepper flakes and a tsp of EVOO.

Oh, and the cleanse is a 2 week cleanse for those of you who asked.

First days of the school year

Only 10 more months until summer vacation! Yeah, it's that time of year again. Things have been pretty calm at work for the first 2 days of school. We have a good number of return students who understand how things are run, but we have a couple of new students who were big fish in little ponds last year...they just haven't realized yet that they are not the toughest kids at my school. This one particular young man was the "bad" and "tough" kid at his old school. He's been strutting around bragging "I got thrown out of my old school...your districts just decided to send you here" What he doesn't realize is that most of the kids have been thrown out of their own schools...it was just more than a year ago and they are continuing at this school because they are successful. I'm predicting one of two things will happen:

1. He'll stop the bragging once he hears some of the other kids stories, and/or sees that they are tons tougher than he is by how they carry themselves and ignore his bantering.


2. He'll say the wrong thing to the wrong kid and he'll get popped for it and lose all his "status" and be the low man on the totem pole until everyone forgets. Hopefully the kid who pops him won't be a girl because no one will forget that until June. Yup, the girls at my school are tougher than this kid (not that there is anything wrong or unnatural about being a strong woman!)

Other than that, not much is going on. I'm not following any specific plan, but I have reigned in my eating and I'm eating mostly core foods. I'm also in the middle of a digestive cleanse...I bought a kit at Trader Joe's last weekend. It was well priced (12.99). I like the idea of disposing of toxins. And frankly, it's keeping me from eating crap because I don't want to undo the cleanse before I even finish all the stupid pills!

It's been a while

I have been pretty busy for the past bunch of days. On Saturday, not only was it Marta's birthday, it was Reuben's. We got him a brand new dog bed that he fits on even if he sprawls out! He totally loves it. Its cover is made of denim so Reuben's OCD turning and scratching will not rip holes in it.


Reuben also had Una sleep over on his birthday. It wasn't' really a party because Una does nothing but harass poor Reuben. She loves him so very much, and does anything she can to get his attention. She would love nothing more than

for him to play with her or let her snuggle with him. As you can see in the pictures, she tries to get as close to him as possible without him noticing. At times, Reuben would be trying to sleep on my bed, and she would sneak up, stand on her hind legs and put her front paws on his head. Very amusing.

My best friend, Darth Bruce, had her birthday yesterday, so Happy Birthday Bruce!



Another Labor Day weekend thing is trying to cram as much fun stuff into three days as possible because school started today. No students, but I still had to go to work today. Blah!

And finally, I made my friend, Cathy, a sock monkey for her birthday. We have a sock themed birthday thing going for the last few years, so I thought this was appropriate. I gave it to her at work today, and he sat with her, in her chair, at her desk this morning as we got ready for out back to school meetings. I think she liked him. Another friend of mine, Collette, wants one for her 2 year old daughter, and I am happy to oblige.

Tomorrow is the big 8 for Reuben on Rye...I can't believe that he's that old (and still has that much energy). He will be having a sleep over with the famous Una tomorrow night, so I'm sure there will be many picture of dog to dog torture.

I made it through my first week back to work, but just barely. All I did was act as literacy consultant all week...not one student to be seen...and I came home exhausted each day. Wednesday I came home early, ate lunch and fell asleep on the couch for almost two hours...and still got to bed on time. Yikes!

It was also a bad week when it came to eating...mostly breakfast foods. Bagels from Panera. I'm happy to report, that as tasty as they are, I am sick of the cinnamon crunch bagels and reduced fat hazelnut cream cheese. At least I've got that in my corner. Soon, I'll be bringing my lunch to school and a supply of core snacks to leave in my fridge. My office is going to be a "safe" place. I also had a co-worker ask me if I would like to walk everyday at lunch to which I agreed.

Also: Happy Birthday, Marta!

Busy-ness!

I am back to work as of today..just helping to organize the English curriculum, but it's back to work all the same. I had a fun day today with all the other high school Reading and English people, so I'm getting excited about the school year.

Next week is when I'll have my office set up with my office computer and I think I'll be able to blog more often.

I am exhausted, and not quite eight PM. Sheesh!

Hello from space!

I am feeling very motivated these days. I'm really tempted to plot my motivation cycle and compare it to my other cycle, if you catch my drift. It does feel like the planets are aligning for me these days, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts, and I hope it's a long ride....I'm rockin' Core hard and I'm enjoying it.


I have to send out a big "Thanks!" to Chai for having slide presentations on her site because that's where I got the inspiration for doing my photos that way. So, thanks Chai!

Summer is coming very quickly to a close, and although I'd like it to last a bit longer, I am getting excited about school. I get to make my own schedule this school year. My crazy coworker is going to be working out of another location, so I won't have to look at her. We have a new principal who, so far, is really awesome. I get to keep the office I had last year, so I don't have to move like I did the last 2 years. Nice!