Back in the Sisterhood

I have a post in the works spilling all the details about my weightloss journey including where I currently am, but today is the day for Sisterhoods Weigh In and I don't want to wait one more minute to go back to the 'hood.

I've been part of many of the Sisterhood's Challenges, but for different reasons I didn't join the last one. But, I'm here now and ready to jump back in. They recently started their new challenge...

and today is Weigh In, Week 2.
Since I'm late joining in, this week will be my week 1 so here is my starting weight...
147lb.

Oh and I'll also be participing in the Sisterhoods Globetrotters Challenge where we all track how far we are walking/running throughout the week. This actually started on Monday so I'm not too far behind!!

So far this week I've walked about 4 miles and that was on Sunday and Monday. I usually use my Nike+ to track all my miles, but when I went to walk on Sunday my Ipod was dead so I couldn't use it to track. So I'm estimating for this week, but now I'm completely prepared and ready to walk/run to track more miles this week.

Another goal is to get back on track with my EActive too. I was doing so well and then the beginning of school stopped me dead. Now that it is almost Thanksgiving I can't really keep blaming back to school, huh? I'm really excited too, because I just found out that Sisterhood is also giving away one of the new EA Active More Sports games. I'm gonna do everything I can to try to win so I can have even more activity choices with the program.

What about you? What are some of your fitness goals??

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Wordless Wednesday - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

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All That's Left is For Me To Run

My Ipod is charged.

The running playlist programmed.

Nike+ ready to record my distance and speed.

I even got some new running sneakers.

Yep, all that's left for me is to put it all together and get out there and run!!

Hmm, maybe I need to get some cheerleaders??

or butt kickers?

Any volunteers??

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2 Days On, 1 Day Off, 2 Days On, 2 Days Off

Work on Monday and Tuesday, then off on Wednesday in honor of Veteran's Day. Back to work for Thursday and Friday, then off for the weekend.

I have a good feeling about this week...

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Avoiding the Red Pen

Becoming a teacher was always a goal of mine.

I knew that I wanted to have some type of career, but I also knew that I wanted children too so being a teacher always seemed to be the perfect compromise. Of course my love of learning and kids made teaching even more enticing, not to mention the summer vacation! Then there was the bossy side of me too who couldn't wait to have the attention of my minions, I know could I really have been that naive??

Growing up, there was all the practicing I did of grading papers. Red marks here, red marks there, red marks everywhere. I loved correcting my little brothers papers or just correcting make up work. I couldn't wait to be a real teacher when I could grade real papers and assign real grades.

Skip a few years to today.

I have a huge bag sitting next to me overflowing with papers that need to be corrected! YUCK. I think that grading may just be my least favorite part of being a teacher. I have become a master at avoiding grading too, which makes it even worse because my bag is just getting more and more stuffed. Meanwhile, here I am still avoiding by writing this post!

Nothing like a little procrastination!
Oh and for the record I NEVER use a red pen.

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Wordless Wednesday - Stuck in the Tree

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Survived To Tell About It

The only good thing about last week is that it came to an end!
Never to be lived again.

I knew it was going to be a tough one when I looked at my planner and didn't see anything except appointment, after appointment, after appointment. Along with, you know, my real job of teaching, I had a Board meeting Monday night, PTO Tuesday night, and an Aspiring Administrators meeting Wednesday night. Plus I had a special education training Wednesday morning and a behavior training Thursday afternoon. Did I mention writing many substitute plans???

Oh and in case you forgot, last week was also Halloween week, which at school means C-R-A-Z-Y kids! As if trick or treating wasn't enough to excite them we also had two assemblies and a fall party on Friday afternoon.

Like I said, I knew it was NOT going to be a pretty week.

And that was BEFORE germs infested my children!
Saturday night Zoe spent the night at a friend's house and on her way home vomited in my friend's car (Thank God it wasn't my car...yeah, I'm a good friend like that!!). When I took her temp it was 103 and stayed right around there all day with Motrin. She pretty much slept the day away, which was really unlike her so I knew she wasn't feeling well. Thankfully overnight her fever broke, but since she couldn't go back to school until she was fever free for 24 hours Dave stayed home. Dylan and I went to school where I was hoping we would stay germ free, however that was not to be.

Dylan ended up fading fast in the afternoon and by the evening he had his own fever. I took off Tuesday and stayed home with both kids. Dylan's temp ended up getting to 104.7 before a cool bath and meds brought it back down that afternoon. It was Dave's turn to stay home on Wednesday and then I was back home on Thursday since Dylan still had a low grade fever the day before so he couldn't return to school.

Finally, on Friday, we all headed back to school, Zoe for the first time the whole week and Dylan since Monday. Nothing like heading back to school the day before Halloween. Thank goodness we didn't miss all those parties and assemblies!

And that my bloggy friends is why I am absolutely thrilled that last week is in the past, never to be revisited again.

Moving on now.
This week looks very refreshing as other than a PTO fundraiser at a local restaurant, where all I have to do is eat, I have NOTHING in the evenings. My calendar looks pretty darn empty. No complaints here though! I'll be just fine sitting in my pj's enjoying some hot cocoa on these cool, fall nights.

Ahhh...Life is good again!!

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North Carolina and the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend at the last minute we decided to jump in the car and drive to North Carolina to visit with my brother and his family. In case you didn't know, my brother is an active marine and currently his unit is packed and waiting for the command to head to Afghanistan. There isn't an official word yet, but rumor has it that he may leave before the end of the month. We shall see!

Anyways, my parents decided to head there last weekend since my brother had weekend leave and we though, what the heck, let's go too and have a family weekend. After a full week at work and school it was quite a long 7 hour drive on Friday afternoon, but totally worth it to hang out with everybody.

Since our weekends have been so packed lately, we haven't had a chance to get to the pumpkin patch so we took the opportunity to head to one in North Carolina. My sis in law searched a place for us to go and we headed there Saturday afternoon with, I believe, just about every other family who lived within a 30 mile radius. It was packed. You bought tickets to take a hayride to a field and then chose your pumpkin and rode the hayride back to weigh the pumpkin and pay.

We discovered they had a great business idea as the pumpkin "patch" consisted of a couple very dry pumpkin vines with pumpkins strew around it. Obviously they don't grow many pumpkins in North Carolina!

It was a cute farm though. They had little wood building all decorated for fall. This is one where Grandpa took a break on a rocker, while Dylan mixed up something smelly in the cauldron

and picked some cotton from the cotton patch.

After searching the patch, all the kiddos found their pumpkins.

Grandpa also treated us to some tasty treats like moo pops (marshmallows on a stick covered in white and milk chocolate)

along with some interesting creme puffs and a delicious apple crumb pie, which Zoe devoured.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out and catching up. It was great to spend time with my brother, sis in law, and little niece. They are expecting a new addition to the family in December, my first nephew, and I enjoyed chatting with them about the baby too.

There is nothing like spending time with your family!

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