Mel's Box of Chocolates

It's that time of year in my school...No, not the crazy summer countdown (although this is most definitely happening too), but the time when state test scores reach the building and the panic begins. We actually received word that the test scores would be in on Wednesday and yesterday we received the summer school papers for the students who did not meet state requirements. In Delaware, reading counts the most when it comes to summer school. If a student receives a 1 on the test they are required by the state to attend summer school and if they receive a 2 then our district recommends summer school to give them the opportunity to catch up. Well I am so excited to report that I only had one 2 this year and no 1's!!! Last year I think I had 3 summer school kids, which for the class I had and for it being my first whole year I was content with, but I am so happy to see that my teaching is improving. I am so proud of my students too because they really did put forth a lot of...

So this week has been frustrating as a I hovered around the same pound and ended up gaining .5 pound. I know it is not the end of the world, or my diet success, but I guess I was so used to losing at least a pound or more a week that remaining the same, even when sticking to my points, was frustrating. So frustrating that I am almost three days late in posting. I am determined this week though to get that pound off and get back to losing. Here's what I am planning to do: 1) Drink even more water than my 8 glasses!! I usually drink 3 bottles of water and an extra glass or two, but I am going to try to increase that even more. 2) Lots of veggies and fresh fruit!! 3) Walk/Jog on my treadmill every night. 4) Keep tracking my weight on Saturday's with WI and then just reporting it on Tuesday for May Day Challenge. I find myself weighing in for my WW on Saturday, then watching the scale to lose more on Tuesday, and then getting frustrated when I don't see more of a loss...

God Bless the U S A !! Don't forget the many people who have given some or ,in many cases, all to make (and keep) our country what it is today...FREE! I would like to send a personal thanks to my grandfather, father, uncle, and little brother for doing their part in protecting our country in different armed forces. My little brother recently served three deployments in Iraq with one resulting in an early return and a purple heart. I am happy to report that his injuries were very minimal and he is as good as ever. Thanks, little bro, for all you have done to protect our country!!! Happy Memorial Day !!

Today is my WW weigh in and it doesn't look to good. I am actually up a 1/2 pound, which stinks!! I know it isn't much, but considering that I did not deviate from my points and exercised a few time, it is disappointing . When I first began losing weight everybody was saying how one day I was going to plateau and I think the last couple weeks have been that "one day." One friend told me to try changing up my exercise and maybe start up the tae bo that I had done before and somebody else suggested going off the diet for one week and then starting back. I guess I need to change something to get going again. If any of you have suggestions for how to get going again on your weightloss journey once you level out, please let me know. I am almost at my halfway mark and want to get going again!! WEEK 18 / + .05 / - 27.4 Goal: Try to change up my exercise routine and lots of veggies and fruit!!

This week's carnival at Crazy Hip Blog Mama's is all about how you and your hubby met... Dave and I met at an ice skating rink of all places! A girlfriend and I were going through some tough guy times. I had been through a rough relationship that had ended about 5 months earlier and my friend was involved with an emotionally abusive guy so we decided that enough was enough and it was time for some girl time. My friend was a half way decent skater and thought she would take up figure skating so I tagged along to try something new. We decided to attend an adult skate on Saturday nights where e verybody who came was over 18 and most of the time it was the same small group of skaters. We had a blast hanging out, my friend would practice some moves and I actually got half way decent at skating forward. I was so decent that I thought I would go all the way and skate backwards...this is where Dave comes in. He was there just about every week, but other than a friendly smile or ...

My original plan was that I would finish my Master's and then relish the quiet life of not having any projects due or papers to write. I was going to take one year off to actually teach (imagine that) and then go for my National Board Certification. For those of you non-teachers being a Nationally Board Certified Teacher is a huge accomplishment. You have to teach for three years before you can even apply and then it is a 8 month journey of writing papers, videotaping, computer assessments, and completing a teaching portfolio. The certification is given from The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and is based on five core principals: 1) Teachers are committed to students and their learning 2) Teachers know the subjects they teach and how they teach the subject to their students 3) Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning 4) Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience 5) Teachers are members of learnin...

Last Tuesday something traumatic happened to me, but I think finally, today, I am ready to talk about. As some of you know, I have been working diligently towards my master's degree and graduated May 8th or so thought. However, last Tuesday my advisor called me and left a message to call him as soon as I could. Of course, my hubby, being the totally optimistic person that he is, said that the advisor was probably calling to congratulate me and of course me, being the not optimistic person (at least in this matter), thought something must be wrong. Something being wrong is the understatement of the year...my advisor told me I was NOT approved for graduation!!! I don't know how I held it together with him on the phone except I think I was so speechless that I couldn't say anything except...OK. Apparently I had not taken one class that was needed for my degree, but because I had taken another class for a different program, my advisor thought I was good to graduate because he w...

This week was a pretty good week for Weight Watchers and me. I stayed right within my points and actually had a few of my flex points left at the end of the week since I had been earning a couple activity points every night. I try to not touch my activity points so I can maybe have a little jump with my weight loss so I don't cringe if I have a few flex left at the end of the week. I have to say though if you are just straight doing the plan that I have personally found that when I don't use at least half of my flex points I don't lose that much either. So my tip for all you WW's USE THOSE FLEX POINTS and be proud of it!! With that being said, weigh in was this morning and I am down 1.5 pounds which is terrific. I only have 2 more to go before I reach my halfway point!! WEEK 17 / - 1.5 lb. / -28 lb. (almost 6 bags of potatoes...WOW) Goal: Get over my half way point by losing 2 pounds!!!

Some people think of Friday night as their night on the town...Then there is me, happy as a clam to be sitting on my comfy couch, in comfy pj's, with a glass of wine, and my princess snuggling with me...oh yeah and my laptop on my lap!! Tonight I decided to do a little blog surfing (so I could say that I did go hang out with some people) and saw that Tori at My life...just pretend you are interested had posted this neat blog meme and even though I wasn't per se "tagged", thought it looked fun. Tori actually got it from NCS which I discovered to also be a very cool blog that I will be visiting again soon. 1. How old is your blog? Began September 9, 2006 so it is about 8 months young! 2. How would you categorize your blog? A little of this...a little of that...mixed with lots of sweet stuff! It would probably be considered mostly a family blog I suppose because it contains lots of stories and pictures about my kiddos. 3. Are the photos you post Photoshopped or other...

Crazy Hip Blog Mamas is having a bread rally . I don't know about you, but I absolutely love carbs . Add a little chocolate and I am in heaven!!! So the bread recipe that I shared actually comes from Pampered Chef's "All the Best" Cookbook. I make this for Christmas gifts for my team and staff at school and a couple for myself every time I make a batch too!! Double Chocolate Swirl Bread Bread 1/2 c. sliced almonds 1/2 c. white chocolate morsels chopped 2 pkg. Pillsbury French bread dough 1 egg white 1 tbsp water 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate morsels, grated, divided Chocolate Drizzle 1/2 c. white or semi-sweet chocolate morsels 1 tsp. vegetable oil Additional almonds or chocolate morsels 1. Preheat over to 375. For bread, lightly spray mini loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Coarsely chop almonds and white chocolate morsels and place in a bowl. 2. Unroll one package of the bread dough on lightly floured surface, do not stretch. Lightly beat egg white and wate...

You all know that I usually do my Weigh Watchers weigh in on Saturdays and post a little blurb about how the week was, but since I joined the MDWLC I will also be posting on Tuesdays. So for this challenge I am down -2lbs...WOOHOO! I can't wait to see what happens at WW weigh in. It has been slow going lately so this is really exciting. I have been really careful this week with my fruits and veggies and not snacking on those sneaky 100 calorie packs. I have also really been using my treadmill and even tried a new program on it last night. It almost killed me, but I loved my scale this morning so...guess who will be doing that challenge again..as soon as I can walk that is! Three more pounds to go and I get a handy, dandy, little star for my blog. If you want to join it isn't too late just go visit Tales from the Scales !

I can't belief this is my 100th post! I have really enjoyed getting my blog up and going and meeting all of you out there in blogtopia. Since I already did the 100 things about me list I racked my brain with what I could do to make my 100th post special. My birthday is coming up and I will be the dreaded 29...you know the last year before you begin the first year of the rest of your life. I am actually really looking forward to my 30's because it is the time when you know who you are and can just begin enjoying life. With that in mind I decided to post 50 things that I am thankful I have expeirenced in my first 29 years and 50 things that I hope to experience in coming years. So without further ado... The FIRST 30 Years 51 things I am glad to have experienced 1. Camping trips with my family growing up 2. Becoming a child of God when I was 7 3. Going to Seattle 4. Skiing in Canada 5. Completing my undergrad after getting married and having a baby 6. Completing my master’s when I...

That is how my weight is coming off although in this weeks case a very little at a time. I promised yesterday to post about this week be it good or bad so here you have it. This week I finally saw a drop in my scale of a pound!! Woohoo ...at least it was something. As you may have read I did sign up for the May Day Challenge because I always love a good challenge and I am hoping that this will inspire my weight to begin dropping again. I haven't been bad by any means and still pretty much follow my points, but I definitely have not been making good choices with my veggies and fruits. I have been snacking on way to many 100 calorie pack things. So today I am off to the grocery store to stuff my fridge and cupboards with fruits and veggies. This week is going to be the week...I just know it!! WEEK 16 / - 1 lb / 26.5 lb skinnier

My loyal readers, both of you, know that I have already been on a weight loss mission and have even lost over 25 pounds. Then came spring break where I did gain a few, but then lost them again going right back to my 159 where I have stayed, and stayed, and stayed another week. So as I was thinking about changing up my routine, Beth created a May Day Challenge and I thought why not join to put a new spin on my endeavor. Of course I am running a little late since it began on May 8 th , but I thought I would give the newbies a little head start (aren't I nice) not to mention I have been crazy busy...so without further ado I'm getting started! In order to participate I am supposed to tell you all a few things about myself and my weight story. First of all I began Weight Watchers in January with the goal of losing 60+ pounds. Many people have commented that this seems kind of extreme for me, but I was putting my goal weight around 125 which is what "they" say I should we...

I am back from one of the best weekends ever! One of my bestest friends, Lyn, is getting married the first weekend of June so a group of us girls decided instead of getting her a boring old shower gift we would treat her to a weekend getaway to NEW YORK!! We booked a suite in a hotel , made spa reservations , got tickets to a Broadway show , dinner reservations , and of course lots of shopping time was planned too. So it all started on Friday when we all took half days (we are all teachers), jumped in my Tahoe, and headed to NY! We got into our room around 3:30 and opened the bottles of wine!! Kar is the queen of spinach dip and treated us to a big container full, along with shrimp, grapes, strawberries, chex mix, milano's , and other yummy stuff. And the fun began... Then we headed out to see "Wicked" at the Gershwyn Theater. I am not a huge Wizard of Oz fan and since it was kind of like a "before the movie" play I wasn't totally into it. The actresses...

So on to day two of New York city and one of the best weekends of my life! Saturday morning, we got up early, jumped in the limo and were off to Bliss Day Spa in Soho for a morning of pampering! On my agenda was a double chocolate pedicure, complete with a bowl of chocolate gelato , whip cream, and a warm mini brownie followed by an hour facial with exfoliation that hurt like the dickens and the best seaweed mask ever! After the pampering we pulled out the wallets and went shopping, baby! I actually didn't buy anything except a pair of shoes (anybody surprised), but I had a blast watching my friends try things on and spend their money. After about 6 hours of shopping we ended up back at the hotel getting all prettied up for dinner. Karlin was in charge of the dinner reservations and let me just say that she may have just made the weekend. We went to "Bette" a very hip restaurant with delicious food. We started with crab gnocchi, mussels, lettuce wedge, and french fries...

First a little background information...lately Dylan has really been into hard boiled eggs. He begs me to make them for him and will eat them for breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner, whenever. I know, I know, they are not the healthiest thing to be overindulging in so I have been limiting how many I make at one time to avoid to many. Needless to say though we have been going through some eggs so over the weekend hubby had picked up some eggs and for some reason he bought brown eggs. Fast forward to today's conversation... D - Can I eat the hardboiled egg that is in my lunch box, mommy? M - Sure. D - I don't think I want that one...I want a brown one!! M - You can't eat the brown one because they aren't done. D - What, do we have to wait until they turn white??!! Yep, definitely not a country boy!!!