Mel's Box of Chocolates

It seems like I somehow lost a week there. Two Fridays ago, I came down with one big ol' mess of sneezing, coughing, runny nose, achy muscles. It landed me in bed all day that Saturday where I dozed on and off fighting a low grade fever.  Welcome back to school, I suppose! Sunday, I was feeling a bit better, but pretty weak so I took it easy although I did venture out of the house for a couple hours of errand running.  That wiped me out though and caused me to go right back to bed when I returned home. I knew it was going to be a tiring week going back to school while still fighting the plague plus it was a busy week with one college course on Monday, a Tuesday night meeting, teaching a college course on Wendesday, and gymnastics on Friday.  Thursday was actually the only day that I was slated to be home at a decent time and then I ended up not doing so because I stayed at school trying to get something accomplished there. So needless to say my exercise and track...

This looked fun when I saw it over at Run, Eat, Date, Sleep and decided to play. So here it is... The ABC Game A. Age: 33. If I remember correctly. B. Bed size: Queen. We had a King, but switched it out for a bed my parents were getting rid of because it was a newer mattress.  Our king is greatly missed and I'm sure will be coming home sooner than later. C. Chore you hate:   Putting away laundry, and folding it, and washing it.  I just don't like laundry.  D. Dogs: We said goodbye to our beloved dog Mako a few years ago and now Max is part of our family . E. Essential start to your day: My Keurig brewing me a hot mug of coffee and if I'm going to work a hot shower! F. Favorite color: If I had to pick just one I would probably say orange, but to be honest I like anything bright...greens, blues, pinks.  I just like color! G. Gold or silver: Silver H. Height: 5’3” is what I would usually say, but at my last doctors appointment I dis...

After Irene did her thing and left the Delaware coast, we went out to see what we could see. Thankfully we didn't have much damage here on the coast. The most flooding came from the bay and its canals rather than the ocean itself. Here is a picture of a bay beach access area. In the first picture you can see Dave sitting on the picnic table and on the second one, he is wading back to us. For a different perspective...here is a picture of us all set up for a day of wading, playing, and jetskiing in the exact same place this summer. Crazy!

I've told you before how my house can sometimes be such a mess that I won't let the pizza guy in .  In that same post I also told you about how my classroom is so neat and orderly and that I think it is because it's only "my" area.  Then again, I also talked about how I share it with 21 little people so it really isn't "my" area.  However, I have trained those darlings to clean up after themselves and keep our classroom organized.  After I typed the post and hit publish I realized that the post really wasn't finished.  It was actually just the beginning to this one. After reading my post I started to ponder why if I could train my students could I not train my kids? Why can I keep an area I share with 21 school aged students cleaner than one I share with three others, one of which is an adult? Hmmm. Now here is where I confess to the hardest part of being a teacher mom.   I spend so much time during the day helping, teaching, answering q...

I've decided that Fridays are going to be my weigh in days.  For some reason at the end of the week, my scale seems to like me the most.  Although this week it didn't seem to like me hardly at all as I was down a whole .4lbs according to my Friday weigh in.  However if you took my Sunday weigh in {yes, I weigh myself almost daily to see how my weight fluctuates} I would be up 2lbs.  2lbs!  And while I did go out to eat on Friday night and Saturday night, I made relatively good choices and didn't go too far over my calorie goals.  Anyways, .4 and we shall see what this week brings. On the exercise front, I am up to Day 22 of 30 Day Shred.  I began level 3 on Saturday and when I started the dvd, realized that I have never made it this far before.  Since the routines were all new, the workout goes quickly as I'm trying to learn the new moves.  I admit that I had to do all beginner the first day, and half beginner of some of the moves on the se...

I was nursing my 9 month old baby son, when the house phone rang.  It was Dave telling me that "some idiot pilot" just crashed into a building in New York City. He said it was all over the news so to turn on the tv to see what he was talking about. We hung up, I found the remote and turned on the news.  Sure enough there it was.  A planes tail sticking out of the tower.  I started thinking about what a freak, horrible accident that was.  Wondering what could have been wrong with the plane that the pilot couldn't have missed the building.  As I sat there watching the news coverage, the other plane hit. I stared at the tv in shock.  What were the chances that two plane pilots had the same problems with their planes and hit buildings right next to each other? Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. I felt glued to the tv.  Listening to the news people trying to figure out what was happening.  Watching as people were running away from th...

We've been back in school for a week now.  I'm still shocked at how I can possibly have a 5th grader and a 1st grader.  Where does time go? Everybody seems to be settling in.  We are blessed with two wonderful teachers and every day the kids have met me in my classroom ready to share something exciting that happened that day.  It's going to be a fabulous school year!

My days are filled with running here and there as I juggle school schedule, gymnastics, swim, doctors appointments, and all the other activities that come with having children.  As I was waiting at some place the other day I began to think about the days before I had kids.  It's been a long time, over 10 years if I'm counting. I couldn't help but wonder. What did I do with all that time on my hands? I know I worked, but I still do so that's not different. It's what I did when I wasn't working that I wonder about.  All that time when I didn't have kids who needed to be at certain places at certain times. When I didn't have to feed little people. When I didn't have to think about baths and bedtimes? What did I do with all that open time? Did I hang out with friends more? Did I read more? Watch more tv? How did I fill all those hours? Why can't I remember? I can't help thinking that somehow I wasted some valuable time along the wa...

One of my favorite parts of teaching is that you never know what to expect.  You can sit and plan and try to think about everything that could happen, but guaranteed some student will do or say the unexpected. On the first day of school I was reminded of this fact. One of my first conversations of the year went like this... Teacher: "Oh you are N.K.?  Are you related to G.K.?" Student: "Yes" Teacher: "Did you know I taught G.N. in 3rd grade?" Student: "Yes, he told me" Teacher: "Well, how are you two related" Student: "By our last name." He said it so matter-of-factly.  I'm sure he was probably thinking what a dumb teacher he was stuck with considering I even asked that question.  After a few more "ignorant teacher" questions I did finally discover they were brothers. Then a couple hours later as the students were completing a scavenger hunt where they had to find a student who met certain cr...

Another week down in the record books. Figuratively, but also literally as My Fitness Pal recorded my tracking every day this week!! I'm pretty proud to see how I've stuck with both tracking and exercising for going on my fourth week now.  I've met and passed the 21 days it takes to make something a habit so hopefully they both will become second nature as I continue on my quest. As far as food goes, not a bad week.  I had a crab feast on Friday night and a birthday party on Sunday which threw me for a little loop.  I tried to make the best choices possible, but everything looked so tasty.  I confess that Friday's numbers were not so pretty, but on the positive side I tracked every.single.thing.I.ate. No cheating here!  I didn't beat myself up about it either.  I made better choices than I would have a month ago as I took smaller portion sizes, said no to second helpings of the bad stuff, and nibbled on veggies.  I consider it a win! The birth...

With the coming of Labor Day comes the time to bid summer farewell. I'm really gonna miss... the smell of suntan lotion on my kiddos {LOVE it} Tuesdays spent on the boat crabbing sitting in my chair on the beach soaking in the rays lazy mornings in pj's waterslides the smell of fresh cut grass jet skiing fresh fruit afternoon naps ice cream cones But, with the passing of summer means that fall is right around the corner. While summer is hands down my favorite time of the year, I gotta admit that fall has some great things going for it too... back to school routine a fresh start as school begins sleeping with the windows open cool weather lots of color picking pumpkins Rennaissance Festival in MD evening walks/runs outside {without fear of heat exhaustion} Yankee Candle's Autumn Wreath chili and soups annual trip to NYC evenings around the firepit I love living where there is a definitive change in the seasons.  It seems like just when I...

This past week was back to school for students.  Teachers went back earlier, but with the hurricane we got two unexpected days off.  Then it was a rush to get the room finished, names on everything, and plan the ever important first day. Wednesday was the first student day back.  The kids and I didn't have any problem getting up as we were all excited with some of us more nervous than others.  The best thing about this year is that both, Dylan and Zoe, will be in my school so we only have one place to go in the morning, no daycare drop offs!!  After easily flowing through our morning routine we were on our way.  As we were driving along I was feeling pretty good as I had remembered to get both kids, their backpacks, their back to school supplies, as well as my own back to school supplies. Then it hit me.  I had forgotten my lunch.  It was sitting all packed in the refrigerator. Where I had looked at it at least three times that morning....