Adios, Aspartame! I don't even miss ya.

I mentioned before that I am DONE with diet sodas. I am really wanting to get, and keep, aspartame out of my diet. I had my last beloved Diet DP a week ago today. During this last week, I have gone to the gym six times, done two strength training workouts at home, drank four cups of coffee, and have felt all together GREAT. It's amazing. I don't know if it's the lack of aspartame, a different mind-set, drinking tons of water, vitamins, or a combo, but something is working because I feel great. I'm even getting up in the wee morning hours to go to the gym.

Today's schedule went something like this:

5:15 up and at 'em for the 30 minute commute to the Y near my work

6:00 Elliptical (33 minutes)

6:40 Treadmill (30 minutes-ran/walked two miles and my old achy knees felt great)

Shower/clean up at the Y

8:15 Arrived at hotel where off-site meetings were. Yes, today was a bonus as I didn't have to be at my desk at the normal 7:30 a.m.

5:00 Elliptical (33 minutes)

6:00 Volunteer in-service

8:00 home

9:00 Upper body workout (30 minutes with weights/band on the Wii)

I feel great! It's amazing. If I could manage that sort of workout five days/week, would I get skinny? I don't know, but if I feel as good as I do now, it'll be worth it!

Now--10:30 and bedtime! I have more meetings tomorrow and they provide lunch, so no food to share. I will have a new bento up in a couple of days though. :)

Thanks for reading.

Wow

I'm watching some news show--20/20 I think. It's talking about the stock market and how it's affected the rich. Someone was interviewed and was saying how someone he knows said giving up his private jet was one of the toughest things he'd ever had to deal with.
Just wow. Really? Material bullshit?

Dude, come spend a day in my world. Giving up shopping at department stores and buying red meat may humble you a bit. So sorry to hear you have it so rough. Expletive. Expletive (I just called him a name that starts with an F.).

What Books Have You Read?

I love to read. I have always read almost anything I can get my hands on. Lately, I am more quick easy reads that don't require much thought, but have been known to read more serious material.

While blog surfing, I stumbled across this Meme. I promptly "borrowed" it.

How many have you read??

Apparently, the National Endowment for the Arts believes that the average American has read only 6 of the books on the list below.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE
4) Reprint this list in your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (I've read parts of it)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (I think I tried to read this once)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Don't like sci-fi/fantasy though)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (It's sitting on my night stand)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (blah--no desire)
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (one of my favorites)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (Read on my own in 6th grade and again in HS)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving (I started this once; it belonged to my now ex-bf)
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (I think I read this as a kid)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (It's about a boy with autism--very interesting)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (sitting on my bookshelf)
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (one of my all-time favorites)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Well what do you know? I have read more books than the average American- 24 books on this list, to be exact. It's sort of sad that that's only 24% of the list though!

This book reminded me of several that I've intended to read--hopefully I'll get my hands on them soon!
What about you? What books have you read? Does this list inspire you to read more?

Hello!

Hi there. It's been a while...I've been deciding where to take this blog. I've actually been considering going 'undercover' and writing a 'tales from the classroom' blog. If I do anything in more detail than what I've done, I'd prefer to do it much more anonymously. So, I'm pondering. If I do that, I'll post as much here and ask anyone interested to email me for the blog address.

In the meantime, life is busy and pretty good.
I went to Florida on Spring Break--I needed it!
Here are some pics from Florida and a few others.

Things I Learned

I had quite a weekend!
Here are some highlights.

1-It was easier to get into bunk beds when I was 11 or 12 than it is now.

2-It's really quite hilarious to be having a conversation with a young adult (23 years old) with exceptional needs about pooing. It is somewhat refreshing about how open and earnest she could be--"Oh no. I have the runnies. Ohhhh no."

3-Roasted marshmallows are as good as they were when I was 10.

4-When I get down from a bunk bed (record 8 times in a 15 minute span last night), it's kind of scary. And I almost hurt myself.
----------------------------------------------------------
I went to a camp up near Guthrie, OK called Making Promises Happen. I've been there briefly before, but this was my first time to be a counselor there. It was the young adult weekend--those from 17-25 or so with disabilities. I was paired with a 23 year old girl with cerebral palsy. She was a hoot! She kept me laughing most of the weekend. She had such a happy disposition most of the time. We had tough time after she almost fell going from the toilet to her wheelchair. She got really worked up and I had to put on my 'mean face' and tell her to get a grip and get back into her chair already! This was over a 15 minute span, and we were missing the dance! Once we got to the dance, she kept telling me, "Jennifer. I'm a little bit upset." She never said it was at me, but I still kept my distance for a while. Later she danced with me so it was all good!
I got yelled at pretty good (and hit some too) by a girl with some behavioral issues. I heard she was wishing death on me last night because I told her it was time to go to bed. Those are the people that I just want to crack--I want to figure her out so I don't spend 5 minutes or so trying to reason with someone you just can't reason with! I think she was OK with me today when I left because I let her have my chair at the talent show, and I smiled and said bye to her.
Oh, the talent show! It was something else. The kids loved it, and it was fun to see them all get up and strut their stuff. No shame in this bunch!

A New Leaf

I'm embarking on a new career. Well, OK it's not what you think. It's not a career at all, it's just something else to take up my time when I'm not working. I'm excited as it's something different for me. Last week I was voted (unanimously) to the Board of Directors for a local non-profit agency. It's a different type of agency than most in that it serves as a landlord to 19 other agencies, most of which are United Way agencies. It's called Community Services Building, Inc. We maintain and take care of the OLD state owned building. In turn, our clients pay about 50% market value for rent, get free internet and utilities, and are housed in a centralized complex. They are then able to put more of their budget towards serving their clientèle. Some of the agencies in our building are CrossRoads Headstart (benefits some of my students), Compassionate Friends, Full Circle Adult Day Care, Among Friends--for adults with developmental disabilities, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels. All of these are the types of non-profits I like to support, and have been involved with many of them or similar type agencies in past years. I'm excited, if a bit anxious. I'm used to the hands-on type service-like I show up at the hospital, wash up, and then play with kids in the emergency room for a few hours. This will involve PR, budgeting, board meetings, and some Saturdays spent doing whatever needs to be done. It's different, but an experience I'm looking forward to!

Things have been wicked busy lately, so I've pretty much fell off the cooking bandwagon. I'm all about convenience lately. I hope once I get through the next week or 2, things will settle down. Until then...

Enough already!

Last Friday, we had freezing rain/ice pellets that lasted off and on through Sunday. Monday we were out of school for MLK day. It's now Wednesday night and we haven't been back to school. The soonest we'll go back is Friday, but then we could get 5-10 inches of snow this weekend and be out of school on Monday.
This is crazy-I don't remember having this many snow days in a row when I was a kid, and we lived out in the country. I recall a huge snowstorm when I was in kindergarten. I think they let us out early (being a stand alone school district--K-12, they could do that). Anyhow, my school bus got stuck in a big drift about a mile from our house (near where I would run the Scout into a ditch about 12 years later). This was before the time of cell phones! So, an area farmer (Mr. Standridge) brought his big John Deere to the bus and the remaining 3 or 4 students got to ride a tractor the rest of the way home. I would imagine today that there would be way too many liability concerns for us to have even looked at that tractor. Besides, with every kid having a cell phone (so it seems), we would have just called our parents and had them come get us.

Wow

I attended the funeral for this young man today. I didn't know him, but I know his parents. His wife is my 4th cousin (yes, when you are from a small town, you're probably related to half the people from the same town and we do keep track that far down--though I don't actually know her either).

Through my tears, I was continuously wowed as I saw his family firmly stand upon their faith that they'll see their son again, that he is watching down on them, that they would rather celebrate his 26 short years rather than dwell on the years they'll miss his physical presence. His dad spoke, with his mom by his side. His wife knowingly nodded when the pastor talked about how he died doing what he loved to do most--and who wouldn't want their life to end that way? I even saw his wife/widow (at age 26 or so--yet she was smiling) comfort another cousin (this one I know) at the cemetery. She said she was OK as she knew she'd see him again, and that she knew he was with us all even as we spoke. Again, I was just in awe of this family's faith.

The service was a beautiful testimony to his life, and of the family who love him so. I won't get this out of my mind for a while.

That's all for now. I hope to have some more cooking reviews soon. I'm supposed to go to Dallas this weekend, but an ice storm may keep me holed up in my house here. Last time I was supposed to go down there, I was snowed in. The weather isn't being kind to me lately.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Wishing eveyone out there a wonderful, peace filled holiday.

There's nothing like real friends

...the ones that'll be there for you through thick or thin, or drive you home w/in 2 hours of meeting you because they realize you've had 3 too many gin & tonics. Friends...


And a quote:

"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it."
Jane Wagner

Disgusting

Click here to read a letter a principal in Illinois had to send home to parents.
Pure disgust.

Per my post earlier this week about kids these days...today we had a fistfight involving 3-4 5th graders. I don't know details...but heard it wasn't pretty. Even worse, a pre-kindergartener, a kindergartener (I think), and a couple of other kids were caught in the bathroom BEATING UP a non-verbal student with Down Syndrome, a sweet and unassuming 2nd-grader. I am appalled, thoroughly appalled and heartbroken.
I don't think the boy was actually physically hurt--a teacher came upon them fairly quickly, but I'm sure he is traumatized! Paddlings for those perps? Absolutely! I think if I was a parent and my child was one of the instigators, he'd be getting a paddling and then some. Seriously.

Kids these days

"I'd be rid of 80% of my discpline problems if we we able to paddle them."
The above is a quote from a school administrator I know. It was seconded by another administrator. I know there are plenty who are against paddling, spanking, etc. because how can you teach w/ violence? However, as I see more and more kids (not my own students...they're really too young and have so many other issues) who have no respect for authority, who constantly torment their teachers and other kids...I can't help but wonder what a good old-fashioned paddling might do to stop that behavior in its tracks. After all, suspension doesn't do anything but reward the kid with a day home. In school suspension doesn't work either--what fun it is to not have to listen to the teacher all day!

I sat around and listened to my 60 year old dad and the above mentioned administrator talk about the good old days--when they were in school. They got into their share of mischief, but got the paddlings for it when they got caught. They have some dandy stories to share, like the one that resulted in my dad running outside and bawling because he got whipped so hard. But you know what? Neither of these men were scarred by this. They both have led productive lives; both served in the military (one for 20+ years). They admit that those licks were enough to send a message. They can sit back and laugh about it now, and admit that they deserved every last one of them!

What kind of messages are today's kids getting? I still see a lot of good kids out there, but there are some who you can just imagine wearing stripes in their future because they are continually allowed to be slapped on the wrist and then sent out to wreak more havoc...over and over and over...

The Season of Giving?

Today was the annual Santa Toy Run in my hometown. They got quite a few toys today and about $5,000 donated to go towards Santa's Workshop, a local charity. They start around 10:30, ride across town, and then set up in a parking lot where people can stop and donate. There was a pile of toys on the grassy median between the parking lot and the main street (for those of you familiar with this town--old Lightner's parking lot). So, shortly before I arrived, a red car was stopped in traffic. THey saw a back door open and thought someone was donating a present. A lady got out, grabbed a toy (a basketball) from the pile, and hopped back in and took off. Long story short, someone got a tag number, a police car was in the parking lot, they stopped the perp., someone made a correct ID, and the lady was arreested and will spend the weekend in jail. Over a $10 basketball that she probably took on a dare. Oh wait, it gets better. They found a baggie of cocaine in the car, so all 3 adult passengers were arrested. There was also a minor (what an example they were setting for this young man). Had this person needed help getting gifts for her family, these were the people she could have asked. What an expensive basketball this is turning out to be! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

A Good Evening

In my last school district, I was told that once upon a time, if teachers wanted to go out for a happy hour after the end of a long week, they had to go to the next suburb over. Heaven forbid a parent or administrator see you having a margarita or a glass of wine after a long week!
I'm in a smaller town now, but don't really worry about things like that. In fact, tonight I went to a joint birthday party for a student of mine and his mom. Had a couple margaritas, shared some good food and conversation, and was duly entertained by a precocious 4 year 362 day old and his big sister. Fun times. And they wouldn't even let me pay for my own drinks!

Not much else to say from here...

Oh Christmas Tree

This is the first year I've had my own 'grown-up' Christmas tree. I had some small ones in college, but nothing to write home about. After I moved away from OK, I never had trees because I always left for Christmas. This year, now that I am not traveling more than 45 minutes, I decided it was time to have my own tree.
Last year, my mom and I began painting glass bulbs. I bought as many as I could find on clearance. I finished them up this year and thus had about 150 ornaments for my tree, and it was relatively cheap as ornaments go. I will take some of my favorites to attach to gifts, and then buy more bulbs at the end of the season to paint for next year. I have a handful of other ornaments that are sentimental in value, and they just sort of blend in with the others. I also got a real tree. I even got it up (about 7 ft) all by myself, though I'm sure if anyone would have been here to see they would have been laughing! That also explains why it's slightly crooked. Here's some pictures of the bulbs and then the final result.

My Commercial Debut circa 2001

Anyone from around/in Oklahoma is familiar with the BC Clark jingle. BC Clark is a jewelry store in Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. Their jingle has been around for my lifetime plus about 20 years.

Several years ago, I was at the mall the day after Thanksgiving w/ one of my best friends, Carrie. For the record, I hate shopping on that day, but we decided to brave it. They just happened to be filming the commercial that day, so we sang it though we were cracking up through most of it (singing so isn't my thing, but after teaching a few years, I've gotten over the embarrassing part of it and don't really care how bad I sound). I never saw the commercial as I was still living in Dallas. Carrie never saw it either. However, my parents got quite a few calls that holiday season (and the next) of people asking if I did the commercial. It was quite humorous. Here I thought no one would notice.

I just saw this year's commercial and noticed the URL. Sure enough, my commercial is archived!
Here it is:
BC Clark Commercial

We are the 2nd to the last group and have a very short line "From BC Clark's". I'm surprised they haven't called me back asking me to come back for a bigger line. :)

Something that really pi$$es me off

I saw a graphic on a myspace comment that said "Let's get retarded this weekend" and included a picture of what I presume to be a Special Olympian running to the finish line.

I abhor the use of the word 'retarded' in everyday conversation, but to poke fun in such a careless, callous way as this graphic portrayed? To associate getting drunk, wasted, trashed, whatever--things a person has control over to being 'retarded', something children and adults don't have any choice or control over? To me that is just cold-hearted, narrow-minded, and thoughtless. It really made my blood boil.

Now to any of you reading this. Next time you go to say "Oh, that's so retarded" or some other similarly used phrase, think about what you are saying. Think about the people out there who truly are mentally retarded; what you say is offensive to them, their families, AND to those of us who know, love, and appreciate these people for who they are.

Where, Oh Where...

Did my roasting rack go? Along with the other missing items (though I did find the corkscrews--all 5 or so of them I own), my Williams-Sonoman roasting rack is gone. Also missing is a cookie cooling rack. Presumably they are somewhere hiding out together.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm still cooking away here--we are doing our big family dinner on Friday. Today was dinner with friends of my parents. Good company, good food. Can't beat that!

Finally...a Balanced Meal and a Bottle of Wine

Stopped by the liquor store today and got a corkscrew! I tried a new wine last week--A Cabernet from Bulgaria called Veni Vidi Vici (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered) and the Vineyard is Vini. I had several glasses at a get together and really liked it. At $8/bottle, this is a quality wine at a bargain price.

I'm finally getting back on the cooking track. Last night, I made pork potstickers from a tried and true Epicurious recipe. I deviated from the recipe a bit, but the basics are the same. I love making a batch of these (it only takes about an hour including assembly--maybe a little less) and freezing them. I pan fry them in a little bit of sesame oil until partly thawed and brown on bottom, then add chicken broth (@1/4 cup) and put the lid on. I cook them until the broth has evaporated. I then eat them over rice, or in chicken broth for a quick and easy wonton soup. Last night, I ladled chicken broth over brown rice and added 4 dumplings. Heaven!

Tonight was just a pork chop and veggies--nothing fancy, no recipe, but rib sticking good! Tomorrow will be a pork stir fry.

Bits and pieces

4 big nuts and bolts

4 medium nuts and bolts

12 shelf pins

Wine opener

The above are among things I haven't found again since I moved. The first goes to my dining table. No biggie, my dad just measured and bought some more.
The 2nd are to attach my the rails to the headboard on my guest bed. I bought replacements.
The 3rd are to a shelf I have in my office. I found some that work at the local hardware store. No biggie. I'm sure they'll turn up sometime, perhaps when I move again?

Now the last. Dammit! I was ready to have a nice, relaxing bottle, oops I mean glass, of wine along with a relaxing bubble bath and a good book. Lo and behold, my opener is nowhere to be seen. Same for the little cheapo ones that you get in liquor stores. They are gone. I'm ticked. I liked that opener. I think it once belonged to an ex-boyfriend. It's irreplaceable.

So, I guess I'm going to go have a snakebite--Guinness and cider. Not the same, but it will do. Cheers.