Losing It

Don’t you love all or those commercials about weight loss this time of the year?  Discounts on gym memberships are plentiful.  The regulars at those gyms are noticing the increased traffic.  I suppose there’s also the quitting smoking commercials too.  All sorts of reminders that you’re supposed to be thinking about making some changes right around now.

I actually made a change in September.  There’s a bunch of us at school who are in a little contest.  I’m sure there are lots of these contests at many places of work, but this is the first time I’ve participated.  For our contest, you’re on your honor to report your gain or loss (hopefully loss) each Monday.  At the end, the person with the most lost wins.  I’m of course talking about weight.

I’m not someone who people look at and think, “Whoa, she needs to lose weight.”  I mainly did it to keep myself accountable and to get back to where I’d like to be.  Our final reporting date is this coming Monday.

I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to win.  But the thing that’s nice about this is that you don’t even care if you win.  I can fit into my skinny jeans!  That’s a win right there!  And every woman has a pair of skinny jeans…  When all of these commercials are trying to get you to join a gym to lose weight, it’s nice to know that I’ve already lost it.

So how did I do it?  At first I was a running freak.  For 8 weeks straight, I was on the treadmill 5 days a week.  My mileage ranged from 12 – 19 miles.  Usually it was at least 15.  I do a combination of walking and running.  I think of myself as an ADD runner.  I have to change it up every 30 seconds or I get completely bored.  I usually walk 2 minutes then run 2 minutes.  I’ll gradually increase my speed throughout the time until I’m doing some fast(er) runs at the end.  I’ve gotten to the point where it feels good to run.  Who knew that I’d ever get there!

Now I need to integrate a weight program/routine into my running.  I try to run about 3 times per week and I usually go 3 – 4 miles at a time.  I haven’t figured out a weight routine that I can consistently do.  I’m kind of weird.  I need to be able to play head games with myself about increasing, etc.  I have been doing my kettlebell, but not as regularly as I should.

Besides the regular exercise, I pay more attention to what I eat.  I know when I tend to eat crap (after I get home from school), so instead I exercise or have a cup of coffee or something.  I try to load up on fruits and veggies and limit the stuff that adds lots of calories.  I’m still eating what I like, I’m just more aware.

I’m sure you’re wondering how much…  I’m almost to 10%.  The thing that’s nice is that I’ve lost it over the course of 3 months.  I’ll continue to lose some more, but I’m in no rush.  As long as I’m feeling good, all is well.  And guess what?  I feel great!

Jammin’ for Christmas

Way back in June I went strawberry picking. I cleaned and chopped all the berries and froze them for a time when mom and I could make jam. Well… we finally made it – on Tuesday.

I’ve done it enough, so I can do it myself. But I do like to have my supervisor there… We made four kinds this year.

Batches 1 & 2, Strawberry

Batch 3, Strawberry Rhubarb

Batch 4, Strawberry Blueberry

Batch 5 + a half, Strawberry Rhubarb Blueberry Blackberry

I really like the ones with the blueberry added. It makes it taste richer and gives it a great color.

So… 27 cups of fruit, 38 cups of sugar and 44 jars of jam later, we’re done.

It’s a Miracle!

We have a SNOW DAY!!!!!!

What’s more exciting is the fact that it was called the night before!  I’m so excited that I won’t be able to go to bed.  I got the call just after 10pm.  You really wonder who is calling when the phone rings that late!

So here’s my next problem…  I’m supposed to host a math meet tomorrow and there are 35 dozen cookies expected to show up at school.  I just called the bakery and got a maintenance person.  If the order is still there, he’s going to pull it.  But I’ll need to call after 8am.  I guess I’ll deal with that tomorrow morning.

The White Stuff

Here is the view that I usually post when we get snow. They plowed my driveway around 2pm today, but I’m sure they’ll do it again. The pile in my front yard is about as tall as me.

The table on my patio gives a little better perspective of the depth of the snow.

So far it’s been a day of the three R’s. Reading, Running and Relaxing.

Hunkering Down

Supposedly we’re supposed to get a fair amount of the white stuff dumped on us this weekend.  That’s fine with me.  I don’t have to go anywhere.  I’ve got plenty of food, lots of books, and scads of things I can do around my house.  I don’t even have to shovel the stuff.  There is a reason why I live in a townhome.

Various weather reports are predicting anywhere from seven inches to twenty.  Hmm…  That’s a pretty big range.  It just goes to show how much of a crap shoot the weather prediction is.  Plus, it’s not even supposed to start until midnight tonight.

The thing that I find rather funny is all of the cancellations for tomorrow.  As of 2 o’clock today, my district had canceled everything happening in buildings tomorrow.  Sports events and practice ACTs are not happening.  The facilities will be closed.  I even got a robo-call tonight.

It’s sure interesting to see how quickly and easily they make the call to cancel when it’s NOT a school day!

Detour

One of my students is from down south.  About a week ago he told me that he was going back home.  He was leaving on the weekend and didn’t think he was coming back.  He’s a nice kid.  I’ve enjoyed having him in class.  So on Friday, he brought his book to me and I wished him luck.

We’ve been going about our normal business – learning how to factor, this week.   Guess who shows up this morning?

Apparently he made it as far as Kansas City.  Well, let me clarify… as far as the Kansas City JDC.  He got into a fight on the Greyhound and got kicked off the bus and landed in JDC for two days.  He actually was laughing about the situation.  So I asked if he learned his lesson.  If you want to make it to your final destination, you better not get into a fight in the middle.

I think he’ll be trying that route out again when Christmas break rolls around in another week or two.

Whatever works…

It started snowing yesterday toward the end of the school day.  At first I thought I’d get out of there in time so I didn’t have to brush a ton of the white stuff off of my car.  But I ended up sticking around and finalizing some mid-quarter grades and getting my math review ready for next week.

I made my way out to my car and put my hat on.  The snow was kind of wet, so it didn’t brush off all that easily.  As I drove out of the lot, I noticed some students that were waiting for the city bus.  There was a girl standing there with a towel over her head, tucked into the collar of her jacket.  I gave a little chuckle and thought, hey… whatever works…