Cardio Tennis

Tonight, Toni and I actually made it to Cardio Tennis. We were suppose to start February 6th, but every Friday it has rained and the class has been cancelled. It was pretty interesting and a great workout! We did a few training/drill type excercises and played a modified version.

There was five of us in the class, including the teacher. Very simply stated, I was horrible and often missed the ball. When I hit the ball, I often hit it too hard or too soft. I managed to get the ball over the fence three times. The teacher was pretty funny; he kept telling me that the ball was just following instructions (and I was giving bad instruction).

I fell down in one of the drills and worried everyone. It was pretty funny--I just can't run sideways throwing and catching a ball across the net.

I'm not the only one

Here are the teachers I eat lunch with every day (minus a few who stayed in 2009).

Are a bunch of my kiddos at lunch

80's Day

This month at Central is "Spirit 2009" where every Wednesday and Friday is a dress up day. So far we've had tame ones (twin day and red day), but oh, no, not today! Today is 80's Day! Not that I was choosing my own clothes in the 80's or even knowing that something called "fashion" existed, but I LOVE this dress up day!

I love making my hair big and using all the natural volume it possesses. I love wearing ugly, yet comfontable clothes. I even sort of love the overstated make-up and jewerly. Although, the best part of 80's day is to see the kids' faces when they walk into the classroom. There is this sense of confusion, eye-brows raised and mouth open look that just can't be explained. It quickly turns into little giggles and gasps as they look at their teacher who is normally so normal. They, of course, love the effort! I love when they dress up too :)

Today we're doing an activity that requires music to move to and talk so we're listening to old school Madonna, The Cure, Billy Idol, and other favorites of the 80's.

The Fours

Alisha tagged me awhile ago and I have time now :)

The Fours!
4 Dishes I Like to cook

1. Pizza
2. Bennett tacos
3. Pot Roast
4. Creamy baked potatoe soup

4 Qualities I Love in People

1. Honesty
2. Kind-heartedness (I need it in others to balance me out)
3. Silliness
4. Trusting

4 Places I Have Been

1. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
2. Berlin, Germany
3. Miama, Okahoma
4. Kona, Hawaii

4 Things in My Bedroom

1. The giant bed
2. A cheap, outdoor table that I use for my nightstand
3. LOTS of clothes
4. Dresser which is in the closet to save space

4 Dirty Words I Like

1. Ass (which I don't say all that often)
2. Crap
3. Piss (as in, "you're pissing me off")
4. Shut-up

4 People who need to do this now

1. Tawni
2. Rachel
3. Robyn
4. Melissa
5. Nicole

Salad

I don't like salad. To me, lettuce has always been a filler. I like the stuff that goes on top of the lettuce. When I started Weight Watchers, I made a deal with myself that first week. My deal was that I wasn't going to do "this" with salad. I wasn't going to be one of "those" people who switches from yummy, flavor-filled food to lettuce with fat-free dressing. That concept/promise worked well for the first eighty pounds. It truly did--the only time I ate salad was when I was at resturants that I didn't know the points or when it was masking as something else (ie: taco salads).

I've been spending some significant amount of time mulling over my issues as to why I've maintained my weight since June (man, that is 8 months!) even though I have forty-five pounds left to lose. I know without a doubt that part of it is laziness in counting, a lack of "newness" that causes me to eat without recording and measuring everything.

The other thing that I've realized is that it is probably time to change some of the things that I eat. When I had 33 points per day, I could pretty much eat anything. Now that I have 26, I need to limit myself. It doesn't seem like that big of a difference, but 7 points is the equalivant of 420 calories and 14 grams of fat!

I've gotten off my topic--the whole point of this blog was to say that I'm going to eat salad this week. I've prepared myself to eat more than lettuce. I got fat-free feta crumbles, craisens, pre-cooked (but frozen) chicken strips at Trader Joes today and decided to make myself some very low-fat, but tasty croutons. I'm ready to go for the week...

Side-by-Side Comparison

We have so much to do with this house, it seems like it is never going to be done. However, when I look back at the before pictures and the now look, it is amazing that it is the same house. For your viewing pleasure (and my sanity), here is a look back less than 50 days ago and a look at this morning. I even tried to stay in the same spot!

Biggest Loser

This morning I got up and watched the Biggest Loser from Tuesday. The show started with the contestants having to run up and down this giant hill in order to get one of the two keys that would open the gym doors. Only the two teams who had the two right keys (out of 75) would get to use the gym for the week. They acted like their life was going to end if they didn't have the gym, but over and over again throughout the show the trainers said that it didn't matter where you were at, you could work out. I felt a bit guilty as I sat on the couch... so... I went to the garage, got my bike out, dusted off the sawdust that was covering it and rode to Big 5. I bought myself a helmet (my main excuse for not riding more), then rode to Elliots and purchased more bunny food, and then rode home. I was gone a little less than 45 minutes and probably didn't even ride an hour, but it is something, right?

I haven't kept any of my February resolutions reguarding exercise (rain, overworking, and tiredness have won the battle). I need to do something. Riding by bike is fun--I need to do that!

Yearbook Adviser

It is 5:55 on Friday night... guess where I am?!?

Oh, my yearbook kids, they are great... but why is it that they can't figure out how to use the right font? I love yearbook... I don't particularly like being here by myself... the joys of middle school yearbooks with the look of high school books...

Money

Man, this house is expensive. I've been asked more than once if I have seen "The Money Pit." I have... it happens to be one of Dave's favorite movies. We're not as extreme as the movie, but it is amazing how much all the little things cost. We've already spent $9,000 and the only BIG things we've bought is the washer and dryer.

Cleaning

I think I've found my least favorite activity that involves having a house rather than an apartment.

Cleaning!

I'm not sure I ever really learned to clean. We did our chores when we were little and always had to have our rooms tidy if we wanted to go anywhere, but we didn't have to clean, clean. In my apartment I didn't have much space to keep clean, but it never felt spotless. Part of the joy of this house is that there is always dust. I'm rarely home during the week so I've done a pretty good job of ignoring it. My parents have been here and we've managed to tidy a bunch of stuff. My dad did a lot of little projects while I cleaned the kitchen counters and floor. Today I've been working on the living room.

Hopefully by the time the girls come over on Tuesday it won't be dirty again!

Buns for your viewing pleasure

The bonding sessions are going well. The baby loves Darcy and D is warming up to her :)

Bonding

In order to get the bunnies to like each other, there is an offical process called "bonding" that has to take place. I've read a lot about it because I knew I wanted to get another bunny eventually. The websites and books say that it can take anywhere from five day to six weeks. The simple steps are as follows;

• Introduce the buns in a neutral territory where the older bun hasn't played. The new bun needs to be in a cage and completely protected while the older bun gets to run around and sniff at the cage as desired. The goal is for the older bun to ignore the baby. Started this last night. As he was suppose to, Darcy completely ignored his sister even though she jumped up and down inside her cage wanting to be with him. This morning we spent 15 minutes doing the same thing, he still ignored her so I thought that it would be safe to move on.
• After this has happened successfully, the new buns cage is opened and the new one can make the choice to come out or stay inside. When it comes out, there is the possibility that they will show curosity or anger towards each other. The goal is for the older bun to ignore the younger bun (again) or show loving signs. They were doing so well this morning, so I opened Charlotte's cage and let her out. She came out immediately and Darcy went into it immediately. They ignored each other running around the room for a good fifteen minutes before Darcy decided to come up to Char and sniff her. She quickly burrowed herself into his fur. He looked a little shocked, but let her sit there as I petted him. He LICKED her!!! That is an amazing sign! It was the cutest thing ever, I wish I could have taken a picture of them together, but I was afraid to get up because I didn't trust Darcy.
• This step is repeated over and over again in the same neutral territory until the buns start interacting nicely. Signs that it is going well as the older buns proximity to the newer bun when resting and relaxing, as well as sniffing each other without biting. Super positive signs are licking and laying together. Today went well, but we'll keep doing it over and over again until I'm sure. Charlotte is just a little bit bigger than Darcy's head. Darcy did eventually laydown very close to where the baby was playing, sort of cute!
• After they can be together for several days in the neutral area, you SLOWLY introduce the new bun to the shared activity area (where the older bun lives), but not to the same cage.
• If the older ignores or does any of the positive signs you're in luck and you then move on to feeding them snacks together.
• If that goes smoothly a few times, you can brave the shared cage.

Darcy's Little Sister

Introducing Charlotte--my very tiny Valentine's Day present from Dave. She is about six weeks old and has become our newest love. Tonight we started the "bonding" process between Mr. Darcy and Charlotte. It is not going to be easy getting them together because D is so darn spoiled, but hopefully by following the bunny guidelines for bonding, Charlotte will continue to be alive and cute :)

Happy Valentines Day to you!!

Laundry Baskets and Honesty

I have SEVEN laundry baskets in every part of the house that clothes are removed from... the bedroom, the master bedroom (currently the extended closet and box room), the sink room, the bathroom... some rooms even have multiple baskets.

Simple question... why is my husband unable to put his dirty clothes into one of them?!?

To complicate matters, his clean clothes join the dirty clothes on the floor because he dug through a box of clothes and didn't put them back in the box or hang them up.

I should be a "good" wife and dig through the piles, pick up the dirty ones and sort those into laundry piles, do the laundy and put it all way for him. I should also probably be the "good" wife and hang up all his clean clothes that are all over the floor. But the bottom line is that I'm not a "good" wife and it makes me extremely angry that his clothes are all over the house. I've gone over several options of how to dispose of the piles, none that I've come up with will give me a positive title in front of wife... I've tried "ignoring" for the past five weeks. I've tried "asking" for thepast one week. I've tried "pleading" and in Dave's words "nagging" for the past two days.

Tonight... I'm deciding between "stuffing" where all clothes go back into the boxes, clean or dirty I don't care... or "sorting" where I put everything that looks dirty into a laundry basket and everything that looks clean into a box. Stuffing seems much more pleasing... but sorting would be nicer.

(Yes, I know this post was probably out of line, but frankly, I don't care... call me a b***h, maybe I am)

huh...

Tonight I gained 4.6 pounds.

I ate without thought this week. I ate everything I wanted. 4.6 lbs is a pretty good representation of that.

Here is what I know...

• I need to control myself
• I need help from the people around me and I can't do it myself
• I want food more than I want to lose weight, which isn't good
• I'm eating for reasons other than hunger
• I am lazy and need to move my ass around more
• Relying upon my "past" success won't make me lose weight now
• I am sad that I can't seem to figure out how to control myself and for the first time I actually feel like I can't get control of it and I shouldn't care...

Likeness

I often get told that I look like people--it is usually someone's friend or mom, sometimes my students tell me that I look like one of their previous teachers, but other than that, there isn't a commonality in the people I "look like." However, since "He's just NOT that into You" has come out in the movie theater and previews have been everywhere, I've gotten told about 30 times that I look like Gennifer Goodwin.

The lady who checked me out at Vons on Monday looked at me, then looked at me again, and gasped, "you're in that movie..." I laughed at had no idea what she was talking about, then she grabbed the magazine that had Goodwin on the front. I laughed.

What do you think?

J things

It's Harder Than It Looks!Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag 10 people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.Have Fun!!

1. What is your name: Jennifer
2. A four Letter Word: just
3. A boy's Name: Justin
4. A girl's Name: Jenessa
5. An occupation: janitor
6. A color: jade
7. Something you wear: jumpers
8. A food: jelly beans
9. Something found in the bathroom: june bug earrings
10. A place: Joplin, Missouri (where my in-laws live)
11. A reason for being late: jumping through the hooks
12. Something you shout: JUMP (when playing Wii or old fashion jump rope)
13. A movie title: Juno
14. Something you drink: juice
15. A musical group: Jurassic Park
16. An animal: jackel
17. A street name: Jennings Vista Circle (my parents home)
18. A type of car: Jaguar
19. A song title: Popular
20. A verb: jiggle

Des, my friend

The picture thing is too much fun so I'm going to pick what I want to show you!

This is my friend Desiree. We met in October of 2005 when we were both brand new teachers and interns in the CSUSB program. The intern seminar class was at 4 pm on Mondays--we all rushed to school, ate together, and shared the stress of first year teaching and going to school four nights a week. Des teaches eighth grade math in a different district. Over the past four years, we've spent between one to four nights a week together in class (3:30-9:50 pm). At one point, we spent more time together than we spent with any person (including my husband!). We have purposely scheduled every class together, car pool together, eat dinner together, and TALK!! Most of our professors don't know who is who because we're always together. This quarter we only spend one night together so we've been spending extra nights watching movies, Grey's and TALKING!!

This picture is from our desert trip over Halloween weekend. Des and I read most of the time, but this is when we actually got on the quads :)

Disneyland

This is from my CD of overflow pictures that I didn't print or use on a social networking site (I need to get a more organized way to keep the thousands of photos I take).

This was in October of 2007 at Disneyland waiting in line for Haunted House. For awhile we all had Disneyland passes and we spent a lot of time there together (obviously pre-babies). I'm assuming Rachel took the picture. Tawni and I had been on Weight Watchers for awhile and were very proud of our smaller size shirts.

Friends--4th folder, 4th picture

From my external hard-drive:

This picture is from July 4, 2006. Rachel and Tawni brought their husbands and I brought my fiance (we got married one month and one day from this picture) to watch the fireworks at my school (you can see Mt. Rubidoux perfectly from the soccer fields). We packed dinner and the frizbee and shared a few hours. Rachel and Tawni are my best friends and I wouldn't be the same person without them. We like to take picture of ourselves and this is one of the ten we took that afternoon!

Irritation

I love teaching. I love creating creative ways for the kids to learn. I love when the light blub comes on above their heads when they get it. I love my cute, little, insecure seventh graders.

Flip side.

I hate teaching with tests. I hate that the students don't know how to think by the time they're in seventh grade (seriously, they begin the year asking me where the bubbles are...). I hate when the kids are too lazy or unmotivated to try. I hate when the my cute, little, insecure seventh graders turn into horomonal, selfish seventh-and-a-half graders. Yes, hate is a strong word, and yes, I feel that strong.

That is the time of year we're in... the hate stage... from December to March...

Today I have the coolest lesson ever (honestly, the kids who care said so). We're about to start reading a western and most of them have never seen one and know very little about it. So we start by doing a quick-write about what we know (assuming it is very little). Then I've collected nine sounds related to a western and they listen and guess what they are... after that, they watch six minutes of a John Wayne classic, and finally, they feel six things I've collected that relate to our story. As we begin the story, the sights, sounds, and textures appear in the text and they have a way to connect it in their brain.

Second period pissed me off to the point that I stopped teaching and sat down in my chair and stared at them. I gave a small lecture and stared at them some more. They were feeling VERY awkward, so I kept staring. I told them that I'd spend a lot of time and I'm wondering "why the hell it matters." They stared back. I kept making eye contact. I kept them in for eight minutes of their ten minute snack break asking pointed questions. I asked them, "What do I need to do for you to be engaged?" and stared at them some more. I got several responses. Tomorrow I expect to see a change, but if I don't, I am fully prepared to send them to jail and they won't be allowed to do anything fun and will lose all "creative" teaching completely. As I told them today, I can teach the way other teachers do and give them what is in the book and only what is in the book.

Laptop

From photo storage place #2: My laptop... you know the drill "Folder four, picture four."

This is a picture that we took on self timer for the mayor to use in his State of the City address a few weeks ago. Brenda Flowers called and needed it to represent first time home buyers that are buying and fixing up homes (just like us!). The Home Depot bucket and the crap on the counter was actually right there and we didn't "stage" anything. This is the least interesting of all the pictures I sent her.

Anna Banana

The Rules:

1. Go to where you store your digital photos and open the 4th folder.

2. Post the 4th picture in that folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people.

Since I have so many places where I store pictures, I thought I'd do this a few times. Today is from my work computer :)

This is a picture from June of 2008 when Anna Sun came to school for a visit. Shay and Theresa (proud parents) has been home from China for a week or so. At this moment, Anna was screeching and laughing at me during yearbook class. She pretends to be shy a lot of the time, but she loves "Aunt Jennifer" as Theresa calls me.

I tag Rachel, Tawni, Melissa, and Nicole.

New Month Resolutions

I decided this year to make monthly resolutions instead of "new years" resolutions. Read about it here.

Review of January Resolutions:

• Post my food journal every day. Succeeded in doing this about 75% of the month. When I did it well, I lost weight well. I shall keep tracking online, but I won't post it on the blog.
• Leave work by 4 pm or shortly thereafter. HAHAHA, this one lasted one week, then tutoring started, then a yearbook deadline came... and 4 pm turned into 6 pm... then 8 pm... I still would like to work on this one, but it isn't likely to help.
• Wear earring to work most days. Complete success! Never missed one day!
• Be paticent and loving to Dave. I need practice, lots and lots of practice.

February Resolutions:

• Create willpower over food. Limit myself without other people limiting themselves.
• Attend CardioTennis for the 4-week session (February Fridays) and walk one day a week around my neighborhood
• Keep my desk more organized at work and eliminate half of the piles that grow as they grow.
• Communicate my expecations clearly and ahead of time with Dave.

25 things about me

According to Melissa I need to blog more... here is my start of what should be a rapid flow of blogs :)

Official rules: "Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you."

1. I hate to bathe. It seems like such a waste of time to get wet and then dry off again. I never bathe if I don't have to (if my hair looks okay).
2. I hate to brush my teeth. I forget to brush them 2-3 days a week and end up doing it at work in the bathroom.
3. I begin the school year leaving my house at 7 am to get to work and by the middle of the year (now) I get UP at 7 am.
4. Some kids just piss me off for no reason and I want to duct tape their mouths.
5. I need 9 hours of sleep a night. My best time of the day is between eleven and four. I can't be called a morning or night person.
6. I have wanted to be a teacher since I can remember. In elementry school, I use to erase the answers on my corrected homework and teach the neighbor kids how to do the problems, then make them do the homework.
7. Although I am a pretty social person, I avoid people from high school and college in the grocery store so I don't have to have the awkward conversation of "how are you, what are you doing, etc"
8. I talk to my bunny like he's a real baby and look forward to coming home so he can just around the house. My bunny is named after my favorite character in my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, which I've read seven times.
9. I love pink.
10. Reading is my favorite thing to do, but I don't do it during the week.
11. I run around my classroom on a regular basis and run into things ALL the time.
12. Dave and I have known each other for ten years.
13. I don't really care how much money I make, but I'm pretty concerned about how it is spent.
14. I read all four Twilight books in seven days and I reference them in my classroom on a semi-regular basis.
15. My new washer machine sings a song when it is done washing.
16. My sister and I have become best friends even though we never got along when we were younger.
17. I have become a horrible student in my master's program and procrastinate more than I ever thought possible (and it gets worse each quarter).
18. I feel like my friends' babies are mine.
19. Girl's night is one of my favorite things that happens and I can't believe that it's been almost five years since we started having dinner at my apartment.
20. My friends help me be a nicer person.
21. I drink a LOT of water and go to the bathroom 10-15 times a day.
22. Yearbook is one of my passions and I never want to teach anywhere without being the yearbook advisor.
23. Reality TV shows like Top Chef, Project Runway, Real Housewifes of O.C., and Biggest Loser capitivate my attention.
24. I have worked since I was 14 years old and enjoy it, but I'd really like to be a stay at home mom.
25. I LOVE football. My husband doesn't. I read everything possible online, follow the drafts, and even tried fantasy football playoff edition.