GEM's March Journal
3-31 - My dad called last night and told us my sister-in-law is pregnant. She fell and hurt her leg and the doctor wouldn't take x-rays til he knew if she was pregnant. They did a test and she was. He also told me he is gonna call some woman Thursday night for a date. I still have very ambivalent feelings about this. I know he needs someone; but it is hard to think about him dating other women, even though it has been 18 months since Ma passed away. Well, gotta to work on a paper for psych class. Keep the faith :-)
3-30 - It is hard to have to leave for work this morning. It is already 60 and supposed to get up into the 80s again. By the end of the week the highs will be around 60, right where they belong. I got some Cannas for my flower beds yesterday. My Daffodils are doing beautifully. My lilies are coming up and some got damaged by the snow and frost we had last week. Everything is blooming much earlier than usual. The mild weather has really pushed things ahead. I did a good job on the SELF challenge this month. I still haven't found April's magazine yet. Will look this evening before I go to class. Will also record my weight on Wednesday. Keep the faith :-)
3-29 - Sorry about all the spelling mistakes yesterday. I think I got them all. Dyslexia rears its ugly head. It is another beautiful day here again, 85 degrees and sunny and breezy. My husband pulled out the boat to get it ready for the new season. We are going out for a while, then I am going for a walk. Have to get in shape for the March of Dimes Walkathon on 18 April. I used to walk them all the time when they were 25 miles. Now they are only 7. This will be the third year I have walked. Me and some others walk for a little girl down at school. She is a real cutie. Oh well, gotta go. Keep the faith :-)
3-28 - Another beautiful day. I have already been for one walk and plan on taking another one later. Right now I am doing my favorite thing.......laundry. (Yeah, right!) I know I have been working in a school too long when I go around saying Yeah, right! Only 9 more days of school til Easter break. College already had their spring break so I will still have to go to class in the evening even though I am not working. Well, off to fold more clothes. Keep the faith :-)
3-27 - Looks like my days are numbered in my long-term sub job. Another woman came in to observe and the thoughts of dealing with special ed kids didn't even faze her. She doesn't know what to teach in Media because her degree is in education, not library science. I had to do lesson plans from now til the end of the year. I wonder if I am obligated to leave my lesson plans there for her to use. It somehow doesn't seem fair that I would have to do that. Will keep you all posted on what happend. Keep the faith :-)
3-26 - What a difference a few days can make. Woke up Sunday to snow and tomorrow it is supposed to be almost 80 degrees. Not a bit of wonder Punk is having such a hard time with his asthma. Not much to report. Had a good day eating, drinking and exercising. See you tomorrow. Keep the faith :-)
3-25 - It is a beautiful day here today. Thirty degrees now, but supposed to get up into the 50s. It is supposed to be in the 70s by the weekend. It is Maryland Day, so I have my Baltimore Orioles shirt on. We are supposed to wear something that shows our Maryland spirit today. Yesterday I wore brown pants that I hadn't worn in a while. Used to be by the end of the work day I couldn't wait to get home and get those pants off. Yesterday I work them til bedtime and they felt great. Maybe I am making progress, even if the scales don't say so. Must be the SELF challenge of toning that is doing it. Keep the faith :-)
3-24 - I got the final grade back on my first big psychology test last night. The teacher takes so many tests and sees which ones the students got wrong. If more than 50% of the papers she is looking at got a certain question wrong, she tosses them out. That brought my 88 up to a 92. She said that everyone had the same answer for 2 different questions, but it wasn't the answer she was looking for. I had another test in 2 weeks and a response paper is due at the same time. I may not be writing much for the next two weeks, but I will be around. Keep the faith :-)
3-22 - Here we are 3 days into Spring and we just got our first measurable snow of the year. It wouldn't have been enough to get us off from school; but they are calling for more snow later in the week. Have had a good day eating but the exercise wasn't as good as it could have been. Did get my 30 minutes in to meet the SELF challenge but usually do more. This morning the dogs tripped me and I tumbled down the last 5 steps. I wasn't hurt bad, just kinda stiff and sore. Keep the faith :-)
3-21 - Just got back from the movies to find we have no heat. We are out of oil. Jia and I went to see The Man in the Iron Mask. DH and the boys and a friend went to see Sphere. Our movie was good, they thought theirs was a drag. They should have gone to see US Marshall. I am gonna go jump around with Richard Simmons to try to warm up. See you tomorrow. Keep the faith :-)
3-20 - Let's try this again. I saved it once, but it didn't work. A woman came in and observed me who may be interested in the media specialist job I am subbing in. I talked to her during my 5 minute break between classes. It is obvious she know nothing about the library. She asked me what you taught them. When I told her, she had a totally blank look on her face. I got called to the health suite because Punk was having a severe asthma attack and the nurse was really worried. His nebbie worked (Thank God!). After resting there for a while, he went back to class. By the time I got back to the library, the woman was gone. She left as soon as the next class came in. It will be interesting to see what happend. Keep the faith :-)
3-19 - I NEED A SNOW DAY!!!! As the media specialist in the school where I work, I teach the Challenge program (Gifted & Talented). These children are supposed to be a cut above the rest and able to handle the extra work. The 4th grade group worked on a project called the day I was born. They were supposed to research and find out what the weather was like on that day, what was going on in the world and the area where we live, and they had to interview two people. One of the girls didn't do her interviews because she "didn't have time." Because of this I have to lower her grade. Her mother is a school teacher, and I hate to have to write a comment like that on her progress. I have had trouble with both Challenge groups. They seem to feel that because I am a sub they don't have to listen to me. The principal has talked to all of them several times; but to no avail. I am ready to drop the whole program for the rest of the year; but I can't do that. What can I do to get these kids motivated to do their work? Sometimes I just hate teaching. Keep the faith :-)
3-18 - The Board of Education wants the principal of the school where I work to get a certified teacher in the media center for the last 10 weeks of school. He doesn't want to because they don't have anyone certified in library skills. I pretty much know what the students are supposed to learn because of working in the library for the last 10 years either as a sub or as a volunteer. I wrote out lesson plans from now til the end of the year and gave them to him with the objective for each lesson. He is going to show that to someone from the board tomorrow and that will decide whether I keep the job til the end of the year. I hope so because I am really enjoying it. Guess all I can do now is keep my fingers crossed. Of course, now that the lesson plans are all made out, they can get a certified teacher in to use my lesson plans. I hope that's not what they had in mind. Even with all this stress I managed to keep my eating in control today. Keep the faith :-)
3-17 - Happy Saint Patty's Day. Yesterday was another professional day at work. I usually eat at 6:30; but knowing they would have food there, I waited. I had a bagel with no-fat cream cheese. I was still really hungry, I guess because it was 2 1/2 hours beyond my normal breakfast time and hadn't had anything to eat since 6:00 the night before. I got a chocolate-filled donut and took two bites. Then I woke up, asked myself what the hell I thought I was doing and threw the rest of it away. Boy was that a hard thing to do, I could have cried. Afterwards I felt real good and carried that high with me the rest of the day. After that I had a great day and refuse to feel guilty about 2 bites of donut. Keep the faith :-)
3-16 - It sure is quiet here this morning. Today is a professional day at school. I have to work but no students. YEA!!!!! That also means that my kids are still in bed. I love it. I got my exercise in, supper in the crock pot, my hair washed and dried and still have over 20 minutes til I have to leave for work. Too bad it can't be like this every morning. Have my water all ready to take to work and will have a turkey sandwich on whole wheat for lunch. Have a nice day everyone. Keep the faith :-)
3-14 - Got some bad news last night. My Aunt Lee passed away. Her memorial service is tomorrow. I have had a good day and had a good one yesterday. Still need to get the rest of my water in; but that should be easy. Keep the faith :-)
3-12 - You won't believe what happened to me in the shower this morning. I forgot to reset the shower head from when my husband used it last night. When it is set for him it sprays clear to the back of the tub because he is about 6 inches taller than me. When I jumped to the side to avoid the water, it completely missed me. It used to catch one of my rolls of fat but today it entirely missed me. What a way to judge how much weight you are loosing. I must be a complete nut. Keep the faith :-)
3-11 - Another good day. Exercised again this morning and had another good day eating-wise. Drank plenty of water (over 2 quarts as a matter of fact). Nothing much else to report. Keep the faith :-)
3-10 - Had a good day today. Exercised, ate right and drank plenty of water. Got an 88 on my first big psych test last night. Second guessed myself on about 5 questions and should have gone with my first instinct. Then I would have gotten a 98. Guess I will go with my first inclination next time. Nothing else happening here. Keep the faith :-)
3-9 - Have to get this done early today. Got up at 5:15 and did an aerobics tape. Feel real energized right now. I hope this lasts throughout the day. It is pouring again today. It is supposed to be in the 60s today but only in the 30s by mid-week. The weather here has been in the pits. At least they have lifted the drought. Now they have flood watches out. What crazy weather. Keep the faith :-)
3-8 - Sorry about yesterday. My DH hogged the computer all day. I did have a good day. Went for a nice long walk while we had a fairly good day. It was cloudy; but not raining for a change. Today it is raining again. I have done really well on the SELF challenge so far. I plan on doing a Richard Simmons tape later on today for my aerobic exercise. Found a good yoga tape for the stretching part and usually watch a show on ESPN for the weights part. Have really been having a lot of fun. Hope I can say that all through the three month challenge. Keep the faith:-)
3-6 - I am feeling old tonight. My oldest son turned 16 today. I can't believe he is old enough to drive. Seems like just yesterday he was a tiny baby. I had a pretty good day; though I still need to finish drinking my water. Have about 4 hours to get in a pint. That should be a snap. Hope everyone else had a good day. Keep the faith:-)
3-5 - I am writing this first thing in the morning. Wednesdays are always hectic for me. Also have a sick daughter. I guess Jai has finally succombed to the virus that has been going around since Christmas. She looks and feels awful. Sure hope no one else in the house gets it. Had a good day yesterday. Ate well within my range and had plenty of fruit and veggies. Didn't get any exercise in; but will today. Keep the faith:-)
3-3 - I have a whole fifth grade class angry with me. They were reviewing for a test they will take next week. When they were done, I handed out overdue slips to the students who didn't bring their books down. They all started talking and I counted down from 5. When I reach one, according to their classroom teacher, they are supposed to be quiet. I counted down a second time and they still kept talking so I just let them go and they talked out through their check-out time. They had to leave without getting new books. They said I didn't count down loud enough. In order for it to be loud enough I would have had to shout and I refuse to do that. They know that they check out books as soon as I hand out over-due slips. As far as I am concerned it is their fault and their teacher agrees. Maybe they will remember this next week and keep their mouths shut. It is not my job to have to shout to make myself heard. They were just talking too loudly. By the way, I went to the principal and told him what I had done, and he backed me up. Keep the faith:-)
3-2 - Just got done typing an observation for my education class and decided to update my journal. Had a good day today. Drank most of my water and it is only 4:20. Still have plenty of time to get it all in. It is raining again. We haven't had two sunny days in a row for months. This is really getting old. Have psych class tonight. Will write again tomorrow. Keep the faith:-)
3-1 - 221 - Yes, you read it right. A seven pound loss for February. I don't know how I did it considering I hardly exercised. I have started this month off right, though. Took Jai, Cat, and Punk and went for a walk this afternoon. We went through one of the new houses they are building behind us in a new development. It was about a two mile walk to the house and then back. The kids don't walk quite as fast as I do. They kept yelling at me to slow down. I didn't think I was walking that fast. Now my knee is killing me. See you tomorrow. Keep the faith:-)