I've decided that if I eat "right," I stay at this weight; if I eat "wrong" I gain. It's either duct tape or exercise. I'd started meeting my friend, Lynn, and hitting a tennis ball back and forth twice a week, 8-9AM(Tuesday, Thursday). Now that we are getting a bit better at hitting it back and forth more than twice, she's off to visit family for two and a half weeks. I decided I'd try to rotate in on doubles games at Sedillo Park with a mixed-level bunch that meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If I survive, when Lynn gets back we'll play with them too. I'd like to run, but I need my inhaler to just bat balls back and forth (lousy oxygen here). I'd like to walk, but even with music I find it boring and my back hurts. I wish a group of middle-aged overweight women would start playing basketball games, volleyball games, or badmitton. Yipe! What a whiner! (Get the duct tape.)

Again, I'm back from Brian's race in "Run for Your Life" here in Socorro. He did FINE!!! I love watching his sweaty body cross the finish line!

For me, this week, on Thursday night I'll be honored at the CRC-IRA (International Reading Association's Regional Council) for my grant award, "Young Authors Short Story and Poetry Contest." I'm really happy to have Barbara DuBois, the poetry judge (Senior Poet Laureate of New Mexico and my friend), as my guest. (Of course, Brian was my first choice.) It's cool! I've never been awarded a grant before not to mention being the person where the "buck stops." It was great for the kids--one look at their faces at the awards reception was proof. As Barbara says: Even the Daddies came! And...Tuesday night I get up in front of the School Board and give the results (Brian sitting next to me). REAL COOL! The best part is that it's so S-C-A-R-Y.

Just got back from Brian's 5K race here in Socorro. What fun! Brian beat his personal best and arrived over the finish line totally sweaty with a giant grin. And I took the photo! Great way to start a Saturday.

Happy New Year! (Bells and whistles)

I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions for 2009 for the past few days. Of course, I want to exercise more, lose weight, become a published author, and more...but I've decided that 2009 will be the year I stop waffling.

When I come to a metamorphical fork in the road I spend too much time walking down each one before choosing and lots of times, the one I finally choose is overgrown and impassable. Then I'm filled with regret and tend to beat myself about the ears.

I've started 2009 early. I've been waffling a bunch about the National Teacher Certification. It would mean $5000/year more in my paycheck if I successfully jumped through all its hoops of portfolio and tests. I signed up, spent money, and then began waffling back in July whether or not I really wanted to do it. I've never started and the portfolio's due the end of March and so is a bunch more money. So I looked deep inside and--NO. I'm NOT interested in spending the time, effort, TIME doing it.

No waffling any more. If I make a wrong decision, at least it's a decision. I'll take the responsibility. So that's my 2009 New Year's Resolution: NO WAFFLING IN 2009.

I've been hanging out, reading your blogs and you guys out there post interesting blogs. I guess that I'll have a blog after Thanksgiving to share my Thanksgiving weekend in Omaha with Unclebooboo and his mom. I miss not sharing with mine. What's happening this Thursday with you folks?

The week before my birthday (60!) was very traumatic. I mentally exaggerated every creak and ache my body gave me which were the same ones I'd been experiencing for years without notice. Then I got a card from my daughter, Angie, who lives outside Washington,DC: "60 is about feeling excited to be alive at a time when you're free to really live. 60 is about knowing yourself, being yourself--and truly liking who you've become. But most of all, 60 is about celebrating the beginning of the most beautiful years of your life. Enjoy." She said she picked this one from another frothy pink one with exclamation points (which she would have liked) because it was more like me. I told her it was perfect and came at a perfect time because I was seeing 60 as an ending. Her card turned my thoughts around.

What a terrific birthday I had yesterday (and am still having today). It actually started on last Thursday when Angie ordered flowers and Brian picked them up for me. Then on Friday, my Parkview "neighbors and friends," the first-grade teachers, not only gave me a cake at lunch (which I shared with my students later), but also each contributed gifts to a big festive birthday bag for me. Stuff like a religious contemplations book, fragrant soap, miniature roses in a pretty pot, tea bags in a colorful mug, all together with a big joyous card with hearty wishes signed by everyone. But that wasn't all! I shared a birthday party with a friend from kindergarten at another friend's house and enjoyed great company, good wine (just a bit because I had to leave in an hour to pick Brian up from his Owlbar run), and great conversation. After picking Brian up I enjoyed sharing dinner & cake with more friends.
AND then it was my birthday on Saturday. Wow! Brian showered me with presents he knew I would love...like a "Sex and the City" DVD, single/double cup pod coffeemaker, 500 piece puzzle filled with colorful birds, LARGE gift certificate from my new favorite store (Coldwater Creek), and breakfast at our favorite cafe, a walk through the Socorro Fest at the Plaza where anytime I said "I like that..." he bought it for me. Then different friends called me on the phone to chat and wish me a great day, and one sent me a neat email birthday card. AND I got on the short list for a contest and Brian posted it with a encouraging comment from Pale C.

I know this is a long posting, but I had to share what I learned. Aches and creaks aside--it doesn't matter how old a person gets as long as there are loving family and friends to share the years with. Thank you.

Have you ever challenged yourself and gotten shaky with a headache later?  I applied to National Certification, paid the initial fee, and then began to shake and hold my head.  What have I gotten myself into?  Life was under control, happy, and gliding along, and then I had to poke it with a stick.  Gotta take a couple of aspirins.

There are a couple of things:

1)  I didn't go to WW again.  I will Thursday because I promised someone I would be there for her.  Why is it easier to keep a promise to someone else and not to myself?  At least it will keep me thinking about WW's weigh-in.  A good thing.

2)  Another good thing is that I contacted (in person) Melissa at the Tech gym and she's going to get me started working out on machines and walking.  We have an hour scheduled for Monday and Thursday.  I'm guessing I'm going to be REALLY sore this week.  I told UncleBooBoo that he might have to carry me onto the plane for our vacation in San Francisco.  But, this exercise in the long run will be a good thing.  

So, why am I going horseback riding an hour or so before my shower and machine-torture?  --Answer, because I'll be too tired afterwards.

3)  One last good thing is that I contacted the New Mexico's liason about National Certification for teachers and I'm going to sign up to try for it.  I've gotten a few friends to back me up, to read my dossier, and just support me.  Maybe catch me when (scratch that out) IF I fall.  And of course UncleBooBoo has strong arms.  That would be a good thing too.  Succeeding would be even better.  

I guess there were a few things.  I LOVE SUMMER! 

This has been and will be on Friday a strenuous and most times frustrating week.  Monday was filled with grade-level Standards and Benchmarks which have all and nothing to do with me.  I sat with the second grade teachers and mostly listened to them talk about what they taught last year and where the "focus points" that our Assoc.Superintendent gave us matched the Standards.  Tuesday was a good day because I brought in my own materials (supplemental) and worked with what I wanted to accomplish next year and the math standards.  I sat with the second grade teachers for awhile and then alone.  Wednesday was a totally frustrating math day for me with linear algebra's augmented matrix (which I had never studied before) and extra hours movie night afterward in the evening.  Good movie clips, though, expecially the ones with Ma and Pa Kettle and Lou Constello doing "creative" division.  Today (Thursday) was a good day with a guide through "Fractionland."  This evening, Brian and I spent most of the after class game night figuring (Brian) out how to separate our two intertwined strings between our two wrists.  Tomorrow should be awful considering the pattern, but I expect it to be educational fun.  

(I didn't go to WW tonight.)

I gained 2 pounds when I weighed in at WW.  I've already thrown away the microwave popcorn which wouldn't be so bad if I could portion it AND not smother it with butter.  Oh well, it's in a better place than my thighs.  I'm trying to be good waiting for UncleBooBoo to return for his two days home before he leaves again.  I should probably drape a sheet over the television (after Dr. Who tonight) too.....  OK, I should go for a walk. 

I watched the new Indiana Jones movie again last night (sans popcorn), this time with my friend, Chris.  I love the action, and I think Harrison Ford still has it.  Either tomorrow or next Tuesday (after I drop UBB at the airport), I want to see the new Sex and the City movie.  And then, probably, I'll sit through the Indiana Jones flick at our little theater next week (It was held over.).  OK, I should go for a walk.

I have my fingers crossed because I haven't gotten a rejection email from a magazine and my crit writer friend got hers about two weeks ago.  It's a "literary" magazine.  Crossed fingers AND eyes.  I'm scared every time I check my email.

OK, I should go for a walk... or write.

Writing sounds good.

Have a great day. 

At 5:30, I had a choice between going late to a retirement party for a colleague or WW.  I went to the party and had a great time.  My first grade hall colleague is known for lots of things like:  forgetting names and details, saying "I can do it," drinking, and dancing on tables.  I saw her sing "Strangers in the Night" while dancing on a lawn table one party celebrating the last day of school a few years ago.  She's a fast thinker, and a heck of a dancer.  Well, at our party she passed on to me a certificate to be the person to dance on the table at parties.  So they applauded until I got on a chair and danced.  I think they enjoyed it because they didn't think I had it in me (especially sober).  Rosemary said she was sure she had picked the right person.  Isn't it wonderful to have friends to share life with?  I had a small Merlot and a bit of food, and a perfectly wonderful time!  I didn't miss WW at all.  I had told Brian to eat without me and I was right --we played the Bachelorette Game, sang loudly, and laughed until 7:30, when the party broke up so we could go home to our spouses.  Great fun.  

Today, we had a kinda-party lunch for my friend Kim who is going over to the Dark Side--to teach first grade at the Cottonwood Charter School.  I love her anyway.

Yeah, the last day of school.   One more day to tie up loose ends on Tuesday and then SUMMER.  

I lost a pound.  I was surprised because I certainly enjoyed eating in Boston.  I guess it was the walking and especially climbing subway stairs.  Not complaining... I just have point six pounds to lose for my 10%.  The anticipation feels good. 

 I finally got in to see the doctor Friday morning at 11:15 for my 10:15 appointment for which I actually was unbelieveably grateful.  (It's really hard to get in to our doctors' office because they're leaving Socorro like rats on a floundering ship.)  I had spent the week hacking and waking up every one or two hours coughing .On Thursday night around 4AM, my coughing was in spasm and I couldn't get a moment to inhale my albuteral when another explosive cough came out and I just couldn't catch my breath and Brian asked me if I needed to go to the Socorro Hospital's ER and I couldn't answer and didn't want to go because I knew I didn't have time to get dressed and what I really needed was to relax and pretend I was ok and I was too scared to go... anyway.  I had a low-grade fever all week with a pounding sinus headache.  I was sure I had the flu.  My Singulair wasn't working, nor was the Sudafed decongestant, nor was my inhaler doing well against my tight chest and hacking coughs that wouldn't let me rest.  A-N-Y-W-A-Y, I found out that the Socorro wind had whipped my allergic reactions overtime and everything was swollen--what with my body thinking allergens were infections--so the doctor had the nurse give me a steroid shot that should help for up to a couple of months, but kicks in around 24 hours later.  I'm better, but the hacking coughs aren't still letting me rest so I'll see her (the doctor) again on Monday.

The good news (and there always has to be good news to everything--right?) was that  I weighed in at 173 so I lost about 4 pounds from the last time I was at WW.  (I didn't go to WW this last Thursday because I was too sick. )  

And I enjoyed watching Brian race this morning, a bunch!  I ate sugarless hard candy and cheered him as he ran past.  Life is good!

 I lost another 2 tenths of a pound at WW this past week.  I was pretty happy about it because I had been obsessed about my presentation before the conference, ate 2 days of conference food--picking and choosing, and celebrated a successful presentation afterward.  I guess the main point of Weight Watchers is that it's about life choices and not diet.  For instance, at the conference dinner I ate three bites of a yummy fudge cake smothered in frosting and then pushed it away.  I didn't feel deprived and I feel that I can do that the rest of my life.  After the third bite, rich food generally doesn't taste as good to me.  I ate one-fourth of the meat lasagna (super-large piece) and wasn't hungry.  If I only lose 2 tenths of a pound each week for the rest of my life until I hit my ideal weight, sobeit.  Probably, after a l-o-n-g while, I'll only eat one or two bites of that fudge cake.

I was notified this week that three weekends ago when I spent Saturday and Sunday training and testing to be an outside dossier reviewer for New Mexico teachers (Level I, Level II, and Level III) that I made it!  I passed all three "calibrations" and I'm good for another year.  In fact, after my presentation at NM-IRA, our associate superintendent at the school district asked me to join her in giving a 2-1/2 hour program in licensure at a district inservice.  Whew.  I better stock up on inhalers.