Wednesday, September 25, 2013

ACROSS THE YEARS, ACROSS THE MILES

Look! I'm starting over again at A. Why stop now? Let's just keep the writing rolling.

That A is the title of a podcasting project I did with Lee, who is rocking it up in Israel this days. The project was awesome, to be honest. A really cool thing. Everyone who's ever heard of the project has loved it. I'm not bragging; I'm just being honest.

These days, I'm working on another cool project that is taking up all my time and kind of stressing me out. Not everyone who's ever heard of it loves it, but I'm trying to just be zen about the haters. They're not really haters, anyway. They're not even dislikers. I think they're just not-surers.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

ZONKED

Dan says it's like this every year with the total exhaustion in September.

"It's like an endurance sport," he said, referring to my job. "You eventually adjust to the mileage."

Of course, he's right. I do eventually adjust. This year, I'm trying to do an extra good job of taking care of myself at the outset. I've been eating really well, going to bed early, and meditating. Although today was my only opportunity to do a professional development session on a cool project we're doing in the sixth grade, I told my boss I just couldn't do it.

"I'm operating at full capacity right now," I told her. "I don't think I can go."

"Good for you," she said. In my performance reviews in the last two years, I've gotten recommendations about pacing myself and not doing too much. So, not only am I being pragmatic, I'm also taking feedback. Winning.

Friday, September 20, 2013

YOU CAME TO GET DOWN

It's the end of a long week, which means it's time to show the kids inappropriate movies. #happygilmore #taptaptaparoo

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

XCELLENT

On a walk with Shef the other night, and he asked me to quiz him. Name three European countries. Name three states that start with M. What's the capitol of Egypt? Stuff like that. It was rapid fire, and after about ten minutes, I felt like I couldn't think of any more questions.

"More!" Shef said.

"Okay," I said. "Name three Romance languages."

"Uh," he said. "'Sup, Ladies! and Call Me!"

Classic.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

WHOA


Almost once a day, I remember that I'm running the 2014 Boston Marathon. Each time I remember that fact, I have a moment of, "OMG, I can't believe this is really happening."

I have wanted to run Boston longer than I've wanted to do basically anything else. I started wanting to run Boston when I was 12. You have to qualify. I qualified once before in 2002, but I couldn't run the race (it would have been the 2004 running) because I gave birth to Shef instead. That was cool. I also wanted to do that. But, I'm just saying, I didn't start wanting to give birth to Shef when I was 12.

Dan and I are headed to marathon weekend together in April. I told him I'm doing it up right. For instance, I'm buying this jacket:


Saturday, September 14, 2013

VISITING & VERDICT

I meant to write this post last weekend: We went to the Mill City Farmers' Market and Museum last Saturday. It was idyllic. We ate our lunch on the steps of the Guthrie Theater and looked over the Mighty Mississip.

Between then and now, I've taught my first full week of school. It was invigorating, I have to say; but now I'm tired. Does that make sense? We also had Curriculum Night, and I got to meet and greet hundreds of parents. It's completely worthwhile, but also exhausting.

At this moment, everyone is probably dying to know about the sugar experiment. Remember last week when I wrote how sugar is poisonous, and I'm not going to eat it anymore?

I haven't eaten any sugary foods since then! I can't even believe it!

And, I am amazed by the results. I have no sugar cravings, I'm more energetic, and I've been eating as much as I want of everything else. Also, I've lost three pounds. There's no reason for me not to continue this new trend of low-sugar living.

Next on the "quit" list is Diet Coke because did you know that artificial sweeteners trigger the same insulin response as real sugar? Also, they're neurotoxins, whatever that means? But, I really love Diet Coke, so I'm not planning to do anything drastic at this juncture.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

UNAPPRECIATED



That's my new favorite song, "Lip Gloss" by Lil Mama. Shef taught me a super cool dance to this song, and I love to groove to it all around the family room. Unfortunately, my family is always harshing my vibe and breaking my dreams.

"Do you think Lil Mama would hire me to be a back-up dancer?" I wondered as I performed an expertly-modified Running Man.

"KC," Dan said, not looking up, "stop it. You're embarrassing us all."

Friday, September 6, 2013

TIRED

Ever talked to a teacher on a Friday night in September?

It's slow going.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

SUGAR

This is monumental.

I can't even believe I'm saying this.

I'm giving up sweets.

I'm a sugar fiend. I love candy. I love dessert. I love cream and SUGAR in my coffee. But, I've reading a book about healthy diets, and the jury is in: sugar is really, really bad for you. It ages you prematurely, it prompts a damaging insulin response that leads to metabolic syndrome and diabetes. I'm not obese, but did you know you don't actually have to be obese to develop insulin resistance? Also sugar is addictive and mood altering.

I'm sure there will be caveats and set backs. Like, on my birthday, I'm definitely having frosting. That kind of thing. For now, I'm committing to a week of treat-free living.

We'll see where this leads.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

ROBIN

There are so many reasons I love my job. One of them is that I work with the most awesome people, including our newest addition, Robin. Robin is a super-experienced teacher with tons of cool ideas. Lucky for me, it's my job to plan and strategize with her on a regular basis. Over lunch on Friday, I shared a challenge I'm experiencing: one of my 7th graders has really bad b.o. This has to be addressed.

"I'm going to have a girl-to-girl chat with her, and just give her some deodorant tips," I said.

"Oh," said Robin, "I don't like dealing with that one-on-one, so I usually just take out some deodorant from my desk drawer and put in on in front of the class."

"WHAT?!" I said.

"Yeah," she said. "I just say, 'Oh, my! I've gotten so sweaty today, I really feel like I need to reapply my deodorant.'"

I was stunned. "You put your deodorant on in FRONT OF THE CLASS?"

"Oh yeah," she said simply. "Then I say something like, 'You've probably noticed that as you're growing up, you start to smell a lot more easily. You'll probably want to keep some deodorant in your locker and just put it on from time to time.'"

"But what if the kids see your BRA?!" My mouth was hanging open at this point, I'm fairly sure.

"Oh, I just go under the shirt," Robin said, simply. "Too much?"