Wooden Spoon Wonders

I am a member of the cooking club of america, mostly because I think it is interesting to find out about the new products before they hit the market. I got an interesting email today about one such product…the banana bunker. I think that the link to the informative website should sum up my amusement with this product…

http://www.vat19.com/dvds/banana-bunker-protects-bananas.cfm?promo1

This year, the year I turned 30, has had a lot of firsts in it for me. Almost all of them have pointed at the fact that I have become a grown up. Not that I haven’t been a responsible, wage earning, bill paying member of society for a while now, but this year has been different.  Here are a list of firsts that have made me realize I am more of a grown up…

1. I was the adult that stayed overnight at the hospital with my grandma.

2. I was in 2 accidents, had to spend a lot of time at the chiropractor, and bought a new car, a station wagon…in preparation for #4.

3. I was the wage earner for my family (Philip and I).

4. We thought seriously about having babies, and then postponed it for a while. Then I watched as several close friends announced pregnancies and cheered for them.

5. We bought a house!

6. I had difficulty with some things at my job, but took it in stride instead of letting it wear me down.

7. I have hosted 3 dinner parties and had several people over for dinner at our new house. (All in the month since we moved in on August 7th!)

8. I am actually using the placemats and pampered chef items from the wedding that I have been saving for when our life starts.

Overall, it has been a year of great change. Sadness and triumph, and I can’t imagine what is still to come. Hopefully, you will find out too because I will remember to sit down and tell you.

I have thought that Hugh Jackman was super fabulous and talented for a long time. I am glad to see that the rest of the world is finally becoming aware!

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/peoples-sexiest-man-alive-hugh-jackman/15572?nc

At the encourgement of my dear friend I decided that it was time to write something here. There has been a lot of stuff going on, but at the same time nothing major. It seems like busyness is the only way that I know how to function. School is going great, and one nine weeks are already down. Weight watchers has not been going as well for me lately, but I have recommitted to writing it all down. That really makes the difference. I am going to a wedding today for a friend that I have lost touch with. I am glad that she still wanted me at her wedding, we were close at one time. She is a friend that I had for a season, but hoping that we can reconnect possibly. I hope that all of you are doing well, and I will try to think of something clever to come back here with next time.

It has been an interesting week. I celebrated Labor Day with friends and family, and then discussed funeral plans for a dear aunt. My grandma’s sister died this week, she was 94. She was a wonderful lady who lived a great long life, and although it was very hard to see her go, there was a peace about it. However, I found out on Wednesday, that a former colleague of mine died as well. She was only 59, and still teaching, and still living her life. I spent yesterday at my aunt’s funeral and left knowing that she was with God and felt ok about that. I started thinking about my colleague and was left to wonder. I never had a conversation about God with her. I don’t know about her relationship with the Lord or if there even was one there. I will go to her memorial service tomorrow with a small since of regret that I didn’t at least ask some time about her walk with God. I know that I get caught up in my own stuff at work and don’t always use the opportunities that God gives me to minister to people. I am going to try to do a better job of that in the future. I don’t want to have the feeling of missed opportunity again.

On a happier note, I am going to a friend’s baby shower tomorrow afternoon. She is going to have a little girl and I can’t wait to meet the sweet thing. It is a fitting end to a week of death, to be anticipating a new life.

I believe that the last time that I blogged about something it had to do with weight. I have continued to be with Weight Watchers since July, and have been mostly faithful to it. (Unlike my blog that has been untouched since then.) I recently surpassed the 20 lb mark and was very excited about my accomplishment. So excited that I bought a few new clothes and also ate a lot of food this week. I am still trying to control the very hungry person inside of me, which is really in my head. I know that I want to keep moving forward and finally work towards health. However, there is still a part of me that just wants to sit back and eat like I have for 29 years. I am not giving up though, I really want to change and I believe that this is the time that I am going to do it. I just need to keep reminding myself.

My grandma came down and spent a week with Philip and I this last week. It was a great week and we accomplished a lot. She is my work at school buddy and helps me when there is painting, organizing, or general cleaning needing to be done at my school room. This is the third time she has helped me paint in a school room and there have been more times cleaning than that. I think if she had another shot at life she might have been a teacher. All of that to say that I love her very much and genuinely enjoy being with her. She is 81 years old and doesn’t move as fast as she used to, but she is still very much a go getter. Her mind is sharp as a whip and she has a great sense of humor. I know that I am blessed to still get to spend time with her like I do. I have a dear friend that just found out her grandmother has cancer and has 6 months to live. I cannot imagine how she is handling this situation, but I am praying for her and her family. It just helps me realize how lucky I am to have my grandma still here and I am taking full advantage of her being around as long as I can.

In other news, I joined Weight Watchers again on July 3 because I want to make a change. I am pleased to report that I lost 9 pounds in my first week. I am not sure that will happen again, but I am glad to get off to such a strong start. I am feeling better a little already. Philip and I are going to find the gym this week, we both need it and I am going to be the motivation. I will let you know how that turns out. I appreciate the support of my friends who are also embarking on this adventure and look forward to when we can see less of each other soon…

I can’t believe that I have already been married for a year (as of Monday 6/16 I am just late getting it here). It is crazy that it has flown by so fast. There is no way to describe how completely different it has been from what I had in mind, and at the same time so much the same. I know that me personally, I have added about 15 pounds to our relationship and my better half is probably not far behind. What can I say we love to eat, and I love to cook. I just need to find the delicate balance of cooking what is good for us and then not indulging too much. On that thought I am working on the motivation to get healthier. Although when I had blood work done in January, the doc said I was doing great, I know that my good fortune won’t hold out forever. I would love to be able to go to regular stores and buy the clothing there without worrying about it being just too small. I also would love to just be able to go to an amusement park and ride the rides without the fear that I won’t fit in the seat (happened before and not a good feeling). I also would just love to know that it is ok to enjoy food, but there are other things to enjoy as well. I have enlisted a couple of friends for motivation and encouragement exchanges, I pray that we are successful in our venture. I too was looking at old pictures and remembering how I used to think that I was just huge, and think about how I am so much bigger than that now. I am going to use those for motivation to know that I can be smaller if I work at it. I will keep you updated on the progress, but for now here is a picture of me at one of my most fabulous moments…

P.S. WordPress hates me and I can’t get my wedding picture to upload, but I will try more later.

Ok, so I am a fan of a great chick flick, and when someone recommended PS I love you, I thought I would give it a whirl. Well, I am glad to say that I am happy I was home alone. There was an embarrassing display of emotion flowing from my eyes and nose that I could not stop. The story is a sweet idea, but it was just so emotional. I haven’t cried like that over a movie since I saw Stepmom in the theater. People were asking my mom and grandma if I was ok, because I was having an embarrassing display of emotion then too.

My other gripe about the movie would be for women overall. I understand that there are people who meet by  chance and fall in love and have the kind of great love that transcends death. It is hard to imagine that kind of romantic chivalry in the day to day life of doing dishes and laundry though. Yet again, Hollywood has set women up to fail. Ok, well enough with the negative, overall, it was a sweet and touching love story.

On another note, I saw Sex and the City again tonight. That is a really great tribute to the series and makes me want them to come back. However, what strikes me about that movie is that the relationships seem more real because there are flaws. I believe both women that struggled with man problems to be very strong and brave. I am not sure that I would have been quite so forgiving. Still worth seeing though.

Hope that you are all doing well.

So every year that I have been teaching I have dreaded April because of state testing. You should not have to feel like your whole career depends on what happens over 4 days in one month, but it can really be stressful. Well at my old school the results of those tests were never stellar and after three years of teaching there, I began to wonder if it was more me than the children that were not doing their best.  When I came to my new school, I brought that insecurity and baggage with me. It continued this year as I did things differently than some of the more seasoned teachers and I often wondered what that would mean when the test scores came in. I recieved a phone call today from my principal who told me that our test scores were in, and then she put me on hold to change phones. With this pause I was sure she was about to tell me sorry we can’t use you next year because the bottom fell out. However, much to my pleasant surprise, she informed me that the preliminary scores for our grade were excellent. We had a 98% passing rate in Reading and 100% passing rate in Math. I am not sure how my specific students faired, but apparently not too bad. At least now I feel like I am a little more on solid footing for next year. Not that I am going to rest on my laurels, just believe it when people say that I am a good teacher. I already knew it from the smiles on the kids faces, but it is good to see it from a standardized point of view as well.