Crocheting

After being inspired by my visiting teacher, Kensie,  I decided that I wanted to learn how to crochet sometime in my life, preferably sooner rather than later.  This Christmas break, I noticed that my mother-in-law can crochet and does so often, so I asked if she would teach me.  After the first few rows of stumbling my way through and trying to find a rhymthm, I realized it would probably look better if I stopped, took it out and started again.  As I was doing so, I ran into a snag and had to cut the yarn.

So then I was REALLY starting from scratch.  After working on it for about four hours Saturday and a little bit of time yesterday morning, this is what's I have so far.

 Then I worked on it a bit after church and through the evening. This is what it looks like now:

And I am so proud of it, messed up stitches and all.

Sick today

I've been fighting a cold since Monday. Today I decided I would actually try to get better rather than pushing myself through school.  It always amazes me and annoys me every time I'm sick and realize, "I can't just not go in, I have to do something so that my kids can still learn." I'm sure other jobs require some planning or something if you can't go into the office but for teachers you HAVE to have plans for a sub even if you're throwing up with the flu. 

In some ways (especially on sick days) it's incredibly annoying.

On other days it's kind of neat to think that I am, for those kids in my class, indispensable. Or at least my training, education, and the presence of a competent adult in the classroom.  But if I didn't write sub plans most subs wouldn't know what to do exactly and my students would try to help but probably wouldn't learn much that day.

Bottom line is: I don't like being sick. I don't like writing sub plans. BUT, I do like knowing that I am an integral part of my students' education.

Don't respond with hate

Normally I keep my political discussions between Cody and me. However, this is an instance where I want everyone to know that I don't believe in hate. Just because some people made a horrible, horrible decision, doesn't mean that I think that all Libyans, all Muslims, all Arabs are bad people. In fact, I believe most of them are all good, faithful, peaceful people, just like most Americans, just like most of the world.

Usually the news stations only focus on the negative: the American Ambassador in Libya was killed by some angry Libyans in response to an anti-Muslim movie made by an amateur California filmmaker.

However, the news probably won't show this and I think that this aspect is equally as important to know about.

Hate as a reaction to hate doesn't change anything, more people are hurt and nothing gets solved or fixed as a result of responding that way.  Don't check your religion at the door about this or other acts of hate.

In full swing

School has been in full swing for the past 3 1/2 weeks.  It's crazy to think about that sometimes.  I've been enjoying it a lot so far and have found it amazing how different classes and groups of kids can be from year to year.  I loved my class last year, but I think that this class will also have a special place in my part.

I've started my job as the PR person at my school, I wrote and posted two articles today. I was able to benchmarks yesterday and see where all my students are at reading-wise at the beginning of the school year.  I should be starting some reading groups next week to start helping them become more successful readers.

I've also been running for 4 1/2 weeks now.  I ran 5 miles on Saturday, the first time I've done that since my freak run back in April and before that I think it was a year, maybe longer.  I'm scheduled to run 6 miles this Saturday.  I should be able to keep on at this pace and run 10 miles by the second week of October. It's really exciting to be adding those miles up and I've found it helping to reduce stress.

When Cody and I went grocery shopping last week, we also bought a bag of Cheetos. They've been tempting me for the past three or four weeks and I finally gave in. This week was the best week to give in because of all the meetings I have.  Not only do I have running to reduce stress but I have Cheetos to make my soul happy.

Tired...

The past week has been really good. School started, I have a great class, I've been running regularly, Cody has been back, and Cody's family was here to drop off two of Cody's siblings for school at BYU.  It was great spending time with them.

Yet, even though the week has been good, man I have been tired today. So tired! I woke up tired, I guess I shook off a lot of the tiredness when I was at school, but as soon as school ended--BAM!--hit with the tired again.

Also, the last count for the number of students interested in being in French Club (after school program I'm in charge of) was 44.  FORTY-FOUR STUDENTS!! Aghhh! Hopefully some kind BYU students will want to come volunteer and help me out.

That satisfying feeling...

You know that satisfying feeling when you're standing in a room talking to someone else and a former student comes to the door to say hi and chat for a few minutes? Yeah, I love that. It means I did something right.

Trying to be healthy

The past month and a half I've been taking a deeper look at my nutrition and overall health. Cody and I started walking about four times a week which has been so fun for us, in addition to our Sunday strolls. We've been in the habit of eating fruits and vegetables since we started cooking together fourteen months ago.  I also started taking a multi-vitamin a few weeks ago.

And yet my problem of almost ridiculous tiredness persists, as does my problem with headaches.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday for a general check-up exam and to discuss my headaches with him.  He recommended having a routine blood-check since I had never had one and it would be good to check for diabetes, anemia, etc.  The overall doctor's visit was rather negative and I'll be looking for a different doctor because he made me feel incompetent, but I did leave feeling like what I had been trying to do to have a healthy life was working, but that there were still some things that I should try.

While the doctor's seemingly only answer to how to help my headaches was to take medicine for them (and if it gets to that point in frequency and/or severity, I'll do it), I feel like there is still more that I want to try before getting to that point.

After the new year for health insurance starts on September 1 I'm going to try and see a chiropractor which will hopefully help with my cracky body and headaches.  I think that a lot of my headaches are caused by the tension that my body is in a lot of the time.  And perhaps that is why I am sleepy a lot of the time too; I'm not getting the best possible rest at night because of the fight that happens between my muscles and bones when I'm sleeping.

I also started reading French Women Don't Get Fat a book that I first became aware of my junior year of high school when my French teacher, Kristin Lee, was reading it.  I was intrigued but stayed away from it because I didn't want people to think that I thought I was fat (which I don't, by the way).  I decided to get over those worries and checked the book out from the local library because my friend, Dana, said that it changed the way that she looks at food, cooking, and eating.  While I think I'm an average healthy cooker and consumer, it can always get better.

As I started reading the book this morning, I've really enjoyed it. It is written in prose and starts with the author sharing her adolescent experience when she gained 15 pounds on an exchange student experience in Weston, Massachusetts and how horrified she was when she came back to France a year later and her eating habits led her to gain another ten pounds in three months.  She shares some of the "old French tricks" that her family doctor shared with her: balancing pleasure and need.

I know that I don't need to worry about losing 35 pounds at all, but I'm excited to start looking at more healthy ways to cook, eat, and to view myself.  She focuses on equilibrium (which I'm a proponent for, especially since my body has pretty good techniques for trying to keep me balanced) and not on weight;  it's about how you feel in your clothes and your overall self-image.  Of course, weighing yourself every few weeks is fine, but it should be confirming what you already feel about yourself by looking in the mirror and seeing your body change.

I hope that as I try to research less sugar, less buttery, more vegetable-y, more fruity, and more serving-size portions that some of my fatigue problem will lessen or leave completely.

And that's all I have to say about that.