Midweek Confessions

Hey everyone! Just a quick check-in with the one thing I seem to be good at: Midweek Confessions!

1. I left home today without my cell phone. I noticed when I was about 7 minutes down the road & wanted to call my mom like I do every day. After a quick mental calculation, I realized that turning back to retrieve my phone would equate to me being late, so a day without my phone was ahead of me. I can't tell you how many times I either looked for it or wanted to add something to my grocery list & couldn't! I did manage to get a message to my mom by emailing her cell, and I asked her to text the hubs. Which brings me to confession 2

2.  I don't know my husband's phone number. Recently, the bank gave me a "new access code" for my financial downloads. I used it 4 times before I realized it was his number. Probably something I need to commit to memory!

3. I've been working really hard on my New Year's ReVolution to not stop at Starbucks more than once per week. (I modified that to mean I also can't stop and get a frappe from McDonalds either.) I've been saving up a free drink star for a day I really thought I would need it (and if you are a Starbucks frequenter & don't know what this means, message me. It's life changing!) Tuesday morning I was dragging around, while also knowing it was my morning for duty (read: my morning to be at work 10 min early & spend the 30 min before the kids arrive monitoring the hall) and also recognizing that I had a set of copies to make for 1st block because the packets I sent off a week earlier hadn't arrived. So Tuesday was an excellent candidate. I ordered a very specific Iced Venti Nonfat No Whip Caramel Flan Latte, got it for free, and reveled in a few small sips on the road. As I walked through my classroom, I set my coffee down, turned to set my back down, and knocked my coffee on the floor. I stood in shock as my entire gorgeous free caffeine spilled out, and then spent the next 10 minutes cleaning it up. Thankfully, my secret pal had given me some glass bottle frappachinos earlier, which I had been using as emergency drinks. I had ONE left. It's now gone. 

3. Today, day 6 with my new students, was the first day I have been able to look at each of my students and know their names. Very sad. To my defense, the first "week" went as follows: 2 hr delay, closed for polar vortex, closed for polar vortex, regular day, 2 hr delay. It was rough. In those 3 school days, we had 3 different bell schedules. 

4. On the first day of the semester, I miscounted the bells and only sent my kids to lunch when my classroom mate came to get hers out of her desk. On the third day, I thought I had been counting correctly, but a hallmate accidentally let hers out a bell early, so I did too. This split class for lunch thing is going to take some getting used to. I've never had that as a teacher!

5. On Monday, I left a new recipe in the crock pot. After arriving home, we went to Mcdonalds because I misread the instructions and cooked it til the cheese burned. On Tuesday, after the sadness of my coffee incident, I ordered curbside takeaway at Outback. Today, I grabbed one of those rotisserie chickens, and fixed Spanish rice & Carrots to go with it. Only problems: I didn't actually turn the burner on for the carrots & the leg/thigh area of one side of the chicken looked like this 

Gross. 

6. E said, "hey do 10 quick things" and I have, now 6, long ones. Why? Idk. Maybe I'm an oversharer with a poor memory. 

Taking a cue from E: on a positive note: I've been to the gym 6 times in 2014 already, including 2 consecutive days this week! I'm also noticing that I am getting more full than I used to despite smaller portions! Also, I feel better physically. I'm still clutzy & forgetful, but hey, I can only hope for so much right?

Also, and this is more to spread a laugh than anything else: I have this desk chair that was D's that he took to college. It has a design flaw that means that if you lean back to rest, you'll find yourself on the floor. To my knowledge, 4 students and myself have all done so this year. I even sent 2 kids to get me a newer, free, and still design flawed desk chair so it wouldn't happen to me, but have kept the other one for, well, I'm not sure why. But the kids sit in it, and some make a game of seeing how far they can lean back without tipping. I should probably get rid of it before someone cracks their head. 

Don't forget to head over to emyselfandi.com to check in on other midweek confessions!

New Year's ReVolutions

So, you know those commercials with the man who sits and talks to the little kids? I think it's a series for a cellular company? Anyways, I love them. A recent one has a little boy who says you need to keep your New Year's revolutions (instead of resolutions). While the man makes fun of him for misspeaking, I think the boy has a point. 

The decisions we make for the new year should be lifestyle changes. Turning some aspect of our lives around. Isn't that exactly what a revolution is? A change? 

So here's my list Revolutions. I'm not usually the resolution kind of girl, particularly since I don't follow through well, but I'm going to try. And I'm recording it here to hopefully hold myself more accountable. I've also added the "biggest hurtle" I see that I need to overcome. 

1. Stay on top of the household chores. I've mentally made a schedule that includes Mop Monday, Tubs & Toilets Tuesday, and Wipe down Wednesday. Stay tuned for a more detailed list. Biggest hurtle: I'm the laziest housekeeper, and I hate it. 

2. Lose weight. Or more specifically, drop 15 pounds before the end of the semester (5/31). I've added 20 pounds since I graduated college in 2007. I would say I've gained 15 of those since January 2012. It's terrible. To combat this:

2a.  Drink more water. Not the ridiculously high recommended 64 oz a day, but at least half of that. (And as of 8:30 tonight, I'm at all of 16. Great start, huh?) Biggest hurtles: I hate water; I have a profession which does not allow me to pee when I want; I live 45 minutes from work. 

2b. Make the gym a priority. Prior to today, I hadn't run since the first week of August. Shameful, and I was feeling pretty crummy. Today I restarted my 5K running plan, and added in some weight work. I'm not saying I'll go to the gym every day, I'm setting an early goal of 2 days a week, and hoping to find time for a third day. Hurtle: I've had the same gym membership all fall, and I drove right by the gym every single day without stopping in the fall. 

2c. Take a multivitamin. If you are asking why, then you should probably be taking one also. We eat terribly (example: tonight's stuffed green peppers via Pinterest were delicious, but we both, separately, at Mexican out for lunch. I got a cheese quesadilla and a cheese Enchilada. And cheese dip). My mom & every doctor I've ever had tells me I should supplement my terrible diet with a multivitamin. And probably make changes to my terrible diet. One year at a time folks. Biggest hurtles: I am the world's worst at remembering to take medicine if I feel fine (like, I never finish a bottle of antibiotics on time). Also, most people take vitamins in the morning. When I take medicine in the morning, vitamins included, I vomit. Every time. I will have to try and remember to take them with supper. Today, day one of vitamin taking, I remembered as I typed this. 

3. Spend less. We just bought a truck, and we've got to be better at budgeting now. Item #1 to go: my Starbucks visits, which were getting all too frequent. I'm officially limiting myself to 1 visit per week, even on weeks like next week when I'll have a free drink! Hopefully, this will serve 2 purposes: limit our spending, and limit my caloric intake thus applying to revolution 2. Biggest hurtles:  spending less means cooking more, which is not my forte. Also, I convieniently pass 2 Starbucks' on my drive into work, and can make a 3rd "on the way" in a pinch. 

4. Read the Bible. Which is probably shocking to many who know me well. I'm not an atheist or anything, but I'm not exactly spiritual. I can't tell you the last time I went to church, but I feel like I haven't been since I have known D, and I met him in 2008. Reading the Bible is something I've always had interest in. I have a Bible App, which has a plethora of daily reading plans. I was fairly diligent in reading an advent devotional throughout December, so yesterday, I started one that tackles the Entire Bible in one year, with a chronological viewpoint. (Honestly, I kinda thought that the Bible was chronological for the most part, so I don't really know how that will work out.) Biggest hurtle: making this a habit. 

So that's it. Just 4. Well, 4+.  And that's 3 more than I've ever had before. 

What have you decided to do for 2014?