200th Post

I wanted my 200th post to be.....

Monumental!


Epic!


Life Changing!


Sigh.  I got nothin.


I'm sitting here on the couch watching Missouri Valley Conference basketball, snacking on semi-sweet chocolate chips (out of the bag) and just trying to feel something close to normal.

The past week has been rough. I haven't been "sick", but just run-down. The weather, school, Stats class, the weather, basketball, lack of exercise, THE WEATHER, have all been wearing on me and there are times where I just want a few minutes to just breathe.

Towards the end of the week my tank was running on empty. Friday I wanted to stay home from school so badly, but I was out Thursday for a math curriculum meeting, so I sucked it up and went. In the afternoon I felt a migraine coming on, so I took some "magic" pills as I call them and fortunately they worked. Having the bell right at the end of the day was music to my ears.

I did end up feeling good enough to go play rec league volleyball on Friday night. Did I overdo it? Sure, I always do, but at least it was physical activity, which I haven't had since Monday.

Today, my day has consisted of sleeping late, getting out with Matt to shovel the driveway (it snowed last night) and trying to stay hydrated. We have a women's basketball game tonight and I'd like to be able to enjoy the game.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should go take a nap.

Polar Vortex 2 - Electric Boogaloo

I've lived in Iowa for 18 years and this is the first time I can remember thinking - I'm really sick of winter.

Just over it.

The winter of 1995 was exceptionally cold. I was young and stupid. I thought, "if this is the worst this state can throw at me, I'm good."

So naive. So dumb.

I feel like this winter has just kicked me in the nether regions and keeps coming back for more.

Everything aches. My hands and feet are in a perpetual state of numbness from the cold. It often feels like I'm breathing ice water.

This morning the temperature hovered around -11 and honestly, I don't know if it even got up to 0. Our district had a two-hour late start because of the cold. I was hoping and praying for them to just call the day off.

No such luck.

I was so ready to just have a day where I could do a little catching up on paperwork while in my grubbies.

Nope.  Not today.

And to add that cherry on top, the kids were, um, "ripe". That's the thing about middle school kids - hygiene is a tertiary concern.

I'm going to be out of class tomorrow as the math department is doing observations in another district of math curriculum that we are looking at adopting.  Tonight, it's my statistics class.

And all I want is to be somewhere warm.

TMI QUESTIONS: SUPER BOWL XLVIII

Yay!!! TMI Questions have returned!!!  Very appreciative to Sean for posting these.

SUPER BOWL XLVIII
1. Do you know who's playing in this year's Super Bowl?

Well, the Denver Broncos, champions of the AFC (American Football Conference) will play the Seattle Seahawks from the NFC (National Football Conference.  The game will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.  The Broncos have the leagues #1 rated offense and the Seahawks have the #1 defense.

Um, so yeah, I know who's playing.  LOL

2. Do you watch the Super Bowl for the game, uniforms, commercials or food?

If I have a team playing in the Super Bowl (49ers, Buccaneers, or the Chargers), then yes, I'm interested in the game. But normally I watch for the commercials and cute players. Our friend Jenny has a Super Bowl / Birthday party every year and we always have good food and way too much of it.  




3. What's your favorite food?

I'm a sucker for a chili con queso dip. Spicy warm cheese with meat in it?!  What's not to love?!



4. Are you entered into any Super Bowl Pools?

Nah.  I don't wager on any of that sort of stuff.

5. If you don't watch the big game, do you do something else?

If I were doing something else, it would probably be grading papers, be at the gym or reading.  

6. What sports do you watch?

In no particular order ---- women's and men's college basketball, football (college and pro, baseball, hockey, soccer, Olympics (love curling), volleyball, tennis, and rugby.

Jason Witten - my favorite Tight End 

BONUS


Are you the Quarterback or the Receiver?  Wide Receiver or Tight End. Take your pick. :-)

Oh My Aching Head

I've caught the head cold that's making the rounds.

Great.

I went to bed last night all ready to go to the gym first thing and then to our district professional in-service (technology edition). Then off to my weekly training session with my trainer Kyle.

At least, that was the plan.

I woke up with my head feeling like it was stuck in a vice. Oh no.

Hoping that maybe a little extra sleep would help, I crawled back under the covers and closed my eyes. An hour later I'm debating whether or not to even go to the in-service.

I ended up going. Heavily mediated mind you.

Fortunately the drugs made the day bearable. I attended session covering "Flipped Classrooms", "Twitter for Teachers" and... "Blogging for Teachers" (one that I coulda taught). I did pick up some great information, but by the afternoon, I was dragging. We were given time to "collaborate"... and listen, but my coworkers looked at me and told me to get outta there, head home and get some sleep.

I gotta say I'm not normally a nap person, but today it was just what I needed. I crawled into bed and napped for about 3 hours. Tonight it's a hit of Nyquil and a good night's sleep (hopefully).

Tomorrow's a busy day - gym, school, haircut, basketball and it's Mom's birthday, so we're taking her out to dinner. Gotta feel my best.

Sunday Selfie - Football and Grading

It's been a fairly quiet weekend.  I spent the majority of today grading papers and doing laundry. It's the end of the semester at school and I'm needing to get my grades recorded so that I can drop my grades tomorrow afternoon.  

Honestly, I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't get things graded sooner. The weather was beautiful today and it would have been nice to get outside and go for a walk and get some fresh air.  But because of my procrastinations, I had to spend the day indoors.  

Got no one to blame but me. 

Matt's been sick this weekend with a head cold, so we haven't been able to get out and do much. But last night I did have the opportunity to have dinner with new friends. I met Paul through a mutual friend on Facebook and he threw a get together last night at his house. It was a very fun evening, full of good food and great conversation.  

Tonight Matt and I watched the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.  Both of us are Niners fans, so we were hopeful that the team could win on the road and head to a 2nd straight Super Bowl. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. :-( 

Justin Smith of the San Francisco 49ers. WOOF!

This year I'll be watching the Super Bowl primarily for the commercials. Unless of course the teams decide to play shirtless. Then I'll be MUCH more interested.

Of course the game is being played outdoors in New Jersey, so I'm guessing that's not going to happen.

Time to get ready for the week!

Crushing It

This morning I hit the elliptical machine hard.  For the past few weeks, my goal has been to burn 500 calories in 35 minutes - a little over 14 calories a minute.

I've been busting through the 500 calorie barrier pretty regularly. Including my 5 minute cool down, I could never quite hit 600 calories over the entire 40 minutes - until today. 

I smashed the 600 calorie barrier - 622 today! At first I didn't even realize that I came within a breath of doing 4 miles.  

Tomorrow I may be trying something new.  You'll just have to wait to find out what. :-)

The Man I Want To Be

I'm tired. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted. The kids were kinda crazy at school today, I'm starting a Statistics class through the local community college and we've got a hell of wind blowing snow around outside.

But I needed to write.

Not my dentist, but
this guy reminds me
a lot of him. 

Yesterday I got my teeth cleaned.  I used to hate going to the dentist. I had bad experiences as a kid and for a number of years I avoided going all together. Finally I got to the point where I had to go. I was fortunate to meet my present dentist (I've been going to him for going on 14 years now). He's a great dentists and well, he's kinda easy on the eyes.

Not gonna lie - he makes going to the dentist A LOT easier.

I've been to the gym almost every morning this week and I've been feeling good about it. My workouts have been strong and for some reason, my body has been waking up early. I guess to make sure that I get my fat ass to the the gym.

Today I had the opportunity to chat with "Le Sigh" again. We're both fans of the San Francisco 49'ers and with the NFC Championship coming up this Sunday, we stopped to talk about what to expect. He was wearing a tight black "Under Armour" style shirt and it took everything I had in my to not allow things to "pop up". I also got his name. :-)

Seeing both my dentist and "Le Sigh" really made me think about what it is in them that I find so appealing. They're strong, confident and just all around "guys". I think I'm a little jealous because to me they represent the "jocks" or the "popular" guys. Both of them are around my age, so it hurts me a bit that I see men who are my age and yet in such different place physically.

I was never part of the "in" crowd in high school or college and I desperately ached to be. In a lot of ways I'm still that insecure kid aching to belong. I think in a lot of ways I haven't allowed myself to create the body that I want to have because I never felt deserving of it.

With the help of my husband and friends, along with some helpful hypnosis, I'm slowly realizing that I can build the body I desire because I deserve it.