Quote of the day:

“You know you’re old when you pull a muscle in your back while putting on your pants.” – me

Yes, sad but true; the above
quote is based on a true story.  Somehow while getting dressed the
other morning I managed to do a number on my back and, as a result, was
sore all day.  Am I really that old already?

   I think I’ll have to pick this one up!

Today and for the next three days I am participating in a training for
school.  It was great … good info, continental breakfast,
catered lunch, and even cookies for an afternoon snack.  But,
sitting with a first year teacher makes me feel so old.  I can’t
believe I am already entering year ten!  I remember when I was the
youngest, and I was the one who made everyone else feel old. 
Where has the time gone?

But,
I guess I have to be grateful for what I have.  Love is one thing
that can’t be engineered.  And being queen of the 3-year-long
breakup doesn’t really help matters either; I seem to have a hard time
shaking ’em. I guess that’s what happens when I let my life live itself
and don’t listen to my head.  But, that’s a story for another day.

My words to live by for today …

“Do not regret growing older; it is a privilege denied to many.” – anonymous

Quote of the day:

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” – John Muir

In the mountain communities that are only about 1 1/2 hours away I
could afford a house for half of what my condo is worth.  I would
then have a house with a tiny mortgage and, hence, less financial
pressure.  I would be away from the hustle, bustle, stress,
artificiality, and smog of LA.   They have a great school
district, so a job wouldn’t be too hard to find. So what’s keeping me
here?

3bd, 2ba home in Big Bear for half of what my 2bd, 2ba condo is worth

For one, my family is about ten minutes away.  If I moved, I
wouldn’t be able to drive over there at the drop of a hat to check out
a sister’s new hairdo, or read their People magazine, or graze in their
kitchen.  I also wouldn’t be able to be there at a moment’s notice
in case of an emergency. 

For my whole life, my greatest fear has been that something will happen
to my mom.  That’s a long story, but the upshot is that’s why I’m
living here in the first place.  Part of me feels that as long as
I’m here, everything will be okay, and, being the “responsible” one in
the family, so far that has been the case.

1bd, 1ba home in my area … costs double what the one above costs

But when a “great starter home”
in my area is half a million bucks (sorry, but I don’t see myself
spending half a million for anything referred to as a “cute doll
cottage”), the temperature is supposed to reach 108 degrees today(only 80 in
the mountains), and traffic is horrendous, it’s hard not to be
tempted.  Maybe I need to convince all my family and friends to
move with me … then we could all be “granola” together!

Quote of the day:

“What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.” – Will Rogers

Am I the only one
who finds the proliferation of porn in the country alarming?  For
school I started making these nifty slideshows to help teach vocabulary
words.  Google image search has been a great resource, but almost
every word I search turns up people letting it all hang out, so to
speak.  Even the most innocuous words … like stretch or tiptoe
… bring up less than wholesome images. 

The year before last I told the kids to write on the topic “Three
things I hate about _______.”  One of my boys wrote “Three Things
I Hate About Porn.”  Hello?    Well,
of course I had to delve into this one.  He explained that his
older sister accidentally downloaded a pornographic picture.  As
it was loading, they realized what it was and he covered his eyes and
started screaming, “Turn it off! Make it stop!”  See?  Even
kids are sick of it.   It makes me wonder when the novelty is
gonna wear off for grownups.

I
know I can’t change the world, but I can request to those who “share”
so liberally on the Internet,  “Could you please put your
protuberances away while I’m doing my schoolwork or at least name the
evidence something suitably sleazy?”  Thanks.

Quote of the day: 
    “Never put off until tomorrow what you can put     off indefinitely.”

On
the total body makeover front: I did manage a half hour on the bike
this morning, did eat breakfast, and did make the eating cutoff.  But,
I still haven’t found my weights, so the rest of the program is still
on hold.



I’m taking a group of students
to the nature center tomorrow for a summer field trip.  And, of course,
after a lovely mild first month of summer, we are suddenly having a
heatwave this week.  It is supposed to be 102 degrees tomorrow!  I think the hiking portion of tomorrow’s activities will be very short.

I
went to a friend’s wedding on Saturday.  She is the last of my
high school friends to get married … well, actually, I am the
last.  We’ve been friends for almost 20 years.  Back then she
swore that she would never get married because she wanted to focus on a
career.   Maybe that’s what it takes.  Maybe I should
swear I’ll never get married too! 

Anyway, the wedding
was lovely but loooooonnnnnngggg!  The ceremony lasted about 15
minutes, but the reception was a Chinese banquet and lasted about six
hours.  The first course was a whole roasted suckling pig. 
This was my
fifth Chinese wedding but my first time seeing pig served instead of
duck.  What surprised me was that only the skin from the back was
eaten.  The whole baby pig was sacrificed just for its skin. 
After the pieces of skin were finished, the waiters took the pig away.    It
isn’t that I was looking forward to eating the whole pig, but it all
seemed so wasteful, especially considering that there were 50 tables
and a pig for each table.  Poor pigs…

So, I’m the last one left still single, but I guess it could be worse.  I could be a roasted suckling pig.

Oh … and still on Ch. 2 and back at Week 1 … AGAIN.

Summer is finally here, and
the summer projects have begun.  I learned after nearly losing my
sanity last summer, that a summer of nothing doesn’t work for me. 
I have to have purpose.  So … this summer I am working on
getting my real estate license just to have something to do.  The
class is online and at my own pace, though, and so far, my pace has
been snail-like.  They sent me a huge telephone book sized
textbook.  I eagerly read Ch. 1 which was all about how wonderful
California is and thought, “Hey, this is gonna be a piece of
cake!”  Well, Ch. 2 turned out to be infinitely more difficult
than Ch. 1 so I’ve been taking a big long break. 



Project number two is to
finally actually get less flabby.  I bought Bob Greene’s total
body makeover book used from Amazon, read it in a couple days, and then
put it on my coffee table where it is now gathering dust. 

I actually like the plan
because it doesn’t really involve any convoluted dieting … just five
simple rules that all seem to make good sense.

        1.  Eat breakfast.

          2.  Abstain from alcohol.

          3.  Drink at least six 8-oz. glasses of water a day.

          4.  Have an eating cutoff time at least two hours before going to bed.

          5.  Be conscious of what you eat and why you are eating it.

Sounds pretty simple, eh?



Well, I’ve got the eating
part down; the hard part is the exercise regime.  It involves six
days a week of cardio and what Bob calls functional exercises and three
days of strength training a week.  Got started all gung ho and
then couldn’t find my weights. 



Of course that meant that I
had to clean my closet.  Cleaning my closet meant getting rid of
lots of old clothes, and getting rid of old clothes led to shopping for
new clothes which, in turn, led to a big mess of shopping bags and
clutter all over the bedroom.  And then, of course, buyer’s
remorse sets in and the vicious cycle of “shopping bulimia”
begins.  Binge and purge … half the new clothes need to be
returned to the store, half of those end up being exchanged for
something else that catches my eye instead of getting returned. 
New purchases are brought home, mulled over, and then returned
again.  And I still haven’t found my weights.



So, I’m back to square one
… or actually week one of the 12-week plan.  In 12 short weeks
I’m supposed to be a whole new me, but apparently Bob Greene may have
bitten off more than he can chew in my case.