Things of all sorts

The annoying thing about being a grown up is that when you are vacuuming and realize that the vacuum is not sucking it is you and you alone who must flip it on it's side, take scissors to it and pull out enough hair to make a disgusting wig. 

The awesome thing about dry clean only clothes is that when you get them back they are not only clean, but pressed perfectly. I am terrible about taking my clothes in the the dry cleaner and about ironing in general, but when I got back skirts and shirts that look better than they did when I bought them, I can't wait to wear them and I am in fact glad that they are dry clean only.

The annoying thing about lift class tonight was that the instructor didn't even do the workout with us. She walked around and assisted and then would demonstrate with a bar that had no weight on it. She kept saying, "It's your workout, not mine." Listen. It makes it more bearable if we are all suffering together. When you say, "four more!" I can tolerate it because you are doing it too. When you are just standing there and say "four more!" I want to punch you in the face. Except I can't because my arms are so fatigued from the millions of reps we just did.

It's beginning to look a lot like August

I kind of forgot I had a blog. Huh.

So, for whatever reason I have been on an organizational rampage this week. I think it comes from my annual need to get my act together in August. August is when I finally make all my doctor and dentist appointments so I don't have to go when I am working. But this year I extended my to-do list into territory of my house. This week I have...

-cleaned out my closet

-cleaned out my dresser (HOW do I accumulate so many t-shirts? I swear they mate and reproduce in there...)

-re-organized and cleaned out my CD rack, DVD drawers, and bookshelves

-Cleaned out jewelry box and organized all earrings into pairs

-bought canisters for my flour, sugar etc.

-bought a lazy susan for all of our spices

-rearranged some of the kitchen drawers

-took in a crapload of dry cleaning (including my coats, which I swear I've probably never had cleaned. Maybe I shouldn't admit that in a public forum, but oh well.)

-cleaned out and re-organized all toiletries (which mostly involved throwing away expired medicine.)

-Re-organized linen closet

-Cleaned out my car, including glove compartment (no small feat, but this is the one I most want to keep up with)

And I can't stop. Tomorrow I am washing all the dish towels and pot holders, vacuuming, and hanging more things on my walls. I would like to think that if I can get everything organized before school starts, I will somehow be able to maintain it throughout the year. I would really really like to be that organized and just do the maintenance, however generally this falls apart. Clean laundry ends up stacked on my bed instead of hung up. Books overflow into all the nooks and crannies of my room. Dirty clothes end up on the floor. Jewelry is taken off all over the house instead of being placed in my jewelry box. But, since it's August, I am pretending that I will be able to maintain this. Just like I am pretending that I will only wear jeans on Fridays to work this school year. Sigh. Check in with me in November-we'll see how I do this Fall.

Do you not know, have you not heard?

Attention concert-goers: When the band stops playing their song, says thank you, and exits the stage, the concert is not over. There is this crazy thing called an "encore." We all play along and clap until the band returns, when we cheer even louder, feigning surprise, and they play two to three more songs. You should come to expect this. And, they are usually some of the bands biggest hits that you want to hear. So, sit back, relax. Your car will still be there and leaving isn't really going to make traffic that much easier. If the lights are not on, the concert is not over.

This has been a public service announcement.

Boxes

Monday I kayaked.

Tuesday I spun.

Wednesday I yoga'd.

Thursday I surfed.

Friday I biked.

This summer I have turned over a new leaf and have decided to be active as much as possible. The nice thing about not working is that I have plenty of time to explore new hobbies, go to the gym, and try to fulfill my goal of being in the best shape of my life.

I was never athletic growing up. The only sport I ever played was volleyball in 7th grade-they needed one more player to form a team and my friend Hannah convinced me to join. To give you an indication of my skill level, I actually thought it was called "Ballyball" until the day I saw the sign up sheet in the girls locker room. It did not go well from there.

I dabbled in dance in high school, but only to get out of PE, and once that was done, so was I. My friends swam; I took pictures of them for the yearbook. My friends played water polo; I wrote an article about the water polo team for the school newspaper. You get the idea.

So, I've always thought that I just wasn't a sporty person-that I could make myself go to the gym to lose weight, but that I'd never enjoy working out and certainly assumed that sports or other athletic activities were beyond my reach.

This summer I discovered a new side to myself. I am by no means a super athlete-organized sports still sounds mildly terrifying to me. But, I started with riding my bike on the beach path near my house. Then I went on a few hikes with friends. Then kayaking. And this week I attempted to add surfing to the mix (which certainly needs more work). And I have enjoyed all of them. I am learning to play catch and have made it a goal to learn to play softball well enough that I don't humiliate myself on a co-ed softball team next year.  I have also been enjoying spinning and yoga classes at the gym, and dare I say it, I actually look forward to all these things.

What is my point? I'm sort of rambling here, but I guess I'm realizing that I don't necessarily fit into the box that I created for myself for several years. And that's good-it means I am not completely set in my ways-I am not finished growing and learning and changing, and I like that. So, my few blog readers, what boxes have you put yourself in? I say kick apart the cardboard and try something new!

Summer Resolutions

1. Make it to church three out of four Sundays per month.

2. Work out four times a week.

a. Michelle Obama arms...or at least no bat wing arm jiggle...

b. Best shape of my life

3. Use my bread machine once a week.

4. Go to the doctor for physical, check on knees, eye doctor, and dentist.

5. Get my date on.

6. Ocean Kayaking!!

7. read read read read read read read read read read read read

8. Have fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the t-bird away.

9. If Getty happy hour exists, go to it.

10. Stroll & Savor

11. Free movies on the beach in Long Beach!

a. Harry & the Hendersons on July 14th

Thinking Positve Thoughts

Things that made my day/restored my faith in humanity today:

My good friend at work, Christina Soris, got her job back today. She is an awesome, strict, passionate teacher (the kids call her the DinaSoris), and she will not be layed off.

The yearbooks came out yesterday and an 8th grade boy yelled across the hall at me this morning, "Ms. Fletcher, I LOVE the yearbook!!!!"

Another good friend at work, Juliet, told me that a friend of hers who had lung cancer and went through chemo is now cancer free.

I had a really interesting conversation about religion with my students today, since I am teaching Rome and am thus teaching Christianity.

As of today there is only one week left until summer vacation. And this place is crazy, and it stresses me out and occasionally makes me cry, but you know what? I think I am actually going to miss it a little over the next few months.

Books, books, books.

Today, the Carnegie poetry books arrived. The students submitted poems, I typed them all (or most of them. A few of them were high tech and gave them to me on a flash drive), and had them printed via lulu.com. The book is called Mind & Soul. It came out pretty nicely. Check it out here: http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=6944322

The kids who are in the book get a free copy, thanks to a grant that we received. Wesley yelled about a hundred times, "I'm on page 23!" Stephanie keeps reading hers while she's supposed to be doing other work in history (which I am benig nice about, but making her do her work.) To be honest, putting the book together was a big pain, as is opening the boxes of each set of 10, which are double wrapped in plastic. BUT, I must be cliche and say that seeing the kids get excited makes all the hard work worth it.

Now, I must go and finish getting them distributed, since my yearbooks are due to arrive tomorrow. It's a busy week!