the year i loved

I was thinking the other day about how many foods I've learned to love this year that I've never before even liked.  Apparently, thirty four is the year to learn to love new foods.  I hope to add a few more to the list before the year ends.

• broccoli (roasted with sea salt and garlic)
• sweet potatoes (roasted with Parmesan cheese)
• eggs (preferably scrambled and especially good with veggies and cheese or just with salsa)
• kale (sauteed with sun-dried tomatoes)
• blueberries (preferably fresh and especially good on a toasted English muffin with a smear of peanut butter)
• potato salad
• cabbage
• salmon 

And finally, this one's going to sound strange, but put chocolate milk on that list.  Running has really made me love chocolate milk again just like I am a three year old kid.  There's nothing like it after a long run.

What have you learned to love as you've gotten older?  Maybe I will learn to like it too.

one too many margaritas

picture dump

Here are my recent instagram pictures.
[You can follow me @c525600.]

loving the Halloween books I had stashed away

an afternoon at home with my sweet Buddy

my babies before school one morning

Mom, look at my muscles!

a scared little boy on the Tilt-a-Whirl at the Dixie Classic Fair

Mom and I before heading into the fair

the turkeys I found at Target

giant gummy bears they bought at the fair

she read 5 Magic Tree House books in 6 days

love running on this road

school picture day

what happens when you put two kids in a pumpkin patch

overheard

Josh, furiously tapping one of those pink big block erasers, "Dad, my remote just won't work!"

-----

I walked into the kitchen the other day to see Julianna holding individual Pokemon cards up to her fish bowl and then hear her describing the various characteristics of each Pokemon to the fish.  She told the fish it was "Happy time."

-----

And finally, a story from one of Julianna's teachers:

One day the teacher's assistant looked over at Julianna sitting at her desk doing individual work and she was slowly, rhythmically wagging her finger back and forth really close to her face and following it with her eyes.  The teacher walked over to her and quietly whispered, "Julianna, what are you doing?"

Julianna rolled her eyes and sighed. Then in a very sarcastic she replied, "I'm trying to hypnotize myself."

The teacher said she just told her, "Let me know if it works!"

by the numbers

Today, by the numbers:

• 2 absentee voting ballots in my possession waiting to be filled out and mailed in
• 3 days until we pick up a certain little boy's prize winning decorated apple (2nd place: $5) and a certain girl's Lego castle from the fair
• 17 days until we celebrate a little boy's third birthday
• 28 days until our anniversary trip
• 8 days I'll spend without seeing my babies
• 12 miles I've run so far this week/month
• 8 miles I'm going to run on tomorrow
• 25 pounds lost since June 11th
• 22 days until the new Trader Joe's opens in Winston-Salem

What numbers are you counting?
I've never been to Trader Joe's. What can I look forward to?

would you keep working if you won the lottery?

Not sure why, but I often ponder my answer to this question.  I also ponder other people's answer to this question or at least what I think they would answer. Is that weird?  For instance, Jonathan would answer "no" I'm sure because he always says he'd love to be a SAHD. I've been there and done that and I'm not sure it's for me.

I mentioned earlier that I started a new job this school year.  My previous position was eliminated and I was added to a "surplus list" for my county meaning that they would move me to an open position at another school before they'd talk to new applicants.  It's not the best place to be in because the school doesn't really get a choice regarding hiring you and you don't really get a choice of schools, it's just whatever is available at that time.

Fortunately for me, it worked out that I got a position at a pretty good school not far from my old school (a 17 minute drive from my house) and not on the other side of the county (which could have been a 40 minute drive).  I like that it's a position where I get to teach middle and high school again, something I haven't done since before Julianna was born.  I even teach a couple of my previous students.

So here we are going into the fifth sixth week of school and I finally feel pretty settled at my new school.  I've definitely worked my tail off getting adjusted and getting into the new routine. The good thing is that after the semester is over my classes here repeat themselves so despite the large amount of upfront work, it's going to get easier.

Before the school year started I was kinda frustrated with the whole situation and I began questioning whether I should even be teaching at all.  Taking the GRE and wondering about starting Master's course work... I don't know... I'm not good at making decisions.  For now I think I'm just content being where I am trying to keep my head above water in a new job. But it does have me wondering if I would keep working if I won the lottery.

What do you think? Would you keep working if you won the lottery?

O-C-T-O-B-E-R

I love October.  It's probably the busiest month of the year for me, but it's also probably my favorite.  Some of the things I look forward to in October include:

• the visible reminder of God's amazing creations everywhere you look outside
• the Dixie Classic Fair
• being able to put out fall decorations
• chili in the crock-pot
• cooler weather (jeans, boots, and scarves!)
• our anniversary
• roasting hot dogs and s'mores
• Josh's birthday
• pumpkin crisp!
• excuse to dress up and eat candy (Halloween)
• painting pumpkins (and sometimes carving them)
• the end of first quarter at school
• yummy seasonal flavors of coffee creamer

We've already been to the fair (which I'll post about soon) and gotten the fall decorations out.  I'm still waiting on the rest of the good things in coming weeks, but I'm so excited!  Best yet, Jonathan and I leave for our anniversary trip in just a few weeks. I can't wait! All you moms of littles out there know how much we need it.

Anyway, it used to be that the summer months were my favorite and I still enjoy them a lot, but the older I get the more I like the fall.  Does that make me officially OLD? Whatever, October is where it's at! (Sorry about the misplaced preposition, Mom!)

October is also breast cancer awareness month.  It seems like every month lately I add another person to the list of who I know fighting cancer.  On that note, I'd like to ask you to please pray for my mother-in-law today as she enters another step of cancer treatment and then isolation for a while.  Please pray for my friend, Malika who just had a double mastectomy and please continue prayers for my friend Vinny who continues his almost five-year battle.


What do you love about October?
Who do you know fighting cancer?