so i’ve decided i’m going to keep on:

• trying to eat better/less, eat more fresh fruit and veggies
• working out more, staying active–even if i don’t get to the gym
• keeping flat surfaces clear
• keeping busy while watching tv and get stuff done
• delegate and try not to do everything myself

here are some more new changes.

i got some “cable drops” from the container store to hold all my usb cables.  so useful!

another purchase from my favorite store.  i used tiered shelves to organize all my makeup/skin stuff.  looks so much better.

i organized my desk drawer with a divider box (from target i think).  i started using these in college and they were a godsend.

this isn’t the most organized or attractive area, but i keep an old table under my desk that i can pull out for messy crafts.  i also keep a lot of misc. craft stuff here.

life lesson #51:  figure out what works for you and keep doing it.

fearless books

this is a series that came out when i was in high school.  i started reading them when i was a senior and finished the last of the regular series (#37) this past fall.  i wanted so badly to just finish them!  they’re about a girl who’s 18 and has been trained as basically a cia op.  there is a series that comes after the regular series, about gaia as an acutal agent or whatever.  there’s only like 5 i think.  i wanted to take a break from them to read other things, so i’m not reading those for a while.

devil in the white city

oh. my. god. this book was PERFECT for me.  i am obsessed with chicago history and the 1893 world’s fair and everything, so i devoured this book.  it’s also about h.h. holmes and how he killed all these people in his gas chambers in his “hotel” that he built on the south side of chicago.  i just loved reading all the history and knowing that it all happened right next door, it was just so cool!  i can’t wait for the movie with leo dicaprio to come out…although it might scar me for life.  i had to put the book in the freezer (not really, just figuratively) for a few days when i was reading it because the details about what he did to the people (especially the women and kids) really creeped me out.

something borrowed

another book that i LOVED.  i had heard about the emily giffin books again and again and finally decided to read this one because the movie was coming out.  it was so gripping and i loved how it was about a “nice girl” finally getting what she deserves.  it reminded me a lot of the college drama i went through with my roommate and some of my current friends.  it taught me not to put up with certain people just because we went to school together, etc.  some people just grow apart and it’s best if you just let it run its course.

the help

this book was recommended to me by my summer boss, who lent it to me.  i started reading it, left for a cabin in the northwoods, and finished it in about 2 days up there.  soooo gripping…i couldn’t put it down!  i loved how the main character not only stands up for herself, but others who aren’t able to stand up for themselves.  it was very eye-opening to learn about the kind of things that happened in the south in the 60s.  it really made me think about how we see/treat waiters/waitresses at restaurants and other staff (like janitors) that many people take for granted and may not treat as well as they should.

who is clark rockefeller?

another book recommended and lent by said boss.  another good page-turner.  so crazy that this guy got away with reinventing himself and conning everyone around him for decades.  and he’s finally in jail!  there were a lot of things in the book that left unanswered questions that no one can know the answer to, except clark himself.  the whole mystery was part of what kept me reading.

stories i only tell my friends

rob lowe was on oprah talking about this book, which is basically his memoirs.  very interesting, funny, meaningful, lots of celebrities…so interesting to hear what happened with jfk jr., holly robinson, emilio estevez, tom cruise, and so many others.  it made me want to see all of his movies from the beginning of his career and watch the west wing.  maybe i will also finally read the outsiders and see the movie.

i shudder

paul rudnick is a young gay jewish guy living in nyc and he has a crazy family and meets all these colorful people as he tries to become a writer.  sister act, i hate hamlet, broadway musicals.  my favorite parts were the first few chapters, where he moves into his own apartment and his mother and aunts scrutinize everything, only for him to respond with deadpan sarcastic responses.  hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny.  seriously, made me crack up on the train.

eat pray love

this book was given to me for my birthday by my bestest friend.  it certainly made me want to travel and eat!  i liked how when liz was at an impasse and basically wanted to die, she picked herself up and did something for herself, instead of wallowing in self-pity, etc.  a good emotional/mental/physical/spiritual journey.  makes you realize that everything you need will come to you, that love will come when it’s right.  i would definitely read it again to help sort things out.

the time traveler’s wife

this book held my interest because a) it was set in chicago, so i knew a lot of the places that were mentioned, and b) it kept skipping around between present day and decades ago, so it was interesting.  it definitely made me cry at the end; it takes a lot for a book to do that for me.  very thought-provoking, sensual, sexy, and i love the details and imagery.

there are a couple of book ideas i have, i.e. for books that haven’t been written yet.  i don’t really see myself being a writer (especially of novels, not children’s books).  but here is the gist of them:

a girl grows up on a farm where her parents and the other workers don’t treat the animals well, but she doesn’t realize that it’s wrong until she gets older.  when she’s a teenager, some protestors find out about their practices and come to the farm to protest.  the dad is basically about to shoot them with his shotgun when the girl goes to join them, much to her family’s chagrin.  i can’t decide how this would end.  i don’t want just a perfect ending, maybe the parents get arrested or PETA comes and reads them the riot act.

a twentysomething girl is trying to learn spanish in order to [insert goal here...not sure if it should be travel or teach spanish or what], so she posts a want ad for a tutor.  she ends up getting a hot guy about her age who starts teaching her the language.  he also wants to expose her to the culture, so they start going to mexican/spanish/argentine restaurants to eat, to see mariachi and spanish guitar music, movies in spanish, etc., basically dating.  so they start actually dating after spending so much time together and it’s kind of a cheesy/romantic comedy type happily ever after.  perfect for a movie!  one scene i can definitely see going in the book is when they’ve just started actually dating and he’s still trying to teach her because she still wants to learn.  they’re hanging out at her apartment and they’ve been studying for a while and he (ricardo maybe?) says that they just have a little more to go.  she kind of whines and grabs his arm gently and says, “can’t we just have sex?” and he looks at her and back at the book.  he tells her they can when she answers one question, and he gives her one word to translate (like, “ok, tell me…what is yellow in spanish?”) she thinks for a second and whispers in his ear, “amarillo,” as she pulls him toward her and he puts the book down and lays on top of her….oooooo i’m getting ahead of myself!  maybe it’s because i’m looking for my very own ricardo?

it’s funny that i’ve kind of started doing some creative writing again.  i took a class in high school and haven’t really done much of it since then.  i guess once you start, it’s always there and you find yourself going back to it.

life lesson #50 (yeah!): never stop reading or writing.

because of all the holiday crazy, eating healthy and working out have fallen by the wayside.  alas, i have probably gained a pound or 2 back (i’m too scared to step on the scale just yet).

i already feel like i’m on break, because my lil brother is home from school and we’ve been hanging out (as in, making cookies and doing laundry together–yup, that’s how we roll).  i am working tomorrow, but i’m waiting for some laundry to be done.  i’m anxious to get more pictures up, so here goes.

 i moved my nightstand from the end of my bed to in front of the window so that i would have room for linen storage

 the end of my bed after the move.  this is where i keep my clothes for the next day and my purses that i use all the time.

 on groundhog day last year, we got monumental amounts of snow continuing into feb 3.  i decided to hunker down and get working on scrapbook stuff that i’d been meaning to do forever.  which required moving an old card table into my room so that i had room to spread out.  i used to have a dish chair in the middle of the room and realized i wasn’t using it anymore.  the table is so much more functional.  the only problem is that somehow all this stuff accumulates on it.  must be the nargles.

life lesson #49 (really??!):  sometimes you have to stop and realize what is really important and what is…not that important.

DEC    9

why do we insist on comparing ourselves to other people?  or other people to other people?  as a struggling teacher who’s looking for a full-time job (not even a dream job, just a full-time job with benefits!), every time i hear about someone who is teaching full-time or who just got a job or who has been nominated for a golden apple and is MY AGE (there have been 2 that i heard about so far), i get a little bitter.  like, why didn’t I get a job right out of school? or the year after? or the year after that?

people seem to do this in so many other respects, when it comes to their children, pets, parents, jobs, houses, etc.  exhibit a:  “her house is so much bigger than ours and we pay way higher taxes!”  or “my kid is smarter than their kid! why isn’t my kid in gifted classes?!”  i’m always thinking, who cares?!  i like to think that when i have kids, i will try not to get caught up in all that nonsense and just worry about my own kids and how they’re doing in school/scouts/little league/etc., but i think a lot of people think that, so it’s easier said than done.

i also do this a lot as a teacher, try to get kids to just worry about themselves and stop comparing themselves to other people, or vice versa.  like when a kid says, “but you let him go on the computer!”, i just say, “don’t worry about him.  worry about yourself and get your work done.” cause usually the kid who’s whining didn’t get his work done and the kid on the computer did.  so there.

more after pictures.

my dresser reorganized.

bulletin board and new dry erase calendar.  so much more functional!

i painted right back over the stupid pictures i painted on this dresser when i was like 13.

life lesson #47:  stop comparing and competing so much with other people and just worry about yourself and your own goals.  everyone’s different and works/develops at different speeds.  just let everything take its course.

1. my bed
2. house
3. hot showers
4. food
5. job
6. school
7. girl scouts
8. family
9. friends
10. teachers
11. technology
12. music
13. tv shows
14. movies
15. art
16. science
17. literature
18. coffee
19. chocolate
20. animals
21. babies
22. flowers
23. jesus
24. the ability to travel
25. magazines
26. the internet
27. communication capabilities
28. clothing
29. health care
30. corrective lenses
31. shampoo
32. soap
33. toilet facilities
34. farms
35. national parks
36. historical landmarks
37. museums
38. transportation
39. fruit
40. armed forces and police

Jack Frost taps the window sill

William Tell atop the hill

Dreaming arrows shoot the hay

Autumn’s color wheel will fade

Stones thrown to blown spun glass…recess with my mind

Pretty sure the song is about the rev war, but a good dreary fall song, nonetheless.

eek, i haven’t written since 10/17.  that was pre-halloween and pre-DST.  feels like a long time ago.  i got inspired to write once again (and hopefully more often from now on) because i read my cousin heather’s blog about her life as a mom-to-be and current mom.  the whole blog thing (and the fact that i read/comment on them) makes me think about how no one reads mine and i don’t care.  i don’t want to have to keep up with it like the YHL folks do.

so…current life=school/work/working out/watching tv/being a girl scout leader/attempting to go out with friends/babysitting.

deets?  (i hate that word, btw.  i don’t even know why i just typed it.  what possessed me?)

school- a few more of each class and then i am on break, ladies and jellyspoons, for just over a month (from school, not work haha).  classes are good, good people to work with (with the exception of a few crankypants); however i’m a little apprehensive about the impending final in one of them.  i just got a project back from the other one and aced it.  pretty happy about that.  never too old to get excited about a good grade.

work-subbing a couple of days a week…it’s a little miserable.  i honestly never feel like getting up in the morning unless i already know i’m working.  calls sometimes come in in the am, but since nothing came in the night before, i usually don’t get up.  it sounds bad, cause i’m losing money and whatnot, but it’s JUST SO HARD, esp with the gory weather out there.  that’s right, i said gory.  like the rev war.

working out- i had a revelation that i’ve been battling all this weight (well, some of it) for about 10-15 years.  and i’m 25.  so for most of my life, and yes, since i was about 10.  sad life.  i’m trying not to throw a pity party for moi and just work through it, but again, sometimes it’s JUST SO HARD.  i go work out at my alma mater mostly, cause it’s free, and i’m considered a staff member for subbing there, and cause i can, and did i mention it’s free?  they have lots of new state-of-the-art machines and just got new flatscreen tvs.  what more could i ask for?  maybe that it was located across the street.  on that note, i’m also doing weight watchers online (or WW, as i refer to it).  it’s going well in that i have to record everything i eat and stay within the parameters, so i don’t just eat good humor sundae cones and keebler rainbow m&m cookies, cause then i’d have to record them and feel the shame.

watching tv-let’s just say, without getting into it too much, that i’ve been watching A LOT.  during homework, during babysitting, during working out (in my room), and while doing crafty things.  i always say, anything you can do while watching tv cannot be that much of a chore.  that’s when i get all the tedious things done.  i’ve been way into the normal dramas (DH, GA, PP, but i also really like pan am and am psyched that psych, covert affairs, and R&I are back)  Oh, and also historical docs (civil war, etc.) and national parks and nova and jeopardy.  and that is all about tv.

GS- what can i say about girl scouts?  my gals are 2nd grade brownies.  how did we get here?!  we started when they were peanuts in kdg.  we are currently 2 meetings, 1 food drive, and 1 lock-in in.  and i survived them all!  with the help of my partner in crime co-leader of course. i need someone to help me figure out a) how to make this blog look mas interesante, b) why certain things happen, and c) how to insert more than 1 pic at a time.

going out w/ friends- my friend’s sister remarked the other night at trivia (see? i go out!) that i haven’t come out with them (her, her husband, and her sister- my best friend) in a while.  i stammered as i finally said, “um, she never calls me to go out anymore,” to which she replied, “she USED to.”  whoa.  that was like a punch in the stomach.  i then proceeded to DEFEND MYSELF, which i hate doing for any reason, especially a stupid one.  i went on and on about how i’m not subbing a lot so i babysit on the weekends to make extra money.  i also truly have a lot going on on the weekends with family/my fake lil sis.  then she said that i should “make an effort to come out at least every 3-4 months.” woah, woah, woah.  like it’s some kind of goal or something?  this is the same person who texted me on the evening of my BIRTHDAY “lame!” when i wouldn’t come out because i did exactly what i wanted to do (went out with the fam, came back and played games and then went to bed cause i was wiped).  sometimes i wonder about my friends.  her sister is my bestest friend of 21 years.  i think i just need to grow a backbone.

babysitting-as i mentioned above, i babysit for extra money.  i like it because it’s not too much work and i get to read/watch tv/ watch a movie when the kid goes to sleep.  but it’s made me realize how much work goes into taking care of a child and how much freetime you give up.  so yeah, no kids for a while.

alright, this is getting long, so i should post some more room makeover pics already.

paint done…

baseboards installed, paint and floor done.  i just love the contrast.

curtains up, light the lights!  and yes, that’s my globe from 5th grade hanging from the ceiling once again.  it inspires me to travel the world.  aand i got me a new-fangled desk and put it together.

life lesson #45: if you know what’s good for you, don’t let other people try to tell you to do something else.  listen to yourself.

and learn to live the unexamined life

dancing through life……

kinda what i’m doing right now.  just going to school and working and observing on the days i don’t work and doing girl scouts on my days off.  it’s like a dance or musical piece; it all somehow fits together perfectly.

i’ve also been thinking a lot lately about traveling.  i’m planning a trip to Virginia for next spring break.  and i’m going with my brother.  why?  the answers are many-fold.  1. i don’t have a significant other (and neither does he), 2. we get along well, 3. we know each other well, 4. we’re both good travel buddies (in that, we’re spontaneous, go with the flow, etc.)

here’s more during pictures.

floor done!  all that scraping and sanding and pulling out staples…

closeup of the floor.  i couldn’t get all the glue off, but what  are you going to do?  in another lifetime…

i was so tired of sleeping in the family room, so i moved my bed in since the floor was done.  so nice to be in my room again!

primed and started painting!  home stretch!

life lesson #44:  sometimes it all just works out, without you doing anything.  a couple of years ago, i didn’t think i could do the whole work and school thing at the same time, but here we are.

this carpet was DIS. GUS. TING.  i thought the upside was bad, but when i turned it over, there were so many stains…gross!

all rolled up!  and then my dad and i had to roll drag it down the stairs.  that was fun not fun at all.

NOTHING in the room.  no carpet padding left, just lovely godforsaken staples and glue!

closer look at the floor.  the saving grace is ORIGINAL HARDWOOD FLOORS!

i broke out the belt sander and sanded the floors.  myself.  what up?!

life lesson #43:  gotta clean stuff out sometime.  trust me, it feels great.