Ankeny had it's Trick-or-Treating event last night. Fortunately the forecast wasn't spot on so we did have kids come visit the house. It was supposed to storm but everything stayed south of us. I think we had about 50 kids. Our part of the street usually gets ignored since the park is across the street and some of our neighbors don't participate. I still have high hopes for creating a scary experience in the front yard for kids to walk through. Just need to find the time and money to organize that. I'll lure the children in with decorations and fog and such.
We ran to Weight Watchers real quick last night and I'm pleased that I only gained 1.4 lbs. Yes I'm happy about a weight gain. I ate poorly last week and my weight should show the results. I expected more of a gain though. Anywho, it's a new week. I really want to cook at home more in the next seven days. Actually I should be cooking more at home in general for the next months. I think a batch of chili is in the cards soon.
I recognized that Halloween bums me out now too. I sincerely miss taking Gavin out trick-or-treating. I think the holiday holds most of my fondest memories. (yes it beats out Christmas) It was so fun to go to West Ames and take him around Shirley or Mary's neighborhoods. Makes me want to borrow a young child and take them out next year.
And for a laugh. I went to the Post Office today to buy stamps. After leaving and approaching my car, I notice that the bottom of my shoe is really slippery and that I've brought some sort of substance into my car on the floor mat. My first thought was "oh crap I stepped in dog crap". I checked outside the door and nope! A piece of carrot cake was sitting in the parking lot. Yes, carrot cake. I stepped in the cake and tracked into my car. Thanks to the person that decided to ditch their dessert in a weird spot.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Happy Early Halloween
My ability to create crafty and unique titles to my blog entries is disappointing. Let's fixate on the fact that I blogged more than once in a month!
Yesterday (Monday) did not go well for this lady but I'm pleased to report that my Tuesday is starting off on a better note. I don't teach today so I'm excited to work on grading and do some prep work for upcoming classes. I will admit that work has felt a little disappointing lately as I've been busting my butt to create more engaging experiences for my students. Even though activities are more fun and interactive, the students act like it's still as bad as staring at a screen and taking notes. Sigh. My course for PE students gets the prize for being the worst. Teaching elementary PE should be very exciting and motivating and they act like they're at the dentist when in class.
Anywho...Jon and I have been attending a bible-study type class in Ankeny. It's with a different church (Methodist). The course is called ALPHA and for the most part it's been pretty nifty. You can actually find the videos on YouTube as the gentleman that created the course has 45-minute videos for each of the big topics. I can actually say that he's one of the best public speakers I've watched in years. He's also British and I dig the accent. The program had a half-day event this past Saturday. Usually the program only takes place on Sunday evenings for a couple hours. So Saturday started off as expected...breakfast, videos, group discussion, etc. Everything was fine until the last 30 minutes. We moved from our usual place to the church's chapel area. It makes me giggle now but some sort of meditation music was playing. I call it "seagull music" as all I remember are sounds of the ocean and seagulls squawking. The main group leader did sort of a progressive relaxation exercise with the group with deep breathing and muscle relaxation. (I wasn't horribly freaked out yet...but I could tell the program was taking a much different direction.) Then she announces that all of the group leaders/assistants are going to come to us one-by-one and lay hands on us and pray and stuff. I severely dislike that type of stuff. (It seems wrong to use the word 'hate' with a religious topic.) I'm not a touchy person and I like my space. And of course, the main leader and an assistant make a bee-line for me. I probably came off as rude but I was clear from the start that I didn't want to pray as a group and no one was going to touch me. I don't know if this caught them off guard or what but needless to say, Jon and I left pretty quickly. It bums me out because it went from a program that I truly enjoyed and that short experience creeped me out. We do plan to go back on Sunday as it's an assumption that it's going back to the typical video-discussion format. I actually plan to to talk to the main lady too and fortunately time has allowed me to calm down. I'm not really mad but I want her to understand that a warning would have been nice before we all marched into that space on Saturday. I know some people take the class because they are trying to figure things out and I could see that situation being very uncomfortable for some. It felt very forced and I don't think that's supposed to be a characteristic of the program.
I went to Weight Watcher's last week and dropped about 5 lbs. And I fell off the wagon already. We went out to eat a lot this week. A lot. I'm in a funk at home in regards to our dinners and food choices. I'm not creative in the kitchen and my motivation to whip up a wholesome meal is often lacking, especially on work days. Sadly I'm sure I've gained weight back but I'll know more tomorrow. The plan is to stop by and just weigh-in as we want to be at home when Trick-or-Treat hours start. Then again it's supposed to storm tomorrow evening. I hate when the weather sucks on Halloween. I'm not sure why Ankeny isn't having trick-or-treating on Thursday.
Time to dig into grading. Yippee.
Yesterday (Monday) did not go well for this lady but I'm pleased to report that my Tuesday is starting off on a better note. I don't teach today so I'm excited to work on grading and do some prep work for upcoming classes. I will admit that work has felt a little disappointing lately as I've been busting my butt to create more engaging experiences for my students. Even though activities are more fun and interactive, the students act like it's still as bad as staring at a screen and taking notes. Sigh. My course for PE students gets the prize for being the worst. Teaching elementary PE should be very exciting and motivating and they act like they're at the dentist when in class.
Anywho...Jon and I have been attending a bible-study type class in Ankeny. It's with a different church (Methodist). The course is called ALPHA and for the most part it's been pretty nifty. You can actually find the videos on YouTube as the gentleman that created the course has 45-minute videos for each of the big topics. I can actually say that he's one of the best public speakers I've watched in years. He's also British and I dig the accent. The program had a half-day event this past Saturday. Usually the program only takes place on Sunday evenings for a couple hours. So Saturday started off as expected...breakfast, videos, group discussion, etc. Everything was fine until the last 30 minutes. We moved from our usual place to the church's chapel area. It makes me giggle now but some sort of meditation music was playing. I call it "seagull music" as all I remember are sounds of the ocean and seagulls squawking. The main group leader did sort of a progressive relaxation exercise with the group with deep breathing and muscle relaxation. (I wasn't horribly freaked out yet...but I could tell the program was taking a much different direction.) Then she announces that all of the group leaders/assistants are going to come to us one-by-one and lay hands on us and pray and stuff. I severely dislike that type of stuff. (It seems wrong to use the word 'hate' with a religious topic.) I'm not a touchy person and I like my space. And of course, the main leader and an assistant make a bee-line for me. I probably came off as rude but I was clear from the start that I didn't want to pray as a group and no one was going to touch me. I don't know if this caught them off guard or what but needless to say, Jon and I left pretty quickly. It bums me out because it went from a program that I truly enjoyed and that short experience creeped me out. We do plan to go back on Sunday as it's an assumption that it's going back to the typical video-discussion format. I actually plan to to talk to the main lady too and fortunately time has allowed me to calm down. I'm not really mad but I want her to understand that a warning would have been nice before we all marched into that space on Saturday. I know some people take the class because they are trying to figure things out and I could see that situation being very uncomfortable for some. It felt very forced and I don't think that's supposed to be a characteristic of the program.
I went to Weight Watcher's last week and dropped about 5 lbs. And I fell off the wagon already. We went out to eat a lot this week. A lot. I'm in a funk at home in regards to our dinners and food choices. I'm not creative in the kitchen and my motivation to whip up a wholesome meal is often lacking, especially on work days. Sadly I'm sure I've gained weight back but I'll know more tomorrow. The plan is to stop by and just weigh-in as we want to be at home when Trick-or-Treat hours start. Then again it's supposed to storm tomorrow evening. I hate when the weather sucks on Halloween. I'm not sure why Ankeny isn't having trick-or-treating on Thursday.
Time to dig into grading. Yippee.
Friday, October 18, 2013
TGIF
Today marks the end of Midterm Work at both ISU and DMACC. Apparently it's been a rough week for students but it was fairly easy-going for me. I made awesome progress on grading as I had to submit midterm grades by today. I've also worked ahead and did prep for upcoming weeks as major assignments are due in November and December for most of my classes.
Jon and I went to Weight Watchers on Wednesday. Not pleased by my weight status but wasn't shocked either. I've been eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted in the past months. I'm happy to be getting back on track but I have to also bump up my physical activity. The snow will be flying soon so I'm sure my motivation to be outside will start to dwindle. I wasn't enthusiastic to be outside in the summer either due to the heat. You just can't win in most Iowa seasons.
I am attending a conference all day Sunday. I'm excited to see some presentations for health as I'm teaching more health classes now a days. We have to leave Ames at 5:30am. I have a feeling I'll do much of the driving to and from Storm Lake too. Sigh. I've needed more professional development for my annual evaluation so this conference should help. We are hosting it at ISU next fall too and I wanted to get a firsthand account of how well the conference functions. I've attended it before and it's been wonderful. I've also attended it in the past and it was poorly organized.
I need to start prepping and cooking more meals at home. I wish I was versatile with my culinary talents. I can make some stuff really well but I'm awful at trying new recipes. Sigh. The crock pot needs more action too.
I guess that's all for now. Sadly I'm rather dull and I don't have anything of great excitement to write about.
Jon and I went to Weight Watchers on Wednesday. Not pleased by my weight status but wasn't shocked either. I've been eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted in the past months. I'm happy to be getting back on track but I have to also bump up my physical activity. The snow will be flying soon so I'm sure my motivation to be outside will start to dwindle. I wasn't enthusiastic to be outside in the summer either due to the heat. You just can't win in most Iowa seasons.
I am attending a conference all day Sunday. I'm excited to see some presentations for health as I'm teaching more health classes now a days. We have to leave Ames at 5:30am. I have a feeling I'll do much of the driving to and from Storm Lake too. Sigh. I've needed more professional development for my annual evaluation so this conference should help. We are hosting it at ISU next fall too and I wanted to get a firsthand account of how well the conference functions. I've attended it before and it's been wonderful. I've also attended it in the past and it was poorly organized.
I need to start prepping and cooking more meals at home. I wish I was versatile with my culinary talents. I can make some stuff really well but I'm awful at trying new recipes. Sigh. The crock pot needs more action too.
I guess that's all for now. Sadly I'm rather dull and I don't have anything of great excitement to write about.
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