Middle of April!!

I have time to kill but not enough to dive into any major work so I thought I'd try to crack out a blog entry before departing from Ames.   (I have to teach for DMACC tonight in the grand city of Perry.)

Life has been fairly hectic so I think I'm going to use the random, non-organized method for writing my thoughts down.

• I'm not loving the taste of spring and nice weather followed by a reminder of winter weather.   It did snow in Ames yesterday when I was leaving town.  I really want the weather to shape up so we can enjoy our parade next weekend and not shiver to death.  I also have a strong hankering to clean up the yard.   We need to rake along the fence line and pick up sticks.   I also need to finish my plan for the garden so we can get someone over to till up more of the lawn for our expansion project.   We are also installing a gutter system to collect water to hopefully lower our water bill.   I'm still afraid that the drought situation will be problematic again this summer.   Everyone is so happy about our current rainfalls but we are severely behind in needed precipitation to fix the soil and ground water from last year's situation.   If we have a water ban, it's basically going to cause death for the garden which is a lot of wasted money and effort.  
• The weight loss process has hit a major hitch due to poor eating, impulsive eating, and a lack of working out.   Sad thing is that I knew I'd be very busy so I could have planned better for these weeks but I didn't.   I'm going to try and prep some food this weekend so we can throw meals into the oven and have a plan for supper.   It's too easy to decide to eat out when we get home.   
• Impulsive eating:  it's been bizarre lately.   I don't understand why some foods jump into my brain.  Usually these foods are not appealing and when I do eat them, I don't feel so hot afterwards.   I can tell lately that my energy levels are lower and I don't feel fantastic most of the time.   I do think it's my diet lately and the amount of pop I've been drinking.   
• I had a fun experience in the last week with a recent graduate of our department.   He was asked to come down to Texas to interview and show a sample lesson plan to a school district.   He visited with me and asked me for a lot of advice.   Yes it took a lot of time but it was nice to be appreciated and viewed as an expert. 
• We received notice last week that the City of Ankeny is redoing the sewer system on our street.   We don't have an exact start date but our street will be unusable for a big chunk of the summer.  We'll have to park 1-2 blocks away (not fun with three vehicles) and during part of the process we'll be able to park at the city park across the street.   (This may cause the planned garage sale to be early in June!!)
• I'm very excited for next weekend.   I love attending the VEISHEA parade.   It sounds like we may go to Taki Japanese Steakhouse too.   I hope the weather is decent.   It will be a nice break from the monotony of grading.  I'll have quite a pile for ISU and DMACC.   I say this every semester, but I'm really going to try and stay ahead of it...we'll see if that happens.   The unit plan projects are so easy to pile up and ignore but I hate grading so many at once in the last week or so.  

I guess that's it for now.   I thought I had more profound things to say but nope!!

April!

It's almost midnight and I should be in a deep slumber.   I had a half day with ISU today and took a nap earlier today so it's thrown off my fatigue-level.   My health ed prep class provided a Health Fair for a local elementary school.   It went fairly well and I was impressed with the majority of my students.   Some of the groups could have put a little more effort and enthusiasm into their displays but the school was pleased with our performance.  

My grading duties will greatly increase soon due to the amount of teaching taking place in my classes and the fact that all of my ISU students will turn in a unit plan soon.   I'm treasuring my down time while I have it. 

My Wednesday DMACC class is going ok...many students are behind on a class project but that always happens.   I can remind them until I'm blue in the face but it doesn't help much.   The project is an easy 50 points so it's frustrating when some choose to do 1/2 of it or barely any of it.   My online DMACC class is even more depressing and so many of my students are missing due dates and appear to have mentally "checked out".   I'm not sure if some have simply accepted the fact they have an F or if they are going to plead and beg toward the end of the month.  

I have to say that I'm pleased with my activity levels.   I've been on my feet a lot and my actvity tracker is reflecting the fact that I'm burning extra calories most days.   My food choices are below par though.    I need to cook more at home!   I plan to try some new recipes this weekend and try to plan for meals for next week.   I haven't been to Weight Watchers in quite awhile.  I'm avoiding it because I know I've gained and I just don't want to hear it.   Sad.  I have to say the spring weather is making outside activities more appealing.  I'm going to clean up the yard later this week.   Gavin has actually requested that we go somewhere and play tennis.  Heck yes!

I'm very excited about my Michigan venture in May.  It will be nice to wrap up my ISU/DMACC duties and take a quick jaunt to see Nicole.   I'm sure the weekend will seem short and go by quickly but it's well worth it.  

My organization for my summer program started and I'll be hiring my staff soon.  I did already hire my program assistant and my swimming director.   The motivation for PE majors to work sucks though.  I'm curious to see how many even apply to work for the program.   I may need to hire elementary ed majors to help fill voids.   Considering Gavin's usual camp is closed, I'm curious to see if I see more families show interest in my program.   I don't really have much room for expansion but we may be able to increase from 120 to 140 children....maybe.

Time to fold one more batch of laundry and hit the hay.   Get to attend an early morning meeting right off the bat in the morning which means I have to be on my way to Ames by 7:15pm.