Things that make me happy:

1. That my competition cheer girls ROCKED THE MAT today and totally held their own even though we had the smallest squad.

2. Hearing "Mrs. Heeerrrrnnnnndddooonnn!!!" from the stands and looking up to see two of my most rowdy boys from my first year teaching 9th grade wildly waving at me.

3. Closing our pool down, which means it's officially fall and that Christmas (and Christmas Break...) are right around the corner.

4. The new running shoes I bought last night which makes me excited to exercise. Even though I'm sad competition cheer season is over, it will be nice to be home from school at 3:30 and actually be able to have time for things like exercising.

5. That it's finally chilly enough to break out the Ugg boots.

6. That I will be going to dinner and movie tonight with my wonderful husband for the first time in months.

7. That I am all caught up on grading and lesson plans after weeks of drowning...

A little accountability.

This is what I'm doing at 9:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Just a little something to hold my feet to the fire.

Which reminds me, I need to go running tomorrow.

And possibly the next day.

Starting again.

Yesterday, I ran for the first time in 3 months.

To the exact day.

It was time.

It felt better yesterday than it did today.

I am sore.

I was able to go around 2 miles!

It's a guess because I couldn't find my GPS, so I decided to run until I got tired.

As I finished, Patrick happened to be coming up the road on his way home.

*Perfect timing*

I laid on the bed in my sweaty running clothes for a very long time to recooperate.

I was surprised that I did not have to start completely over.

Just again.

So I baked a pie.

And this is not a picture of it. This is a picture I googled of Butternut Squash Pie because I forgot to take a picture of mine and because mine was not that pretty due to some sloshing incident that happened when I put it in the oven which inevitably led to some crust-burning issues.

However, it was still good. Which is all that matters right?

Our busy-ness has hit its peak. I threw in the towel and we ate out every night this week except for one, in which I went totally all out and made chicken, veggies, potatoes, and a butternut squash pie, mostly because I wanted my house to smell all pumpkin-y and delicious like Fall.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Competition cheerleading only has a few more weeks left, so the time is coming when I will no longer have to stay after school until 6:00 every night.

And I MAY even go on a run today. I may have to start all over with my Couch to 5K plan, but we'll see. I'm hoping my body will just remember what to do and will magically be able to run at least 2 miles. Time will certainly tell.

Happy almost end of October!

Precious, lovely Saturday.

Patrick is out of town AGAIN.
The boy is gone so much I can't keep up with it.
This is the last time for a good long while, we think.

So, I went to the football game last night and saw a lot of my students.
I got caught up on all the "who's going to Homecoming with who" gossip.
I shoo-ed away many boys trying to talk to my cheerleaders as they sold programs.
I got lots of hugs and smiles.
I love being entrenched in this great community.
I love it that my students are happy to see me and want me to know what's going on in their lives.

I stayed up really late, because it was Friday night, and I wanted to.
Then, I slept until 10:00 this morning.

I watched the Food Network for as long as I wanted
because Patrick was not here to whine about Rachael Ray's nasal-voice.

I realized I had all the ingredients for this soup, so I put it in the crockpot.

Now, I'm going to meander around Target for an insanely long time.

Then, I'm going to come home and read a book.
For pleasure.
On the couch.
With an entire pot of tea.

And I'm NOT going to grade a single paper.

The week in which I go from surviving to thriving.

There comes a point into the schoolyear, usually around October, where I throw my hands up in the air and say, "Enough!" I've had enough.

It happened on Friday.

On Friday, when I said to myself, "Ah, that's better. Now I can handle this week." And then the week was over. And so I'd had it. Had it with living for Friday to come. Had it just trying to make it through each day. Had it with having to rush around from one thing to another. Had it with drowning in grades. With my messy house. With my empty fridge. With the fact that I HAVE NOT BEEN ON A RUN SINCE JUNE.

I can no longer live in survival mode. It's not working.

So I came home and took a nap. It's what happens to me when the world begins to spin.




And then I regrouped. And I decided that it was time to put my game face on and get back on the ball.

I turned off the tv.

I cleaned the kitchen counters and the bathrooms.

I made a menu plan for this week that involves a lot of crockpot use.

I went to the grocery store.

I put away laundry.

I graded the last of my papers.

I made the goal to go running twice this week.

I sent all the emails I'd been meaning to send and keep forgetting.

I took a very long nap on Sunday afternoon and read a book for pleasure.



I made the decision to NOT operate in survival mode this week. Because I'm so over that.