For so many years I’ve bought clothes that didn’t quite fit because either a) I refused to believe I was actually any size larger than the size I wanted to be or b) I had this great idea of how it would look on me without taking into consideration that I, unlike the size 2 dummy in the window, actually have hips, real thighs and a nice comfy butt.
I’m clearing out my closet. Enough filling it up with things I really wish looked good on me. Enough with the piles of jeans that are just too long, too tight, too baggy. Enough with the shirts I bought hoping that I’d find a way or a reason to wear them. I’ve wasted enough money.
It feels good to pare down the shelves. It’s nice to know I can open the closet and pick out two things and they not only go together – but they fit. I’m over the quantity of choices – I want quality and classic styles and things that fit me, not the inner-fifteen-year-old-A&F-wearing-wannabe me or the the inner-classy-business-executive-wannabe me.
I will simplify my life. I will. And ebay will be my friend the entire way.

Seen at The Leaky Cauldron:

Quidditch Goes to School
Connecticut gym teacher Justin vanGelder has incorporated Quidditch into his elementary school’s phys ed program:
VanGelder teaches a version of the game that can be played by earthbound mortals.
“The kids don’t fly and we have control of the balls,” he said.

How so very, very cool. What a great way of getting kids excited about gym class! Of course, our high school gym excitement involved making t-shirts declaring that we were “Donna’s Delights” after our fourth year of taking aerobics with Mrs. Zito.
Speaking of t-shirts, I unearthed all sorts of goodies while packing to move. I’ve tossed silly American Eagle tees to the trash in my time, but others just need to be kept forever and ever. My entire life could possibly be summed up in my collection of t-shirts: my Melissa Etheridge concert tee from 1996; my clambake tee from the year I graduated Plattsburgh; my Jimmy Buffett tee from the Back at the Ranch benefit with Paul Simon; my “Top 10 Reasons to Be a Teacher” t-shirt that I bought never realizing I would change majors from pharmacology to English and eventually end up teaching; numerous other concert tees, each full of fun memories; t-shirts from numerous early dotcoms – kozmo.com, fuckedcompany.com.
My all-time favorite: my Bellport Cross Country team tee from countless races in high school. It’s got to be 13 years old, easy.
There you have it – another exciting Sunday morning summed up in a completely random post.
And yes, I’m watching Harry Potter for the kazillionth time, too.

1) Princess has taken to hiding in our dresser. It’s got a door, and she pulls it open with her little paw and crawls inside. I shit you not.
2) My family left today. I’m not a very good space-sharerer. I love them to pieces and wouldn’t trade the time with them for the world, but I’m grateful for being able to sleep in my bed tonight.
3) I finally found a not-so-expensive dress tonight for anonyblogger’s black-tie optional wedding in two months. And it was a size 10!! By then I might even be a size 8. [cough] I haven’t been a size 8 since I was, oh, I don’t know, 8 years old? I highly doubt I’d pull off an 8, though. I gots me some birthin’ hips – and I’m okay with that. Curves are sexy, baby.
4) I also bought new black gloves. We went to the City of Lights and Jay thought I looked really really cold. When we got in the car, I looked in the mirror and freaked – my face was BLUE. Apparently, it wasn’t anything Noxema couldn’t handle. While I was certain I was freezing to death, it was apparently little more than the cheap gloves I had bought, rubbing off all over my face. No wonder people were looking at me a little funny.
5) Slightly random: I am passive-agressive. I’m aware of that. But I really royally hate when people pull that shit on me.
and finally:
6) Jay and I totally blew off our diets today, and I have not felt so utterly shitty in months. Every inch of my body feels like I’ve got the stomach flu. Ughhh.
(Is it just me, or I am really seeming to enjoy the word shit tonight? )

A couple of pictures from Turkey Day –

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Whoo hoo! Two good things: Jay spoiled me with a surprise gingerbread latte. We’re not supposed to have it because the flavor shots are pure sugar – but they are just so happy warm autumn tasty!
And…. I just picked up another class for the spring – another Basic Writing class for the Paraeducator program (the adult class I’ve been teaching). Whoo hoo!
Three down. One more and I’ll feel better – though with the three, I’ll be just shy of what I was making at the center. I’ve been talking with my executive director there, too, about the possibility of coming in to teach a specific health curriculum – at max, 15 hours a week. Of course, it depends on funding, and a whole slew of other things, and the way things go there, it’s highly unlikely it’ll actually happen – but it’s a possibility.
Besides, I haven’t decided if I really want to keep on there, though, or make a really clean break from the place.
Maybe they’ll be an influx of BW students and they’ll need to add another class. Maybe.

It’s the holidays – I know we’re not the only ones facing the invasion of the family members: my parents, my brother, his adorable wife, their new baby AND their dog, all in our house. Jay’s mom and stepdad will be here on Turkey Day, as well. Talk about a full house!
I’m really looking forward to spending the next few days with them. I’m especially looking forward to spending three whole days with my little nephew, Jonah. I don’t plan on ever putting him down. Definitely lots of hugs and kisses and smooches and baby talk and love. My whole body is just bursting with the excitement of getting to see him. Jonah, Jonah, bo bonah.
Luckily, I took tomorrow off to prepare for their visit. Laundry, shopping, cleaning – all sorts of prep work to be done for a house full of non-SBD guests. I got Jay a deep tissue massage (for all the hard work he’s been doing around the house – and to relax him for the massive influx of visitors – and dog!) tomorrow morning. I might go in for a pedicure – it’s been a while, and how nice would that be?
Especially since I’m fighting a fever and a cold and all sorts of yucky crawly feelings under my skin. But I will not get sick, dammit! I have lots of doting and cooking and laughing and baby-smooching to do. Influenza, be gone!
And you know what? Where the hell is my damn snow? It’s almost December, dammit! Bring it on, Mother Nature – I can take it!

Jay and I fall asleep to a movie every night. Last night I popped in Sweet Home Alabama and curled up next to Jay in bed.
Shortly into the movie, Reese Witherspoon’s character comes home to find her entire apartment covered in rose petals – petals on the floor, on the shelves, on the furniture, everywhere.
I turned to Jay and said, “You know, that’s really romantic and all, but you know what I’d be thinking?”
At which point, he says with me, word for word: “Who the hell is going to clean all that up?”
And they say the romance dies after you’re married. Heh.

From my mom – kinda amusing:

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As if you’re not already sick of hearing about the diet -
One of the things I love most about being on South Beach – once you familiarize yourself with what you can and can’t have, you can experiment to your heart’s content. As a result, Jay and I have made so many different foods! Before, we were in such a rut, with the same five or six meals over and over.
Tonight, I made a variation on this – I added some chicken and replaced the noodles with a bit of seaweed. YUMMY! I *heart* that we live in the Cambodian section of our city – fish sauce is a commonly stocked item. That never would have happened in upstate NY! And my god – I snacked on fresh cilantro while I was making up the soup. Give me fresh basil or fresh cilantro, and I.am.in.heaven!

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I just don’t get people.
I have a student who habitually comes to class late – we’re talking 20 minutes of a 50 minute class. It’s become a joke with the rest of the students – they place bets on what time he’s going to walk in – if he comes at all.
He’s very bright, and a good creative writer. However, his essay skills need serious work. You can tell he did well in high school because his writing likely ran circles around his teachers, but it’s not going to fly here – and he seems really surprised by that. So much so that when I had a mini-conference with him after class, he told me, “Not to be rude, but I really don’t have time for this.”
“I don’t have time for this”????!!!!
I’m a VERY understanding instructor. I understand you have work, you have kids, your car breaks down, my class isn’t necessarily your top priority. Talk to me, we can work something out. But he waltzes in late – constantly without even a pen – and tells me, “I don’t have time for this”?
Well, buddy, I don’t have time to write a passing grade for you.
SMACK!