I am certain clothes manufacturers are making sizes fit much larger than they used to. I know I haven’t lost weight (if anything, winter hasn’t been good to these hips) – yet none of the new clothes I’ve ebayed fit. I’ve been the same Gap size for a year now – and I can practically pull the “modern fit” pants off without unbuckling! And what’s with the length? The average woman is 5′4″ – these would fit my 6′3″ husband!
(Ok, maybe not – but still, the things I find to whine about!)
First day back wasn’t nearly as painful as I had expected. The kids actually missed school, which made me feel good. Of course, most of the time it’s because they hate their miserable home lives, but I’ll pretend it’s because they really love us, mmmm kay? And they loved the haircut. Either that, or it’s the end of the trimester and they’re just sucking up because they’re all borderline failing. (Of course, they miss school when they don’t have to come, and then opt not to come when they have to. Yeah.) Again, I’ll live in Miss Eka world and believe them for a little longer that bangs really do make me look younger, mmm kay?
Off to throw on sweats, hem my pants, have a little sippie of wine, watch the news and try to figure out whether or not I’m hoping for a snow day tomorrow. I know – rough life.

Randomness:

Naturally, my parents paid for lunch.

Really random: Hi to Barb and all of Barb’s coworkers! (You all know who you are. I don’t necessarily know who you are, but I know you’re out there. So hi! )
Back to work tomorrow. Yeehaw. The countdown to April break has already begun.

Last year, my mom was wonderfully supportive of me while I trained and took on the 60 miles for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Since then, her close cousin has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.
This year, my mom will be walking with me.
We’ll be walking alongside Wendy and her friends and Amy and her team. Because I love these women and the other women in my life, and because I never want them to have to face this disease, I’ve again pledged to walk 60 miles over 3 days to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.
Look around you. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. These women are our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, partners, friends, and mentors. And research has shown that while a woman’s risk for developing breast cancer increases if her mother, sister, daughter, or two or more other close relatives, such as cousins, have a history of breast cancer, 85% of women who develop breast cancer have NO known family history of the disease.
There

Hi – remember me?
It’s amazing how this site was such a core of who I was for so long. These days, the computer is an afterthought, not the first thing I race for when I get home.
Vacation’s almost over. I hate the feeling I get when things wind down and I feel like I’ve wasted the time. This time around, though, I’m reminding myself that time spent vegging isn’t time wasted – it’s time recharging. Still, I didn’t paint the hall, I didn’t completely overhaul our finances again, I didn’t finish the laundry I swore I would.
And (shock!) I found my way into work twice. Really, though, I could have done without today – writing Ethics lesson plans around medical ethics and end-of-life decision-making. With all the hoopla around Terri Schiavo and Carol Carvitt, I had to find a way to work it into class. Just because we can keep someone alive, does it mean we should? Who should have the final say – family members who have been assigned the role of healthcare proxy, doctors who know (medically) what’s best, other family members, the court – or even someone else? Still, it eeks me out walking around with photocopies of blank Health Care Proxy forms. I know it’s not the mature thing to avoid things like this and wills and all other responsible paperwork, but I have such a hard time looking at the forms, let alone discussing them.
At least two of my English classes will be spending the day coloring – they need to create new bookcovers for The Great Gatsby and The Outsiders using symbols from the novels that we’ve discussed in class. Yay for smelly Mr. Sketch markers!
I’m off now to pick up some more scrapbooking goodies and to get my hair chopped off. Then, tomorrow it’s lunch and gambling with my folks at Mohegan Sun, and then hopefully Alisa & Keegan on Sunday. A busy end to a week of lazy nothingness.
And who knows? From the looks of it, we just might have a snow day again next week. Maybe I’ll get around to finishing the laundry then.

I’m twitching – and it has nothing to do with the restless sleeping and the bunches o’coffee I guzzled this morning -
My little Jess-Bess, our little Princess Dragonfly, is posting again. And not only that, she’s posted her amazing news – she’s going to be a mommy!
Su and I get to spend Saturday night fawning over Jessie and giggling and poking at her belly. We’ll be armed with a blender full of mocktails and chick flicks and each other. I can’t think of a better way to spend this weekend!
T-minus 6 until vacation. I’m quickly lining up a week of absolutely nothing but playing Perfect Dark, getting caught up on other blogs, heading to the spa, wandering through aisles of garden goodies, filling my body and mind with spring wishes, and sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping.
I have never needed a vacation so badly!

Sometimes there’s nothing like heading out with the teachers for a drink and bad, fried food at a local pub after a really rough day – and not realizing that not just one (oh no, that wouldn’t be bad), but TWO of your students work there. And will be waiting on you.
They got a kick out of it, though. Of course, it cut into our ability to talk about them, but it was kind of fun to watch the way they handled interacting with us in their own element. (If you remember her from previous posts, one of the girls was the Michael-Jackson-singing-I-love-cheese girl. And teachers never talk about their students. Really. )
I’m better. One student whose recent arrest really hit me finally made it back to school today. I cornered him and told him that I had seen his name in the arrest log, and that it had made me cry. He didn’t say much, and that’s okay. Sometimes there’s nothing like a little guilt to make us both feel better. (Ok, so it only made me feel better, but I’m over it. )
Rotten students. One more day and I’m home-free for a whole week. What to do with all that time? (Maybe find something other than school to write about?)
Phew. I need summer, and fast.

It’s been a very surreal week. My limits have been pushed, and as much as I’ve fallen back on my experience with these kids at the teen center to guide me through the emotional hardships of dealing with their lives outside of school, I finally hit my breaking point. (Holy run-on sentence, English teacher!)

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I’ve been so out of the loop lately that I’m certain that all of my friends have all had children who are all married and have families of their own – it feels like it’s been that long since I’ve talked to some of them.
I imagine life can’t be like this all the time. Seriously – are our lives simply whirlwinds of family, work, friends and sleep? When did weekends become simply time to recharge before the racing begins again on Monday?
Is it just that I’m in a new position, in a new field, and things will settle down? Or is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life – racing from home to work to home to sleep to maybe seeing family to possibly talking to friends to freaking out about how much work I’m not getting done to freaking out about the piles of neglected laundry that are now creeping out of the basket, across the floor and out the door to dirty clothing freedom?
Seriously – people do this and have kids? It’s got to end. My parents came back from Italy and extolled the virtues of a low-key life. Is that even possible in our society? Do people ever slow down? I’m not in the corporate rat race. I’m not looking to climb up the rungs of management. I can’t imagine how crazy that must be! I just want my little job where I feel good about the work that I do.
I love my life and I love all the little pieces of it – but there’s got to be more balance and calm than this. I don’t know how our heads don’t explode by the time we turn 50, because I’m almost 30 and I can feel the pressure building up inside already.
Is it winter break yet?

I’ve officially had a headache for one week and thirteen hours. I have an idea where it’s coming from, too. Just one tiny glimpse into the hell that has been the last week:
Smack dab in the middle of individual work on the appropriate use of punctuation and quotes, one very Latino male stood up and announced to the class that he “f*cking hates all faggots.”

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Every semester I have my Ethics class do a presentation on animal research. We do a bit of background/prep work, and based on their initial reactions, they choose whether to research on the side of pro-animal research or anti-animal research.
It’s got to be my favorite project of the semester. Sure, I could do without the “OH MY GOD COME SEE WHAT THEY DO TO THE ANIMALS!” pictures at 9:30 in the morning, but the kids get sooooo into it – on both sides. I love listening to them snipe at each other across the lab; I love watching them spy on the other side and then formulate arguments in anticipation of what’s going to be said in the debate. I love how they recognize slant and audience and the role of emotion: the anti side decorated their poster in pictures of tortured animals; the pro side decorated theirs with pictures of babies’ lives who have been spared thanks to medicine tested on animals.
The best, though, is watching them seethe as the other group presents their information. I listen to them whisper “That’s a lie!” to each other and nearly burst at the seams as they want to attack the presenters but know that they have to wait until the debate after the presentations. And the actual debate? So completely out of control – but they’ve internalized so much of the information at this point that they actually do know what they’re talking about, even if they are screaming it at one another.
God, I love teaching Ethics.