hmmm.....

From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

BOLD the statements that are true about you. Unbold or leave alone the ones that are not.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college (nursing school, but is so close to getting her BSN!)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. (It wasn't new, but it was new to the family and only 3 years old.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
Makes you think, huh?

good things happening

So it's been two weeks on Weight Watchers, and I've lost 6.4 pounds! Aaron is doing it with me, so it's nice to be in it together. You can see a difference in what we are eating, which is great. There hasn't been much change in the exercise portion of our lives, but right now I currently feel really crap, so there won't be any of that today. We decided that our long term goal is to do a marathon. I think next year's Cow Town Marathon. That training will start on Monday.. 5K, 10K, half-marathon, then full marathon. I just hope all of our joints can withstand it all. I'm excited!

Parts of work are really starting to get on my nerves. A lot of things have been thrown at me in the last week at the last minute and without explanation. I'm very frustrated and stressed, probably what is making me not feel so good. I know that it will only get worse from now until the end of the year with state testing and all that. Third grade is the first year of testing and they must pass to go on to fourth. I have never been anywhere where there is so much focus on a test. There is so much teaching to the test, released test practices and kill and drill on these kids. They get tired and frustrated and just want to give up, and I can't really blame them in some respects. Now we are doing Saturday School. The students who are struggling are required to come, as well as their parents. I just don't understand. Maybe someday I will and it will bet less stressful due to the unknown.

Loving life and trying to make it better

So the past month or so has been pretty good. we went to St. Petersburg for about 10 days for Christmas and New Year's. One of Aaron's friends got married down there, so it was a great excuse to spend the holidays on the beach! The weather was just amazing and the Gulf was gorgeous! Check out the pics on picassa.

I managed to make it to the break from work. It was a good time for a break, but I was ready to come back. Now comes crunch time for the state test that starts in March and who knows when it will end. I'm just hoping that my kids do well. School is just so hard for them that I hope that we have all worked hard enough for them to pass it.

So I live in Texas, and I'm loving the current weather! It is January and we have all of the windows open. I was almost 80 today! I just can't believe it. I could really get used to this. I know that it's unusual, and that summers will probably be horribly brutal, but for now, I'm just loving it. It's supposed to cool down somewhat, into the 60s, later this week, but I'll take that over 19 and snowing any day.

On to making life better.....
I started Weight Watchers tonight. I am very excited to be doing this and I know that it works when you stick to it. Two women from work say they are going to do it with me, but one had a sick kid today and then the other bailed, so we'll see what happens next week.

Make and stick to a budget. I've never been too good at this one, but the more parts of my life I can get in order the better.

That's all I have for now, but if I can stick to both of those, I'm very hopeful for the year ahead.