First Week of the Semester

Apparently I have abandoned thoughtful, well-written posts in favor of random, scattered updates on my life. I have neglected writing this week because I have been disciplined about getting myself to bed on time. It feels good to get up early and get my day off to a good start, and it feels even better to do that after a decent night's sleep. There also hasn't been much to say this week, plus I have five more books that I need to read for a deadline at the end of the month so I've been focusing on that.

As I mentioned, I've generally done well with getting myself to bed and getting up on time. This was the first week of class, and it is going well so far. Every semester seems to get easier and I am enjoying teaching. I have also had a very stable class roster this time around too, so that always helps. My schedule has given me more free time since I am now around when Little Dude is at school in the afternoon and P.Bibby is napping. It's been great; so has being home when the kids get home from school. Of course, I need to remember that I'm only getting paid to teach one class rather than two, but I'm not too worried about it. My schedule at the library will also be changing in a few weeks so I might miss some of those naptimes again.

The other day I got the urge to set up the extra room downstairs as a guest room. I have a lot of fun ideas for decorating it, and it would give me an excuse to buy myself a new bed for my room (and move the old one downstairs). Then my neighbor got on the Facebook page for the foundation she runs; they provide assistance to schools in rural Uganda. The school year there starts at the end of January and they had a few students that still needed sponsors for the year. I realized that I can probably afford to get a new bed at some other time this year, so I impulsively made a pledge to be a sponsor. It's really not an enormous sum of money, but more than I've ever given to charity. I'm mostly proud of myself for breaking out of my rut and doing something rather than just thinking "I'd like to do that some day". (By the way, they have sponsors for the next year, but they always take donations for school supplies and other projects if you are interested: click here).

For the past little while I have really been craving more healthy food. I love all the treats we have at the holidays, and for some time now I have been slipping back into eating a lot more meat and more processed foods. Last week I went shopping at Smiths, which I haven't done in a while, and then I felt disappointed because the produce was all so overpriced and poor quality. So yesterday I went to Sunflower Market and got excited about produce again. Today the kids had strawberries with their lunch and grapes with dinner and I'm planning on yogurt with berries and granola for breakfast (I made some granola tonight). I made myself a batch of ratatouille for dinner, even though I knew the kids wouldn't like it. Interestingly, I served some fish fillets and the kids gobbled them up (they were the frozen breaded kind, but still pretty healthy and fresh tasting--and not that fatty or anything) . None of them touched the macaroni and cheese I had reheated for them as a side dish. Granted, it wasn't that great a batch of mac and cheese, but they surprised me. They even loved the homemade tartar sauce I put on the fish.

The more I eat 'real' homemade food, the less patience I have for processed food. I've discovered in the past year or so that I've become picky about treats. I still eat too many, but it's becoming easier for me to resist eating stuff. I'm learning that I don't want to waste calories on something that's sweet if it doesn't taste very satisfying. I become even more of a food snob every day; if I only I could convince my children to think the same way. Yesterday S-Boogie redeemed some practice points at her piano lesson and went to a birthday party and so she (and the other two kids) spent the entire day sneaking candy from the large bag she had on the counter. It seems like whenever I manage to get rid of treats, more appear from somewhere to take their place. Oh well. We eat healthy food most of the time.

I should finish this up and get to bed; I shouldn't give myself exceptions when there is no school the following day. Getting out of my routine does my body no favors. Tomorrow is expected to be quite cold and snowy, so I'm planning on staying in and hanging out all day. Hopefully it will be a pleasant day and we won't all hate each other by the time it's through.