Becoming Curvalicious

So my friend Susie and I have been talking a lot about being somewhere in our 30's and needing to take charge of our bodies. My hubby and I took advantage of B-town having to do a snow makeup day last Monday and played hooky (legit, hooky of course). That afternoon, I decided to haul my quarter pounder bum back into Curves. Transferred my membership from B-town over to my neck of the woods back in August, but what good is a gym membership if you don't use it?

Working out just once reminded me of how much I missed it. I love Curves! It is so great that you can go workout and feel like you don't have to put on makeup or squeeze yourself into some tiny little thing hoping that your extra curves don't hang out everywhere in the process. Other gyms have intimidated me in the past, but not this one. The people are so friendly and encouraging, the workouts never boring as you are constantly changing machines, and the time goes so fast, maybe because I yak the whole time:)

If you have never checked out Curves ladies, I encourage you to do so. I have worked out 5 days this week and feel like I have so much more energy. Even ran circles around the house with the pup just for fun. Hey, what else is there to do on our bizillionth snow day????

No matter what type of exercise you do, remember this challenge, I am becoming curvalicious, how about you????

Summer Vacation

I know summer vacation is still 68 school days away, +/- heaven forbid, any more snow days thrown in, but on a nasty, rainy day like today, I can't help but dream of a far away locale. This place is like mecca to me: all sun, hot sweaty guys running around, the best food in the world, ice cold drinks, and all for less than $100.00 a person per day. What is this dreamland, you are asking???? Drumroll please....Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves! I am sure Susie is dying in her seat right now.

Baseball season is my favorite time of year. I know it is dangerous to live in Cardinal Country and root for the Braves, but it all goes back to my little brothers playing on the Atlanta Braves' little league team back in the early 80's. We just became instant Braves fans and have seen them through the good, the bad, and the really ugly.

Well, this is probably the final year for my favorite player and future hall of fame pitcher, Tom Glavine. He is just so leveled headed in a game of cry babies and spoiled brats. He was once part of the Braves' Young Guns' Starting Rotation, a force to be reconned with back in the early 90's. Traded to the Mets a few years back, he is back with the best for one last glorious season. Lucky for me, I married a fellow Braves fan. After digging on the internet for the 2008 schedule, we found that they will be playing our illustrious Cardinals for one three game homestand in June. How can we pass it up I said to dear hubby???

Hopefully, my dream will come true, and we will be road trippin' it to Hot'lanta in June. Ballpark hotdogs, humidity up the wazzu, and enough tomahawk chopping to last a lifetime! Atlanta, here we come!

Adoption 101: To choose or not to choose, that is the question

So my hubby and I have officially jumped into the adoption pool. Right now I feel like with all the paperwork, we are entering with our swim floaties on just trying to muddle through the shallow end. We are not even close to being ready for the diving board yet! The amount of paperwork and questions about what you will or won't accept is crazy! Why can't God just say, here is the baby I have created for you, now it is your job to love it unconditionally like I do for you.

After some long, long, and very tedious thought and prayer sessions, Gary and I decided that any child who could potentially have anything in our families' backgrounds is very acceptable to us. There are many things we are willing to discuss, but I just don't know if I have enough unconditional love to care for a child with a drug background. Is that selfish of me? I guess my thought is that if I cannot have a child on my own, then I can be a little more choosy. Besides, I don't do drugs, so I would never have a child addicted to meth at birth. Sound logical? I hope so because I really don't want to sound shallow. I know through all of this, I just have to trust in the Lord to know, as a child of his, what I am cabable of caring for and loving with all my heart.

Through all of this I have learned that we are very lucky that we have a God who is willing to love us no matter what and is not selfish except for in the fact that he wants us all to come to know him on a personal level.

Thank you Lord for loving me unconditionally!

Falling in the hole or choosing to walk around

"You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself" - Jim Rohn

I found this quote as I was checking my daily igoogle today. I have personally decided that God is speaking directly to me through igoogle. In the immortal words of Depeche Mode, maybe it is my Personal Jesus, maybe I am just very tired in the mornings, but someone is definately talking to me, and I am starting to sit up and listen.

In class yeterday, we read and analyzed a poem about walking down the same street everyday and noticing a large hole. The question in the poem was, "Do you fall in the hole and blame others, fall in and realize it is your fault, fall in and never get out, fall in and get out, walk around the hole or take a new street?" This is so much like trying to lose weight, or any other habit a person has made the wrong personal choice about.

And that is the key statement, it is all about what YOU choose. No one can make me eat that candy bar sitting on the counter or the soda that is soooo calling my name down the hall in the teacher's lounge. Only I can take control of the situation. So, I really have to ask myself if I want to keep falling in the hole, or am I going to climb back out and take a new street? Things to ponder today...

On the road to happiness...

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes." - Andrew Carnegie

Ok, so I have jumped into the blogosphere for myself. I already have a blog I use with my 6th graders, and they love it. I just have had no personal time to create one for myself until now. I have spent the last two glorious days enjoying some much needed snow days. They are my favorite unofficial holidays as any teacher knows. It has given me the chance to ponder about life, weight loss, love, weight loss, friends, weight loss and finally, weight loss. Or, in my case, it is acutally weight gain that I am pondering right now as I just got off the eliptical, huffing and puffing after 20 of the longest minutes of my life. Why have I done this to myself??????

So, as I was setting up my igoogle homepage, I came across an inspirational quotes and pictures widget with the above quote and knew it was time to start the blog! Susie will be thrilled that she has another blogging buddy!

I ask myself, "Why now?" Well, the quote says it all...I want to be happy. Not that I am not a happy person, but I am a very stressed out, dedicated to my job and nothing else person who really needs to start focusing on me, my family and the body that God has so kindly lent to me. I don't want to end up at the pearly gates one day and have God ask me what I have done with this body he gave me and have nothing good to say. So, here I am, a rambling fool, laying it all out there. You are going to get the good, the bad, and the ugly, but hopefully, I am on the right road to happiness. Will you join me in this trek?

random ponderings and happy wishes...

Kelly