Reconstructing Kelly

I have been horrid about blogging. I need to though because not that many people know I have a blog, so I can just get my feelings out.

This morning, I read a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt that goes like this, "Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else."

Hmmmm....makes you think. Made me think, "Am I being a good friend to myself? Am I helping myself get healthy?" Not really. Why can I cheer other people on but not myself? So, here goes. I am going to use this space to cheer myself on. If that means writing down on here what I eat each and every day so that I am not overeating, then so be it. If people don't want to read about it, then they can go elsewhere. But this will be a place where I can reconstruct myself. The good, the bad, & the very ugly I am sure will come out here. I don't care what other people think as long as I am becoming a friend to myself.

Do I honestly want to get up off my quarter pounder sized butt and exercise this morning? No freaking way! Am I going to? Yes, even if I have to whine and cry all the way to Curves. I know I will be much happier after I am all coated in that God awful thing you call sweat. I know, women "perspire." I say hell no! I sweat darn it! I am woman, hear me roar!!! I say that as I struggle to gulp down my chalk tasting protein shake and banana. I can already feel the slime coating my tongue, ugh!!!

Ok, nasty hair that needs to sooo be colored and cut (I seriously look like a zebra right now), you are getting slapped up into a messy ponytail (thank the Lord messy is in). I know, you were in that state ysterday as well, but it is summer vacay, so deal with it. Why am I talking to my hair? Lord, I am losing it!

The Year of the Girls 2010

Over the last year, a few of my high school & college girlfriends and I have gotten back in touch via that wonderland called Facebook. We are all in need of someone to hold us accountable to our own personal fitness/weightloss goals. These girls have become my rocks, prayer warriors, go to gals when I am blue or just someone who will listen to me without judging. I love them to pieces and wish I lived closer to them all.

Sheri & Jamye~Thank you for being there daily to cheer each other on, for understanding our stuggles & continuously praying for God to work in all of our lives for the better.

Rhonda & Jen~You are my "IT" girls. This is the year of the girls and I thank you for being there from the beginning and for this renewed friendship we have. We are all different, yet so alike in many ways. I embrace it all!

I have never been able to lose weight on my own and I thank God for bringing each and every one of you into my life to stand by me in the good and the bad. Because of your strength, I am stronger. I am down 7 pounds in my fight to find myself. I know there are many bad days to still come, but the light at the end of the tunnel is looking brighter every day.

Cheers to the year of the girls!!!!!

The Sloth Emerges

I haven't exercised...in days...no, in weeks. Why is this you ask? What is my excuse? I have had an entire 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation and now a whole week of snow days. You think that would have motivated me to get off my fat butt and move. No, I have become a sloth. A sloth living in hibernation. Today, the sloth has awoken from her midwinter's sleep and a new day has begun. My elliptical kept calling to me, "Kelly? Where are you? Come visit me. I am sooo lonely in here. It is just me and the dust bunnies and they are no longer fun to party with!"It was hard, but I pulled myself off the couch and facebook, broke out of the darkness and into the light of my bedroom, plugged in the Ipod and cruised. 35 minutes is not bad for a first time back. I tell you, it was nice to visit an old friend. I promised it I would return again soon. I felt like a caterpillar emerging from the cocoon and becoming a butterfly...ok, a sweaty butterfly, but who cares? I did it!

Good news is sometimes not as good as you think...

Today we hit 3 months on the adoption list and thought, about a week ago, that life was just merrily going along our own way...

then, we got an e-mail that Annie wanted to talk about a matching. We went nuts! Someone was actually looking at us????? How exciting!

Questions immediately sprung up:

Kelly: How far along is she? Has she been taking prenatal vitamins? Is she having a boy or a girl? Where is she from? Is the baby ok?

Gary: Should we start buying Legos????

Then, the excitement died down. We found out that others have looked at us before this time and did not choose us. Reality slapped us in the face. Hmmm...I guess I never thought that we would be shopped to potential birthmoms and not know about it. I guess I should have figured that, but it is weird to think that major decisions (I am talking life changing decisions) could be in the works, behind closed doors, and we would have no knowledge of them.

This new development has opened our eyes to the fact that it is really going to happen for us, maybe not today or tomorrow or even before the New Year, but rather in God's time. I understand why it can't be in our time, but it still does not make it easy at this time of year.

So, Gary and I ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wait, patiently, for the right birthmom to come along and say, "These are the people who need to love my child forever." And while you are praying for us, drop God a text, e-mail, IM, or whatever happens to be your preferred mode of communication these days, to help those birthmom's out there with adoption plans to make the right choice, whatever that may be...

Ponderings along the way,

Kelly

Our Adoption Story Update...

Today marks 2 months on the waiting list. I am still very much at peace with the wait, besides, we are very early into it (average wait time is 12-18 months). My students hope we get a call this year so they can celebrate (any reason for a party is a good one to them). Since our social worker, Annie, told us to start buying things now, at least the big stuff, that is what we are looking at for Christmas ideas...hint, hint, family members who read my ramblings. A friend suggested I register at Target. To me, that seems strange, since I am not pregnant, and we have not gotten an official call... yet, but I guess it could be smart. I will have to think on that one.

For now, we just ask for your prayers. We know God has a little one out there for us, I just hope and pray that it is sooner in his plans than later. All in God's time, I have to remember.

Kelly

A poem for headache sufferers like me

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...
I hate headaches, one and all.

Sinus, tension, migraines, too,
They all leave me feeling blue.

Weekends should be headache free,
Time for God, family, and me.

If your medicine leaves you out of luck,
Do as I do, and find a Starbucks!

That is the only thing headaches do for me, they leave me inspired to write:)

Kelly

Fudgesicle Lemonhead

Last fall, I had the chance to sit in on a workshop with one of my favorite children's poets, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, in one of my all-time favorite cities, Manhattan. Rebecca talked about how she came up with some of her poems by randomly selecting words she really likes and putting them together. I love writing poetry and often find myself writing them in my head as I make the long morning commute to school.

As I am having my students generate lists of words they really like, to use as seed collections in their journals, I thought it would be fun to share two of my favorite words in the form of a Haiku. Enjoy!

Fudgesicle Lemonhead

Sugar rush, ears red

Tongue biting, sour pucker

Opposites attract

Kelly

Buying Diapers...HELP!!!!!

So now that we are on the official Caucasian Infant Waiting List or CIWL as I will refer to it, our social worker says we should start buying baby things as we never know when we will be getting THE CALL.

Gary thinks this means buying all the toys his mom never let him play with because the pieces just might get sucked up in the dreaded vacuum. That means Lego's, tinker toys, K-Nex, etc. I think our priorities are slightly eschewed.

My question to all of you moms out there who have young ones or who have had young ones recently is this: What is a good price for diapers???? Target recently had 192 infant diapers on sale for $29.00. Is this a good buy??? I have absolutely no clue, help!

Lost in baby land,

Kelly

Darn you Ike

I am sad...

Not for myself, but for my hubby. He was really looking forward to biking tomorrow at Dogwood Canyon. The colors would be starting to come out on the trees, the weather is beautiful, and if you breathe really deeply (ok, just pretend for a moment) you can smell fall in the air.

Thanks to Hurricane Ike, Dogwood is closed! How sad to ravage one of God's truly beautiful places in the Ozarks.

Guess he will just have to bike at the lake and pretend he hears the rush of waterfalls as he zooms passed a DUCK making a splash in the water. Just ignore the Wacky Quackers, dear. Sais La Vie...

Long time...no blog

First, I want to apologize to those friends and family who do follow my blog, whether they post a comment or just call me on the phone to talk about it. I have been lost in what is called, Beginning of the Year Teacher Land! It is not my favorite place to be lost in since it usually means an overwhelming number of demands on my work life and not enough time spent on my personal life. I love the beginning of September because school starts, and I get a fresh batch of 6th graders to love on plus my birthday is the first week, but I also love September to end. The ushering in of October usually means less imminent due dates at work, the kids are starting to get in the swing of things at school, and my hubby is half way through his football season which equals more time spent with me!!!!

So, here is a quick update on my last month:

1. I turned 38. That seems like a dreaded number, but really it is just an even number with only a few factors (had to get a math lesson in there somewhere).

2. We FINALLY have been approved to adopt!!! It was one long summer, but now it is just up to God to find us the right birth mom who wants us to become a forever family for her child. Keep us in your prayers!

3. I catered to all of my hubby's needs while he spent five miserable days battling a sinus infection. I honestly thought the world was coming to an end the way he carried on.

4. I spent my first home football game with the paramedics, hooked up to a breathing machine, all because some highschooler thought they needed to wear an entire can of Axe Body Spray (which I am highly allergic to) to impress all the nonexistent girls, who might possibly want to date him, sitting in Kenna's and my section. Was that crass at all???? Poor, guy, maybe he really does need the body spray. Thank heavens I do not teacher jr. high!

5. Hubby is now catering to me (thanks to the fun cowbell I got at above football game)! I decided to stupidly play chase with my favorite pooch the other night and slipped, falling with my foot completely upside down and backwards underneath me. One loud popping sound, a wave of nausea, and I am sure a few choice words later...I could not feel my foot and thought I might either want to die or pass out. After hubby coach took me to see the athletic trainer at the HS since the local ER in B-town was on a 5 hour backlog, it was decided that I could have fractured fibia in my left ankle. Took the next day off to rest, ice, compress, elevate my ankle and have x-rays done. Prognosis: Severe sprain, hyper extended all the ligaments and tendons, and possibly a small tear in a ligament (but too swollen to tell for sure right now). So, I am hobbling around like an idiot in an air splint and crutches for the next few weeks.

6. My students are the best!!!! They have been taking care of me hand over foot. I even have my own little posse who have taken to getting me ice, water, my lunch tray, and I even have one little guy who has designated himself my personal bodyguard! He walks down the hall in front of me saying, "Back away from the foot!" Isn't that precious!!!!

That is my life right now in a nutshell. More pondering later...

Kelly

You know you love to teach middle school when...

Someone let's one rip in the hallway, and all the boys go, "Sweet!!!!!"

Your slowpokiest student tells you he just can't move any faster because his toe might fall off.

You respond back to him that in 6th grade toes are not allowed to fall off on Thursdays, only Fridays, and he believes you.

You write stories about something hiding under your living room rug, and the kid's stories are sooooo amazingly filled with details that you are all laughing so hard you cry.

You teach a math lesson, after taking a year off from math, and every child in the room "Gets it!"

Your kids come back in from a hot, sweaty day at recess and you just about pass out from the odor that is radiating out of every one of their pores because they do not seem to know what deodorant is and you would rather they NOT "Raise their hands if they're SURE." (Yes, we allow them to wear deodorant at our school.)

Your students favorite way to communicate with you is through Facebook and they tell you that, "You Rock!"

You are reading aloud to the kids and there is a line in the book that says, "I have not seen this many balls in one room since Elementary PE," and the boys all start laughing so hard that one kid falls over backwards in his chair.

They won't admit it, but they really do truly still love to have you read picture books to them.

your kids are so comfortable with you that they accidentally call you mom:)

And finally, the number one way to know you love to teach middle school is when a parent tells you that you are the reason their child loves to get up every morning, with a smile on their face, and go to school!

Adoption Update

We got an e-mail on Friday that our home study is finally finished and that we have been recommended for adoption! I spent Friday night madly going through the home study to check for any errors, so that Annie (our wonderful social worker) can get it finalized with her supervisor and sent on to St. Louis for final approval. We are hoping to get a call in the very near future telling us that we are finally approved and on the official list. I feel like my life is nothing but a giant waiting line right now. Please keep us in your prayers that God will find the right birthmom for us and the wait will not be too long. Gary and I can't wait to finally have a baby to hold in our arms and call our own:)

Kelly

First Day Jitters

I am always a basket case right before heading back to school for a new year. I can't sleep, and when I do, I have the strangest dreams like going surfing with the new PE teacher! When was the last time I had the chance to surf in B-town?????? This year though, I somehow managed to get a full night of sleep the evening before. Maybe it is God telling me I need all the rest I can get because I am going to need it this year, or maybe I am just getting used to teaching after 9 years of first days. Whichever the case, I did survive the first day and from the looks of it, have a pretty sweet class. Who knows, they could turn out to be like that cute little monkey on Night at the Museum and turn into holy terrors today!

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

I have been on a blog vacation. My mom and 7 year old niece from Washington State came out to visit us for a week. Living in B-town, all I can say is, "I am exhausted!!!!!" I never knew how tired you could be after a week of theme parks, water slides, funnel cakes, shopping, horse shows, frozen custard, IMAX, and my first ever trip to Build-a-Bear. Who ever thought that buying an animal skin, stuffing it, bathing it, dressing it in its own cute little hot pink outfits (plus the multitude of accessories available), naming it and giving it a birth certificate, would make money??? Can you say $$$$$$$$$$$$$????

Think these pictures sum up our fun in B-town. Now, back to cleaning house before the next batch of company arrives ready to tear it up. Calgon, take me away!!!

Kelly

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Picture Book Suggestion: Punk Farm

As part of my job, I get to read lots and lots of children's picture books as I look for that elusive great book to use as a mentor text in my reading/writing lessons. I think I will start sharing a few of them for those parents out there who have little ones that love to be read to at night. I will have to tell you though that even my 6th graders love having me read to them just as much or even more than I ever could have imagined. As one of my friends' kids just told me the other day, "You sure know how to pick out the best books, they are sooo funny!"


So, thinking of Alana and the boys (actually R and the hilarious head/login incident made me clear this was a book for them), here is my first entry:







Punk Farm followed by Punk Farm on Tour.

These farm animals are soooo rockin' that they even have their own website, where you can listen to their punked out version of popular kids' songs from the book as you read, and their own pretend myspace page (not a real one, very safe for the kids to visit and pretty hilarious). So, all of you moms and dads out there who always wanted to rock out, now is your chance. Susie, your kids will LOOOOOVVVE these books too! I can just picture "T" doing the air guitar!

As for teachers, great for character studies, voice, circular stories, etc. My 6th graders went nuts over these books and even created new characters for the band, plus song ideas.

So, in the immortal words of Punk Farm, "You Rock Colorado!!!!"


Kelly

Curvaceous Update for July

Dragged myself in for weighing and measuring today. Here are the results:

weight lost - 4 pounds

fat lost - 3 pounds

inches lost - 3

Total weight lost for year: 14 pounds

Car batteries dead: 1

Sounds out of my mouth upon realizing this: Priceless

Kelly

Where I'm From

Time: 8:07 a.m.

What I am doing: Procrastinating

As I sit here doing everything other than going to Curves like I am supposed to (it is the dreaded weigh and measure day), I was visiting a fellow teachers' blog about her writing territories assignment she is making up for her kids the first week of school. Now for those of you who do not teach, a writing territory is part of your life that only you can write about. The kids make lists of all sorts of things in their lives that could be interesting writing starters (seeds) and post them in their notebooks so on the day when they are sitting there with nothing to write about, they have a whole list of ideas to turn to. So, this blog post reminded me of a writing project I had my 6th graders complete last fall. We wrote Where I am From poems. I created my own to model for the kids, and then they wrote one about themselves, then interviewed a family member and created one for them so we would have parallel poems. The kids loved it and the parents loved getting to spend actual real live face time with their prepubescent child.

You are asking where this is going? Well, I thought for the fun of it, I would share with you my poem. Call it a meme of sorts in poetic form. Mine inspired a whole group of teachers to write one of their own. It gives you a great opportunity to reflect on yourself as a child growing up in whatever decade that might be. Thanks to teacher and author Nancy Atwell for the basis of the idea. Maybe this will encourage you to create one of your own. It was a lot of fun tripping down memory lane. Hope you enjoy my trip and maybe it will spark an interest or memory in yourself.

WHERE I AM FROM…

I am from Barbies, Mad Libs and Clue
Playing soccer with the boys, running like the wind, Alley Wiffleball in gym and cheating at Spotlight
I am from albums, 8 tracks, cassette tapes & CD’s
Madonna as a Material Girl, Michael Jackson in Thriller, Hair bands and the Go-Go’s
I am from Crushin’ on Tom Cruise as Maverick in Top Gun, loving the brat pack and Molly Ringwald, Harrison Ford in Star Wars and Indiana Jones
I am from dancing with Kevin Bacon in Footloose, Friday the Thirteenth and slasher films, ET phoning home
Wishing I lived like the kids on Family Ties, The Cosby Show & Growing Pains
Not like the kids from Roseanne, Married with Children or the Simpsons
I am from Pop Rocks to Zotz, collector Pez dispensers to Razzles (first it’s a candy…then it’s a gum)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, reading Lord of the Rings and Nancy Drew
I am from blowing up Julie’s mom’s first microwave oven, cordless phones, and the rise of Apple Computers
I am from Nixon and Watergate, Jimmy Carter and his peanuts, Reagan as a president (not an actor)
I am from 26 years in Washington State, with a sprinkle of California (like gag me with a spoon you know), Idaho and New York thrown in
Mount Saint Helen’s erupting, the Pepsi Challenge, and the space shuttle Challenger flaming in the sky.
My life is like a bad 80’s movie with a splash of chick flick thrown in
Even though life in the 80’s may have been the decade of excess, today, I still Want My MTV.

Kelly Christine Neal

Tales of a Non-scrapbooker

Help! So, hubby and I have made it through the home study portion of our adoption. Super Cleaning Woman came out for apparently no reason other than to hear, "Is your entertainment center always so dust free?" I almost died of laughter at that one being a pet owner who has to dust and vacuum religiously! Although, hubby and I do have an arrangement made with our marriage vows. He will dust the house (job I loathe) if he never has to clean a toilet 'til death do us part. "I do!" So, I know that on toilet cleaning days, which I think I have OCD in this area, at least the dust bunnies will be rounded up and the spiders will have to build new homes.

Now to the real reason I screamed help at the beginning of this gibberish, we now have to make an album so that the agency can basically sell us to the birth moms. I am panicked never having scrapbooked in my life! I have told friends, when invited to their scrapbooking parties, that I will come to a party when I have kids. Who needs to scrapbook just yourself???? Now, I am at that point and have no abilities to turn paper into anything looking remotely cute. So, I am calling in reinforcements. Does anyone know if you can print pages from Smilebox? If so, I am technically savvy enough to handle that, I think... Also, any tips on just scrapbooking would be greatly appreciated as some of my pictures obviously predate the digital age of the camera, cue the dinosaurs. Thanks in advance as we are now one step closer to having our baby hopes and dreams realized!

Kelly

Blueberry Heaven

As I was standing at the sink today pondering over what to do with the 14 pounds of blueberries I recently picked here, (yes, we went a little nuts), I thought I should share two of my favorite recipes involving said berries. The first is Blueberry Buckle which is the yummiest coffee cake and can be made with any type of berry. I remember as a kid, waking up on a Sunday morning to the most amazing and heavenly aroma wafting up the stairs and tickling my nose. Good grief, now I want to make some!!!

The second recipe is for a lowfat, but still very scrumpdillyicious blueberry smoothie. Gary and I indulged in one of these the morning after our berry picking adventure. To double the recipe, just add another half cup of berries and another half cup of milk. Enjoy!

Kelly

Blueberry Buckle

Beat together:
3/4 c. sugar1/4 c. butter2 eggs1/2 c. milk
Sift together:
1 1/2 c. flour2 tsp. baking powder1/2 tsp. salt1/2 tsp. nutmeg1/4 tsp. cloves
Stir into egg mixture then carefully fold in 1 quart blueberries or 10 ounce package frozen berries.
Top with:
1/2 c. sugar1/3 c. flour1/2 tsp. cinnamon1/4 c. butter
Mix until crumbly.
Bake in preheated 375 oven about 45 minutes until top springs back when lightly touched. Serve warm cut in squares.

Blueberry Breakfast Shake

1/2 cup blueberries , picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons honey
5ice cubes

DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in the jar of a blender, and process until smooth. Serve immediately in tall glasses.

Exercise Woes

This summer, I decided that exercise was going to be a priority in my life. I am not going anywhere, have few obligations and no excuses. Besides, if Gladys, my 83 year old workout buddy at Curves can be ready to hit her 1000 workout, I have absolutely NO excuses. So, I dusted off the elliptical and my Curves membership, put on workout wear (no spandex here girls) and hit the fitness trail. My exercise regime has consisted of not only the above mentioned modes for working up a sweat, but biking here (B-towners, did you know you can get an annual pass for $45)and walking the pooch and myself around more than just the block. Sooooo, why when I stepped on the scale yesterday had I gained 4 pounds?!?! The numbers are supposed to go down, not up! I know, you will all tell me I have gained muscle and not fat (blah, blah, blah), but my brain says, "Who cares" if the numbers don't show it! We are a society driven by the numbers, and I don't like what I saw. I figured with my recent bout with food poisoning, I would have purged enough to show some weight loss, but alas, no.

I am not giving up though. Everyone says it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, and I am now officially addicted to endorphins! Besides, Sadie, the best pooch ever, is loving her mommy's new found addiction. Now, if I can just get up the courage to go have my physical done for our adoption, life will be grand. I am just afraid the doc is going to say that I am suffering from Death by Chocolate! But that is another hurdle to jump...