I needed that....

I have been really busy... You know...  First Mom's death, then super busy with work, and teaching.  I just finished another big thing over the weekend.  Still not "done" but hopefully things will slow a bit more.

Today, I came home from volunteering at the girls' school, and I was preparing to do some work.  But I was tired.  I've gotten nearly 8 hours of sleep the last two nights, but last week was very busy and involved only about 6.5 hours of sleep a night and extra driving (I was commuting to a conference).  So, today, I decided to take a power nap.  When I got cozy and started to set the alarm, I decided, what the heck, no alarm, let's see how long I sleep!  I took about an hour nap.  Ah!

I don't know the last time I did this.  I don't love naps because I'm groggy after them, but I think it was worth it today!  It was good for me.  I have been working so hard that I feel STUPID.  I often can't remember things that I should.  Sleep is important for solidifying memory, and I am not getting enough sleep.  My brain needs some time to relax.  I've had weird nerve things (e.g., numb hands and feet) going on for the last couple of weeks and that's definitely a sign that I should SLOW down.

(I know why the weird nerve things occur... If I didn't, I'd worry more.  I know that it will get better if I rest and take better care of myself.  I also know, there's nothing a doctor can do for me.  I also know that B12 can help and I've been forgetting to take them.  I remembered last night and today.  Anyway, you can read more about the weird nerve stuff over here http://3littlegirls-ohmy.blogspot.com/2006/04/twitching.html if you care.)

Best advice EVER from my boss...

Me:  I don't want to do _______________.
My boss: Just blow it off.

<3 her!

A week

The girls had a week off from school.  I love it when they don't go to school because I can sleep a little later.  I dislike having to get up so early every day.  They had a pretty low-key week, but not totally slug-like.  They worked on their science fair projects (a little), played with the guinea pig who came home for break, cleaned a little, took a day to play with their parents (see other blog), ran errands with their parents (boring) (we're doing lots for the new house right now), and cooked.


This weekend, I cooked a little.  No one wanted to help.  Tonight, I made a variation on this soup.  

1 32 oz. container of vegetable broth

~3 cups of water

2 bags of frozen cauliflower, carrot and broccoli mix -- note I pulled the broccoli out and didn't let it cook as long as the carrots and cauliflower.  

1 yukon gold potato, peeled, cubed into 1/2" cubes

1 chopped onion

1 26 oz box/can of chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon of turmeric

1 tablespoon of curry powder

1 tsp. of salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp red cayenne pepper (depending on how much kick you like!)

2 - 4 tablespoons of organic peanut butter (optional)

1 - 15 ounce cans of chickpeas, drained & rinsed (note, stick these in earlier)

1 bag of spinach (or add chopped greens of your choice)  I used the broccoli instead

My EASY directions

Put liquid (broth and water) in a big stock pan.

Add cauliflower, carrot, potato, and onion and boil.  Lose track of time because you are multi-tasking but note that they veggies are all pretty soft (most likely 20-30 minutes).  Add the chickpeas at the beginning (next time).

Add the spices and tomatoes and cook for a while longer (lose track of time--probably 10-15 minutes).  (Also, add the chickpeas if you forgot to add them at the beginning.)

Add the PB last in case some people in your family think the soup will be better without it.  (Note, it will taste MUCH spicier without the PB.)

Serve in a bowl like soup, or over rice.  (MWH wants to add that it goes well with sour dough bread!)

Last night I made black bean and kale burgers... recipe soon....  (All 3 of the girls ate the burgers!!!  Note, probably only about 1/6 a serving of kale per burger, but that's more kale than they usually eat in a black bean burger, so YAY!)  I also made these again and I'll tell you about them later, too.

twoK's turn

She says achoo, and sniffle. And cough.  Poor girl.  I'm hoping this cold doesn't go through all 3, but it's not too bad.

I was pretty miserable yesterday.  I thought I was getting better Friday, but then Saturday was still bad.  Today, I'm definitely recovering.  Maybe twoK will burn through it faster.  Little kids sometimes do.  Or maybe it will hit her harder.  That can happen, too.  Boy, is this a fun entry or what?  Don't answer.

Instead, I leave you with some quotes, or paraphrases of things I said while MWH and I were working on designing spaces for the new house.

1.  6 inches is NOT enough.  I need at least a foot.
2.  Is the space big enough to do the chicken dance?
3.  Wow, this feels big, but is it big enough?

Yes, they were all about design.  G-rated and all here.

(Also, for the record, twoK and I sold girl scout cookies today.  Lots of them.  Outside of a coffee shop.  Did you see us?)

ah... choo

Thursday:
Ugh.  I have a cold.  It's not too bad, but it's sneezy and sniffly.  And headachy.  But not too bad.  I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse than it is today.  The cold I had in October got worse for 2-3 days before it got better.  Let's hope this one isn't as bad.

I am pretty sure I got it when I was in 2nd grade (twoK's class) for the Valentine Day party; when I was there, the kiddos were coughing and sneezing all over the place.  I'm thrilled that I didn't get sick during the very busy work time that was November - about a week ago.  I'm sure that my body is a little worn down from all the stress.  I worked really hard to stay as healthy as I could while I was busy.  Moving on.

Oh, the other thing, my car got sick yesterday.  It is still in the shop.  It's got almost 100K on it, and I desperately wanted to see it turn over.  It should with a little help.  Again, just grateful that this didn't occur while I was really busy.

What else...

Friday:
The cold isn't worse than yesterday, but it's not better, either.  My car should be back today.  Next week is a week off of school for the girls!  I'm excited.  I'll take off some time to hang with them.  I'm going to figure out something fun to do with them for next Friday (a whole family day--we'll get MWH to take the day, too!).

Note to self... write about the new house!

A good but weird day

I had a friend from out of town visit me at work--it was fun, but it's odd when you have someone you don't usually see in your work place.

My pilates workout was cancelled because my trainer was sick.

I left work early because I am not super busy.

All of those things are UNUSUAL, and two were nice.  The worst was no pilates.  I still have my dance class tonight, fortunately.  Because it was such an unusual day, I keep feeling like I've forgotten something.  I don't think I have, but you know, when you don't do a usual routine, it just feels odd.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Ah, love! I have 4 super valentines.  One tall, super husband and 3 short(er), but super daughters.

Part of tomorrow's festivities will include 2nd grade valentines!  I'm the Room Mom in twoK's classroom and I get to plan their valentine party.  I decided we should do chocolate fondue.  I then had NO IDEA how I could get chocolate fondue to be melty at school so I bought this.*  I'm super excited.  I think it'll be fun for the kids.  We'll dip fruit, pretzels, and a few other things and it won't be too sugary.  Oh!  I need to buy water for the party, still.  (I should get on that, or I could get it on the way in tomorrow.)

One last valentine thing...For oNe's valentines for her class, we made them.  Don't get all impressed with me as a crafty person, because I'm NOT, but we took pictures of their class pet and made 2 versions of a card.  oNe loves this pet, and so do the other kids, but probably not as much as oNe, but she's delighted!  I am too, and it's way more personal than the little cards you buy.  twoK and Three-a have the generic cards, but they are so young that it's okay--or at least that's how I rationalized it.  I'll work on something creative for them for next year.

Okay... Kind of a random post, but it was a random day.  Also, I got nothing on the baking front, today.  We were pretty busy this weekend, so I didn't get a chance to do those muffins I wrote about.  Maybe I'll get to them, tomorrow, or Wednesday, or this coming weekend.  On another note, I could give you an update on the new house, but I'll wait to do that later.  I should go do a little prep work for my class.  Hopefully a house update will be one of my next posts.


*PS, I'm thinking dark chocolate fondue will be a good dessert at a get-together, what do you think?  It can be vegan!

More baking fun...

I do plan to post about something other than my weekend baking adventures, but maybe not today... or maybe...  I'd like to write about "other people's parenting" but I haven't quite figured out what to say.  Other than I think that a lot of people indulge their children too much.


Of course, I am guilty of it, who isn't? However, I KNOW that if I didn't work, I'd be way more guilty of it.  I live in an area where a lot of moms don't work.  They focus, entirely, on their children.  Some of these children are so indulged.


When I compare myself to other moms, I worry that I don't do "enough" for my kids. On the other hand, I think that by being busy with things outside the help, I need them to do more; this helps them learn useful skills they can use in their lives.  The goal for this year is to help them be more in charge of their laundry.  I'll let you know how it goes.


Maybe it's okay to talk about baking.  Last weekend, Three-a and I baked so much and had a grand time.  And, I think she learned things (TM).  Okay... enough...


Back to baking! Here's what I'm going to try this weekend.
Chocolate Strawberry Muffins


Here are my intended changes to that recipe:

Ingredients:

10 medjool dates, pits removed

1 can (15 oz.) black beans

3 bananas

2 cups frozen organic strawberries, thawed

2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseeds

¾ cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

½ cup whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2)   In a large bowl, stir whole-wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder.

3)    Then, in a cup or small bowl mix ground flaxseed with ½ cup water and let sit for five minutes.

4)   Put aside dry mixture and in a Vitamix or blender, combine black beans, pitted dates, 2 bananas, cocoa powder, flaxseed gel (after sitting for the five minutes), vanilla and coffee extract.  Combine this mixture with the dry mixture and stir thoroughly until all the flour is mixed into the wet chocolately mixture.

5)   Chop up the 3^rd banana and stir in for some fun banana chunks in the final muffins.  Add whole defrosted strawberries (if there is “strawberry juice” in the bowl of defrosted strawberries, leave this out as it will make the batter too liquidy) and stir in these as well.

6)   In a 12-cup muffin pan place cupcake paper cups and using a spoon, scoop in batter in equal parts. Bake for 20-25 minutes and serve warm.

I'll let you know how it goes.  

cracker recipe

(The recipe I keep talking about (below).  From http://ohsheglows.com/.  


These Endurance Crackers are extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They are also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and oil-free to boot! Feel free to change up the seasonings and spices as you wish. Nutritional info follows.

Print this recipe

Inspired by Chocolatree Café.

Yield: 22 large crackers

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chia seeds*
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pepita seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup water
• 1 large garlic clove, finely grated
• 1 tsp grated sweet onion
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• Herbamare & kelp granules, to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the seeds together. In a small bowl, mix the water, grated garlic, and grated onion. Whisk well. Pour the water mixture onto the seeds and stir until thick and combined. Season with salt, and optional Herbamare and Kelp granules, to taste. Add spices or fresh herbs if you wish.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet with the back of a spoon until it’s less than 1/4 inch thick. Not to worry if a couple parts become too thin, you can just patch them up.

4. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into crackers, carefully flip onto other side with a spatula. Bake for another 30 minutes, watching closely after about 25 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden in colour. Allow to cool completely on the pan. Store in a container or plastic baggy.

Note: See the bottom of this post for where you can purchase chia seeds.

Nutritional Info: (per cracker, makes 22 large crackers): 77 kcals, 6 grams fat, 4 grams carbs, 0 grams sugar, 3 grams fibre, 3 gram protein.

The nutritional stats are impressive, eh?

Accomplished

I accomplished my goal of making these!  They are pretty tasty.  Unfortunately, my store didn't have brown sesame seeds, they only had black ones (in the bulk section), so my crackers aren't as pretty as the pictures on the other site.  In addition, I think I put in too much herbamare, or maybe too much salt... they are tasty, but next time I'll probably leave out the salt and just go for the herbamare, or hrm... Not sure.  But, yay!  Crackers!  From my oven!  (Note, need to copy the recipe over, but will later.)

Three-a and I baked the crackers and we also made these yummy chia apple cinnamon oatmeal squares.  Three-a was so excited that I let her help me cut up the apples with a sharp knife.  I was worried about her thumb and fingers, but she was very careful!  I was proud!  (MWH wanted to know why I didn't give her a non-sharp knife, but it wouldn't have been quite the same.  She's gotta learn sometime, right?  Obviously, I was very supervisor-y on the knife usage.)  (In addition, it was an apprenticeship.)

In other notes, I only added 1/4 cup xylitol tonight to the recipe.  After tasting the results, I know that last time I did use 1/2 cup.  They are less sweet, but still pretty tasty.  I'll have to see what MWH says about them and then decide whether to stick with 1/4 cup or add 1/2 cup of xylitol.  (His answer was, these would be GREAT with ice cream.  Last week, for my birthday, we tried this.  OMG.  It's good.  I won't eat it on a regular basis, but for special occasions, I'm set!)  Based on MWH's answer, I may try making these with Stevia.  We'll see.

Someday, I need to write up my thoughts on Xylitol versus Stevia, but not today.  Work is still busy.  It's going to be a busy week.  It should be better by Monday.

Baking this weekend

I wanna make these!

Specifics...

Okay, I should have written the specifics down immediately, but better late than never.

Here are my changes to the oatmeal bar recipe.  I think I remember them all--except the last ingredient... (I'll update and note for sure when I make them again).


2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
1/4 cup chia seed
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
2-4 tbsp nut or seed butter
1 banana, mashed
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup xylitol (I can't remember if I used 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup...)
2 apples (fuji) chopped up into bite size pieces and cooked in a little water and cinnamon (2-3 teaspoons).  I cooked them for ~20 minutes?  I didn't peel.  All the liquid didn't cook off and next time, I'll probably decrease the almond milk a little as the cake/bars was a little moist and I had to cook them for 50-55 minutes.


See below for the rest of the instructions... (mostly mix the dry stuff then add the wet.  Bake with parchment paper or a silicone liner.)  I have one about like this and I love it!  I stick it in the 9x9 pan that I use for baking the cake/bars and it works great!  The corners of my cake/bars aren't exactly 90 degrees, but it's okay.  I never have parchment paper and my silicone liner is reusable!

Sweet T

Three-a has usually been on the recipient end of gifts rather than the giver.  This is mostly because she's the youngest and her biggest sister, oNe, likes to spoil her and is a giver.  Yesterday, Three-a wanted to earn money because she wants to buy twoK a sewing machine as a birthday present.  I thought it was super sweet.

Just a little longer...

I have made it through 2 of the big 3 things I had to do.  January is almost gone and I don't feel like it should be.  Time flies when you're so busy you can't see straight.  I'm working on working less.

In work related news, I don't know if the "blogging gig" at work will work out, but after hearing more about the project, I'm fine with that.  We'll see what happens, but we're not going to worry about it!

Right now, we're going to worry about baking!  I'm baking today!  I'm making the recipe I made last week, but I in addition to what the recipe says below, I added a little xylitol to make it a little sweeter and some apples.  I cooked them in water and cinnamon on the stove.  We'll see how it tastes.  My big goal for the rest of today is to NOT do work for work or my class, but to catch up on the other blog.  I might even try to bake something else.  We'll see.  The girls would like to go play at the park and we'll take them there soon to burn off some energy.

Oh, just for the record, my class went well, this weekend.  More soon.

Baking

One of the things I dislike about traveling (besides leaving my family) is the FOOD you get.  It's all crap.  When I went on my last trip, I made muffins and these cookies and took them with me for fast breakfasts and quick snacks.  I'm so glad I had them.

I just found this recipe at  http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/20/on-the-glow-basic-oatmeal-squares/ and am baking it to see if it's good as another option on trips.

Note, I copied and pasted the recipe over here and everything below the line is from her site (I am not trying to take any credit, but I just want the recipe in a place I can always find it).

Note, I decreased the sweetner from 1/2 c maple syrup to 1/4 c.  I'll let you know if they are good.  They just finished baking...  They are a little plain.  I'll eat them.  I'm curious to see if the girls will eat them.  I made them without chocolate chips; I will add chocolate chips the next time I make them.  (I may make them again very, very soon.  I think they will be delicious with chocolate!  They are plain without chocolate.  I may use them for PB sandwiches like she suggests.  I am also thinking a teeny bit more salt and more cinnamon!  I'd add more cinnamon if I were putting in raisins, apples, or blueberries.

I'll keep you posted on how they come out with chocolate.

---

Think of this oatmeal square as basic baked oatmeal that can be dressed up any way you like. Each large square contains a tablespoon of flax and a teaspoon of chia seeds as well as 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. Feel free to add in nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and other mix-ins as you desire. Just be careful about frozen fruit. When I made a trial with frozen blueberries they became quite soggy. Use fresh blueberries and you should be fine.

Yield: 9 large squares

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
• 3 tbsp chia seed
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2 tbsp nut or seed butter
• 1 banana, chopped small
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• Dry sweetener, to taste if you want them a bit sweeter

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8 inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper.

2. In a blender or food processor, blend/process 1 cup of the oats until a flour forms. Or you can just use 1 cup of oat flour.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oat flour, 1.5 cups rolled oats, chia, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, syrup, nut/seed butter, banana, vanilla until no clumps remain. Add wet to dry and stir until combined. Add dry sweetener to taste if desired. Fold in any nuts or dried fruit that you desire.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 35-40 minutes until lightly golden along edge and it springs back slowly when touched. I baked them for 40 minutes, but baking time may vary. Place pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, carefully remove, and cool on rack before slicing.

Even less bad for you muffins.

I modified the recipe, below, to make it less "carb-y," vegan, and a little lower fat.  See below the line.


The original from
Swistle's Whole-Wheat Pumpkin Peanut-Butter Chocolate-Chip Flax-Seed-Meal Muffins
1/3 cup flax seed meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
someone's partially-eaten banana, mashed up, OR 1/4 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

---

My modifications

2/3 cup ground flax
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 - 1/2 cup xylitol 
(I made it with 1/2 cup and it was a tad sweet for me, but the girls loved them. We'll see if I try them with less)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 banana
1/2 cup PB2 
1/4 cup real PB
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 - 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
(Note, no butter necessary.  You have plenty of fat with the flax and PB!)





Enjoy!

Back...

I'm back from the first big thing this year...

My back isn't happy.  Yesterday I sat for almost the entire day ... approximately 20 hours.  NO JOKE.

Today, I am trying to recover.  I am not sitting.  I am standing a lot and stretching a lot.  I have done a few core exercises and will go do some more as soon as I write this (lame) entry.  I just want to remember a few things.

First, I was way too busy with this project, but it's a really good project. We're trying to do more of it.  If it happens, I will still probably be way too busy, but I hopefully will be able to reduce the number of projects I have and then I'll be less busy.

I have to decide if I want to keep teaching next year.  I had one student who nearly did me in.  Seriously.  I am not blogging anymore about h/im/er.  I don't want to remember the details.  Quote of the day from oNe after watching one of our cats throw up.  Hopefully that memory will be a distant memory soon.  That's how I feel about that student.

I learned something on this trip; I do like having a job that I like.  I have been a little, um, not that excited about things for a while.  I think I learned that life is too short to do stuff I dislike.  There will be some things I dislike on this project (if we get it) but I'm going to do my darndest to NOT get involved with those things.  The things I don't like are mostly in MB's domain.  (PS please remind me to say NO to any of those activities!)

But, bad/good news, I just said yes to a new gig at work.  It should only be 8 hours a week.  In 2-4 weeks, I'll lose 16 hours of "time" at work.  For the next couple of weeks it will be busy.  But, I'd rather fill that 16 hours with this new gig than any other way that I know of right now.  I'll be blogging (on work topics) as my new project.  It's good.  I can't turn down a blogging gig. I'll also do their Social Media (twitter/FB), too.  This should be pretty flexible.

Okay, what else...

I'm so happy to be home!  I missed my girls, MWH, and the kitties!  One of the little kitties threw up 4 times today.  He must be really happy I'm home to decide to welcome me that way.  Here's hoping he got whatever made his tummy upset OUT of his tummy.

10!

oNe is 10!  A decade... How did that happen?  We have a little over 6 years of that decade documented, here, and I have the first 4 years documented in a word processing document on my computer.  I need to make sure it still opens and I can work with it.  This blog, and that journal is a gift to my girls.  Anyway, maybe, in honor of oNe's tenth birthday, I'll put some of the early entries from that journal up here.  I'll do it after next week....  Maybe even after 2/8 or 2/15.  We'll see.  (It's still crazy at work.)

For oNe's 10th birthday, she didn't want a party.  There's a guinea pig at her school, we'll call her "P."  oNe loves P so much.  P got a fungus and has had to be out of school.  oNe, I believe the only child in the class, also got the fungus (from P).  oNe and P can't see each other for another week (minimum).  Because of this turn of events, oNe decided she wasn't celebrating her birthday until P came back to school.  We honored oNe's special day, here at home, with chocolate cupcakes (her nanny brought), ice cream, and presents.  We'll celebrate a little more when P comes to spend the weekend.

oNe is such an animal lover.  When I was oNe's age, I loved animals like she does.  I understand.  oNe is a lot like me.  She's got a very strong sense of right and wrong and a sense that saving the world falls to her.  I hope that I can share some of what I learned along the way, but like me, she likes to figure it out for herself.  Recreating the wheel is something she and I both do.  I love my little oNe girl.

When she was born, I couldn't believe how little and absolutely perfect she was.  She was a great sleeper, a great nurser, and grew strong, quickly. MWH and I were delighted. She passed all those wonderful baby milestones ahead of schedule (reassuring me of her genius!).  As she grew, her personality formed more.  She became a very silly little girl. She was also headstrong; she and I butted heads, a lot. I remember explaining so many things to her when she was 4.  Four was a rough year. By the time she was 5, she had taken over as my little helper.  She's such a little "mother" to her sisters.  (She lectures all the time and I don't have to!)

Anyway, I don't have the words, today, to write a proper entry for the girl who is my first born.  I am thrilled beyond belief to have my oNe.  I love you oNe!

It's over...

Break is over... WAH!  I don't want to go back to school and work tomorrow.  It's gonna be REALLY busy between now and January 19th--don't expect much from me.  We're really busy at work until the 19th and then really busy again until February 15th.

I'm teaching, too and it's also busy with big stuff occurring in the semester during January and February.

I'll just take it one day/project at a time.  If I think all that I have to do before the end of February, I'll cry. Seriously.

Over break, I got to spend lots of time with little girls and MWH started teaching them how to program!  twoK is a natural, he says!  oNe is getting it, too, but at first, until twoK got interested in it, oNe wasn't that interested.  Then, when twoK started doing well, oNe got more interested.  Sometimes sibling rivalry is a positive thing.  Heh.  Three-a is learning by observing.  If you're interested in seeing what oNe and twoK are doing, check out the other blog, er, soon.  I've got to post it over there, first--as soon as I get a chance.

So I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked to accomplish over break.  I worked as many hours as I said I would (actually even a few more), but it doesn't feel like it was enough and I feel behind schedule going back.  The good news is I got to 1) play with kitties 2) do 5 Zumba classes 3) do one Dailey Method, and 4) sleep in a lot.  

It'll be okay.  It'll be okay.  Just keep repeating that phrase over and over... It'll be okay.

Darn it!

This morning, my alarm didn't wake me up and I missed Zumba.  I don't know if it was a technical failure of my clock or me sleeping through it.  After testing the alarm, I'm leaning towards the "I slept through it" failure.  D'oh!

I really wanted to go do Zumba.  I may make myself do a Dailey Method class later today.  

I'm also worried because tomorrow morning, I have to get up 2 hours earlier than I did today.

I'm still so tired.  I wish I could get another week of break.

Backgammon

twoK found my backgammon set.  I got it when I was about her age--maybe a teeny bit older, I can't remember.  Anyway, I taught her how to play.  I really like backgammon.  Who knew.  I don't really like games, but I do like backgammon.  I remember, I played backgammon nearly every day with a best friend in 6th grade.  Then she moved.  Her name was Angie C___.   We had lots of fun and a secret language, too.  There you go, a little more JK history on the web for all to see.