First Days of Grad School

This week is my first week of going back to school, so it has been a little busier than I'm used to being. That is my reason for the lack of posting. I'm still doing well on losing weight and working out though. Since it has been a while, I'll try to go through the highlights of each day this week and then post some pictures of what I've been eating.

Monday: This was my first day of class and the class was ethics in counseling. After work I ran home to take the dogs out, eat a quick dinner, and gather up my stuff for class. I left about an hour before class to have some extra time to find the classroom since I've never been there before. I was there 15 minutes early and there were quite a few people there before me. I found one of the people that interviewed with me back in November and sat by her. I also talked to the girl sitting behind me and she is also a teacher and lives in the same town as me.

I felt a little weird being a student again after working for six years. I'm used to being the one in front of the room and in charge. After I got over that and the fact that I had to sit in an uncomfortable old-fashioned little wooden desk with the chair attached, I was happy to be there. I wasn't able to get onto the online system for our classes which left me with no syllabus. Luckily I wasn't the only one having this issue and the professor had some extra copies for us. The first night was spent going over the syllabus and class schedule, a PowerPoint about chapter one, and a group activity.

And, as a side note, I finally got on 80/94 going the right direction to go home. I always end up screwing that up. I learned the hard way to make sure to get it right. The last I messed up, I just got off on the next exit and took 173rd back to Indianapolis to get on going the right direction. The part of town I drove through felt a little bit scary and dangerous.

Tuesday: After work I went to the gym and had a good workout. Then I ran home to take the dogs out, freshen up, and go back to work for a PTO meeting.

Wednesday: I had an asthma attack in the afternoon while at work. I still felt bad when I left, so I didn't get to go to the gym.

Thursday: It was my first night in my measurement/testing class. Since we have professional development until 3:15 on Thursdays, I just stayed after work and ate dinner in my office. I left early again to make sure to find my classroom in time. I found it in two minutes and was there way early. The classroom was a lecture hall with no windows, so I wasn't sure if it would be okay to walk in so early. I sat outside the lecture hall on a bench and decided to wait a while and see if anyone else in the class came by. A guy that had interviewed for the program back in November with me came and sat down next to me and we talked for a bit about going back to school after being out for so long. Eventually a girl in the class came and was waiting next to us and decided to peek in and see if it was okay to go in. And it was.

I was grateful for the seats in the lecture hall being much more comfortable. I was also able to get into the online system for the classes to see and print the syllabus before class. It ends up that the third edition book that my hubby ordered for me won't work with the class (the tests/methodology is outdated), so that night after class my hubby ordered me a 4th edition. Other than that, the class went well. We pretty much followed the same kind of order as we did on Monday (the same professor teaches both classes). For the group activity we had to find a partner and do a made up type of "test" where we had to choose one of two items that fit us and explain why. I ended up sitting next to another teacher (yay for finding people I have things in common with) and we did the "test" together.

Friday: Not too much to say about Friday. I went to the gym after work and got a good workout in. I came home and printed out some stuff for classes, but didn't do too terribly much.

Saturday/Sunday: I meal planned for the week, made a grocery list, and went shopping in the morning. I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and making food for game night. And, of course, I went to game night in the evening. It was with some of my St. Joe friends and their friends. I finally got to try out Sing Party with people instead of by myself. I have to figure out all the modes in the game before the next time, so we can try more things out. I had a good time, but took no pictures as per usual. I don't know if everyone would really want to be posted on my blog doing what they were doing last night anyway... I ended up staying the night along with a couple of other people. We had some Cinnamon rolls (I know I shouldn't be eating them.) this morning and they were about to watch a movie when I left. I came back home and got one chapter of reading done for one of my classes and a few chores done around the house.

Our "nice" bedding for the king size bed which I'm loving. It was my first time having the set on the bed, so I had to take a picture.

Weekly Eats

Breakfast

I had fruit bites instead of yogurt.

Snack

Snack

Lunch

I had two pieces and a half cup of applesauce.

Snack

Dinner

Other stuff

 

This was the worst thing I ate all week, but it tasted so good. Costco cake...

 

Post Christmas Party and Meal Planning

I'm feeling pretty good about things overall right now. I've lost close to four pounds this week! Friday was a great eating day and I made it to the gym for a good workout.

Saturday I meal planned and went shopping in the morning. I also made some food for a post Christmas party that I went to with my college friends. I made a veggie tray and some pumpkin muffins.

Recycled picture alert! I used the same veggies this time too.

Another recycled picture. I used yellow cake mix and pumpkin this time. These are chocolate cake mix and pumpkin.

My plan of attack once I saw all of the food was to try a little bit of everything that I wanted. I had a turkey sandwich with some cheese, some veggies off of my tray, cheesy mashed potatoes, some kind of salad (don't know what it is called), and some green beans. For dessert I had a couple of rice crispy squares, a muffin, and a gluten free brownie. I stuck to Dt. Mountain Dew for my drink of choice.

After eating we played a white elephant game. We randomly handed out the gifts and the host read a story where we had to follow the directional words in the story (right, left, across). Two of my friends that live together ended up with each other's gifts, so they went home with the same "crap" that they found in the garage. I thought that was pretty funny. I ended up with the first gift that was handed to me. It was a small box that rattled, so I assumed it was jewelry and was right. I got this bracelet that I'm sure I'll end up wearing to work many times.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games on the Wii and talking. It was the perfect bit of fun and relaxation I needed before school starts next week.

Sunday has so far been spent getting chores/errands done. After my usual breakfast (which I'll be eating again this week), I made my food for the week. For lunches I'm having pizza and applesauce.

For dinner I'm having sloppy joes with sweet potato puffs (basically the sweet potato version of tater tots).

I'm also having the same snacks as last week. I know that sounds boring, but I don't mind eating the same things for breakfasts and snacks for a long time before switching. I was still craving strawberry "pumpkin" muffins, so I made some again.

Here is what my meal and snack boards say for this week's meal/snack plan.

I have even been organizing sections of the fridge with my different meals/snacks for the day, so all I have to do is grab from the right part of the fridge and enjoy.

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

I also found these today, and they are pretty good. I love Skinny Cow candy!

 

I'm off to do some cleaning around the house, get stuff ready for work and class tomorrow, and spend some time with the hubs.

My Four Day Fall Break Weekend of 2012

I had Friday and Monday off, so last weekend was a four day weekend. I was much busier than I thought that I would be, but it was still a lot of fun.

Friday I went out to eat at Olive Garden with some friends from work. I didn't know about taking pictures for the blog in front of them, so I didn't. I got the soup, salad, and bread sticks which was a mostly healthy and very filling meal. Afterwards we went to the mall and did some shopping. Well everyone in the group except me bought something. It was fun to hang out and see them buy stuff, but I just don't have the money to buy frivolous stuff right now. It really shocked me to see how much money people are willing to pay for things. I would rather have savings and investments. I guess that makes me a "weird girl" which I kinda already knew that I was!

What I wore out with my friends on Friday.

The black painted stripes are starting to wear off, but I love these earrings!

Saturday was spent running some errands, doing a little cleaning around the house, and having fun with my St. Joe friends at a Halloween party that night. One of my friends has a house in Rensselaer (which is were St. Joe is and that makes a halfway point from my house and Lafayette) with the perfect yard to throw a party. In the back yard there is a small "shack" or "shed" with a kitchen in it and an an open space on the other side which has a booth, tables, chairs, and just enough room for a TV and karaoke machine. There was tons of tasty foods and drinks such as chili, sandwiches with apple butter, chips, dips, desserts, a punch with a "brain" in it, and mixed drinks with fun names such as purple people eater.

Our entertainment was a scavenger hunt, a costume contest, and karaoke. My costume didn't turn out like I planned, because my pink flared jeans were too tight to wear and I couldn't get my pink feathers to stay in my hair. That would've made my hippie costume be more costume-y and less like a modern day hippie wannabe. Oh well, I've already got an idea for next year as long as I lose some weight!

Sunday I spent getting some organization and cleaning done around the house. I went through all the stuff I took out of the linen closet in the bathroom and either reorganized back into the linen closet or tossed it because I didn't need/want it anymore.

I finally picked up the guest bedroom and reorganized my "motivation" closet.

I also got rid of clothes in my "everyday" closet that didn't make me feel or look good. I don't have much left that fits now, so I really need to get back on track this week now that my stress is lightening up.

Monday was spent running errands, doing more cleaning around the house, and getting ready for the workweek. I first went out to Wanatah to my parents house to pick up some of my old "bigger" pants from my sister that she didn't need right now. How embarrassing to gain back enough weight to ask for your bigger clothes you gave away back. Now if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is! Anyway, I felt like taking pictures so here are some pictures from my drive out there:

There are lots of farm and country pictures. I grew up in the country and am kinda starting to feel like more like a "town person." I still miss the country though.

This picture and the one below are the Porter County Fairgrounds. I was a nine year 4-Her and am kinda missing it. I think it would be fun to be a group leader.

This is a doggie spa I passed on the way to Valpo. I bet my dogs would love to run free in there!

I stopped to see if there was anything interesting, but I took a picture and included it to share a little fact. I used to work at this Wal-Mart for about six months after I graduated college.

This isn't a good picture, but that car in the distance is awesome!

That afternoon I had a dentist appointment for a check-up and cleaning. Everything is okay this time which is nice.

Clean teeth before I eat and ruin it. They used key lime flavor to clean my teeth which was tasty yet kinda weird.

I spent the evening cooking some food for healthy lunches, watching The Voice, and typing up lesson plans. Here is to a fresh start on eating well this week!

My Niece's Birthday Party

I know it has been a while, but I've been busy with work and am now at home sick. :( I thought this might be a good time to write a post or two to catch up on what has been going on recently.

On Saturday of last weekend I met up with a retired teacher friend of mine for some lunch. We actually both ended up eating breakfast, but it was really good. I had a veggie omelet which I forgot to take a picture of as usual. We haven't gotten to see much of each other since early last summer. We kept planning on doing stuff and it always fell through. I was really happy to be able to do something with her though even if it was just a meal on a rainy day.

Last Saturday was also my niece's (JJ) 3rd birthday party. My sister and brother-in-law moved into a new house about a week before the party, so they were pretty brave to get unpacked and have a party in the same week. The party turned out very well and their new house is nice. I was also looking forward to seeing my aunt that goes to the concerts with me, but she was sick and unable to attend.

My sister made a pretty cake for a girly three year old:

Look at how thick that cake was!

 

There was also more than enough food which I didn't get a picture of again. There was taco salad, lasagna, cheesy mashed potatoes, meatballs, rolls, and macaroni and cheese. I was really good that day and just had a little bit of lasagna, potatoes, and a piece of cake.

The fun part of any little kid's birthday is watching them blow out candles, eat cake, and open presents. I didn't get a super good picture of JJ with the cake, but I got a ton of pictures of her opening presents.

Opening up my present which was a ton of princess play stuff.

And some hangers for her new closet.

Showing off her new winter boots from me to great grandma.

Playing with some princess jewelry.

My mom gave her this stuffed animal cow with a pink tutu. How cute is that?

The one good picture I got of her with the cake.

I stayed until after 6:00 which I didn't intend on doing, but I was visiting and it just happened. Needless to say, I didn't get much done on Saturday. At least I did follow through with my goal of not overindulging while at the birthday party.