Fast and Furious

I actually drafted this blog post in my head during my 3 mile walk last night. So much I just want to document about life right now but not a whole lot of time to do it.  So I thought I'd do a quick rundown using some alliteration.

 

Faith:  Our women's ministry started a new bible study last Wednesday on Daniel by Beth Moore.

The DVD portion was very interesting. She's such a dynamic and passitionate teacher.  I have done a couple of the days of "homework" and learned quite a bit already.  I 'm hoping to keep up on it. 

 

Family:  Things are definitely different around here this fall.  The twins are both away at college (Michael at APU and Matthew at Cal Berkeley) and we have Jose's daughter, Kristina, and our granddaughter, Natalie, living with us now.  Natalie is attending the school where I teach.  Jose is adjusting to have his retired days filled with school pickup and helping with homework.  The girls plan to get their own place nearby eventually but no set date on that yet. Joe is working almost full time at his restaurant job and enjoying NOT being a student anymore. 

 

Here's Natalie and I on our first day of school:

 

 

Fitness:  Since coming back from our 25th anniversary trip to Washington/Canada in mid- August, I've been working hard to be more active and take off some of the weight I've put on in the last several months.  I've lost 11 lbs. using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone.  I'm also pushing myself to get out there and walk, walk, walk.  I started using the free fitness room at the Senior Center in our city.  Hey, it's FREE! The only downside is that it's only open M-F and closes at 5 p.m.  Sometimes I go after school, work out, and return to my classroom to keep working.

 

Fall:  It sure doesn't feel like fall yet here. We've had a heat wave for the last few weeks and just this past week it cooled down into the low 80s.  I can't wait for cooler temps all day long. Looking forward to drinking hot tea in the afternoons and evenings, baking lots of goodies for family, friends, and coworkers, and cuddling up under my cozy afghan my mom made me many years ago. I did have my first Pumpkin Spice Latte last week when it was in the low 70s one evening when I went out with Matt's girlfriend, Rocio.

 

 

 

Food:  I have been making much better choices in what I'm eating since vacation too. I'm logging all my food on the MFP app and really pushing myself to eat more whole foods.  Thankfully there has been a lot of delicious summer fruits available and honey crisp apples have just reappeared in the grocery store! I have finally tried green smoothies and really do enjoy them. For now I'm only adding spinach to my fruit and water in my smoothie. My Magic Bullet really does a fine job of blending it all.  I'm averaging a green smoothie for breakfast about three times a week (starting last week, haha). I'm also adding chia seeds to bulk it up a bit to make me feel full longer. Baby steps!

 

Failures: I wouldn't really call these failures but these are things I would like to be doing right now that aren't happening at all. These include scrapbooking, knitting, and reading. I'm in a bit of a reading slump since returning from vacation.  I am spending many hours outside of school working on lessons for my 4/5 combo this year.  I'm spending too much time on social media (back on Facebook).  I just can't seem to get lost in a book even though I've got plenty of good ones to read between my Kindle, library books, and books piled up around the house.  My focus right now is family, work, and getting healthier.  I need to schedule time in to do the other things.

 

Favorites:  And here are a few of my favorite things from the last three weeks or so. I'll just represent them in photos. 

 

Future:  For the rest of September, I'm looking forward to attending the Teacher of the Year luncheon with my family and colleagues and my 51st birthday. My college boys are coming home for the weekend that includes both the luncheon and my birthday.  Also, Kristina and I are taking Natalie to the Los Angeles County Fair next weekend. It'll be our first time going and we are excited!