Office With a View
Lucerne, CA
April 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Our Coach's gift
So here is the cute gift idea we are giving the assistant and head coach for Victoria's softball season-2012. I think it came out fantastic!
Create your own personalized photo books at Shutterfly.com.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thankful its Thursday...
Thursdays....oh glorious Thursdays....my favorite day of the week. Thanksgiving is on a Thursday...which also happens to be my favorite holiday :)...I digress.
Time to reflect on the week that has almost passed and look forward to the weekend that is almost here. I was born on a Thursday....what's the saying...Thursday's child has far to go....well its true. I am loving this journey that I am on. I love that I am constantly learning, constantly being tested in my beliefs and what I think, constantly striving for something more. Not that I am restless...just a wanderer. Spontaneous. Ready to go at a moments notice.
It is these character traits that shock me at times that I went in to teaching. It can be so boring and mundane. Day in and day out...same subjects, same faces, same sameness. But being in Special Ed has its randomness and each day is something new. I am thankful for that. But I feel drawn to the classroom. Not all the political crap that I have to wade through on a daily basis....parents upset that there isn't enough homework, or some that there is too much...so many different personalities to deal with and of course heightened emotions when it comes to their children. But I love teaching. I feel it in every fiber of my being. The ability to be creative and show children a different way to learn, to open their eyes to a different place they have never been, to foster self-esteem and a love for learning that goes far beyond the classroom. That is what I do best. My passion is teaching but hand in hand with that it is the ability to be creative. When that is stifled in me...I am at a loss.
But these things I know for sure.
I know that I am an incredibly blessed person.
Blessed with this man....
and these kids....
and my closest, oldest, sister-friends I can count on one hand...
my family...
and my gorgeously grounded no-nonsense mother who always has been my steady...
I am blessed with an incredible knack for being able to call bull-s*&! when I see it, for being a caretaker and a fighter for the underdog and my intuition that is always spot-on. I know now that I am better than I thought I was. I have resolve that I thought I had lost somewhere along the road. But I found it again. I am getting back in sync with my own personal rhythms that soothe my soul and nourish myself and the people around me.
This week has been full of challenges that I met head on. I came into the week feeling like it was going to be great. It wasn't, but I made it great. I didn't let the crap drag me down.
I am learning to...
Goes hand in hand with feeling lighter and the weight I have been dropping. Kinda hard to drop that and still have the same old pissy attitude that I carry around sometimes. So today I am recognizing all that I am grateful for, which is so many things. I am blessed that my list is so long.
Looking forward to this wonderful weekend...I get two solid days with my hubbie before he is off on the road again for god knows how many weeks.
<3, J
Time to reflect on the week that has almost passed and look forward to the weekend that is almost here. I was born on a Thursday....what's the saying...Thursday's child has far to go....well its true. I am loving this journey that I am on. I love that I am constantly learning, constantly being tested in my beliefs and what I think, constantly striving for something more. Not that I am restless...just a wanderer. Spontaneous. Ready to go at a moments notice.
It is these character traits that shock me at times that I went in to teaching. It can be so boring and mundane. Day in and day out...same subjects, same faces, same sameness. But being in Special Ed has its randomness and each day is something new. I am thankful for that. But I feel drawn to the classroom. Not all the political crap that I have to wade through on a daily basis....parents upset that there isn't enough homework, or some that there is too much...so many different personalities to deal with and of course heightened emotions when it comes to their children. But I love teaching. I feel it in every fiber of my being. The ability to be creative and show children a different way to learn, to open their eyes to a different place they have never been, to foster self-esteem and a love for learning that goes far beyond the classroom. That is what I do best. My passion is teaching but hand in hand with that it is the ability to be creative. When that is stifled in me...I am at a loss.
But these things I know for sure.
I know that I am an incredibly blessed person.
Blessed with this man....
and these kids....
and my closest, oldest, sister-friends I can count on one hand...
my family...
and my gorgeously grounded no-nonsense mother who always has been my steady...
I am blessed with an incredible knack for being able to call bull-s*&! when I see it, for being a caretaker and a fighter for the underdog and my intuition that is always spot-on. I know now that I am better than I thought I was. I have resolve that I thought I had lost somewhere along the road. But I found it again. I am getting back in sync with my own personal rhythms that soothe my soul and nourish myself and the people around me.
This week has been full of challenges that I met head on. I came into the week feeling like it was going to be great. It wasn't, but I made it great. I didn't let the crap drag me down.
I am learning to...
Goes hand in hand with feeling lighter and the weight I have been dropping. Kinda hard to drop that and still have the same old pissy attitude that I carry around sometimes. So today I am recognizing all that I am grateful for, which is so many things. I am blessed that my list is so long.
Looking forward to this wonderful weekend...I get two solid days with my hubbie before he is off on the road again for god knows how many weeks.
<3, J
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
18 days...14 pounds :)
So it has been another great week. I am focused on how I feel...lighter, more energized, less aches and pains and less TV being watched :)
It has been good and continues to not really be a struggle. I am enjoying this mindshift more than I thought I would. We planted a garden, cooked fresh almost every night (with the exception of eating out a couple of times), food is savored and not choked down in the car as we are rushing from place to place.
It has been an adjustment for my little girl. But I see the changes in her too. She wants to be outside to play with her brother. Zucchini is now a favorite vegetable instead of just Broccoli and I have not been cooking rice with every meal and they haven't said a word. Its amazing how sweet everything is that shouldn't be. We went to pick up stix because I wanted Chinese food....bought their house chicken and steamed vegetables and I could barely eat the chicken because of how sugary it was! It was like eating cake with that super sugary gross frosting. ;)
But mostly what I am taking away from this last week of my current mindset is that I feel so good. I feel better in my clothes which are falling off. I also discovered a little trick for me that makes me want to go to the gym.....ready for it....The Hunger Games. Now I know that I am WAY behind the curve on this one. I didn't even think that I wanted to be on the curve, but I started to read this book for a student of mine that I am trying to motivate to read. I made a deal with him that if he read the book and passed the comprehension quizes that I would be making for him that I would take him to see the movie. Well I started reading it while on the elliptical machine one day and next thing I knew I had been on that machine for 60 minutes! I made that book my "gym book" where I would only read it while at the gym and I could not wait to go to the gym everyday. I am now on to the second book of the series...but can't help to think....what am I going to read after I am done with that series??? Suggestions???
Make it a great week!
<3, Jen
It has been good and continues to not really be a struggle. I am enjoying this mindshift more than I thought I would. We planted a garden, cooked fresh almost every night (with the exception of eating out a couple of times), food is savored and not choked down in the car as we are rushing from place to place.
It has been an adjustment for my little girl. But I see the changes in her too. She wants to be outside to play with her brother. Zucchini is now a favorite vegetable instead of just Broccoli and I have not been cooking rice with every meal and they haven't said a word. Its amazing how sweet everything is that shouldn't be. We went to pick up stix because I wanted Chinese food....bought their house chicken and steamed vegetables and I could barely eat the chicken because of how sugary it was! It was like eating cake with that super sugary gross frosting. ;)
But mostly what I am taking away from this last week of my current mindset is that I feel so good. I feel better in my clothes which are falling off. I also discovered a little trick for me that makes me want to go to the gym.....ready for it....The Hunger Games. Now I know that I am WAY behind the curve on this one. I didn't even think that I wanted to be on the curve, but I started to read this book for a student of mine that I am trying to motivate to read. I made a deal with him that if he read the book and passed the comprehension quizes that I would be making for him that I would take him to see the movie. Well I started reading it while on the elliptical machine one day and next thing I knew I had been on that machine for 60 minutes! I made that book my "gym book" where I would only read it while at the gym and I could not wait to go to the gym everyday. I am now on to the second book of the series...but can't help to think....what am I going to read after I am done with that series??? Suggestions???
Make it a great week!
<3, Jen
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Motivation...
287 pounds. 11 pounds gone for good. So it has been a week and a half since I made my committment to a better me, a better life and a better family and here are the things that have been working for me. I started playing little mind games with myself and thought...oh I will start this when I start Spring Break...it is going to be too hard to do it during my last week at school...and then I thought...HELLOOOO!!!! You are doing it again! So I committed to eating better and doing what I know works for me and that is cutting out all simple carbs. I brought my George Foreman grill to work and started grilling a chicken breast every day for lunch along with a bag of fresh broccolli that I steamed in the microwave. My major bugaboo is always breakfast...and since I am out the door before 6:30 most mornings...my go to spot is always Jack-in-the-Box, where I order total and complete badness at 6:50 every morning. Well I went there anyway and asked for a side of eggs and a side of sausage...along with my diet coke of course....and my food was only $1.60. Can you believe that?? So that is what I am sticking with. Of course I am changing it up so that I don't get bored...but right now when I am in a hurry I know what my back up plan is.
That is what is the most important part of all of this...planning. So I am losing weight and holding on to more cash. :) Which is never a bad thing ;). This week has been easier...I am hitting my stride with this and falling into my old routine that is all things good. Lots of fresh food, nothing from a package and I am feeling fantastic. The bloat is gone. I am going to the gym and enjoying it. I am also reading the Hunger Games, which makes an hour on the elliptical feel like 20 minutes. I navigated the candy filled Easter weekend with ease. I am lucky that I am not typically a candy girl. I think peeps are disgusting...and give me a cadbury egg and I am heading for the hills. But peanut butter eggs....now you got me. But I was able to focus on the goal at hand...go out with two different families and navigate their buffets with ease. The old Jenna would have said "it's the holidays...just indulge," but this Jenna was able to keep a logical head.
My co-worker, who is a tri-athlete and wakes up at the crack of dawn each morning to run 6 miles before work, asked me one day if all the fast food that I eat makes me bloated and gassy...I told her no. I was quite sure that was the case, but I see now how it was just another lie I was telling myself about the food I was eating. Being off the "junk" for a week and a half now has proven that to me.
See you at the next weigh-in ;)
~Jen
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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