2009 Resolutions

1. Lose 10 lbs and tone my butt, hips and stomach. Basically, I want to look better in a bikini. The muffintop must go. I also want to train myself to eat less so that I can workout less and still maintain my weight.

2. Stop (ok, reduce dramatically) any shopping done at Walmart. This is really difficult since Walmart is so close and so cheap. However, all they sell is chinese made crap and pay workers next to nothing. Yes, they are cheap, but at what cost? They have a negative impact on the economy, on the planet and on humanity in general.

3. Attempt to be greener. My 3100 square foot house is a little hypocritical, I know. But I want to try to live a little more conservatively in every other aspect. Buy locally grown foods, drive less, generate less trash, purchase things that have less packaging, use less cleaning chemicals etc..

4. Work on my parenting skills and be more proactive. I expect this to make my list every year for the next 15 or so years, if not longer.

5. To have at least as much fun as Ive had in 2008.

6. Reduce the amount of nutrasweet I consume. I LOVE crystal light and I use nutrasweet (or splenda) to replace sugar in my coffee and tea. I'm not looking to eliminate it, but maybe just replace 50% of the artificially sweetened beverages with water or something low in natural sugar.

2008 - Best. Year. Ever.

I'm somewhat hesitant to post this an entire 10 days before the year is over, but barring anything going horribly wrong in the next week and a half, 2008 will be a tough year to beat.

First off, I'm proud of myself for accomplishing all of my 2008 resolutions. I lost the weight, I had a fun birthday and an awesome anniversary vacation in Barbados. And while I'm never going to be a perfect parent, I did make an effort to be a better one. There were a few curve balls thrown at me in that department, but I feel like I addressed things appropriately. As far as the job that I pledged to find, well I opted for my masters instead. I think technically that satisfies the resolution, right?

I definitely have no complaints about 2008. I mean, I spent half the year in a bikini! Its now December and I STILL have the tan lines to prove it (hello skin cancer 2009!).

I think the kids also had a pretty great year. They spent much of the summer at the lake, ATV riding, on weekend trips or at the water park. They also got to enjoy their grandparents a lot. I remember how much fun and how memorable the time I spent with my grandparents was, so I want to ensure my kids get the same experience. Santa plans on being very generous too so 2008 will end quite nicely for them as well.

I can't imagine what could've made 2008 better. Ok, well I can think of a few things (ie. winning the lottery, ending world hunger, prop hate not passing...) but overall, my year was pretty dang awesome. I met a lot of cool people, got back in touch with others and spent a well deserved week alone with my sexy husband frolicking in the sandy beaches and clear waters. Since I have purged everything I learned in all those science courses this semester, I have no recollection of the stressful times that occurred between Sept and Dec of this year.

Stay tuned. Next week I will post my new New Years resolutions for 2009.

Shoe Dodging

President Bush got shoes thrown at him by a reporter the other day. All I have to say is that he deserved so much more than that. If the podium wasn't there, the guy definitely should've aimed a little lower. Even then, Bush still wouldn't have gotten what he deserved. I can't believe I voted for that man TWICE. In my defense, I am much smarter now. It will take a lot for this independent to ever vote republican again. They've moved away from their "fiscal conservativeness" to their holier than thou, "let's tell people how to live their life" crap that I just can't stand. Government isn't supposed to be there to tell a person what to think, how to act, what to say or how to spend their money. SARCASM: Clearly that's the responsibility of churches!

This video is an awesome parody of the shoe tossing incident. E!'s The Soup host, Joel McHale (who, if I weren't married and he weren't married, I'd definitely be lusting over.... ok, lets be honest, Im doing that anyway) is being interviewed by MSNBC's Kieth Olbermann:

Santas Everywhere!

Every year cities around the US put on a Santa Crawl. We happen to hit the Santa Crawl in Reno this year. It was a last minute decision so we had to scramble for santa suits. Of course by Monday Reno was completely sold out, so I had to order something online and hope for the best. Anything goes on these crawls so women tend to show a little more skin than is normally acceptable in the dead of winter, while the men are smart and suit up with big ol' suits.

Because I am tall and have long legs I was worried my outfit would end up being too short. While it was quite short, I had to make do. Jake just wore a red sweatshirt, a wig, a beard, and the santa hat. My mom let me borrow a white jacket so that helped keep me from becoming hypothermic during our trek between locations. Some of the friends that we went with go every year so they had the entire ensemble. I never realized how many different ways you can spice up a santa suit!

Despite the 20 degree temperatures, we had a nice time. There were lots of participants and at midnight, we all gathered under the Reno arch.

midnight under the Reno arch

Tis the Season

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tis the Season

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year. Ok, so I'm not a fan of the weather around this time, but nonetheless, I find it enjoyable. The holidays seem to give people an excuse to gather and to spend quality time with family and friends. Its a time when you can make people feel special, give to those who do not have, and show appreciation to others. Not to mention the time off from work! And yes, as stressful as it is buying all those gifts, I love watching others open the presents I put so much thought into. I can honestly say I get more enjoyment out of that than I do receiving gifts.

There is one thing, however, that I wish I could somehow change. Right around Thanksgiving, my radio gets infiltrated with Christmas songs. Do adults really listen to that stuff? I mean, as a kid I loved all the carols. But as an adult, its not something I willingly listen to. Holiday music definately has its place. School performances, Christmas parties, at the mall - all these places are appropriate to hear a carol or two. But when I turn my radio on, I'm not looking to hear "Feliz Navidad" or worse yet, Paul McCartneys "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time". If I turn to Wild 102.9, I want to hear Wild 102.9 stuff. You know, Ne-Yo, T.I., Beyonce, Riahanna, Katy Perry. Anything but Mariah Carey's version of "All I Want for Christmas is You".

Fortunately I have XM radio so my exposure has been limited this season. Although I do have a constant background noise in my house singing "Jingle Bells". Apparently Lexi is learning it in preschool right now and sings it on average of 18 times an hour. Possibly more.

Scientology? Whats it doing here?

I just noticed that I have ads on my site for the "Church" of Scientology. I'm going to have to look into this. Please ignore them. We all know how I feel about organized religion, but come on, Scientology? Thats gotta be the most bogus of them all! And don't be fooled, science has nothing to do with it either. Unless you want to disprove it.

Brianna Denison

Sometimes I forget how small Reno really is. Things are so local here. Its a city, yet small enough that you get that small town feel. Six degrees of separation is an overstatement in this town. I'd be willing to bet its more like 3 or 4.

The other day I subbed at Reno H.S. I'd never been there before because its a little out of the way for me, but with sub jobs dwindling down, I take what I can get. I glanced over the attendance sheets and noticed that I recognized one of the names in my last period class; Brighton Denison. I remember seeing him being interviewed on the Today Show when his sister, Brianna Denison went missing. Its a little weird, because the day they found her body, I had sent Jake to pick up some Chinese food. When he got there, he was unable to enter the restaurant because it was flooded with police and news crews. It turns out they had just found Briana's body in the field right across the street from the restaurant.

I was quite surprised at how "normal" he seems. He acted like the typical sarcastic teenage boy who needed a bit of prodding to get his work done. I'm sure on the inside he is pretty scarred. First his dad commits suicide, then he gets hit by a car, then his sister gets raped and murdered. The poor boy has probably experienced more trauma in his 15 years than most people experience in a lifetime. I can't even begin to imagine what the kid has gone through.

Brianna's murder affected the entire community. So it was no wonder that a few weeks ago, while subbing at a different high school the students came in and begged me to turn on the TV so that they could watch the press conference about a possible suspect. Reno police announced that they had evidence linking a man to Briannas murder, as well as other rapes, and that the man had been arrested. Since then, they have announced even more damning evidence, so it seems as if this guy will eventually pay for what he did.

And The Teacher of The Year Award Goes To.......

To add to a completely frustrating week, Megan came home today and announced that her teacher referred to many of the students' work today as "shit". Apparently she had assigned each student to create a limerick (with the parents help) and many came to school today with sub par poems. So she called the other 3rd grade teacher to vent her frustrations about the lack of parental involvement and said something along the lines of "They turned in shit" .

I am sure every kid in that class knows that word and hears it often. But for a teacher to say it and be referring to their work in that manner is completely unacceptable. So I did the only thing I could do and emailed the principal.

Everyone knows I am not one that use curse words very often. But I am also not one that freaks out and sensors everything that my kids see and hear. I've given up on that. Even the radio airs words that rhyme with witch and mass so its impossible to shelter children for too long. They know all the curse words, regardless of whether they are said at home or not. What I have begun teaching them is that they may hear the words, but they must not repeat them. I explained that there are times when adults use them, but the overuse of that type of language gives a bad impression.

So, its not so much that the teacher said that word, its that she used it in reference to the childs work. Luckily, Megan was one of only a few students who completed the assignment correctly, so she wasn't traumatized by the insult. In fact, she was proud that hers wasn't considered "shit". I feel bad for those other kids who heard it though. I can just imagine how an 8 year old would feel after a teacher criticized their work in that manner.

Phewww!

The semester is FINALLY coming to an end. I can't stress what a pain this semester has been. What I can't grasp is how overwhelming school seemed to be in comparison to a few years ago. Somehow I managed twice as much when I was finishing my bachelors degree and was still able to pull off all A's. This time, not only am I not going achieve all A's, but I don't even care! In fact, I have an A in one of my classes. However, I have yet to turn in a 10 page final. I calculated my grade and realized I only need to get a 6% to get a C- (D does not equal degree in my case. However, C does!). I have absolutely zero desire to complete this paper, so I'm seriously contemplating doing a "half-assed" job (as my dad would say) and turn in a bare minimum paper. Thats how little desire I have left in me. Am I too old for school? Do I have to much on my plate? Or maybe I am prioritizing fun before school. If thats the case, I don't regret that at all. You only live once.

On another note, I've been subbing lately. The other day I had a humongous class of 6th graders. Yikes. I had to put my foot down with a couple of them. If corporal punishment wasn't illegal in schools, one of the girls would've received a swift kick in the butt. And yes, I mean my foot. But in the end, I stood my ground and beat her at her own game. At one point, I assigned vocab words for them to work on; define the words and write 2 sentences for each. One kid actually asked, "what do you mean by define?" Yes. It was a LONG day.

Yesterday I subbed in a 3rd grade class. This was one of the low income schools which have a volunteer grandparent program. This classroom had an old lady (probably in her 70's) who volunteers 3 days a week to tutor the kids and assist the teacher. While I admire the dedication, the grandma was just plain mean. At one point she stood up and yelled "SHUT UP!" in her meanest Cruella Deville-esque screach to the entire class. I didn't even think the kids were being that bad!

Ok, so no more procrastinating. I have to put 25% effort into 1/4 of a 10 page research paper and the same (or maybe less) effort into a lab project thats due soon, so I can make it to a party we have tomorrow night. Yes, deep down there is a teeny weeny part of me that can't stand giving up that A, but I'm burying it so far down so that I won't be able to hear it.

Hilarious Stuff

Ok, so not to bring this up again, but a friend of mine just emailed me 2 totally awesome and hilarious videos. For some reason it won't let me embed the movie, so I can only provide the links:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

This one is pretty good too. Not as funny, but makes a very good point:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cca5e8a78a/protect-marriage-protect-children-prohibit-divorce-from-jonathan-smith