A weak 100th post

How is it that when I have something to blog I choose not to blog and when I do not have anything to blog I decide to post? So maybe this will be a bunch of snippets, updates about what is going on in my world (please stop begging now).

**This year is hard. It's only my 4th year and now I see why people get burned out in this profession. I have experienced things that I never thought I would have to and it's been a repeated slap in the face. Just 101 more days...
**My hair frustrates me. I need to sit my sister down sometime soon for a hacking and just can't mesh the schedules. So I dyed it.
**There is no hole yet.
**I am a football addict. I never saw it coming, it just did. Shocking.
**It is 39 degrees outside and I have no winter clothes.
**It is Sunday and I have no church clothes.
**Two dates in two weeks, also shocking.
**My skin is pasty white. I am in desperate need of a tan, which leads me to...
**Where should I lay on the beach this year? Suggestions?

Just a little irritated

At some point I'm going to get over the smash & grab that occured 2 weeks ago, but probably not until I stop realizing things that have been taken. I think when I first called the police I totaled the value of what was taken at around $300, that was before I realized my Bodybugg, ipod, Fossil watch, day planner, and my newest find: a gift certificate for a pedicure that I was saving for Thanksgiving weekend. Just a little irritated. I know I should be grateful for my wallet and credit cards and phone and camera and checks and cabinet/countertop samples and Coachies that were in the bag that was with me inside the gym, but I can't seem to be satisfied with that. Grrrr!

On another note, said teacher mentioned in the prior post has appeased his/her principal by hosting a meeting with upset parents which turned out to be pointless. Parents did not acknowledge claims made to the principal, nor did they give opportunity for the said teacher to confront them about those rude claims. Said teacher is done with it all.

Hypothetically speaking...

Here's a scenario:

An experienced teacher receives word of one of his/her parents is meeting with their principal about some emotional issues their student has been experiencing at school. Said parent expresses to the principal that they do not like how their child's teacher handled a situation that occured earlier in the year (for argument's sake we'll say this instance happened 10 weeks prior to said meeting). This parent states that they do not believe that their child's teacher has an investment their child's well-being and that this teacher does not care for their child. Also, the parent believes that the teacher does not like them as s/he does not acknowledge their presence on the playground or cafeteria.

*small side note: Rumor has it that parent-teacher conferences were held 4 weeks prior to this meeting and this parent did not mention this belief to the teacher, nor did they discuss with the teacher that they were unhappy with other "events" that had happened earlier in the year. Rumor also has it, that the teacher did express his/her concerns over this particular child's well-being and made suggestions (and followed through with them) that could possibly help this child. At that meeting, the parent agreed that those suggestions would be a good idea.

While the teacher meets with the principal about this meeting, it is mentioned that it is the teacher's job to soothe the parent's hurt feelings and repair this broken relationship between parent and teacher. Afterwards, this teacher is off to pick up their class, see this parent and this child, and conduct business as usual.

After an evening of contemplation, the teacher I am referencing decides to meet again with the principal about this parent and this situation. Their prior discussion led this teacher to believe that s/he had made a mistake with this student/parent/situation and it was their responsibility to fix it. Surely, the emotionally-stretched teacher had misunderstood. S/he has never been accused of mistreating a student and this new accusation weighed heavily on his/her mind. In the second meeting, principal attempts to give the teacher some peace of mind, tells him/her that this parent said that they have heard many good things about the teacher. (Yes, heard, not experienced) The teacher was then told that it was not his/her fault, however it is still their responsibility to fix it. Just like the day before, the teacher must now go pick up their class, see this parent and this child, and conduct business as usual.

Or not. As the teacher enters the playground, this particular student is crying in addition to another student who is physically adamant that they are not leaving mom and is also crying. Please note, this is not the first time this situation has happened in this particular class. Somehow the teacher is able to gently pull the physically upset child into the classroom along with the emotionally upset child and the other 20+ students. It isn't known how, but this teacher somehow makes it through the day without an emotional melt down. Perhaps it was the promise of the weekend so close that provided the extra strength.

Ah, the weekend. In case you didn't know, weekends officially start at the end of the school day for those in the teaching profession and this teacher was in dire need of this weekend.

Unfortunately for this teacher there was one more obstacle to be overcome. Fulfilling a promise to a friend, this person went to the gym. "Good for them!" you say, "let out some of that pent up emotion!" Normally I would agree, however at the end of the workout this person walks to their car to find a smashed window. Nowhere to be seen was their ipod, sun glasses, bag of clothes, teacher bag (yes, all teachers take bags of things to do home), and their beloved Dave CD's.

Too much. It was too much. The emotional meltdown could no longer wait. So there, in the gym parking lot a good cry was had. (Yes, a police report was filed)

The conclusion: Can you blame the "hypothetical" teacher who has had these "hypothetical" experiences for not wanting to go to school tomorrow?

A total bust

The "Sing-a-long Saturday" thing that is. Seriously, one person comments and it wasn't even the person the post was directed to. How sad is that? Much love to Jenny for reminding me that people do read my blog, I truly love yur guts. As for the rest of you, sorry I inflicted my favorite Live song upon you. Needless to say, it's going to be a long while before you see another sing-a-long, if ever again. I can take a hint...

In other news, I'm thinking I may try to write a post soon. I'm not making any promises, but I feel as though the creativity in my brain is about to bubble over.

Katie's Sing-a-long Saturday

I've seen the "Monday Madness" posts and "Flashback Friday" posts and all the other special alliteration posts associated with the days of the week and I've joined the ranks. Nothing really special, but I'm sharing one of my favorite songs because I do just love it and felt like sharing. I don't know how regular this kind of post will be, but when I share a song I'll likely rattle of a story and why I like it

This one goes out to my cuz Holly.

The story:
12 or 13 years ago my sisters and I went with my mom to visit some family. Just a random night, nothing special about it to my knowledge, just a visit. Maybe dinner? Anyways, Holly is going to run to the store and I, being desperate to spark a friendship with just one of many uber-cool cousins, volunteer to go with her. I want to say it was the suburban? Must have been pre-Rabbit, I loved her Rabbit (Holly, it was you with the Rabbit, right?), but that's not where I'm going with the story. This song, today's sing-a-long song, is playing. I remember it being really loud and that she played it over and over on the way to the store and back. It was an instant favorite of mine. Did I ask her what the song was called? No, that would have made sense. Instead, I went to Circuit City (back when they were open and let you open CD's to listen to them before you bought them) to find the CD with this song. I was having a rough go of it. Finally I went up to the girl working there to get some help. How did I get this help? I had to sing it for her. Bless my amazing abilities to sing, she knew just what it was.
Why this song sticks out as one of my favorites? Uber-cool cousin Holly liked it and I the story of how I came to find it.
It's been years, but I still love this song and crank the volume (because that's how it's best heard) and when it randomly pops up on my ipod, I listen to it twice.
Without further ado, crank the volume and press play!

Comment, who else loves it?

Ready, set, cut!

Every year at this time I get to feeling disappointed in my hair. Usually I bust out the scissors promptly after school pictures (seriously, 3 years now), but I think I need it cut before pictures this year. I desperately want long hair, but I know in my heart of hearts that I don't look amazing with long hair. :( We're going to take a mini-poll of all 3 readers of my blog. Do I cut it? Something like this I think (it's not so different from my usual cut):
Or endure the awkward stage I'm at and cut after September 9th? You have...a week. Help.

*Thanks to Katie A. for the picture.

One more thing

I didn't go to the casting call on Thursday. Basically I am a giant chicken and didn't want to go by myself. Sadly, the friend who would have gone with me was unavailable (you're supposed to read into that that there were friends who adamantly refused to go).
I'm going to have to think of another way to introduce myself to those bachelors...

The silver lining

It's been a long two weeks. The training is hard. I have to teach procedures and rules. There are lines to straighten, pencil grips to fix, and oh, the paper snow from crazy cutting. My newbies are definitely coming along though. The tears were officially gone Friday. No one tried to make an escape from the cage, no one begged me to stay for lunch, and no one told me they missed their mom. Things are looking up, but it's been a LONG two weeks and I am missing my voice to prove it. But let me tell you why it's taking a toll:
*NO aides
*NO recesses (inside does not count)
but most importantly...
*NO Emily, Ishani, Ava, Molly, Mark, Jack, Brock, Payton, Ryan, Sophie, Tyler, Shane, Talmage, Keely, Cassidy, Mia, Colby, Bella, Kendall, Rebekah, Austen, Nicholas, Malia, Jakey, or Bryan.
Yes, I miss my last year's kiddos. :( It's the saddest thing to see them in the hall and know that they are having such a great time in 1st grade, to know that they are AmAzInG and that they are not being appreciated by their new teachers (come on, no one knows all the work we put in in kindergarten).
Mostly I'm getting over it, adjusting, but Friday I had a brief conversation with one of MY 1st graders that brought a tear to my eye. As I was taking my kids to P.E. I see a line of 1st graders and of course I had to say hi. One of mine was the line leader and as she gives me a hug she told me that she had a dream about me. I asked her if it was a good dream or a bad dream and she said it was her first good dream because I was in it.
Seriously, I was verkelmpt, choked with emotion. It made my day and destroyed it all at the same time.
I'm sure she meant it was good because I was in it (naturally ;) and it was the first dream that she'd ever had with me in it, but I'm going to ignore that because I am happy to believe that it was the best dream she's ever had because of me.

Don't burst my bubble.

Calling all eligible ladies...

For those of you wondering, the first week of school was just fine. I'm going hoarse, again, which is lame, but things could be worse. I believe it will be a pretty good year. :) For those of you who didn't know, yes, we went back to school last week. :) I LOVE Chandler! (Bing and the school district)

That's not what this post is about. Perhaps you were able to watch the last season of 'The Bachelorette' and your eyes were blessed to behold the jaw-dropping cast-offs of Jillian. Honestly, I'm glad she got rid of 'em all. I think Ed is great for her. I also think that these fellas could be great for me:

Jake-

Kiptyn-

Reid-

It turns out that one of these drop dead gorgeous men could be next season's Bachelor. And wouldn't cha know that there is a casting call for interested bachelorettes on Thursday in my city! What do you think? Should I go for it? We all know how lucky any of these men would be to get the chance to take me out. I'm sure that my kinders and their parents would understand and that the district would hold my job. I'm dusting off my glamour shot now.

Do I dare?

Comments requested

Look, I know we're all busy, but I need to feel appreciated. That said, I'd love some comments, just a little validation that I am as funny as I think I am. In turn, I promise to try to be a better commenter on your posts. Just so we're clear. ;)

Who's organizing the next trip? I'm sooo in.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm going to let my amazing photographic talent tell the story of my trip to heaven, a.k.a. Kaua'i.

(they are in no particular order)
Mar and Luvey at the luau:

A rooster at the luau (his closest friends did me a HUGE favor on my vacation and made sure I was awake at 3:45 a.m. everyday. Thanks rooster pals!):

Queen Emma's bath? I think? (I've never heard of her but she has a bath named after her and that's cool, right?):

This particular bath is dangerous, note the skull and cross bones:

The bath, again:

You guessed it, my companions, minus KJ, at the bath:

A picturesque waterfall on the way to the bath (I'm getting it copyrighted, I'm so talented, yes?):

Keaton and I. Keaton is my 16 year old surf instructor. Yes, I got up and yes, I realize the position of my hand is freaky:

Another display of my talent: This guy was under our table, at every table we went to. Also managed to show up everywhere we went:

Half of the Kauai' companions post air plane ride, pre hospital trip:

I'm a total hottie, 12 hours of travel does not take away from my gorgeousness:

Hale Makena (Home of Cockroaches):

I'm in the wrong profession, again, my talent. This was taken from the Costco parking lot. Wish it was my Costco parking lot:

Mar and Ab:

Kakes and I:

Mar and Luvey and Ab and Carla (notice the smiles, these were not present at the airport on the way home):

And now school has started and this vacation is a distant, distant memory. Who's planning my next vacation?

Found it!

Meet Single Dads: Are you a single mom? Meet 1000s of single dads in your area at Singleparentmeet online dating. Browse pics or videos.

Nevermind that "Are you a single mom?" question and fast forward to the "Browse pics or videos." comment.

I'm totally kidding...I think

Thank you facebook

A BIG shout out to facebook for trying so hard to end my single-ness (is a word?). I must say that I am thankful for a social gathering place that is looking out for me and my single status. Each and every time I log in I am greeted with a variety of dating websites that showcase numerous appealing qualities in a prospective mate (okay, some of them aren't appealing, but maybe I should branch out).

Here are a smattering of examples:
Too many friends? Match.com (Been there, done that)
Date Rich & Successful Meet millionaires, CEO's, entrepreneurs and successful men looking for quality women (very tempting I dare say)
Catholic Match Have a good time meeting genuine men in the world's largest website for single Catholics. ( probably not for me)
Find a date. Complete Chemistry.com's free personality test and receive your first personality-inspired matches today!

The best one I dismissed before I could read (and copy & paste), yes it was a dating website dedicated to single dads. Ah, there's the tug on the heart strings. Bless those single dads (have I said too much...).

I digress. Thank you facebook for bombarding me with opportunities to meet creepers, I mean, men online. Just when I feel as though I have hit a blogging dead end I enter into the land of promise. Hallelujah!

8 days and counting...

Alright peeps, let's be honest, who really feels like they've been neglected by my not posting? Let me go ahead and detail my summer thus far and I'm sure you'll agree you haven't missed out much:

-Sleep
-Step
-Read

I think that's pretty much it. You're all caught up! Wait! Did I mention I am house shopping? Yes, I am no longer satisfied with my 12'x10' space and I'm looking to upgrade. I've even submitted an offer and I'm waiting for a BPO (don't ask, I don't know). Sweet, eh? Let me think, is there something I'm missing... Okay, I guess I could do a better sum up than that.

May:
I said goodbye to my amazing kinders. :( I really did have an amazing class and, unfortunately, it was time for them to move on to 1st grade. It's actually depressing, I had 25 kiddos who could read, write, problem solve, and follow directions and in just 3 and a half weeks I will have 24 kids who will cry for their moms, be unable to hold a pencil, and unable to tie their shoes (alright, actually most of my last year's kids couldn't do that...). I exaggerate, I am excited for a new group, but the others will be missed and I've told them they are in trouble if they don't come back to see me.
I got a camera! I'm still figuring it out...

June:
Uh, I read. Let's see, Twilight (again), New Moon (again), Eclipse (again), Breaking Dawn (again), The Host, Everyone Worth Knowing (again). Maybe I need some new books... By-the-way, I recommend The Host. It took awhile to get into, but I really liked the characters (and the happy ending, those are a must). Who's got a book for me to read?

Really that's it. A few barbecues with family and a couple movies. Here's what I'm looking forward to:

-A house! (hopefully this will be resolved before I go back to school)
-Hawaii! (8 days...)
-Wicked! (oh yes, it is FINALLY my turn to see it)

Audrey, here is your post. Unfortunately y-chromosomes have been MIA this summer, thus far, and therefore nothing too entertaining to write about. Men usually are the subject of my best posts. Let's all cross our fingers, shall we? ;)

Bodystep!

Welcome to a mini journal entry. I'm tooting my own horn. I just finished Bodystep training (I realize there are only 5 of you who know what that actually is, but it is what it sounds like, step aerobics) and I passed! Two days of work outs and a superbad challenge. I don't think I've ever sweat so much ever. That's pretty much it. I'm tired, but excited to learn more tracks. One step at a time, eh?

Hit me baby one more time!

Happy birthday to me! This is me and some of my chicas on our way to see Britney. Notice, please, the headband. Thoughts?

Oh, good time by the way. Though, I'm not sure if it was Britney or a blonde look-a-like...still a good time. :)

Read it and weep

Yep, a for real live post (just for you Josh, wink wink). Now, what to write about...

SpRiNg FlInG! (I'm so creative, did you see how I made a pattern with my letters?)

Last year's post about Spring Fling was about a mile long. As I recall, it had pictures and everything to document the momentous occasion. Y'all aren't so lucky this year. I'm sure I had parents take pictures of my getting whipped cream up my nose and my awkward movements getting out of the lame dunk take, so I'll be sure to get those to you as soon as I get them.

It was pretty fun. I had the Plinko booth again, high fives for Plinko, yeah? I'm really going to do some serious thinking about how to jazz it up for next year. It needs to be bigger, and blink, and make noise, and shoot prizes. I think that may be the only way I can compete with "Soaring Hawks." Stupid stomping game...

I did see, and photograph, 20-something of my Spring Flingin' kiddos (which will not be posted, because honestly, do you really want to see?) who seemed to be having a rockin' time. I stole some cotton candy from said kiddos and ate way too many pieces of pizza and Krispy Kremes...oh, the Krispy Kremes... On to the best part:

The pie booth. My kids had been looking forward to smacking my face with whipped cream for weeks and on that night, they came in spades to rub it in my face. Twenty minutes later my contacts were glued to my eyes and my hair, face, and back were covered in dairy and my kids were lining up to help me get clean. On to the bestest part:

The dunk tank. If they were excited about the pies, they were borderline psycho about the dunk tank. Let me tell you though, these dunk tanks sucked! Not like last year's with the fancy ladder and step inside so that you could pull yourself onto the collapsing platform in a lady-like fashion. Oh no. The tank on these ones looked like a small prison, and by small prison I mean a metal crib which was lined with some kind of sturdy tarp. No fancy ladder or step. Let me paint you a picture: beloved Miss R hoists herself up on the platform using some sort of bar on the outside of the tarp and is dunked for the first time by the teacher who just paid her dues (this seems to be a tradition for said teacher, she gets a lot of enjoyment out of this). So Miss R has to figure out how she's going to hoist herself up for the remainder of her shift. Mind you, there is NO STEP and I am not a slight girl (though watch for July 2009 photos as I plan to be by then). I work out, I've got strong arms and shoulders, however they are stubs and not long enough to get me up high enough to sit on the platform (stupid, STUPID genes) so I have to fling my leg out on top of the cage, soaking the small children standing there, and looking like a complete freak. This was the procedure for the next 35 minutes. The line NEVER ended and after every dunk my children, the small people who hug me every day and tell me they love me, chanted as the next person grabbed the ball. I had to give the people working the tank $50 each to stop the line (not really, I think they felt bad for the chubby girl in the cage).

Fast forward to Saturday morning: my eyes were puffy from the whipped cream, my rear hurt (and still does) from hitting the pavement 298 times, and I had a bruise the size of a golf ball on my right shin (from hurling my leg atop the cage). Not to mention I was exhausted.

Only 360 days 'til I can do it again!

Another confession

So, as a partial Spring Break goals revisitation, I would like to proudly say that I've read 5 books. I am actually feeling pretty proud of myself.

Now for the confession: I'm a paperbackaholic.

I don't have a bookshelf (though, if you'd like to gift me one, I'm sure I can find somewhere to put it), but if I did have one, I could easily fill most of it with paperbacks, um, happy, love story paperbacks, most of them by one of my favorite authors- Nora Roberts (I am happy to say that I have branched out and have multiple books by other authors, she is just my favorite).

As I thought last weekend about what books to read to accomplish my 2 book goal, I remembered I had gift cards to Barnes & Noble. I grabbed "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man" and a paperback, okay, it was a hardback unfortunately, but it was a steal. I quickly read through both of them (thank you Steve Harvey for the relationship insights, pretty interesting really) and quickly went to my book storage for more books to satisfy my reading appetite. I have now finished three additional books, all in the happy, love story paperback genre, all of which I have read at least 2-3 times before.

It's not like this is the only genre I own. I actually have a pretty fair amount of spiritually uplifting books (yes, I've read them) and some thrillers, the entire Harry Potter series, etc. but when I crack open the bin (I told you I don't have a bookshelf) my fingers go directly to the cracked spines of my worn and well-read paperbacks.

I suppose I'm living vicariously -to a point- through my literary collection.

It's a disease, an addiction. The first step for addiction is admitting it, right? I mean, that's what I hear, not that I've ever been addicted to anything before. Ever.

I'm so lame

Seriously, I know every last one of you is nodding your head in agreement. Three weeks. Three weeks since my last post and, really, nothing has happened. Okay, not completely true, I am now an aunt (you all knew that from reading my mom and sister's blogs though), Spring Break started, I decided I can't afford to date online, spent a few days in San Diego, blah, blah, blah. I've pretty much sat on my thumbs all of Spring Break so far (yes, one day of it was spent sitting on my thumbs on the blessed Pacific Beach). I've gained at least 5 pounds (not exaggerating) when I was supposed to be losing 5. I had planned to take a BodyStep training next weekend, but that's been rescheduled (I'm not sure how I feel about that), I had actually planned on living at the gym, but I'm lacking in the motivation (though the Vicki's swimsuits are doing their best to light a fire under me). Man, I suck! Help me out, what should I do for the rest of my break? I really wanted to read, but I'm not feeling the reading vibes, though maybe a trip to Barnes and Noble would cure that quickly. Thankfully, my Thursday is planned (thank you Superior Court of Arizona). I just don't want to get to March 23rd and think "Man, I got nothing done."

Okay, enough whining, here is a loosely put together plan (on the edge of your seat?):

*Read 2 books (I'm aiming small, hopefully I'll read more)
*At least one class a day, hopefully it's a step class (maybe it's a good thing I've been given 2 months to prepare)
*Grocery shop (I'm thinking no eating out for a month, sorry Aud and Lisa)
*Hang with my nephew (did you see the pictures? he's so cute!)
*A second post on Monday to see how I'm doing
*Clean/organize my room (I don't think this will happen, but I write it just in case)

Sorry for the most boring post ever, but I see this blog as a way for me to journal without dusting off my journal. You lucky ducks get to read it, I'm so kind. :) I promise to attempt to liven it up, but my most happenin' posts involved men and those are pretty scarce these days.

Advice?

Alright, I'm a little bored. When I look back at my posts from last year I had a lot of really hilarious (well, they're funny now) dating stories and I've had pretty much none. I just feel the need to spice things up just a bit so I'm asking for advice, or maybe not advice, but your opinion. Since I'm no longer in a singles ward, and I teach kindergarten, I rarely have the opportunity to socialize with people my own age, not to mention men. Here's where I'd like your opinion:

Should I go back to the online dating?

I am very happy with where I am right now, but I don't get out much and when I've done this in the past I got a couple of free meals (okay, that's not what it's all about, but as a person on a strict budget I find that a benefit). I realize I could put a fancy poll on the side of my blog, but #1. I find them irritating and #2 I don't know how. So, comment and comment often.

Valentines Day

Singles Awareness Day, S.A.D., come on, who thought of that? I almost feel bad for the people who refer to February 14th as singles awareness day. Doesn't that just make them sound pathetic?

I'm finishing this post, alright I know it's been awhile and 4 sentences isn't an amazing post but whatever, with what my AmAzInG room mom's and kinders made for me for my Valentine. I absolutely love/d it.

A creeper story for Brigitte

Alright, a few weeks ago as I was on my way to class with my good friend Audrey, I got this random text, something like: Thanks for helping me out tomorrow, I really appreciate it. I decided to have some fun and replied with a casual: No problem. Remind me what it is I am helping with. Anyways, it became painfully obvious within a few messages that this person totally had the wrong number and I told him so. He went on about being embarrassed and getting total pride check because he was fake numbered.

Ha ha, right?

Well, I'm always in for a little fun and conversation with random strangers (see 2008 internet dating posts as proof) so I text him for a while longer. He called me later that night.

Okay, this dude was all of 19 years old. He was a "motivational speaker" though, I don't know what a 19 year old could say that would be motivating. After an e-mail with pictures, and 5 minutes on the phone I was sure he was a creeper. You know the look, right? He had this total attitude on the phone like he was hot stuff and it was very evident from his photo that he was not (did I mention his last name was Pigg?).

Katie=creeper magnet

(apologies if no one but Audrey and Lisa found this story amusing. It may have been one you had to be there for.)

Happy Birthday to me!

How great are my room moms (and class)?

Ode (sorta) to Disneyland

Thanks to my uber-cool friends for humoring me and roadtripping it with me to Disneyland for my...(drumroll please)...27th birthday.

Generally, people take fabulous pictures with characters or in front of Disney monuments, but not me, I take pictures of random strangers. Enjoy the following:

Bread people- Guys, they were chowing down on a loaf of bread while waiting in line. A loaf of bread! Really I don't know why I thought this was funny, anyone here tried Grandma Sycamore's. Nuff said.

Also, for your viewing pleasure, girl with tail:

Here are some fabulous shots of Audrey, Lisa, and I crammed into one tiny car on Thunder Mountain Railroad. The girl put 3 adults in one car! We had a thrilling ride, to say the least.

Parting shots, just before we rang in 2009. We were freezing (no, I won't tell you the temperature).

Do I have to?

Alright, given my fairly successful 2008 resolution run, you'd think I'd be a little more gung-ho about making my 2009 resolutions. However, here I am, hesitating over my keyboard... Oh well, I guess I should just get on with it.

#1 Lose weight. Just because I did rather well with this last year (hey, I DID lose weight, just not all that I wanted to). Piggy-backing on that would be the resolution to wear a bikini in Hawaii in June.

#2 Be fiscally fit. Also on last year's list, but I've really got a good head start now. Budgeting blunder no more.

#3 Go out. This is not a sly way of saying date. I need to actually get out of the house, which has been manifested boldly in my watching 88 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in less than 2 months. (of course, I'm not giving that habit up, just adding to it. Now, I'm not saying dates are our of the question. Generally I don't have to pay for dates, so that would actually help out #2.

#4 Be nice. I mean this as in, not just putting up with people, but putting forth more effort to behave nicely to those people who bother me.

#5 No soda, except for holidays (until 2010 when I can persue all the carbonated and caffeinated beverages I want, should I choose). Thank Kelsi for this one. After days and days of headachew from caffeine withdrawals I have been clean for over a week. Unhappy and deprived, but full of water and not my beloved Diet Coke. Game on Kelsi, I can do this.

Maybe this will have to be continued later as I can't think of others, though I'm sure there are more.

(sorry Brigitte, I have one or two creeper stories, but they're going to have to wait, too. I promise to get one in this week. But you're going to have to set me up with a couple soon, because my creeper magnetism is deminishing, even the Arizonan creepers are starting to shy away.)