Roll With Me

In today's episode of "Becca Needs Balance," our heroine Becca is driving to the Whole Foods Co-Op to try to find the tofu chik'n strips that she's started eating to incorporate more protein into her diet. Sadly, Duluth seems to be out of said product and our heroine is getting tired.

Any way, she's driving to the Co-Op. The parking lot is crammed with cars and one even stopped and parked mid-path. Well, after some finagling, she finds a spot and enters the store. Now, she's hungry. She hasn't had anything since 11:30, except Diet Coke. So, she's kinda in a hurry.

It turns out that the Co-Op is having a Halloween Party and the place is teeming with people. She searches high and low for the aforementioned faux chicken, but is unsuccessful. For the second time in 24 hours, she leaves a grocery store with nothing (this is freaky).

Hungry Becca is not a pretty sight. She's crabby. She's rushing. She's ready to bite some one's head off. She knows this. She knows that she needs to stock pile something to eat to make her sane again. Unfortunately, she's also supposed to check her blood sugar and needs to do it before eating. This isn't a time-consuming process, but one that needs to be done near soap and water and preferably not with an audience. Oy.

Movie of the Day: The Witches of Eastwick. Or Duluth.

Happy Halloween!!!

Boo!

3

Cool Things that Come in Threes:

Snap, Crackle, & Pop
Huey, Dewey, and Louis
The Holy Trinity
Larry, Darryl, & Darryl
x-, y-, & z- coordinates
apples, oranges, & bananas
The Three Musketeers
The Three Blind Mice
Peter, Paul, & Mary
Earth, Wind, & Fire
Three's Company

The Three Altos

Movie of the Day: Numb3rs (actually a TV show).

Sloppy Day

I'm standing out in the hall at school tonight, waiting for my next conference to arrive and the other teachers and I decided that we wanted to really "Slob Out" tomorrow. I would be so glorious to wear sweats and be as comfy as we could after such a long week.

Will we do it? No. Will we get as close as we can to comfy? Yes.

Movie of the Day: Anything Charlie Brown with Pig Pen.

The Rollercoaster

I haven't been blogging lately, much. I feel bad about it, but then I think of what I would write and decide not to bore you. Things are up and down for me right now. I can be in a great mood and then suddenly want to sit in my house and sob.

I stop and try to figure out what is causing each emotion and can usually pinpoint it. Then, it changes and I can pinpoint that one. And so on... It's not the stuff of blogging, though.

So, anyone see any good movies lately?

Try and Blend

I'm not great at moderation. Okay, I'm really bad at moderation. I know this. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs because it would be really tough to stop. Well, now, I've added sugar and big portions to that no-no list. Yes, I've found out I've got the dreaded "d". I don't want to write the name because I'll get screepy people writing to give me cures. However, I now need to avoid sugar (give you a clue?) and it sucks. I like my Almond M & M's. Oh well. I'd rather live longer.

I started writing this post intending to talk about my weekend of goofing off and correcting papers. (I get sidetracked a lot.) So far, I've done a good job of mixing the two activities. Right now, I'm taking a break from my last set of tests. They aren't doing as poorly as I'd expected. Well, at least some of them.

Tonight, I get to hear the St. Olaf Band in concert and then host a couple members overnight. Um Ya Ya!

Movie of the Day: Cocktail. They had nifty blenders.

Gloom and Greatness

It's raining. Again. Lots of it. Spirits are sagging.

However, tomorrow is a day off from school. The first day until MEA (Minnesota Education Association convention) is the longest stretch we have without a holiday. We've made it. Okay, one more day and we've made it. WOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Luckily, attendance is optional and most people up North don't make the trek to the Cities. All this translates to Becca getting to sleep in. That should lift the spirits pretty nicely.

Movie of the Day: Wild Horses Can't Be Broken. Spirit.

Rain

It's raining this week and the kiddies are wonky. Off the charts hyper and weird. The rain and the end of the grading period combine to make some classes torture to sit through (for students and teachers). Some kids are scrambling to do what they should have been doing all along (their homework) while other kids know that they are going to get certain grades that they don't want and many don't care. These are 9th graders who have been socially promoted their whole lives and are now going to face the harsh reality of needing credits. We try to explain it to them, but it doesn't sink in for some kids. We'll see how that pans out in the next few weeks. It could be brutal.

Auction

Grandma's Marathon has an auction each Fall and for the past couple years, I've donated jewelry for the cause. I have no idea how much the jewelry has gone for, but I thought I'd share this year's selection (to entice you to attend and bid?). It's part of the silent auction portion of the evening.

Fall

May you crunch leaves,
enjoy resurrecting your favorite sweater,
take brisk walks by the lake.

May you sip apple cider on your porch,
carve goofy faces in a pumpkin,
smell coolness in the air.

May you rake a pile of leaves and JUMP,
help a kid with their homework,
take pictures of the trees.

~Becca

Awesome!!!

One of my friends won a national award for teaching yesterday. He sooooo deserves it! He's inspiring and the fact that someone recognized a teacher's efforts warms my heart.

Movie of the Day: Tommy Boy. (Which I've never seen.)

Clutter

The clutter on my desk:

my camera
7 pieces of jewelry
a stuffed penguin (no, not taxidermied)
my new pet: Artie Fishal 2
six books
a box of fake acorns
the movie Things To Do
Some crafts
a bookmark from Paris
some nail polish
random notes.

A mess.

Movie of the Day: Jane Austen Book Club. Very good. Very sweet. Inspired me to buy the Austen book Northanger Abbey, which is one with the clutter.

Mini Workshop

I went to a mini workshop yesterday and the facilitator asked us to share our dreams, assuming that there were no restraints (money, family situation, health, etc). It was interesting because someone commented on how it's socially acceptable to dream big when you're a kid or a teen, but at some point, you cross a line and start thinking practically and lose the big dreams. How sad, but somehow true. Can you learn to dream big again and risk looking the fool?

What are your big dreams?

Movie of the Day: Dream a Little Dream. Or a big one.

We've Been Saved...Whew.

Art by Sara.

Breaking Hearts

I received some bad news yesterday: my club at school is not funded this year. My club was Random Acts of Kindness and I started it in Fall of `99. We would do things like volunteer, raise money for charity, make fleece blankets for crisis nurseries, etc.

Sadly, I announced our first meeting today without knowing that the club didn't have approval. Technically, it doesn't have a stipend for me to be the advisor. Now, maybe they think that suddenly I'll run the club for free, but they're wrong.

Today I get to share by broken heart with my students and hope I don't cry.

Movie of the Day: Pay It Forward.