Three weeks

We're nearing the end of the school year and it's hard to believe that my first year at the new job is drawing to a close. There's exactly three weeks left until summer break. Statewide standardized testing started last Monday and the whole school has been feeling the strain of hours of testing, rearranged class rotation schedules, heavily monitored classrooms during testing (which are a state requirement), and on and on. I don't know who's more tired or stressed out--the kids or the teachers. Wednesday afternoon a boy got in trouble during his ELA exam for letting out a heavy sigh and muttering, "I hate this fucking shit". Ha! He pretty much summed up how everyone feels right now, teachers and students alike!

There's more testing next week, then final exams the week after that, but the last week of school will be easy. There will be an awards day, and a "castle day" which is when the kids get to spend most of the day outside playing games and sports, and then the last three days are merely half days. I'm so looking forward to summer break--this will be my first free summer since I was a young teenager myself!

Speaking of three weeks, it's been that long since I started making some serious and drastic changes in my life in an effort to lose weight and get healthier. I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app to my phone and have been logging every single bite of food that goes down my throat. Although the actual logging can be a bit tedious, I love the way it not only tracks your calories, but also keeps a running tally each day of your stats as far as vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, sodium, percentages of carbs versus proteins versus fats, and on and on. You can also log exercise, both cardio and strength training. If you put in your starting weight and height, and your goals, it will give you a daily calorie count to safely lose no more than 2 pounds per week. I like that. Twice this week I finished my day enough calories under goal that I got a prompt warning me that I needed to eat a little bit more. (I was banking calories ahead of planned indulgences the next day, not being silly). It's a good tool. I've been trying to use up my calorie allowances each day with high quality foods. And even better, I've finally started establishing the habit of getting up an hour earlier in the morning for a good walk with the dogs. Forty five minutes in the morning, along with another forty five in the evening (we always walk the dogs at night) equals about 5 miles of walking per day. Not bad! Of course, that's nothing compared to my friend Mary Moon who's been absolutely crushing it on her daily walks lately! Her beautiful (and long!) walks are an inspiration.

Also happening in three weeks (a few days less, actually) my friend Marla is due to have her new baby. Since I have the summer off, and she only lives about a mile away, I'm looking forward to seeing her and the baby often and helping out if they need anything. Our mutual friend Martina has knit the cutest little combination stuffed kitty/blankie thing for baby. I feel like a bad auntie because I haven't knit a single stitch (yet). Of course, no baby born in South Carolina at the end of May has any need for knitwear for at least 6 months, but still. As soon as school is out I need to start something. I know that there are at least a couple of knitters who read here--can anyone recommend a (not too difficult) pattern for a small blanket? I'm looking for ideas and inspiration. Martina and I are also planning to have a small "Welcome Baby" shower for them later on this summer and that could be an extra gift from me.

What does the rest of May hold for you?

Finishing up May

My weekend off was wonderful.  I didn't do much but relax and enjoy myself. I did do some cooking, and I ate big beautiful salads like this both days:

I also took a trip to the newly opened butcher shop on Saturday afternoon and grilled quite possibly the best barbecued pork chops I've ever made that night. They were seriously delicious.

While I was out shopping on Saturday I bought myself flowers. Aren't they pretty on the table? The tomatoes in the bowl came from the farmer's market.

I was off again today (I get three days off this week because Monday was a paid holiday) and I got some errands taken care of. First of all, I took Ginger to the vet to get her yearly steroid shot. Every summer about this time she has an allergy flair that makes her miserable until she has one. My normally stand-offish girl actually made friends with an old lady and her puppy while we waited to be seen. She liked them so much she sat beside them instead of me while we waited! She has good taste, I must say. The woman was kind and kept gently petting Ginger's face, and the puppy was absolutely adorable. I think Ginger was telling him that the vet is nothing to fear. :)

Things took a scary turn for a moment after Ginger had her shot. Our doctor (an excellent vet who doesn't miss much) noticed two tiny drops of dark colored urine when they were about to lift her back off the table. He said, "Hey, what the hell's this?!" and grabbed a syringe to collect the tiny sample. My poor girl had a UTI and we had no idea! Just to be sure it wasn't caused by kidney or bladder stones, he did an xray too. Thank goodness she didn't have any stones, and so we have to give her antibiotics for 2 weeks and then take her back for a checkup. I was so scared while they had her in the back doing scans. It's hard for me to describe how much we love this dog.

After the vet drama, I went to the bank to make a deposit and then did a chore I'd been putting off for way, way too long.

CARWASH!!

Is that 70's song about Workin' at the Carwash, Hey! playing in your head right now? Good.

The end result:

My Scion is shiny and clean again! I vacuumed out the inside (which it desperately needed) and wiped down the interior with special car wipes. It's funny how a car seems to run better when it's freshly cleaned!

Other things I did today: finished my application for the SC Guardian Ad Litem program, mailed out the rent check, had lunch at a new Mediterranean restaurant in town, and rescued my husband when he ran out of gas on his way home from work. The old truck he drives to service aquariums has a broken gas gauge and about once every other year he'll misjudge and need to be bailed out. Fortunately I was at home and only about 2 miles away when it happened this time.

Not too bad for finishing up the month. Steady on to June!