winter humdrums

With the sun not showing it's warm face for weeks, we've found ourselves thoroughly entrenched in "Winter Humdrums." This may or may not be a real thing. There's certainly only one remedy: more cowbell.

Seriously though... I've found some of my more ambitious goals for this school year slipping by as I sit on my couch spacing out and thinking about Hawai'i. Speaking of goals, here's where I stand:

(1) Running a half marathon by Spring of 2010: I was doing a great job until after Thanksgiving when my life got a bit busier with end of quarter school work, colder weather and less daylight. I was running 3-4 times a week, several miles each time. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I slipped to around 2 times a week. Our trip to Colorado Springs where there is thinner air (aka: Katelynn almost died trying to run a mile) and ice and snow really slowed things down. Basically, for the past four weeks, I've been lucky to run once a week. Needless to say, I'm really doubting my own determination and ability at this point. I'm hoping for a bit of sun and some less than frigid days.

(2) read 60 books this school year: I've read 44 whole books from August until now. I've also started but put down five more (this has not been the year for astounding book selections). Some of my favorites have included Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba. Now I'm at the point where a whole bunch of the books I was waiting for at the library arrived at the same time and there's no way I can read them all in the three weeks you're given. So since I'm overwhelmed and suffering from this seasonal mood disorder business, I've not read much lately either. I think I'll pull out of it.

(3) Vegetarian cooking and eating: this is the one thing I'm actually feeling really confident about. I've discovered a good number of things that I like to eat that don't involve meat. I'm also craving it WAY less and pretty good at finding yummy things on restaurant menus if and when we go out to eat. Now the catch is not feeling like a loser when I talk about it with my friends. I feel like a constant imposition - "oh, you're inviting us over for dinner? What are you cooking?" I think I just need to get over this.

IN OTHER NEWS, teaching at Trailridge has been going well. Starting at the beginning of 2nd quarter was a bit weird, but I'm thankful that I already had a little bit of experience under my belt. The curriculum is keeping me busy though - teaching three classes, only two of them repeats but with all new text books means a fair bit of prep work. Also, there is some pretty heavy pressure when it comes to the State Assessment Tests. I feel like I'm preparing my students pretty well, but it's hard having missed out on a quarter of teaching and not knowing what was already covered with other teachers. I'm just hoping to hold on this year and do my best.

There's not much news other than that. We've seen a couple of movies lately that I enjoyed:
"Invictus" was much better than I expected and really inspiring. It was one of the reasons I picked up No Future Without Forgiveness by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Also a good read.

"Sherlock Holmes" was entertaining and light. I even recommended it to some of my more conservative friends and family.

"Up in the Air" was okay, but I don't think it's best picture worthy. Also, I enjoyed "New Moon" but I think that's coming from my slightly obsessed point of view - anything having to do with the Twilight series is exciting to me. Speaking of which, "Eclipse" in only 158 days!

My half birthday in three days. Cupcakes are welcome...