Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Ninety days ago, my husband and I started our own Biggest Loser competition. He elected to walk on a treadmill while I went with the P90X home workout. At first, I was losing more weight than he was even though he easily had more to lose than I do. Being a man, I thought he was going to beat me without even trying, but initially I was the one racking up the lost pounds each week. For the last two weeks, though, I've hit a wall and not lost anything. He's losing two plus pounds to my nothing, so he's now in the lead. I'm not terribly uphappy about this, though, as I have lost about ten pounds and all of my clothes fit so much better now. Even though we are finished with our ninety days, I'm going to continue working out. I do like the results I'm seeing, especially with my abs. I've never really had abs to speak of, but after doing the Ab Ripper X workout for three months, I'm beginning to see some definition. My husband even noticed the other day how def...

I've started on the documentary about the school track team, and I'm finding I have tons to learn about putting a documentary together. I bought a new editing program to work with, thinking if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right. Little did I realize at the time of purchasing it that I was going to have a huge learning curve with this program. I should have figured, though, since it has all the bells and whistles, both of which I really wanted in order to do more than just the basics with the documentary. The first couple of days working with the program, I was splitting and moving parts of the video. I kept trying to add in a transition between two parts, but everytime I viewed what I had put together, I was unhappy because the part of the video that was underneath the title frame would show for a split second when the transition started. I had no clue how to keep the video hidden completely. I eventually deleted everything I had worked on and started over. Fi...

My middle child's birthday cake from last week. I had a lot of fun making it and even more fun eating it. We found out that if you cut pieces only from one side, starting with the bottom layer, the cake will lean, eventually fall over. You can't tell it from this angle so much, but the cake was actually leaning before we began cutting it. When middle child got home from school and saw the finished cake, he laughed, saying, "Awesome cake, Mom." Doesn't get much better than that.

For some time now, I've been feeling burned out when it comes to reading student papers. This semester especially has been a difficult one. I truly love being with my students and talking to them on a daily basis, but the reading part gets to me. I have had a rough time making myself sit down and actually put the time in. The papers, though they are on topics I like, still have the same problems that the papers have had over the years. When it comes to the kinds of errors and the very basic discussions the students create, not much has changed in the seventeen years I've been teaching writing. Very few students have the ability to write something that totally blows me away, but every now and then, I find myself delighted because a student has written something outside the usual. This just happens to be a semester during which no one has written that kind of paper. Hence the relunctance in reading and evaluating them. I keep telling myself I need to do something that will allow ...

My middle child turns twelve today. It's his golden birthday. The other two have already celebrated their birthdays this year, so he's the last. Part of me says thank goodness; all the money going out on gifts and dinners makes my stomach hurt. Another part of me, though, realizes another year has gone by and the kids are inching ever closer to being adults ready to get out on their own. I'm going to miss them so much when they're gone. The sadness that comes over me when I think about them leaving pulls me down, sometimes to the point of tears. If I feel like this now, what will it be like when they actually do leave? I do love birthdays, though. They're very special days and should be celebrated with joy. To do this, the birthday person must awaken to the birthday song being sung loud and out of tune. Then, once the person is good and awake, a morning present must be given to offer a hint of what's to come later in the day. This morning, my son received a pres...

My middle child, a sixth grader, frustrates me to no end when it comes to homework. He just doesn't want to do it. He's a bright boy, with a quick mind, but if he can get away with not sitting down and doing any homework, he will. When I press the issue, he'll sit, but it's one sigh after another, a lot of head hanging, and at times tears. What should take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete turnes into two, sometimes three hours. If I don't sit with him, constantly asking questions, suggesting ways to write sentences, and pointing to helpful websites, he wouldn't get anything done. Each night, this is what I go through. While I want him to learn and be a successful student, I'm tired of the constant struggle I have to endure to make sure these things are actually happening. I have to wonder just how much he is learning since he has such a bad attitude before, during and after doing the homework. Another part of me is frustrated with the school, ...

One way I cope with having to read a lot of student papers on a weekly basis is taking breaks to capture things on video. For some time now, though, I've let the camera sit idle in its case. I saved for two years to buy my camera, which is a wonderful piece of technology, and the other day I made a pledge to actually put it to good use. So I started on a project today. For a couple of years, my husband and I have been helping out with the school track team. The kids range from fourth grade to eighth grade, with both boys and girls participating. I started videoing them the several years ago, when my daughter was running and jumping with the team, but I never put the clips together to make a complete story. Each year since, I've mulled over the idea to pick up where I left off, so I decided to do just that this year. I talked to the principal, put together a release form, and I'm on my way. A handful of parents already signed the form. I can now start to film. I do think I n...

until spring break. I know this sounds awful, but I really look forward to all the breaks that come with being a writing instructor. Christmas break. Spring break. And the best of all--summer break. If these weren't a part of the teaching calendar, I don't know how long I could last as a writing teacher. Don't get me wrong. I do like what I do. A lot. But after eight weeks of reading the same old essays about the same old topics, my eyes begin to glaze over. The break from reading and responding to these tired ideas refreshes me just enough to get excited for the last eight weeks that aren't much different than the first eight. One way I try to combat having to read the same cliched rants is to have a theme run through my course. One semester the students had to write about food. The papers for that semester covered topics like the slow food movement, which baseball park offered the best hotdogs, and why dining alone can be a good thing. I enjoyed so many of these paper...

Yoga didn't go so well this evening. I was looking forward to it, but right when I was getting ready to begin, a friend stopped over and talked for awhile. By the time I got back up to my room to do the yoga, I just wasn't as into it. I started into the moves, which begin with lots of moving asanas, including vinyasas into runner's pose, to cresent pose, to warrior pose, to warrior two, etc. Last week I did the whole series, about forty-five minutes worth, with no problem. This evening, my thighs were burning from the beginning. I'd really like to know why one week I can do the poses with no problem, then the next week I am having trouble from the beginning. I was discouraged and ended up skipping a lot of the asanas. I did do the balance postures and the floor work, so I did do quite a bit of yoga. I just wish I had been in the mindset to get through the asanas like I did last week. Hopefully next week will go better. I have been wondering if I'm just not eating en...