It really happens. I kid you not.

Hi, hello, greetings! I should be showering right about now, but I figured I'd give myself a bit of time to get the blog back up to speed. 

While I haven't been as productive as I'd like to be in the blogging world, I have been moderately-very productive in the exercise world. I say moderately because there have been a couple days here and there where we haven't worked out, but the past 2 days I've had a for real excuse since I've been battling a cold that I think I picked up at the testing location for my Illinois teaching certification (no joke there were over 1,000 people all testing at the same time) or on my ride home on the Red Line. For those of you, which is honestly probably all of you, who are not from the Chicagoland area, the Red Line is the El that I consider to be the most germ-laden. Whenever I'm on it, I feel as though my skin looks something like this:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5sJwqVymy_w9zXVQ48O7bKpdG9pDXhmaWSsNPwaepXDF0KlLgxhcIuyXdseZLscX3gsj1tw29wuB_sCuzQB3p8OvxafiuLPA5JNEgxDY2pJEPLshroyUQqAP8evwB6FQFlQWuutU-xmf/s1600/germs.jpg

And lo and behold, approximately 72 hours after riding the Red Line, the tell-tale signs of sickness set in. Curse you, filthy El.

For those of you paying attention, yes I did just cite the source where I found that picture. Our kids have been working on projects where they have been learning to cite their sources so I figured I'd practice what I've been preaching. 

I've got some super funny kid stories, mostly revolving around two of my favorite students. I know we're not exactly supposed to have favorites (it's not like there are rules against this type of thing) but you just can't help finding some kids more fun to interact with than others. 

In one of my math groups, I have just two third graders. Today I told them that they could earn five minutes of free time at the end of math if they had good behavior. They worked really hard to earn it and I decided to treat them with a game of Pictionary on the Smartboard. They absolutely love using the Smartboard, and to be honest, so do I. Even though it's just a fancy, electronic whiteboard of sorts, it's still really fun. To make the game fair, I told them both to just pick animals to draw. 

On the first boy's turn, he drew a three-legged animal with floppy ears and a bunny tail. It was a dog. On my first turn I drew a pretty awesome flamingo. It was totally obvious that it was a flamingo. When I was done drawing they both just stared at me blankly like, "Umm, what?" I wrote the word pink. No response. I started writing out the word "flamingo". Blank stares. I made the noises they make. Nothin. These boys truly had no idea what a flamingo was/is! So much for my super easy drawing!

When the second boy had his first turn, he started off drawing another animal with a long neck. At first I thought he was just copying my idea of the flamingo, but eventually his drawing turned into something like this:

Sadly, I couldn't take pictures of the student's actual drawing, but I assure you, this reproduction is spot on.

Any guesses?

Well, clearly it's a giraffe. With bird legs. Just two of them instead of four. 

I helped the other boy guess giraffe because he was absolutely stumped. He, in turn, created something along these lines:

Are you as befuddled as I was?! The correct answer is: a snake that has just eaten a deer.

"How morbid!", you might say to yourself. Well yes and no. Yes because who draws an animal that has another animal inside of it?! But no because this is actually a really good thing. And by that I mean it shows that I am effective as a teacher beeeecaaaauuuussseee, today during our language arts session, we read a story about snakes and how they live, including how they eat their prey. We then Googled pictures of snakes that had just eaten and we saw a picture of a very large snake that had consumed a small deer. It really happens. I kid you not. 

So while his Pictionary choice was not what I would have chosen, it was flattering to see that he really did pay attention to me during language arts. 

It's almost 10:00 and that's the time I told myself I'd post this and move on with my evening. I'll be back again soon. Perhaps this weekend if my sickness doesn't evolve into some crippling, debilitating disorder. Gah, I hope not. I'm subbing tomorrow! 

Happy almost Friday!

-A

I bit off more than I could chew

Dear 3.2 average readers,

I promise I have not abandoned my only recently renewed little blog. I admittedly think I bit off more than I could chew with the vow to blog every day. While it's definitely not impossible, it's also not the easiest thing to do and requires time management skills that I am still acquiring. From here on out, I will blog when I can and not feel bad or guilty for not finding the time to squeeze it in. 

I have three major events/happenings/goals on my plate right now that are taking up most of my days. They are, in chronological order: 

1. The Illinois Teacher Certification test that I'm taking this Saturday. For my teacher friends and others in the know, it's the equivalent of the CSET. Those of you who aren't of the teaching persuasion, it's basically a test of my knowledge of the subjects I'm responsible for teaching were I to have my own classroom. The California version of this test was split into three parts and I took all three on one day and passed so I am fairly confident I'll be able to do the same here. Thankfully this one doesn't begin until 1:30 in the afternoon so that in itself will be much less stressful than the CSET with its ungodly 7am reporting time. This test is one of two that I have to pass, along with the completion of a course on the exceptional learner, in order to clear my credential and obtain an "Initial" status instead of the "Preliminary" status I have on my Illinois Teaching Certificate now. 
2. The frequently aforementioned Soldier Field Run. Boyfriend and I have been alternating between running and P90x to help get ourselves in shape for the upcoming 10 mile run we signed ourselves up for. Today I ran for speed instead of distance and was able to complete one mile in 8:55 which is an absolutely HUGE accomplishment for me. I have a widget on my phone that is counting down the days until the race and it's a mere 46 days away. We've got a lot of work to do. 
3. And finally, "Apply for Jobs for Next School Year" season has officially begun. I spent two and a half hours working on one application on Friday. Eeesh. I also have a widget counting down until the last day of school. As of today we're at 56. In a perfect world, I'd secure a job for next year sometime in the next 56 days but the odds of that are slim, though I'm remaining optimistic. I'm determined to find a classroom to call my own :)

And now, my friends, I'm off to watch an episode of Dexter with my handsome Boyfriend and slobbery pup. I'll be back around soon :)

Fog!

I have decided that Saturdays will be a day where my post is specifically photo based. It makes it easy for me to have something to help me stay focused on and stay on topic since we all know how my story telling abilities are quite lacking and my sentences tend to wander...

Today we went to Boyfriend's grandparents' house to have a sushi making session. Our trip to H Mart yesterday stocked us up on all of the necessary sushi making supplies.

I for some reason didn't feel like taking pictures of the sushi making so I'm not going to completely go against what I just said about using a picture to help me stay on topic. I do have a picture from today, just not from the sushi. 

Fog!

I have never seen fog here in Chicago. I never thought that fog would be something I'd actually miss. And I guess I also didn't realize that it only happens for very specifically meteorological reasons and that not all locations in the world possess the qualities that are necessary to produce fog. Fog can be creepy, or magical, or calming, or cooling. Or lots of things. And I wish it happened more here. 

There's not really all that much to say about fog, so I think for your sake, dear 3.2 readers, I'll stop here. Check back next Saturday to see what kind of collage I make then! :P

Friday Letters, Episode 2

Welcome to my second installment of Friday letters. Let's get on with the show.

Dear Brother, 

Happy Birthday! I kind of can't believe you're 23. Seriously, I remember the day you were born. I know that sounds super cliché, but whatever. I wish I was there to celebrate with you. I think it's harder to spend birthdays apart than holidays even :/ I hope you have an awesome golden birthday, little sister!

Dear Jewell Animal Hospital, 

Thank you for being an absolutely amazing vet! The way that literally every employee had to come see/meet Brutus was hilarious and made him (and us) feel super special. Your facility is gorgeous and I was completely happy with the check-up Brutus had here today :) You make pet ownership even easier.

Dear H Mart, 

You're really fun to go to. Even though I sometimes feel out of place as one of the only non-Koreans there, your vast selection of everything Asian is great. My only complaint is that you sometimes cause me to spend more money here than I would like, because I apparently feel that we need one (or more) of everything you have to offer :P

Our cart about midway through our shopping spree.

Dear Boyfriend,

I'm super excited to have the next 7+ work-free days to spend with you. I know it's not exactly the Spring Break we had planned but I have a feeling we'll be super productive and happy nonetheless :D

Dear Self, 

Please be better about blogging on a more regular basis. For serious. Your lack of commitment to most things is highly unattractive. You can do better, so try. Kthx.

Because we're definitely not pinky-in-the-air-snobs

As of right now, Thursday is still theme-less. I'm working on that. In the future, perhaps it will become a day to talk about cooking or beer making or yogurt concocting or vegetable gardening or any of the other Martha Stewart-esque hobbies that Boyfriend and I partake in. But on this particular Thursday, I have no pictures. Just one story of one dinner adventure that would probably be much more entertaining with photographic documentation.

Last week, on my way home from work one day, Boyfriend declared that he had a hankering for a burger. While Boyfriend and I love to cook, we aren't people who necessarily get cravings for certain types of food very often. We also had never made burgers together before. It's weird that even though we've cohabitated for all this time, there are certain foods--seemingly simple, everyday type foods--that we haven't made. I like to think that's because Boyfriend and I have such refined (I say this with some jest because we're definitely not pinky-in-the-air-snobs) palettes that we frequently make dishes other than what I lovingly refer to as "White People Food".

** Side note, I totally Googled the correct spelling of "pinky" 'cause I couldn't figure out if it was a -y or -ie. Oh, the teacher in me :P **

Now don't get me wrong, white people food can be tasty on occasion and there are definitely times when I long for mashed potatoes and gravy, but we try to be more adventurous than to just fall back on the standard meatloaf, pork chops, pot roast, and the like. That's not to say I haven't made those American staples, but I can honestly say that I can count on two hands the number of times that Boyfriend and I have made those types of meals. Some of our favorites are Middle Eastern inspired things like this but with chicken, and this but again with chicken, and this exactly as it's written. That last one is definitely a staple around here. It's my default when I think of comfort food. 

Thankfully for me, I don't always have to be too creative in the kitchen because Boyfriend is an awesome cook and we take turns making dinner. We make an great little team because while one of us is cooking, the other preps all the ingredients and cleans up as we go along so that when dinner is ready, the kitchen is usually spic and span. The only thing that's still lacking from our nightly food adventures is a dining room table. Who would have known that I actually miss eating at a dining room table. Growing up, we never ate dinner in front of the tv and now it's all Boyfriend and I do because, let's face it, a dining room table isn't exactly a must have right now. It's not at the top of our priority list.

The whole point of this post when I first started it was to share a recipe that Boyfriend and I used to make some pretty delicious veggie burgers. So in an attempt to get on with my story, I'll skip to that part now. I know it would have been better with pictures, but I didn't think to take any at the time. Next time I do this type of post, I'll make it more visually appealing :P

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces (I used red because it's what I had on hand)
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges (I finely diced mine because I don't like biting in to big chunks of onion)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (I used chipotle chili powder to give it a different flavor. Delish!)
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce (One whopping squirt of Sriracha because it's ridiculously popular in our house)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko because I we Boyfriend is Asian and it's a staple in our pantry)

Directions

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet. (The foil is super helpful 'cause it keeps the patties from falling apart!)
2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties. (I only got three out of my mixture since I had really big buns to use :P)
6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 198 | Total Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 53mg

Source: Allrecipes.com

I even froze a patty to have as a back-up lunch item to take to work :)


And I'm ending this here 'cause my formatting got weird. Haha. Kbai.

I'm fairly certain we'll never come in first, but I'd be happy with third

I'm not sure if it was because some people were already on Spring Break, or if the weather was just too nice to stay indoors, but tonight at trivia, there were only 9 other teams besides us. That meant we had a for real chance at placing. I'm fairly certain we'll never come in first, but I'd be happy with third. Of course, the week that there is less competition also happens to be the week we have the fewest people playing on our team. Just three. We tried really hard, but we only came in fourth. We've been playing trivia on a weekly basis for almost three months now and we've never placed. You'd think that'd be enough to deter us from continuing to go, but their drink specials on Wednesday nights are just too good to pass up :P

During the time you get to turn in your answer, the host plays a variety of music and this was my favorite from this week:

Some questions from tonight's game:

• What is the name of the prison that sits on an island off the coast of San Francisco? 
• Finish this lyric, "Every rose has its thorn, just like every ______ has its sad song."
• In The Godfather what did Don Corleone use to threaten the movie executive into giving his godson a movie role?
• What movie's tagline is, "The mob is tough. But it's nothing like show business."
• Which Olympian was the youngest person to win "Dancing With the Stars"?
• What river runs through Big Bend National Park in Texas?
• What football team was dubbed "The Greatest Show on Turf"?
• Who was the first African American Supreme Court justice?
• Name 4 of the 6 movies produced or co-produced by Steven Spielberg in 2011.
• Which member of the Jackson family sang the 80s song "Heart Don't Lie"?
• What was the military base that Beetle Bailey was stationed on?
• What country lies in between Panama and Nicaragua?
• In auto racing, what color flag signifies the last lap?

Of course the final question, where you can bet up to 15 points, was ridiculously easy (at least for me/us) this week, which made it even more frustrating that we only came in 4th :/ 

• Put the following cities in order from North to South: Little Rock, AK, Savannah, GA, San Jose, CA, and Tulsa, OK.

Oh well, there's always next week! :P

And of course, if any of you dear 3.2 average readers want to try to answer these questions, WITHOUT GOOGLING (!), leave it as a comment and I'll let you know if you're right or not :P

Zero times

If you recall, (and it's ok if you don't because I know the excitement level here on my blog is somewhat lacking :P) last Tuesday I hadn't picked a Tuesday topic yet. Well now I have, except it's making me sad to write about, haha.

Tuesday's will be the day I hold myself accountable to the working out I've done throughout the week. 

Today's answer to how many times I've worked out during the past week: zero. Zero times. A ridiculous, non-existent, inexcusable zero times. 

I'm trying to stay positive but I'm really doubting my ability to successfully run the Soldier Field 10 Mile on May 26th. The date is fast approaching and I am still fat and out of shape with absolutely no endurance. My only saving grace is that I just have to make sure I can complete the race in under 150 minutes because that's how long the course open for. That equates to a 15 minute mile. Which is basically the average person's walking pace. Which I know I can do. But obviously I'd like to go as fast as possible. I definitely need to stop making excuses and just work out.

Hopefully by this post next week, I'll have something better to report. 

**EDIT: I just realized that I shouldn't be too hard on myself because I did work up a sweat today, just not in the typical running/working out fashion. Boyfriend and I did yard work for literally about three hours. We rid the yard of all the doggie landmines, cut down a tree (!), cut aforementioned tree into smaller pieces and then tied those into bundles, and we pulled weeds. I really need to retrain my thoughts to include activities such as this into my frame of reference as to what is classified as a "workout"? Am I right? I think so :)

If you dig in the dirt, you'll find dragons and tigers

So I'm kind of cheating as I'm writing this (on Monday, March 26th) because I'm determined to make up all the posts I didn't do last week by writing them this week but I'll be posting them with last week's dates. I won't tell anyone if you won't :P

Hello, Monday. You're a rather easy Monday to handle since tomorrow I am off (my district recognizes Election Day. While I don't understand it, I'm definitely not complaining) and you are also the beginning of the last week before Spring Break. Yay!

Monday means Brutus pictures and kid quotes. I've got some good ones this week. Of both categories :P

Yesterday we took Brutus (albeit illegally since here in Chicago you have to get a permit from your vet that your dog is healthy enough to use the dog parks) to the dog beach at the end of our street. I admittedly have lived in this house for over a year now and have never been to the beach at the end of our street. I think it's because I know it's not the ocean and I just can't justify going. Maybe I'll change my mind this summer. And maybe now having Brutus will inspire me to go enjoy it more often. I think I'm just spoiled from growing up near the Pacific. 

Since we went right before sunset, there was only one other dog there and she was content to just chase her tennis ball instead of interacting with Brutus. He didn't really know what to think of the water. He kind of put his toes in a few times, attempted to drink it once. But he definitely was not trying to dive right in or anything. We mostly just chased him around as he attempted to make a snack out of the sand. I got some super cute pictures of him :)

 Just dipping his toes in.

 The way he moves his body in these three pictures makes me laugh.

I definitely wasn't gonna go in those huge nostrils of his to help him clean out the sand!

And now, for kid quotes.

This one was just too funny not to share. It is a conversation between one of our students and the teacher I work with as she was helping him with an Earth Science lessons on rocks.

Teacher: If I used a shovel to dig into the ground, what would I find in there?

Student: A dragon.

Teacher: Hmm, no. Not a dragon. Let's think about this again. If I made a hole in the ground, in the dirt,        what would I find?

Student: *Takes a few seconds to think* Oh, I know. A tiger!

My next conversation happened between me and a 2nd grader when I was out supervising recess. 

Him: Um, excuse me, teacher? I'm trying really hard to do something but it's too noisy out here. 

Me: Well, what are you trying to do?

Him: I'm trying to penetrate but it's not working. There are too many people around and I need it to be quiet.

Me: What exactly does that mean...what you're trying to do...?

Him: Well, I sit down and I close my eyes and I go like this with my hands *imitates a sort of yoga-esque pose*

Me: Oh, you're trying to meditate. Meditate. It's called meditate.

Him: Oh, ok. Meditate. 

Me: Well why don't you go sit over by the corner of the building where it's quiet.

Him: Ok, thanks! *runs off to the spot I suggested and assumes his yoga-esque penetration/meditation pose*

At the end of recess he came back up to me:

Him: Well, it didn't work. I tried really hard but I just couldn't penetrate.

Me: Meditate.

Him: Yeah, penetrate. I mean, meditate. 

Me: I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you can try again at your next recess.

Him: Yeah. Maybe. If I can penetrate for about an hour, I can fly!

Me: Meditate.

Him: Yeah, meditate. 

Thanks to these two quotes, I know now that if you dig in the dirt you'll find dragons and tigers. And if you meditate really hard, you can fly :P

Little green lemmings!

So, St. Patrick's Day in Chicago is ridiculous. Like absolutely redic. I've never lived anywhere with a measurable Irish population and clearly this city is proud of its ties to The Emerald Isle. Boyfriend and I decided to head downtown to see the dyeing of the Chicago River and the St. Patrick's Day Parade through Grant Park.

I'm trying this new tactic where I don't tell one million details that aren't at all vital to the plot of the story. In an attempt to continue this trend, I'll brief you on our St. Patrick's Day happenings. 

***Oh, wait! Before I continue, allow me to post today's song. I nearly forgot!***

We intended on getting downtown in time to actually see the dye being dumped into the river, but alas, 10am on a Saturday morning is just too unfriendly of a time to be anywhere by. No matter, it was the color of the river I wanted to see, not the act of dyeing it per se. Due to some maintenance on the El, we didn't get downtown until nearly 11:30 and I'm glad we hadn't attempted to leave in time to see the dyeing because we wouldn't have made it and I would have been inconsolable and cranky at our travel time being out of my control.

I have pictures that I'll post after this brief recap of the day that will do a better job at describing what it was like downtown. We looked at the river for a bit and then (stupidly) headed over to Grant Park to watch the parade. I say stupidly because we were 2 of over 350,000+ attempting to watch the parade that followed a route of a whopping 2 blocks. This meant the crowd was about 100 people deep in most viewing spots. Extremely poor planning on the city's part. We ended up just heading back home since it was impossible to get anywhere close to the parade route. I didn't have my heart set on the parade, but it was still frustrating. I think the crowd size was increased by the extremely high temperature. At 80 degrees, today was the hottest St. Patrick's Day on record. 

After we came home and regrouped, we headed back out to meet up with Boyfriend's sister. We went to Wrigleyville (which for you non-Chicagoans is basically where all the irresponsible college age lushes hang out). The streets were INSANE. It looked like Mardi Gras with the amount of people that were out. The bars were wall to wall people with floors so sticky that at one point I actually had to use my hands to pick my leg up to un-stick my shoe from the putrid filth. We didn't end up staying out too long, and after some home made carne asada and chicken tacos for dinner (so Irish, I know) we were literally in bed and completely asleep before 11:30. Hah. 

See for yourself just how covered in green clad people the city was!

 All the lines of people in these pictures look like little green lemmings!

 It looks like a scene from "The Walking Dead"!

Making super attractive faces while waiting for the El :P

Friday Letters, Episode 1

So as I've lurked around come across some other regular bloggers' pages, I've noticed that they do a segment called "Friday Letters" on, well you guessed it--Friday, where they write mini letters to people/places/things (basically anything that is a noun). I frequently post status updates in the form of Dear Something-or-other on the Facebook machine, so I think I this should be a day I shouldn't, ideally, fail at. 

Dear Self, 

If you recall, you stated in a previous post (this one, to be exact) that you were going to start each blog with a song to entertain your readers. Every subsequent post after the aforementioned post has been void of any and all songs. I know sometimes our brain is old and forgets things, but you should really try to only say what you mean, and mean what you say. And then do what you say you'll do, 'cause nobody likes slackers. Kthx.

Dear Self,

Thanks for the reminder. Here's a song:

Dear Weather,

It's really nice of you to have been in the 70s for multiple days now. And it's really nice that it appears you'll be in the high 70s and even 80s well into next week, but please don't get too hot too quickly. Summer here is gorgeous but I know this is just a tease since it's only mid-March and there's really no logical explanation that the temperature is so high already. Feasibly, it could still snow. And that makes me really confused about what clothes to pack away. Figure yourself out. Kthx.

Dear Boyfriend,

It was really sweet of you to come home and make me dinner. Whenever you do awesomely sweet gestures like cook me one of my favorite things, you earn approximately 2,085,654 bonus points in my book (give or take) plus I fall in love with you all over again. And even though you don't read my blog, it makes me happy to write to you :P Be mine, please. Kthx.

Dear Next Week,

Thank you for being a three day work week, even though it's weird I'll be off randomly on Tuesday, I'm not complaining. You make my job that much more enjoyable, and for that, I thank you.

Dear Dishwasher,

Please don't be broken. I know you're old and cleaning dishes sometimes proves to be too difficult of a task for you and I am forced to run the same dishes through multiple times before they come out spotless. But I really don't want to have to buy a new dishwasher right now. And even more than that, I really don't want to have to wash dishes by hand. Please have a resurrection and come back to life. Kthx.

Dear Airfare,

I'm still angry at you for being so expensive! (insert choice expletives here)

Dear 3.2 regular readers,

Thank you for coming back to read me even though you probably had abandoned all hope :)

Kthx, bai.

It's definitely something to smile about

I woke up this morning feeling a bit anxious. I had a dentist appointment, my first one in nearly five years, scheduled right after work. Since I became a full-time employee in January that means I got all sorts of wonderful benefits, like insurance. All sorts of insurance: health, dental, life, disability. I was super excited to start using them, most specifically my dental insurance because I had pretty much convinced myself that I was bound to have a cavity, or two, or twelve. None of my teeth hurt, but I was certain that half a decade spent away from the dentist was most definitely going to result in some type of unpleasantness. I don't love going to the dentist (like my littler brother does--she's weird), but I definitely used my being dropped from my parents' insurance at 22 as an excuse to not go because seeing the dentist can be costly and I was a poor college student taking 7 years in college to get a teaching credential :P

I called last Monday and was able to schedule an appointment for today with a dentist literally less than 5 minutes away from my work, one I found after much Yelp-ing. I don't think all the details leading up to and during my appointment are all that interesting so I'll just give you the gist of things.

There was good news and bad news. 

The bad news was my years in between cleanings coupled with my inability to/lack of flossing has led to a bit of gingivitis :( At first I was horribly ashamed and felt super embarrassed until I reminded myself that at least I was trying to get a healthier mouth by going to the dentist :) It's also completely reversible and I'm now well on the way to healthy gums! :) :)

The good news, which most definitely outweighs the bad news, comes in two parts.

1. I am cavity free!! Yay!!

2. And, even MORE exciting than being cavity free, I am most likely a candidate for Invisalign! To me, this is huge. Like, whoa!

I have always hated my crooked smile, even though some people have told me that my teeth are endearing and give me character and make me unique. But when you hail from the land of perfect people like I do, any smile that is less than perfect seems to be unacceptable. I don't think that my smile has ever impeded me as I advance my way through life, but it's something that I've always been self conscious about. And I've always assumed they were awful teeth that could never be straightened by something as amazing as Invisalign. 

I'm happy to report that I am most likely wrong! I keep saying most likely because until my consultation on April 5th has been completed and my data sent to Invisalign, I can't say for certain that Invisalign will be able to correct my smile, but my dentist (who was absolutely amazing) said that he was pretty confident that I'll be able to do the procedure since, apparently and unbeknownst to me, my molars are nicely aligned. This means that the only correction needs to happen in my front teeth, which according to him, is much easier to do with Invisalign than correction of the molars. I'm trying to not get my hopes up too much since there's still a lot that has to be figured out before it's determined whether I'll be getting Invisalign or not, but it's definitely something to smile about :D 

There wasn't really a theme to this post, just an update. And that's ok with me :)

Summer will be here before I know it, right?

Since mid-December, on (most) Wednesday evenings, Boyfriend and I have been going to a local bar called The Rail to play trivia.  We are usually accompanied by a random assortment of our various friends and sometimes their friends, too. Tonight, Boyfriend and I had a bit of trouble with time management (filling seed starter containers with potting soil and grilling fish on the BBQ were tasks that we definitely didn't allot enough time for) and we didn't get to The Rail until the second half of the game. The following is a list of some of the questions we were asked:

• Name two PGA golfers who, between June 2010 and June 2011, made more money in endorsements than they did in their actual contracts.
• What continent do orangutans come from?
• In July 1987, pranksters removed the H from the Hollywood sign to pay homage to whom?
• Which U.S. state has twice the land area of all of Scandinavia combined?
• What was Post's version of Corn Flakes named in 1908?
• Put the following movies in order from oldest to newest: Mars Attacks!, My Cousin Vinny, Mickey Blue Eyes, and Mrs. Doubtfire.
  

I wish I had the capabilities to write upside down like they do on cereal boxes and kid's meal containers to post the answers to those questions down below :P There's one team that we see at trivia every week and they always bring a minimum of 10 people. I think the odds of someone in their group knowing the answer to every single question are astronomically high. I try not to get too competitive, but it's hard not too since we try our best but have never won. We almost came in 3rd once but there was an error in the calculation of the scores and it turns out we actually were in 4th place and I was ridiculously sad. All that for a $10 gift certificate :P

In other sad news, my long awaited, highly anticipated Spring Break trip home is not going to happen. Airfare is outrageous, over $600 for the time period I was looking to travel, and I just can't justify spending that much money on a ticket. I will be making plans for a summer trip home very soon, though. I haven't been home in over a year now and it's definitely time to go home, see all my loved ones, and recharge my batteries. Summer will be here before I know it, right?

Questimation mark

It's late and I don't feel like I have much to say today, but I just couldn't go to bed without writing something for the day. I haven't officially picked a Tuesday topic yet but I'll keep mulling it over and I'll see what I come up with.

I went for a run today. Outside. It was like 67 degrees or some ridiculously high number like that considering it is March 13th and I'm pretty sure this time last year it was like raining and icy or something equally as awful. This has been the 3rd warmest winter on record since they started keeping records like 200 something years ago. I didn't do as well on my run as I was hoping to, but I got up and went out and did it as best as I could and for that, I can't complain. I was aiming for an 11:30 minute mile and came in at 11:41, which really good for me considering I took like 6 months off of running. I'm aiming to be at a 10:00 minute-ish mile by the time we go to the Soldier Field 10 Mile on Memorial Day weekend. I'm sure that's a lofty goal that is probably out of my actual realm of capabilities, but a girl can dream :P

I remembered a funny kid quote for yesterday after I posted the blog so I'll squeeze it in here and pretend like it was in Monday's.

During a writing activity, while working with a 3rd grader, I asked her what she needed to put at the end of the sentence to show that she was asking something. Her response? A "questimation mark" :)

Somehow it's already nearly midnight and I really need to go to bed. But yay me for finding the gumption to post this even though I was in a not so fantastic mood tonight. Three days, I'm on a roll!

But it doesn't mean I have to like it.

In an attempt to revamp things around here (and by here, I mean the virtual here in which my blog exists :P), I'm going to start each post with a song to listen to while reading. Today's selection came to mind when I was trying to think up a new title for my blog and even though it doesn't make much sense in terms of geography, unless you're talking about going from the Pacific coast to the shoreline of Lake Michigan (which is so big it seems like it could be an ocean with its own coast), it was rather fitting--LA to Chicago.

So I think I've decided that Monday's will be my Brutus update days. And/or perhaps my funny kid quotes if I have any. Two unrelated topics but it seems like a good place to combine the two, because really no one wants to read about dogs or kids EVERY day :P Well I'm sure some people do, but the 3.2 people who read my blog on a regular basis don't really fall into that subset of the population.

Brutus story #1

Saturday morning I was super proud of myself that I woke up and got on the treadmill by 7:30! Who the heck is this early riser who works out in the morning?! Since it was early and I didn't want to wake Boyfriend up, I closed both the bedroom door and the door to our dressing room/workout room. I didn't let Brutus into that room with me 'cause I was worried that his constant desire to be petted would interfere with my running. I figured he'd be fine roaming the rest of the house as he usually does whenever we leave him alone.

Wrong.

Brutus took it upon himself to empty not on the (extremely full) kitchen trash, but the bathroom trash as well. Sighhhhh. Dogs who play in the trash are one of my biggest animal pet peeves. Up to this point, he had never tried to play with the trash and I was super proud of him for not having that terrible habit. The evidence of his crime was all over the house. And by all over, I mean there were trails coming from the kitchen and bathroom that met in the hallway, traveled together as one through the dining room, trickled through the foyer, and finally coming to an end in the middle of the living room floor. There were trails of slime from where he drooled all over his treasures, such as an empty styrofoam container that had raw chicken, cilantro stems, and the most disgusting of them all, a few choice pieces of trash that only appear once a month...if you know what I mean :/

He definitely knew he had been naughty and kept his distance from us for the rest of the day. We ignored him in an attempt to convey our annoyance with him and I'm pretty sure he got the message because his droopy eyes looked even droopier and guilt-laden. In reality, I can't blame Brutus for going through the trash when there were raw chicken juice soaked items. I understand it. It's only logical. But it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Brutus story #2

This one is much shorter. Saturday night after coming home from having a drink with a friend, Boyfriend and I were wanting something yummy from our "drunk food" stash. Food items that are considered drunk food are only allowed to be eaten after drinking, meaning they are not meant to be eaten on a regular basis. Our drunk food stash typically consists of tater tots, popcorn chicken, Trader Joe's mini tacos, and other delicious, unhealthy, non-grown up people snacks like that.

I was taking some freshly baked tater tots off the baking sheet and dropping them into a bowl on the counter. Brutus, of course, was sitting at my side just in case any tater tots happened to escape and find their way into his sticky, salivating mouth. For some reason I was dropping the tater tots one by one into the bowl and every time I let one go, Brutus immediately looked for it on the floor. Once I realized what he was doing, I decided to have some fun and I took the tater tots out of the bowl, just so I could drop them back in again and watch Brutus be confused as to where exactly those tasty, tempting tots were ending up :P

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures I got of Brutus this weekend during an impromptu photo shoot with him :P

Look at those paws.

 Biggest. Nose. Ever.

His face frequently melts into the carpet, just like this.

***

Only one funny kid quote is coming to mind right now, so I'll be sure to write down this week's gems (and with my kids, entertaining quotes are inevitable) for my post next Monday. I have to write things down or else I forget them. For serious. I'm an old woman now.

This past week, we had ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) testing. California teacher friends, how crazy is it that theirs are so early here?!!? Seriously, the second week of March?? I mean, it's nice that it's done and over with now, but unfair that the test assesses them on topics they haven't covered yet. And they don't start testing students until 3rd grade. It's weird how the education system varies so drastically from state to state. 

Anyway, today's funny quote came from one of my favorite 3rd graders.

Her: What does line of symmetry mean?

Me: I can't tell you what it means, sweetie. If you're not sure, just make your best guess and move on to the next question.

Her: *in a sing-song-y voice* Okayyyy

A few minutes later she encountered another problem that asked her to identify the line of symmetry. Outloud she says to herself, as she picks a random bubble to fill in...

Her: I sure wish I knew what a line of symmetry was. 

And then to me she said: Someday can you tell me what line of symmetry means?

Me: Yes, I can. Someday. But not today.

That reminds me, tomorrow I should show her what line of symmetry means :P She'll be happy to finally know.

Two days of blogging in a row. Watch out now! :P

A post about time. It's about time.

Please enjoy the following song while you read today's ridiculously belated post.

I'm currently sitting here digesting my breakfast before I go run on the treadmill. Yesterday, I worked out too soon after eating and I was nearly on a one way train to Barfville. There's been far too much barf in this house lately, but that's a story for another day. Sigh. My first blog in months and I open it by talking about my most loathed bodily function. Let's try this again...

Hello! Nice to see you again! One can only infer that since my last post the week of Thanksgiving that some event must have rendered me handless and/or fingerless because surely I wouldn't abandon my blog for months on end without a good explanation if I still had the extremities to type with, right??

False.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I sometimes frequently suffer from extremely poor time management skills. Really this only relates to my personal life though. In my professional life I'm awesome at getting things done one time, being on time, managing time, keeping track of time, and all other activities that are time related. At home, however, I spend most of my time battling with time. This affliction of mine was only exacerbated by the limited daylight hours that winter so lovingly bestows upon us here in the North Pole Midwest.

So in honor of "Springing forward" I am bringing back the blog, amongst other severely neglected activities such as exercising on a regular basis. Let me walk you through the math here. Winter = snow and frigidity. Snow and frigidity = ice. Ice = unsafe sidewalks. Unsafe sidewalks = no running outside. No running outside = staying inside and getting fat. Ergo, winter = fat. And now I am fat. But now that winter is leaving, the fat should too. Thankfully, Boyfriend's sister lovingly gave us her treadmill that she was no longer using and we have since set it up in our dressing room in front of a picture that I've taped to the wall of us at the beach last summer with the caption "Let's get this SKINNY again". I've only used  the aforementioned once so far but I intend to get on it again at 11:30 so I'm giving myself just 14 more minutes to finish this blog. I need to move along.

I could write a lengthy post recapping the past 4 months since I last blogged but in all honesty the thought of doing that seems daunting because my OCD tendencies would require me to try to recall EVERY event that has happened so as to not leave anything out. And really, if you're reading this, we're probably friends on FaceBook where I post the majority of my daily happenings anyway. I've decided that this time around with the blogging, I'm going to follow a format of daily topics, which I've yet to finalize, but I'm thinking something along the lines of: a post consisting of the interesting questions from the trivia we play every Wednesday night, Friday letters-a topic I've seen on many other daily blogger's blogs, a day where I compile all of my Brutus-isms for the week so that I avoid talking about him incessantly.

Those are the topics I've decided on for sure. I'm toying with the idea of a day where I photo document dinner and/or other food related activities, as well as a day where I hold myself accountable to working out and discussing what I've done over the past week. We'll see. Really the purpose of daily topics is to put less pressure on myself to be entertaining. My main reason for wanting to bring back the blog on a daily basis is because lately I've been really fail at keeping in touch with my loved ones back home. And this to me is one of the easiest ways to fix that :)

Those 14 minutes just flew by and now it's time for my date with the treadmill. I'm glad I was able to squeeze this in in time. This was definitely a post about time. It's about time. Oh, I'm so punny :P