OUT WITH THE OLD

Well, it's Spring Break here in Texas!! YEEHAW! (Not really, but it seemed like the right thing to say at the time...)  My brother is on his 8th grade trip to Washington, DC. It's turned into quite an ordeal. He left Amarillo Saturday night at about 11:30 and he's only been in DC for a couple of hours now. Poor kid got stuck in Dallas. But he's there now and I hope the rest of his trip goes great, he's missing out on the smithsonian, but i've always wanted to go back there since you only spend like 4 hours total to see the whole thing. So maybe we will go back one day as a family or something. After a two week hiatus, I finally made it back to the gym too. It was pretty great. I'm once again quite grateful for Kristi, cause I've wanted to go back to the gym, but I haven't actually wanted to go to the gym, you know what I mean. But having her to keep me accountable is pretty great; once I got to the gym and on the elliptical, I felt A MILLION TIMES BETTER. Great news, thanks to an "anonymous" comment on a previous blog (I'm fairly certan I know who it was...) I've joined Weight Watchers and I've been doing a good job of keeping track of my points. I even bought some healthy stuff on my last grocery trip, which I think shocked my roommates a little bit. I also am completed uninterested in drinking cokes at this point. I have been drinking lots of iced tea, water, milk- I actually bought this "almond milk" that's dark chocolate flavored, it's delicious and super healthy. So thanks to whomever suggested weight watchers, even though I haven't gone to the gym, I've still lost weight. If I were on the TV show, "The Biggest Loser" I would have, however, gone home a long time ago. I'm not shedding the pounds like they do, but I'm also afraid that if I don't transition this period of my life, it will be a diet and not a change. I don't tell people  that I'm on a diet, cause I don't see it that way. I'm realizing and acknowledging that I've lived an unhealthy lifestyle, not only because of my diet, but also financially. In fact, I've decided that I will not take any "personal" trips until I've gotten my self into a healthy place, that includes my debt paid off and my body in shape. So if you live somewhere besides Amarillo and you want to see me, then unfortunately for quite some time, you're going to have to come here. It's just not smart to not do something about it. If I want to have any kind of future, I have to stop living the way that I am.
One thing I was thinking about on the way home from the gym is growing. When I graduated from college, I had a "what you see is what you get" kind of attitude. I didn't feel like I was going to change who I was. Now, I realize that I'm still changing and growing and becoming a better person- who would have thought THAT was possible?!?! HAHAHAHA, I kid, I kid. But really, it's kind of cool the transition that I'm making. For example, two years ago, I was living in Midland and I was a "regular" at a restaurant, so much so that I didn't have to order, they just asked me if I wanted Tea or Dr. Pepper. (Yes, I really am THAT predictable.) Now, after returning to the gym after a two-week hiatus, the gym employee who usually works when I go in, remembered me and my gym number. How cool is that?!? I mean, out of who knows how many members, he remembered me, and I haven't been there in two weeks!! I just think that's a big difference!! One that I'm proud of!
Now for an update in other news:
We had 7 kids qualify for TAPPS STATE ACADEMIC & ART COMPETITION this last weekend in Dallas. For only having two weeks to prepare, our kids did WONDERFULLY!! We also came in third place!! Two 3rd place finishes for middle school and high school!! That's pretty great for our first year to compete in this things! Truthfully, I had so much fun organizing and coordinating it!! I wasn't a fan of the comments and "negative" feedback that I got from some of the staff, including one teacher telling me I was a "sucker" for volunteering for so much stuff. But I didn't do it for them, I honestly didn't even do it for me. I did it for the kids, to make sure that are getting more of a learning experience than I did. I'm also discovering that I really am NOT A PROCRASTINATOR!! Not at all, whatsoever!! I like having things done in advance, very far in advance!!
Well, I just bought "Blast from the Past" on iTunes so I guess I'm going to head to bed and watch it. I was thinking of it after watching "My Fair Lady." Hope everyone has a GREAT SPRING BREAK! I'll let you know how STATE competition goes, it's April 1st & 2nd in Austin! Thanks for reading! Love you guys!

Until next time....

The Wonder Years

I spent this evening reading a Koala book with my nephews, Andrew and Jakob. It was exactly what I needed this week. I've been so stressed with PSIA, TAPPS, well you guys have heard it all, but I just needed an hour or two to be Aunt Lizzy. On my way home, I started thinking about why I had so much fun just reading this Koala book with the boys. I think, partly, it reminded me of being a kid. I then started thinking about why I didn't remember how much I loved to learn things when I was younger. Then I thought this, "Teenage Years are spent forgetting good things about your childhood so you can have something to complain about and hate your parents for. So growing up must be the process of undoing your teenage years." I don't know if that's true or not, but that's my theory for the day. Of course, I don't really think I was your typical teenager. With Cassi a little nuts and Bobby just a baby, I immediately jumped into the middle child role, trying to make sure everyone was happy and keep the peace, well mostly at least. I never really hated mom like most teenage girls say they do, did I mom? I did however block out alot of the happy memories. Fighting with my sister, building Lego Land with my sister. We built a park one time out of miniature lego's that was really more like a mini-festival. We used our California Raisins and other "little people" to have a full attendance, including music and entertainment. I have a picture of it somewhere. I remember one of the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENTS I EVER RECIEVED. I hope you understand cause I can only describe it. I remember it was my fifth birthday, maybe sixth. It was a present that I got to open before everyone got there for some reason. But it was a book that had an electronic pen with it. I don't remember if the pen read the words or did something like that but I remember the feeling of excitement I had for that gift. So, I'm watching the kiddos for two days over spring Break and I talked to Cassi about taking the kids to the Science Spectrum in Lubbock. She said yes, so I told the kids before I left and I think they were excited. I mean those kids LOVE SCIENCE and this place has "over 200 exhibits on three floors" which caused Jakob to pretend to faint, haha. I remember Aunt Mary took Cassi and I to a couple of places like that down in Houston; we saw the butterfly exhibit and a dinosaur IMAX movie. So hopefully I get to take them to an IMAX movie too, but we'll have to see. So Tuesday I have a District Student Council Convention and Thursday and Friday we are driving a bus full of high school kids to the Dallas Cambridge School for District TAPPS competition. I'm really hoping our kids do AWESOME! OH, I also got news that Holy Cross came in THIRD AT PSIA THIS LAST WEEKEND!! There were about 7 schools participating so that's pretty GREAT!! For our first year, to get third place behind the two Lubbock schools that host these competitions every year. We beat St. Andrew's in Amarillo!! YEAH!!! Well, I now need to go grocery shopping. So I better wrap it up. Thanks for reading! HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK. LENT IS NEXT WEEK, SO BLESSINGS FOR A GOOD (??) LENTEN SEASON.

Until next time!