I've been a bad blogger...

So sorry about the lack of posts this week, dear readers!  I'll try to make up for it with one big, all-encompassing post.  Go ahead and get a snack...I'll wait.

Okay, Here's what I've been up to:

1. EOG's.

For those of you non North-Carolinians (or those of you who DO live here, but under a rock), these are the big, dreaded, standardized tests that come at the end of the school year (or End Of Grade).  Now these tests are only for students in grades 3-8.

"But I thought you taught students in grades K-1?" you might ask.  And you'd be correct.  But I have managed to be involved in the EOG mania nonetheless.

Firstly, my side job is tutor extraordinaire.  I work with three kids, grades 6, 8, and 9, on math.  I know, weird combo that I teach reading to the little ones during the morning and math to the older ones in the afternoons.  But it works for me!

Two of my kiddos are in the throes of EOG.  One took the test this past Wednesday and Thursday, the other takes his exam this upcoming Thursday.  I have been clocking A LOT of tutoring hours recently!  (It's okay, though.  Good for the ole' bank account!)

Aside from tutoring, I got to take part in EOG joy at my own school.  This week, students on tracks 1 and 2 took the big tests.  And because I'm so lucky (i.e. I'm a warm body and my classes are apparently expendable and easily canceled for the week) I got to be a proctor!

Let me tell you a little bit about proctoring the EOGs.  In a word- BORING.  Basically, I got to sit and stare at a classroom of fifth graders for hours at a time.  Every fifteen minutes or so, I would circulate around the room, looking over shoulders to make sure that the kids were bubbling in the same number on their answer sheet as the question they were on in the test booklet.  But come on...these kids are in fifth grade.  They've bubbled in test sheets a time or two before.

Once kids finished the tests, I had to make sure they were sitting silently.  Once or twice a kid sneaked a book out of their desk and tried to hide it, and I had to tell them to put the book away until the test session was over.  That was the peak of excitement of the whole experience.

OH, and I ALSO got to take parades of kids to the bathroom, and make sure they went in one at a time, and didn't talk about the test in any way.  That was also TONS of fun!

The experience was uber-miserable.  I found myself wishing that I was taking the test, because I thought it would be more fun.

I can't wait to do this again when the other half of the students in my school take the tests in two weeks.


2.  Entering the HGTV Green Home 2010 Giveaway on a daily basis.

I mean, how fabulous is this house?  (Of course, it doesn't really matter how fabulous the house is, because if I actually did win it, I'd sell it.  Because let's be real here...I am SO not moving back to the north.  I WOULD keep the SUV and the $100 grand, though.)

I'm almost tempted to leave this part of the post out, lest you start entering daily, too, and decrease my odds of winning.  But I like you.  So I guess I'll allow it.


3. Dieting and ellipticalling.  (Yes, I know that's not a word, but I like it...so there.)

My stomach has mostly gotten used to liquids for breakfast and lunch, and I'm not hungry and crabby at every moment.  Just some moments, like when J says he's hungry, and I explode a little, lashing out about the fact that he got to have food for breakfast and lunch.  But he's a trooper, and he forgives me.

I may be missing beer more than food, as I am depriving myself of it on the weeknights.  But even that is getting easier.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to skip the elliptical, because I was feeling a little lazy.  Later in the day, I felt guilty for skipping out, so I ended up not only ellipticaling, but going a few minutes over my normal 30.

Now THAT'S progress, no?

AND, I've lost 6 pounds.  Yay me!


Also, (and you thought I'd forgotten!)...today is

And here's what makes me feel good this Friday (aside from the aforementioned 6 pounds).

The first bloom of the season on my magnolia tree.  After I moved south and saw these trees everywhere, I knew that someday, I MUST have one.  Thanks to the coolest mom on the block (mine), I have one.  She bought this for me on one of her visits, and I love, love, love looking out my kitchen window and seeing it blooming all spring and summer.


So that's all, folks!  Have an excellent weekend!