New Year

It's the beginning of summer and I get to do something I've done for the past 4 years at this time- start over. Since I have a teaching career I am able to start a new year every June and what's more, every August as well. If all this sounds a little too Pollyanna-esque to you, I promise that it's not.

Remember when you were a kid and (unless you were subjected to the trauma of year-round school) you got summer break? Remember that feeling that you could do anything you wanted? That's how I feel at the end of each school year, but with a few differences. For instance, as a child I looked forward to finding new insects in the summers and keeping them alive for longer than last summer. Now I look forward finding new places to buy farm eggs or a different way to clean something.

Each year I get the opportunity to create new habits. I much prefer this to breaking old habits- too difficult! Research shows that creating a new habit is more likely to stick than simply trying to break an old habit. Okay, I'm not sure if "research shows" this but I know my demographic here and we're all research junkies so I figure you'll pay more attention if I start the sentence this way. It's true though- when you want to change your diet it works much better to say "I'm going to eat more vegetables" than "I'm going to eat less candy." When you focus on getting the veggies, your candy-mania lessens and you're able to achieve your overall goal of healthier eating.

Since I'm not working, or at least not working typical hours out of the house, I can really focus on stuff I want to start or change. Another thing I've learned is not to make a huge list of things to accomplish over the summer. After all, it's only a little under 3 months and you want to really do things that you can sustain instead of packing in as much as possible. Last year I got really into making salad dressings- important since I eat crazy amounts of salad. We're talking somewhere between that huge pile you see the enormous turtles eating at the zoo and full-on raw vegan. That habit was a small step in the direction of really eating whole, minimally processed foods. If I'd tried to make 3 dressings a week during the school year? Not a chance.

This summer I'm focusing on a few things, some of which are a little gross. The first involves flossing. I wasn't aware of what flossing was until I was in high school (GROSS right) and my immediate family members were never big flossers, so it wasn't really something I did growing up. Oh, I'd give it a shot a few times a week through college and after but I've never been an everyday flosser, or as doctors would call it "someone who actually takes care of their teeth." So every night before bed, it gets floss-tastic around here. After three months of this I'm confident it will come naturally and I'll prevent myself from pirate teeth at the age of 40.

I really enjoy this time of my year because I get the chance to focus on the person I want to be, whether it be big things like being more connected with those I'm around or smaller things like flossing daily. I know this is something not everyone gets to do, so I take responsibility to for using this opportunity to my best ability. That's not to say I don't also lay around reading romantic vampire literature or doing Google searches for things like "trampoline injuries." I certainly enjoy my break to the fullest, I just try to also make some positive changes during this summer new year.

Here are some summer rabbits! Please enjoy my high quality photograph.

Back, Again

It appears all the pretty things disappear from your blog when you don't post on it for nearly a year. For instance, the background. Oh well, I guess it serves me right.

The last post was written a really long time ago and for some reason didn't obey me when I tried to publish it then. I have many, many (many, many, many, many) videos of those caterpillars on my phone in every stage of their life cycles. Sadly, when they emerged as beautiful butterflies they did not make it very long. Perhaps it was too hot for them, but they never flew after plopping out of their chrysalides (it's A WORD, computer, stop underlining it). They were quite pretty but I feel it would somehow dishonor their short insect lives to post pictures of them after their untimely deaths. 

So far this summer the most interesting thing to happen to me is the unpacking of some boxes full of childhood memories. And by "memories" I mean "twenty or so storage boxes full of things my grandmother kept for me that I neither asked her to keep nor to deposit in my garage." This. woman. kept. EVERYTHING. We're talking receipts to childhood surgeries. We're talking scrunchies from middle school. (FYI, the computer decides "scrunchie" is a real word but not "chrysalides?")

One afternoon in May she calls me on my way home from work. To better understand the following recreated conversation, realize that I sometimes call my grandmother "Grambo."

Grambo: Are you on your way home?
Me: Yeeeees......?
Grambo: We have your boxes. We're waiting at the covered parking at the mall since it's raining so hard.
Me: Boxes?
Grambo: You know, your stuff from when you were little. We're cleaning out the garage and want to get it all over with once and for all. Just call when you're almost home.
Me: Did we...discuss you bringing me theses boxes?
Grambo: No, we just want to get the garage clean.

I swear to you, this is exactly what happened. This is how, fifteen minutes later, I came to be unloading a rainbow of storage boxes into my own garage. Note to self: putting boxes in other people's garages is the easiest way to clean your own. I had no intention of looking through them any time soon. I mean, they've been sitting there for about fifteen years already, so I think it's alright to wait a few more weeks.


I began looking through some of the stuff last week and it is, shall we say, enlightening. Is this who I was as a child? Who could ever own this many dolls? What kind of person kept their Barbies' shoes in tiny hanging shoe organizers? I plan on taking many photographs to document and discuss my past here. I hope you will join me for this self-discovery process.

Back for the Summer- and Caterpillars!

My apologies to the two people who read this blog, I'm sure you've been in such suspense for the past post-less months. It's the beginning of summer, I have a new computer, and I'm ready to blog!

Two days ago I went outside to water my "garden." It's a collection of 5 plants and a dozen or so miniature cacti on my balcony, but I'm pretty sure it qualifies as a garden. I hadn't watered the previous evening and since it's 175 degrees here now and the plants are up high in the wind, they have to be watered every day or they just look sad. So I fill up my watering can (you get to use quaint items like this when your plants are on a balcony instead of in a yard), head out, and just look at what I found!

Adorable caterpillars casually visiting my garden

Wow! A few wonderful little creatures to brighten my morning! I looked closely at them, then noticed something more sinister. Over half the leaves of my dill plant were missing! Upon closer inspection there were also SEVERAL more of the insects- 17 total, in fact.  Regardless of how cute they may be, that is A LOT of caterpillars, and that many caterpillars certainly can decimate a plant. What happened to the caterpillar who spent and entire day eating through one apple, then two pears? That guy at least left something behind!

Evil insect using my well-watered herbs for his own selfish interests

Small, but a few more hours and he'll be twice this size

Sigh. As much as I'd like to disparage him, this fellow is beautiful.

 After counseling with my grandmother about what I should do with the caterpillars (with my grandfather in the background: "Pull them off and squash them") I decide to remove them from the plant, put them in a vase filled with leaves, and cover it with tulle (I KNEW I bought that tulle for a reason!). My long term plan is to find a bush they like and put them there to continue their life cycles, far away from my herbs. Being a pre-k teacher, I already knew that caterpillars' defense mechanism is a green, smelly liquid, but I was still surprised to actually see it! Turns out all those picture books were right! It also turns out that caterpillars do not take kindly to being forcibly removed from their chow-stations by a spoon and (carefully) dropped into a vase. There was some of their slime on the edges of the vase, some on the concrete outside, and yes, it was a bit smelly.

Directly after their traumatic removal

Since I was on my way to a class and really needed to leave, I ran downstairs and pulled some leaves from the nearest bush, stuck them in, and covered the vase. I put the vase outside on a table, just in case. They're cute and all, but I wasn't sure that I want them crawling all over my apartment.

When I get home, those picky little suckers are just sitting there in the middle of uneaten leaves! We'll see what happens. I'm not sure if the principle of "if they get hungry enough, they'll eat what they're offered" applies to caterpillars.

Cake Craziness

My poor neglected blog! The past two weeks have been busy for me and full of nonstop activity and obligations. The beginning of the school year is, of course, crazy packed with work and preparation. Add to that family stuff and a little wedding planning and the past weeks are accounted for in full.

So more about this wedding planning, more specifically, more about the cake situation. You're having a cake? you may ask. But why? There are only two of you! My sentiments precisely, but not those of the wedding planner. A cake is included in our wedding package, and by golly, a wedding cake she will give us. She emails me a list of cake flavors. I'm thinking we can have white or maybe a variation of white. Oh no, we can have white, golden almond, orange chiffon. But wait, there's more!

white
yellow
chocolate
red velvet
golden almond
coconut
carrot
orange chiffon
apple spice
lemon poppy seed
mocha chocolate chip
chocolate rum

WOW! I am intrigued by the chocolate rum option, which would be quite suitable for an island wedding. Now for the fillings!

rawspberry
strawberry
pineapple
passion fruit
chocolate ganache
orange
lemon
lime
praline
chocolate
espresso
mocha

I was aware of the concept of putting a filling in a wedding cake, although I find it completely inappropriate. Who wants to bite into a nice piece of white cake at a wedding to discover a lime filling? Disgusting! I have attended several weddings where brides decided hey, I love chocolate cake! Why don't I put in a strawberry filling and not tell the guests? Biting into mystery cake is the worst thing ever. It's a good thing I feel this way because even if I wanted something bizarre inside the cake, anyone who knows my fiance knows this is not a possibility. He likes two kinds of cake, white and chocolate. With plain buttercream frosting. Nothing more.

So it looks like we're going to have an entire plain white wedding cake to ourselves. Wasteful? Yep. The wedding planner if checking to see if we can at least have only the top layer made. Silly? I think so, but I guess it will make for pretty pictures.

Next step in the wedding process- a dress!

Reflections on a Great Summer

I am a teacher. This means I've been on summer break since June and my first contract day is next Monday. Being the go-getter I am, I of course went into the building at 9:30 the day the school re-opened (Last Tuesday) and have been to my classroom 5 times since then. I can't help it- it's a sickness. And yes, I know, "You get three months off?! It isn't fair/I wish I could get paid for not working/Must be nice." Sorry if you're unhappy with your career choices, but I chose mine and it includes summer break. Deal with it.

Each year I try to really enjoy my time off and do useful things instead of staying up until 4 and sleeping until noon. This is harder than you might think, especially if you live alone. There's no real reason to get out of bed at a specific time because no one relies on me. My activities don't revolve around another person or children, so it can be hard to motivate myself to keep a schedule. This summer I made a (very loose) schedule for my days which helped me feel like a productive member of society, and is also MUCH better for the well-being of my mental health.

I find that every year I feel better about what I did over the summer. Probably related to maturing or something lame like that, I wouldn't know. Since I'm coming to the end of my break I decided to make a list of things I learned/accomplished this summer.

• I learned a LOT about interactive whiteboards. Like, 27 hours worth of technology classes. I can create containers, reassign layers, and make my own resource packs. Don't know what I'm talking about? Good- it makes me feel even better about all those hours I spent in computer labs.
• I finally kicked my store-bought salad dressing habit. I bought two cruets (they were actually just called "bottles" but I've never had the opportunity to type "cruet" so I thought I'd try it out), a lovely book from Half Price Books, discovered I already have all the ingredients for most of my favorite dressings, and got to shaking things up! So much more delicious than my store-bought dressings, and I know exactly what is in them.
• I read all the Harry Potter books in Spanish. It was awesome.
• I made it through the ENTIRE SUMMER without a single overdue book! This is a big deal for me- I should have a library named in my honor for all the money I've paid in fines. And yes, I checked and you cannot count library fines as "charitable donations."
• I cataloged my children's books! Okay, I cataloged most of my children's books. I used a great service called Library Thing. You can input your books' info manually which is nice for those of you who hate reading and own 20 books, but for those of us with a Sick Book Obsession there is a barcode scanner available. Just use this to scan the barcode of each book, and the site automatically puts all the information into your database. It's great, and the barcode scanner is shaped like a cat!
• I learned that many Scholastic books do not have barcodes. Not so good when you have, oh, 174 books published by Scholastic. 
• I got my younger rabbit spayed. Her older buddy was neutered last summer, so now both of them are hump-free. Rabbits develop cancers at much higher rates without these surgeries and live much longer having had them. Basically, I made my rabbits immortal. 
• I went through all my crap and got rid of SEVEN bags of clothes and FOURTEEN bags of other random stuff. This is a big deal for me since I love to keep everything. I've been working on getting away from so much STUFF, and preparing to move and live with another human being is a great motivator.
• Last but not least, I started two blogs! This one, clearly, and also my school blog, A is for Manzana.

Although many of my friends and family do not have the luxury of summers off, I still believe it's important to take inventory of what we've learned and accomplished several times throughout the year. It doesn't have to be "What did I do this summer?" It could be "What have I accomplished this year/month/week?" It's hard to grow when you aren't sure where you started! 

Wedding Plans!

If you're reading this, you're in a special group- people who know my exact wedding plans! My fiance and I are having a very casual, non-traditional ceremony. It can be hard to gauge how much our plans will horrify those around us, so we haven't really talked about the specifics with a lot of friends or family. This is my first big announcement of our plans. Enjoy!

Our ceremony will be held in St. Croix on  November 19th, the Friday before Thanksgiving. We're having it on the beach which will give us beautiful pictures! It will be just the two of us (along with the officiant, of course). Our decision to have such a private wedding is based on several factors- our personalities, our families, and our desire to really make the ceremony about marriage instead of the stresses of "the big day." This is what works best for us.

Being on St. Croix we'll already be in our honeymoon destination! Neither of us have spent time in the islands before so we're excited to see water that doesn't look like the Gulf of Mexico. (In case you've never seen the Gulf of Mexico, take my word that it is not a pristine or sparkling body of water.) We're planning on snorkeling, kayaking on the ocean, and doing some general sight seeing in addition to just hanging out on the beach. If you know of something awesome we should do, tell me!

Now that you've read this, you are among the elite! Go bask in your new found knowledge!

Life Lessons

I've learned several things in the past 48 hours which I will enumerate here.

First, having a social get-together in the morning is a good idea. Several days ago I was invited to a friend's birthday breakfast. Birthday BREAKFAST? As in, 9:30 in the morning? Who lives like that?! I dragged myself out of bed at 8 this morning and thought I might die. Crawling into my closet I found it difficult concentrate on creating a cute outfit. I grabbed something colorful, pulled a ring out of my enormous totally reasonable collection, and was pretty much ready. I got there without sleeping behind the wheel, and you know what? It was great! We could stay for several hours without being out too late, breakfast food is delicious, anyone with children could easily store them somewhere or just bring them- in short, I am now a fan of breakfast parties.

Second, it really isn't a good idea to start a blog at 3 am. Frustrations are compounded, interests in certain backgrounds are exaggerated. Definitely don't do this and consequently stay up until 4:30 in the morning if you are also dead set on attending a sale at 9 the next morning. Especially if said sale is a teacher sale with so many other human beings in the store that you and your giant handbag can barely fit in, and you must then stand in a line behind several dozen people. Outcome: headache, nausea, and difficulty sticking to your teacher-sale budget.

Third: Rabbits can sniff out crayons even if they are in plastic bags inside of canvas bags on top of tables. It is uncanny and hilarious.