Pound Foolish #1 - Naughty, Naughty

So, I am currently doing my student teaching internship at a elementary school in Hampton.  I was at a staff meeting one day and read some data gathered through a survey given to the fifth graders about what they liked and didn't like about their school.  One kid wrote "THE FOOD IS NAUGHTY".  Caps included.  Which put me in a fit of giggles, I barely composed myself in time for the meeting to start.  I found it hilarious on so many levels.  On the one hand, the lessons taught in language arts about synonyms got through to this kid.  However. s/he must have been asleep during the part about syntax.  Or, maybe there is some stuff going on that I don't know about in the cafeteria.  I mean, I haven't been at this particular school during lunch.  Maybe the food causes some drama..... the carrots simply refuse to mingle with the peas; hot dogs refuse to be placed on a stick and dunked in batter... flat out chaos.

However, after my giggles died down and I started to think about it in terms of my struggle with eating healthy.  The food IS naughty.  I mean seriously.  If a person tempted us, made us struggle against our will power, and did something to adversely affect our health, they would be considered a bad influence.  Afterall, peer pressure is naughty.  And succumbing to a craving is sort of like peer pressure, right?  Ipso facto - Food is naughty.

Maybe this kid is on to something.........

New Beginnings

Why, hello there. Welcome to my new corner of the interwebs. My dear people, I am standing at a fork in the road. Luckily, I know what direction I'm heading for the moment. I have approximately 4 days left in my current job. After enjoying a week of leisure, I will then begin my final semester as a graduate student and will be student teaching. This will be a complete change of pace for me. I will be going from a 8-5 desk job where I can play on the internet, socialize with co-workers at random, and periodically be a slacker to having real responsibility.

I mean, I won't be entirely responsible for all the students, but sorta. There will be a point where I take over the classroom. And I'm terrified. I love kids, and I know I'm going to love teaching. But woah. The magnitude of it all is humbling and terrifying and exciting. I'm praying that I will be so fulfilled each day and that I'll have an impact on these students' lives. But I'm also mourning my life as a motivated slacker.

However, this new lifestyle will prompt some pretty significant life changes. Most significantly, I'll be going from having virtually no schedule at all (aside from getting to with at 8:30.... ish...) to being highly scheduled from about 7:30-4 every day. No more will I have leisurely lunch hours where I can eat whatever I want from where ever I want.... I'll have to pack lunch or buy from the school cafeteria. And this provides an excellent opportunity to turn over a new leaf and pack super healthy lunches and snacks. So I decided it also deserved a new blog to honor this new chapter in my life.

The blog derives it's name from two things:

Penny Wise

I love to talk about my dog Penny. She's the smartest, sweetest, bestest dog around, albeit slightly obstinate (she can't help it, she's a hound dog). She's also spoiled rotten, because until my husband and I get around to pro-creating, we treat this sweet doggie like a kid. And I learn so much from her every day. So some element of this blog will be me expounding theories about what her antics are teaching me about life. I will also be showing off adorable pictures and bragging a little bit. Because that's what moms do.

Pound Foolish

I have been "trying" to shed some extra weight for years now. YEARS. And I suck at it. I have no will power, or staying power, for that matter. I am good at doing something for a week or two, and then I get distracted by something silly, or have a particularly hectic week that prevents a trip to the grocery store so there I am, in the drive-thru getting a McChicken biscuit on my way to work and I'm off the wagon until I notice the pounds creeping back up. Therefore, I consider myself to be quite pound foolish.

There ya have it, folks. I tried to blog about losing weight once, and that was just boring. So I'm hoping by combining sage advice from my doggie and my hopefully valiant efforts to lose weight during this new phase of my life, I'll be more keen on frequently blogging. Fingers crossed!