Life Away from school, wait is that possible?

Well, getting home at 4:30 or sometimes 5 is a nice feeling and a break away from school even though I find it hard not to think about how I will do things differently in the classroom or what should I do about this, etc.

I've been feeling very exhausted and to point of being fatigued again. I felt the same way I did when I came home during my first year of teaching. So I've been taking it easy with taking Berry for walks up to Devil's Hill, up the beach, or on the airport. I'm learning how to get her to listen more. I call her once or twice and/or whistle, and then keep walking and she comes! It was neat because one night, the two new teachers and I went to the beach and saw these larger brown birds. I identified them as hawks but I read my bird book today and they weren't. They were perrigan falcons. It was a pair! It was neat to see them swooping and flying and am glad they didn't get Berry!

I had a cookout with three other teachers. That was so relaxing. I couldn't remember the last time I had burgers on the grill. Yummy! For dessert we had blueberry milk shakes! What a treat! Now I'm going to make vanilla icecream so I can make different kinds of milkshakes and even experiment with the idea of making icecream like coldstone. Maybe brownies mixed in with blueberries, or crushed up candy bars mixed in with the vanilla ice cream. I made strawberry ice cream last week and blueberry pie! Yum, yum, yum. Yes, I'm bragging about my cooking again. I get this part of me from my dad! He's an excellent cook and I miss his grilling. So eating good food and making it has been fun. I tried making pasties (stuffed pie crusts with ground beef, potatoes, onions) that look like calazones. They turned out just the way my mom's pasty did. I'm excited to make them again and freeze them so I have dinner for a week already planned. The crockpot has become my friend again. I'm making porkchops and a beef roast this week so I can have those for dinners and then I have bacon and beef pizzas for lunch this week.

I started my running yesterday and wow was it tough after 5 months! My heart and lungs hurt so bad, but it felt good in a way. My legs burned as I went up the hills too! I ran for 10 minutes then took a break for 3 and then ran another 10 minutes. The last were easier. My goal is to run every other day for 20 minutes and then do fast walking or treadmill the other days. I'm taking it really slow as I run. I'm not sure you can even call it a run, more like a jog. I slept so good after running too. Speaking of sleep, I would like to get ready for bed earlier so I have time to read before bed. This is something I have not been doing for a couple weeks. I'm currently reading a classic: Oliver Twist, Focus on the Family magazine,and a Christian politics magazine.

Look forward to telling you more about my kids, and non-school fun! Stay updated!