Wii-U Wednesday

Stud has been obsessed lately with getting a Wii-U.  He's been talking about it, non-stop, for weeks.  And, yes, he's been annoying the bejeezus out of me with it!  The thing that was bugging me the most is that his car insurance is due in the next couple of weeks, and we told him that HE needed to pay it this time.  His father and I have been paying his insurance since he started driving.  He didn't really have a "real" job then, so it wasn't really a big deal.  Plus, I DID have a "real" job, and we could swing it.

Well, as you all know, I no longer have a "real" job, and Stud now has two jobs, so we felt it was time for him to start pulling his own weight around here.  (And, for the record, we KNOW we should have done this years ago, but we can't go back in time :-/  )

Anyhoo, like I told you the other day, I threw a surprise party for him this past weekend.  Thanks to my VERY generous family, he received enough money in gifts to pay his insurance AND get his new Wii-U. 

He went to buy it last night.  I swear, he was like a little kid on Christmas morning.  I can't believe he didn't try and set it up last night when he got home.  He went to buy it with a friend, and then they watched a movie.  But, today, when he finally came up from his "cave," he started setting it up in the living room.  Unfortunately for him, he couldn't even play with it until he charged the main controller, which took a couple hours.  But, as I sit here typing, he's in the living room, having a blast.  Moments like this make it even harder to believe that he's actually 21 now.... 

I guess he'll always be my baby boy. =)

One down, 39 to go....

That was the looonnngggeeesssttt first week in history! Once again, I was at school until well after 5. I could barely drag myself to my car. Besides the long day, and the physical demands of herding cats, I mean dealing with 30 5 year-olds, the freakin' heat just zaps any little bit of energy I have left. It has just been so unbearable this week. By the time I leave, I feel like I've been run over by a Mack truck.

I did, however, force myself to do my Wii when I got home. I just kept reminding myself that as soon as I did it, I could relax for the rest of the night. I barely made it home before Stud's friends started coming over. I told him he could invite a bunch of guys over to hang out on Friday night. It was mostly a ruse to get him to stay home. He finally came home Thursday after almost 2 weeks at his father's. He came home to cut the grass, but his father wanted to pick him up when he was done. Um...I don't think so! So, I convinced him to invite the guys over, guaranteeing that I'd get to see him another night.

His one friend arrived about 5 minutes before I finished the Wii. His other best friend was supposed to be coming with another boy, but when he showed up, he was alone. (He couldn't find the other boy.) When I realized it was going to just be "my 3 sons," I was thrilled because I realized after my shower, I could just put on my pajamas, and relax. The other boy did end up coming at about 9:30, and by then, I was already settled into bed! The boys moved down to the basement just as I was passing out, and I never heard a peep. Stud and his late-arriving buddy were both up by 7 this morning, which is unbelievable! The other little darling is still asleep.

Oh, wait, I was supposed to be writing about school, wasn't I? I can NOT wait for preps to start this week. I'm hoping it makes a difference in my exhaustion level. I have about 7 days worth of work to do this weekend, and unfortunately, I have to work tonight. I'm starting to get a little panicky. I'm probably already on New Principal's shit list because I never did turn in any lesson plans this week. I HAVE to turn them in on Monday. I'm really a little freaked out about doing them. I know that sounds crazy coming from someone who's been teaching for a couple of decades now, but let me tell you, I've gotten really lazy and out of practice after so many years of working for the Big Cheese. I always did my lesson plans (which was not the norm around that place!) but for the past 4 years, I've only had to do half the work. I decided years ago that it made more sense for me and my partner to do our plans together, with my partner doing the math and science plans and me doing the reading/language arts plans. (And, truthfully,after saving them on my computer, all I've had to do the past year was change the date!) Now, since I have NO partner, I've got to do them all by myself again. And, I can't even use the plans I have saved because we're switching to a new reading series. God, just thinking about how much work this is going to be makes me want to cry. I don't want to go back to those days when my entire Sunday was spent working on lesson plans!! And, now that I work Saturdays at our bar, I don't know how the hell I'm going to be able to do that, since most Sundays I don't get home until 5 or 6 am! OK, I'm starting to feel my chest tighten again....

This group of babies, for the most part, are just that - babies!! This is one of the most immature groups I've ever had. It says a LOT about what the hell must be going on in our preschool program. Um...that would be...NOTHING! These kids can't even write their names, nor write their letters. They think the whole day is for playing. I keep trying to tell myself it'll get better. It's only their first week, it's got to get better.

ALL of them except 1 showed up yesterday. Yikes! I had to put 5 of them at my group table, since it's the only other table I have. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do next week when I actually start doing small group instruction. I'm going to have to have a lot of movement to keep shifting them from table to table.

The pep rally was WAY too long yesterday. My babies were amazing, though. Hey, wow, did I just say that?! I going to try and focus on that fact next week. I was really impressed with how quietly they were able to sit for well over an hour. That's a long time for 5 year-olds to sit. At least without a cartoon on for them to watch! :) We ended up having to leave before it ended because we needed to start getting ready for dismissal. We should have started about 30 minutes earlier.

New Principal introduced the entire staff, and had us come up on stage, while the kids cheered us on. I have to say, I was really touched by the reaction I got when my name was called. The whole auditorium erupted! It was really cool, and reminded me that I really do make a difference in the lives of some of these kids. (My first class at the Hell-Hole is now in 7th grade, so pretty much the entire school knows me.)

After the staff introductions, New Principal and our AP, Mr. H., went over the rules and expectations for this year. We talked about the uniform policy, and each teacher was asked to send 2 students up on the stage to show the proper uniform. My 2 did a great job, but they didn't take their eyes off me for even a second. It's a little scary to stand up on stage in front of the entire school!

When all the talk about rules, etc., was finished, each class then came up on stage and did their little presentation. We were first, of course, and the kids actually did a great job. We kept if very short and sweet. I "borrowed" a line for the pledge our kids are expected to say every morning. They loudly, and proudly, said, "I am in Room XXX. I am talented, smart and capable of success!" Thankfully, I had Ms. H. to help me again yesterday. She helped get them back in their seats as I got them off the stage. Then, they were forced to sit there while the rest of the school gave their performances. We only made it to the 4th grade performances, then we had to go. Unfortunately, because the upper grades still had to perform, that meant most of the students were dismissed late, which then meant that I was stuck outside on the playground, in the blinding sun (!) waiting for big brothers and sisters to pick up my babies.

OK, I've procrastinated long enough. I'd better start working on these lesson plans. I hope you all have a great weekend. Think of me slaving away while you're doing something fun and relaxing!
;-)

Ahhhh.....

After that ass-melting weather I wrote about last time, with heat index reading in the triple digits, the past few days have cooled off BEAUTIFULLY!!!! It's been in the 60s the past couple of days, and I couldn't be happier! It was so great to do my morning walk without looking like a participant in a wet t-shirt contest! It's supposed to warm up to at least 80 for the holiday, which bugs me a bit, but I'll have to deal with it.

Not much else to tell about around here lately. But, that's a good thing, because it also means there's nothing to bitch about! ;-) I've been pushing along with my Wii Active, loving every minute of it. I hit the half-way point of the 30 Day Challenge today. Yay! That means I got to watch an "inspirational" video from Bob Green. Yeah, it WAS a little annoying, thanks for asking! Today, after doing my regular workout, I did it all again, but at the next intensity level. Woo hoo! I was quite proud of myself, I must say. I hope it shows on the scale later.

Where have I been lately?!

• Last Friday-All day field trip with the babies to The Museum of Science and Industry. Walked about 45 miles. Dragged Stud Muffin with me since he was off.
• Friday afternoon/evening-Had the WORST plantar fasciitis attack ever, almost went to the emergency room. Poor Stud had to take care of me, Ace bandaged bags of ice to my foot, brought me drugs, etc.
• Saturday-Worked my usual 37 hours at the bar
• Sunday-spent the day hanging out with my parents and my brother. Went to dinner, then back to my parents' and played Wii all night (Did I mention that we bought my mom a Wii, plus Wii Fit and Wii Play, for Mother's Day?) It was an awesome time. I could hardly move by the end of the night because we were laughing so much and so hard, that my sides were cramping! My dad swearing at the game pushed us over the edge!
• Monday (Memorial Day) spent the afternoon with my best friend, then back to my parents' for a while.
• Tues-Thurs-The usual craziness that is the Hell-Hole! (Just don't have the strength for specifics right now)
• Friday-Went back to the museum, but had a much smaller group (the ones that couldn't behave last Friday were NOT invited this time!) and I had my favorite mom, Mrs. G, come as a chaperone. I made Stud come again, too, since he finished school on Thursday. Yeah, he hates me....
• Friday night-Had to freakin' work at the bar since our bartender is out of town. 'Nuff said.
• Today-Was woken up early by a(n unnecessary!) phone call, drove Stud and The Girl to the museum (yes, seriously! There is a Harry Potter Exhibit going on, and The Girl is obsessed with Harry Potter.) drove around for a couple of hours delivering Pampered Chef orders, went shopping for Spirit Week next week with my babies, and now doing laundry. I'm waiting to switch loads because my "work" clothes are in the washer! The twenty minutes it's taken me to type out this post is the only twenty minutes I've had to sit down today. Quite frankly, I should be in the shower right now. So, on that note....

Aaannnddd...there you go!

I couldn't just leave it alone, could I? NOOoooo!!! I had to go down and play with Stud Muffin. One of the "extra" things I bought Tuesday was the game called Wii Play, which has table tennis, air hockey, billiards, shooting range, and something else I can't remember. (It came with a remote, which is how the guy talked me into buying it. It was only $10 more than the remote by itself, so basically, the game cost $10.) We played a bunch of those for a while, then we played Wii Sports (the game that came with the actual unit) and I totally over did it. We played bowling first. What a blast! Although, my elbow was killing me when we got to the third game. Then we moved on to baseball (I suck!) and tennis (I suck!). THEN, we boxed! Holy crap! We only went three rounds, and my arms were SCREAMING for mercy. They're still burning. Holy crap, what a workout! The last game we played was golf, which allowed my arms to cool down just enough for me to notice that my back was starting to tighten up. By the time we got to the third hole, I knew I had to stop. Way too much swinging and twisting going on for this B-A-D back. Right now, I'm waiting for the spasms to subside. It's not pretty....

Why, oh why, can't I ever do anything in moderation!?

Huh?

OK, so Stud and I went down to the basement as soon as a got home to play with the Wii. (Yes, I DID do it twice in one day, thank you very much!) We actually took the time to make our Miis, which was fun. Anyway, according to this crazy ass game, I've lost 8.2 pounds since Tuesday! What the hell?! Is that even possible? I'm thinking that I must have taken quite a dump this morning. Ok, sorry, I know, that's gross and childish, but seriously, what's up with that? I guess I shouldn't question it, but rather I should just embrace it.

Today I really worked it! I earned enough points to open a few more games, including Super Hula Hoop, which kicked my ass! Literally! My cheeks were killing me, my thighs were burning, ah it was great! Today was the first time Stud tried the Wii Fit, and he was cracking me up. He insisted on playing each game until he beat my score. He's down there right now trying to beat my score on the Step Game. For some reason, he's really having a hard time with it.

OK, I'm apologizing right now for posting so much about this, but I'm just so excited about it. I will try and refrain from anymore Wii posts. At least this week. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll try not to do another until tomorrow. But I can't make any promises....

My New Theme Song

I HAD to post this here, for all to enjoy! My dear Bloggy Buddy, C, left this on my comments a few days ago, and it nearly made me soil myself! Thank you, C!!!!!

chi chi loves wii wii,
so very much so,
she cant get to sleep,
she just cant say no,
anda one anda two..
pulled a muscle boo hoo...

chi chi loves wii wii...
she cant even pee pee...
no goo goo, no ga ga,
cant even go ca ca..

poor chi chi, and wii wii,
a pair they may be...
can she get fit wii style,
and NOT break a knee?

my chi chi, i love her,
a good friend, good mother.

C

I actually got my big ass out of bed a half hour early today, and did my Wii!! Yay! Today I tried the aerobic and balancing games. The hula hoop was a ton of fun (but Smiley warned me to be careful because she blew her knee out on it!) and so were the skiing games. Actually, I liked them all! The only one I didn't try was the running game, cuz this bod is NOT ready to do any running!! I think I'm going to go downstairs and try something else. Wow, look at me getting all physical and crap!

Wii Update

Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO think you give a crap, so deal with it!

OK, so I immediately opened the box to set up the system, then realized that I wanted to get the Wii Fit so I could use it ASAP. I had something to return to WalMart, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. Unfortunately, they were out of Wii Fit. No problem, on to the next store. The Wii actually shipped to me from Game Stop, even though I bought it through Barnes and Noble, so I figured I'd go there. There's a Game Stop literally walking distance from house. (On a side note, I had actually planned to eventually buy my Wii from there, but then I was blessed with those gift cards.) I walked in, and the very friendly clerk at the counter asked what he could help me with, and I asked if they had any Wii Fits. Oh, happy day, they had one left! Yay! I also ended up picking up some extra controllers and a game, so my little excursion was a bit more expensive than I had planned, but at that point, I didn't even care. I was so excited about getting home and setting up my system, that he could have sold me the world.

I took everything out of the boxes and set up the Wii unit and the Fit board. It would have taken half the time if I had actually read the damn book correctly, but whatever! I ended up trying the yoga training, and did about 30 minutes of it before I had to stop. I got to a pose I just could NOT do (The Tree) so I decided to take a break. I'm dying to go back downstairs and try something else, but I'm so torn because I'm also trying to watch Dancing with the Stars. (Yeah, I'm a reality show loser, what of it?!)

I think after the news, I'll head back down and try something else. I get to sleep in tomorrow morning because Stud went to his dad's tonight, and CSJ will be driving him to school in the morning. Plus, tomorrow is Report Card Pick-Up Day (CPS's parent/teacher conferences) which means we work 12-6 tomorrow. So, I can stay up late playing. Oo, wait!! I can play Wii tomorrow morning, too! Whoopie!! OK, I really need to get a life, huh?

IT'S HERE!!!!!

At 3:59, (which was about 1 minute ago!!) my doorbell rang, and to my surprise and delight, it was the UPS guy!! MY Wii IS HERE!!! I can't believe it's here already. I just got an email this morning saying that it was shipped, and the expected delivery date was April 2. But, instead, here it is!! I'm so excited! I swear, you'd think I was a 12 year old boy! I'm going to go set it up, or at least try to set it up. (I called Stud, who had already left with his dad, to tell him the Wii is here, and that I was going to set it up, and he said he doubted I could do it. What a little shit!)

Awesome day!!!

Today was a professional development day for CPS schools. Last month, I was sent a letter from the Early Childhood Dept. letting me know that there was a kindergarten-specific workshop scheduled for today. Naturally, I called immediately and signed up for a spot. All my Bloggy Buddies already know what that means - FREE DAY! I dropped Stud Muffin off at school, then drove into the city, fought the morning rush hour, parked in the college parking lot, walked into the building, up to the assigned room, signed in (and OUT!), then repeated the whole process in reverse. I actually drove back home in about 1/4 of the time, since I was going the opposite way, which made it all the better!

Obviously, I knew for a while that I'd be enjoying this FREE DAY, so I had a long list of things to do. I didn't actually go straight home, because I had to take care of the first errand on my list. I drove straight to the DMV (I know, gasp!) to purchase my renewal sticker for my license plate. After standing in the wrong line (!) for 10 minutes, I got in the right line, and was back out to my car in less than 15 minutes. Miraculous, right?

From there, I went to the furniture store because I decided today would be the day that I finally purchase furniture for the basement. I've been looking for the perfect furniture for about 3 1/2 years. I thought I found it back in October, but then it didn't work out. Long story short, they couldn't get it in my house. OK, so I've spent the past 6 months looking for what I want. Wednesday, I found it! I received a sale paper from a local furniture store, and right there on page 2 was what I've been looking for. Oh happy day! So from the DMV, I went straight to Harlem Furniture to check it out. I really liked it, but I just couldn't let myself commit to such a large purchase without another person's opinion.

I called my sister, she was busy. I called my mom, she wasn't dressed yet. She then told me about another furniture store that was having a sale, and said we should go check it out. I told her to call me when she was dressed, and I went home. About a half hour later, she called, we met at the store and of course, she didn't really care for the furniture. I agreed to go to the other store. But first, she wanted to go literally across the street to yet another store. It was the store where I purchased the furniture back in October. I've since gone there at least 3 times, only to be disappointed because they never had anything new. But, my mother was relentless, so I gave in and we went. This story is already wwaaaayyyyy too long, so let me just say, I FOUND MY FURNITURE!!! It's a done deal. The only 'bad' part is that they did not have it in stock, so I have to wait nearly 2 months for delivery. But, that's ok, because it gives me time to look for an area rug that goes with the furniture.

This was the furniture grouping I had purchased that wouldn't fit in the house. I really like it, especially the chair! Oh well...

This is what I bought today! It's EXACTLY what I wanted! It's a 5-piece sectional, each of which is small enough to fit down my dumb-ass basement stairs. I love the color (well, duh, it's the color of chocolate!!) and the fact that it's leather. The set I saw first this morning was exactly the same except it had microfiber cushions, which I was afraid were going to be a magnet for dog hair. This is sooo much better! Thanks, Mom!!

Wow, is anyone still out there? After buying my beautiful new furniture, and doing a happy dance, I came home and made another splurge purchase! I'll spare you the details (you're welcome) and just say that I recently received another Barnes and Noble gift card, which brought my total in gift cards to $150. I used it to buy myself a Wii!!! I've been wanting one for the longest time! I was able to get it for $100 out-of-pocket. PLUS, it's going to be shipped in one day! I plan to get the Wii Fit package, and maybe finally work on getting this fat ass into some kind of shape other than round!!

My plans for my basement finally seem to be coming to fruition. Hopefully, Stud's friends will be hanging out, sitting on my new furniture and challenging each other to Wii games very soon. Just thinking about it makes me smile.