Random thoughts

Final Thoughts on Thankful-ness Month

Today is the last day of November.  It is the end of a month during which each day I blogged about something I was thankful for. 

Each day—what I chose and the link to the corresponding blog post.

1 My cat

2  No more election campaigning

3  Being able to afford to buy food

4  Gorgeous fall weather

5  Processed cheese

6  Good friends

7  My strong legs

8  My pumpkin bread recipe

9  Days off

10  Being able to go on cruises (on occasion)

11  Hummus

12  Comp tickets to the Symphony

13  New clothes

14  Chris

15  My students

16  My hair towel

17  Tivo

18  Family

19  Women

20  Having a wedding free weekend

21  Tower Grove Park

22  Being employed

23  Vacation

24  My health

25  A wonderful, bountiful Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends

26  Not being forced to go Black Friday shopping

27  Living in a small, easy to clean, house

28  Being in good enough shape to exercise for over 2 1/2 hours

29  Cookies 

So here I am at the end.  I have one more day to do…today I am thankful that I was able to work with my first trainer, Joe.  He inspired me to lose weight and get in shape, much more so than I could have thought.  I mean, really, a year ago I was hardly the sort of person who voluntarily ran around the park twice (7.5 miles) or went to Bikram Yoga where the point is to sweat for 90 minutes.  But here we are, and it’s all thanks to Joe.  THANK YOU JOE!

So how was the month then?  Since each day I had to think of a specific thing to be thankful for, I have been reminded repeatedly of how lucky I am to have everything I have in my life.  It’s a good life!  Sometimes I complain or feel like a loser, but this month has helped remind me that I have so much to be thankful for. 

Teaching

Monday night

Whew!  I survived my first day back at work since Thanksgiving break.  I was dreading it, but of course it was a fine day.  In fact, the kids were wonderful, probably since they were well-rested and in good moods.  We worked hard on our concert music!  In orchestra I also worked with the kids on following a conductor—I’ve been primarily leading from the piano or the violin so I wanted to focus on conducting.  We’ll do more of that in the future, as they need more experience.

My private students were great as well.  I’ve been all about keeping violins up today!  It really does make a difference in the sound Winking smile  Plus watching your bow really helps keep it in one place on the string. 

My cookie party was a great success!  I am too tired to upload any of the pictures I took.  Suffice it to say there were tons of cookies and I may have sampled many.  Cookies may be the greatest food ever!  I am grateful for cookies—a portable, small, delicious dessert.  And my friends are seriously the best cookie bakers ever.

No points today for the HBBC.  Didn’t get enough fruits/veggies to count and it is my rest day.  (Stretches sore legs.)

Random thoughts

Cookies

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I have eaten about four cookies today.   I just can’t stop!  And this is before a dozen of my closest friends descend upon my house bringing cookies to swap. 

Maybe it’s due to the ridiculous amount of work outs I’ve done today.  I went to a spinning class at my friend’s gym.  It was GREAT!  My gym is expanding sometime in the near future and will offer spinning then.  In any case, I really enjoyed it, and plan to go again soon.  I was jealous of the other class members’ fancy spinning shoes  (I love workout clothes/gear.)  I will be able to attend class with my friend another time or two before having to figure out my own thing (or joining her gym which is super expensive!). 

Then I didn’t want to derail my training, so I still needed to get in a long run.  I somehow managed to run 7.5 miles…now my feet hurt, my thighs ache, and I have a feeling by tomorrow I will be VERY sore.  But nonetheless I burned a lot of calories, tried a new workout (which I am looking forward to continuing…perhaps a bit more so than Bikram Yoga?), and now I suppose will just try to stop eating cookies!  I made another pot of coffee to quell the snacking temptation.

Today:  What am I thankful for?  I’m thankful I’m in good enough shape to exercise for over 2 1/2 hours and live through it! 

HBBC:  1 hour spin class: 4 points, 7.5. mile run:  7.5 points, Total:  11.5 points

Random thoughts

Sunday Funday

Just fyi, I’m going to wait until the end of the month (Tuesday) to recap my whole month of thankfulness.  And then perhaps I’ll launch another great plan for December—it’s been wonderful reminding myself of how many wonderful people, places, and things I have in my life.  What are some other monthly projects I could do?

Today:  spinning class with a friend, long run (well, we’ll see how the legs feel after spinning, but you do what you gotta do), then cookie swap party.  Last day of Thanksgiving vacation, let’s make the most of it!  And hopefully burn a few more calories Smile

This week:  Child of God students perform at Grandparents Day, lots of teaching, wedding, a couple of church jobs, more Bikram yoga, several workouts with Mike, lots of running.  And maybe we’ll get the tree this week and decorate (hopefully!).  I love decorating for Christmas.

 

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The plan for Grandparents Day!  As usual, I shall be performing on the piano.

Okay, let’s see how the day goes—lots of fun activities ahead, can’t wait to see all the cookies people made. 

Readers:  let’s hear from you—what are your favorite Christmas cookies?  Also, any ideas of good monthly projects I could do, i.e. the Month of Thankfulness, or something totally different?

Weddings

Back to work!

Well, sort of.  I basically had the day off, but I did have a wedding to play.

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The wedding was at Temple Israel.  It went smoothly, nothing noteworthy.

Before and after the wedding was the hard work!  I did get to sleep in today, for once, but after I got up I was seriously in cleaning mode.  I spent about two hours cleaning the house, then went grocery shopping.  After the wedding I made several of the things I am serving the girls for tomorrow’s Cookie Swap.  Since the party is over dinner time, but not technically a dinner, I wanted to provide some more substantial snacks.  I decided to make some spinach roll-ups and some “crab” roll-ups.  Basically, I made two different spreads, spread them on tortillas, and rolled them up.  Tomorrow I will slice them into bite size pieces.  I also got a bunch of other stuff at the store—cheese, crackers, veggies, etc.  I’m sure there will be plenty of savory food, and then of course dozens and dozens of cookies, but those are technically for later.

On a more personal note:  yesterday I was a bit stressed and I wrote about how yoga is stressing me out.  I think the issue is that I need to set a boundary.  I’ve decided I will go two times next week and two times ONLY, and not worry about it.  If I decide to continue with yoga, I will only go once a week, and if that doesn’t happen due to my work schedule, I will not let it bother me.  I spend lots of time working, practicing, and running…I can’t do everything, and I need to allow myself to do some things less well, or at least less often.  That was the problem I had earlier in the year with the pottery class—I ended up resenting it because I wasn’t putting in as much time as the other people in the class and I felt like I was a failure.  Instead, I should have tried to appreciate the time I was able to put into it, and simply allowed myself to do what was possible for me.

Edited:  I forgot to say what I am thankful for today!  Today I am thankful that I live in a small house so it doesn’t take too long to clean the whole place from top to bottom!!

HBBC:  2 hours cleaning house:  4 points, 7 fruits/veggies: 1 point, 30 minutes cardio/strength training video: 1.5 points.  Total points: 6.5

Random thoughts

Black Friday

I am NOT shopping today.  Well, maybe a little online shopping…or at least looking.  Time to start thinking about Christmas presents, but not time to wait in line for stores to open at 4 am!  I’m very thankful I didn’t have to get up this morning and wait in the cold for a store to open so I could possibly get a deal on a super huge tv!! Yes, that is definitely what I’m thankful for today–I really hate crowded stores, so I’m thankful I didn’t have to do that!!

I made my cookies for my upcoming Cookie swap party this morning.  I really wasn’t in the mood to do so, as I was still stuffed from yesterday, but I needed to get them made.  I baked two different kinds–one was from the back of a bag of  peppermint chips from Andes Mints.  They contain coconut, pecans, oats and chips, and are unusual but quite tasty!  I must admit I purchased the chips on an impulse the other week–they just looked tasty.  The other kind are something I made last year–thumbprint cookies with jam.  I enjoyed them last year!  I added a couple things to the recipe this year to make the flavor a bit stronger.  Now I just need to clean and straighten the house and figure out the snacks for the party.  I did not plan very well–this party is making my vacation stressful!

I have a tendency to carry a lot of guilt around.  For instance, today I felt very guilty about all of the eating yesterday, and also at the potluck on Wednesday night.  I also feel guilty for not going to Bikram Yoga again, and I really don’t think I’ll make it back until Tuesday.  (They encourage people to go everyday, so that definitely adds to my guilt, also the fact that I have an unlimited package for these two weeks.  But I just don’t have time!) There’s also the constant nagging guilt that I am not answering phone calls/emails promptly enough and feel constantly behind on things for my school positions.  Gah!

I did get a run in today though–4.5 miles on the treadmill.  I felt MUCH better afterwards.  I also did a few teaching/business things so I feel a bit less guilty about that!  I suppose I’ll just get through the next three weeks and hopefully be able to actually relax about work over the Christmas holidays…the upcoming performances are definitely stressful!  And yoga should be relaxing, not another stresser, right?  Gah!

HBBC:  4.5 mile run: 4.5 points, 7 fruits/veggies(yay!): 1 point, total: 5.5 points

Total for week 1 (nov. 20-26): 40.6 points

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.