Olympics

I've never really been into the Olympics per se but I made sure to DVR the opening and some of the events I am interested in like gymnastics and swimming. I really liked the first part of the opening even though everyone else hated it apparently.

It may be because I am a history teacher but I loved the entire movement from the agrarian society into the industrial revolution. I liked it all up until the internet love story - weird. It's been a nice distraction and I am finding that I get really excited for the USA and emotional when they win/lose. Or when the anthem plays during the medals ceremonies. Just watching so many young people from all over the world who are at the top of their game and competing in such top shape and form is really cool to watch. I really like watching any of the gymnastics stuff and synchronized diving and anything Michael Phelps is doing. I really want to see him become the most decorated Olympian of all time. 

More cleaning

Day 2 of cleaning commenced. I started small - with the hall closet.

Hall closet before:

 Hall closet after:

 

 Hallway before:

Hallway after:

Moritz's old room before: 

This is still a before shot of Morit'z old room, just with the bureau moved:

And this is not an after shot. It's an in-progress shot because I needed to quit last night:

Scott & I moved the bureau back to where it belonged - in my old room:

These pictures make it look like we are hoarders, lol. In reality, we just let a bunch of junk pile up in areas that we literally never go in. The house is too big for just me, Scott and 2 dogs so we've blocked off all but our bedroom, our bathroom, a closet, the room over the garage, the kitchen and the living room. The dining room, the parlor, the basement, the office, my old rooms, Moritz's room, CJ's old room, the old bathroom, and the attic are blocked off so we don't go to them and the dogs can't get to them.

Next up - the attic and my old bathroom.

Cleaning out the house

My parents moved to Upstate NY in July 2007. Technically, my mom only lived there full time and my dad went every single weekend until April 2009 because he was still working. I moved into my parents' bedroom in August 2009. Since then, we have had 3 roommates live in my old room and my brother has moved out of his room into an apartment in Weymouth. Needless to say, we have some neglected rooms in this 2800 sq ft house. My parents are planning on selling it by next spring. Sooooo like I did in March 2011 on a massive scale, I will be gutting the house whenever I have time. I finished two rooms today: my old room and CJ's old room.
My old room before:  

 My old room after:

 CJ's old room before:

 CJ's old room after: (that stuff on the ground is is dirt).

In both rooms, I completely cleaned out all the drawers, closets and cabinets. The carpets need to be vaccuumed and carpet cleaned but other than that, the are pretty good. I threw a lot of stuff out. 

Done!!!!

Even though July is leisure month, I chose the months in January before I learned about a program that let me take graduate classes for free/cheap. One was a 6 week online class that ends tomorrow. I finished the project about an hour ago and I feel great. It was a lot of work and I learned a lot but IT WAS A LOT OF WORK. Almost too much. In comparison to the 1 week Santa Fe deal, it was an astronomical amount of work. Both were for 3 credits. Speaking of which, I am not done with the DOE's ridiculous requirement that even though I have a master degree in English, I need 12 graduate credits in history!!! It feels great to be done. I completed two courses that were three credits each and three 1-credit courses and the DOE ended up counting a graduate writing class I took at UMass. But now that I've done 12, I think I am going to go for the full 30 to get the pay raise for my district. As long as I can keep getting reduced price credits, it'll end up working out in the long run!

The only downside to all of these classes and the time they take is that I am now 20 days behind reading The Bible. I can easily catch up but it just sucks to be behind.

July

July - Be serious about leisure. I don't deal with downtime well. My idea of spending downtime is to sleep from like midnight to noon... what a waste of time. 

I am 5 days late - which is ok for a month dedicated to leisure. I had picked this month because it's the only full month that I don't work during the year. I am "lucky" that summer school isn't running this year or I'd have to work the next two weeks. I really could've used that money but I am trying to look at it form this month's "goal" - leisure.  

I chose to focus on relaxing everyday. That means taking a nap or watching tv but not for the entire day. I also planned 2 events for this month that are relaxing - one is tubing down the Greenfield River and the other is just hanging at the house eating some seafood and bbq. 

Going to the gym/working out doesn't sound like leisure but it gets rid of stress and I have an issue with downtime. So if I can get rid of the stress of having downtime maybe it'll cancel it out? 

If I feel like doing something I am going to do it, unless it's super expensive. I rented one of those hubway bikes and it was awesome. I am not a biker but I would do that again.

 I had never been to the tall ships in Boston so I went this year at the last minute. There are many things in this area I've never done.


Being silly is self explanatory. Laughter makes me feel better which is why I watch a lot of Friends re-runs and How I Met Your Mother re-runs.


Hanging out with friends always makes me feel less stressed and more relaxed. Mostly because I do not like being alone.


One of my favorite relaxing things to do is read a book or magazine in a pool. Now, I don't have a pool but I do have a kiddie pool and that counts.


And spending more time with the pups is relaxing because they make me laugh. 

June wrap up

Sending the letters was one of the best things I've ever done. It was a lot of work but I got a lot of really heartfelt thank yous from people that made it worth it. I only ended up sending 28 out not 30 because one I am not ready to write yet and one is for someone who lives overseas and I don't know his address so it makes it hard to write knowing I can't send it yet. 

If you were thinking of doing it, I highly recommend it. It makes other people feel really good.

My only regret is that after I hit "print" I always remembered something else to add and while I did re-print a few times, there's a certain point where you just have to send it. And the other thing is that I wish I had spent more time telling people why I admire them as opposed to just listing memories.

June ended with the wedding for one of my best friends so that was a really nice way to wrap a month about "being a better friend". I could be wrong but in my mind I think I went above and beyond for her and I hope it was the best day ever. It certainly was the best wedding I've ever been to. And I am very honored to have been part of that as a bridesmaid.  

And part of this started in early March with two hour practice sessions with a surprise 8 minute long flashmob:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=575408476596&set=t.9107742&type=3&theater
The flashmob was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Beyond words. I looked forward to going to practice every week.