Something you probably don't know if you're not a runner

Warning: this post isn't for the faint of stomach. Might not want to read it while you're eating breakfast.

Friday morning I planned to run about 3.5 -4 miles. It would have to be my long(ish) run for the week since I was headed to the suburbs of Chicago Saturday morning. I didn't want to take running clothes or shoes with me on the trip, because I was taking a very small bag with lots of books for work in it. Figured Saturday and Sunday could be my rest days.

Runners get into a certain routine when they're in training. It's good, because it helps you know what to do on race day, keeps you feeling your best. As one of my running friends will tell you, she and I have a method to early morning runs. You get up about 90 minutes before you want to go, have a cup of coffee and some toast with peanut butter. That coffee and PB does wonders for your, shall we say, digestive system. Helps you go to the bathroom before you hit the pavement.

I did all that on Friday morning, but then I had a mini-crisis with my travel plans, so I spent some time trying to figure that out, and my timing got wonky. Finally, I was able to go run.

About halfway through, I had to stop at mom and dad's (strategically planned the route to go by their house, just in case) to use the bathroom. Had to stop and walk to get there, my stomach was really cramping. I made it there just in time, did my business, and was able to run again, the rest of the way home.

It was the perfect storm of a bad run - timing was off, I hadn't had enough water that day, the night before we had Chinese and I drank a soda. I've figured out that soda plays havoc with my system, and the greasy Chinese food didn't help, I'm sure. This has happened to me before, so I always plan to run by places where I can stop if I need to - convenience stores, grocery stores, parents' house, etc.

If you've ever done a road race, you might have seen people just run up to the curb and let loose right there on the street. Yes, it happens. NO, I have never done that (luckily, never needed to). I'm not so worried about time/finishing fast that I won't stop and walk til I can get to a bathroom or PortaPotty. I remember when I ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, I was really surprised to see that (it was my first marathon).

I've got to run today. Here's hoping my routine stays all good.

Let the marathon training begin

I saw somewhere (maybe it was in my email) that there will be a Rock and Roll Marathon in St. Louis this fall. Travel to there will be fairly cheap (we can drive), and I needed a little running mojo motivation.

So, Hubs and I signed up for the race. He'll do the half, I'll do the full. I've been working out, but I haven't been doing a lot of running lately. I've been sampling different classes at Lifetime, and doing DVD workouts at home. I run maybe once or twice a week.

That's going to change. I did an easy two-miler on Wednesday (before we decided on this hare-brained scheme), and we signed up last night for the race. Today, I ran a 5k on the treadmill at the gym. It felt good, and I ran it a little faster than I usually would. I would like to run this race a little faster than the last two marathons I've done. We'll see how that goes.

I think this will be a good carrot, because once summer workshop season starts, exercise isn't high on my priority list. With a marathon on the calendar, running will HAVE to be on that list over the next weeks and months.

PS - Friends and family, you'll probably be happy to know that I'm not doing this race for charity, so I won't be asking you for lots of money over the next few months! :)

Hank says "HI!" and "Mom needs to blog more often."

Sure, I haven't blogged over here in about six months, but it's summertime, so I have a LITTLE more time on my hands, and we've just got THIS GUY!

This is our new kitten, Hank. Those of you who know Gracie know that he is basically her mini-me. He's about 11 or 12 weeks old, and we adopted him from No More Homeless Pets KC, which is an organization that fosters kittens so that they won't be left in shelters where they might not make it.

A few things about him:

• He's cute as hell.
• He's got a TON of energy.
• He's starting to teethe, which is a little problematic.
• He, um, has a lot of gas! (This is not something I remember with Gracie when she was little.)
• He's getting braver by the day.

Gracie and Hank are at least now able to be in the same room with each other, after a little bit of hissing on Gracie's part. Hopefully, they'll be fast friends soon.

Hank was a surprise birthday present from Hubs. We went to pick him out the Saturday after my birthday, so we've had him for about three weeks now.

I've done a few other things lately that should get a little blog love, so hopefully they'll be a few more posts on here soon. For now, though, I'm tired. It's way past my bedtime.

Help from friends DOES keep you more accountable...

I've been absent here, yes, but I have been blogging quite a bit over on Unraveling the Stash. Check it out if you haven't already.

If any of you made New Year's Resolutions to get/stay in shape, I've got a tip for you: enlist a friend to help hold you accountable. It's not a new or revolutionary tip. They tell you that in all the fitness magazines. However, it's been working pretty well for me. Even if your workout buddy lives across the state instead of across town, she really will help your motivation.

Kathryn (lives in Wichita) and I text each other each time we work out, so I always feel guilty if I tell her I'm going to do something and then I don't do it. And, she works out before work most days (she doesn't have to be there at the crack of dawn like a high school teacher does), so when I see that she's worked out for the day, it makes me go later in the day.

I didn't really want to work out yesterday, or Friday after school, but I'd already told her I was going to do it, and I didn't want her to call or text and make fun of me for wussing out.

Of course, I'm typing this after having skipped Zumba class at Lifetime this morning, so will I get a workout in later today?

I guess we'll see.

Happy New Year - 2011

To family and friends - we love you all! Be safe and joyful in 2011.

I've started a new blog project for this year. I'll still be updating here with friends and family fun times, but if you'd like to know what's happening in chitknit's world, check out unravelingthestash.com.

The first post went live tonight, and it will be a yearlong project. More on it later. For now - it's bedtime.

As one of my Facebook friends said, "Midnight used to be the starting point. Now it's the end point."

Getting old is hell, ain't it?

Thanks to Betsy for a great dinner tonight, along with Adam's awesome chocolate fondue and homemade popcorn.

Knitaissance

I hadn't really been knitting much since this summer. I don't usually knit much during the summer just because the heat makes the feel of yarn less enticing, but I feel like this summer I didn't knit ANYTHING.

Then, the beginning of the school year was crazy busy - I was like a rat on the treadmill for those first 10 or 12 weeks. When I would get home from school, I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, let alone make pretty things with needles and loops of yarn.

Thankfully, I've rediscovered my needles and yarn, and I'm knee deep in a bunch of quick projects right now. You might notice when you see the photos that most things are very gifty, so spoiler alert - if you think you might be receiving one of these gifts, you might want to stop reading now...

Hee hee. Sadly, my Etsy site has fallen victim to craziness in my job and life, so I haven't made anything to sell in AGES. I would really like to start doing that again.

Here's a quick knitting round-up:

Obviously, this little mitt needs a mate. I've made up two left hand mitts, so I need to get going on the right hand ones. This is the Mock Cable Wristers pattern from "60 Quick Knits" in Cascade 220. It truly was a quick knit.

I've made up a couple of these java jackets. They fit perfectly on these grande cups, and as a bonus, they're totally re-usable and environmentally friendly.

I love this tiny wine sweater cozy! Even though it looks complicated, it was a quick project. I think I finished it over about three days. One sleeve one night, the other sleeve the next night, then the body and turtleneck the last night. Simple, and a really cool gift idea, I think - just add the bottle of wine...

This is the "Ballband Dishcloth" pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It's a special order for a certain aunt of mine - she's got a great idea. Need a gift exchange gift? How about a couple of knitted dishcloths (they feel so much better than the other kind) and a nice bottle of fancy soap?

I knit this hat for the wife of one of Adam's co-workers. Again, a super-quick project.


And, last but not least, here's Lauryn modeling her mom's birthday present - it's the Ribbed Pillbox Hat also from the "60 Quick Knits" book.

I would really like to tackle something larger (a sweater for myself, or the sweater my husband has been asking for for years), but for now, the little projects will have to do.

Sports and News

Big things have been poppin' around here lately. Good ol' BV's football team just won the 5A State Football Championship over Bishop Carroll this weekend. This was great news for a couple of reasons - one, hello...STATE CHAMPS! Two...got to see my good friend Jaime Green at the game. Even though I'm not one of the "special" ones anymore (no official press pass), I managed to get down on the field to visit her for a few minutes during the game.

That, and watching the PBS special "The President's Photographer" have really made me miss the old job, even though I love the current job. I need to get out there more and make more documentary photographs.

If you haven't watched that special, go to their website to read all about it and watch online. It was so good even Gracie wanted a front row seat.

Long time no blog

I haven't written a blog post in more than three months. I know that because they last post I wrote was the start of the 90-Day Weight Loss Challenge at Lifetime, and the final weigh-in for said challenge was two weeks ago. (I lost 7 pounds, for those of you keeping score.)

A few weeks ago, it seemed like everyone I saw said "Hey, so, you, uh, ever gonna update that blog of yours again?"

I won't bore you to death with all of the reasons for the lack of blogging. Just know that, I'll try to do better. I suppose I just haven't felt like anything exciting enough to share has been happening lately, so I've been quiet. School's been really tough, and really busy this semester. Lots of things happened right there at the beginning that made it a hard start to the year.

But, here we are, two school days away from Thanksgiving, and things are going well. I've even gotten in some quality knitting AND reading time lately.

Speaking of reading, if you haven't read the "Hunger Games" books by Suzanne Collins, run, don't walk out to the bookstore and find yourself a copy. They are super fast reads (young adult novels), and once you start them, you won't be able to put them down.

I'd been hearing that from many friends, so I got on the hold list at the library. Only problem was, I was 163rd in line, and there were almost 100 people AFTER me. Luckily, some work friends had copies of the books, so I was able to borrow from them, instead of waiting three years for the library copies to be available.

•••

Hubs and I are having the fam over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I'm making a pumpkin pie from scratch. Stay tuned - I'm sure THAT will turn into a blog post. I'll shoot some really high quality food photos...

90-Day Weight Loss Challenge

If you read my last post, you saw that according to the fancy-schmancy equipment at Lifetime, my real age is actually 39. That, plus the 90-day weight loss challenge I'm in the midst of, are inspiring me to get off my duff and go the gym, either before school, or even after a long day at school.

Probably the biggest change the Challenge has inspired is that I'm not eating ALL of the sweets and junk food that is constantly at school. I weighed in for the challenge on Monday, Aug. 9, starting at 154 pounds.

I weighed yesterday, and I'm down to 150. Not a ton, obviously, but it's a start. The person who loses the largest percentage of weight wins $250 Lifetime dollars, which can be used for lots of things at the club (like personal trainer appointments and stuff like that). Not too shabby.

I missed the kickoff party because I had something else I had to do that day, so I have no idea who else or how many other people are even in the club contest. I guess I'll just have to toil in solitude, competing against myself instead of trying to measure up to other people in the challenge.

I've been doing some weights workouts that I've not done before. Meeting with the trainer really helped with that kind of stuff. I'm also swimming and doing some workouts besides just running. It's a little tough to fit it in, because we are planning to run the KC Half Marathon in the fall, so I have to keep my running miles up, but try other exercises at the same time.

We'll see how it goes. I'll try to keep you posted. The gal at the gym did shoot a before photo of me, but I don't have it to share...

My "Real Age"

One of my favorite segments on "The Biggest Loser" is when the contestants visit Dr. H and he takes them through a battery of tests to determine their body's "real" age as opposed to their chronological age.

To me, that measurement really crystallizes what being morbidly obese does to one's body and life expectancy.

Today, Hubs and I went to our free "Fitpoint" exam at Lifetime. It's nowhere near as scientific and precise as Dr. H's on BL, I'm sure, but it does at least give you some idea of where you stand.

We each did a five-minute treadmill test, a sit-and-reach test, biceps strength test, and of course they check your height and weight. Based on my test, my body is 39 years old. 39! That's six years older than my chronological age.

With some fitness and lifestyle changes, my paperwork says I could get down to 25 years on the "body age" scale, which would be seven years younger than I am. Basically my biggest problem is that my body composition is 30 percent fat! I can tell you right now, it's my sweet tooth that contributes to that issue.

I like to work out, whether on the treadmill, going outside for a run, doing an exercise DVD, etc. The thing is, I've never had a trainer walk me through some sort of program for optimal fitness. We get three free training sessions with our new membership, so I'll be interested to see what happens if I can actually get on and stick to a program.

Oh, and in case you're curious, Adam's "body age" is 31. So, he's fit enough to be considered two years younger than we really are. Guess we know who will outlive whom in this relationship...

YOU have to take the responsibility, with the right

I might have angered some people in my "Juvenile Justice in America" class tonight.

I'm okay with that.

It's my right. For the most part, I didn't disagree with what they (including the instructor) had to say, right up until classmates said they felt media should be somehow "regulated" to lessen the negative impacts on children.

That's where I diverge.

Do I think most of the so-called "entertainment" teens consume is ridiculous? Yes.

Do I wish teens paid attention to better, cleaner influences? Yes.

Do I believe our some of teen "idols" are abhorrent? Yes.

We watched "PBS Frontline: The Merchants of Cool" tonight in class. It's a 2001 documentary about all of the research that goes into the machine that is Viacom (MTV and just about every other cable channel), the four other major conglomerates that control media and message in this country and what how that research affects teen spending habits.

The show highlights scenes from the debauchery that is MTV's Spring Break each year. It touches on teens who buy into rage rock groups like Limp Bizkit and Insane Clown Posse. (Their fans hate the corporate machine, but like all "cool" things, eventually corporate America gets its hands on "alternative" guys, too.

You think the marketing was insidious back in 2001? I'd love to see an update of this topic today with social networking implications examined.

Most of you know, I don't have kids, so understand that's the point of view I'm coming from. That said, I kinda think it's the parents' responsibility to debrief with kids on what they're seeing. I'm not sure I'd want my own children listening to songs and watching shows fraught with awful language that also completely devalue women. I'd hope I could help them understand that that sort of thing doesn't fit in with our family's value system.

But, you know what, it fits in with some people's values. I know some of those people. If that's what they want to do, I can't control it and that's fine.

I think the other students got a little snippy when I said that society CAN'T regulate media - it's against the law.

My classmates mostly seem to think that it's society's responsibility to regulate the media children watch and the clothes they wear. (In fact, someone even spoke Tipper Gore's name: "Whatever happened to those sticker label things she wanted to do?" Um, the labels are on all "explicit" CDs today.)

But here's the thing: You can do say, think, believe and produce what you want in this country. The first amendment gives us that right. Everybody has it. In fact, some people I completely disagree with have the first amendment, too, but I don't have to listen to them if I don't want to.

My problem with "society taking responsibility for this trash" is that who decides who is in charge? What if I'm in charge, and I don't think anyone who has blue eyes should be allowed to say or do anything?

Society doesn't need to take the responsibility. Parents and families need to take responsibility for what their children are consuming. Be their parents, not their "cool friends" and tell them you don't want them listening to it.

Good and good for you

I haven't written very much about the garden this summer. Last summer I posted about it all the time. I guess it's not "new and exciting" in this year two, so I don't really think about it.

The tomatoes are finally starting to come in, too, but they were so good we ate them before I took the photo above.

Last night, Adam made tilapia with zucchini, tomatoes and jalapenos, with quinoa. It's awesome to cook something when more than half of the ingredients came out of our own ground. It was delicious.

For the fourth of July, I made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. The consistency was more like cake than bread, and it is really good with milk. Zucchini seems to be the one thing we always have a million pounds of, so it's nice to have different options for cooking it up.

I'd like to go see what's out there this morning, but since it rained heavily yesterday, I'd be up to my knees in mud, I think. I'll let it dry out today then head out tonight to harvest a little more.

We're using grass clippings between rows to keep the weeds down. It really does seems to be helping. There are a few things popping up here and there, but they are easy to pull. It's not like weedy grass is growing between the rows.

Last week, Adam made two different green beans dishes, and we froze a couple of bags. It took me about 90 minutes to pick beans from the entire row, and I had two full plastic grocery bags of beans. They are very tasty, and they freeze easily.

Lucky to Love My Job

I've talked about the myth of summer vacation before on this blog, so I won't bore you to death about that.

Though we do get "three months off" I usually feel busier/more frazzled during the summer than during the school year. This summer, I'm working at five workshops and I attended one other with three students this last week.

There might be a few journalism teachers reading this blog who are thinking "FIVE? That's nothing, I do eight or 10!"

I try to limit myself a little bit - I would, after all, like to have some time to pool it with Betsy and Mitzi, visit my friends in Wichita, go to movies with the Hubs, and work in the yard. This summer I'm extra busy because I'm taking grad classes. Somehow, I also have to leave time for prep for next year's classes.

Dang. I said I wasn't going to bore you with that myth stuff, and there I went and did it.

This post is supposed to be about how lucky I am to have a job I love. I don't love it because I get all this time off.

I love it because of the school where I teach. I love it because of the kids I get to work with. I love it because it's fun (most days).

Earlier this week, I took three students to a Creativity Workshop in Minneapolis. It was a quick trip - fly up Sunday, start the workshop as soon as we got there, work all day Monday, visit Mall of America, work Tuesday morning, fly back Tuesday night. A whirlwind.

But, the students who went were just great. I know they were tired from traveling, but they worked so hard, and they soaked up all the expertise the workshop offered. The girls were nice to me the whole week, and more importantly, they were nice to the workshop staff. I've taught at many a workshop with students who just didn't seem too interested in the workshop offerings, and the attitude shows it.

Being able to trust students who are traveling with you is half the battle on out-of-town trips. I have always been very lucky on convention and camp trips traveling with students.

We giggled, we groused, we walked four blocks in a surprise rainstorm (after I said "Oh, I think we can walk..."), we ate a lot and we shopped.

Though we were drained after flight delays and just wanting to get back home, I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all.

Your Big Backyard

Way back when I was in elementary school, one of my favorite activities involved reading the "Your Big Backyard" and "Ranger Rick" magazines. Maybe they came once a month or so, but I loved them. I've chosen to title today's post about things growing in my yard as an homage to one of those favorite reading memories.


I'm a big fan of perennials - it's just too hard to try to plant annual beds. The end of the school year is so hectic that I don't have time to baby new plants like you really need to. I'd plant them, then I'd have crazy weekends and they'd die. So, lately, I've been transplanting perennials from my dad's yard and from my friend Betsy's sister Molly's house. The great thing about this is: IT'S FREE.

I don't have to spend a ton of money at the garden center and then cross my fingers that the plants will survive. Plus, I think that plants raised in similar areas/soils just do better than something purchased that was probably trucked in from a nursery miles away.

Mostly the plants I've transplanted have been hostas, lilies and iris. The iris have bloomed and are done for the year. But, some of my lilies are blooming, and I've got one patch that will look amazing next week. It's full of buds that haven't opened yet.

These are hostas and a shasta daisy that I got from Dad. The daisies are starting to bloom. I wasn't sure if they would since I just planted them this year.

Readers who are family members might be interested to know where some of this stuff is planted, since we live in what was my grandma's house (and honestly, it's probably still considered grandma's house - I know we still call the back bedroom "Julie's room").

The plants above are just under the Julie bedroom window and the bathroom window (in the front yard, but behind the giant ornamental grass thing).

The plants below are planted in front of the playhouse which is now our garden implements storage shed. I would have posted an overall photo of it, but there's nothing except peeling paint on the wall, so the photo wasn't that great.


This year, I got the bright idea to try and reclaim the sideyard between our driveway and the chainlink fence. Adam tilled it a couple of times, and I planted some random stuff. Some of the lilies and irises I was talking about, some lamb's ear. (All of this will come back with a vengeance and spread, spread, spread.)

You see, that's why perennials are so great - low cost, low maintenance...

Aunt Alice sent me some seeds for other flowers this year, so along the sideyard, I also planted this morning glory in a couple of places. I can't wait for it to bloom and see what color the flowers are. It's doing really well, but I've got it in a couple of other places that aren't quite as robust.


Alice also sent pumpkin, gourd and giant pumpkin seeds. I planted those in the sideyard because I know they'll soon grow crazy and take up lots of space.

I'm pretty sure these two are the giant pumpkins. The photo on the package is a 5-year-old boy standing next to the pumpkin and it's almost as tall as he is. So, we'll see what happens with that.


Below is one of the mammoth sunflowers. There are about six of these growing out there. Again, can't wait for them to bloom.

The worst part of the sideyard reclamation project is that it's super weedy since this is the first summer we tilled it up from grass. The past two weeks I've spent a lot of time out there cleaning it out. But, now that that's done, I think I can mostly Garden Weasel it to keep it clean.

Avid readers will probably remember garden posts from last summer. The photo below is just so you can see how large the garden is. You're looking over various lettuce, onions, potatoes, cabbage from this angle.


Over on the other side, there are a few herbs, like this basil. SO. MUCH. BETTER when it comes straight out of the garden.


I'm not sure when the cabbage will be ready, but it sure is growing. Probably won't catch me making sauerkraut any time soon - I remember the smell from Aunt Fronie's cellar when I was a kid. Love the taste of it, hate the smell!


We've got a bunch of green tomatoes growing too. That's what I'm really waiting for.


A quick photo of the front of the house. This bed is the one I started when we moved in three years ago. It's shady all the time, so it's just hostas and ferns.


Technically, those are in the front yard, so I guess they don't really match the title of the post. You'll just have to deal.

I'm off to have a salad with garden greens and peas.

Exercise on a Tuesday

I've set a goal for this summer: exercise for 60 minutes every day. Any kind of exercise. Running, walking, Bob or Jillian DVD, whatevah.

HOPEFULLY, because my summer schedule is certainly less packed than the school year, I'll be able to make that happen. Basically, what I need to do is convince myself that getting out of bed and putting on the exercise clothes is the way to go. Then, just do it right away and get it overwith.

Sometimes in health magazines, one of their "tricks" to motivate is sleeping with your exercise gear on. Gross. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping in a sports bra. Un. Comfortable. I hope I can get past the five minutes it will take me to change without losing the motivation.

Tonight I went out hoping to do a 60-minute run. That turned into a 1-mile run followed by a 45-minute walk with a few sprint intervals thrown in. Sometimes, I get out there and I just can't stomach the run. Tonight was one of those nights. I try not to beat myself up over it too much, because I know I should consider the fact that I did get up off my butt for an hour is a victory in and of itself.

Especially on a Tuesday. Usually, I'm in class from 5-9 p.m., so I burn about, oh, 7 calories sitting in a classroom taking notes.

We'll see how this little experiment goes. Maybe I should throw a quarter in a jar every day that I actually do 60 minutes. Then, maybe I can buy something for myself before school starts with my hard-earned change...

You are (dead) everybody. You are (dead) everyone.

(Don't worry - that title is not some scary call to action. If you watch LOST, you'll get it, if you don't, you won't.)

I'm still not sure what to think about last night's LOST series finale. All I know is that I went to sleep thinking about it, and I woke up this morning thinking about it, still trying to decide what I know and what I don't.

That show has been with me since I started teaching - it premiered in September of 2004, just after I left the newspaper business.

Adam and I watched the first season in the basement TV room at our first house in Valley Center.

I watched seasons 2-3 at our little pink house on Holyoke in Wichita. Betsy and Mitzi and Adam and I watched season 4 (with great premiere parties at a certain principal's house). The girls gave up on it because they got behind, but Hubs and I stuck with it.

At one point during season 3, our DVR quit working, so I watched most of the shows on ABC.com in our back computer room. It was FREEZING in that room, and I spent the winter huddled under a blanket watching people on a desert island on my iMac screen.

I loved those characters. Each was flawed in some way, but all they were trying to do was make their way in the world and do the right thing. I'm not ready to talk about what actually happened in the finale just yet. I think I still need some processing time, and I'm interested to see what all the TV gurus out there have to say.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Monday morning caption madness 2

Who ARE these people?

I don't know why I read the story comments on the Star's website. Usually, I don't, but when they publish the searchable databases of public employees, one is sure to see some doozy comments from clueless people.

The searchable databases do not include teacher salaries, I guess, because two or three people are complaining that teacher salaries aren't there.

The following two comments come from the same poster. Keep in mind, like most newspapers, the Star doesn't require commenters to use their real names, so most will post vitriol they would never think of attaching their own names to.

Why aren't teachers salaries published? That's where the highway robbery is! SHOW US THAT KC STAR!!!!

Post the school district's payroll!!!! THAT'S WHERE THE TAXPAYER'S ARE RAPED!!!!! DO WE NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO SEE THE TRUTH?

Sidenote: Gosh, anonymous commenter, you obviously didn't listen to and appreciate your teachers back when you were in school, because you don't know how to show plural words versus possessive words. Wah wah.

Do people honestly believe teachers are living the high life? That we are overpaid? Are you freaking kidding me?

Cruise through the parking lot of a local high school, and you'll see beautiful, shiny new SUVs and sports cars mixed in with older economy cars. In our parking lot, those shiny and new cars are in the STUDENT parking lot, not the faculty lot, for the most part. And, if there are super-nice cars in the faculty lot, it's probably because the educator's spouse has a great job!

Before you start with your "But you get summers off, and winter break, and Thanksgiving break" argument, let me remind you that almost every Sunday, I spend at least three hours (sometimes more) grading and planning for the week. And, a typical day at school for me is 10 hours. Many times, there is work to be done once I get home, too.

I might not get up and go to work every day during the summer like a regular school day, but I work all summer long, teaching workshops, taking my students to workshops, planning and re-working things I've done in the past. The goal is constant improvement to help my students achieve everything they are capable of and more.

I know I'm not the only one. We don't teach for glamour and prestige or high wages, trust me. We teach because we love what we do, and we want to help children succeed. Sadly, many in the general public do not value education professionals. These are the same people who complain about the "state of the world today." Do they think we should just be paid babysitting wages? It seems they think that's all we're doing.

We have to go back to grad school (on our own dime) to further our education to get any type of significant raise. In fact, that's the only reason I'm seeing a pay raise this year - because I've spent thousands of dollars working on my master's degree. We don't get bonuses (like corporate America), and we're not getting step raises this year. It's a wash. I'm just lucky that I teach in a district that is able to not (technically) CUT our pay this year, because of the economic crisis and the state's budget problems.

I'm amazed that people want the best services (firefighters, teachers, police, social workers) but they are not willing to foot the bill for it. Do they think that money magically comes from somewhere? Grows on trees? I don't know.

Hey, Crazypants: You complain that American students can't keep up or compete with their foreign counterparts. How do you plan to remedy that situation by continually cutting budgets for schools? The math simply doesn't add up.

I hope the Star does eventually get around to publishing teacher salaries. Maybe then this yahoo will see that he's completely off-base complaining about our high salaries.

And the winners are...

Even though they technically missed the Wednesday deadline, the winners in the caption contest are Aunt Janet and Kollen! (Thunderous applause)

Best Pop Culture Reference Caption goes to Kollen for:
I gave you my heart, and you give me a crayon?

Best Reading of Body Language Caption to Aunt Janet for:
"Do these polka dots make my butt look big?"

"No, I think its the diaper."

Most young women can relate to that second one, I think!

Thanks to those who played, and look for a more grown-up version of caption madness this week.

Monday morning caption madness

Maybe it's just me, but I think this photo is really funny - their body language interests me. If it strike you funny, too, tell me what you think.

Caption this photo in the comments box below, and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday. That gives you two days to get the creative juices flowing.