Christmas is coming ...

My mom has a Christmas record with a song containing these lyrics:

Christmas is coming
Christmas is coming

There's a magic feeling in the air
It seems like everyone's aware
That soon it's going to be a holiday
The party lights are being strung
The mistletoe is being hung
Christmas is on its way!
You can hear the sleigh bells ring
Keeping rhythm with the carols that the children sing
So it's for sure each girl and boy
 Is wishing for their favourite toy
While Santa's busy loading up his sleigh
They're getting ready for the day (date?)
When everyone will celebrate
Christmas is on its way!

I have been looking for this song (I think it's by 'Little Marcy' - whoever that is) for years off and on!  And, of course, today it's stuck in my head.  (ETA: Here's a link with a picture of the album!) It's definitely how I'm feeling this year - Christmas is coming whether I'm ready for it or not!  I just found out today that they Christmas tree lot is opening today, so hopefully we can pick that up tomorrow night before the Christmas parade.  Decorating it will wait until the weekend.

I'm feeling like the end of my internship is so close and yet I still have a fair amount to do.  And, as usual, I'm finding it hard to concentrate in the month before Christmas.  With kids around it's so much fun leading up to Christmas because they are so excited.  I can't wait to share traditions with them - they already remember from year to year that we have pancakes for breakfast Christmas morning.  Christmas Eve service, advent wreaths, appetizers Christmas Eve, waking up early Christmas morning ... to me, those traditions are more exciting than the gifts.  They would disagree, of course, which is okay ;)

No real change on the weight loss front.  I've been exercising 3 - 4 times a week and eating reasonably.  I was getting discouraged with the lack of big changes on the scale, but when I looked at my weight from mid-October, I'm down another 5.6 lbs in 6 weeks, so that's not too bad at this point!  Now to stay out of the Christmas baking ;)

Scary, but true!

Approximately 3 weeks ago I started really struggling with SFL stuff.  I was eating things I shouldn't and skipping workouts left and right.  I figured it was due to getting off track with Halloween, but I just couldn't seem to muster up the energy in the evenings to work out.  For me, exercising always precedes healthy eating.  Consequently, my weight has stayed around the same (126.4 - 126.8 lbs) for the last couple of weeks.

So, tonight I finally figured out the mystery and it's kind of scary!  When I was doing Insanity, most evenings I would drink a pre-workout drink called 'Super Pump Max' (I know I mentioned it at least once before).  Anyway, somehow over the past month I stopped drinking it at supper time in preparation for my workout.  I realized that this morning, drank some while prepping supper, and within 20 minutes could feel my head clearing and energy increasing.  Isn't that crazy??  I'm honestly not sure what to do going forward.  I wish I knew exactly what was in it that causes that ability to focus and gives that kind of energy.  I had asked Cory at SFL about it a while ago and he said he would look into it.  I'll probably bring it up again next week.

Teaching just the two classes the past few days has been so nice!  And, Peter just booked a babysitter so we can have a day in the city Christmas shopping on Saturday :)  Fun times!

Off to do some prep for tomorrow!  4 weeks to go ....

Winding down

I'm still here!  My weight loss has slowed as I ate way too much Halloween candy. Thankfully that's out of the house now and I'm back on track. I'm interested to see how the upcoming holiday season affects things. I think in this instance being at school will help curb my eating.

Speaking of school, that's what the post title is referring to. I dropped another class today, leaving me with two classes of the same course that I'll keep until Christmas. In that last class, I started my final unit yesterday. In some ways it feels like I just started, and in other ways it feels like it's been forever. I'm creating more resources from scratch for this unit, so it's good that it's the only prep work I have to do now. 23 more days until I'm done!!

Peter is home now, which is so great. So much less shuffling of children and rushing with him around.   I feel like this season that I worried about for so long is coming to an end!  Of course, it wasn't as awful as I anticipated, but it was very, very busy.

Because I needed something else to do ...

I've been wanting to knit some mittens for my kids lately.  The ones at the store add up as kids lose them at school, I have a ton of yarn here, and I have a great pattern that gives a double-layer of knitting everywhere so they're very warm.  So, I finished prepping a bit early tonight and wanted to watch a show.  I figured now was a good time to start my first pair.  I'm very awkward knitting right now because I haven't done it in so long.  But ... it's a nice relaxing thing to do when I do have a few minutes in the evening.

Here's what I've done so far:

I am probably the slowest knitter in the history of the world, and my time is very limited right now, so I figure my first pair of mittens will be ready around May. 

On the healthy living front, things have been so-so.  I haven't been doing horribly, but I haven't been doing great, either.  My weight is still hovering between 127.4 and 128 lbs.  It would be really nice to see a drop soon.  One problem is that I've basically stopped exercising.  Tonight was the first day since Saturday I might have had time, but I decided to give myself a bit of margin by not cramming my night quite so full.

For the first time, when I listed out my prep for the next few days I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The list seemed more manageable and I was able to list the rest of the things I'll need to do for Chemistry on it.  Two more days of math and about 6 of Chemistry.  It sounds so do-able!  I can't believe we're almost through this insane time that I've been stressing over for a few years.  Overall, the teaching is fun - the prep is crazy - and I wouldn't recommend doing it while single parenting.  I received my midterm evaluation yesterday and everything seems on track.  There are, of course, areas to be improved upon, but no deal breakers that I could see.

I have fun plans the next two evenings, and then a long weekend - yippee!  I'm really looking forward to having some margin and balance in my life.

In a hurry?

In Sunday School this morning we talked about the difference between being busy and being hurried (I don't know what study the lesson was from ...)  I had never really made the distinction formally before, but I realize that it's something God's been leading me toward all fall.  Here are excerpts from the notes I took this morning:

• Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible.  This shows up most often in my responses.  I had just repented last night of treating my kids (and sometimes my husband) as if they're bothers instead of blessings.  That is not how I want to respond to my family.
• Hurry is a sign of a disordered (i.e. in the wrong order) heart.
• It takes training to rid ourselves of hurry
• Hurry makes us chronically preoccupied (this is me!) and anxious.  Watch for these signs that hurry has crept in and make changes.
• When we're hurried, we're unable to be fully present in the moment.  We become joyless (joy is a theme I've seen in my life all fall - from reading One Thousand Gifts, to this blog).

I can so often see this in my interactions with my kids.  My responses to them don't always correspond with how busy I actually am on the outside, but often relate to how busy I feel (what I'm calling hurried).  I struggle to not think ahead and worry about all the things I have to do after they go to bed, and that often makes me short-tempered with them.

Here are my action steps for this week (and beyond) to eradicate the hurry from my life, regardless of how busy I am.

• Build in time for interruptions.  Don't start dinner at 5:30!
• Just because I'm busy doesn't mean I need to be in a hurry.
• If I feel the hurry creeping in, take a minute to refocus.  Even if I have to lock myself in the bathroom or hide (Mark 1:37).  Focus can diminish hurry.
• Re-read (at some point) 'Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World'

This message is so timely during this season!  Although I can't reduce what I have to accomplish in a day at this point, I can choose to be busy but not hurried.  My family is so much more important to me than any of these other things that are taking temporary priority.  I don't want to hurt those relationships by being in a hurry.

Yuck, yuck, yuck!!

Have I ever fallen off the healthy eating wagon this week!!  Halloween did me in, completely.  Then, Thursday was a bad day (think flat tire along with lost keys), so I ate junk last evening as well.  I'm determined to get back on track, starting in the morning with my SFL consult.  I'm not eating anything else tonight, either.

I feel so gross when I eat poorly - you would think I would have learned by now!

I had a great chat with Eleni tonight and managed to get a fair amount of cleaning done at the same time.  I cleaned out two kitchen cupboards and feel great about it.

I'm currently ordering Christmas pictures - fun stuff :)