Coffee with Kati

new blog.

2010-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog. Check livinginthelittlehouse.blogspot.com!

Walking on Sunshine...

2010-03-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

oh, a whoa-oh! I'm walkin' on sunshine!

Yay for sunshine! So my nose is stuffed up and my skin is itchy, and the weather man says my allergies will get worse tomorrow... but I. DON'T. CARE. The sun is shining, it is 60 degrees outside, and I am one happy girl!! I love love love this sun! I really should move somewhere where it is warm and sunny all the time; I am SUCH a weather person!

You might be wondering what the heck that means, a "weather person." Well, it means that I am extremely affected by the weather. When it's cold and dark and rainy for more than a day or so, I curl up into a little ball on the couch and hibernate until the sun comes out. I refuse to do laundry, clean anything, cook, leave the house, or bathe.

Okay, so I exaggerate. But that's what I feel like doing. And when the sun is out and gorgeous, I go outside and play and sing. No exaggeration! :)

Sick and Tired

2010-02-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I really hate winter. I need to move somewhere where it is warm and sunny all year round, and the temperature barely dips below 60 degrees. Every year, about this time, I have just had ENOUGH of the cold and the wet. It has sunk down deep into my bones and I just can't get warm enough! I can't even get outside to run or play because the ground is so darn mushy!

This last weekend was SO beautiful, but now Marcy (the weather girl) is telling me that it's going to snow later this week!

And you know what else? I am tired of mean people. Sometimes the world is such an ugly place. When people are mean to kids, or animals, or kids... I really have a problem with people who are cruel to kids. And I see it a lot. And it makes me sick. And tired.

I knew teaching would be hard. I expected it to test my patience. I didn't expect it to test my strength. Sometimes, i just don't know if I have enough love to give them all in the forty-five minutes I have them to last them the rest of the day, or through the weekend.

On Sunday, we were coming back from church (and I was already pretty sick with a head cold, so that didn't help any) and there in the road, in the sunshine, was a little puppy that had been hit by a car. And I almost started legitimately crying... and Adam told me not to worry, God loves that puppy and he is probably in heaven, that God loves all animals because he made them. Honestly, that's about all that pacified me in the moment.

But what I didn't want to tell him is that I wasn't so much crying because the puppy was dead... it's more that sometimes the world has so MANY dead puppies and hurting children that it's overwhelming to me. And some days, I am just sick and tired, and I need to know that my Heavenly Father loves them all where I've missed them, and that is what my husband is so wonderful to remind me of!

Quite a While...

2010-02-15T17:11:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been two weeks since I last posted! The last few weeks just sort of slipped away. The first week of February, I stayed sick. Yuck. So no running that week.

The second week, we had terrible weather. School was canceled on Friday due to snow. So we had a nice three-day weekend! I will post pictures later!

Today, the sun was shining, it wasn't terribly cold, and I was well! I thought to myself, "What a perfect day to get back on my running schedule!" Oh, how wrong I was. The wind was blowing SO HARD, from EVERY DIRECTION, that my contacts were literally getting blown out of my eyes. So I came inside and did 40 minutes of cardio-yoga instead. As I was laying on the floor (corpse pose, at the end) I hear the door to the bedroom creak open, and then.... I felt something lick me. I thought, "If that is Adam, we will have to discuss what is and isn't a creepy thing to do to your wife. If that's Diesel, I'm pretty sure she rolled in something dead this morning. The third possibility is that there is a pervert burglar in my house." And since I couldn't decide which of those three things was worse, I just laid there with my eyes closed until the licking stopped. I'm 95% sure it was Diesel......

Blech...

2010-01-31T18:35:00.002-08:00

So my week last week was fine, but we've had some bad weather. Cold fronts and thunderstorms and such. (Which is better than what we've been having... tornadoes...) Anyway, with the weather all gross, I woke up sick Saturday morning. I stayed on the couch most of the day drinking tea and watching movies. I felt a little better today. We missed church, but I managed to get a little laundry done, watch some movies, and paint a little.

I also made an apple pie today, so I guess I wasn't feeling too terrible! Hopefully, I'll be able to motivate myself to get out of bed, get cute, and go to work. I am supposed to have my official principal observation this week, so I am hoping I can be on top of things this week!

Beautiful Days for Week 4

2010-01-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

It's week 4 of this little journey! I know that doesn't sound like very long, but seriously, I've never stuck with anything like this for more than a few DAYS. The weather is absolutely beautiful, it's just really COLD. I am actually sore from my running day, and so today is a rest and some yoga. :) Ommm.....

A Run, Some Rain, and New Shoes..

2010-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

So this week my running schedule got all off. I ran Monday and Tuesday, and then not again until Friday and Saturday. The weather was disgusting most of the week and we had some pretty bad tornadoes around here.

So yesterday morning, I woke up before Adam and went on outside to run before it started raining. It was dry out, but it was really muggy and cooler than it has been all week.

When I came back in, we got cleaned up and went to Longview to DoubleDave's Pizza for lunch, then to Target and Academy where I got..... new shoes! So tomorrow, I get to break them in!

For now, I am going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. Do a little laundry, drink some hot chocolate, and maybe watch "Up"....... Don't want the start to my week to be too stressful! :)

Week 3

2010-01-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Today is the start of week 3. Run/walk 25 minutes. I just can NOT believe it is already week 3!

We had such a wonderful, peaceful weekend! After working the basketball game on Friday night, we slept in Saturday morning and stayed home for most of the day. I finished a book (The Shack, it was amazing!) and Adam played guitar and XBox. That night, we went to Texas Roadhouse on a date! I don't know the last time we went out just the two of us, and we had a really good time. Sunday was church, and then we went and saw The Lovely Bones. Not a good movie, but I had a lot of fun with my sisters! Today we went to Longview AGAIN to get a few things from Hobby Lobby. (I love that place!)

So when we got back (around 5), I went for my run. I was about halfway through when this large woman on a 4- wheeler comes flying up my driveway. She was out looking for her dog. She let him out to potty earlier that afternoon and he didn't come back. When I asked what he looked like, she said he was a little pug and he was wearing a blue jacket. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out," I said. She responded, "Let me show you a picture so you'll know what he looks like." She then proceeded to flip through her cell phone to find a picture of him. We live in the middle of nowhere. Any small dog is going to be an inside dog, and the outfit DEFINITELY would catch my eye. But oh no, she had to show me SEVERAL pictures of this little guy just to make sure I knew what he looked like from every angle. I started to say, "How 'bout this? Any dog I see with clothes on, I'll run it by ya." But I just didn't have the heart.

She went on about her business, and maybe five minutes later I stopped and took Diesel inside. Adam told me that while we were gone, our neighbor came by to tell us he found a dog and to see if we knew who he belonged to. I said, "Did he have on a blue jacket?" And what do you know... he did! (The dog, not our neighbor, though I didn't ask what HE was wearing...)

Anyway, I had already unknowingly sent the lady down to his house, so we are assuming the little guy in the blue jacket made it home safely!

Musings...

2010-01-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

So I did run yesterday (even though I thought I was going to die!), and I made Mexican cornbread and homemade salsa for Trent and Adam and myself. After we ate, they started up another something on the XBox and I FELL ASLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOOK. I don't DO that.
Especially not a book like this one. I am reading The Shack, and it's.... intriguing. The way God is portrayed sort of fascinates me, but what I am finding most interesting are the philosophies put forward about the nature of God.

One of the main things the character in the book (Mack) wrestles with is how a GOOD God could let evil, terrible things exist (and, subsequently, allow bad things to happen). I think this is something everyone probably deals with, and I know I've been struggling with it quite a bit myself here lately. One of the suggestions is that while we see the EVENT (and consider it good/evil), God sees the STORY its a part of and knows that it will be good. For example, Adam's disobedience in the garden would be seen as a time when something evil happened (man is separated from his Creator), but God knew it was going to happen and sees the good and the beauty that will come from that.

I know this is a little off topic from what I've been discussing, but I just can't get it out of my head!

Tomorrow is running day again! Tonight, for my 'rest day,' I went and worked the high school basketball games. I always love to watch 14 year-old social lives in action! It's a little like watching a bad romantic comedy.... I am going to try to go to the library tomorrow! (Some people may think that's boring, but I'm a great big nerd and I love the library!)

Today.. I'm strong!

2010-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

That's right! Not a wimp today, people! Even though I easily could have been...

See, when I got home, I had my snack, got all bundled up, and went to put on my tennis shoes.... but wait! Where were my shoes?!? I searched the house, threw a fit, got my sweet husband up and looking for them, and finally plopped down on the couch (after, seriously, 20 minutes of searching) and announced (to the dog and my husband) "This house is NOT that BIG!" I stomped myself to the bathroom, and there, tucked behind the fluffy corner of Adam's bathrobe, were my shoes. Now I could EASILY have said I didn't have time, or I just didn't want to anymore, or whatever- but the point is that I didn't. I put my shoes on and went outside and ran. Way to go, me.

Week 2

2010-01-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and Sub-2:12 marathoner

That's a darn good question. Today the Schedule said: "Run/Walk 20 minutes." Having more faith in myself than I should, I thought I could run the full 20. I mean, how hard can it be? Pretty hard, it turns out. I got about halfway through the GLEE Cast's rendition of "Gold Digger" and I was DYING. So I had to walk some. But that's okay, right? As long as I am up and moving? Problem is, now I really would like to be a wimp for the rest of the week. But in this one thing, at the very least, I am determined to be persistent. That is one of the things I am hoping to learn through this process. Persistence.

The other day I was reading someone's blog, and their resolution was to run a 5K. I thought to myself, 'Kati-' I said. 'Why a marathon? Couldn't you have said a 5K? Or how 'bout a mile, huh? Let's start with a mile.' But I SAID i was running a marathon by the end of the year, and I'll be darned if I don't do it. Me and New Directions are going to get this done!

FRIDAY!!

2010-01-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

And thank goodness for it! Yesterday, I came home and walked, and then we went to Trent and Michele's for pizza and the big game. I felt so sad for Colt McCoy, but I have to say I was glad Texas lost. What can I say? I'm an Aggie through and through...

Tomorrow is another walking day! But it is going to be SO cold. It is going to get down to 12 tonight! I think tomorrow I'll go over to Mama Jada's and walk on the treadmill. Tonight I am just going to try to stay warm!

I go out walkin'...

2010-01-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

So today was another 20 minute walk day. It was COLD! And it was WET. And it is only going to get colder! I think the low for Saturday is TWELVE. I am not looking forward to moving around outside this weekend! I may go use the treadmill at my Mom's.... This afternoon was nice and quiet. I walked, then I made some spaghetti for supper from a new recipe, and it turned out really well! I had my quiet time, graded some papers, and did some laundry. Diesel badly needed a bath after our muddy walk, but I waited until after dinner to give her one. She was NOT a happy camper.

She likes to hide from me afterward! Isn't she cute?

Ommmm.... No.

2010-01-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be a yoga day. While the Schedule didn't call for anything to be done today, I like the calm of yoga practice, so I was going to fill my "free day" with it! But... my new microwave came in! (Thanks, Mom!) So Adam and I went to Wal-Mart and stood in line for about a hundred years with groceries that we REALLY needed (we had one, I repeat, ONE, roll of toilet paper at our house.)
By the time we finally got home we were so tired and hungry that we called it a night and made pizza. And for dessert? Popcorn in the new microwave!!

Tomorrow is another 20 minutes of walking. And the weather is supposed to be horrendous. I may be hitting the treadmill over at Mom's!

Week 1

2010-01-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

"Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes his mind to do. We are capable of greater than we realize."

- Norman Vincent Peale, author

Today is the first day of training, and, like an idiot, I thought it was going to be easy. Walk 20 minutes? Piece of cake! Walk 20 minutes when the temperature is at 39 degrees (without the 'wind chill factor!') and the ground is slush because its been raining since October? Not so much.

Oh well. At least tomorrow is yoga day!

Thanks a lot, Julie.....

2009-12-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

2010 is two days away, and I have been tossing around New Year's resolutions for months. I love to make them, but I don't always keep them....
This year felt like it was going to be different though. I will be 24 in May, and while that is by no means old, I feel like I should have done more with myself by this point. So at work one day, while my students were taking a test, I started to make a list of all the things I would like to do. While some of those things are impossible (skate with Disney on Ice, swim the English Channel), at least one of them is not. So I decided to do it. I am going to run a marathon.
Now if you know me, you know that this is sort of a stretch. I haven't exercised regularly since high school. I avoided the REC center like the Bubonic Plague in college, and I eat like a truck driver. I consider yoga every now and then to be my exercise, with a one mile run peppered in every few months. But if the people on Biggest Loser can do it, so can I!
Christmas Day my family watched Julie and Julia, and I looked at my husband and said, "I can be like Julie! I can take this just one day at a time, and then I won't get overwhelmed!" To which he responded, "Yeah! You should blog about it!"
So thank you, Julie Powell, for showing me how to do it one day at a time. And for giving my husband the blogging idea.
This blog is called "Coffee with Kati" because I intend to write in the morning, while I have my coffee. (Therefore, the name.)
I will be following a 26-week schedule, starting next Monday, and once I select a marathon to enter, I will let you know! (Hopefully by the end of next week!)
That's all for now. Happy New Year!
Kati