Exklks mwe wfile y edw tski” she said with her mouth full.
Most simply — excuse me while I eat this” is the translation.
More deeply the translation is Excuse me while I stuff this in my mouth because I’ve had an awful day”.
I used all of my daily points today and dipped into my extra points and used five. Seriously five. Remember that box of candy I was given early in the week in the teacher’s lounge? Well, lets just say I tested it — a sort of quality control if you will. All in all, it is amazing that I only used five extra points.
I woke up this morning and one of my dogs had been sick in the night. He vomited and had diarrhea in my living room. I was totally disgusted and did not have the extra time to clean it up so that pushed me behind. (and yes, of course, I cleaned it up.) Also, we’ve had snow days the last two weeks. It has been very cold. I went out to my car and found that I was nearly out of gas and getting gas would make me even later so I coasted into work on fumes. I got to work and the heat wasn’t working in my wing of the building. Yay. I get to teach with my coat on. The internet connection was down so the video I was going to show my 20th-century American history kids wouldn’t play on my computer. We ended up watching it on my phone. Luckily it was short, only about 2 minutes.
Then I had an encounter with the emotional mom of one of my Roman History students. She was waiting outside my classroom. Her son is failing. It is a shame, but he won’t listen. He refuses to do homework and acts out every single class day. He had the gall to tell his mom that his low grade (38) is because I don’t teach. The most incredible thing is that he actually persuaded her that this is true. I pointed out that he is the only one of my students failing, because even those who have trouble are willing to work hard to complete the extra credit I offer. I understand that Roman history is not everyone’s first love but it is a fascinating subject if you give it half a chance. He gives it no chance and I have bent over backward to help him and he refuses to be helped.
Well, I stayed calm and talked to her about his options, but this was just one more thing — the straw that broke the camel’s back. Now I think it will all work out in the end, but I hate that I had to defend myself when I had done nothing wrong. Of course, it was all made worse by the fact I am starting my period in a day or so and I’m irrationally sensitive at that time anyway and I’m expecting a house full of people all weekend and I haven’t cleaned my house yet (except for the mess the dog made.)
So I buried my frustration in a chocolate caramel nut piece of candy. Normally it wouldn’t have been a big deal because I love saving enough points to cover a dessert. It makes me feel like I’ve finished the day’s worth of food. It is the sort of ritual that helps me turn off cravings later in the night. But out of frustration I over-indulged in dinner and had three, count them 1, 2, 3 fish tacos and a beer so there wasn’t really any wiggle room. And I was saving the extra points for a family reunion this weekend where BBQ will be served. Mmm
Now I know it isn’t the end of the world. I know tomorrow will be a better day and that I will do better — but it IS alarming that I can get so easily flustered. Hormones shouldn’t make me lose my sense of purpose and focus, nor should a sick dog, a car with no gas, being late for work, an unheated classroom and an emotional mom who is scared for her child’s education, a dirty house and company in route as we speak.
My goal now is to become healthy. Thin is just a nice side effect of a healthier me. This is something that should always be in the front of my mind. I can’t lose sight of it because I want to be around to see my children grow up. Being overweight by significantly more than 100 pounds limits my future and I swear my future is worth preserving.
So here is to WW and staying on program. I wish us all a successful day tomorrow…
