And So It Begins ... Again

It's that time again. It's the night before the return to school after Christmas break. I'm aware that I definitely got a great deal this year considering my vacation was actually over 2 weeks since I don't work Mondays due to being part-time (although from a financial standpoint, it wasn't the greatest since I don't get paid unless I'm at work!). My colleagues had to go back today, and I'm relieved that I had another day to myself especially since I only did work on the last Friday I was at school. Yeah, all my plans to be productive for school purposes during this vacation flew out the window.

It seems to always happen on Christmas break. The first week is filled with activities and plans as we get together with family to celebrate Christmas, so by the time there's a little bit of a break, I need some relaxation days! Going out and about is rather tiring for me especially when my regular schedule is disrupted. My body is so used to my daily ritual that I start to feel sick when it's altered. Of course, I ended up spending a good portion of this vacation feeling under the weather with regard to my stomach. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the different foods that I was eating that wasn't the typical somewhat bland food we eat at home. Suddenly I was eating richer foods or greasier foods, and it took practically a week before I started feeling normal again and getting my appetite back. I'm sure it didn't help that I wasn't waking up at 6 in the morning to take my medicine and eating breakfast at 6:45 every day!

I guess the one good thing about returning to work is that it means being back on schedule, which my body will definitely appreciate. I'm sure part of my body will be very upset when I drag it out of bed when all it will want to do is stay in bed, but I will hopefully make it through.

No, wait. Hold on a second. This past Sunday, the focus of the message was on Psalm 118:17, which says, "I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord." The main point that really stuck with me was the fact that often times we aren't really living so much as surviving. Tonight before dinner, Howard and I prayed that we would face this year with an attitude that we would LIVE through the year instead of just do things that will help us get by to survive. Each day I know I just want to make it through so I can get home and then finally reach the weekend. Then each week, I want to get it over with so I can get to our next day off or week vacation. In reality, that means I'm wasting each day when I could have a much better attitude as I face each minute that God lets me breathe each breath. 

I hope it wasn't just a before dinner prayer but one that will resonate for 2015. Oh, and speaking of dinner, we had pizza. Haha, I know that's a rather strange transition, but I personally enjoy blogs that include pictures so I figured that was a way to fit something in! Dunkin' Donuts has that free iced coffee promotion on Mondays thing again, and my parents were able to get an extra card for me to use since we don't get them in our mail where we are. Hubs went to get it for me when he got back from work and picked up pizza from a local place that I used to frequent during my high school days called Village Maria II. My friends and I would walk there when we were hanging out at one of their houses and then have a slice and then hop over to Carvel if it was a Wednesday to get buy one get one free sundaes! Just recently, I thought that maybe it would be nice to try it again as I wondered whether I just liked it in high school since it was fairly inexpensive. 

These pictures aren't from tonight. They're actually from December 14th, which was the night we went to the live nativity at church, which I'll hopefully write about in another update. I had Howard take a picture of me while sitting in the booth because it brought back memories!

That night we chose 5 slices to split even though we obviously didn't finish them all in one day! The spinach and mushroom one was really good although a little greasy. The eggplant one reminded me of my teenager days. The buffalo chicken slice had quite a kick to it, but I enjoyed it because of the blue cheese (hubs wasn't too big of a fan of that!). Our favorite was definitely the bruschetta square though. Although it's definitely really onion-y, it just seemed tasty because of the crunchiness and freshness. It's not the kind of thing you eat if you don't want bad breath because boy, that onion lasts!

Tonight I decided to go with the spinach slice and the bruschetta one again. Here's hoping that after brushing my teeth tonight and tomorrow morning and eating breakfast, I don't still breathe onion as I go back to teaching during those 7 periods! I'm sure my kids would also wish that I were still on vacation!