hair and shoes

As usual I got ready this morning...

Easy quick hair = washing + texture hair product + diffusing.

Here is one student's response to my not straightened hair, "Must be a bad hair day."

Before leaving the house I put on my shoes.

Needless to say they were a topic of conversation.

34 it is

And so it was, May 19th came and went, I now claim the number 34.  When I was 32, for the entire year, I unintentionally told everyone who asked, that I was 33.  I thoroughly enjoyed my day.


7 a.m. Breakfast at one of my favorite places for breakfast foods...

One of the Twin Cities best breakfast places

Choice beverages: water, cream w/coffee, orange/grapefruit juice

Then onto climbing... 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

My friend AP... a natural with bouldering.  I could only hope to get the hang of it someday.

SL also appeared to be a natural for her first time! 

For now... I'll stick to auto and top roping.  The first time I had climbed over an edge jutting out.

Somewhere between 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.:  I was convinced to sign up for and run a 5 K the morning of the 20th.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m.  RACE TIME

1) I learned my lesson... Although it won't slow me down only make me use different strategies.  2) To the older gentleman that I cut off and bumped out of my way, "I'm not sorry that I, a lady, passed you up.  Scowl away."

Rest of the evening:  Included barbequing with friends and family.  It means so much that you took the time out of your day to enjoy an evening with me.

Sunday morning brought a 5 K my way...

wedgies and post-it notes

While standing in line at Brugger's Bagels waiting for my lunch the woman in front of me turned to look at me, this was her monologue to me...

Oh WOW!  I love your platforms!  It makes me want to go down to DSW to buy myself a new pair of shoes for spring.  {pause} You know platforms were in style in the 70s.  HA! and now they are back in style.  {looking again at my shoes} Oh wait.... they aren't called platforms anymore they are called wedgies.  I really like them.  Ohhhh... they are cork wedgies.  HA!  You can pin Post-It Notes to them to help you remember things!  Oh, and guess which country we get our biggest supply of cork from? {I didn't get a chance to even answer} before she said, PORTUGAL!  They grow cork trees there!



I didn't have the heart to tell her that they are called "wedges"  not "wedgies"



it had a skull

Speech Therapy with two 5-year old boys:

Boy 1 (snickering):  You wore a pink shirt yesterday!
Boy 2 (sighing): So?
Me: It's fine that he wore a pink shirt.
Boy 1: Well, yea maybe it was red. (Trying to make Boy 2 feel better after my reprimand)
Boy 2: No!  It was PINK!  It was OK to wear because it had a skull on the back!

p.s. These are the same to boys who drew anatomically correct pictures of people during one assignment.

I have a secret.

I have a secret.  Shhh… don’t tell a soul!  (smile)

Hi, my name is Rachael and I am a PROCRASTINATOR.

The definition of the act of procrastination is this; putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time. 

I am the MASTER of procrastination.  On any given day my “to-do” list is a mile long, the next day my “to-do” list is two miles long, and it grows exponentially every day after.  Periodically I have moments when “Super-Efficient Rachael” shows up and the 3 mile long list becomes a quarter mile long list or no list, and then the cycle starts again. (Truth is I function best and my most creative work is done when I am under pressure.)

Being the MASTER of procrastination for me also means having multiple extra-curricular activities; whether they are self-imposed or duties given to you in which you feel obligated to do.  Here are my extra-curricular activities, it should be noted that not all extra activities are stress inducing or bad.  They are just extra activities.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

·         Volunteer Domestic Abuse Advocate for SafeJourney

·         Speech Therapy Private Practice outside of typical work hours

·         Working out at the gym (there is a necessity in this that I will address at a later time)

·         Photography- (a renewed hobby)

·         Visiting my nieces and nephews

·         Teaching a youth bible study a few times a year

·         Head of a baking committee for church

·         Head of the cleaning committee for church

·         Sitting on the Youth-Work Committee for church

·         Sitting on the Calendar Committee for work

·         Building Representative for Licensure Renewal for work

·         Participating on the Innovation Team for work

The humorous thing to me is that people close to me think that I am not a procrastinator but rather I am just busy and I just have too much to do.  Well, I am busy.  I need to be busy and I need to have things to do so that I can put off or delay or defer action to a later time.  If I didn’t have things to do I wouldn’t have an excuse to not be doing what I should be doing at that time.  (For example, right now I should be writing reports for work, but rather I am writing about procrastination.  The good thing is, my boss understands me and knows that, I WILL GET THE WORK DONE.)

So, what perhaps more people understand than I know, or perhaps people don’t understand is that, actually, my procrastination is a problem.  Perhaps it isn’t a problem for those around me, but it is a problem for ME, I get anxious when I don’t get things done that I want to get done.  Furthermore, there are consequences to procrastination.

There are many days that I go to bed telling myself Mary Anne Radmacher’s quote that, “Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” 

For months, maybe even years now I have contemplated finding someone who specialized in cognitive based therapies or executive functioning therapies (and yes, I do know what part of the brain needs work) but I put it off… until today.  I am happy and even felt a little lighter knowing that I have an appointment set up with someone who specializes in working with adults who, yes, adults who procrastinate. 

We are never too old to learn; and to learn about ourselves, to increase our quality of life.  Maybe , just maybe... I am not a procrastinator.  We'll see...

not inappropriate

While in a preschool classroom...

A 4 year old student paused his reading of a book to show me the cover of it....

and then said,

"Teacher Rachael, this is NOT an inappropriate book."