The Lees go camping

After finally uploading the photos, I can document the trip.  We've been meaning to get out and camp for a long time and never were able to make it work.  We had all the gear and were itching to get outside and enjoy the nice weather.  So except for the not-so-great timing with the huge pollen explosion of the season that coincided with Easter weekend and our camping trip, we had a nice time.  Very relaxing, and so nice to get away from everything.

Day 1...

Love the tent - it can be completely sealed or can open all the way up to have a huge view of the entire sky.

Backpacking stove.

Trying out one of our MREs - actually was pretty good.  Reminded me of spaghetti-Os.

I love a fire.  So entrancing, peaceful, enticing, warm.

YUMMY breakfast.

Day 2, second location...

Beautiful lake view.

Afternoon visit to the lake.

Rainfly to keep all the condensation and crazy ants off the tent.

Gorgeous sunrise on the lake.

Morning light.

YUMMY breakfast, day #2.

Can't wait to get back out there.

Interesting read

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505964.html?g=0

You know, I would usually say that I whole-heartedly support this.  Because there are just some times that words mean absolutely nothing to a student (or just a person) and they'll continue to act up, bully, disrespect, and disrupt.  I noticed it very early on when just teaching preschoolers, so just imagine trying to discipline an older "child" when he or she may very well be bigger than some of teachers themselves are.

But in my mind, that's in a semi-perfect world, with good people.  When I think about children I may have one day, and when I think about the many, many ugly and bad-intented people in this world, I begin to second-guess my above opinion.  Because really, I doubt I'd be comfortable with someone else paddling my kid.  I know I'm not perfect, but I also don't trust others to practice restraint or to know when is enough.  Honestly, how do you decide who is worthy of deciding that kind of punishment, besides the parents?  (And honestly, many parents aren't even worth of that, in my opinion... but different subject for a different day.)

So I don't really know what to think now.  I do know that in today's world, only using "encouraging words" and thinking that will make the ones needing discipline "want" to just act better, in my experience, usually doesn't work.

It is interesting that since the reinstatement of the discipline, behavior has significantly improved, even though only one kid has actually received it.  It's also interesting that it was reinstated due to parental request.

Which kind of brings me to what I'd say is my final opinion on this idea.  In today's world, I wouldn't be comfortable with someone else paddling my kid.  But I'd rather them leave that option to me.  Which really drives home the thought that good parenting makes all the difference in the world.  If a child is raised right and the time is invested in their life to help make them a good person, their discipline shouldn't have to extend to paddling anyway.  But if it was necessary, my thought is that the schools need to inform the parents of the problems, and even send the kids home if they continue to disrupt.  But leave the actual discipline to the parents.  If this was years and years ago, my opinion might be different.  But in this world we now live in, that would be my choice. 

...What's yours?

The week we all turned yellow

So things have been pretty crazy and busy around here, including the pollen.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is yellow right now.  I have never seen such thick pollen before.

And this is probably why...

In early April.  At 6:00pm.  No wonder the blooms are taking this chance to go crazy.

This is what sticks out to me the most - the fact that there are tracks in the pollen...

Tire tracks and footprints at the parking garage entrance.

People's footprints walking towards the door at work.

Sick, sick, sick. Gross. Ick. Shudder. Achoo.  Any other words I'm forgetting?

Feel Better Food

When we get sick around our house, we like meals with some "umph" that will give us some energy and help our bodies fight off the gunkiness and grossness.  We usually try to eat much healthier and leaner, but meals like that don't tend to offer much relief when you have the energy of a groggy turtle and moving feels like your limbs weigh a ton each.  So sick meals turn into sort-of treats that we normally wouldn't have otherwise.  J has a cold right now, so I picked up some extra yummy items for meals this week.

For some lunches, I found this recipe on my cousin's food blog - Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie.  Haha, with a name like that, what's there not to like??  Apparently it's pretty widely known (even though I couldn't find it on my Bisquick box like the website said), but I've never made it before.  We both really enjoyed it - I definitely want to make it again, and experiment with some different additions to the recipe as well.  Here it is in my lunch container - probably not looking so appetizing here, but ignore the gladware and picture a pretty plate!  (Why yes, that is yummy cheesy goodness all on top...)

Hamburger helper (actually chicken helper for us this time) made the cut as well - always a favorite around here.  As spectacular as it always tastes though, it doesn't come across very appetizing in photos.

And last night was one of my personal favorites - always a comforting and yummy meal.  Ever since I first had these years and years ago, I've absolutely loved the taste of them - pigs in a blanket. :-) As soon as I hear it, I think of kid food and smile... but hey, I'm a kid at heart, so it works.

And what goes better with pigs in a blanket than mac and cheese??

Haha, only bad part is, I'm not sick.  But I'm still eating the yummy food - I can't cook it for the sick guy then not eat it myself!  So, gotta get my rear doing some activity and work it all off, haha.

But until then, it's most likely Stouffer's lasagna for tonight.  YUM.

A New Outlook

No, not on life - a new view.  At work.

I recently got to move to a new office, which is awesome news compared to my old view. The guy across our mini-hallway from me moved to another group, so I was able to move into his old office. It's a little bit smaller, but check out the change...

My walls before...

What I looked at before from sitting at my desk...

And the new one... not a great shot of the office, but check out the greatest perk (besides a real desk)...

Ah, yes, the window... so much better than staring at walls. The photo doesn't do it justice - the window is about 4 feet wide, and goes all the way up to the ceiling.  As much as I love the outdoors, it's definitely helped me to at least have this sort-of-connection to it on the hard days at work. People were surprised when they saw that I left the bigger office for this one (it's not as small as the picture makes it feel). But to me, natural light and a connection to the outside world is so much better for my mental state than being cooped up in a hole full of harsh flourescent lights.  I've even willingly not had the burned-out lights above my desk replaced, just so I can avoid the fake light and soak up the all-natural.

So now, the office itself is just much brighter...

(notice the way we use even cubicle walls wisely - that is my only exit)

And while we're in the sharing mode, here's my normal visual range for 8 hours of every weekday...

Haven't had time yet to add more personalization to the wall - it needs some lovely pictures and other things.

But regardless of that, now instead of only white walls and cubicle fabric,

I can see blue sky...

puffy clouds...

hazy days...

storm clouds...

and even snow.

Add that to a couple weeks of parking space issues that resulted in assignment changes that slashed my walk to work from 5 blocks to 2... and you've got a pretty good upswing in working conditions.  Hooray.

Sad Pillows

I found out how pitiful my old pillows really were. I'd known it for a while but put off replacing them. When I finally found some great new pillows last weekend, I did a comparison once they got home... and no, the one on the left is NOT sitting on a higher level - they are both on even ground. New is on the left, old on the right. So sad. But my neck and shoulders are now happy.

My sinuses are probably happy now too, based on what you can read out there about dust mites and all that nasty stuff that can get into your pillows and mattresses after a certain amount of time.  Ick.

So what's your record time for keeping pillows?  My old down one that's a standard size is still my head-prop second pillow, and I think I've had it since before college... so at least 8 years.  Ew.  Might be time to replace that one too.  And my foam contour one is about the same age - wonder if the same rules apply to the foam ones.  Haha, google, here I come for some research...

Around here lately...

Not much new around here, besides the usual busy stuff... guess that contributes to my lack of blog updates...

I have been reminded yet again this week that headaches stink.

Everybody kind of seems in and out of funks, me included. Lately it's been one of those where I can really see a 180 coming, with respect to my activity levels, motivation to exercise and eat right (all the time, not just some of the time), desire to cook more, and do some of the things I've had on my things-I-want-to-do list for quite some time. Just don't feel like I'm quite on the road toward that yet. Maybe the spring weather making its way in is exactly what we all need.

I'm pretty bummed because my camera is sick and had to go away to the camera "doctor" for a little while... hopefully it can come home soon. Maybe that's where the funk comes from, mine at least... lack of being able to get out and take photos, which is something I take a lot of joy in.

Speaking of photos, I do have tons of them to upload online and share with folks. I love taking the photos, but it the sharing that I've got to work on getting better at. Haha, so don't be surprised to see photos from last summer or other events finally making their way on here at some point. I should actually take this time as an opportunity to do just that, while I'm not adding to the collection with new ones.

Speaking even more of photos, I spent Saturday night at my parents' house, stuffing photo albums with wedding pictures. The grandparents don't have internet access, so Mom wanted to take them the actual photos to be able to see in person. We got them all printed - over 1,000 photos - and Mom and I spent a few hours slotting away photos, along with a little wine, and some good laughs with Jason and Dad sitting by watching us work. :-) Here are the finished products, all 3 are honestly practically FULL of photos...

In other news, I found a new recipe to try - Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole (linky). I've been searching for recipes to use for dinners for chicken and other meats besides beef, plus some dishes that have fiber and are filling and energizing. This one fit the bill great. I used chicken instead of beef, and a few other substitutions for items I didn't have on hand, and it turned out yumm-o. Also feeds us both for 3-4 different meals. Definitely will keep this one in the rotation.

That's about all that's going on in the Lee life right now... speaking of which (topic for another time) - I just have to say that it is SUCH a pain to change your name. Seriously. I thought it was annoying to sit at the Social Security office and DMV for hours on end - those were a breeze compared to the headaches I've had with processes elsewhere. I'll stop now, or else you'd get many more paragraphs of complaints about something that should be so much simpler.

So, now THAT is all that's going on.