Hi, friend!

You may have seen me post this on Facebook, but you should watch it again anyway! My good friend at work (Amber) is participating in a contest that could earn her and another co-worker $5,000. Yeah, that's a four-digit number! We just need you to watch this video! It's cute, short, creative, and family friendly. What's not to love?


Thanks! These girls are genuinely talented, and they're also really sweet. Trust me, you've just spent your minute wisely. =)

I've been gluten free for... 13 days I think. In the beginning, I felt like my mood was way better than it has been. Not that I've been in a bad mood, but I just felt very positive and energetic about everything. That's dipped a little now perhaps because I'm getting tired of thinking about everything I eat. At work (publishing company) if I got the munchies, I'd go grab a snack the company stocks our kitchen with. Now I have to remember to keep my own private stash stocked because granola bars and crackers are, generally, out. I know this isn't that big of a deal, but it's draining. And I'm not good at planning meals yet, so last week I went to the grocery store about every other day. I'm not starving now, but I was pretty hungry the first few days.

While I'm in this trial period, I'm trying to be reeeeeaalllly good, but Mike's family eats out together a lot, and I'm wary of other people preparing my food at this stage because even if a restaurant touts gluten-free menu options, how am I to know if they're going to clean that grill for me?

Other than the mood stuff, I don't know that I'm noticing any other changes. I've sort of thought about having my vitamin D levels checked soon because I've been low, and gluten issues can affect that. My doctor's not very supportive of this route, though, so I'm not sure about that. Plus it involves needles.
I'm thinking about removing dairy, or at least large quantities of milk, too. My stomach tends to hurt in the morning, and I always have cereal for breakfast.


Now I'm thinking it's weird to share all this on the Internet, but I'm going to post it anyway because I took the time to type it out.

Does anyone else think these "To the Cloud!" commercials are weird? I asked my brother-in-law who is computery to explain it to me, and I think he did a good job. But I just don't get it. I can tell you that I'm just waiting for politicians to start referring to The Cloud. In fact, any takers on the inventor of The Cloud?

Also, Re: Amazing Race, I'm glad Mike would never propose to me on a reality television show.

I'm wrapping up my first, and only for now, semester as Instructor Morgan. I would like to do it again to do some (okay, a lot) of things differently and better. But for now, I'm going to just copyedit. Teaching and editing is too much right now, especially since both jobs are out of town. But I've definitely enjoyed teaching. I've learned a lot.

And, finally, I've started announcing this in hopes that telling people about it will help me actually do it... I'm going to try going gluten-free. I've had blood tests and intestinal biopsies that say I'm not a Celiac, but I have several unanswered health issues that happen to be symptoms of CD/gluten-intolerance. So, after I'm not teaching, I'm taking the plunge. I've put it off before because I was in school and didn't have time, and now my excuse has been that I don't have my own kitchen (and I'm working 50-60 hours a week...). But I need to take care of my body. So. I'm entering these largely uncharted waters in January. There are some pretty amazing GF kitchens in my family, and I know that restaurants are getting more GF-friendly, so I'm optimistic. A little hesitant, but optimistic. I don't know that those 2 logically go together, but logic is annoying.

I'm thinking that I may have gone so long without updating this that no one reads it now (except Terra because she's tha bomb). No matter!

So, I interviewed for that publishing job on a Monday, and on the following Thursday, they called and said someone else got the position. I was a wee bummed, but I quickly decided it was all for the best because I need to focus on the job I do have (teaching), and I could continue to pick up some miscellaneous hours at mike's dad's company (remember my job last summer where I installed version things with cables? That's the company, but this summer I've been doing office work - anything from CAD to scanning and shredding documents). Sounds good.
Fast-forward to the next Tuesday. I get a call from a number that looks like one of Tate's. Yep, it's Tate. They have another copyediting position open for September. My reply? "I'll be there tomorrow!" A soon as I hang up, I think, Oh boy... This may be a bad idea...
I've had two days at Tate now, and busy I will certainly be! This long weekend has been nice as I'm trying to get ahead on my lesson plans since I'm working 7-5 on my non-teaching days and don't have as much time during the week for class stuff. Admitedly, I got distracted by two movies on tv yesterday, so I could be farther along. Oh well. If I learned nothing else at school, I at least learned weekends are for procrastinating! ;)

- We now live in Norman, OK. The day we tried to pack up and move from Jersey was a nightmare. Absolute nightmare. But we made it. =)
- We had a great time on the Morgan family trip to Hawaii in May. I am a huge fan of parasailing and can't wait to do it again. I'm also a huge fan of Hawaii. Note to self: Never, ever, under any circumstances plan to move across the country two days after returning from Hawaii. Or anywhere.
- We did the summer camp for the abused and neglected foster kids again a few weeks ago, and it was great. There were lots of returning campers, so it was wonderful to see them again. If I can get a little more control over my daily schedule, I want to become an official DHS volunteer so I can keep up with some of the campers (we're not aloud to have any contact with them after camp if we're not approved by DHS).
- My cousin Joie got married and had a wonderful wedding.
- My nephew Titus is adorable. You probably already know that.
- My other nephew, Jameston, is also adorable. I get to see him a couple times a week. He's.. um.. 18 months I think? We have quite a relationship. I like being an aunt.
- Oh, by the way, I'm a teacher. Yeah. I'm teaching Basic Comp at Cameron University. It's a developmental/remedial writing course. I'm currently putting off making lesson plans. This might be the longest semester of my life. hehe.
- I interviewed for a job as a copy editor for Tate Publishing on Monday. I'm hoping to hear about that tomorrow or Friday. I hope I get it because the money and job itself would be nice. I hope I don't get it because I feel a little overwhelmed with my teaching gig.

Cheers!