Week 10 is upon us.

Did I tackle my goals?

PERSONAL GOALS

I wanted to finish my NANOWRIMO novel and I succeeded. It's complete but as of yet, I haven't shared it with a single person. It's too rough. I need to flesh some areas out and I need to tweak a few others. Then and only then, will I let my BFF read it. She'll give me some honest feedback and I'll go from there.

I planned on getting a little more physically active. I planned on walking/running on the treadmill a few times a week. That lasted about three days. What can I say? In my defense, i have a rather active job. I rarely sit at all in the 5.5 hours I am there.

I am not sedentary, but I am not exactly marathon fit either. I am watching my calorie intake and trying to move more and eat less. For now, I am happy with this. Soon the lessons from the lunchlady will end for summer and be replaced by Poolside Perspective. Maybe swimming will excite me more than tread milling.

PROFESSIONAL GOALS

I kicked ass on my ServSafe Certification. I retained useless information about a legthy list of foodborne illnesses and their causes which include things like Bacillus cereus gastroenteritis, Shigellosis and Cryptosporidiosis. Sadly, I haven't been able to forget any of it so now I eat even fewer things than I did before.

MENTAL HEALTH

I have had a few mental breakdowns over the course of the last ten weeks. Some worse than others. I am trying to focus on my blessings as they are abundant.

When my children fight, I need to remember that they are healthy.

When my husband retreats to our room instead of watching TV with me, I need to remember that he took the laundry basket with him.

When the kids at school forget to use their manners, I need to remember that a positive influence is a strong deterrent.

When I am exhausted, I need to remember that I haven't really felt true exhaustion.

When I am feeling lonely, I just need to recall my beach trip.

How are you doing with your goals?.

This week in the cafeteria I learned:

The bananas will get ripe when the bananas get ripe. I attempted to speed up the ripening process by lying the bananas out on trays and leaving them in the light. My sub told me God would make them ripe when he wanted them to be ripe. While I have no doubt the God grows bananas, I feel confident that he has other more pressing things to worry about. Perhaps we should open canned pineapple.

We are talking about thermometers, right? Conversation overheard: I didn't know you needed to clean it before you stuck it in and after you took it out. Umm yes. You need to clean the thermometer before and after testing. What did you think they were talking about?

Administrators in the kitchen. I've talked before about our awesome principal and how often she hangs out with us. This week we got to work with the district's business manager in his attempt to learn how everyone contributes to the school district. I learned that elementary kids will be angels when there's a man serving the beans.

Passwords, production papers and other random thoughts. If you are going to take the day off please tell your staff the computer password or they might have tech change it to WendyisAwesome and not tell you. Production papers should be entitled production papers not menus. I am starting to wonder if I am going to be able to find anything on my boss's computer next year.

Kids are like parrots. If you call your dog bastard at home it's a pretty safe bet that your child just might say that at school. You might want to reconsider. I hear Benji's a good name for a dog.

In conclusion, I learned to think outside the box when dealing with the elderly and their computers, I refrained from calling anyone a bastard, I kept the thermometers thoroughly clean, I prayed over green bananas and I taught someone who makes just a little bit more money than I do how to work the dishwasher.

What did you learn this week?

Okay...it's week two and it has been a rollercoaster of a ride.  Do you have a nagging New Year's Resolution that you're looking to complete?  Do you need some encouragement to get you moving and up off the couch?  Do you want people to reassure you that punching random ignorant shoppers at the grocery store is not in your best interest?  Then sign up over at Pish's because we love a crowd.

Let's review...

I wrote an additonal 3,000 words on my NaNoWriMo Novel.  I am happy with where I am at with it and most importantly, I can see the ending.  I can visualize it.


Nothing motivates me more than some fantastic news and it turns out that I might actually be a good writer.  I entered a manuscript in a National contest and I MADE THE FIRST CUT!  My manuscript is in the top 25! 

That alone will get your creative juices flowing! Totally on my way to over 50,000 before the end of this challenge.

I have to admit that I probably didn't get much more active than last week.  I've been on the treadmill less than a handful of times and that was only for 20 minutes at a time.  I've decided not to beat myself up about this for three reasons 1) because I am on my feet for a minimum of 5.5 hours a day; because 2) I am walking a couple of miles on Saturday in support of JDRF for my nephew and 3) because I am spread a little thin right now.

This week I am devoting an ungodly amount of time to studying for my big LUNCHLADY test next Monday, March 26th. 

Questions expected to be on the test...

What is the minimum internal cooking temperature for TCS food cooked in a microwave?

An example of a TCS food is?  A. Dried parsley  B.  diced cranberries  C.  chopped celry  D.  sliced cantaloupe

What can cause histamine to form in tuna?

I'm adding something I want to work on this week and that's my relationship with my kids.  Lately I've been struggling with the way my children treat each other.  I've been struggling with the lack of respect.  My middle daughter angers sooo quickly over just about anything.  She can go from 0 - 5000 in two minutes over something as simple as her sister is singing.  It fries my patience.  Fries it...

So I'm gonna try to work on it... which likily means it's gonna get even harder...

This week we served lunch four out of five days. This is PA people--the first day of buck is a National Holiday

Here's what I learned this week.

Corndogs are not Pigs in a Blanket. We were supposed to have corndogs but our order has been a little off lately. Instead we got one case of corndogs and two identical cases labeled pigs in a blanket. Really? Turns out my grandma's been making those wrong...they are really mini sausages wrapped in pancake. We served the "corndogs" with syrup. No one really noticed.

Playboy makes childrens clothing.. I know...I was a little surprised too until a kindergartener came in sporting a black jacket with the words PLAYBOY across the chest and pink playboy bunnies inside the hood.

Elementary language is contagious. It's true. A kindergartener referred to the cafeteria as the "bacteria" and our beloved custodian asked me to draw a chimley for his Cristmas display. Sadly, I am not immune. I asked if I should cut up some vegibles for the salads. it's a good thing we can laugh at ourselves.

There's no fruit! A third grade boy loudly declared that we were completely out of fruit. We stopped serving to fetch more only to find out that there were numerous cups of peaches. His response..."oh I thought those were carrots."

Santa breakfast is worth the work. We had tons of fun serving pancakes and sausages to the kiddos today. Santa took time out of his busy schedule to visit with us. There were tons of smiling faces.

What did you learn this week?

Even though this week was short due to the Columbus Day holiday, I can honestly say I am thankful it is Friday.

Here's what I learned.

Offering choices sucks. I am soooo tired of offering kids a choice of a cold veggie or a hot veggie. No one listens. You repeat yourself continuously. And responses often do not include Yes, please or No thank you.

Kids notice everything. Change your haircolor they will notice. Wear bannana earings and they will notice. Nearly drop the pizza and they will definately notice.

Don't try to scare the pee out of someone unless your bladder is empty. My co worker scared me and almost wet herself. This caused me to laugh randomly the rest of the day.

Confetti Fries.. This is our version of a healthy fry. It is regular fries mixed with sweet potatoe fries. Um...this week they battled it out against carrots and when the kids loudly proclaimed fries. Many asked why I mixed the carrots in with them. Something about an orange fry...

I am a rock star. I read a book called Lunch Bunnies to a class of kindergarteners today. I love how they cheer my name and are always glad I came.

Now to get paid like a rock star.

What did you learn this week?