Without getting into much detail, I’ve mentioned that this year has been a rollercoaster ride of medical issues in the family so that’s also taken up time and energy.  Summer is usually the time that I recharge my batteries, get in great shape and do lots of reading and work around the house and yard. My garden is off to a slow start but that’s due to the weather, not the fact that I’m working. I’m hoping to have a nice crop of veges by this time next month.

Catching up… we had a nice 4th of July cookout here and it was the first nice day in a LONG time.  I waited until the last minute to declare it officially ON because we’ve definitely outgrown our house in terms of entertaining at this point. We barely even fit in the yard!  Luckily, the weather was perfect so people were able to spread out and use the yard, pool, and porch.

Tomorrow is the big annual family picnic for Al’s family and it looks like the weather will be nice too.. yippee!!  I’m going to have to watch it though and not sit around the pastry table with with other ladies since I’m committed to continue with my weight loss. (Of course I have extra padding that I could stand to lose but the main reason why is because I’m trying to avoid going on cholesterol medication and my doctor is going to recheck it  in the fall after I’ve lost more weight.) I don’t take any medication and will try to avoid it at all costs.  Of course, if after losing weight it’s still high, I’ll have no choice because the alternative of increased risk factors for heart disease is not acceptable.

Something else that’s different is my hairstyle.  I had decided that I would cut it this summer when it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love and it reached the required 10 inches so off it came. I’m not used to blow drying my hair so I’ll have to add that into my routine in the morning (no more sopping wet ponytails heading out the door for school) but I’m sure it won’t take me long to work it out. I’m happy with the cut and even more happy that someone else can benefit from something that I can pass on.

So while some things are different, like my schedule, the fact that I won’t be attending every Training Camp session, and my look, there are plenty of things that will remain constant: spending time with my family and furry girls, reading as much as I can, enjoying nature and being thankful that I’m able to be in my favorite place as much as I can… home!

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A Different Summer…

July 30: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

July 31: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

August 1: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

August 2: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

August 3: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

August 4: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

August 5: 9:30am – 11:15am; 3:45pm – 5:30pm

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

Patriots Training Camp

It’s been a VERY emotional few weeks with some personal issues in our family so I’m really looking forward to a change of pace. I look forward to my Summer Life… taking my dogs for walks, reading for pleasure, enjoying nature and recharging my batteries.

I’m glad to say that I finally got my garden planted and thanks to Al for helping me extend the garden this year. I usually end up with a nice crop of vegetables but they’re usually too crowded in and it’s hard to harvest. The extra space make things much easier and will allow me to plant even more.

I look forward to relaxing a bit and doing more of this:

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

Countdown is On!

It’s great to go around and look at things for sale on Traders Row and I love to see everyone’s lodge set-ups and clothes. There are so many different looks there and each person is unique. We only go for the weekend because I of work (and kids and dogs!) but it’s not long enough for me. I would love to go for the entire time if I could. Of course, we’ve had nice weather when we’ve been there and once we left this year, we seemed to have taken the sun with us. It rained for the rest of the week once we left.

Our crew has made plans to get together monthly to do the little projects such as repairs and creating the things that we’ll need. I made a new outfit for Al this year but I plan on sewing all year so I won’t be rushing at the last minute next year. (I’ll be keeping my eye on the sales all year as well.)  I’m pretty set for clothes but definitely need more warm things. Once again, we froze the first night. (Hint for next year: put the stove together on Day 1 unless it’s super hot!)

I love the fact that I store my photos online so I can upload and share ASAP but I’ll be printing out my album for this year some time this week. There’s been so much going on since we’ve gotten back, I’ve had little time for anything.

The entire 2009 Album and Slideshow  is here!

Additional Links:

National Rendezvous and Living History Wikipedia Entry

Mountain Man Rendezvous Sites

Living History ReEnactments

National Living History Foundation

Original High Plains Primitive Rendezvous

NRLHF Eastern Primitive Rendezvous

Pacific Primitive Rendezvous

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Love the Rendezvous!

Ready to Rendezvous! 

Check back here for the scoop about our Rendezvous and to see the pictures!

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Going off the Grid!

Got my life back! 

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

I’ve Got my Life Back!

Look what happened, overnight!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted and it’s because I’ve been very busy with school things and real life. My time online has really been dwindling and I jump on and off to check email, Twitter, and Facebook statuses but I’ve been doing a lot of reading and trying to get outside to take the girls for walks. (I even ran Lincoln Woods last weekend so I’ve been getting back into that as well.)

This is the final week that I can work on the State Alternate Assessment for my kids and I’ve been going full force since April vacation. I’ve literally been going in early every day, staying late, and working through EVERY prep period and planning period for the last month. It’ll be close but I need to have it ready for pickup Wednesday night when I leave school.  This week is going to be hairy as I already know that I’ll be alone tomorrow ( Assistant is sick…) so I’ll have to keep my kids and won’t have a prep to work on it because they can’t go to gym and music alone. I have quite a few medical appointments to attend as well, so there won’t be much after school time available. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to eek it out.

It was a busy weekend with going out to dinner and to  see Foreigner (blast from the past!) last night with friends and spending today at the Special Olympics with my kids. This is the first time I’ve been online for more than 30 seconds today so I dropped this quick post at the last minute. I’m really hoping that with the end of the Assessment comes time to get back to more social media interacting and new media creation.  Until then… see you on Twitter or Facebook and wish me luck!

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

Last big push…

I’m really going to be behind the 8 ball until the assessment is due May 8th because I’ve got lots to do before that. In addition, the medical issues in the family have not been resolved yet so there are many appointments lined up. I’ve also got to dedicate some real time to working out in order to drop some pounds for my own health.

At least I’ve been able to get lots of reading done this week due to the wonders of audio books. I’ve been able to read while walking, cleaning, and running errands. I still love to read print books but the audio versions allow me to multitask and whittle down my TBR (to be read ) pile.

When I go back to school for the final 45 or so days, I’ll have lots to do and many decisions to make about what I’ll be doing this summer and which direction I want to move into in terms of my future. I have AT LEAST 14 more years to work until I can retire at age 59… more if I stay past that but I still would love to retire now…. sigh… Just goes to show you that you really can’t change who you really are and that deep rooted hopes and dreams may be suppressed but they’re always there no matter what. (For those of you who don’t know me well, you may not know that all I ever wanted to be was a stay at home mom, but it just never worked out that way….)

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Vacation Week is flying by…

Tomorrow will be Day 130 at school, with 50 to go!  It’s that time of the year that I have lots and lots of paperwork and various individualized plans and assessments  to do for my students. In order to make it, I’ll be staying at school late and bringing work home a lot. April vacation starts on Good Friday, 4/10, and I’ll likely be working every day  on it during the following week.  I’m not going away anywhere and I have an appointment every day but the agenda will include  school work, working out, and yard work. I’m really hoping to have a good chunk of work done before vacation starts so I can do some relaxing too.

I finally was able to get my Pats website updated this week, after spending time fixing the bugs that prevented me from automatically updating. I also banged out a real quick Podcast after school today and hope to be more consistent with the draft approaching. The one thing that I’ve managed to do a lot of these days has been reading.  Since I’ve not been online much at all, I’ve been banging out the books!

I’ve also been able to go to the gym quite a bit, have been working out at home and after school with coworkers, and may run a 5k this weekend…. we’ll see how it goes! Meanwhile, despite the craziness in my life of late, I’ve personally been trying to take very good care of my health and balance it all.

It feels good to be back….

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

Time to get back to normal…

Spring has sprung!

A time of new beginnings… and hope. <3  Things have been crazy here due to some medical things going on and the endless tests and waiting for answers.  I’ve pretty much been on auto-pilot for the last two months and have been pretty quiet in the social media/new media space. Thankfully for Pats fans it’s the offseason so they’re not missing much due to  my lack of podcasting. (Honestly though, family comes first so even if it was right in the the middle of the season, there probably wouldn’t be many shows anyway right now.) Hopefully, we get the answers we seek by the end of this week.

School is chugging along and with it, the dreaded Alternate Assessment hanging over my head… (I won’t get into how much I despise it and disagree with it here AGAIN…. let’s just say that it almost has convinced me to switch positions and leave the kids that I love teaching just to escape it, more than once!) It’s the time of the year that paperwork is piling up and I’ve got lots of IEP meetings to try to schedule as well.  I also need to really decide what I’m going to do in terms of taking more classes to apply towards my re-certification. I would prefer to work towards something that will give me some more options for the future rather than just take a bunch of random classes and end up with lots of credits.

I’m dying to get out in the yard and get my hands in the earth.  I’m planning on expanding my little garden and want to put in a raised bed across from it but we have to do some repairs to the fence first.  Last year, I had a great tomato crop and pole bean crop but many of my other vegetables didn’t do that well because of the cramped space. I’m hoping that my expansion will work out well and I’m looking forward to getting to work. My compost bins have been doing their thing and I’ll be uncovering my rainbarrels soon. (I’m such a nature girl.. always was and always will be!)

Although it’s grey this morning, I hope to get out to Lincoln Woods later today for a nice walk around the pond. I’ve also got the usual laundry, library, CVS,  and marketing to do before heading back to school tomorrow. Hopefully, I can squeeze in some reading time in there somewhere. Here’s looking forward to a productive week and some good news along the way.

Post from: Karen Cardoza's The 25th Hour

Spring has sprung