Rock bottom

I think it's probably good when the worst day of the week is the first day of the week.  Mondays are always the hardest, but then I have the whole week to have better days.

Yesterday was extra.

I had before and after school traffic duty.  Since it was an "orange flag" day and on those days the kids gather in the cafeteria before school, that was a relief because my "traffic duty" was supposed to be keeping the peace in the cafeteria.  Then I was told that one teacher had to be outside at the crosswalk and the one teacher was yours truly.

It was cold, but I had wisely brought my gloves + mittens which are really a game changer.  Layering for the win.

Still, it took up my before and after school time.  

Janelle was gone so her student teacher who was subbing understandably needed a little help.

Inside for both recesses.

No prep time (we don't have specialties on Monday).

We revamped our reading groups so I needed to prep and plan for them.

We made a big change in math so I needed to prep and plan for that.

All this added up to leaving school at 5:30.  Today will be better (colder, but still) and better is better.

Weekend

It's been several weeks since we went out to dinner on Friday, which has been our go to ever since I started teaching full time. Lately, one or both of us is too tired.

So this is to say we are a lot of fun.

Friday, Adam picked up a pizza on his way home and we watched All Creatures Great and Small and he read to me and then I slept for 9 1/2 hours.

Pretty much a perfect Friday evening if you ask me.

Saturday we did all the things + Adam prepared his talk for Sunday when he was speaking in church.  We pulled our bed apart (by we I mean Adam, I'm not much force in heavy lifting) and Adam unplugged my alarm clock to plug in the vacuum to vacuum under the bed.

I asked, "Why didn't you unplug the lamp?"  I am notoriously bad at setting that alarm clock.  I don't know why it is so hard.

He said, "Oh, I should have."  The thoughtless act of a man who doesn't struggle to set the alarm clock.

Saturday evening we picked up Emma and went to the Jazz game.  (Mark had a group of friends over at our house.)

We had a good time at the game, even though we aren't very committed fans.  On the way Emma asked who was playing and I said the Mavericks (because Adam had told me) and she asked where they were from and I said Dallas (because I had asked Adam the same question).  She asked if the Mavericks were any good and I told her I'd tell her in a few hours.

On the way to pick Emma up, I said, "I'm going to tell her she should come and hear her dad speak in church."

Adam said, "She will want to go to her own ward."

I said, "She has 9:00 church."

So I told Emma she should come to our ward.  She said, "Oooh.  Maybe I will.  You have church at noon right?"

So this is to say I know my daughter.

Saturday night, when I was going to sleep, I noticed my clock was still not set properly.  Adam said, "I'll fix it."  I said it was OK, I would just do the math during the night when I wanted to know what time it was.  According to Siri, my clock was about 4 1/2 hours wrong.  When I woke up in the morning, it was 14:00 because it was on the 24 hours setting.

It added a whole new dimension to my math.

I loved having Emma join us for church.  We enjoyed listening to Adam speak.  Emma asked me for a kleenex and I had thought I had some, but I didn't.  We both needed one.  Also, we got a new Relief Society presidency so I was released as counselor.  There are things I will miss about it, but I am not sad about having more time.

We came home and had dinner and played Qwixx which is our new favorite game.  We talked to Braeden's family and just spent a restful day with snow falling outside.

I have traffic duty this week.

So this is to say good things come to an end.

Grateful Friday

There's a low spot all along the back side of the school (outside my door) where the sidewalk meets the pavement.  Water gathers there in a long moat when the snow melts or it rains.  That creates a fun obstacle.  Those who are adventurous try to leap over it (mostly they miss) and those who are timid forlornly wonder how to cross.  (I point out that they can walk around the moat by going down the length of the school.)

Yesterday, the moat was a frozen walkway of ice.  I had recess duty and could see that it was a problem waiting to happen.  I went into the office and asked the secretaries to ask Riley to de-ice.  

As I was walking out of the school, there was a student prone, having fallen and clunked his head on the ice.  I gathered him up and took him inside.  (Whenever there's a head injury, a report has to be filed, luckily not by me.)

I walked back outside and Riley was there with his little machine, scattering de-icer.  The students who were having a lot of fun sliding on the ice were horrified.  "No!" they yelled.  "Don't ruin the ice!"

I didn't want Riley to have to take all the blame so I told them I'd asked him to come.

They turned on me.

I was a "destroyer of fun" and had "betrayed" them.

I just shrugged.  I didn't hire on to be fun.

***

Last week, my class earned the reward for 80% of them reaching their goal in iReady.  It was a BIG deal.  They kept asking me what the reward was.  Since it isn't my contest, I didn't know.  They very nearly have achieved the goal for this week and they wanted to know the reward.  I emailed to find out.  They were every bit as appalled as I was about the reward when I told them what it was.

It was 10 minutes of extra recess.  The teacher was in charge of deciding when.

10 minutes of extra recess in January is akin to punishment.  Half of them don't even really want to go to recess at all when it is in the 20s.

I offered that we could vote on a different reward.  They picked donuts, so I stopped at the store last night and bought donuts.

Among other things, I'm grateful today to be Amelia Bedelia.  I can destroy fun and betray everyone, but in the end, I bring a treat and all is forgiven.

That didn't go well

Well, the bill passed the senate.

I had an hour and a half IEP meeting that was pure chaos and wasted time.  It could have been accomplished in about 15 minutes.

I got multiple voice mails throughout the day from the endocrinologist's office urging me to schedule an earlier appointment because they had openings.  (I had an appointment scheduled at 4:40.)

They texted through this weird app that was a multi-step process to access.

I wanted to keep my appointment because I had work (why I scheduled the appointment for then in the first place).

They wondered if I wanted a telemedicine appointment.  I said sure.

They never responded and then I realized that I had failed to click the little icon that maybe in some modern art way resembled a paper airplane so my message hadn't been sent.

I drove to the doctor office.  On the way there, I got a message that we could do the telemed appointment right then.  I texted back that I was on my way.

So I got there and sat for 40 minutes waiting for my appointment.

Then I left.

I told the girl at the counter I was leaving.  She said, "Are you sure? I could reschedule you..."

I was sure.  So if I die of some undiagnosed thyroid situation, you can point to this day:  the day I rage quit the endocrinologist.

I came home and told it all to Mark.  He said, "Good thing you're so patient."

I said, "I'm not that patient."

He said, "Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?"

It's not for nothing that A Charlie Brown Christmas is his favorite.

Big feelings

There is a bill in Utah that has passed the house and is moving to the state senate.  

It is about school choice and would give $8000 to students to use for a private school.  The state currently spends $4000 per student for public school.  It is a bill that bizarrely couples a raise for teachers with school choice.  (The coupling is there to make it more palatable.)

Let's imagine a scenario.  I don't like the library or want to use it, I'd rather get my books on Amazon.  The library never has the books available that I want.  The hold list is interminable.

So would we pass a bill that people who don't want to use the library (for valid reasons) would get a stipend to use at Amazon?  I could get the exact books I want!  Fast!  

The libraries would suffer if we take the money away to give to the people who want their books from Amazon, but so be it.

That sounds crazy, right?

Here are some things that one of the lobbyist/supporters of the bill, Allison Sorensen, said:

When it comes to school choice, I have taught at a private school, I have homeschooled and I currently teach at a Title 1 school.  I am like Farmers Insurance.

I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two.

And I have big feelings about this.

I have students whose families are barely hanging on.  Public schools are one place where they get stability and security.  It is the place where they can hope to break the cycle of poverty.  These students, with their struggling and/or dysfunctional families would not be able to afford or manage private school even if they were given $8000.  (Also, I don't think many private schools would accept the ones who are so far behind.)

This bill would just take money away from a group of people who need it the most.  Also, the whole reason we have public schools is because we have decided that educating the general public is better for everyone.  Everyone.  Widening the gap between the haves and have nots isn't better for anyone.

And I also have big feelings about teachers unions.  I get so tired of the rhetoric that is batted around in politics about the big bad teachers union who is only there for a money grab and doesn't care about students, but rather is out to hurt students.

I am part of the teachers union.  The teachers union isn't some inanimate evil entity.  It is teachers.

Here's what the union does:  1) send me notices that I can sign up for life insurance 2) advocate for teachers in the government.

I know all the teachers at my school who are part of the teachers union.  I can 100% guarantee that we are not in it for the money, or even the damn money.

Janelle and I were talking after school about this.  She said, "We know and they know we aren't going to strike.  We care too much about the students.  We wouldn't want to hurt our students."

I wish Allison Sorensen, delightful woman that she seems to be, would come to my school.

I would like her to see the teachers who bring food from home and drop off clothing and gloves and hats for the wellness room.  I would like her to see that every car is in the parking lot well after our contract hours are up.

I would like her to see us sharing ideas to try harder to reach them.  I would like her to see that we don't just say every student is our student.  We actually mean it.

I would like her to see us crying at times because our hearts are breaking over their tough lives that we can't fix.

I would like her to see the smiles on our faces when we welcome them to school.  

Then I would like her to tell me again that we don't care.

Baby it's cold outside

Inside recess yesterday and I am pretty sure that will be happening more this week.  When it is colder than 20 degrees, we are inside.

Yesterday during inside recess I had boys arguing about if Bob the Builder is a Yankees fan, which is to say, we really need outside recess.

Adam is in Mexico.  He ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings the other night which was disappointing to him. He likes an adventure.

I don't really like an adventure.  I wimped out on walking with Clarissa because I had been cold all day and I couldn't summon the courage to walk.  My classroom was 59 degrees when I walked in yesterday morning and by the time I was leaving and the sun was streaming in, it finally got up to 70.  It is always either as hot as a thousand burning suns or...not.

It's January and we just need to ride it out.

Weekend

Sometimes I come home from school with my shoulders up around my ears from stress.  Sometimes I come home with shoulders drooping in defeat.

I think this school year just needs to be endured.

Here's something though.  We have this contest thing going for passed lessons on iReady (which is our math program).  The previous week 6 students in my class reached their goal of four passed lessons.  The other third grades each had around 12.

My class struggles so hard.

Last week, we reached our goal of 16 students getting 4 lessons passed!  Kind of.  Five of my students passed 8 lessons and I counted it.  So I actually only had 11 students pass 4 lessons, but we still celebrated!

Another great thing that happened is that I met Clarissa for our walk and it was light!  It's only going to get better.

Otherwise, the weekend was quiet.  We did the quiet Saturday things.  We got more snow.  Adam left for a business trip to Mexico.  I cross-stitched and watered my plants and baked gluten free carrot cake breakfast cookies.  I'm on a quest to get Mark healthier.

The cookies were OK.  You would think the carrots would have made them sweeter, but they weren't really sweet at all.  They weren't much of anything except the powdery taste of gluten free flour. (I was hoping the oats would counteract that, but alas.)  I watched Mark try one.  I said, "They don't have a taste."

He said, "Weird.  You're right."

I said, "They're not bad."

He said, "No, they're not."

I said, "But, they're not good."

He said, "No, they're not."

Mark and I made beef bulgogi (with gluten free soy sauce) for dinner.  Since he'd had a stomach-ache all weekend, I told him that kimchi was a probiotic and would be good for him.

He said, "No."

He said, "Anything pickled is just a different rotten."

We liked the bulgogi though (and I had a little kimchi, which I think is actually fermented rather than pickled, but I don't think that would have changed Mark's mind).

We had stake conference, which was wonderful.  I felt inspired to do better and be better.  I felt encouraged.

It was the kind of restorative weekend that I need to pull up my boots and get back at it on a Monday.  

Grateful Friday

Yesterday we had a leadership meeting after school and the team leads had to make a presentation about their grade's progress in front of four grim faced district representatives.

There was a delay getting the third grade slide up.  While Kristie was working on it, she asked, "Do you have any jokes Thelma?"

I said my one joke.  "What did zero say to eight?"

"Nice belt."

Everyone laughed and they weren't even third graders.  So that was something to be grateful about.

I'm grateful that despite the steep uphill climb, my class is making progress.

I'm grateful that although it is hit and miss, behavior is seeming to improve.

I'm grateful I have cracked the code getting ahold of the millennial parents.  They neither answer the phone nor email.  If I text them, I get an immediate response.  Immediate!  Janelle doesn't necessarily want all the parents to have her cell phone number.  I am fine with it because it means I actually can get in touch with parents. Besides, more often than not my phone is on do not disturb--an introvert's dream setting.

I'm grateful for the layers of help that are at our little school.  We need every layer.

I'm grateful that Adam and I have two trips planned.  Trips with Adam are my favorite!

I'm grateful for my friends and my family and modern medicine and cold remedies and ice cubes.  

(Seriously, I don't know how the Europeans are happy without ice cubes!)

What goes through your mind?!?

Often, when our kids were younger, I would be amazed and/or aghast at the things it didn't occur to me to tell them not to do.

Nothing prepares you for the minds of children.

The same applies to being a teacher.  I didn't think to tell them not to lick that or say that or create that kind of chaos.

Yesterday one boy was teasing another that he "had a date."

I unraveled it all and it turned out since the first student had sunflower seeds, the second student's natural conclusion was that he was going to plant the seeds and grow sunflowers and then give them to a girl on a date.

The first student said, "They are FOOD!"

Yesterday a different boy thought that if he said "potato" to everything it would be funny.  It wasn't.  I told him it wasn't.  He kept doing it.  Potato, potato, potato. I said, "Look around you.  Is anyone laughing?  You aren't as funny as you think you are."

He looked a little embarrassed and I thought that maybe I should have been less harsh, but sometimes you need to tell people to. Just. Stop.

Yesterday a student gave back the birthday cards that the other students had created, with critiques.  I had a classroom of hurt feelings.  I gathered up all the cards.

I'm telling you, nothing prepares you for these scenarios.

After school I was waiting in line for the bathroom (there is always a line, no matter what time of day).  The teacher in front of me and the one in the adjacent work room were spinning about all they had to do and I felt the same.  That after school time is a caffeinated squirrel situation.  

The teacher in front of me said, "Hey!  It's Wednesday!"  Which is kind of a great discovery to make in a short week.

It's the kind of low bar celebration you need sometimes.

The cutest boy I ever saw, was sippin' cider through a straw

Yesterday I had a notice in my box at work about my "Bronco Buddy."  I was looking it over and realized, this is a secret sister.  Is an elementary school basically girls' camp?

We have first aid situations, we have contraband snacks, we have food assignments, sometimes we have costumes, we have songs (but not around a campfire), we have mean girl drama (mostly at recess).  

We are big into themes.

We have sleep deprivation.  

We are all women except one 6th grade teacher, which is kind of a girls' camp ratio when you think about it.

(At least we have running water and don't have to sleep in a tent.)

Is this what happens when 99% of your faculty has probably been to girls' camp?

What is next?  Am I going to be given a ministering assignment?

YEN

Adam and I have joined a new group:  Young Empty Nesters (YEN).  We had our first gathering last night.  I came home with my face hurting from laughing so much.  We had good food that everyone contributed to.  We were assigned seats so we would get to know new people, but we all knew each other anyway.  It was a lot of fun.

We talked about our children a tiny bit.  We talked about food and good restaurants.  We talked about trips.  We talked about the bizarre people you encounter that make life kind of delightful.

Several people said eating pasta in a restaurant wasn't worth it and I said that La Dolce Vita in Provo IS worth it.  I will die on that hill.

The hostess has a little dog and she said it was a good distraction with her newly empty nest.

I have 22 distractions who call me Teacher.

I also technically don't have an empty nest.  I took brownies last night and came home with half a pan.  I tried to give them away but everyone said they were "trying to eat less sugar."  January problems.

Everyone talked about how when you make anything now, you don't know what to do with all the leftovers.  

My trouble is that my little bird in the nest doesn't eat gluten and here I am with these brownies....

Weekend

I was upstairs folding laundry and Adam was in his office organizing appointments for the stake president. 

That could be the lead up to any event happening late on a Saturday afternoon around here.

This time, the doorbell rang and I yelled down to Adam to ask if he could get it.  Then he sounded really happy and called me down.  It was Adam Jackson!

His family lives in the neighborhood in Washington where we used to live.  He is Braeden's age and spent time at our house.  One time (because I was a rearranger of furniture back then), I asked them to help me move the piano and Adam pushed back, "This is the best place for the piano."  I said grab a corner, we're moving it.

I think I remember that because of all the boys' friends who helped me move furniture, he's the only one who ever had an opinion. (I told Adam that I no longer move furniture because it is sunny here and I am happy about it.)

He was in our seminary carpool and went on many many campouts with my Adam and Braeden.

We love Adam.

And while we've seen his parents when we have been back to visit, I don't think we'd seen him since we moved from Washington.  (He was shocked when he saw Mark since Mark was 11 years old the last time they saw each other.)

We sat him down and had him tell us all about him.  We filled him in about us.  He had talked to Braeden on his birthday and asked Braeden for our address.  He told Braeden he was going to stop by and surprise us.

We had pizza dough rising + a cauliflower crust so I asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner.  He did.  We chatted while I pulled ingredients out and Adam prepared the crust and other Adam asked him if he could throw it in the air and spin it. (No.  The answer was no.)

I snapped a picture to text Braeden and Emma.

Our house was sort of a mess, not really company ready.  A blanket was draped over the banister that wasn't quite dry in the laundering.  There were boxes on the hearth, the dishes were halfway done, the dinner was simple and somehow it didn't matter in the least.

There's something about having your children's childhood friends back.  It just feels like home.

Grateful Friday

Tomorrow is a teacher work day.  I have a WHOLE LIST.  One thing on the list was to ask Janelle and Miriam their Swig orders.  I told them I'd bring them drinks.

Can you have a teacher work day without Swig?  I would hate to find out.

I'm grateful for my friends and time to do all the things and Swig.

I'm grateful school went a whole lot better yesterday.  Did it help that a few key students were absent?  Yes.  Yes it did.

I'm grateful Mark is feeling better.

Wednesday night, in desperation, I texted Natalie.  She is the mother of one of my students and has a son with type 1 diabetes and one with celiac.  Like mothers do, we both hate it when our boys are sick.  She gave me some ideas that might help Mark and a medicine to try.  I ordered the medicine.  Throwing money at a problem that I am completely helpless in the face of is a strategy I like to employ....

Last night, Natalie texted to check in on how Mark was doing.  It was such a kind gesture and I'm grateful for all the good people in my life.

I'm grateful it's the weekend.  A long weekend even.  

I'm grateful for sunny days, blue blue skies and bright white mountains full of snow.

There is good here

Yesterday, when I was driving, I heard these words:  there is good here.

And I was having sort of a bad day.

Thinking there is good here feels like a gentler Pollyanna.

Mark has been sick for a few days.  Throwing up and feeling awful.  Did he get accidental gluten?  Is something else going on?  He gets so discouraged about his health and I feel helpless in the face of it.  

There is good here.  I'm glad he's home right now and I'm glad that we can try to help him.

Most days I come home from school feeling defeated.  Yesterday was like that.  

There is good here.  I have the backbone (delusion?) to keep going back.  Things are a hot mess, but I am improving all the time.  My capacity is increasing.  This class would have annihilated my 22 year old self when I started teaching.

There is other good here.  After school yesterday I talked to the birthday boy and walked with Clarissa so between the two, I got a double dose of sunshine.  Before bed Adam read to me and finished the book, The Man Who Died Twice.  It was such a delight!  Adam's reading has a very soporific effect on me and I could only last for a few pages each night so it took us a long time to read even though we loved it.  It was a great book to savor though.  It felt like having a perfect small square of chocolate every night.

There is good here.

My boy

Today is Braeden's birthday and I am not over it yet.  I still want to make him a cake and watch him make a wish and blow out the candles.  I want to watch him open gifts and let him pick what is for dinner.

Sigh.

Children grow up and that is all.

I told him on the phone the other day that I was sad not to be making him a cake and he said to make one anyway, because it was the birthday of me being a mom.

Not the same.

Between Christmas and reading the New Testament this year, I've had Mary on my mind.  In Luke 2:51, it says, "but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart."

That is what mothers do.  They keep it all in their heart.

He is grown and flown, but I remember my little birthday boy:

I remember my boy who loves water.

I remember my boy who loves to dress up:

I remember the gift of an older brother he is:

I remember this valiant missionary:

And righteous man:

Devoted grandson:

And loving husband (and father!):

He is sunshine and goodness and I keep him in my heart.  Happy birthday Braeden!

Thoughts and prayers

We have a drought.  A historical drought.  Since records are being taken, (a history, if you will) isn't ALL the weather historical?  I don't know.

Anyway.

People around here are praying for rain and snow.  People pray prayers of gratitude when we get rain or snow.  Me too. The governor has even asked us to pray.  (When you live in Utah, part of the governor's drought response can be to get people to pray and I am here for it!)

Here's the thing.

Inside recess.

I know rain and snow are definitely for the greater good.  We need that water.

But inside. Recess.

It is slowly sucking the life-force out of me.  

Maybe we can add strength, endurance, and patience for the teachers to those prayers....

***

The rain and snow we are getting are the remnants of the deluge California is getting.  Braeden and Anna keep losing power.  Braeden said he took an extra pair of pants to his office so he could change when he got there.  It was that wet.

They had church at a funeral home.  A member of their ward owns it and has generators.  Braeden said they only had sacrament meeting and afterward, everyone was going around and checking on each other.

People are pretty great, even when you get a lot of rain...or have inside recess.

Before I get TOO excited

Friday after not getting enough sleep all week, I woke up with a migraine.  I saw an ad for something for 2025 and I honest to goodness thought I probably wouldn't make it that long.

I staggered to school.  I told my students I had a headache and would love it if they would be quiet.  In a shocking turn of events, they weren't.  It was snowing/raining so we had inside recess.  For lunch, I have always opted to still eat in my classroom and keep an eye on my students when we have inside recess, even though I don't have to.  For the first time, I ate in the faculty room with Janelle and the recess aide monitored my class.  I didn't want the noise, noise, noise.

Somewhere along in the afternoon, I started feeling better and feeling better from a migraine is the best feeling in the world.  

I was perked up enough that I made up some games for our grammar lesson. We were talking about adjectives.  We played a guessing game where someone had to think of a noun, then you could only use adjectives to describe it.  If you used a verb, you were out.  

Then we still had a little time so another game.  I said that I'd give a Skittle to them if they could name one adjective about me that no one else had said.  They had lots of ideas.  Curly hair, brown hair, teacher, glasses, smart, kind, funny, caring, tall.  It was starting to go right to my head, especially the tall adjective.  You can't be the shortest in your family and not be a little flattered when someone (who admittedly doesn't know your siblings and is also a child) thinks you're tall.

The next adjective was equally descriptive.  Old.

Yep.  I gave them a Skittle for that one too.  They weren't wrong.

Grateful Friday

I'm grateful for vacuum lines in my carpet that I didn't put there.

I'm grateful for the package on my doorstep that was not in a box because I am drowning in cardboard to recycle. 

I'm grateful that at the leadership meeting after school, when I said I had no idea what they were talking about or where to find it, nobody minded.  In fact other people didn't know either.  And Nicole passed me the box of Trader Joe's gingerbread men.

I'm grateful it is Friday.  Jeans to school and a weekend to look forward to and Camie might pop popcorn.

I'm grateful we're getting more snow.  Take that, drought.

I'm grateful for indoor plumbing and central heating and running water.  I'm grateful for lights and cozy blankets and a stocked refrigerator.  When I think about it, I'm not just drowning in cardboard boxes.  I'm also drowning in the luxuries the simple things I take for granted provide!

I'm grateful for Adam who is unconditionally kind to me.  Always.

Problem solving

Yesterday I called Marianne on my way home from school because I had a quandary.   (I've had a lot of mental strife keeping me up at night, but I had my team help me restructure our schedule at school, and that helped!  As for the not sleeping?  My kids would say I am afraid of success.  Sigh.)

I asked Marianne how she was.  She said, "Perplexed."  Her conundrum had to do with taxes and their business.  I said I knew nothing about that.

I asked her about my conundrum and she said she had no idea.

I said, "OK, here's another question.  Hopefully you'll do better with this one."

It was ideas for Olivia's upcoming birthday.  And Marianne had a good one.

So, she's still my go to.

I had a chiropractor appointment yesterday morning at 6:45.  I did not realize that was even a possibility!  

Also, it was dark and cold and early.  And I have tennis elbow.  

Last night I said to Mark, "Guess what I have and I don't even play tennis?"

He said, "Athlete's foot?"

I said, "No, why would you say athlete's foot?  I have tennis elbow."

He said, "You think I think things before I say them?  I am hearing them the same time as you are."

Mark also told me about some of the irate people who call him at work.  Customer service is not for the faint of heart.  It's like they think if they yell at the guy answering the phone, the university is going to change its policies.

Later in our conversation, I was mentioning something about how Marianne knew how to fix everything for people.  I gave him a few examples of people in Ghana and Kiribati that she has helped.  Mark said, "Maybe I'll start giving her number to people who call in at work."

I think it's a good plan.

Good to be back

Yesterday my brain sort of felt like it had sludge in it all day.  I was tired and cold and disoriented.

It was an "orange flag" day which is what happens when it is extra cold and/or snowing.  There's an orange flag outside before school and that means go to the cafeteria and the teachers pick up the students there, rather than have them wait outside.  I trudged down, wondering where my break had gone.

Then I saw my students and my students saw me and we broke into smiles.

Also, I forgot I had a haircut that week before Christmas which feels like a few lifetimes ago.  I think every adult in the building commented on my hair.  "Did you get a haircut?"  "I like your haircut!"  "That haircut is super cute!"

I think I passed super cute a few decades ago, if ever, but it was nice.

Back in the saddle again

This morning when I woke up on a cold dark morning without a Christmas tree to add light and earlier than I've been waking up for a few weeks, I decided it takes grit to get up on the first day back at work in January.

Then I thought, I just gave myself a compliment.  I have grit, because here I am.

We got more snow overnight and our street was already pretty bad.  I'm hoping Joan is ready for an adventure.

When we were in Nevada, I laid out for Robert some of my biggest behavior challenges at school.  He is an experienced and professional behavior specialist and he gave me some good ideas that will work I think!  He also was very validating which maybe helps even more.

I'm looking forward to seeing my friends today.  I'm looking forward to seeing my students.  I know they'll be tired and out of sorts too, but we'll get through it.

I'm declaring we all have grit.  We can do this!

Weekend

 Happy New Year.  So far my singular resolution is not to buy into my weather app’s house of lies.

On Saturday, my dad and I (he is a fellow weather watcher), discovered that 14 inches of snow were predicted!

Our kids were coming in Adam’s Subaru and we had our van, which is great for hauling all the things and not as great in the snow.  Adam took the van to Wells to leave it there and rode back with the kids.

We only got a couple of inches of snow.

Yesterday a similar amount of snow was predicted for Utah County.  They got about 5-6 inches.

So you can see why my New Years resolution is important.  Also, like Olivia pointed out, it is attainable.

We have had a wonderful weekend here.  Aside from the occasional mouse (bleck!), it feels like paradise.  

I love being in this still and beautiful place steeped with so many memories.  I love spending time with my parents and siblings and their families.  I love how relaxing it is.  Friday I cleaned the bathrooms and swept and vacuumed the floors and it didn’t take very long at all because 1) the house is pretty small and 2) we don’t have much stuff.  So that was all my chores accomplished.  All that was left was visiting family, reading and doing a little cross-stitch.

With a dose of gazing out the window at the snow.

If I had been home, I would have had a to do list, likely with columns.  

So I am grateful for the restraint an almost empty house provides.

Here is the new chair Adam and Emma gave me for Christmas.  Mark gave me the clock and I framed the little chalkboard with driftwood from Mukilteo beach.

It is a lovely little spot to sit.

I love the communal spirit here.  My parents take care of us with dinner invitations and snow plowing and turning on the heat. Robert loaned us duct tape to seal up the dryer duct more completely (maybe where the mice are entering?) and he and Nikki delivered a chair my mom loaned us when she found out I had a new chair.  She wanted Adam to have one too.  Edgar stuck a bag of ice melt on our back porch, just because he thought we would need it and he stuck some mouse traps in the back of our car when we were all at Marianne’s last night.

Saturday night we convened at Marianne’s.  She is the party girl with the party house.  It was so fun to be there with everyone.  We played games and ate splendid food and just enjoyed ourselves.  I almost stayed until midnight, I was having that much fun.  Adam and Mark and I all left a little early and Robert brought Emma over later.

On Sunday, we went to church in Wells.  It feels like I am related to half the people there and the other half are complete strangers (with a few exceptions).  It is very familiar and I look for the people who are long gone in the spots where they always used to sit.  By their lives, or in actual lessons in Sunday school, primary or seminary classes, they taught me how I wanted to live.  You can’t repay that gift.

In the afternoon, Emma and Mark drove back to Utah and Adam and I stayed put.  I would continue this dream forever if I could.

Being with my sisters is like an ongoing party where you don’t have to dress up or try to impress anyone.  We rub each others’ shoulders because we all have the same back and we laugh a lot and share food.

I taught them Mexican Train last night except I forgot about half the rules and when Adam came over after talking to Edgar, he righted the ship.  Out of the group:  my mom, Adam, Olivia, Marianne, Carolina and Robert (Edgar and my dad visited in the other room while we played), I came in dead last.  By a lot.

Today, the spell breaks and we are going back to Utah.  I am back at school tomorrow.  Onward.