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.