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Thursday, November 9, 2023

A day in the life

Every once in a while I decide to pay attention to the wacky and lovely things that happen in a day and record them on my blog.

Yesterday was one of those days.  Here are some of the things that happened yesterday:

A girl came up and solemnly asked me if my dad ever had gout.  I said, "No."  

She said, "Mine does.  Polys get it a lot."

What about my pasty white skin makes her think my dad may be Polynesian?

Another girl came into school covered--seriously all over--with chocolate.  She was eating toast with Nutella and it was on her nose and forehead and on both arms of her jacket and all over her shirt and hands.  She came up to me and said "I need help."

I said, "The first thing you need to do is either eat that or throw it away.  She threw it away.  I said, "Now go wash your hands."

Then we got after it with wipes and wet paper towels.

I can't emphasize enough that I never know what to expect.

During the clean up job, another girl told me about the great breakfast her dad had made her with a tortilla and eggs.  She said, "You should try it."

I told her it sounded good, but I usually don't make breakfast for myself because I eat a breakfast bar.

She said, "Oh," in a knowing way.  Then said, "My neighbor is basically loaded and they have breakfast bars."

My breakfast bars are homemade, (I make a batch every weekend) so I don't know if that counts, but am I unwittingly part of an elite breakfast bracket?

We did a little math quiz.  I preempted the inevitable question of what should I do when I'm done, by telling them to sit at their desk and read quietly until everyone else was finished.  I noticed after awhile that two kids were happily reading while the math quiz sat unfinished on their desks.  "You have to finish the quiz before you can read!" I said.  

They said, "Ohhhhhhh." It's like it was their first day at school ever and they didn't know how these things work.

My ten times larger than life boy did a math problem at my desk correctly and he jumped up and did a victory dance that would rival anything done by the NFL in the end zone.  "Come and do the next one," I said.

As I was leaving for the day, I encountered two first grade boys walking in from the playground.  They  were there for Boys and Girls Club.  One of them asked, "Third grade, right?"

I said, "Yes."

He said, "You're....Mrs......"

The other boy said, "Davis."

I asked, "How do you know my name?"

He proudly pointed to my ID badge and said, "I read it!"

Is there anything more exciting than being able to read?!?  I told him he was very smart.  His classmate said, "Yeah, and I can do 2nd grade math."

I said, "What smart boys!" and they grinned their biggest jack-o-lantern missing teeth grins.

The best thing that happened all day was this note I intercepted.  I always capture notes when I see them to make sure there isn't any mean stuff going on and this note about made my day.


How lovely to apologize and forgive.  I called them both up to my desk and said, "I don't like you passing notes but I love how kind both of you are."

They shyly smiled and went back to their seats.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Grateful

Yesterday was a lot.  For one thing:  inside recess because of rain.  They need recess and I need them to have recess and that is all.

I have a student who is struggling so much with behavior and emotional and social development.  It breaks my heart.

I am grateful for the entire team that is at school to help.

I am grateful we had leftovers and I didn't need to make dinner.  

In more trivial news, I am grateful my Swatch watch is working.  It would work and then stop working indiscriminately and since I bought it in the late 80s, I can't really blame it.  Adam took it to Las Vegas on the off chance he'd be able to take it to the Swatch store for repair and he never had time, but for some reason it now works.  It makes me happy every time I see it.  Maybe it just needed a vacation.

I am grateful for my good parents.  They have been weighing options for my mom's cancer treatment and have been prayerful and sought revelation.  They feel good about their way forward.  My mom is going to get treatment in Carson City and my dad and sisters and I are going to take turns joining her.  We argued briefly about whose car we were going to take when I go.  I want to take Joan and my parents want us to take their car.  We were going back and forth talking about the merits of our cars and I played my best card, that Joan has a heated steering wheel.

My dad said, "Well our car doesn't have that.  But you only need it for three minutes."

I said, "My hands are cold right now.  I need it for more than three minutes."

So I think Joan and I have won.

I am grateful for lists.  Thanksgiving, sub plans, Christmas.  I am list making diligently and I appreciate the soothing way they quiet my brain.



Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Busy

Is anything more boring than listening to how busy someone is?  Probably, but it is tiresome.

And we all do it. 

Last night I was making dinner and Adam and Emma called on their drive home and I just launched into all the things and how swamped I felt.

It didn't help that it was getting dark and I still needed TIME.  It can not be this late already!

One of the things that had me hassled was that I am seriously trying with my ministering assignment and I feel like I am seriously failing.

After having my texts completely ignored, I just decided to stop by at a lady's house yesterday afternoon.  I had a gift in hand, because how can you say no to a gift?

She told me she was busy.  She practically shut the door in my face.

Hmph.

We're all busy.  It doesn't preclude you from basic manners, right?

After I talked to Adam and Emma, I realized the irony of feeling bugged by someone too busy to talk to me when I just lay out all my busy-ness to them.

Ugh.

It's hard to be a person.

I resolve to be a little kinder when other people are busy and a little less frantic when I am busy.

I'll try.

Monday, November 6, 2023

Weekend: headache edition

Sadness.

I woke up with a migraine on Saturday.  That derailed some of my plans, but I took my new migraine medicine which makes me feel better headache-wise but loopy otherwise.  It's a trade I'm more than willing to make.  

Later in the day we got covid + flu shots.  Is that the best idea when you're recovering from a migraine?  I don't know.

In the late afternoon I felt well enough to go with Adam and Emma to downtown Provo.  Ever since Emma went to Snohomish last weekend, I've been wanting to go to antiques shops.  She said there were "a lot" on Center Street.  There weren't.  Little stores come and go on that street.  There was one store and everything seemed way way overpriced.

We went to a guitar store because Emma wants to buy a bass guitar and we went to Hobby Lobby because I'm the self appointed craft girl for Thanksgiving and I needed to buy sequins.  

We rounded out the evening with a stop at Winco and Culver's.  Who knows how to party like us?

We saw the mother of one of my students at Winco.  Emma said, "Do you ever come here and not see one of your students or their families?"  I don't and maybe that's one reason why I grocery shop at Winco.  This mother told me I was a good teacher and "like a mother" to the students and I felt like Emma should pipe up and say that I actually was a mother, but she didn't.

Sunday I woke up with another headache, but not as bad and I think it was related to my shots.  Also it went away all on its own.  Mark, unsurprisingly, had the worst reaction to our shots.  He was nauseous and had a headache and had very swollen glands.  He was too sick to come over for Sunday dinner but Adam took him some food.  Adam and I both felt a little under the weather and Emma felt zero effects.  We told her to stop bragging.  What a show off with her youthful health.... (She wasn't really bragging.)

I changed all the clocks, which is my part time job whenever the darn time changes, and taught Sunday School.  My mom asked, "So you couldn't think of a reason to be out of town when it was your turn to teach?"

And I couldn't.

Don't you think I tried?

In other news, I've decided to cull our board game collection.  Adam and Emma, who are always more interested in playing a game than I am, decided we should play each game and see if we want to keep it.

Emma said she would take anything we didn't want and I think that is a grand idea (although I will offer them to her brothers too).

Last night we played Life.  I was a doctor and had no children (but a pet, which I didn't want, but I landed on that spot) and I ended up winning by a long shot.

I begrudged giving Adam a wedding gift.  I called the little blue peg who represented my husband a poor man's Adam.  

Braeden called halfway through and we got to visit with them and I read The Wheels on the Bus.

Overall, it was a good time, but Emma can have the game.  I lose patience with any game when I have to say, OK, whose turn is it?  

I mostly just want to get it over with.

I'm a lot of fun.



Friday, November 3, 2023

Grateful Friday

Here are some things I'm grateful about:

Thanksgiving:  It's one of my very favorite holidays.  I'm looking forward to time in Nevada and time with family and good good food.

My teacher observation debrief went pretty well.  I am grateful Matt is our principal and I feel like he is what our school needs.

I love my grandma's clock.  I still think of her every time it chimes.

Emma and Adam and I watch new episodes of the Great British Baking Show like it's our job.  We stopped mid episode this week though because Braeden called.  We requested a FaceTime call and got to see QE and it was delightful.

I am grateful for the perfect weather.  I really love it.  It's beautiful every day.

I am grateful for an upcoming quieter (hopefully) week and month.

I am grateful that I have physical therapy.  He told me I can only come one day next week.  It is helping and it makes me very happy.

I'm grateful Adam reads to me at night.  It makes me sleepy and it is cozy and I love the book (Book 4 in the Thursday Murder Club series).

Thursday, November 2, 2023

The day after

A post without pink.

The day after Halloween: it's the scariest day of all.

I am not kidding when I say I had a student, an 8 year old, come in two hours late holding a cup of coffee.

And that's how Wacky Wednesday began (well a few hours after it began).

Matt announced over the speakers that he knew students had brought candy and he wanted everyone to be careful to pick up their wrappers. 

A girl turned to me and said, "He knows some of our secrets!"

I said, "It's almost like he has been a principal before."

During the day I had a lot of students tell me they were tired or they didn't feel good.  Several times I caught students just staring off into space.  During our vocabulary lesson, the word was estimate and I said that when it was a verb, you pronounce it one way and when it was a noun, you pronounce it another way.

A student said, "Bro, no one says that."

"They do," I said.  "I just did."

(Last year I had a student call me Davis like we were on the same team and this year I have one that calls me Bro.  I just go with it.)

Toward the end of the day, one girl just put her head on her desk and sobbed.

Luckily we had art last and they got to do some 3D printing which caused everyone, even the crying girl, to rally.

After school, a boy said, "I'm going to go home and eat A LOT of candy."

Oh good.


Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Halloween 2023

It is in the books.  It was quite a day.

First some pictures of what one amazing secretary and her willing teacher helpers can accomplish:












We gathered in the library for our traditional teacher picture.  Matt wasn't there right away and when someone said, "Where's Matt?" someone else said, "He's just Ken."

It was delightful all day long.

Tyler wore beige and someone brought a stick horse for him to carry.  When we asked him where his pink was, he grumpily said, "There are more than one type of Ken!"

Someone said, "He obviously didn't see the movie."

The bell rang and we all went to class.  Then Matt got on the loudspeaker and called us all back to the library again because the 4th grade teachers had been doing traffic duty.

So on the most chaotic day of the year, we left our classes for the fastest picture we could muster.  Matt said, "Get to work!  We have children unattended!"

We had the parade, which is always a fun time.  Every time a teacher saw another teacher, we'd say, "Hi Barbie!"

We did school work (sort of).  The shine wore off their costumes.  I'm hot.  This is scratchy.  Teacher, can I take this off?

Do you have clothes on underneath?

In the afternoon we had our party.  Two moms were coming to help.  I volunteered to run a station.  In the past they've either given me a simple activity to do with the students or I come up with one on my own.  I was ready either way. 

Narrator:  she wasn't ready.

The room mom came in with a paint project and brought it to my desk and told me that I was in charge of that.  

I can't even begin to describe the bedlam.

Our Christmas party is going to be watching a movie.

We have specialties the end of the day and while they were at art, I would have just sat and stared at a blank wall, except I had it on pretty good authority they were going to send us home early.  I zipped around my classroom getting everything done that needed doing and when they played Pink from the Barbie movie over the speakers about 45 minutes after the students left, I hit the road!