Grateful Friday: a list

Adam is home.

Snow on the mountain.

I work at the world's most supportive school.

Good books.  I am reading the 5th-6th books for Battle of the Books and enjoying them.  I'm also listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures and I am liking it.  And now that Adam is home, he can read our other book to me.  I want to read ALL the books.

Sunny blue skies.

The gas fireplace in our room.  Because guess where it isn't sunny in January at 5:45 AM when my alarm goes off?

Friend gatherings.  We have YEN on Monday and then next weekend, I have Connections (which is the name I gave to my school friend party). 

A long weekend.

My friend Bonnie texted me and said she was looking for a home for some clothes and she needed someone tall so she wondered if I was interested.

I don't know if I am interested, but anytime anyone calls me tall, I'm flattered (and feel like I should text my siblings and say, "See?!?" but then they would probably just tell me to stand up).

It's not easy being the shortest in your family. 

Another day in paradise

 I only have one life to write about, so it's all elementary school all the time.

But there is always so much to...report.

Yesterday, the school nurse came in to do her annual lesson on hand washing.  She told them not to talk without raising their hands "and we will get along well."

Inside I thought, "Good luck with that."

Also, I wanted to tell her that I am constantly working on it and they are so much better than they used to be.

One girl raised her hand (good girl!) and said, "Are you a real nurse?  Did you go to college?"

The nurse was a bit taken aback and perturbed and said, "Of course!"

(She doesn't have the humbling experience of standing in front of a room of doubters on the daily.)

She showed them pictures of viruses and bacteria and someone wondered if they used a telescope to get the pictures and she said, "Raise your hand."

"But do they?"

"Yes."

I totally empathized with her getting through it and not getting into the difference between a microscope and telescope.  Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.

She showed a picture of a fungus and asked if they knew what that was.  One student (the one who knows everything) said he "absolutely" did because he saw a YouTube video about it.  "They are headless creatures that drill into your body."

The nurse said, "Well...that sounds...bad."

Then there was a whole barrage of things they saw on YouTube that were either very slightly or not at all related.

One girl said, "I saw a video that said getting sick is good for your body."

"It isn't," the nurse said.

I think she was very happy when her 30 minutes were up.

There was a sign in the lunchroom that said, Popcorn on Friday.

That set them abuzz.  One boy turned to me, disgusted, "I don't see any popcorn!"

I said, "What does the sign say?"

He said, "Popcorn on Friday, but I don't see any."

I said, "What day is it?"

He said, "Wednesday.  Oooooohhhhhh."

The boy next to him said, "Wait, we're having popcorn?  But where is it?"

Friends, I go home tired every single day.  So. Tired.

A boy came in from the bathroom to report that another 3rd grader had thrown up in the bathroom.  (One of Miriam's.)

Shortly after that, during recess, I was in the hall and saw Riley quickstepping to the bathroom with cleaning gear.

I said, "Another day in paradise?"

He smiled ruefully, "You know it."

I love people

 Yesterday the alarm was going off on my phone at 8:15 like it does every morning to remind me to take roll.  You would think that I wouldn't need a daily alarm for that, but I 100% do.  I always am engrossed in something else.

My phone was in my bag and my watch no longer cooperates with my phone so I couldn't turn off the alarm immediately.  One of my students asked, "What's your phone's code?"

I rattled off the six digits.

They were completely tickled.  "Ooooh!  We know your code!"

I said, "My own children can't remember it, so I'm not worried."

(Honestly, my kids ask me over and over when they need my phone.  This is the first code they haven't immediately hacked.  Maybe they don't care so much anymore.)

I said, "You won't remember it."

A boy said, "Wait!  You literally just said it and I can't remember it already."

"What was it?" they asked each other.  "She just said it."

"Tell us again!"

I just shrugged and went on with math, confident my secret is safe.

***

Today is my little sister Olivia's birthday!  How I love that girl.  She has an unconquerable spirit and a big heart.  On New Year's Day when we had the ladies' brunch at her house, she mentioned that she had lost (a pretty big) lamp that had been moved when she put her Christmas tree up.  We played after the manner of the adverb and when the word was regally, she went into the other room and returned immediately with a tiara.

She couldn't find her lamp, but she had a tiara at her fingertips.  That tells you everything you need to know about Olivia.  (And she since found the lamp!)

***

I had a hair appointment with my friend Joelyn last evening.  I always look forward to our visits.  We chat about books and podcasts and TV shows and we grab our phones to record notes and she usually sends me follow up texts.  We talk about our mutually agreed exceptional granddaughters and the ways our children are doing a better job with them than we did with our children.

I never knew, ten years ago when I called up a random person, who according to the internet was a specialist with curly hair, that I would make a friend.

The highs and lows

Low: I had to do (just a check-in) bloodwork yesterday.

High: I went to a new place (new insurance) and it was WAY closer and WAY nicer and there was zero wait.

Low: I probably didn't need to get a sub for the morning, but I did anyway (the old place always took forever so I hadn't wanted to chance it).

High: I made a dent in deep cleaning/organizing my office when I was home in the morning.

Low: My eye infection is flaring again.  I hate it!  And it is stressful!  (Am I doing damage to my cornea? Oh, and also stress makes it worse, so that is stressful!)

High: I called my doctor's office and they said do one more round of the high dose of medicine for five days and if it doesn't work they'll get me in that day.  So not a great high, but at least a plan.

Low: Adam left.  Again.

High: When I returned to school at noon, almost all the girls hugged me like I was returning from the war.  None of the boys acknowledged I had been gone.  I don't know which reaction delighted me more.

Low: The mirror.  I caught a glimpse and my makeup was gone on the left side of my face from my watery eye.  I don't wear a lot of makeup, but enough that I looked a little crazy with one half gone.  Also my hair was fuzzy.  It was bugging me all day because of my eye and the more you mess with curly hair, the fuzzier it gets.  I was a whole look.

High: I only had the afternoon at school with my janky eye.  I know tomorrow will be better because the medicine will start working.

Another high: I talked to both Olivia and my mom on the phone. 

The highs win!

Weekend

 Saturday afternoon Adam got out a stack of shirts from his closet and put them on the bed.  I said, "You're not packing already!?!"  He had just returned! He wasn't.  He said he was just going through his shirts.  (He also definitely falls in the camp of last minute packer.)

He is leaving again today.  The weekend was too fast.

I was happy to have Adam here when I got home Friday.  We happily slid into our weekend routine.  It was Braeden's birthday Saturday and it is strange that the older our kids get, the less involved we are in their birthdays.  Anna and QE did an excellent job celebrating him.  They had decorated with balloons and Anna asked QE where they should put a decoration and she proudly chose under the table.

She has flair.

For future generations (QE et al), here's Braeden at 28:

• He walks fast and makes phone calls to people he cares about while he's walking (I'm a happy recipient).
• He is a runner and was buying himself new running shoes with his birthday money.
• He uses words I don't know and is always down to talk politics.  He can seamlessly talk to people on the far right and the far left and they all still like him afterward.
• He is a righteous man who fulfills his calling, serves others and attends the temple.
• I love when he sends random texts with insights he has learned from the scriptures.
• He is sometimes careless and misses details and he says that he got that from me, which is true, but I don't think he needs to say it out loud like that....
• He is a devoted and loving husband and a besotted father.
• He has taught me about dealing with anxiety.  I call him my shaman.
• He has minimal interest in things.  He requested a new computer bag for Christmas.  I asked him for specifics (color, style, material, etc.).  He said he wanted it big enough to fit his lunch.
• He likes the Beatles and Bob Dylan, building with Legos, Harry Potter, the Mariners and shopping at Trader Joe's.
• He never holds a grudge (unless you got rid of his Yu-gi-oh Duel Disk Launcher).
• If you need a ride to the airport, he's the guy people ask.
• He told me the date it is coming back because he is excited to watch All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. 
• Mark said once that All Creatures Great and Small was like a warm hug.  So is being Braeden's mom.

On our trip to and from Nevada and on subsequent errands, Adam and I have been listening to the podcast, The Good Whale.  We have enjoyed it and episode 5 is a musical and I can't even tell you how happy it made us.  We finished the podcast Saturday evening when we went to Salt Lake.  The heat doesn't work in Emma's apartment.  She has let her apartment management know, but Emma's interest in being a squeaky wheel is very selective.  Since the high has been in the 20s the past few days, we offered her a space heater.  She was going to come and get it, but Adam said we'd take it to her and we decided to take Emma to a pizza restaurant in downtown SLC, Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana.  We had gone there once before years ago when Emma was a freshman at BYU.  Some of her friends were with us and we'd gone to temple square and Emma felt sick and I had a migraine and neither of us had enjoyed the restaurant to its fullest so we tried again.

It was really good and we were happy to have dinner with our girl.  I told Emma that we have Mark Monday, but we don't have anything with her.  She said maybe it was because her name doesn't work with a day of the week.

Sunday besides church, I was mostly unsuccessful at family history, but made beef stew that made the house smell good.  Emma and Mark came over and Adam had to leave early for a youth fireside.  We played games and talked music and I'm always grateful for time with our kids.

Grateful Friday

 Adam is coming home today!

Super grateful about that.

(Sad he's leaving again next week....)

I'm grateful for this weekend though!

Yesterday I wore my bright red boots to school for the first time, pictured here with the backdrop of my elegant classroom carpet.

People made comments....  My favorite comment came from a teeny tiny kindergartner.  She passed me and I thought, "What a cute sweater."

She called back to me, "I love your boots!"

We should go shopping together.

I loved at lunch when several 1st and 2nd grade teachers said my boots reminded them of Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.

These are people that have a book for everything.  I'm grateful for teacher friends.

I'm grateful for reading parties.

My class earned a reward and the reward they chose was a reading party.  I let them wear their pjs and the entire day had a holiday air about it.

One student came in a full body Pokemon suit and he went around offering hugs in the morning because he was so soft and fuzzy.  I 100% took him up on the offer.

In the afternoon I dimmed the lights and everyone got cozy. I read to them and they read silently.  I only did the silent reading for about 15 minutes, because I know our limits, but it felt dreamy.

I'm grateful for my activity day leader calling.  I 100% feel like I am getting away with something that that is my calling.  We had activity day at my house yesterday and I parsed out my marble run into ziplock bags and had them create something.  Then I told them about the scripture in Corinthians that talks about the church as a body.  I told them that we need each other and the different gifts and contributions people can make.   Then I had them work together and pool their resources and they built this amazing marble run using every single piece.

Look for those boys to be engineers someday!

It was really fun.

Inclusive

 We have RIDER values at school.  (We are the Broncos and our Bronco is named Rider because RIDER stands for Respectful Inclusive Determined Engaged and Responsible.). With the new year, Matt encouraged us to revisit these values with our classes.  Yesterday we talked about being inclusive.

They all knew what it meant (because these values get talked about a lot).  To them, inclusive means that when a kid is crying at recess, you ask if they want to play with you.

I pushed a little deeper.   I was trying to get them past the playground scenario.  When you're assigned a partner are you friendly about it?  Do you smile and say hello to people?  Do you invite people to your birthday party?  What if your mom says you can only invite a certain number?  How can you gracefully handle that? What about adults?  How can adults be inclusive? 

I told them that when I first started at Bonneville, Camie (Mrs. Howlett to them) was very kind to me and always said hello to me.  I told them it made me feel like I was included.  I could tell that gave them something to think about.  When a contemplative look comes over them, it makes me so happy!

For the rest of the day, I noticed inclusive adults.  Emily, the librarian, and I had a conversation about one of the Battle of the Books books whose title Frozen Stiff was stressing me out.  I was about halfway finished with the book and I was worried the kids were going to die because of the title.  Emily and I are both on the teacher team and I knew she'd read the book.  She promised me the kids make it.

I love having someone to talk about books with.

I carried Alissa's water bottle and the Toblerone she'd scored at the faculty meeting because she was carrying our phonics materials and then we handed the phonics materials off to Miriam.

I love having a team.

I checked in with Holly about the RULER training we were supposed to be doing.  Which module?  (Will there ever be an end to modules in my life? Or acronyms?!?)

I thanked her for clearing it up for me.

As I was leaving the room, she called, "I love you, Sis!"

I love having someone call me Sis, who isn't actually my sister, but does actually act like she loves me.

I was talking to Emma on the phone (Red letter day!  She called me!  She is by far the child who calls me the least) and Braeden called (for the second time that day.  He is by far the child who calls me the most).  I merged the calls.

Braeden and Emma were greeting each other and I said, "Wait.  First you need to acknowledge that I successfully merged these calls."

"That was amazing, Mom," Emma said.

"Yeah," Braeden said.  "I am super impressed."

I love having the praise of my children even when it is solicited and pretty much insincere.

Marie Louise also called.  She told me that there was a promo code for two free tickets to The Ruth on the back of the utility bill from the city and the tickets are "going fast."  She said, "Go reserve some right now."

And I did.

I love being included.