Weekend Coffee Share, Spring Forward!

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Today is a Zen green tea day. Is it coffee for you? The sun is shining; I drank half of my tea before leaving, but now I’m back four virtual chat, as I finish my second half of my green tea. It’s honestly good at any temperature. Don’t judge!

This week seemed like such a busy one. I was trying to get grades done, motivating students to finish things, and trying to keep them busy and out of trouble with all of their excitement for the upcoming Spring break. Not always easy. I was very proud of some students, but others just disappointed me. I went to the chiropractor Thursday and got the manual adjustment again. It relaxed me as usual, and I woke up Friday, ready for the day.

At nine this morning, my mom and I went to my church for the meeting of Bag Ladies, a group that gathers monthly to assemble bags for children whose parent left an abusive situation and are entering into temporary residence at Hubbard House. Frequently, they leave home quickly without packing a suitcase. It’s such a good mission, and those who run it are such nice people!

Bag Ladies is a mission of our church I always wanted to join. They pack these care bags with a children’s book, stuffed animal, toothbrush and other necessities a family might forget when leaving in a hurry. Hubbard House keeps their shelter location secret. You can find out more about their organization here: https://www.domesticshelters.org/help/fl/jacksonville/32201/hubbard-house

So, it’s been a nice morning so far. I usually am just lazy Saturday mornings. I feel I’ve earned it after a week teaching middle school. However, the Bag Ladies mission happens once monthly, and I can certainly give that much. Mom agreed for some of her beanie baby collection to be donated today for the Bag Ladies group, so that clears out a little bit of stuff from our garage. Now, I have to decide what sort of cardio I’ll do today.

Beanie babies sure are cute…

I’m planning to get a pedicure later, and tomorrow, I’ll go to the Celtic Fest with Chris to see my favorite Scottish band, Albannach. While I am only 7 percent Scottish, drums and bagpipes really do energize me! It’s also a great way to welcome Spring in coinciding with the start of my Spring Break!

Albannach!

That’s what I have going on these days. How do you plan to welcome Spring in? Are you in an area that is currently still snow covered? If so, have a second cup of hot coffee for me! I look forward to some relaxation this week, time with friends, and time with Bixby, of course! Have a wonderful weekend, all!

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Weekend Coffee Share, on Relaxation

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. While it is quite warm, we have some clouds rolling in this morning. Bixby and I are just sitting around as I sip my chai latte and rub his ears now and then.

So, you and I are having a virtual coffee visit in my virtual cafe replete with roaming lap dog. I ask how your week has been. You likely are a blogger, or at least someone who likes to ‘somewhat’ read and possibly, write. What have you been reading? I’ve recently finished “Life is So Good” (on Audible) by a 102 year old African American man, in honor of Black History Month and in rebellion for the fact it was banned in some schools…for it’s honest depiction of how black men were treated in the past.

This last week has been very active and rush rush, at times a challenge with rambunctious middle -schoolers. Add to that the fact that a fellow teacher and friend quit teaching and his last day was Friday, we had an hour long meeting planning changes to teaching methods, and my usual club and personal activities continued (News Club, trivia with friends on Tuesday night, and coordinating yearbook).

I continued my journey into stress and pain relief with a Zen acupuncture appointment Wednesday after work. I didn’t fully know what to expect; the chiropractor had told me that it involves small needles placed in strategic places in order to promote energy flow and relaxation. The one needle in the top of my head was for energy, he told me. I wasn’t expecting that one, but it wasn’t too distracting.

The other needles went in quickly and we’re fairly shallow. One of my eyebrow kind of stung a little, but that’s subsided. There was very relaxing music in the room and a large screen showing several beautiful places in our world, such as fishing villages, oceans, and mountains. That started relaxing me before the needles even went in.

Yeah, I had to see what this looked like!

While this didn’t address my dominant pain areas, it did promote relaxation as I had been told it would do. It was a great experience and I plan to do it again. I sat there for 20 minutes with those needles in, laying back in that comfy chair, and taking in the sights and sounds that seems like a dream. I still think this was a good introduction to acupuncture for a squeamish gal such as I. Like I said, I will do this again, and in time I plan to try the dry needling to address areas like upper back, neck, and bicep pain.

Wow, I feel like such a brave adventurer! Later today, I am going in for a massage. Something about springtime, the pollen, and my allergic reactions kind of ramped up pains and headaches this week, so I believe there is no way I could do too much for my relaxation right now.

The rest of this weekend will bring brunch with some girlfriends tomorrow, and later, some time to plan activities for this coming week for my students that will keep them busy and engaged.

Ah, it has started raining. It’s a great day for massage and self-care! I hope you had a good week. Enjoy your Saturday!

Midweek Musings, The Drive

I used to drive to work every morning with a list of things in my head that I must do when I get there, since nothing is ever completely done. The “list” would stress me out before I even got to work!

Now, I lose myself in a song. Somehow, I’ve grown into the ability to do that. Needless to say, my job as a teacher is stressful. Sometimes in my life, my family life has been stressful. Perhaps it has all worn on my nerves like a repetitive stress type of condition. I am making headway, I think. Why stress about work before I even get there? I enjoy my music, and keep my mind clear. Stress can wait!

Some would say I’m just letting the music hypnotize me, but we often give ourselves over to worry, anxiety. So now, I see I can give my mind to a good lyric, an inspiring melody–one that I’ve chosen. It doesn’t stop me from getting ready once I get to work, and my mind is more at ease when I’m preparing to let kids into class and make them feel welcome. Heck, I can make notes that will be there waiting when I get there. No need to stress myself to remember!

Midweek Musings, Proud

Monday, during my planning time, I had one of my Yearbook/Journalism students stay after the class to translate our week’s club activities into Spanish for our podcast. He wasn’t confident at first, but then he wrote out an outline in Spanish and went ahead.

Needless to say, it sounded great to me! This will represent the diversity of our school and make our News and Podcast more accessible. I’m so proud! It was the first time I used a new recording software all by myself. I love learning learning new things and getting into the 21st century! I love that my students found the confidence! There is one other student who can help with this, although they have to do it during their elective time during the school day. Still, it is a win!

Tuesday, on Valentine’s day, my love surprised me by having a bouquet of flowers delivered to me that included roses, carnations, and tiger lilies, all red. It’s beautiful! He has been busy since he went back to work full time after having been retired for a year, so I had no hints that this would happen this year. What a lovely surprise!

Have a great week! I’m staying positive!

A Day in My Life, Day 30

Day 30 of #ADayinMyLife, Jan. 31st:

It was another day of weather around 80 degrees and of teaching students to write and to read closely, which went alright. I got a lined journal/notebook I had ordered from Amazon.

Tonight, Chris and I are planning to go to trivia. Of course, as he mentioned, sometimes the trending mood of my day can wipe me out and make me change my mind. He is pretty patient with that, as should be! He has some special nicknames for my moods. Let’s keep in mind, shoulder pain, any pain, lack of sleep, workday stress, any of it can wipe me out. I do have ways I try to deal with it, but there are good days and bad days.

Regarding my nicknames: there’s protective Pam, willing to take down anyone crossing him in his day ( a humorous exaggeration, of course). Then there’s Krampus Pam, who will step on anyone who gets in the way of me and my dinner. She’s concerned with her needs and has disdain for poorly managed restaurants, traffic, and bureaucratic red tape or over-encroaching laws. Rightfully so!

Let us not forget Creme brulee Pam. The weekend that he took me to Savannah last December, we had to wait for dinner but found another restaurant with outdoor seating, and the 65 degree weather felt perfect! We enjoyed our conversation and laughter. The waitress thought we were newlyweds! I wanted to introduce him to creme brulee. I don’t have it very often, so when I do, it’s a special occasion! The restaurant didn’t serve it but provided a great dinner! Afterward, we searched for a dessert spot.

Historic Savannah, Georgia.

Google came to our aid. We had walked to the restaurant, and my feet were complying, so we used Google maps to walk to the dessert restaurant, not without a few wrong turns in the cover of night, down streets he said were not the ‘good side of town.’ Still, we walked arm in arm; I was feeling satiated by dinner and in happy anticipation of creme brulee. The street corners didn’t look so bad. We passed many art galleries and art college extensions. (I want to go back during the day when they’re open)! Finally, we got to our dessert spot.

There was a line, but Chris and I waited together using good conversation and laughter to keep our spirits up. Once we got in and received our creme brulee, there were no seats inside, so we shared it with a fork standing on the street corner, with a kiss and a laugh, oblivious of other tourists. Creme brulee Pam doesn’t let ANYTHING dampen her mood, because she knows something good is on its way. I am capable of being like that. Gratitude helps, having a pleasant goal in mind helps! Well, I was also on vacation with him. You see, being a Gemini, I can own up to having all these different personas!

Ah, I like these memories. On that note, I think I’ll close my post. It is the end of the 30 blogging challenge, and I did it, for myself, despite one post that I actually wrote and finished then fell asleep and had to send it the next day once I remembered. LoL! I wanted to do something different in this post; I hope it held your interest. Have a good evening, everyone!

A Day in My Life, day 29. #RRBC

Jan. 30, Day 29 of #ADayinMyLife

Yikes! The 30 day challenge is almost over! I plan to blog more, though. This has helped me get in the habit. Plus, I have to keep getting the word out about what’s happening in my state.

I had a fairly productive day at work. My first class is Language Arts, and while they sometimes need help with focusing, they are pretty good kids! Second block was Journalism/Yearbook, and we were loading photos again to the yearbook site

After work, I walked out into 80 degree weather, and headed to physical therapy. It went fairly well. Then I went to grab a bite to eat at Chicken Salad Chick, a Southern style sandwich shop. Do you think I ate healthy enough? Keep in mind, I didn’t eat the cookie. 😁

Wheat bread, a Fruity Fran, and broccoli salad!

I’m going to the gym for some cardio. Nothing intense, just 30 minutes on the bike. Have a great evening!

A Day in My Life, One Week Closes #RRBC

Jan.27th- Welcome to day 26 of #ADayinMyLife and Day 5 of Literacy Week. I hate to see Literacy Week come to a close, but I’ll admit there was a whole lot of planning involved, and I am tired, ready for the weekend, for sure!

We had a two-sentence story contest this week, and all entries were due today. It was a lot of fun reading their entries! I had two other teachers helping with the judging and decision of the sixth grade winners. There were some very descriptive stories with imagery, personification, and alliteration. They only had two sentences to work with, but they found ways to wow us!

There is a whole thread on Reddit of funny two-sentence stories. Check it out! I made up a few two-sentence stories during the pandemic. One of my favorites:

I was worried about the flight, but I have reassuring friends. The dragon says, “Who needs an airplane anyway ?” -PC

Literacy Week brings back memories, memories of my mom reading to me, my lower grades teacher teaching me and encouraging me to read, my 7th grade teacher (Mr. Troje) having us read A Tale of Two Cities, my Senior year English teacher giving us choices of books to read, my dad for gifting me with Little Women, and many others who inspired me through the years . Mr. Troje died of cancer about ten years ago.

My mother encouraged my reading by letting me learn about life from books. She’d have books on her nightstand, and I’d take them to read. She allowed me to do that. I read beyond my age. I tried hard to enjoy Literacy Week this year, because we need joyful occasions in a middle school to celebrate with the kids.

So, now the question is, how do I share one of the things I love most with my students? How do I flourish in a job where I feel censored in this state? I keep looking for positives. Sometimes I find them. The questions I have asked here are still to be answered.

That’s a day in my life, that closes a work week in my life. Happy Literacy week. Go and read a book of your choice, and be thankful you can choose!

*Any opinions I express on my blog are strictly mine and not those of my employer.

A Day in My Life: Give and Take, Teach and Learn

Jan. 26th. Welcome to Day 25 of #ADayinMyLife. and Day 4 of Literacy Week. I was so tired last night, I fell asleep before posting yesterday’s post. I sent it just this afternoon when I finally realized. I certainly did get my sleep last night!

So, today in Literacy Week, we celebrated the strategy of visualizing while reading a book. A few students made some art and drawings. A few others wrote entries today for our really-short story contest.

Mala’s story has my students intrigued, girls and boys alike! (The girl who stood up to the Taliban for the right of girls to get an education)

After announcing the other day that students could no longer borrow books from me probably for the rest of the school year, I asked if any of them would like to get the book checked out that we are reading excerpts from for my lessons. (Which is approved in the curriculum). I had about 8 students out of two different classes raise their hands. They were able to get them from the school library to take home today. That warms my heart, and I needed that for the following reason: Our library books are all covered up now. 😦

Three to five years ago, they sent off all of our biography and nonfiction books in the library somewhere, got rid of those particular bookshelves, and made a dedicated testing area. I was so hoping it wasn’t an indicator of changes to come, but it does seem that it has been an indicator of our state’s priorities. *Keep in mind, that this is my opinion and not necessarily that of my employer or of any state leadership.

Here I am, exercising my first amendment right. At any rate, my yearbook / Journalism class came in all boisterous as usual, but we got a lot done. There were photos to be downloaded from our cameras, photos to be tagged, students I needed to meet with about some changes to be made to their pages. It was quite productive!

Some of my energetic students, the type always finishing work early, helped decorate a bulletin board outside my room this week. They had the ideas, I supplied the materials, all of which I had in my cabinet. I love their creativity!

A Newspaper theme!

Wow! There is still some hope. I love many things about my job. I guess today has been a day for receiving appreciation and sending out gratitude! Have a great evening, everyone!

A Day in My Life, day 24

Welcome to day 24 of #ADayinMyLife and day 3 of Literacy Week. Today was wear-red-if-you’ve-ever-read-a-good-book day! There were many in red. Some of my yearbook members took pictures around school. I can’t wait to see them!

In conversations with many people, there arose a question of why schools are shutting down their libraries and hiding classroom libraries until further notice. A Facebook group led me to this Florida House bill, on which our state leadership added the requirement of one media specialist vetting all books for the school. It’s lengthy, so scroll down half of the page to get to the pertinent bits:

https://www.flgov.com/2022/03/25/governor-ron-desantis-signs-bill-that-requires-curriculum-transparency/

I went home and exercised on the porch, talked to Chris, then fell asleep early. I didn’t sleep so well the night before. Who could blame me, with all this crap going on. I was so tired or even forgot to post this on the correct day. Good thing I’m not in a contest anymore! Thanks for stopping by and reading about my life, and I will have this day’s post up definitely later on.

A Day in My Life, Day 23 #RRBC

January 24th. Welcome to day 23 of #ADayinMyLife and Day 2 of Literacy Week.

Today was Talk up a Good Book day at my school. I had to start my first class by explaining the empty bookshelves. It’s hard not to be too opinionated, but I did alright. This class particularly didn’t like the fact that books are not available to them now. They were my standard class, so I’m glad they care. They are pretty good kids!

Three of them actually requested to get the book,”I am Malala” checked out to them when I offered, which is allowed since her book is part of our curriculum. This warmed my heart! We have read excerpts in the last two weeks from it.

Anyway, students saw a teacher video we prepared about books that we remember from our youth. Then, they were able to record their own “book talk” on Flip grid. I had three students who actually recorded their own. It was so cute!

Flipgrid.

After all of that, I had News/Podcast Club, which went by quickly. Since I stay late on Tuesdays, I frequently go to trivia with Chris and another couple, which is always fun and challenging.

Have a great evening, everyone!