Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Challenge #2: No Facebook

So I put up a new cover image (above) on Facebook so people would know I would be MIA for a month. I had to start today since February only has 29 days. I haven't missed it yet but today was crazy busy, so there wasn't a lot time to miss anything, including food. I'm not sure how badly it's going to effect me yet, but I think I'll do a lot betther than 2 out of 3 (that was my January yoga sucess rate).

The beginning of the semester has me talking to all of my class, starting new projects and making sure kids understanding what they need to. I stayed after school to finish the parent newsletter and prep for my morning. I ran out to pick up Balt from daycare, get dinner for the girls and change into a more professional outfit (I had jeans on). I had an 8th grade parent information night where I had to present the art department offering to 8th grade families. We take turnes with this event so I had not had to do it for  a couple of years. Josh and I put on a good show with a power point Geof had worked on. I went through the presentation 6 times with 25-35 parents each time. I only had 20 minutes to cover everything. I talked as fast as I could. I got home at 9:30pm exhausted. I have to sell the art department to these families. If kids don't take classes we get cut. I should hate that about what I do, but I kind of like it. I'm proud of our department and how hard we work. It's time when I get to really articulate how good we are at what we do. It's not like I'm selling snake-oil. 

Not Today

It was the first day of semester 2. I had all new classes with mostly all new students. I decided not to rush into working on projects but to just chat with my kids today-- tell some stories and take roll. I didn't get past the first 4 kids on my list in my first class. In my 2nd and 3rd I got a little further but not much. It wasn't just me talking too much, it was a shortened schedule for backyard and PCT. The day flew by. I love my schedule with a solid 2 class period prep after lunch. I got the gallery show ready, prepped for 6th & 7th, and ran some errands-- so much time to get everything done! 

After school I took Balt for a nice walk. It was about 45 degrees and felt wonderful. I popped into Costco to get dog food and fruit on the way home. I decided to take a two day liquid fast. Coffee for breakfast, a protein drink for lunch and a fruit smoothie for dinner. Jessi had a VR game, Monika had an indoor soccer game and I had to work the hockey game this evening. I grabbed a latte to snack on. My stomach didn't growl until late this evening.

I want to end January on the right track. I'm starting a new 30 day challenge tomorrow. My January 30 day challenge was kind of a failure. I ended up going to yoga for only 20 out of the 30 days of the month, but I did read everyday for at least an hour. For February, which only has 29 days, I'm starting tomorrow-- no facebook. I can post my blog, use the internet, even other social sites. I just won't check facebook for 30 days. I'm curious to see how many notification's I'll have waiting for me? I probably waste at least 1/2 hour on the site daily. I use it quite a bit for communication, so it's not all bad, but I'm looking for a bit of cleansing.It's temperary, but I'm interested to see how much it effects me.

Big Blue Sky

i Another cold January day! It was sunny and even kind of pretty, but the wind made a cold morning bitter. Balt let me sleep in until nearly 8am. I went for coffee and took him to our field nearby. I had too much to do to spend too much time traveling. I spent a solid hour in the cold walking while Balt played. He loves to stop and smell, then runs to catch up to me. He'll romp about, jumping playfully. I encourage him to expend as much energy as possible.

I made breakfast for the girls and worked on laundry. I finished the parent newsletter and then went to school with Jessi to watch the musical, Beauty & the Beast. It was very well done but long. I got out just in time to make it to a hot yoga class. I picked up a pizza on the way home and enjoyed dinner with the family. I built a fire and sat with my computer to work watching The Two Towers with Jessi and Balt-- a very relaxing night. Tomorrow is new week, new semester.

End of January

It isn't February yet, but it can't come soon enough. I'm done with January. I think January is my least favorite month of the year. Oh, sure I like beginnings and January is the beginning of the year, but I think that's the only thing likable about the month. It's so cold, so long and so not fun. 

Balt woke me up at 6:30am. We went for a very short walk due to the bitter wind outside. I built a fire and spent a couple of hours reading by the fire with Balt at my feet. At 10am I took Jessi to basketball and Balt on a walk to Middleton for a paved walk. When Balt ventured out into the snow, he found it too deep to go too far. I could tell he was frustrated.

I went to school with Monika around noon to supervise her and the other soph officers painting the window for the mid-winter dance coming up in a couple of weeks. One of Monika's greatest assets as a class president is her artistic ability to paint windows and make banners.

I went grocery shopping then out to yoga. I made beef stroganof for dinner. I have so much still to do this weekend, I doubt I can get even close to finishing it all up, but I'm going to try. The newspaper is just about done but the laundry isn't. I'm procrastinating some for tomorrow.

 

On Fire

Today was a day to get stuff done. After the 7th hour final, I had a conference with a student and his parents to discuss a failing grade. It was way too late to do anything but at least I could go over what happened and why for the parents. I understand their frustration-- I just wish they would get involved before it's too late. Luckily I set an alarm for the conference on my phone. As disruptive as that is, it ended the discussion in time to get Monika to a chiropractic appt. I then met up with my art teacher friends for lunch. We all got back to school to work. The kids may have been done at 10am, but at 4pm every art teacher was still at school working. I left to give Balt a walk, but returned for Jessi's basketball game.

It was parent night and Jessi's dad made it in from Minnesota for the event, which was nice. She had an amazing game and came close to winning. I think she may have been top scorer of the evening. I had lots of parents coming by to ask me what I fed her as she seemed to be on fire on the court. It was great game for her and exciting for the team. It was too bad they lost steam in the last quarter.

 

 

Metal Heads

Not all metal heads love heavy metal music (I do)-- some just like playing with metal in art. I had my 6th hour Art Metals & Glass final today. I made them clean the studio, gave them a quiz and graded their final wire projects. It always takes less time to do all that stuff then I expect. We had the last 15 minutes to sit around and socialize. I was very impressed with their cleaning though. This class was my most mellow, the most self directed, non-problematic class a teacher could ask for. I will hope for three more just like it next semester. 

After finals I met with my newspaper kids to layout the February issue. I ordered pizza and stayed at school until 6pm. I ran out to get Balt around 4:30pm, gave him his walk and then went back to school. Both Jessi and Monika stayed after with me for part of the time (the time I had pizza), but then Jessi had basketball and Monika had a video to make for her final exam tomorrow which is just the showing of videos. Jessi doesn't have an exam tomorrow, so she's done. I still have some grading, one more exam, the newspaper to finish and a parent newsletter to make. To top off the whole week, I have yet to begin working on a student show that needs to be up by Tuesday. I think I'll be at work this weekend. 

I made it happen

It didn't quite turn out exactly as I had envisioned, but I made it happen and that's something. I gave my final to my "Mass Media" class today and said goodbye to the first group of kids to ever take the class. We watched the final projects (which were videos) together and then I had paperwork for the kids to fill out. I asked them what they learned, how to make the class better, and to evaluate their projects. I didn't read anything surprising. I knew which projects were weak, which ones were strong. I always feel  I give too much time for projects, which enables procrastination and socializing but I got a lot of comments about wanting more time to work on projects-- I think that was the only thing I read that amazed me.

After finals a few teachers went out to lunch to a fancy Italian restaurant. It was fun, but I ate too much and promised myself I would not have dinner. I didn't. I went back to work for a meeting. Picked up Monika from tutoring, Balt from daycare and Jessi from basketball. Made the girls pasta and went to yoga.

I went to a yin class that was just what I needed. I felt like every joint was opened. As I bent over in frog, which I find extremely painful, the teacher reminded me that stress and built up emotions are held in the hip (and jaw). Working out the pain of opening the hips helps to relieve the stress. There's a lot of stress in my home-- the bickering of 3 daughters, the tons of homework and housework, the lack of a second parent Monday through Friday, the loads of laundry, the menagerie of animals, etc. -- all make for a life that isn't very quiet. Still we all make due and I seem to make sure everyone is happy. Erika swings by when she needs food and clean clothes, Jessi amazingly juggles 3 varsity sports into her school year and Monika seems to have time for her myriad of interests. Still, I look forward to the time when opening up the hips are not so painful.

Here are a few of the videos made in my class:

Say Goodbye to Photo 1

I had both of my photo 1 finals today. I forgot to take a group picture of my first hour class which is a total bummer. My 2nd hour class (pictured here) was a little more spirited. I had to photoshop the middle fingers off the boy that is one of the more "spirited" kids I've had. I give extra credit for dressing up for the final, so a lot of kids looked very nice--there's even one girl with a long prom dress on. I also gave extra credit for bringing food and one girl brought the most amazing cake that I had a small peice of. Photo 1 is my favorite class to teach, but I'm excited to move into the metals studio full time semester. It'll be nice to be in one place all day that's all mine.

I made sure to swim during my lunch after eating that cake. I swam for only half an hour and felt so winded that I knew I was out of shape. My jeans are starting to feel tight too. I need to make some major changes-- esp with my diet. I had oatmeal for lunch and veggies for dinner, but I had a few snacks and I think that's what killing me. I went to hot yoga and sweat tons. With the new semester, comes a new schedule and more time to swim at lunch. I want to commit to swimming at least twice a week; walking Balt in the morning and afternoon for 20 minutes just isn't enough exercise, but with spring will be warmer weather and longer walks. 

The Last Day of Semester 1

Semesters have become book ends to my years. I'm in the middle of my 9th year teaching high school. Because I teach semester classes, not year long ones, I see different kids in the beginning of the school than I do at the end. There are a whole group of kids that I won't see after today and I must say that there are quite a few I will miss. There are a few I will continue to see, especially in my metals classes but my photo 1 kids and media kids all move on to other classes with other teachers.

There was a bit of a frenzy today, but not as bad as I had expected. There were a few procrastinators who I had hoped to see afterschool working that I didn't. I stayed in for lunch for kids to work but left quick after school to take Balt for a walk. Joe was in the photo studio and Josh in metals. I came back after an hour to take the second shift. I had kids stay until after 6pm. I had a lot of grading to do, so I stayed until 7:30PM. 12 hour work days don't happen that often, so I won't complain. The worst part of it all was that I could tell the heat had been turned off after 5pm. By 7, I had to put on a scarf and hat to stay in the photolab. I got caught up and I'm ready for tomorrow.

Yet Another

I apologize for yet another post about the weather and Balt, accompanied by another picture of Balt in the snow. That seems to be my life right now-- dealing with snow and a dog. Balt got me up at 6am. We waited until the temps got above 20 this morning, but what I didn't realize was it was windy. So my walk yesterday in 10 degree weather was so much warmer than my walk this morning in 20 degree weather... the wind chill really makes a difference, at least for me. I'm not sure Balt cared one way or another. He loves his morning walks and annoys me until we go.

I brought back bagels for everyone after my walk and enjoyed a pretty leasure morning with the family. My husband took Monika to her soccer game while attended my yoga class. We spent 5 minutes in meditation at the beginning of the class and I was able to spend all 5 minutes concentrating on my breath, letting go of all thoughts--stress free. I feel like I have come a long way in my yoga practice, mentally. I wish I was further along physically. 

I made lasania for dinner which seemed to make everyone happy, especially Monika. Jessi complained there was no meat in it. The girls spent the day hard at work with papers and studying.  I  enjoyed time reading, while my husband spent time on his laptop dealing with his on-line class. Another weekend gone only to start looking forward to the next.

Winter Day

Balt woke me up at 6am hungry for breakfast. He seemed fine waiting for his walk until the temps got above 0. I made coffee, built a fire, sorted socks and watched a cute movie (Morning Glory, 2010). It was a perfect winter morning of leasure. At 11am it was about 10 degrees, so I suited up and went up to Indian Lake with Balt. We tromped through the snow for a good hour. Balt loves to smell stuff, occassionally digging for treasure (most likely poop). He's always so eager to play with other dogs and today he found a dog just as eager to play with him. The two of them ran and ran together for about 1/2 hour. We both came home exhausted. I need to invest in snow shoes if I'm going to keep going out in deep snow!

The girls worked on homework all day. At 3pm I dropped Jessi off at school for her basketball game in Janesville while I went to yoga. Monika and her dad went to Borders to read. After an amazing yoga class, I came home and made dinner for just me and my husband. Monika went to the school musical. I picked up both girls from school around 10:30pm. Jessi was miserable, having lost another BB game and her iPhone glass cracked on the bus. Erika had quite a history of losing her phones in high school, now Jessi is the queen of damaging them!

Heavy

The winter storm started blowing in snow after school started today. The morning was very cold and the day never got over 5 degrees. Seven inches of snow poured over Madison throughout the school day and finished right around 4pm-- earlier than expected. The school cancelled every game/meet with the exception of the girls basketball games since they were being played in nearby Middleton. Luckily the hockey game I was supposed to work was cancelled so I dropped Jessi off for her game and had time to make a hot yoga class. I entered the class feeling terrible- fat, ugly, tired and eager for change. I left the class warmed to the bone, soaked in sweat, somewhat rejuvenated and realizing change would come in time. Winters are hard on the body and mind. The holiday feastivities have left a few extra LB's on me that are feeling yucky. Exercise is difficult in the cold and still painful on my foot, combine that with home-baked cinnamon rolls or cookies and it's a wonder my pants fit at all. I can't wait for Lent to make diet changes. I'm startied an oatmeal diet tonight.

I got to Jessi's game at the end of the 3rd quarter and her team was getting killed. She came home eager to un-wind and forget about school and basketball. She took Balt out for a romp in the snow. The two of them play like a couple of pups still-- too cute.

I'm not going anywhere!

...at least not for a while. Today a student picked up my phone and popped onto my facebook and announced on facebook that I had accepted a job in Verona. I got a thumbs up within seconds and a congratulations within a minute. I deleted the status post probably a minute after it was written, but by then several people had seen it, including a teacher I work with-- awkward.  My personality lends itself to a certain amount of fimiliarity with my students. There isn't a lot that gets me bent out of shape and even this didn't really upset me, but I found no humor in it either. I think that was what the kid was going for? But who knows with high school kids? Having survived my own high school years and those of my first daughter, and now living with two high schoolers, I am still dumbfounded by the mind of 15-18 year old. High schoolers are an interesting mixture of beauty and stupidity, amazing potential for genius and ugliness. 

We had another very cold day. It was -11 with the wind chill this morning, -2 without. I was so happy I had schedule Balt to go to daycare two days this week. At lunch is still under 10 degrees and painful to go out, so I swam during my lunch hour. I stayed late afterschool for kids who needed to work, happy I didn't need to walk Balt in the freezing cold. There seems to be a lot of stress in the air with the end of the semester and wind chill. I feel it at work and at home. I picked up a couple of pizzas for everyone at home, happy to jump into my pj's and snuggle up to my book.
 

 

So Cold

It was below zero this morning when Balt wanted to go out for his walk at 6am. I made coffee then showered, hoping an hour later I could manage to go outside. I've learned below zero is when it gets painful to go out. At 7:30am, Balt and I went around the block for 10 minutes and although it was above zero, it was still quite cold and even Balt seemed fine with the walk cut short. Luckily he has daycare again tomorrow, so his walk this afternoon was also kind of short. Madison never got above 20 today and it's going to be even colder tomorrow. This weather really makes it hard to get excited to do anything but stay home and snuggle up. 

The day was non-eventful. Today Jessi has late BB practice and Monika had tutoring. I've started paying $40/hour for both Jessi and Moni to have a math tutor. They each get one hour every other week. After Jessi's first session last week, she got 105% percent on her math test. Monika's hoping her grade will improve as immediately this week. They are doubling up next week for finals. I'll pay $80 for both of them to get an hour review session. It seems crazy, but we've exhausted all other math help methods. So far I'm getting my money's worth but it's almost like buying a grade.

I made the girls cookies and snuggled up with my book. I'm relieved to have switched out my 30 day challenge. Between the tutoring and bb practice, I was in and out so much, there wasn't a class time I could make tonight and it's okay.

Find a smile

The last week of the semester is always a bit crazy. There's not a lot of procrastination time left-- not for students, not for teachers. Everyone seems pretty busy in class and a few are kind of stressed. I got a new camera from the school district for my classroom and it has an "auto portrait" feature that causes the camera to snap a picture when it sees a smiling face. We had fun playing with it; taking turns making faces and smiling then laughing when the camera snapped!

I was so glad that Balt had daycare today. The morning was stormy and cold- the snow was blowing! By the afternoon it was all cleared up, but I stayed after school for a few kids. Jessi had BB and Monika had work to do. We all got home around 5:30 and made sandwiches for dinner, watched a bit Hulu and then the girls got to homework while Balt snoozed and I read. In celebration of Betty White's 90th birthday, I've included a favorite SNL skit (from Hulu) with her most famous line to make you smile!

Goals

I thought about my daily goals today. I may have accomplished all of them today... Everyday I try to:

• exhaust my dog
• feed my children
• have a meaningful conversation
• exercise
• clean something up
• take a picture
• read and write

I watched a few MLK videos on YouTube. His words are so inspirational. As I perused his many clips available to watch, I was struck by the video I embedded below where he talks about not adjusting to evil in society. The idea that just because everyone is doing it, somehow makes it right is not right at all-- we still deal with a few of these issues in our society. His "I have a dream" speech is also amazing. I was sharing with my students last week that when I was a kid we used to have today off to celebrate Lincoln's birthday and then the following Monday for Washington. At one point (around high school) they combined them to make "president's day".  I think they should combine Lincoln's and MLK's birthdays into one holiday. Both strove for similar "unalienable rights," both are worthy to be celebrated.  

and another one...

I had another good day, but Sunday's are always good days. Balt gets me up earlier than I'd like, but it's good. It was too cold for much of a walk this morning, we got out for a quick bit but then rushed home to build a fire and watch a movie. After making homemade cinnamon rolls for the girls I got to cleaning and laundry. I try not to get too frustrated by the fact that I alone do all the cleaning and laundry these days in our household. I don't do a very good job at it, but no one can complain. I often dream of a time when I am not cleaning up after others and I wonder if I will miss it. My husband seems to think that time will never come (ie- our children will never leave us). I hope he's wrong. I can't image being 75 and still cleaning up after a couple of 50 year olds. 

Monika had a soccer game out in Fitchburg at 3pm. I dropped her off and then took Balt to the dog park for the hour. It was a good workout. I came home, showered and went out to dinner with my husband. I had a 2-4-1 coupon for Granite City. We had a very nice time and decided to skip on the movie out, instead going home to build a fire and watching a netflix. It was the perfect end to a restful day.

All is well...

I had a good day. Knowing I still had two more days off, helped. I had to take Jessi to Janesville this morning for a 10am VR game. It wasn't the way I wanted to spend my Saturday morning, but I enjoyed the drive and it was nice to get to know a few of her team mates during the drive. She plays with a very nice group of girls. The conversation in the car was all about the win, discussing plays and mishaps-- so much excitement. Everyone dozed on the way back. 

I gave Balt a quick walk before leaving at 8am, but at 1pm when I got home I put on my snow pants and made my way out to Balt and my favorite open lot in Madison. For the past year, when I don't want to drive all the way out to a dog park, I've been taking Balt to an open lot behind a research park. It is not fenced in, but so large I don't worry about him running out to the road. Lately he's run out to meet people in the parking lot which is problematic. He's just too friendly now. I try to keep him inside the lot--it usually takes about 20 minutes to circle the interior of it, but with a foot of snow, it takes a bit more. With my jacket and snow pants I'm usually sweating by the time we get around it all. It's a good work out. If the snow gets any deeper, I will need snow shoes though.

I did a quick run to the grocery store for the little things I can't get at Costco, took a short nap and then I went to yoga. I came home and made dinner for the family. I built a fire and read most the evening. It was a nice day with plenty of time for laundry and cleaning later in the long weekend. Oh, and I got a message last night at 1am from an art teacher that he had one camera and a message from a student this afternoon that he had the other camera. So all ended well with that situation. I still need to better system for lending out cameras, but I can deal with that later. 

Winners and losers...

Today was a calm Friday. I have lots of students busy at work in all of my classes. Jessi had a game tonight against a team with a worse record than her team. One team was going to break a losing streak and I'm really glad it was Jessi's team. She started and played strong throughout. 

On my way to the game I popped into the photolab to pick up a camera to shoot Jessi's game with. My camera is having shutter problems. I found that the door was unlocked, even though I was sure I locked it when I left at 4pm. I also found 2 cameras (of the 3 I have for student usage) were gone. It's hard not to go right into freak out mode. Memorial is not a place where you can leave valuables out safely. Alot of stuff gets taken there... BUT a lot of students (and maybe another art teacher) feel they have access to those cameras and would feel comfortable borrowing them. I  may need to wait till Tuesday to know for sure one way or another.

It's really Winter now.

We woke up to a dissappointing show of no snow yet. Any small hope of a snow day was out the window, but we knew it was not all that probable going to bed. I took Balt for a good walk after drinking a fresh cup of coffee, not sure if I'd be able to take him after school. As the day progressed, so did the snow fall. The wind was sharp and the temps continued to drop. Games and meetings for afterschool were cancelled which made the schedule suddenly free. That's the best part of winter storms. I came home and curled up with the nook and hot tea to read. 

I made it to yoga tonight. I did not do hot yoga but made it to a favorite flow class at 7:45pm. I was glad I went. I knew doing a 30 day hot yoga challenge was going to be tough. Between the physical strain and the schedule conflicts, I'm thinking I need to back off my challenge for this month and try it in the summer when time issues aren't an excuse. I can still get 30 classes in in 30 days if I double up on the weekend, but I thought of something better (read easier). I started reading The Game of Thrones. I purchased the whole A Song of Ice and Fire series for Monika's nook. I'm thinking a better 30 day challenge was to spend time reading everyday this month. It was a new year's resolution I did not keep last year. I've missed reading regularly in part because I'm so busy but mostly, I haven't found something to captivate me. Well, I'm now completely captivated.