Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Tuesday Heat

It was a beautiful day but I was stuck inside most of the day working across town on Pathway stuff for school. My team is fun but working in the summer is not. Monika earned her first yoga certificate today (see here). I came home from work to find her already home ready to relax and with a cupcake for me! She made a pizza for dinner, I ate left over salad and together with Erika we all watched an episode of Gentleman Jack on HBO (which I'm in love with). I spent a bit of time in the back yard, adding one more stone to my chairs (so I won't have to wear shoes from the door to the lounge chair) and a flag pole holder (so I can fly a flag when I want to). 

Working Monday

Balt got me up at 5am, actually 4:55am! I had to go into work this morning at 7:30am to catch a school bus to the UW for a PD session with all of the Pathways teachers. There were 2 buses for us but not even enough teacher to fill 1/4 of one bus. Apparently a lot of teachers didn't show up? We had our choice of credits or compensation for the day and of course I took compensation since I'm not getting any more pay checks until October 1. I guess compensation isn't very enticing for most teachers.  We learned about "SCRUM" which is a tech model for working in teams. We also learned about Canva and I made this poster with it. We also learned about Scratch, but I didn't like it as much Canva.

After work, I came home and got to work in the garage sorting through shelves and trying to toss stuff out. I made a bit of progress. I made a big salad for dinner and watched some news. When Monika got home we watched a show on HBO together. She's enjoying her yoga teacher training, which makes me very happy.

The Garage

The girls promised they would help me clean the garage but neither were available until late afternoon. I spent my morning enjoying baking breakfast cookies, working on my computer and cleaning. I watched some HBO at lunch time with Monika and then once Erika was home, we got to work! It's not done yet but we got a lot done. The girls sorted shoes and got rid of a huge trash bag that I took to St. Vincent's. Erika talked me into getting rid of 2 old wooden shelves we had since they had mold on them and sent me to Costco for 3 new sets! She wanted a new shelf for her glass gear, which I am hoping will all go down to the basement this winter. 

Summer Saturday

I had a wonderful Saturday. Balt woke me up at 4am but I yelled at him to go back to bed. He barked every 15 minutes or so until I finally got up at 5am. I don't understand why he insists on waking me up but no one else up when I'm gone. I did a lot of this and that and made sure to swim some laps at the pool. I made a big salad with lots of veggies I got from my CSA. With Monika home, I decided to signup for organic farm vegetables again. She was at yoga all day, and came home exhausted. I spent too much time in the sun and am wiped out as well.

Summer has begun

Monika face-timed me while I was in Florida a couple of days ago around 9 pm and I was surprised how light it was in Wisconsin but dark in Florida. So even though today is the longest day of the year, it's longer in Wisconsin than it is in most of the US. I love that it is bright out when I get up at 5am. Luckily it will stay light for a while!

Today was a day to catch up on stuff. I started cleaning the garage, did a bit of gardening, lots of laundry, went to Costco for big shopping, stopped by school to drop off and pick up stuff (saw Geof), and picked up the Yukon with my new stereo! It was a free car, so I could justify putting some funds into it for Bluetooth capabilities. I also think it helps with safety, so i'm not on my phone while I drive.

At 3:30pm, Monika popped home to change and get a snack and take me to yoga. She had to go to the 4pm class as part of her teaching training. I went just to practice with her. Erika signed me up for a Solstice special 3 hour class that started at 6pm, so I did yoga this evening from 4pm until 9pm! Crazy but good.

Back in Wisco Land

Cody took me to the airport at 6am to make a 7:30am flight. Pensacola is a very small airport but there was still a pretty big line for security. It felt nice to cut up ahead of everyone in line. I certainly have gotten my money's worth out of the Pre-TSA fee.  I didn't land in Milwaukee until 11:30 and then on the way home I stopped off at the Winkers for a nice visit. I always get sucked into long conversations with Melissa as there is so much to catch up on, and I have to admit, as the kids get older I end up getting into conversations with them too! It made for a very fun afternoon but I didn't get home until after 6pm. I made a salad for dinner with a homemade dill dressing with my CSA vegetables. Now that I'm back, I'm on a strict Keto diet.

My last day in Pensacola, Fl

Today was my last full day and Jessi has gone for most of it but Cody took good care of me. He took me to the Aviation Museum after a slow morning. We got to see the Blue Angels practice show which was absolutely amazing. The day was pretty hot so we went back to the apartment complex to hang out at the pool while we waiting for Jessi to go out to dinner. We went to McGuire's Irish Pub. Jessi and Cody shared a steak and I got a hamburger. Jessi had too much studying to do to stay out for too long and I had to pack. We watched a movie on Netflix to finish the night.

Stormy Day

Jessi was up early to study but did not have to leave for her briefing until a bit later in the morning. Cody made her breakfast before she left. I spent the morning working on my computer, reading, walking, working out, at the pool and just enjoying a wonderful time alone. While at the pool, it started to cloud up and I got back to the apartment, showered and made lunch-- leftover salad from yesterday's outing. Cody and I went out after lunch to Lowe's to get Jessi a patio carpet and lights to hang from the ceiling. We came back and set it all up for her. She got in around 5pm and wanted to work out, so we all went to the gym. I walked on the treadmill and watched the news while Jessi and Cody did a bike workout together. We then went out for pizza for dinner and then came back and sat on the patio with pretty lights chatting enjoying a thunderstorm. We finished the night with a movie. It was a great day!

Pensacola

Jessi had to get up at 5am for a 7am briefing and a 10am flight. I hung out at her apartment, enjoying the quiet morning. I did some laundry for her, made coffee, listened to the Daily podcast, went for a walk, checked out the complex gym, did some prep for next year's classes. It was a nice morning. Cody got home first and we watched an episode of Star Trek together. Jessi got home early in the afternoon with plenty of time for us to go out to lunch at Flounders and then to the beach for fun in the sun. The water was as warm as bath water. It reminded me of Cuba with white, perfectly soft sand. It was a wonderful first Monday of Summer. 

Off to Florida

I got up at 3am this morning, to leave by 3:30 for a 6am flight in Milwaukee. I made great time since there was no traffic and got to MKE with about 1/2 hour before my flight. Once I got to security, I saw an extremely long line that looked like at least an hour wait. Luckily I have pre-TSA so I got to pass everyone to the very front. I literally had no line at all. I'm really getting my money's worth out of my pre-TSA. I flew through Nashville and got to Pensacola before 10am. Jessi picked me up and took me out to brunch where we met up with Cody and his mom and sister. We had a very nice meal together and then went to the pool for the afternoon. It was in the high 80's with plenty of humidity. I took Jessi grocery shopping so we could have a nice dinner. I made a big salad, Cody's mom made meat loaf and mashed potatoes. We finished the night playing dominoes.

Graduation!

I got to the Kohl Center at 8:15am--early enough to get in and set out the senior issue of the newspaper before security was set up. I was early enough to help with set up. As an usher I organized part of the student body alphabetically. I had the M's, N's and O's. I brought mints and took photos. Once the kids were lead in by the marshals (which Josh was one), I stayed back to help clean up and chat with admin. I missed the beginning of the ceremony but got in in time to hear all the speeches including Geof's, which was supposed to be less than 10 minutes but went on for more than 20.

After it was all over I made it to the pool for laps and sunshine before the rain came. I made it to one grad party for dinner. I've got packing to do tonight!

2 years later...

I had PD all day again but after my full day of working with colleagues on a project based learning, I went into school to check out the hanging of one of my student's artwork. 2 full years ago, the student asked about working with me and I got her on replacing the artwork in the LMC. She worked on a digital design filled with old yearbook images from the last 5 decades of the school's history. It's so close to being all done!

I came home to Monika waiting for me. I had leftovers for dinner. I'm almost on vacation!

PD and Parties

I had PD all day-- a workshop on project based learning. It was a productive day with fun colleagues. I went to hot yoga after and then after a shower, I made my way to a couple of grad parties-- free dinner, fun times connecting with parents and perfect weather!

School is officially Out!

I had PD all day but I left early so that I could have one last department lunch with Geof. I invited everyone over for leftover chili. Joe got caught up working on the senior video and could not make it so it was just Geof, Grace and Josh but it was nice to have Geof over. We made it back to school for our annual end of the year staff meeting full of a awards and goodbyes. After the meeting I had yearbook stuff to attend to and then I got out of the school and made my way to Costco for gas but decided to pop into the bar all the teachers were celebrating at. I normally don't go to the bar celebrations as I don't drink and I don't want to eat bar food, but I was glad I popped in to chat. I did not eat or drink and had fun anyway. Several wonderful teachers who are leaving the school district were there to say their goodbyes. While the school year is over, my work is not done. I've got PD tomorrow and Friday...

The Last Day

It was the last day of finals finally. I had two kids come in to make up work and a newspaper club meeting at noon. I had a bit of paperwork to do, some grading and speech to prep for. While practicing with Joe I was interrupted several times by students, making it quite difficult to practice straight through. Well, it ended up I was interrupted so much during my speech by teachers, I ended up skipping about half of it but it was fine. It was a nice evening but difficult. I did my best not to get weepy and I know both Geof and Joe struggled as well. We made sure to get a good department photo before leaving. While I have PD for the next 3 days, tomorrow is supposed to be the last day for teachers with a staff meeting at 1pm. I'm going to skip out of my PD to make sure to be at that last meeting of the year because it will be Geof's last meeting.

Grad Practice

I had my last finals today, although I think I still have a couple of kids coming in tomorrow during the make up final to turn a few things in to improve their grade. I said goodbye to my student teacher and did a bunch of paperwork. After finals was graduation practice where I volunteered to be an usher. Geof is speaking and Josh is a marshal, so the event should be quite special. I had planned to go to the pool for some laps afterschool, but it was windy and a bit too cool for me so I did some gardening. I am working on chopping down a juniper bush and extending my back porch area, as well as adding tiles to my terrace. I got quite the sweaty workout. I had chili for dinner, chatted with Monika on facetime and showed off my work to Erika who was very excited.

Sunday Sitting

It was supposed to rain all day but it barely sprinkled. I went to team training at 9am, talked to Jim for a couple of hours, took Balt for a walk and chatted with my mom. I did very little work. I cat napped and vacuumed. I took a box of stuff to St. Vincent's and washed dishes.

Dogwalk Day

I had nothing going on today. I actually don't have anything planned for the whole weekend and that is great. I went grocery shopping at 6am for a few essentials, a yoga class at 9am which was amazing and was out gardening late in the morning. I made a chili for lunch but it was too hot for chili so I just ate leftovers. I'll eat the chili tomorrow as it's supposed to rain all day. I took a nap around 3pm because the internet wasn't working. I watched the Jonas Brothers documentary and an episode of David Letterman.  I took Balt for an evening walk. The weather was perfect. 

Friday of Significance

I had finals in the morning and then a luncheon to prep for. Our annual Significant Senior Artist Luncheon was toady and it was a grand success. Josh helped me with clean up and then I went home to wash and put stuff away. I then went out of town to a teacher's home for a retirement party. I was invited to a different department's party which was pretty fun. The home was beautiful, the weather was amazing and the company all wonderful. I stayed out way after my bed time!

Laps for Lunch

I did not have any finals today, so no students and no student teacher. It was the perfect day to run errands and get a few appointments in. I went to the pool at lunch and got a quick 500 meters in, showered and felt amazing but then I went to see my message therapist and left feeling beyond amazing. I still had a few meetings at work. I left right at 4pm with plenty of time for a 4:30 hot yoga class that was the icing on my perfect day. I came home and made a big fruit salad for tomorrow's luncheon. Tomorrow I'm in for a very busy day!