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It's leap year and that means Monika gets an actual birthday. It's only her 6th one, thus the trip to California. She went to a concert with her college friend last night and spent the night. She made it home mid morning and then made a chocolate cake and I took her out to get vegan pizza for dinner. It was quite relaxing and I was glad to spend the day with her!
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It is nice to check in with my mom and brother to see how life is. Erika has done a great job handling my mom's health, not as great with housework. I am trying to pick up the slack while I'm here. I took Monika shopping for her birthday. We went to the Vans store and I refrained from getting another pair of shoes but made a fun purchase for Monika. We enjoyed the afternoon on a bright sunny day, and then went to my brother's for dinner. I got to see the plans for my mom's apartment behind his house. The hope is to see it finished by June and I will be incharge of clearing out the house we grew up in, while my brother takes over my mom's care full time and Erika gets to go back to her life. We discussed all the issues and more. I got home kind of late and passed out.
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I got to sleep in until 7am (which is 9am in Wisconsin!). I got up and got to work. There's a lot to do, dishes, laundry, vacuuming, etc. I wanted to get a walk in and of course I walked to Starbucks for a coffee. My mom can no longer have coffee with half and half in the morning and I was ordered not to bring half and half into the house by Erika! I enjoyed my latte and nice walk in 60 degree sunshine. I'll be up late tonight to pick up Monika but I had plenty to keep me busy. My brother came by to visit and trimmed one of my mom's lemon trees so now I have lemon water. After he left I went grocery shopping to Costco to get my mom and I some lunch. My mom was watching TLC's My 600lb Life and boy, I got sucked in and what a story (really gross too).
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I went into school today and prepped for a couple of days off to help my mom and let Erika take a few days off. We both left each other's cars for each other which made the process a little easier since no one needed to pick me up from the fly-away in Van Nuys. I also didn't need to find anyone to take care of Balt since Erika would be home while I was away. For Monika's birthday this weekend, I am treating her to flight out to California to join me tomorrow.
It certainly made for a very long day, but so worth it to find some heat and spend time with my mom.
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Because this week is a short week, we had a regular schedule for Monday. I needed the longer day to get a ton of stuff done. I did a demo in my photo class and caught up on some grading. I had a dept meeting at lunch along with a newspaper club meeting, and a big yearbook deadline; so things were busy. I stayed after school to make sure I got everything I needed to done and came home and made a salad for dinner, watched some news and started packing. I chatted a bit with Jim and will watch some youtube before bed.
Side note: the photo of Marty was taken with my phone in portrait mode. I was talking to my students about how it can fail sometimes, and now I have a great example to show them! (notice his whiskers).
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I made a fire this morning and enjoyed a wonderful day. I made cookies for Jim's class and enchiladas for our lunch. I ran a few errands and we watched Parasite on Amazon Prime. It was a good movie, not quite better than 1917 but still good. Jim left after 5pm and I watched 60 minutes and went to bed.
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February 22 seemed to be one of those days that had a lot going on. The school was hopping. My newspaper kids organized a news conference. We had 27 kids signed up but only about 6 showed up, which was disappointing but what can you do. We enjoyed the experience and at the end talked about how to make it more accessible next year. I went home to enjoy Jim's company for a while. I left a chicken for him in the crockpot while I enjoyed the pizza at the conference. Then around 7pm, I got ready to go back to school for a rescheduled dance. I had heard from the teacher who helped the kids organize the dance that I would be the ONLY teacher supervising. I wasn't even there to help supervise, only to take photos. The principal informed that there would only be one parent there to help. Luckily there were 4 principals, but it was a little crazy --1 adult per 100 kids attending? It was mostly freshman and sophomores and of course hardly anyone stayed the whole time. I started clearing up my photo equipment early and then I started help with clean up before the dance was to be over at 11pm. I asked kids to get up from tables and told kids who were sitting around tired to hurry up and go home. I went home exhausted so excited to be in bed!
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It was a good Friday. I really love my schedule and now that my photo classes are in the middle of projects, I have tons of time on my hands to get stuff done, especially with the yearbook. I had to problem solve some issues with the junior section before Monday and didn't want to have to come in this weekend to work on it. I was able to get it all figured out while multitasking. I took in soup for lunch and spent the day getting tons done. During 7th hour, I brought chocolate caramel turtles to help celebrate our finishing 100 pages of the book-- only 124 left-- not quite half done. The girls in the photo are my hard workers and I'm lucky to have them.
After work I went to hot yoga and then met up with Jim at home who came down to Madison for the weekend. It'll be nice to have company, although during the week I feel like between work and sleep, I rarely feel lonely-- plus I have Balt.
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My senior section was due today for the yearbook and I thought I was going to have to go in and finish it all but my kids pulled through and the section looks great. I know that the work was done mostly by a few girls and there were a lot of boys hardly working but this week even some of the boys got to work to make sure the section got done! I've one more deadline next week before I leave for a getaway to visit my mom.
I stayed very late today, working with newspaper kids and making sure all of the pages that needed to be done were done perfectly.
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I love the realizing when Wednesdays are half over I'm on the slide to the end of the week. Today that came during my 6th hour class-- the one with 6 students. I keep telling myself I need to start painting in that class since there is so little for me to do. My morning was busy, giving my photo 1 kids their 2nd project, in anticipation for my absence next week. My yearbook kids are mostly busy with a big deadline both tomorrow and next Monday. I stayed after school working on a project and got home by 5pm. I took Balt for a very short walk. He didn't seem to be bothered by the frigid weather, but was eager for dinner. I made a quesadilla for dinner, and watched some tv before bed.
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After our snow dump yesterday, we had a very pleasant day with some sun and not so cold temps but I'm told the frigid weather is coming. Of course by mid February into March I start getting more antsy. I've been thinking about going tanning. There is exactly 30 days until spring and it can't come quick enough! I've learned to plan getaways in February so I don't get depressed.
Today was just a work Tuesday, trying to get as much done as possible. I had demos in all of my photo 1 classes and I finished the staff board that I create for the principal and sent it to print. I did a lot of yearbook organization in the afternoon. At lunch I went to Costco to get gas and food, knowing Jim was coming this weekend and I'd need some basics but really I just had to have coffee and half & half tomorrow morning. I got home after school and did my beach body workout because I didn't do it this morning. I had leftover soup for dinner and chatted with Erika on the phone before going to bed. Below is a photo of my painting 2 class which has 6 kids in it. It's the most chill class I've ever had.
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What was supposed to be a few flurries turned into 4-6 inches of heavy snow today. It snowed most of the day while I was busy at school with more to do than I had time for. I stayed late hoping to catch up with yearbook stuff. I came home in a slippery mess, glad I didn't have anywhere to go. I had hot chicken soup waiting for me in my crockpot. I watched the news and then spent some time chatting with Jessi and Monika with Jim on the phone as well and went to bed early.
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We slept in and watched the news. We took our time checking out of our hotel and then went to a mall walk around in comfort. We window shopped and ended up getting Jim a shirt and tie. We went out for Mexican food and sat for hours talking as we drank, ate and then drank some more (I drank diet pepsi while Jim drank margaritas). I drove back to Rochester while Jim played music from middle school (Steely Dan, the Fixx, etc), continuing our conversations. Once back to Jim's I packed up my truck, which I had left with a full tank of gas, and made my way back to Madison. As soon as I was home, I unpacked and went straight to bed.
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We spent the night at Ft Snelling last night since Jim has access to the military hotel which is very affordable and nice. We went out to breakfast and then headed downtown for a day wondering around the inner city skybridges that go from building to building. We stayed the night at the Hilton downtown with is a favorite spot of Jim's when he's got meetings here in the twin cities. We enjoyed a movie and luxurious night.
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Valentines Day at Memorial is always wonderful with lots of valentines and singing. I got donuts for my students and then left school on Friday as soon as I could and we got to the twin cities in tine to have dinner w some old friends. It’s cold! But we’re enjoying the company.
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We got a couple of inches of snow last night and then temps took a nosedive. The thermometer will keep dropping deeper into negatives all night into tomorrow and we have wind chill advisory as well. Yesterday I picked up some Purell and Lysol for my classroom. I've got sick kids in every class and having finally gotten over a bad bug myself, I'd like to keep things a bit more sanitized. I've decided to spray my students keyboards once a day with Lysol and encourage them to use hand sanitizer as well. Just during the flu season. Normally I'm anti- hand sanitizer opting just to wash my hands but in the computer lab, I think it is especially germy.
Anyway, I spent the day getting stuff done. My painting class has 8 kids in it but with illness, I am only getting 5-6 coming. It certainly makes for a very easy going afternoon. After school I went to yoga, made a quesadilla for dinner and watched Picard.
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I had a sub today and did not need to be at my meeting until 9am which gave me a very nice morning with plenty of time to workout and have a nice breakfast. I had a great day with my Pathway team. I came home and decided to hunker down with a fire since snow was in the forecast. I finished my leftover soup for dinner and watched the news and the season premiere of Survivor-- 20 years ago I watched the first season. I can't believe I've been a fan for so long! I haven't watched every year, but almost.
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I am currently on the school's SIP committee which is to say, I signed up to attend a bunch of meetings and to observe a bunch of classrooms. I'm not sure why. I'm a bit cynical when it comes to school improvement. I'm pretty sure fixing up the girls bathroom would be #1 on my list of ways to improve the school. When you go to a school that appears to be poor-- old heating system, dirty and broken bathrooms, etc. -- there is a feeling of being "less than" and even though we have some wealthy students that attend our school, the overall feeling is that we are losers. I spent my prep today observing 2 other classrooms-- I saw kids engaged in math and English. I found the experience somewhat interesting. I didn't see anything new or out of the ordinary.
My day seemed too busy to get out. I had wanted to go out for lunch but I couldn't get away. Luckily I had some leftover soup to warm up. Once home, I made dinner, watched the news and tv until bed... too tired to do much else.
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I finally got my basement gym stocked with just about everything I need to get my workout in the morning done without any excuses. I'm saving $140 a month now that I'm not going to Anytime Fitness. I don't have a trainer helping me, but I feel like I learned enough in the year that I went to be able to workout on my own. My goal this week is up my time to 45-60 minutes. I've been doing 1/2 hour. I'm feeling like I'm getting stronger and my belly is feeling a bit flatter. I'm not losing weight but it's about health and wellness, right?
My Monday was busy... every work seems busy which is why when I'm home, I try not to do too much work. No matter how much work I do at home, I'm still busy at school! On Monday's I have newspaper at lunch, and meetings after school. We had a shortened schedule so the day zips by. At times I feel myself drenched in sweat from running around or just running around helping kids. I'm never sure if it's me, a hot flash, the heat at school on high or just my metabolism running higher since I'm working out more!?
I went home, took Balt out for a bit, made dinner, talked to Monika, watched the news and went to bed early.
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We started with an early winter snow but then winter dipped into being pretty mild time and last week we got a taste of spring with some heat and sunshine but we got 5+ inches today! It was the kind of day to sit back with a fire and just relax. I did my beachbody workout, had leftover soup for lunch and watched a movie (On the Basis of Sex) about Ruth Ginsburg, some Netflix and the news. I took Balt for walk out in the thick of the weather. It's been in a long time since we've gone on a walk together! It was way overdue. Over course he was passed out for the rest of the day after.
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Balt got me up way too early, so the plan for the day was to get in a nap. I did. I made it to yoga this morning and got a lot of computer work done. I finished my taxes and filed. I made a big fire, made some soup and watched Judy so I could catch Renee Zellweger in her Oscar nominated performance. I thought about spending the whole weekend just watching Oscar nominated movies, but I wanted to make sure I went to bed early.
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It was a busy week, so having no kids on Friday was a relief. Even with all the morning meetings, I still had the afternoon off to catch up. Thursday I was able to get to a hot yoga class after school so I woke up sore. I've been working out most mornings but gave myself the morning off and fasted so I could go to the lab for blood work. In order to get my metformin renewed, I needed updated numbers that came in at the end of the day as "good." I got a nice note from my doctor telling me how well I'm doing with keeping my blood sugar down. It surprised me because I've been stress snacking on chocolate. I treated myself to a latte and cinnamon roll on the way to work after my morning tests.
I had a long list of things to do today that I did not come close to finishing but I got a good start. My yearbook kids are so lazy this year, that I'm having to pick some of their slack. We are short on photos and I've been bad about taking photos as well. I've got to start picking it up!
At 4pm I forced myself to hit save and get ready to leave. I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription and went home and did my beachbody workout. Monika called and then later Jim called. I'd gone out to lunch and got a large diet coke and found when I went to bed I couldn't sleep so I stayed up watching Youtubes knowing I could take a nap tomorrow.
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We had a lockdown drill today, formally known as code red. The district reworked all of its drills and now instead of just practicing with kids, we have folks from downtown and the city practicing with us, including police. It seemed as if since the school was taking it all more serious so too were my students. Or maybe the whole matter is just so serious. Discussing the idea of an intruder at our school does not seem the least bit far fetched, it's as realistic a drill as a fire drill now but more somber. My students needed to stay quiet for 15-20 minutes and hidden, I told them to put their headphones on and just keep the volume low enough not to be heard. We hunkered down in a back corner of the department with the shades pulled and the lights out. Josh's kids were just as quiet. It was kind of amazing. I'm not sure how the rest of the school did, but our corner was great.
After school I had a parent teacher conference and a haircut. I made a salad for dinner and watched Star Trek.
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I had a long, busy day that ended with a hockey game. It was teacher appreciation day and I got to meet up with both Joe and Josh. I snuck out early and was eager to get to bed early!
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We had a regular schedule today, which made it a long Monday, but there's no school on Friday, so it should be short week. I heard kids complaining about the long day at the end of it. I really like my schedule this semester, but my mornings are busy. I have a really nice chunk of time to prep, run errands, meet, etc in the middle of my day and then I finish the day with 2 very different classes. Today I took a photo of the security staff at our school for the yearbook. They are busy people and hard to gather in one place at one time since they have different schedules and different jobs. Last year I wasn't able to get a photo of them for the staff section, so I wanted to make sure I got one this year. I really appreciate these people but they are the ones that deal with all that is difficult at our school. If I ever want a kid removed for any reason (typically its a kid who isn't in my class), all I have to do is call security and they take care of it. They do such a great job of de-escalating very volatile situations. They certainly deserve more than just a photo in the yearbook, but it's the least I can do to make sure they get a little credit.
At the end of my work day, I came home and made a salad for dinner and watched Star Trek.
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Coffee, fire, news, hot yoga and lunch with Jim. Wonderful weather got us outside. We took down the Christmas lights and took several bags in the garage to St. Vincents for donation. After Jim left I worked on the taxes and found we owe money which put me a really bad mood, so I started watching the super bowl in order to catch the half time show. I'll have to finish up and pay when I file later this week.
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For over 10 years we have talked about refinancing our condo and even started the process twice but never actually got it done until today. Jim drove down to Madison this morning for a 10am appointment at the UW Credit Union to sign all the paperwork. We got a great deal-- a solid 3%, 12 year loan, no closing costs. We were at 5.25% at Wells Fargo with about 17 years left. Since we shaved 5 years off the loan, the payment went up a bit, but we are saving about 4 grand in interest annually. Joe was the one to tell me about and I went to Wells Fargo to ask if they could match and they actually told me, no and I'd be crazy not to jump at the deal being offered at the other bank. Jim and went to see 1917 afterward and then out to eat to celebrate. We did a bit of shopping and came home for the evening to relax. It was a very good Saturday.
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