Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Students are in the room!

This past week seniors and freshman began to enter in my classroom for the first time since March 2020. On Tuesday I had my editors-in-chiefs in to finish up the yearbook. It made the work so much more fun and celebratory. I have to admit this year's yearbook, while more difficult in some aspects, this book has been one of my the least stressful books in part because of my student's leadership and work ethic. Every year I have amazingly talented students but this year I feel like just had more. Oh, sure they still have senioritis and they procrastinated a ton but not as much as years past ironically. With the book done, I was able to make appointments I had been putting off (massage, hair, nails, etc) and I've had way more down time at home.

Any time there's a lot of down time on my schedule, I always feel pressure to start a big project, as if any down time is wasted time. I've been wanting to redo my floors upstairs but it's a really big project, so I'm putting it off until summer and letting myself relax. I'm eager to start going back to the yoga studio in May and swimming at the pool! As this pandemic starts to wane, going back to normal is starting to look like a reality! Jim and I are eager to add travel into our plans soon. Next week I'll add juniors and sophomores to the mix of kids it the classroom. I'm hoping by next year, I'll be only teaching kids in the room again.

Walking Uphill

This next week students are coming back into the class. Now that I'm vaccinated, I'm not too concerned about the health issues. There are a lot of stressed out teachers for various reasons. My stress is not really work related anymore. My yearbook and newspaper kids have been so good at getting the work done that I've had it made on that front. I have some students failing my classes that I need to get up to passing and do some prep but it doesn't stress me out, it's just work that needs to be done. What stresses me most about life is my health. I've started meditating daily to help. I use a "waking up" app that helps guide me. I exercise almost daily but I'm not sure it's intense enough to count. While I've heard most Americans have put on a few pounds over COVID lock downs, I think I have a few factors at play.

The added sedentary lifestyle that virtual teaching has turned into meant less steps taken every day and boy did that add up. Not being able to get into a studio to do hot yoga also meant a lot less time paying attention to my body, stretching and meditating. I often got to yoga classes early or left late so that I had that mindful time in my day. And then there is aging. I am now several years post-menopausal and that has slowed and sagged things. I'm on some new meds this week and trying to eat even less. I'm guessing by the time I'm 80, I won't be able to eat  hardly anything! Jim came back from his army training with a cold. With both of us vaccinated, I wasn't too concerned about getting him tested since things seemed pretty mild (he had soar throat, congestion and cough). While I did not get sick, I was pretty tired from what I think was just fighting it off!? I used to think of aging as a hill with middle age being at the top and then it's all down hill from there but NO! Aging is a valley. We start our youth on a mountain top and middle age is a valley. The end of our lives are all up hill and the journey is tiring!

56!

Today Jim turned 56. That's means I'm turning 56 in 5 months. We had a family text chain discussing if 56 means Jim is a "senior" and no longer middle aged. 50's are the new 40's was mentioned along with 30 is the new 20 which I know Erika is feeling having turned 30 last year and just now starting to enjoy independent adult life. Since she is the only daughter living in Madison, she came by to help Jim and I celebrated Jim's day. He'd been gone all week with Army work in Missouri as it was his spring break. It has always been frustrating to me that the two of us never have spring break at the same time.

To make the day more special, I made a homemade chocolate cake and lasagna with garlic bread for his birthday lunch. I used new recipes from my New York Times app. The lasagna called for red wine in the sauce which seeped into the noodles, making for a very different lasagna experience. The cake was extremely disappointing. The recipe called for buttermilk and butter which I decided to splurge on instead of doing a vegan cake. The cake was so dry that luckily I had purchased some ice cream to go with it and that made it edible. After each of us had a slice, the rest was tossed out. Erika suggested soaking it milk, but neither Jim or I wanted those extra calories in the house. I'm already eager for the next birthday cake I can make since this one did not quench the craving. We all watched an old 20/20 murder mystery show which is Jim's favorite lately. 

April Flowers

I came home from Virginia to find my daffodils blooming. Every year I plant a bag of bulbs for my birthday just for this. It is so exciting to see them around the yard. The weather has been balmy and wonderful since I got home but I haven't have much time to really enjoy it. While I have tried to get out and walk everday, I have so much work right now. Since returning I've had to catch up on prep, grading and getting caught up. My list of things to do is long but I know it will wind down once the yearbook is done and the kids are back in the classroom. I got my numbers today and at most I will have 9 students in a class, a few only have 4 kids coming back. Students will only be in my class in person once a week with a once a week virtual visit, while other students will stay on all virtual. 

Today I got my oil changed in the Yukon and I was congratulated for having an old car with such high miles (185K) in such good shape! It was kind of nice. No need to be looking for a new car anytime soon. 

Changing Weather

A big storm rolled in last night. I knew that cold weather was rolling in, so I made sure to get out to the beach for a long walk to get my last dose of the beach. I am leaving on Saturday morning before the sun comes up, so I will miss the next warm up on Easter Sunday. Luckily it should be fairly warm in Madison for Easter.

I finished re-painting Jessi's stairs. She had put on decorative decals onto the white paint but after time, they bubbled up. Once removed the paint pulled off and I could see that it had been painted on top of varnish. Stripping the paint was not easy. I ended up sanding it down with an electric sander to get it cleared out. I painted 3 coats and still some of the wood varnish would show through. I wanted to restain the steps and put a poly coat on them but Jessi didn't want that. She was fine with the way it was and why do the work not wanted.

My spring break started officially yesterday since I had a big yearbook deadline on Tuesday that I had to attend to. I am enjoying staying away for all things work. I decided to start a meditation program for the week. I have been working out in the morning but would like to add a more meditative component. I have really been missing hot yoga, which was very meditative for me in the past. At home when I do yoga, I am always get distracted, so rarely finishing an online class. Anyway, I've studied mindfulness but wanted to work on focus.