Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Pride

I had another busy work day across town. Working on the east side of town this week helps me appreciate working so close to my school on a regular bases. I have to leave 45 minutes early and I get home 35 minutes after I'm done vs a 5 minute commute at most during the regular school year. I had planned to go to a yoga class with Monika at 6:30pm this evening but she pulled a muscle this afternoon and needed time to rest. I have to admit I was glad to spend time resting with her! We went out for Thai food for dinner and brought it back home and enjoyed a nice evening home.

My pride flag came in the mail today and I hung it up for the last few days of June, which is pride month. Monika informed me that there is a new 8 strip pride flag with black and brown strips along with the rainbow colors, so I made sure to get the new and improved one! It sure looks pretty in my front yard (as well as in front of our state capitol).

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.

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.

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!

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.

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. 

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!

The Last Regular School Day of the School Year!

There's still school-- 10 full days until graduation. Finals, grading and professional development will keep me busy but it won't be the same. My students were very busy in the morning finishing up projects. My yearbook classes had a BBQ-- lots of fun and no finals for them. 

It was very warm, a perfect day for the pool but I decided to clean up after the BBQ and spend the day at home enjoying the weather as I assumed the pool would be crowded. 

Power Outage

The morning started ordinarily. It started raining but I don't think the rain had anything to do with the power outage, but who knows? The power was out inconsistently around the building. The art department had lights but my computer lab had no power for the computers. Joe's lab computers had power but no lights and no internet. Some classrooms were without lights and had to move to meet, but my kids had nothing to do with out computers. With tomorrow being the last day of class, I'm not sure how behind some kids will be now. By lunch all was well in the building and sun was shining. We cleaned in the yearbook class. I went shopping during my prep for tomorrow BBQ.

The oxygen tank blew a valve, so Grace went out to purchase new valves and a torch for our oxy-acetylene. tanks. It cost nearly $500. I wanted a new set up way back when I was teaching metals. I stayed after school to help Grace set it all up. It's pretty nice. I got home too late for yoga and too tired for swimming. I took Balt for a walk and enjoyed a quesadilla for dinner.

Surviving Monday

There are only 2 regular school days left after today but still 2 weeks of work to do-- finals, PD, cleaning and graduation. My student teacher has my morning classes under control but I still am working my yearbook kids. I went out to get them pizza today. We spent class time eating and chatting about summer. I decided to get some laps in after school since I had enjoyed pizza for lunch. I ate left over broccoli for dinner that Monika left me. 

We got our money from the sale today-- Erika made bank, over $100, but I only sold 11 cards. At $1 each, it wasn't as much as I had hoped. I'll have to come up with new stuff next year. 

Take it Easy

I took Monika to the airport and that was about it. I took Balt for a walk and hung some lights outside in the front yard with some hopes of going out in the evening but I passed out watching 60 minutes which means I'll be quite rested for my work week!

It's June!

Balt had me up early. I asked him to let me sleep in and I get an extra 15 minutes before he got inpatient with me. I spent the morning cleaning and organizing. I went to a 9am yoga class, which was bliss. I got my final 1000+ award (a crystal bracelet) in class and was honored in the June newsletter. I took the girls out to lunch since it's Monika's last day home for a bit although she'll be back soon enough to go to yoga teacher training in mid June and she'll be busy and very tired! 

Monika and I went to see Rocketman this afternoon. I didn't realize it was a musical going in so I was surprised but the music was all from my childhood, so it was really good. The rest of the evening was just time to relax.

Promotion

Jessi got a promotion today. She said it was automatic which is nice! I love that I don't have to do a lot of paperwork for a promotion. Jim had to do a ton of work last summer and he's still waiting. I am so proud of Jessi's accomplishments!

As for my Friday, it was the unofficial Senior skip day so there were lots of kids gone. I had 4 kids in my yearbook classes. During lunch I ran errands, to the bank, the pharmacist, etc. After school I went to the pool for laps and some time enjoying the evening sun. It was the perfect way to end the week.

Distribution Day

It was a very long day and humid but a success. Students did a great job and compared to last year, I felt like it was all so much more smooth and I did a lot less. I wrote more about the day here. I usually go to hot yoga on Thursdays after school, but I was so drenched in sweat and eager for swim. I did 10 laps and enjoyed a cool shower outside. It was only in the mid 70's, so not very hot. It was the perfect way to end a long day!

Art fair day 1

Today was the first day of spring art fair. We only have 5 class periods left and a full 16 days until graduation. I volunteered to help with graduation and I have work to do up until graduation.  

Monika came in to help with the art fair. I got us lunch but had a lunch meeting with my new editors in chief. After school I helped Grace cast her first ring. We didn't get success but she got experience. I came home to find Erika suffering with a concussion. She hit her head last week but it now having issues. Hopefully with some rest she'll get better quickly. Luckily Monika is here to help her with work.

Short Week Ahead

It was a great day-- all my kids are working except for yearbook. We went into the main gym and went over distribution. Students were emailed confirmation of either having purchased a book or were told they did not buy one with instructions how to on Thursday. We discussed the process and then played basketball. It certainly made for a fun class period. During my prep I got stuff ready for the sale that starts tomorrow. I stayed late after to help Grace out with metals stuff, finish the newspaper to send to print and make signs for the sale. Monika will be working it tomorrow. Hopefully the 3 of us (Monika, Erika and I) will make a bit of money.  

Holiday

I can't help but sing Madonna's Holiday, when I say Holiday...It was a wet one, but I got out for a dog walk before the rain hit too hard. I chatted with Jim along the way. I had hoped to make it to a yoga class but the girls were not interested but wanted to go out to brunch instead. We enjoyed a wonderful time out using up Jim's gift card, made even nicer.

Erika was complaining about our dryer and asked me to buy a new one because it takes two cycles to get clothes dry. I decided to see if cleaning the back ventilation might help. I had it rigged to keep the hot air inside, so I went to the hardware store to add new pipe and clamp to pull the hot air outside since it is feeling like summer now.  We'll see if it helps. I washed all my bedding and spent some time watching tv. I fell asleep early and will start the week well rested.

I can't believe it's that time of year...

The pool opened yesterday, but I wanted to get all my work done before being about to sit and soak. I got up early this morning and did a quick grocery store run for the stuffs I can't get at Costco. I spent a couple of hours reading the paper and then went to the gym for team training. I came home and got ready for the pool. I got there when it opened and sat and chatted with some of my teacher friends before getting in. I did 500 in 15 minutes non-stop, which kind of surprised me. I haven't been able to jump in straight to 10 laps on opening weekend! I guess all that team training has me feeling fit! I soaked in the sun until 2pm and came home to enjoy a very leisure Sunday. I finally started watching some videos on Animate. My big summer project is to get my curriculum ready for fall. At least it is fun work. 

Clean up

I woke up at 4am and just decide to get up and start working. I had a lot of laundry piled up and cleaning to do. Monika asked me for some shelf space in one of my two closets. I don't wear half the stuff I have, so it was easy to clear out but it needed sorting. I stopped to go to a 9am yoga class. I did some weeding, vacuuming and gave Balt a bath. By 2pm I was ready for a Costco run and Goodwill dropoff. I made nachos for an early dinner and was passed out by 5pm. 

PD and Bonding

I was out again today. Luckily my student teacher has most things under control in the morning but I'm not sure what's going on with my yearbook kids. I'm hoping they got some work done while I was out yesterday and today. We'll see tomorrow. As for today, I met up with next year's ninth grade team which I totally love. I really enjoy the time thinking about future curriculum and project learning. I love how we communicate openly and honestly. At times it is slow going because we are not in a hurry just to do the work but instead we are thoughtful about accomplishing our goals. 

I got in late because my PD was on the east side of home and I got caught up in a couple of conversations after we were released. I was in no hurry anyway. I had to get gas, pick up pies for tomorrow and stop by school to prep for tomorrow. I got home around 7pm and just got ready for bed!

So very Friday.

The shared drives were off line all day because our district was replacing a server which meant I did not have access to much of the work I needed to work on today. Luckily my photo students work off their hard drives but my yearbook classes all work off shared drives so we sat around chit chatting unable to access anything. I had re-write sub notes for Monday because those were saved on one of my drives. I did get a few things done but in general it was a pretty relaxing day. With only 12 class days left, thing definitely will get busier but I've got the weekend to enjoy first!

The Eagle has landed

Exactly one week early, our yearbooks were delivered today!! I waited until the end of the day and took my two editors in chief to back custodial garage where 3 pallets of 1275 books were waiting for us. We unwrapped a pallet and opened a box. We had gone through 4 proofs of the cover and had never got to see it in a state we were happy with until today. It's perfect! We looked through the book and then boxed it back up until next week when we will share it with the rest of the class. It was a very exciting day!

After school I went to hot yoga and enjoyed a nice evening home with some time chatting with Jim.