Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Autumn Glory

Monika and I went out to breakfast together this morning and took a drive up north to an apple orchard to enjoy the fall colors. It was a great way to spend a Sunday. Monika is leaving with Jim in the morning for long trip. I'll have the place to myself, so I'll need to finish my long list of things to do tomorrow. I did manage to finish my example video before bed.

Magic

I had a long list of things to do today and I got about 1/2 of it all done. Luckily I have tomorrow to try to finish the rest. Jim left this morning early for Ft. McCoy, Monika and I made soup for lunch and then she left to go out to dinner with friends.

The big news was Cody asked Jessi to marry him and she said yes. They called me this evening to share the news, I added Jim to the conversation. It's a blessing for our family. There are no plans yet made on when or where they will get married. Jessi said it would not be too soon. That gives me and Jim more time to save our pennies!

Ready for Friday

It was a great day, nice weather and nothing went wrong. Most of my kids got some good work in, a few pretended to get work done but did so somewhat quietly. First hour I had a freshman boy freak out because he thought another boy had taken his photo. I separated the two and luckily had no other incidences the rest of the day. I went to costco for lunch and picked up some snacks for my yearbook kids who all celebrated with me the end of the week. I came home and enjoyed a very nice evening with Jim and Monika.

Fire Season

Today at school, I had a kid tell me I smelled like a campfire! We did make a fire last night, so maybe? Anyway a bunch of kids started smelling me and assured me that I did NOT smell like fire; all they could smell was laundry detergent! I had another kid ask me how many pairs of Vans I have as he thinks I wear a different pair every day and said he'd never seen me wear the same pair twice-- which all I could say was I only have about a dozen and that I make it a point never to wear the same pair 2 days in a row.

Today was a pretty good day. My truck was working perfectly this morning when I went out to start it! Hurray for small comforts. I went to yoga after work and made a baked root veggie slices for dinner and watched Survivor before bed.

Cluster Yuck

My car didn't start this morning. My brother called me after my yoga class yesterday so I was distracted on my way home and left my keys in the ignition. Erika had texted me during the yoga class so I was distracted during the class. I spent the whole evening on the phone or talking with Jim. There's a lot going on. Jim's having issues with his army transfer as well. Jim took me to work this morning even though I had planned to walk but Balt had ran off and I needed to find him, so the morning was just a bit crazy. In class, I can sense my freshmen starting to ease up, and calm down. I'm introducing the last project for them tomorrow. It's been a frenzy of a quarter. Next quarter will be easier, I hope. 

I came home at lunch and tried to fix the truck with a jump from Jim but no go. We called AAA and they suggested a spray of sensor cleaner. We ran out and got one which helped but it was still a no go. I left my card with Jim and asked him to get a tow truck so I could take it in to the same automotive place that has sucked thousands from me in repair costs. BUTJim magically fixed it a couple of hours later. When I went to take the truck for a drive, my stereo wasn't working. I called to make an appointment but they walked me through fixing that! I was able to go to bed with most things in working order after what felt like quite 24 hour of muck.

Busy Monday

Today was one of those busy Monday's. I had kids waiting for me at 7:30am, but before I even got to work, I had to drop my truck off at the auto shop to get my window fixed. Jim said he'd take me but slept in, so I just drove myself and walked to work. I picked up a coffee on the way. I had an early photoshoot of the cross country girls before school (see photo below). I introduced a new project to my Pathways freshmen and to my animation kids. I covered a social studies class during my prep, had a lunch club meeting, and dept meeting after school. I walked over to the auto shop to pick up my fixed truck, paid $600 for a new window motor and went home to find a pile of wood left for me (I paid $250 for that). Today was an expensive day. Jim helped me stack the wood. Monika came home and made dinner and together we watched a show on tv..

Brunch Date

Last year Josh and Grace started a Brunch Club for our department but the reality is it's just the 3 of us that go consistently. Grace and I met up once over the summer but it's been a while since the 3 of us got together for Brunch. Today was the first one for this school year and it was a great meal and a great time chatting. Later in the day I had a photoshoot with a senior for the yearbook at the capitol. I don't do very many photoshoots anymore, but I've had two in a month, so I've made a little extra money, which is nice. I think about going into business after I retire sometimes.

Jim and I enjoyed an early morning fire, a walk with Balt and I made a big salad for dinner. Monika spent the weekend in Minneapolis.

Baby Visiting

During my lunch hour I ran over to the hospital to visit Melissa's new born baby who was born yesterday. I have visited all of her children in the hospital, so I didn't want to miss this last one.She reminded me of Jessi, so sweet and so big with such black hair that all eventually fell out for a blonder look. It made for a fun afternoon, but busy. I had kids working all day except in yearbook, who drove me crazy with most boys coming in tardy, many gone on field trips or athletics and then a ton leaving early. I stayed after school with newspaper kids for a bit. When I got home it was barely 40 degrees but I still took Balt for a walk with Jim and then the two of us went to Costco to get dog and cat food as well as chicken for Jim. We came home and made a fire and put our feet up for the rest of the evening.

The Snow is Coming

There's a snow storm out west that is on it's way to Wisconsin apparently. I think today was our last mild day of Autumn. Temperatures are going down after today. It was a pretty uneventful day-- meetings, work time, etc. I came home for lunch. Jim borrowed my truck and the window got stuck. I had to put a trash bag over the door to make sure water from rain this evening didn't get into the truck. I made an appointment for it to get looked at. Between my teeth and the truck, I'm looking at quite a bit of extra expenses. 

I talked with Erika this evening. She needed me to return some DVD's. She said taking care of my mom is a full time job. Her health is much declined and Erika feels that it may continue to decline but she is hopeful that she can help my mom get better. My mom is confused about how and why she has lost so much of her independence so quickly. 

I need a crown

I went to the dentist today during my lunch hour. My teeth have been just fine, but it ends up I have cracked tooth in my back molar. I'll need a crown and my insurance only pays for half, so I'm looking at a $500 bill sometime in the future. I was also told that my teeth are starting to get crooked and it was suggested I get an invisible retainer to set them straight. It is not just for cosmetic reasons apparently, because my teeth get stained and collect tarter where they are crooked. That is a 3K expense that I would rather spend on travel, but my teeth are worth it. I'll wait till spring for both procedures. I got back to work for my last two classes which were hard at work. I popped over to the grocery store for cat food and cereal (for Monika) and had left overs for dinner. I called my mom, who was not happy about the change in her freedom. She has nurses coming in several times a week that she does not like-- they have told her she can no long go up and down her stairs which she thinks is ridiculous. She told me that she is glad Erika is there because she makes her talk to the nurses since she doesn't want to deal with them. Erika told me Kaiser is bringing in a new bed for my mom. She'll be expected to stay downstairs-- which I know my mom will not like. Change is hard.

Morning Meetings

I had a sub this morning so that I could meet with my pathways cohort of teachers and take a tour of Epic Systems-- a local software company. We went out to breakfast and then toured the facilities which are pretty grand. It certainly made for a nice morning. The rest of my day continued to be quite nice. I finished my work day and then ran off to hot yoga. Erika called me after my yoga class to let me know that she has settled in at my mom's house. My brother had been staying with my mom, cooking and helping out. He's counting on her to take over. She is hoping to learn to cook a little better and have time to read, but said she was surprised how busy she had been in her first day. She ran some errands with my brother and had to unload her car. Her cat seems to have adjusted quickly. I am hoping it all works out. 

New Week

I'm finally feeling healthy and not so overwhelmed with prep. All my students are fully engaged in projects and I'm able to help students, even those in animation. This morning I came in to find Josh had set up the still life tables. He really goes all out for this unit in drawing. At lunch I had a meeting with my newspaper kids and we had Chick Fil A deliver lunch. I had a few left over sandwiches to take home to Jim and lots of extra cookies to give to my yearbook kids. After school, instead of a department meeting teacher broke out into different clinics. I went to a Developmental Designs program with Joe, Josh and Grace. After that I went into the gallery to set up a sign for Grace. I got home relatively early and Jim was not home, so I started working on an animation project for next week. Jim enjoyed the leftover sandwiches and I had left over chicken from yesterday for dinner. I finished my project and watched an episode of Star Trek.

Love me a Sunday

Today was all about recovery. Balt let me sleep in until almost 6am. I spent some time this morning prepping for my classes. At 9am I ran out to Anytime Fitness to get a workout in and then I went to Costco for gas and chicken, eggs and 1/2 and 1/2 as well as a few other things. I came home and had the rest of the day free. Jim and I went for a walk. We popped into school to print off some paperwork for Jim to get a new license. We went to Starbucks and sat out in the sunshine. It was a beautiful autumn day. 

Monika went out to brunch and shopping with a friend, Erika is on her way to California. My mom is at home, still not feeling well, but better than last week.

Wedding!

I was asked to take photos for a wedding nearly 2 years ago by my principal, who's 3 children I taught, but none for photo. I had his oldest 2 in middle school way back when and his youngest in high school for computer art. His daughter got married today and I asked Monika to come with me to the wedding to help with photographing it. Monika is a really talented photographer but she's never done a wedding so I knew it would be a good experience for her. Weddings are not easy-- they are a lot of work, but it can be fun especially if the food is good. It was a long day, so I was glad I had Monika with me to help.

Erika left for California this morning. She will be missed but she's going to help with my mom and I'm hoping it will work out for the best. I talked with my for a bit on the phone today. She is home from the hospital but I can tell she is struggling with illness a lot more than in the past. Erika won't arrive until Monday, luckily my brother's family are taking care of her over the weekend.

Fall is Here!

Jim wanted everyone to go up north to an apple orchard but Erika is leaving Saturday while Monika and I had to work today, so just Erika and Jim went for the afternoon. The had to wait until my new dryer was delivered and they left. The brought home everybody treats and had a good time. The weather has finally turned very autumn like. 

I had a good day, mostly a work day for all of my students which means I have time to breathe and get things done. After work, Jim and I went for a long walk with Balt-- about 5 miles. We went to Menards for some Halloween lights and Jim set them up in the dining room. 

Update

I called my mom today during my lunch, to find she was pretty confused. Luckily my brother was on his way and they decided to take her to urgent care. The doctor there decided she needed to go to the emergency room. She was admitted and will be hospitalized for a couple of days from dehydration and malnutrition. Erika should get there just in time for her to come home and take care of her. It was a stressful day as the my brother and I were texting and talking on the phone thru all the details. I am just so glad Erika is willing and able to go and stay with her for a while. 

I haven't been taking any photos all day, or on snapchat. I've not been on any social media, I'm just treading water these days. I got up this morning at 5am realizing I needed to prep a lesson for my freshman. I got it done at 7am and then showered and got ready for work. At work, the heat was on full blast. By second hour, I was drenched in sweat. The kids were all complaining. Why is it either too cold or too hot!? I don't know. Jim got home right at 4pm when I got off work. Together we went out to dinner to catch up and then came home to watch some news.

Slow Wednesday

It rained off and on all day. The cold front moved in last night so there was rough weather nearby. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, but I think it has been mostly weather related. My brother called me at work today to discuss my mom's condition and it was decided that Erika would go to spend some time with her for a while. She's leaving this weekend. Jim comes home tomorrow. Both Monika and Jim will be going to California in a couple of weeks, so Erika will have company for a bit. So it feels like there's a lot going on. 

I've been very busy at work, but utilizing my prep to get work done, so when I get home I'm not feeling as overwhelmed. I enjoyed a short walk with Balt this evening, some time watching tv and chatting with the girls as well.

Wet Day

While the east coast is overheating, we got a downpour. There's flash flooding warnings now. Luckily the rain was during school, so I didn't see it. I realized I left my sunroof open a crack and ran out at lunch to see the damage. It wasn't too bad but I had a few puddles. I'll need to be more careful! Luckily I had a sweatshirt in the front seat and my yoga mat protecting the passenger side.

I had a full day with a lunchtime meeting with new yearbook editors. I stayed late after school prepping pages for students and then came home to have leftover soup for dinner. I watched some news, took Balt for a walk and am ready for bed early.

Hot and Sweaty

They finally turned off the air conditioner at school so of course it is quite hot and muggy in the art department. All the kids were complaining. I told them it's either too hot or too cold. Today they all wanted it to be too cold. We had a high of 85 and humidity as high as well. It was a short schedule so the day just flew by. I had a lot of presenting to do so at the end of the day I was a little pissy with my 7th hour kids who were driving me crazy -- I yelled at a boy who turned his back to me to look at photos with another student when I was trying to talk to the class. Everyone was uncomfortably hot and eager to be done with the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. The rest of the week dips down into the 50's, so I went home after school, put on shorts and enjoyed the warmth. I did laundry, changed bedsheets and made a sandwich for dinner.

Recover Time

Balt got me up at 5am. I got to work on my computer, working on prep for an hour or so and then went to the grocery store. I boiled some beets in order to make chocolate beet brownies. I let Monika make the brownies while I was at yoga. She insists on making every baked vegan. I don't mind vegetarian, but I really like to have some dairy (esp eggs) in my baked goods. They tasted fine so I won't complain. I made a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch to go with the leek potato broccoli soup I made yesterday. I pureed 1/2 of it with creme, and left 1/2 of it chunky with no dairy for Monika. After lunch I got to work on animation prep for the next project. I'm only one project ahead of myself in both of my new classes but it works. I keep thinking how great it will be next year!

It's not pajama day.

Administration no long allows the kids to have a pajama day for dress up which was always my favorite. When I complained, I was told it was no longer felt to be appropriate and there was too much risk for students to make the wrong choices. Ironically, students wear more modest clothing typically when in their pajamas. This year the seniors picked today to be "Wear your best Wednesday" but they all came to school in pajamas. Of course the underclassmen were not in on the secret exchange. I knew and would have loved to have joined my seniors, but refrained. I also refrained from dressing up too much but tried to look a bit nicer than my regular jeans and a t-shirt. 

I presented a Bouncy Ball project to my animators. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable in Adobe Animate, but it's still not easy. I keep telling myself that next year's class will be so much easier! Everytime I present a new project, I buy myself a bit of time to get ready for the next one. All the prep I did over the summer has been utilized-- I've got to figure out what to do next. Luckily I've got about a week before students start finishing and are ready for another project.

I went home after school and made squash soup for dinner and watched some tv.

Twin Day

It's homecoming week and today was twin day. I texted Grace last night to make sure I had someone to twin with. What i love about Grace is that she won't forget! We twinned last year as well. Today was a busy getting back to the swing of things. I had meetings and a lot of prep. I worked through lunch to prep for my animation class. I stayed a bit after working on yearbook. It's a busy week for sure.  I'm finally not sick which meant I finally got back to hot yoga after work. I came home and warmed up left over veggies for dinner and watched some tv before getting back on the computer to prep a bit more for work. 

Hellow 54

I enjoyed sleeping in and having a leisure morning with Jim at the hotel. He had work to do and I needed to monitor my classes, so it wasn't all leisure. My flight back home left at 10:40am, so our time together was short but we had had a wonderful last weekend in El Paso. He finishes his service this Friday and will drive away next Monday. I will miss my El Paso visits but I am sure we will squeeze in another visit sometime again before we die. We both love the area and I just can't see us never returning. I'd like to come back to visit family as well. I want to find my mom's house that she grew up in and take a photo of it. Those are things on my list of things to do after I retire. 

I had thought I could return to Madison in time for Back to School night but I drove in too late and I didn't want to show up all travel weary and smelly. I came home to Monika cooking and lots of clean up to do. I unpacked, started some laundry, made my lunch, put dishes away and showered. I'm in bed early and know the week ahead will not be easy.

Dining Out

I got up at 3AM to catch a 6am flight to El Paso. Jim picked me up on a warm, rainy Saturday late morning and we made our way to a cute donut shop for coffee and treats and chit chat. Jim had a lot to do in order to get the army event in order for the evening as he was in charge of the ceremony. The military likes to celebrate special events -- an Army dining-in is a formal dinner just for the members of the unit, while a dining-out is a relatively new custom that includes spouses and guests. Jim has organized these events for his other units in the past and seems to be quite the party planner. There were elements of a normal "dining in" that took place at the event which Jim explained to me was not supposed to happen but his commander insisted. At the end of the event, many people came to our table to thank and honor Jim for all of his work. It was fun for  me to see him in the leader position. 

Little Bits

Today I saw progress. I'm definitely feeling better, but still coughing in occasional spasms which is embarrassing at times when I need to help students. It also meant that even though I wanted to go to yoga after school today, I couldn't. No one wants to hear someone coughing uncontrollably in class. I know! My freshmen are starting to figure out how to get work done, my animators are starting to get animations done and my yearbook kids have figured out a theme! I stayed after school to finish up some paperwork and then I got pizza for me, Erika and Monika because I felt like we deserved a little something. I sat outside with Balt enjoying my garden, noticing that it's growing quite nicely even though my cats keep pooping in what they think is a big sand box. 

Still Sick

But I'm feeling better. The nausea has dissipated. The sore throat is now a full cough and it's not pretty. Luckily I had a guest speaker for my first two hours and work time during the 3rd. I went home for lunch but didn't take a nap, just made a salad and chatted with Erika. My afternoon was fine but I had a meeting after school and I hate coughing while around other people, so no yoga either. I'm hoping to get well in time for the weekend travels.

I got sick!?

I woke up with a sore throat on Saturday, but felt fine in general. Yesterday, I still felt the sore throat but assumed it was nothing. I think because I had to talk so much today with presentations, my throat was so much more painful and I started feeling more congested, more sick. I heard from a lot of kids that this cold is going around when I complained of my sore throat. I think tomorrow I will try my best not to talk too much and maybe try to drink hot tea instead of cold. Tonight I'm in bed early.

Jessi posted the photo above on Instagram. She had another cross country flight, this time will two other female pilots. They flew to Kentucky this time. She'll be done next month!

 

Monika made chili

The nice thing about Monika living at home is that she is only into healthy vegan food and she that's pretty much all she cooks or brings home. My refrigerator is so full of vegetables. The down side of having Monika home is that she pretty much makes 3 meals a day and there's almost always plenty of food. Today she made a very delicious vegan chili that I put sour creme into and smothered butter on the corn bread she made. Maybe if I kept it vegan, it wouldn't be so bad to eat as much as I do!? 

Anyway, I had another productive day. I was up early at the grocery store before 7am. I think there is a regular crew that goes shopping super early to beat the crowd. I love that I can get in out so quickly because the store is so empty. By noon, it's so crowded one can hardly move thru the isles, so I've learned to avoid going anytime after late morning. I worked out at Anytime Fitness and then came home and planted my daffodil bulbs. After a shower and an omlette, I went to get my nails done since I'm going to El Paso next weekend and I'm not sure I'll have time this week. I am finding my week days are pretty full with all the prep I have and I don't think it will get better until the semester is over. Quite honestly, it's going to get worse as I start running out of material I prepped during the summer-- that will happen in a couple of weeks. I came home and took a nap and then did some grading. I watched some Netflix before bed.

Saturday Recovery

Balt woke me up around 4am and I just got up because I was feeling anxious about all the work I had to do. The nice thing about getting up so early, is that a lot of work gets done early in the day. Of course the down side is that I'm ready to pass out by 5pm. I did some laundry, framed some art, cleaned, built a fire and watched the news with coffee. I went to yoga, took a walk, bought a muffin for breakfast, picked up my CSA veggies, made salsa, made soup for lunch, worked on my potato animation, worked on a yearbook slide show, did some emailing, created 2 team posters, talked on the phone, took Monika out to dinner and made breakfast cookies for next week (high protein "healthy" cookies). Getting so much done today, means tomorrow will be a lot more enjoyable!

So much prep...

I'm up late prepping for my Pathway class. I need a new project and I need to be ready to give it tomorrow so I started brainstorming during the school day but spent the evening working on several examples and making a slide show. I used parts of an old project from my Art Experiences class but updated to fit the curriculum for this new class. My animation students are finishing up their first project as well but luckily I'm ready with a new project to give them already. Boy, am I glad I spent so much time over the summer of curriculum, or else I'd be up all night working!