5/15/19
6:00-6:10-6:20
Alarm on my phone goes off but I hit the snooze and start checking messages and thinking about the day while I alternately drift back off to sleep. . .hit snooze again and start the process over a couple times. Thoughts that drift through my mind include. . .
First is work–first today as I am thinking about how many more days of school there are before we are off for summer vacation-12 more days but there is a lot to have done in that time. My husband is retiring from teaching this year so every morning I not only think about how many days until break but how many more days HE has until he is done and ready for the ultimate break! (I am not jealous. . .I am not jealous. . .ok, I am a little jealous)
Next is family and my thoughts drift to son C who has just finished his first year of college, has barely been home and leaves tomorrow morning early to head to Wyoming for an internship. He has only been home a week and will be gone all summer returning just one day before heading back to school. I think about what things we still need to work on for his trip to be sure he is ready to head out. Daughter M is in grad school in DC and I check out her Instagram post again from yesterday. She posted pictures of food she had cooked for breakfast then dinner yesterday and it looks so good! I sent her a message accusing her of trying to lure friends to come visit by promising to cook for them.
Scrolled thru Google Photo album I had finally finished yesterday. The album is of a trip to Indianapolis the family took last week on the one day we were all going to have together before probably Christmas. Empty nest syndrome is coming late for me as the older two went to college in town. The oldest still lives at home but will be leaving in August for a Ph.D. program at FSU.
6:22
Out of bed and rushing now to get everything done and head to work. First M was home for six nights then C has been home for seven nights. . .only overlapping for two nights. . .which has caused me to stay up WAY too late now for several nights in a row. I am exhausted but tonight will be his last night home until August so I know I have another long day ahead.
MSNBC on, start electric tea kettle, pour drinkable oatmeal concoction I have been making ahead and keeping in the frig into a travel mug to heat up at work, pour tea to drink while getting ready and start another pot of hot water to fill thermos for later at work.
Head back to bedroom where P is not yet up surprisingly. Wake him and he heads to kitchen to start his coffee then the shower.
I remember clothes are in the dryer including things I need for today so back to the kitchen and into the garage to grab a basket and load of laundry. Organize the laundry so it doesn’t wrinkle from staying in a basket all day. Get dressed and fix hair which takes all the time I have left. I am at the beginning of the process of letting my dyed hair transition to the grey that would now be considered my natural color I suppose but I still think of the black it was my entire life as my natural color. . .which of course is no longer true as I have been coloring it for probably over 25 years now. I started going gray early and am no longer sure really now long it has been colored. Once the transition is over though it will be primarily grey which will be a shock but I am looking forward to it. Currently though disguising the grey roots takes some time, root spray and creative use of parting and hair spray. Once I am on summer break from work I plan to not try too hard to hide the roots all the time but I am not yet ready to explain at work why I look like a skunk.
7:15
Back to the kitchen, fill the lunch bag with containers I got ready last night. One is my homemade yogurt and cut up strawberries and the other is blueberries. This plus my drinkable oatmeal will be my food for the day until I leave work. I believe I have gone on at length previously about my homemade yogurt but again I say, I LOVE MY HOMEMADE YOGURT!!! And it’s good berry season so yippee. OK, I just looked up my oatmeal drink I like as it seems to me that might be confusing if anyone reads this diary. The recipe I happened to come across a couple years ago and is actually called “Spiced Oat Milk.” It says that it’s called “avena caliente” in Latin America. It is basically 5 cups of liquid (I use 4 almond milk and 1 water) boiled with ½ a cup of oatmeal 2 cinnamon sticks and some nutmeg. It calls for honey but I leave that out. After it boils then sits in the fridge overnight it is a thick porridge consistency. Then the cinnamon sticks are removed and it is run through a high powered blender which makes it drinkable. I add a bit more almond milk before drinking it depending how thick it is. Sounds kind of weird but I really like it and it is surprisingly satisfying AND filling. Good for breakfast and soothing before bed.
7:20
Grab my computer bag and travel mug of hot tea then take those to the van and start it up. Back in the house I take my morning supplements (fish oil, evening primrose oil, vitamin E), grab my purse and lunch bag and head to the van. Quick smooch of P who is moving his pick-up he has parked behind me since C is home and taking up driveway space and I head to work about 5 minutes late.
Drive to work takes about 12 minutes and I listen to WLBC news sometimes but usually IPR on the BSU station. Today I listen a bit but then switch over to my book on CD as I am too distracted thinking/worrying about C and his trip so I want something else to focus on. I am currently listening to a new David Sedaris book Calypso. I just finished an old Sue Grafton book J Is for Judgement and had to find where I had left off in Calypso which I actually started first. I switched over to the Grafton book as I had started reading the print version on a trip recently then didn’t get back to it. When I am busy I can finish faster listening in the van as I don’t have much time to read during the spring when I am so busy with work and things around the house. I forgot how much I was enjoying Calypso and it does work at distracting me from my other concerns.
7:45
Settled in my office at work, put on my minimal make-up which I didn’t have time for at home, check work email and start an email for C with things I don’t want to forget to talk with him about for the trip after rereading the information sent by the site where he will be working. I am trying not to obsess about him driving alone 22 hours to Wyoming. I am failing. Take time to catch up on these diary entries from the morning activities.
8:00-8:30
See two students separately to do progress on goal checks so I can finish my specific learning objective (SLO) end of year report later this week and upload it to the website where information for our teacher evaluations are housed. (I just looked back at my diary from 9/17/18 as this whole SLO discussion was sounding familiar and sure enough, I was PLANNING the goals on that day!)
My next group of students is not available due to NWEA testing (computer based whole class evaluation done three times a year to monitor progress on grade level standards) so I have time to start compiling data for the SLO report.
9:10-11:00
Student groups one after the other. With most of the groups I am finishing a book we are reading together called Sam’s Sandwich. Kids of all ages love this book and it’s a fun morning. I like to do this book towards the end of the school year as it keeps them engaged when they can tend to be a bit distracted. Through the book we work on skills such as rhymes, vocabulary, memory and inference as well as articulation skills. Sam is helping his sister make a sandwich and puts a “surprise” in along with each new ingredient including a caterpillar in the lettuce, a slug in the tomato etc.
11:00-11:20
Work on paperwork for case conference the next day.
11:20-12:00
A couple more groups. . .my first graders are so into Sam’s Sandwich!
12:00
Lunch while working. I have my yogurt and strawberries while checking email. Text with C about the plan for later and work on the shopping list. Use Google to check on the driving directions and the weather report for his trip. Catch up on diary entries!
12:30-2:25
More therapy groups. . .
2:30-3:30
More paperwork to be ready for the case conference tomorrow and finally heading home to work with C on the travel supplies and plans. I am usually at work until about 5:30-6:00 but with my kids home so briefly I have been leaving earlier the past few days. . .paperwork is starting to pile up and so much to do for the end of the school year but I have a lot to do tonight at home so it has to wait.
11:20
Finally in bed after such a busy evening. Too busy to keep up with diary so here is a list of all the things I accomplished after getting home from work:
-organized food already purchased for the trip and first couple weeks in Wyoming
-talked with C about possible food options since he will be eating food he has prepared for himself (beyond bagel, sandwiches, and reheating leftovers) almost exclusively for the first time
-trip to Aldi and Target to purchase additional supplies while he packs-banana, nuts, honey as well as food for dinner
-cooked dinner, breaded chicken cutlets and salad-his “last supper”
-while cooking supper showed C how to make a simple chicken breast-not breaded, he could cook for himself
-C picks up girlfriend and brings her over to hang out while he finishes packing
-P and I talk over the route with C. . .discuss possibility of camping on the way vs. hotel room depending on weather, some severe weather including possible tornadoes predicted for part of the route. . .things to see along the way, Chimney Rock Nebraska etc. if weather and time allow
-print off driving directions and mark potential locations for first and second night stops-even though he is young he is not very good or experienced with using the GPS on his phone and we are also not very sure about our cell service out west so we want a backup so we also give him an atlas from the van
-find pants on Amazon he has now decided he DOES need as the weather the first week will be cooler. . .have those in the online cart to get sent once he is sure of the mailing address
As I catch up on the diary I am seeing how much of my day was dominated by C’s trip tomorrow but I didn’t really say what he is doing. He is going to do an internship at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis Wyoming. He will be living with around 12 other interns in a house which is a couple minutes’ walk from the center. He is so excited to be working and learning at an active dig site and we can’t wait to do a visit west this summer! The center is privately owned and offers programs where people can pay to not only tour the museum but also learn how to dig and preserve bones themselves by spending a day on a dig and/or in the lab at the museum. C will get to learn all about the techniques of excavation and preservation as well as helping lead the programs for adults and children. He gets free room and board as well as a small stipend for food. He also applied for and is receiving money for travel and expenses from his college which is what is making it possible for him to go as normally he would need to be at home lifeguarding to earn money for room and board next year. I am so happy for him he has worked hard to put himself in a position to get this opportunity but am also really nervous for him to make the trip as he has never driven more than an hour from home on his own.