Good Lord, Monday was a long day.
Thirteen hours of a long day.
But, I'm ready for my work break (to you know, get married).
We have off yesterday (Election Day) and Friday (Veteran's Day), so I took off today (Wednesday), Thursday, next Monday, and next Tuesday.
That meant four days of sub plans and copies to prep.
I'm not that teacher that just tosses together review sheets and calls it a day. I'm fortunate enough to not know my sub for the four days, but that she's also been in my classroom multiple times this year and knows my expectations. The kids love her, which is a huge added bonus. She'll follow my lesson plans and I know my students will actually be learning, which is really what matters.
I also cleaned my desk, which is normally a mild state of chaos. I thrive well in that creative environment (go right brain!), but know that it's not appropriate to subject guest teachers to that.
It's here.
It's Election Day.
Teachers in my district have the day off of school for voting, which is pretty nifty. Not to worry, we have an additional sixty four minutes tacked on to each full week of school throughout the year to make up for this "free" day off.
However, I am not headed to the polls today.
That's not to say I'm not doing my civic duty and voting, but rather I took full advantage of early voting...and it was glorious.
B and I early voted last weekend and then got pretzels at the mall, because that's what adults do.
Instead, today is spent tackling a variety of tasks, including:
1) Finalizing picture details with the photographer
2) Supervising the instillation of a water softener
3) Cleaning
4) Make Up Trial (last one!)
5) Discussing the couch re-upholstery project with the handy man
6) Grading
7) Making thank you bags for the Veterans that are coming in this week
8) Laundry
9) Crafting
10) Finalizing and assembling the seating chart for the wedding
Good thing the pup got me up at 3 am today so I could get started on my task list!
Today, plain and simple, I'm grateful for Daylight Savings Time.
As an Arizonian by birth, I'm still not 100% on board with this whole clock changing situation.
But hey, I got a full ten hours of sleep and am feeling ready to conquer the day.
B's in charge of changing all our clocks while I run off to some wedding errands (picking up my dress).
A few days into the Grateful November challenge and things are going well.
Today I'd like to express my appreciation to Amazon.
Yes, Amazon.
First, if you aren't using {smile.amazon}, change that immediately. Amazon will give 0.5% of your spending to the charity of your choice. You get the warm and fuzzies just for online shopping. It's truly a win-win situation.
Second, I appreciate a good deal. Now that I'm a home owner, I get the joy of doing things like buying my own air filters. After having nose surgery to correct my sinuses, I'm more fully aware of how bothered I am by tiny dust particles crawling up my nose and wreaking havoc on my nasal passages. This means that we religiously change our air filters every few months. (I appreciate the pinterest hack of actually writing the date on the filter itself to eliminate the guess work. We also timed the filters with the HOA payments to make our lives easier.)
These are our favorites:
But man oh man, are they expensive! Target has them for around twenty five bucks each with Home Depot being slightly cheaper.
Enter Amazon, our digital knight in shining armor.
A six pack of these filters is {on Amazon} for just under sixty bucks. They also qualify for free shipping, which is an additional bonus. It's literally half the cost of nearby stores and I don't have to go to Home Depot. Everybody wins!
What's your favorite Amazon deal?
Tonight one of my dear friends and her boyfriend are coming over to help us with a project.
A few weeks ago, we inherited two couches from his parents because they upgraded. We moved my original couch into the den (because I'm not ready to part with it) and brought in two new (to us) pieces.
I was hesitant at first because the love seat has a broken spring. However, the living room does look more complete and it's nice to have more seating for when guests come over (you know, like in a week when I get married).
However, the cushions need new padding and the love seat lacks some structural support. We looked on Amazon at different "sofa saver" ideas, but want to pick our friends' brains because they've recently reupholstered their (Craig's List) couch.
We found an online store for foam if necessary since Joann's doesn't sell thick enough cushions or polyester batting.
I'm grateful for friends who will come brainstorm our DIY project strategies and help us with the project. I'm grateful to his parents for giving us their couches, prolonging our need to buy new furniture for a few years. I'm grateful for relatively inexpensive fixes that help sustain the life of things.
What are you grateful for?
October, for lack of a better word, was difficult.
Between changes at work and nailing down the last wedding details, I was overwhelmed. Blogging became the last thing on my mind, which is unfortunate because it's therapeutic. Thanks loyal readers for sticking with me while I was...
But I'm here and I'm back!
Instead of grouchily reflecting on the past, let's jump forward to November.
For the next twenty minutes or so, it's the first. For many, that means the first day of the gratitude challenge.
Essentially, bloggers, instagrammers, snapchat-ers, and other social media do-ers, are challenged to find one thing each day to be grateful for.
Today, the first of November, was rather easy.
1) My students were quite well behaved. Halloween was on a Monday this year, which meant many of us were dreading the after effects on Tuesday.
I had four students absent (two of which were pre-excused for doctor's appointments and funerals), meaning I had a cozy group of thirty one ten year olds. While other classrooms dealt with the range of student emotions (sleep deprived zombies to sugar-fueled hellions), I had a relatively normal day. We did math. We did some reading. We talked about Greek and Latin roots. We set norms for debates and students argued about whether or not the US should continue using the penny. We reviewed Newton's Laws of Motion and took our monthly STAR test data to determine growth on reading levels. Sure, I came home exhausted, but that's because there are thirty one lively ten year olds for seven hours a day. Compared to the other horror stories I heard at lunch, I'm feeling super fortunate to have a normal day.
2) We paid for the rest of our wedding. Ten days guys, ten days. I know that my credit card will be charged on the wedding day for the other half of the flowers as well as for the hotel rooms, but everything else was paid in full.
3) Our handy man came to do an estimate on a small bathroom remodel project. We ripped out the outdated medicine cabinets (cough three years ago cough) and he's putting in floating shelves so it looks custom.
Our "pinspiration":
He's getting started on it this week and it "won't be much". He's employed with a handy man company (so he's licensed and insured), but does side jobs for teachers at a discount. He's done a few other small house projects for us and even shows us the receipts as proof for what he charges for materials.
What I'm not grateful for? Insomnia. I sometimes (often) struggle to turn off my brain. I graded papers. I read another chapter of a professional read (which can be dry at times). I'm still wide awake, which is unfortunate because I have to help lead a presentation in 7 hours.
What are you grateful for today?
