pamelonian

Here are the rules.


Today is a sad showing, indeed.  I spent the day working in my classroom.  I only had one scheduled conference.  I got through maybe 3/4 of my to-do list. 

( Friday's photos behind the cut. )


I didn't intend to sleep from 4:00-7:00 tonight. I had planned to attend an aikido seminar tonight. That didn't happen. There are reasons other than my narcolepsy that explain this, but I won't go into them here. OK, yes, I will. The drive is several miles north of town on gravel roads. They don't have any real plumbing. That, for me, is a deal-breaker.

Here are the rules.


First, let me say that the project is becoming even more difficult.  Tomorrow should be more interesting.  I did go to aikido, but didn't get any pictures. I helped teach the kids' class and assisted with the adult class.  If we had one more or one fewer adults, I would have been able to train.  As it was, I spent time helping and talking to the instructor.  Not entirely unenjoyable, but I would have liked some exercise.

( Wednesday's photos behind the cut. )

Tomorrow should be a more interesting day. We have Parent-Teacher Conferences from 5:30-8:00, so I intend to stay for the duration. It is also School Picture Day. I have to sit for my yearbook photo.

I will begin the Week in the Life photo project later today and will repost the "rules," many of which I will not follow.

Last week, I forgot to set my alarm after the busy weekend. Boris woke me up just 10 minutes after the time the alarm would have sounded. I got him a new mouse toy that has a realistic electronic squeak sound. He has been having fun with it. He will never know why I got him the gift, but I will!

Yesterday the owner of the building where we rent the dojo space had an open house. There was a cookout, a display of beautiful custom-painted motorcycles, and a band. They played all southern rock, ZZTop, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Allman Brothers. I was the only aikido person who stayed to represent, but I handed out flyers and drank spiked lemonade with the ladies from the salon. We are an eclectic group in that building: A bail bondsman, landscaper, hair salon, and aikido dojo.

Speaking of the dojo, I have to leave to teach class soon. I am expecting only one, maybe 2 adult students. My regulars are either out of town or on post-seminar aikido overload.

My next-door neighbor is giving me money to take care of her dog while she is out of town. It is too much money, but she is an engineer and can easily afford it. The dog will likely show up in my WITL posts.

One of my teacher colleagues is the Freshman Class sponsor. She had to leave early from work today to care for a very ill relative, she said. She asked me if I would walk with the Freshman float in the Lancer Day Parade, one of those first-game-of-the-football-season events.

All I had to do was make sure they didn't do anything stupid like standing up or trying to jump off a moving vehicle and stop them from pelting little kids too hard with candy. When the kids forgot to bring candy (that's Freshmen for you), I thought I had it made. I walked with them from 75th street down to 71st street and then had to walk back. It would have been a nice stroll if it weren't for the record-breaking 105-degree temperature! When I agreed to this on Monday, the high was in the 80's.

Now I am wiped out and my dogs are sore. I had plans tonight, damn it! I was going to finish up my lesson plans for next week since I won't want to work on them this weekend while I am in Florida. I still may get to the actual work, but for now, I think a nice nap is in order...

Apparently, this is the weekend for friends of mine who have moved away from Lawrence to come visit.  Last night was Jason from St. Louis, and today was Owen from the Army.  He was my aikido teacher in the dojo for many years and then he joined the Army.  They are teaching him Arabic so he can go eavesdrop in the Middle East.  It was great seeing him.  It had been almost a year since he had been here, so there actually were changes to report.  You know how when you are living somewhere day-to-day and things don't seem to change much?  Try removing yourself from the picture for a whole year and things change at a pace you can actually see!  It is refreshing to think that life here isn't as stagnant as I might believe. 

I wish I had more time to hang out with him.  After a year in the Army with his room and board paid, I bet he has saved quite a sum of money.  He got a week of vacation and could have gone anywhere he wanted.  He chose to come visit us in Lawrence.  We are more of a family to him than his own biological family, I guess.  I totally understand.  I feel the same way about my Lawrence "family." 

Tomorrow I start the school year.   I have posted about this for many years.  In fact, I went back and reviewed.  The first day back is a piece of cake, as it is Freshmen orientation and we only have to see them for about 90 minutes.  The rest of the time we can finish getting ready for the real first day of school, which is Tuesday.  I am feeling pretty good about it.  Those 12 days of lesson plans that I worked so hard to assemble in July will come in mighty handy now.  Finally, I get to reap the benefits of early preparation! 

I went to hug my nephew Ethan yesterday when he informed me, "I have fleas!"  I said, "You do?"  Needless to say, that was a very brief hug. 
Turns out their dog has fleas and they have gotten into the house and are biting the humans.  Ew!  

Later, I was playing with the nephs and their dinosaur toys.  It is well-known that I loves me some dinosaurs and having pre-school aged nephews is a perfect excuse to play with them.  I asked the boys where they got their robo-dinosaur.  "Mommy found it in the dumpster."  

This is a great age for the boys.  They don't really know how to lie and they don't withhold affection. 

We took the older boy to get his school supplies.  He is starting kindergarten this year.   I think he's a little nervous about it, too.  He has been with Mommy 24/7, so being away at school will be a big change for him.  I hope he adjusts to it.  He needs speech therapy really badly.  His Mommy is the only one who can really understand what he says.  I hope he has a positive experience rather than a frustrating one.  

I FINALLY got my truck fixed.  I have been pretty much letting it sit parked in front of my house for a year.  It made so much noise that I was embarrassed to drive anywhere.  Having to jump start it every time quickly took the fun out of it.  My brother replaced the battery over Spring Break, but taking it in for repair is a hassle since I would have to arrange for rides to and from the shop.  

Now it is all fixed.  The horrible noises were coming from the brakes.  The good news is that replacing all the needed brake parts wound up costing much less than what I was planning to spend.  So now I have a truck!

Perhaps it is foolish to love an inanimate object, but I do love my truck.  I love driving it around and sitting up high.  I love putting my bike in the back and taking it on an adventure.  I drove with my bike in the back all the way to Moab, Utah in 2007.  

It will take some time to get used to driving it again.  Driving a truck is much more physical than driving a car.  It takes more oomph to push the clutch and to shift the gears.  My hip is a little sore after driving it around some today.  I will also have to re-learn the physical boundaries of an extended cab truck.  Parking was a challenge. 

Now that I have my truck in good running order, I will not let it fall to neglect.  The Purple Tacoma rides again!

And the Twelve Days of Lesson Plans for Spanish 1 & 2 are DONE!  I emailed all the teachers I thought might benefit from them to encourage them to take a look.  It was a lot of work and I want some kind of pat on the back.  I probably won't get one.  Now that they are online for everyone to see (everyone with login credentials, that is), they can be taken for granted.  They should be good for another 7 years when we adopt new textbooks again. 

Even if no one else uses them, I intend to use them.  That means the first three weeks of school are all ready and I will be able to concentrate on setting up my record-keeping and preparing the classrooms.

Now that the task is completed, I can resume loafing in earnest.  Well, reading, biking, and learning to cook real food.  I wouldn't refer to those activities as loafing, but it's nice to know that I don't have any more "work" to do for about a month.

So we met with the owner of the space we would be leasing for our new aikido dojo.  No one was put off by the fact that it is next to the jail.  He gave us an offer we couldn't refuse, so we signed a 3-year lease.  It is a brand new space, and he is going to build the insides to suit our needs.  I think it will be a great space.  It has big garage doors that we can open when weather permits.  Our current space has inadequate ventilation and in the last five years, there is a funk in the air that hits you when you first open the door.  It costs two-thirds what we are paying now and is only slightly smaller.  I think we can make it work, at least I hope so.  We have been hit hard by the economy in the last few years, but we are starting to see new interest.  

Finishing that project gave me some new motivation.  I made an appointment to get my truck fixed.  That's a project I put off until summer when I would have time and energy to take it in.  I can throw my bike in the back of the truck and bike home.  It is so difficult taking vehicles to the shop being a single gal.  I either have to sit and wait while they do the repairs, try to arrange someone to pick me up twice, or get a rental car.  I am glad during the summer that I have the bike option.  

So that task got put off until halfway through summer.  Better late than never. 

I am still biking, reading, and working intermittently on the lesson plans for new teachers.  My enthusiasm for that project waned a bit when I learned they would only be paying me half what I thought they would be paying me.  It wasn't that much money in the first place, but half that amount I found a little insulting.  No wonder no one else would do this job!  Ah well, it's still an honor to be asked. 

My parents called and wanted me to go to visit with the attorneys who did their estate planning.  Never a fun way to spend an afternoon, but the thing is, I already went to that a couple of years ago.  I asked them if they had made changes to their plan.  (I think they just didn't remember that I already went.)  That was rather sad.  I know my parents won't be around forever, and I admire them for getting their affairs in order while they still had the presence of mind to make sound decisions.    They are only in their early 70's, but they are getting forgetful.  Sometimes it's amusing to watch them bicker with each other over who forgot what, but it is also a little sad.