Among my peers at work, there is universal agreement that this is the absolute worst week of the year: Christmas program week. Our music teacher (who is amazing) writes two programs every year, one for the younger grades, and one for the older grades. The kids practice for weeks during their regular music classes, leading up to this week, where we have an excruciating 3-hour rehearsal one day and then dress rehearsal/performances for the school, followed by this evening's (for my students, anyway) performance for the families.
We had the same complaints as last year: we had no idea what was going on, it's impossible to effectively wrangle 200 students without a plan, it was too hot waiting out in the sun, etc. Tuesday, the 3-hour rehearsal day, was a long slog but of course we all survived. Meanwhile, we're still trying to deliver curriculum and keep the students on track -- we still have 3 weeks to go until Christmas break!
So that brings us to today, with an afternoon performance for the younger grades, and an evening performance for the parents. Aside from a few dress code issues (We told the girls if their skirts were too short, they'd have to wear altar server robes, and some of them didn't believe us...), the evening went very smoothly and the students performed very well. I absolutely loved seeing how enthusiastically my homeroom students, especially the boys, participated in all their songs. They really are a great group of kids, even though they've been daily draining my well of patience dry.
Afterwards, it was lovely to visit with the parents, and to see former students who had returned to see younger siblings. Even though I didn't get home until after 8:30pm (having left home at 6:20am to attend a memorial mass for my parents this morning!), it was a wonderful evening. And only a tiny part of that feeling is because it's over, and now our schedule can get back to normal for a bit as we speed towards the holiday. ¡Feliz Navidad!
Friday, November 30, 2018
Thursday, November 22, 2018
possibly a record
I finished prep for tomorrow at 9:22 PM, only 22 minutes later than I had intended. The very last thing on the list for today was brining the turkey, which I wanted done by 9 so I could get it out at 9 in the morning, in preparation for the oven just a little bit later. Brining had to wait for the dinner dishes to be cleared away, though, so it was just a little late.
Miraculously, though, the pies were already out of the oven by that time. Only two this year, both apple, and I have both pie crusts and apples to make another. We'll see. My ambitions have shrunk over the years, along with my ability to eat all the stuff I love to bake! One piece of DD's birthday blueberry pie a few weeks ago knocked me back for nearly a week. I can medicate my way out of the joint pain and the digestive upset, but that's no way to live.
Today's marathon began with early morning shopping for those last minute things like green beans, followed by prepping for tomorrow, then picking up DS1 at school, then more prepping, then getting In-n-Out Burger for everyone for lunch because let's face it, there was nothing to eat now, then more prepping, including putting on a big pot of meat sauce so we'd have something for dinner. (It was delicious.) The pies went into the oven somewhere around around 5. Seems to me I'm usually baking till nearly midnight. Good thing I wasn't, this year, because I fell asleep in the middle of this, and when I woke up, I took myself to bed.
And now it's late morning, and the turkey is making the house smell delicious, the last-minute cleaning is done, and I'm about to head into the shower. Happy Thanksgiving!
Miraculously, though, the pies were already out of the oven by that time. Only two this year, both apple, and I have both pie crusts and apples to make another. We'll see. My ambitions have shrunk over the years, along with my ability to eat all the stuff I love to bake! One piece of DD's birthday blueberry pie a few weeks ago knocked me back for nearly a week. I can medicate my way out of the joint pain and the digestive upset, but that's no way to live.
Today's marathon began with early morning shopping for those last minute things like green beans, followed by prepping for tomorrow, then picking up DS1 at school, then more prepping, then getting In-n-Out Burger for everyone for lunch because let's face it, there was nothing to eat now, then more prepping, including putting on a big pot of meat sauce so we'd have something for dinner. (It was delicious.) The pies went into the oven somewhere around around 5. Seems to me I'm usually baking till nearly midnight. Good thing I wasn't, this year, because I fell asleep in the middle of this, and when I woke up, I took myself to bed.
And now it's late morning, and the turkey is making the house smell delicious, the last-minute cleaning is done, and I'm about to head into the shower. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 11, 2018
lost and not found
I'm still mentally exhausted from parent-teacher conferences last week, even though they all went well. Still, it's very draining to have 26 extra meetings in one week, many of which went past their scheduled 15 minutes. We had a lot to talk about! I kept to the schedule when I had back-to-back meetings, but when the time allowed, I stretched it if the parents had more they wanted to talk about.
It feels like there was a lot of stretching, just as it feels as if half my class this year is on the Autism spectrum and/or has ADHD. That's an exaggeration, though. Surely it's no more than one third!
I have been cooking and running errands and even did some Christmas shopping, and it has been great to not think about school for a while. Last night I ordered a replacement for the bismuth crystal that mysteriously walked out of my classroom last year. That's two out of three items that went missing last year I've replaced now. But ordering the bismuth reminded me that I'd lost the silver and amber letter opener my mother had given me, and that set me off down several internet rabbit holes.
I had this feeling that if I just kept looking, I'd find it, or one just like it, the way I was able to replace the Bill Campbell pottery platter I broke so many years ago. This is different, though: it was vintage if not antique (it may have been antique), definitely silver if not sterling (and I think it was sterling from the amount of black tarnish it accumulated), and it had a beautiful amber cabochon set into the handle with silver leaves worked around it in art nouveau style. It was a very beautiful piece which I am ashamed now to say that I took for granted. I had it on my desk for years among the pens and pencils in one of the mugs I keep for that purpose. The thing is, in spite of its obvious beauty and value, I used it. It was great staple remover and a fair screwdriver, and it lived happily anonymous among the pens and pencils. No one knew it was there, so no one was tempted to take it. I'm pretty sure I "lost" it by leaving it out after using it to take staples out of a bulletin board. (My classroom is often used by other groups of people in the evenings, a fact I was not sufficiently attuned to last year.)
For whatever reason, I was seized with the idea last night that it was important to replace this piece. My mother gave it to me, and the Polish amber was a concrete reminder of her. I haven't thought about it much in the year or so it has been missing, but last night it blossomed into importance again, so I looked online to see what I could fine. I haven't seen anything even close to it in my Internet searches, and the one that came closest cost several hundred British pounds(!!!).
Clearly that's not going to happen. I dreamed it was in my desk's center drawer, having somehow got wedged under the tray near the front. I will, of course, look there when I get back to work on Tuesday, but there is zero chance that it's there. My desk was completely emptied last May so it could be moved out with everything else in the classroom. If it weren't for that very thorough process, I'd be able to hold out some slim hope that it's still there somewhere, but we took literally every single thing out of that room, and there was no sign of it.
I'm surprised by this turn of events, really. It's just a thing, after all. Yes, it was beautiful and my mother gave it to me and now she's gone, but it's still just a thing. Replacing it isn't going to help anyone (not even me, really, since a different one wouldn't have belonged to my mother) but part of me wants to at least try because it was my carelessness that led to its loss. Nevermind the question of why it would be my fault that someone else stole it. It just is, and I'm sorry.
It feels like there was a lot of stretching, just as it feels as if half my class this year is on the Autism spectrum and/or has ADHD. That's an exaggeration, though. Surely it's no more than one third!
I have been cooking and running errands and even did some Christmas shopping, and it has been great to not think about school for a while. Last night I ordered a replacement for the bismuth crystal that mysteriously walked out of my classroom last year. That's two out of three items that went missing last year I've replaced now. But ordering the bismuth reminded me that I'd lost the silver and amber letter opener my mother had given me, and that set me off down several internet rabbit holes.
I had this feeling that if I just kept looking, I'd find it, or one just like it, the way I was able to replace the Bill Campbell pottery platter I broke so many years ago. This is different, though: it was vintage if not antique (it may have been antique), definitely silver if not sterling (and I think it was sterling from the amount of black tarnish it accumulated), and it had a beautiful amber cabochon set into the handle with silver leaves worked around it in art nouveau style. It was a very beautiful piece which I am ashamed now to say that I took for granted. I had it on my desk for years among the pens and pencils in one of the mugs I keep for that purpose. The thing is, in spite of its obvious beauty and value, I used it. It was great staple remover and a fair screwdriver, and it lived happily anonymous among the pens and pencils. No one knew it was there, so no one was tempted to take it. I'm pretty sure I "lost" it by leaving it out after using it to take staples out of a bulletin board. (My classroom is often used by other groups of people in the evenings, a fact I was not sufficiently attuned to last year.)
For whatever reason, I was seized with the idea last night that it was important to replace this piece. My mother gave it to me, and the Polish amber was a concrete reminder of her. I haven't thought about it much in the year or so it has been missing, but last night it blossomed into importance again, so I looked online to see what I could fine. I haven't seen anything even close to it in my Internet searches, and the one that came closest cost several hundred British pounds(!!!).
Clearly that's not going to happen. I dreamed it was in my desk's center drawer, having somehow got wedged under the tray near the front. I will, of course, look there when I get back to work on Tuesday, but there is zero chance that it's there. My desk was completely emptied last May so it could be moved out with everything else in the classroom. If it weren't for that very thorough process, I'd be able to hold out some slim hope that it's still there somewhere, but we took literally every single thing out of that room, and there was no sign of it.
I'm surprised by this turn of events, really. It's just a thing, after all. Yes, it was beautiful and my mother gave it to me and now she's gone, but it's still just a thing. Replacing it isn't going to help anyone (not even me, really, since a different one wouldn't have belonged to my mother) but part of me wants to at least try because it was my carelessness that led to its loss. Nevermind the question of why it would be my fault that someone else stole it. It just is, and I'm sorry.
Monday, November 05, 2018
just like that
One weekend with all my kids home, and I'm feeling so much better.
My baby girl is 20 years old! I can't fathom it.
In honor of the occasion, and because one of her favorite bands was playing some local dive last Thursday night, she came down for the weekend. Saturday her friends came for brunch and we had a great time. Saturday afternoon was taken up with making her birthday blueberry pie, and Saturday evening with her delightful birthday dinner (our favorite salmon and rice pilaf, simple favorites she never has at school.)
It wasn't anything all that special, except that everyone was here, and happy. So, not exactly special, but delightful, and my spirits are sufficiently lifted as we sail towards the holiday season.
My baby girl is 20 years old! I can't fathom it.
In honor of the occasion, and because one of her favorite bands was playing some local dive last Thursday night, she came down for the weekend. Saturday her friends came for brunch and we had a great time. Saturday afternoon was taken up with making her birthday blueberry pie, and Saturday evening with her delightful birthday dinner (our favorite salmon and rice pilaf, simple favorites she never has at school.)
It wasn't anything all that special, except that everyone was here, and happy. So, not exactly special, but delightful, and my spirits are sufficiently lifted as we sail towards the holiday season.
Thursday, November 01, 2018
what, again?
I remind myself, it's a symptom. It's 3:05AM and I'm still up, reading the internet. I'm looking for the answer to a question that I can't even articulate to myself, so I'll never find it.
Since it was Halloween, I watched The Frighteners for the thousandth time, but it made me inexplicably sad this time. So by way of an antidote, I watched the first 2 episodes of the new season of Dr. Who, with Jody Whittaker as the new lady doctor. She's quite good, and I enjoyed the episodes, but they were also tinged with unexpected sadness. (I should've expected it, but I didn't.)
Now we're well into November and the rest of this week is going to be very very busy, with all the kids home, DS2's concert on Saturday, DD's birthday on Sunday!
And it's end-of-term, so I have to be on top of my grades. I'm caught up for now, but I'm giving 7th grade an assessment tomorrow that will go into the gradebook before grades close Friday morning -- in other words, I have to be efficient.
I just have a sense that's something wrong and I don't know what it is. I spent some time re-reading here (11 years of Novembers!) to see if whatever this is might be a seasonal thing, but that doesn't seems to be the case. Objectively, the only thing that I can think of that's wrong right now is the fact that I'm not sleeping, plus my stomach has been off since last night and isn't feeling too great right now. The second could be the true source of my problem, I suppose.
Ick. I'm going to bed.
Since it was Halloween, I watched The Frighteners for the thousandth time, but it made me inexplicably sad this time. So by way of an antidote, I watched the first 2 episodes of the new season of Dr. Who, with Jody Whittaker as the new lady doctor. She's quite good, and I enjoyed the episodes, but they were also tinged with unexpected sadness. (I should've expected it, but I didn't.)
Now we're well into November and the rest of this week is going to be very very busy, with all the kids home, DS2's concert on Saturday, DD's birthday on Sunday!
And it's end-of-term, so I have to be on top of my grades. I'm caught up for now, but I'm giving 7th grade an assessment tomorrow that will go into the gradebook before grades close Friday morning -- in other words, I have to be efficient.
I just have a sense that's something wrong and I don't know what it is. I spent some time re-reading here (11 years of Novembers!) to see if whatever this is might be a seasonal thing, but that doesn't seems to be the case. Objectively, the only thing that I can think of that's wrong right now is the fact that I'm not sleeping, plus my stomach has been off since last night and isn't feeling too great right now. The second could be the true source of my problem, I suppose.
Ick. I'm going to bed.
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