Tag: school

The End of the Month

It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and officially, today is Memorial Day. I always preferred to acknowledge it on the 30th of May, which was the first ” Decoration Day”. Either way, I have taken thought of those who served and still do serve, and thank them for their service. It is hard to want to celebrate this in the Washington Area today, as the American Vice-President is leading the ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. The “President” of the United States is in Japan, where he gave an award to the winner of a Sumo wrestling competition last night. All I have to say is….wow.

Tomorrow marks the last week of the month, work-wise, and I have school through the rest of the week. It’s hard for me to believe time has gone so quickly and summer vacation is around the corner. Here in “Amity”, our population is bursting at the seams. I will get through the summer, and wait patiently with Kasia, for our quiet time, which is after Labor Day.

Here’s hoping that you honored the Veteran in your life today, and enjoy the start of the summer months.

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Weighting for ….

the rain to stop, so I can take Kasia for a walk.

Fortunately, I had work today which had me moving. I had special education for kindergarten, along with second and third grades. Meanwhile, back at home…

…my buddy,Kasia, waited patiently for me to get home. It’s funny, but she seems to know that she graduated from dog/ daughter to personal trainer. We all are moving so much more than we did from this past fall and winter, and it is reflected in us feeling a little bit better, mentally. I genuinely believe that is half the battle.

There are plenty of beautiful things to look at here during a walk, including this picture of the daffodils I saw before the rain. It makes you appreciate being here by the bay.

Let’s not forget my pretty girl Kasia.

But in the meantime, tomorrow we are going food shopping for the week. It will be the first time we will be trying fresh fish. You have to remember that we weren’t fish people, outside of tuna.We always seemed to go for seafood, such as scallops or shrimp. I admit that I was the one holding us back a bit, but I have gotten used to it now. I know it is better for us in the long run, and my body feels better a bit just in the first month of calorie counting. We are looking forward to trying the new recipes that the dietician found for us, in addition to kicking back and getting our batteries recharged.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for reading!

Weight a Minute!

Between the exercise of walking Kasia further, school and counting carbs and calories, I am officially down 12 1/2 pounds.
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Take the picture above. Where Jim and I go out for dinner on Thursday nights, they have introduced this roasted red beet salad which is delicious. Six months I wouldn’t have thought so. Incredible what accountability will do.

The dietician looked at me as though she didn’t think I would do as well as I did on the scale. Easy to do, when you are tired of lugging the extra inches on your body.Our appointment today gave us a few ideas on trying twists in the menu to keep us satisfied and keep up our good work.

So we are going to keep on keeping on. This appointment marked one month since the initial appointment with the dietician. I’m going to keep doing what has been working for me, and not kill myself, as I realize that an almost 60 year old body goes slowly in some areas. Fortunately, there is no race. My body is happy, and I intend to keep it that way!
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Where Does The Time Go?

Friends of mine are lamenting their now empty nests this September, as all their children are educated and gone.

For us, just Jim, me and Kasia, we say the same thing. Where did summer go? We had Jim on day work and for us, it’s almost like a normal 7-3 life. Today the tables are turned, and Jim goes back to a later shift, leaving Kasia and I to fend for ourselves.

Granted we had a worrying summer, health wise, between my Mother-in-law and myself. I am not completely in the clear yet. Now, we have to adapt to our September dance. It’ll just be a matter of time before I am back in the classroom too. So I get to savor every walk and minute with Kasia, as I realize how short life is.

Hopefully I’ll get through the next few years, and we’ll be able to travel and actually ** gulp** retire.

A girl can dream, right?

My Buddy

You have met my Godson Luca. Here is his big brother Matti. He is my buddy. Because of the time I spent with the kindergarten and pre-K classes, I try to get him in thoughts of pre K. Unfortunately, due to his October birthday. He has to wait until next September.

He is an active funny little comedian. I can hardly wait to see him in a classroom situation. He has a mind that you can see go a mile a minute. He loves his little brother, Luca.

As you can see in the first picture, Matti is hugging his favorite dinosaur. Luca opts for rights to it when Matti isn’t around.

Matti and Luca both love that their maternal grandparents are here. They love them to pieces.

They are my two sweethearts.

I am blessed to have them both in my life.

Well……

Call me wrong, but we finally got snow here. It got here around 5:30, and of course schools were closed here today. Snow is due to run until 2 am tomorrow morning.

The bay looked pretty angry when we passed it;precipitation was only rain then. I seriously thought they closed the schools because why?

So this is how I am leaving it before the power blows out. We’ll see if I am in work at 8 in the morning…stay tuned…

Good night from me and Kasia.

Hitting the Fan

This week starts 3 weeks of stomach knot tying worry.

If you’ve had a medical cancer history, you know what I mean. You have to go to the hospital for procedures that you don’t necessarily want :it  is something you don’t want to get but if you have a history you need to have them done. Even if you’ve had no symptoms it’s still gives you something to worry about because if they do find something they always have to biopsy it and that makes you sweat things out just a little bit longer


It’s not so bad when you approach things the way you prior doctor told you to look at things. When you establish with a new physician though they don’t care what your prior doctor told you they feel you should be doing things their way .You are their new patient.

When you were done with one doctor and one procedure and sweating out the results from that lo and behold you have a two or three day respite and then medical procedure number two comes down the pike. Nothing like getting all this done before school starts. Add in the fact that I have been working a couple days a week and it kind of makes for a really busy stretch of time. I am hoping that once I get through this prayerfully I’ll have good results and things can get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Please hold a good thought for me this week because I certainly could use it and if I’m not blogging  as much it’s because I’m indisposed :hopefully I will be back on the ball later on the week.

She’s Back….

“Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…”

Sorry, can’t help the analogy but “Jaws” is playing on the television as I type this.
HAH!

Anyhow, I am back in the midst of students again, only this time, so I can get home quicker to Zush, I am dealing with 5th and 6th graders. Oh my God, what was I thinking? Most of the students are nice and/or civil, but God spare me from 6th grade boys and their answer for everything. It’s incredible how, some forty years plus after my time in that grade, that you forget how boys are.

This was, although I will agree with you, the usual wait for me to take them out this morning, because Jim won’t, but it is awfully funny that they KNEW this morning when I was up early and told them we have to go for a quick walk because Mom has to work, well, I really felt the guilt in their eyes. I never said dogs are stupid, and especially not my girls, but they won’t eat until I come home, or pretty much do anything normal to routine until Mom is back.

It is safe to say that I do indeed feel the love!

New Month

A lot of changes always happen in August.


The sun sets earlier, here at the bay we occasionally hit 65 degrees at night. Sure, the television is inundated with sneaker, pen and other back to school commercials.

To return to the shore, though: the slight change in temperature, and the last of the vacationers packing up to go, are all welcome to me. I won’t enjoy getting up early again, but a new school year is always a challenge, be it for a student or teacher.

I have been savoring my time with the fur girls. The realization that today is August 1 makes me appreciate every second I am home with them.

Time marches on.

Just Rough

It has been a hard weekend for me.

I miss school already: wondering WHY my school teacher buddies didn’t give me a heads up on this? In the meanwhile,I’ve decided to get my coughing to Olympic caliber and my sinuses are following the route.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day.My Dad passed away on August 24,1998.

What can I say? At 56 I shouldn’t feel quite so bad but I do.Hopefully, I will shake it off with the girls.They have been quite generous with their love this afternoon, and I am so blessed. Tomorrow will be a little better of a day.

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Home and schoolwork continue, as does life.

A cold front blew through yesterday and I swear folks thought it was a Twister remake.


I took advantage of the temperature drop to put a Purdue oven stuffer in the oven. Even with windows open to clear out the house, the bird made it smell like home,and as long as Zush is happy smelling it: all is right with the world.

Sunshine Day


A rarity happened today;the sun came out!

Probably to get us out and walking , knowing we are going to the city tomorrow for Mother’s Day to see Jim’s mom. I hope I’ll be feeling better and not getting anyone ill.

Full week of school ahead: I need to have my A game on for that!Went and got my haircut for the last few weeks of school so I don’t look like a ragamuffin.

Let’s go June!

Ladies’ Night

Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow, so the girls and I are home solo and after I write this, we are going to bed. After all, isn’t tomorrow supposed to be another eggs, bread and milk day? I think they are calling for 1 to 3 inches so the thought of getting boots on and going out to 5 year olds is making my head swim.

I don’t know how my teacher friends, thinking of Gen and Debbie directly, deal with the snow onslaught, albeit only for a few hours.Hell, it’s a job for me to get MY boots off…I can’t wait to see how I am going to make out tomorrow.

So it’s “To Catch a Thief” on cable, followed by a hot shower. Visions of undoing boots are dancing in my head.I can only hope I get to sleep tonight!

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Mid-September

It’s mid-September for me in a lot of ways.

It’s actually mid-September on the calendar. I am getting ready to retire and am facing the September of my years.There’s a lot of September around me.

I almost wistfully look back to the time when I donned a white uniform blouse and an itchy grey and green plaid uniform jumper. I always say to people if we knew what we knew now, at this point of life, no one would want to leave the comfort of fifth grade.The problems of today weren’t even a vapor back then when it is was school years.

I’m glad I am at where I am now, though.For all the things that you have gone through have made you wiser for the experience, and maybe, just maybe,if it is in the cards, you get to sit back and relax for once.

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Hack-hack….

I have started hacking away all of a sudden.

It starts as soon as I leave the house in the morning.

I saw what it was this morning…

RAG WEED.

Talk about your warm and fuzzy childhood moments.As soon as I realized what it was, I heard my Mom talking to me.

” Whenever it was time to go back to school, you always came down with a ” cold”. Finally I took you to the doctor who said to me you had hay fever.”

Jeez, Mom, that would explain the amount of handkerchiefs you sent me to school with, tucked away in my uniform blouse sleeve.Thanks, Mom. I always wondered about that.

I thought of something I recently saw posted on Facebook. It went something to the effect of your Mother never leaves you.

What a comforting thought.Miss you every day,Mom.

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