SLOLC: Focus on the positive

Not having school on Mon or Tues obviously confused me for posting SLOLC this week. Woops! So it’s a day late…anyway.

In high school, I was surrounded by too many negative people. I did not enjoy this. I hate being engulfed by bitterness. Therefore, I made a decision to focus on the positive. It worked. Since then, I have been an overly optimistic person almost to a fault, yet it has served me well and I felt healthy and happy (a big change from Catholic elementary school years).

Recently, I’ve found myself once again surrounded by negativity. I swore that I would not let this happen, but somehow it has infiltrated my defenses. Not acceptable. I’m not going to take this opportunity to vent. No, that is not the goal; I cannot keep wallowing in malevolent thoughts/words/actions. Instead, I’m making a little list of goals for myself about things I will do for others because that makes me happy.

My goals:

1. Send more greeting cards – I really love to buy and send greeting cards. I’m slightly obsessive and just for fun sometimes I will peruse the stacks and stock up on cards. I’ve already given away two cards to people who needed  “pick me up” and when I first purchased the cards, I did not know who I would send them to. I just thought, someone might need this one day. I was right. I also love to get mail. When I was actively attending Girl Scout Camp in the summers, I had tons of pen pals, to the point where I probably sent out letters to multiple people at least once a week. The goal was to write ridiculously long hand-written notes and then decorate them with tons of obnoxious stickers. I also just found my sticker stash from high school. Sweet. If I love old fashioned mail – other people will too. That makes me happy.

2. Cook more home made food for my family – Every year I increase my repertoire of meals I can make. I usually find a recipe I like, try it out, tweak it. The more times I make it, the more likely I am to memorize the recipe. My husband will eat anything I put in front of him (except eggplant) and we welcome home made sustenance especially now that the temps will drop.

3. Say hi to everyone I see in the halls at school – this is just a friendly, polite practice. The more I make a point to say, “Hi, how are you” to anyone I see, hopefully they are more likely to say it to the next person.

4. Call my family on the phone more frequently – grading (as many of you know who are teachers) sucks your souls. In college, I was used to only communicating with three people on a regular basis: my sister, mom, and dad. Then, when my sister joined me at school, we ate all of our meals together, so I was down to just calling my mom and dad. I have in laws – parents and two more sisters. Even 10 min is better than none.

5. Smile – I’m fairly certain it’s a proven fact that smiling increases and releases “feel-good” endorphins. The more I smile, the better I feel. And besides, smiling looks way better than a scowl. I especially like to greet all of my students at the door and smile and see them smile back at me.

6. Give more hand made gifts to people – I’m all about the hand made stuff. Lots of people are. I’ve discovered I’m quite good at embroidering (basic designs; I’m working my way up). My mother-in-law makes stellar home made cards, wreaths, knit items. Yeah. She’s the best. If I enjoy receiving her items as gifts, I know others feel the same when I give them my hand made items.

7. Brush my cat and talk to her daily – I’ve written about my cat before, but anyone who has pets knows how much joy they bring to your life. As I write, my cat is curled next to me on the couch, the best thing ever after a long day. Animals need to feel loved and need affection and attention. Eight hours alone is a long kitty day. So even though my cat is not a human, I still count her in the “giving to others” category because she is an “other.” 😉

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New Roof

My parents visited this weekend and my dad and husband re-roofed the lower portion of the outbuilding that has now become my arts and crafts studio. It was painted a pinky-melon color this summer by me and my mom and I held off on further decorating/moving in items because I did not want any of my materials to get ruined by water. (Any one who crafts/sews knows how much time, money, and effort is invested into products). I “know” how to roof, but I’ve never actually done it. Nor will I ever. But my husband and I do not have the resources to pay someone for this project. Luckily, my dad has built several things as well as re-roofed several buildings. The two of them got it done in two days!! My mom and I took care of little projects around the house and more and more of the livings spaces are becoming efficiently organized.

I have a day off of school so everything part of my being screams “ORGANIZE YOUR ART STUDIO! DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF!” but as so many teachers know, a day off is heaven in the amount of grading that can be accomplished. As a result, here I am in my usual spot (couch), with a cup of cocoa and PBS documentaries playing. It’s quiet, sunny, and as soon as I finish writing here, I will attack a stack of rubrics. 

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Warm October

Southeastern WI hit 70 degrees today!! I can’t believe it; at the end of October, it felt almost muggy after school today. My windowless classroom (did I mention I don’t see daylight for over 9.5 hrs?) reached a balmy 85+ degrees by 2 p.m. The seniors were miserable taking notes. Heh. Because coaching the team has not officially started, I left school by 3:45 today and saw the sun and embraced the fresh, warm breeze from the south. Thank you whatever jet stream/air current brought us that!!  Our house had the curtains drawn for the duration of the day and when I arrived home, the deliciously cool inside prickled my skin. But I could not sit inside and look at face book. I ditched my knee socks and long pants for capris and I think I had my final day of wearing flip flops outside – also excellent. Though my fall/Thanksgiving decorations are up, I really like having these warm bits throughout the week. 🙂 The temp is supposed to drop back down on Friday. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So it goes. I won’t complain when I’m freezing on my drive to work. I’ll be cozy in my classroom that trapped all of today’s heat!

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

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reading

I have this “thing” when I buy books. I usually drop anywhere from 20 – 80 dollars at a time on books for my own personal library. I love buying books. I’m an extremely visual person and therefore, I am drawn easily to books with certain pictures on the cover as well as books made of a certain paper material that are not the glossy cover, but the oddly smooth/rough type. (It’s hard to explain and as it is late at night, I’m not going to really attempt any great feats of imagery here. Sorry). So anyway, after I buy the books, I never read them right away. They usually sit in a pile by my bed or by the couch where I can see them every day and I can lovingly caress their covers and day dream about the day when I will not have any papers to grade and there is nothing more pressing than starting a new book.

Well, that moment finally arrived. I purchased Island Beneath the Sea at the end of last school year. It was on my list to read over the summer, but I never really got to it. I picked it up in August right before the new school year began and I am over half way into it (normally I can read very quickly, but during school, I can only read a few chapters a night, but it’s worth it). Allende’s writing style utterly engages me. I bought this book because I adore her other book, Daughter of Fortune. I am a historical fiction fanatic and Allende’s knowledge of the time period (1700’s for Island…) transports me instantaneously. I prefer regional historic fiction and the setting for this novel is Santo Domingo during the French occupation. All the names of people and places are French which is lovely as my minor is in French and my studies focused on France French. Furthermore, as a reenactor for the Revolutionary War time period, I’m intrigued by what was going on in other countries during that same time period. I knew that the location of her novel was instrumental in the Triangular Trade Route I learned about in middle school social studies, but now I have characters who lived there and breathed the air. It seems all the more real to me. Now that I’m halfway through the book, I can’t believe I let the book sit as long as I did. I guess it’s a form of withholding satisfaction? Not sure. Regardless, I’m really glad I bought it and that it is now part of my library. If I could meet Allende, I would. If anyone knows of her tour schedule, let me know if she is in the Milwaukee/Chicago area. Also, if you have not read any of her books, you should. She’s an excellent writer and has some wonderful descriptive passages that can be used for upper level writers (high school mainly).

Gettin’ crafty

I saw a picture in the recent issue of BHG and thought, “hey, I can do that!” So I did. At 7 p.m. at night while the casserole cooked in the oven, I put the cat on her leash and went out into the gardens around our yard to collect dried grass/flowers. In the dusky haze of autumn, I lashed the stalks, branches, and leaves together with twine. It has a very rustic look to it. I love it. But now, I don’t know if I want to hang it inside because there might be bugs in it. Microscopic gross bugs that I don’t want in my house. As of now, it’s on the covered porch, but I can’t really enjoy it out there. I’d much prefer to hang it on the front of my house above the front door, but I’m not sure if pounding a teeny nail into the siding is a good idea. 

Autumn walks and character point of view

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cat

I thoroughly enjoy books written in first person because I love connecting with characters who tell a story in their own words. Like many active readers, I connect so strongly with a character that I literally feel as if I’m walking by their side, experiencing every moment with them. It’s very dream-like/movie-like. As a good/expert reader in my classroom, I try to verbalize these images/thoughts when I read aloud so I can model what goes on in the mind of good readers. Usually, my students snicker and think I’m totally whacked. I fully admit to being weird. I really do. And here is the next weird part: because I usually think in terms of other characters’ point of view, I constantly wonder what my cat is thinking. Oh to hear her inner monologue.

Many of us who have pets wonder this I’m sure of it. But today, as I walked my cat around the yard after school, her face overflowed with pure elation. The leaves crunched beneath her tiny paws, her claws sunk in to tree bark, the birds twittered overhead, and I gazed from afar. What do you smell? Do you really want to catch those birds? Could you if you put your mind to it and gave 110%? After being cooped up all day in a house, I wanted her to bask in the afternoon sun and breathe the fresh air. I would suffer the zesty autumn afternoon air because I, too, had been confined in a windowless room. Near the end of our outing, she trotted over to the shade garden. There, a pile of medium sized boulders makes a perfect kitty perch. She found the one smooth, flat rock and sat there. My mind wandered again….isn’t that stone cold on your bottom? Do you keep track of all the birds you’ve seen so far today? Aren’t your paws cold now?

Alas, I will never know what my cat thinks. As long as there is a happy look on her face or a peppy meow greeting me every day, I’ll take it as a good sign and take each moment to connect with my pet.

Fridays in the fall

I did not zoom the camera. I just held it at head level and snapped the photo.

I love owning a home. Growing up with parents who appreciated and instilled in me a love of architecture, I could not wait for the day I started looking at homes to buy. My husband and I own a historic home and finally have our own little piece of land – the American Dream, yes. We purchased a 1.5 acre property because he grew up with land to mow, I did not. So he got the yard, I got the historic home. Good compromise. Well, our fabulous yard has about 20 walnut trees in various stages of maturation. We started picking up walnuts in late August. No problem. A few here, a few there….15 min later, the majority of the yard is picked up. Lately, school work took top priority and walnut duty moved to the bottom of the list. As a result, yesterday was designated “walnut day” after school. We filled six wheelbarrows full of walnuts/leaves/twigs. It was wonderful to be outside (after being in a windowless classroom for eight hours) on a brisk fall afternoon. The cat joined us and watched from a safe distance (as she has been hit by a walnut before) until she was bored and decided the birds in the back part of the yard were more intriguing. It was a cool 45 – 50 degrees and I figure this is good training for her so she can still go out in the winter for a few min each day. As long as it only happens once a year, I can handle picking up walnuts. It’s a good fall time tradition.

First Forensics Meeting

Well, there were 35 people (including returning members) at the forensics meeting today. I ordered a cake. It was amazing. I love cake. So do the kids. Everything went super smoothly and for once, my team was not constantly talking over me. We had a surprise performance which the returning team adored and hopefully the new members enjoyed it too. I really hope all of the “newbies” stick around. Forensics is pretty much the best activity ever. Who doesn’t want to be awesome public speaking? I love coaching and I’m super excited to meet new members and share my passion for public speaking with them. Nothing warms the soul more than waking up at 3 a.m. on a frosty winter Saturday (after a 70 hr work week) to get on a bus with a bunch of chatty teens and then spend the entire day with them through the triumphs and tragedies that encompass so many of their lives in just 12 hours. It’s the best.

Freshmen will be freshmen until May

Last year in May, I had my students right where I wanted them. I gave verbal directions one time and all 65 for them followed perfectly. Each of them greeted me as they entered their room with a smile on their face. It was May and I had been with them for nine months.

And now….I find myself back at square one which I know happens every year, but I can’t help but compare this year to last year when I know I shouldn’t. I’m currently struggling with disciplining some of my freshmen. They have very immature attitudes/behavior for fourteen year olds. I try to be as patient as possible. I really do. But certain behavior (like turning a giant fan on a table of handouts to blow them across the room while I step out for two minutes) is absolutely unacceptable. And on top of all this, they have been writing their little hearts out for the past two weeks. Essays are due Oct 11 and I’m really proud of the fact that so many of them have diligently followed the steps of the writing process. They’ve also been taking my comments on google docs to heart and actually fixing their own mistakes. I feel like that is a huge step in the right direction. So at the end of the day, I know I have to pick my battles, but can I? Do I really have to make a choice? Can’t I have the best of both worlds and show them how important and wonderful it is to be responsible and mature as well as to practice and improve their writing? May seems like it is really far off from October, but I’m willing to work really hard and to practice that patience if it means the outcome will be better in the end.

Just another Sunday

This weekend was divided into two days: 1) Saturday – me time/arts and crafts and 2) Sunday – school time. I did exactly what I set out to accomplish on Saturday which was finishing an embroidery project I started about two weeks ago. It turned out really well. When working without a pattern, it is always interesting to see if the spacing will work out and/or that the objects are balanced. The spacing is perfect and I love the colors I chose. Since this summer, I’ve discovered I’m really fast at the backstitch now, which makes me happy because it is the main stitch I use when sewing 18th cent clothing of most kinds. For the other details on this new piece, I used chain stitch and a filler stitch. The filler stitch took the longest because I stare super intently at the fabric to make sure everything is lining up correctly. And because I have no pattern, I’m literally staring at the warp/weft of the fabric. But I had good natural light and that made it easy.

Sunday, I went into school for three hours. I have put off making a giant poster for the last two weeks because I did not want to spend my prep time drawing for fear that someone would tell me it was a waste of my time. So there I sat on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. all alone in the hallway outside my door. It was utterly silent. The perfect condition for coloring letters. Then, to top it all, I had to stop because my blue marker (which was brand new) started running out. For shame. Alas my poster will not be hung until I have procured a new blue marker.