Miscellaneous Missives

Not exact power washer but dang close... Some days I get nothing done while other days, like today, I am a powerful task completer.  After the farmers' market, I decided to skip the gym and start with my list of tasks.  The most notable task completion today was power washing the garage floor.  My garage floor was gross.  When I went to my car or to the freezer without shoes, my feet would be black.  Only a few steps taken in bare feet on my garage floor would leave dirt and grime and... A friend let me borrow her power washer and gave me instructions on its use.  First, never, never, never start it without having the water hooked up first.  Next, turn it on, pull the choke, then pull the cord to start the machine.  I took these directions seriously.  Not only did I repeat them multiple times when she told me, I also put them in the notes of my phone.  Before starting the wonderful red power washer, I looked over the notes again. ...

Tonight I  went to Lakeshore Learning, bought speech bubbles, and laminated them.  The end result was 21.9 feet of lamination.  While I cut them, I watched the twelfth episode of Orange is the New Black (one episode left... not happening tonight).  Kitty Klaus was a huge help with this endeavor.  

attractionmarketingconsulting.com   Last night I didn't get much sleep.  My mind was spinning and racing like a hamster in a wheel.  Anything and everything sped through my mind.  It wasn't a completely horrible thing, the thoughts not lack of sleep, because I came up with an idea that I think is going to be awesome.  My new dyad partner asked me about ALC (after school program often focused on helping struggling students).  For the last two years I've co-taught (kinda) a reading ALC with seventh graders.  ALC meets four days a week, and we basically each taught two of the days although we planned together (and separately... you know how it goes).  Since my new dyad partner asked about teaching ALC, I felt that she should have the opportunity to make a little extra money and work with students after school, but if she taught 7th ALC reading, what would I teach?  At the current time, there is no 8th grade ALC reading program.  "I'll ...

Nope!  I refuse to complain about the heat and humidity.  A couple of years ago, a friend said they only complained about one season.  This makes sense.  I live in a state that has four distinct seasons.  Even though I often have the Goldilocks Syndrome (too hot, too cold), it would be horrible to complain all the time about the weather.  Perhaps, I'll save this until I'm in assisted living and/or nursing home.  The heat and humidity has been a bit brutal this week, but I'm good with it... no complaints.  For the winter crazies who are complaining about the heat and humidity because one can only take off so many layers, I'd argue that I can only add soooo many layers.  Although I'm not going to complain about the weather, I will say my bike helmet is probably disgusting since I've been doing a crazy amount of sweating on my morning bike rides.  Basically, I'm not complaining about the heat and humidity, but I am collecting money for a...

Yesterday, I posted about my experimenting with molasses.  Today I added two tablespoons to make sure I had at least one tablespoon in my system.  The smoothie still tasted good.  Actually, their is only a hint of the molasses taste (1 cup frozen fruit, 1 cup yogurt, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, and 2 tablespoons molasses). So.... LH commented that she had heard of blackstrap molasses which made me think.  This is a bit embarrassing, but...  After the doctor recommended trying molasses, I purchased some blackstrap molasses.  Since BLACKSTRAP was written large across the front of the bottle, I thought it was the brand name.  When I started researching molasses (its benefits and storage), it kept talking about blackstrap.  Of course, I was still thinking it was the brand name, so I kept trying to find different sources that weren't talking about blackstrap because I didn't want commercial information (again, thinking blackstrap is the brand). ...

Thursday was my annual physical. While I was being "poked and prodded", I talked to the doctor about my recent problems with dizziness and concerns about low iron. She sent me to the lab for blood tests (hemoglobin and ferritin). Both came back low, so she prescribed taking an iron supplement every day for at least a month to build up my iron stores. When I received this e-mail, I asked if she could suggest a kinder, gentler iron supplement. She recommended Slo Fe or Unsulfured molasses. It seems unsulfured molasses is a good source of iron. It was recommended that I take a spoonful a day if I can tolerate it or use it as a sweetener. Obviously, if it was a dare or a contest, I could maybe take a spoonful. Since there is no dare or contest, I decided to add it to my smoothie. Several of my friends tried to dissuade me saying it would ruin the taste, but today I added a tablespoon to my smoothie. It wasn't bad. I think I've found a way to get that iron.

I am once again mentoring the new seventh grade language arts teacher.  This year, unlike last year, I feel that I will probably get as much mentoring as my mentee.  She has experience and attitude... love it.  Today was our official day to get together first by meeting at the district then by working together at our building.  We've already met together and worked on curriculum, so today was a bit more flexible.  Another colleague (and friend) is also mentoring, so we decided to take our mentees to Companies to Classrooms then to Andale for lunch.  We invited a couple other new teachers whose mentors were absent and our group became six.  After lunch my mentee and I decided to "knock out" what had to be finished and head home since we had already worked together.  We found the open, cooler, room of a colleague and sat in their working.  As we were working, I once again started complaining about the kids that were in special reading clas...