Today I woke up with a sore throat and aching body, but since I took off the one day I could afford to take off this month (last Friday), I bribed myself to get out of bed this morning at 5:25 with the promise of 7-11 hot chocolate. It’s still amazing to me how this small indulgence can get me to do almost anything.
Today in my 3rd hour Language Arts class, we had one of those types of discussions that I imagined I would almost always have been able to have if I’d chosen to teach high school instead of 7th grade–the kids were thinking deeply about the themes in the book we’re reading (A Christmas Carol) and had some pretty mature, deep responses when probed about what defining happiness was all about and how there were different definitions of happiness. Let’s just say I was impressed, and it never ceases to amaze me that I seemingly watch the students’ abstract thinking literally come into existence over the course of the school year.
Today I had to talk about goals for 35 minutes with my advisory class and let’s just say, they don’t get nearly as excited about this topic as I do. (I like the topic of goals so much, actually, that I just finished a book on them–Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before, which is all about mastering the daily habits of our lives in order to reach our ultimate goals. Great read!)
Today I fell down the blog rabbit hole as I spent about half an hour of my lunch hour/prep period looking back at old blogging archives on here. It made me firmly decide that I really must start blogging regularly again, if for no other reason than to give me something to do when I’m on a computer and am trying to procrastinate whatever task I’m facing.
Today I decided that just getting myself to begin is always the hardest part of a daunting task. Whether it’s starting to grade a new round of 90+ essays (ugh…) or surveying a huge pile of dirty dishes, the contemplation of the thing is always harder than the task itself. Experience has taught me to just make myself begin, and everything gets easier as I go. (This may or may not be related to the procrastinated task mentioned in the blurb right above…)
Today in Spanish, when I asked the students to list the names of all the countries they could think of where Spanish was the main language spoken, I heard the following answers (not even joking): Taiwan, New Mexico (comes up EVERY single time), Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Africa (to which, when I replied that that was a continent, not a country, I just got blank stares), Jamaica, Turkey, “The Caribbean,” and Texas. Bless their hearts, they never know how much they give me to chuckle about on my drive home.
Today I got another batch of photos done for a volunteer photo shoot I did for my ward (the local church congregation to which I pertain), which means I’ve completed six and a half batches out of thirteen total (halfway there!). I have firmly decided to never do this many photo shoots this close to Christmas ever again…
Today I returned the book Go Set a Watchman to the colleague I borrowed it from, and I STILL can’t decide how I feel about that book. It’s an uncomfortable read for sure, but I still need to munch over it in my mind before I decide my final thoughts on the matter.
Today when I tried to take my daily picture of Raven, she rolled and crawled around and around on the bed, never staying put for a moment. It gave me a glimpse into the difficulty that will be her 8-month shoot on Saturday.
Today I made a deal with Matt that we both would treat ourselves to 20 minutes of leisure time before starting in on the massive stack of laundry that must be done and the heaping pile of dishes. And my 20 minutes have just been reached. Hope that you all have had a good start to your week!
