The Art of the Staycation

Ah, Vacation!  Images of peace and relaxation enter into my mind.  I sit in the wonderful zero gravity lounge chair while warm breezes pass over me and I can hear waves lapping on the shore.  Then reality hits.  Vacations can be stressful and hectic and currently out of my price range.  So this year when everyone was talking about the last beach trip of the summer I took a mini-staycation.

A what you ask?  Staycation? 

Yup.  News channels have reported about it.  Staying at home with your vacation time and doing fun things in the area.  Well, one of the first uses of the word, if not the first, was in the Canadian comedy Corner Gas.  In one episode the main character kept talking about his upcoming vacation to France. After he left on his “vacation” a new resident saw him sitting in a field and was going to talk to him.  The locals stopped her by explaining about this type of vacation and she couldn’t see him. The episode was funny with the new resident trying to understand this version of the staycation.

She has no need of a staycation!

First I took the zero gravity lounge chair into my den.  I decided for an indoor vacation because right now we have experienced almost daily rain and there are mosquitoes in my yard about the size of elephants.  More importantly, my house has air conditioning and it is hot and humid outside.  Next I unplugged the landline and turned off notification and messaging alerts off my phone.  I put my television to a tropical music station, Pandora would have worked equally as well.  I turned on the overhead light and ceiling fan so I could have the cool breeze and warm rays of the sun.  Finally I stretched out in the chair with my sunglasses on. Ah! Peace and Quiet.  If I let my mind drift and my imagination take over I feel like I am at the beach.

The best part (after being free) I can do this anytime I need or want to.  I don’t have to juggle schedules and to do list or take time off work.  I just pop open the chair and relax.  That’s right I am not ashamed to admit that the lounge chair is set up inside my house.

So park yourself in a relaxing position and take the mini-staycation when you need it.  If you need a little more to do on your break watch an episode or two of Corner Gas.

Teacher Appreciation Day!

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10, 2013.

So if you can read this thank a teacher.  Teachers come in all forms; from parents, older siblings, friends, grandparents, and the more traditional teachers.

I don’t teach for the money.  I could find other jobs that pay much better and have easier hours than what I have now.  I know that people have the idea that all teachers spend the summer doing nothing but many of us spend summers with all the appointments that we don’t have time for during the school year, workshops, and new staff developments.  I generally have about one week that is actually summer vacation.  Many of us work longer than we are required and take work home with us.

In working with and having friends that are teachers in other countries, I know that this is something that many teachers do around the world.  There are always a few that leave early every day and seem to do no outside work but for the majority of us we work long hours and do plenty of outside work.  We seem to spend most of our lives being teachers.

I, like most teachers, enjoy teaching and working with kids.  There is something special when you see that they finally “get” or accomplish something.  Yes, there are times when I am frustrated beyond belief at a student, their home life, or when we are told this new program will solve all of our problems.

I spend a lot of time frustrated with the paperwork and the ever changing rules.  As soon as I figure out one computer program or new testing method, it changes.  Some of these programs are just the newest version and they do make things easier but so much of the testing doesn’t accurately reflect what my students have learned or are capable of doing.

I have moments when I wonder if I am accomplishing anything.  In these down moments I wonder if I should be teaching or if I should do something else.  Without fail, whenever I have one of these moments I am contacted by a former student.  Sometimes, these are those perfect students, the ones that never did anything wrong and were a joy to teach.  More often than not, I have had students that struggled, the ones that traditional education settings don’t best serve, come back to visit.  These are the students that were frequently in trouble and you feel that never learned anything.   In the past year I have had two young men stop by my room and tell me how much they appreciated me and being in my class, they told me that they felt that I cared for them and they actually told me things that they had learned in my class six years ago.

So to my students thank you for the words of encouragement.  You don’t know how much they were appreciated.  I think that is the best gift that I have received.

To my fellow teachers, what was the best gift that you have received?

Seeing Clearly

Nope, not a profound statement but one of fact.  It is spring and my allergies are giving me fits.  For several days my eyes felt like they have been rolled in sand and my allergy eye drops were barely helping. In fact the last week it has been difficult to see. 

I put it off as a combination of allergies and it is time for my eye examine.  Finally last week my eyes were not itchy I just couldn't see as well as I was supposed to.  So I threw out that pair of contacts and wore my glasses.  Finally two days ago I decided to try contacts again.  Then I saw it.  Instead of wearing one of each I had been wearing the left contact lens in my eye.

The problem is that my right eye is twice as bad as my left. So I couldn't see that well and had some nasty headaches.  I am sure the eye doctor will find this funny and will probably wonder why it took a week for me to figure out.

Now that I have figured out this problem I can at least see what all is going on around me.

So have you done anything similar?

Guest Blog: From the Purrfect Post

In order to be fair, today also has a guest blogger, Malcolm, the cat.  Malcolm is Sarah the dog’s sister.  He is a rescue found at the Humane Society. He is a poet and writer.  His speciality is the Catku form of poetry.

The author hard at work

Why Things Fall

I look pause swing foot

I make it bounce and fall down

Its fun and mom comes

My Dish

My bowl should be full

If it is not I might starve

I demand food now

Tuna

The best of all food

It appears from the cabinet

Tasty yummy good

Sleep

Sunny spot in bed

Under the covers warm now

Sleep my favorite thing

My favorite thing.

Guest Blog: From the Bark Side - the Introduction

I have to admit I have a sweet life now.  My mom loves me and I have a great place to live.  My life didn’t start out like this. My mom decided that she needed a dog and had the really old one call his friends and ask.  Then I appeared I was furless and terrified. She even gave me a great name Sarah, I have a people name not a silly name like Spot which would so not fit my greatness. Now I am content, except when the evil air things and the loud scary fur taker away is out.  

My day would be perfect if my mom didn’t leave to do this think that she calls work.  I think that she should never leave me.  I spend my day eating, sleeping, playing with my cats, and guarding the house.  I have my food hidden all over the house in case I get hungry (mom says that it was because I was half starved as a pup).  For some reason my cat keeps on eating it or my mom throws it away.  I do not know why they do this because I will just put more back for me to eat later.

The best present my mom ever got me was a kitten.  I loved it, I carried it around the house, and washed it, and took care of it.  I protect my cat, no one but my mom can play with my cat except if he jumps on them.  I even growled at my Nana, whom I love, when I thought she was taking my cat away.  

Me adding my beautiful fur to the house.

I try to defend my house from the great evils.  The three most evil things that I deal with are birds, the big loud box, and the moving whirring death machine.  Birds are evil they don’t walk on the ground they are in the air and they don’t move like I do.  So far I have caught three while my mom was walking me on the leash.  I am great.  Almost every day this huge brown thing whirls past my house.  I must defend. Brroow.  Die.  Then it spits out a man who brings a little box to the house.  When mom brings the box into the house I try to protect it from her but she opens it up and takes things out.  She tells me the brown thing is ok but I know better it is evil and I will catch it someday and destroy it.  Finally the whirring death machine.  I mean I work hard to put out my fur everywhere.  I have my dirt which smells good and my fur which is important because it is mine.  Then my mom takes the evil thing out of the small room and turns it on.  I run barking through the house.  I am afraid that it might catch me and remove my beautiful fur.  So as soon as she put it up I roll and scrub myself on the floor to spread my fur all over the house.

So that is a little about me.  So from Sarah, on the bark side, I think that all of you people should get a dog and then get your dog a pet.  I like cats or guinea pigs but no birds unless they are cooked.  I know that no dog can have as great a mom as I do but there are some pretty good people out there.  So go rescue a puppy or a dog (like I was).  

Love, 

Sarah 

It was hard work writing.

Helping a friend in difficult times

Recently I have had to deal with my mothers hospitalization.  She is continuing to gain strength daily. I wanted to say that overall the health care workers that I have dealt with in several hospitals were wonderful and caring people.  I know that there are always exceptions to this but many of the people went above and beyond what was necessary to reassure me and help my family with this process.  

To give you an idea of how overwhelmed that I was, well it is now after Easter and my Christmas tree is still up. I normally have it down sometime the first week of January but that is when my mom was hospitalized.  It is at least an artificial tree and I have managed to undecorate it.  The decorations are boxed up in the middle of my dining room.  A friend suggested that I just keep it up and switch the decorations.  

Many friends and family members called, messaged, or contacted our family wanting information on her condition or asking what they could do to help.  For the most part my brother and I didn’t know what to ask or answer. We both went to work, took care of things at her house, and visited her.  We were continuously asked “What can I do to help?”  The answer for the most part is pray.  Many things we had to do for ourselves, other people just couldn’t do them.  So, I have thought about what we dealt with and discussions with other friends as to how people could help.

 Don’t continually ask for information - By the time I had taught school, ran home to walk my dog, drove the half hour to the hospital, visited for a few hours, and then drove home I was exhausted.  I didn’t want to talk to people much less answer numerous questions about her condition.  I also didn’t want to give daily detailed medical information on social networking sites.  Instead my brother and I split stuff - we would either message or call a few people who relayed information to others.  It is not that we don’t like you or didn’t want to talk to you but by the end of the day we were doing good to remember our names by that point. We would get easily frustrated and impatient and did not want to take it out on people that were genuinely concerned. It is also deeply emotional which was also tiring. I still haven’t went through all of my messages, but that isn’t that unusual for me, and I will eventually delete them.

Mail cards or send messages -  Not just to the patient but to the family as well.  My mother appreciated all of the cards that she was sent.  While she was in ICU she really couldn’t have a lot of things so she didn’t need gifts.  But more importantly my brother and I appreciated the cards and messages to us because we needed the prayers and good thoughts as well.

Don’t expect to be asked for help - Really the offers were great but I doubt my dog would let anyone in my house so that they could walk her.  My mom wouldn’t want people going through her papers trying to locate information for the insurance or doctors.  Also I had no idea what to ask for - it would have been great for someone to clean my house but again the dog wouldn’t let you in and I am embarrassed about how many things slid while I was rushing back and forth.

Give food - One of my co-workers brought extra to lunch so that she could share with me.  After my mom was released from the hospital, friends worked out a meal schedule so that we didn’t have to cook for the first week.  

Be a friend - To my friends who listened to me vent about those that drove us crazy asking for details or just let me talk about nothing without asking for details, thank you.  A simple “How is everything?” or “How are you doing?” is all that is needed.  Also thanks for the funny pictures and stories that you sent. It helped to get my mind off of things.