Leaving School for the Last Time

Posted on May 28, 2013 by simpleijustdo

As I mentioned last week, my resignation went before the board, and I was finally able to tell my students that I was leaving. I wasn’t quite sure how to do it, but I just started speaking, and was honest with them. They didn’t make it easy for me – there was a lot of screaming and howling (middle school behavior leaves much to be desired), but I was able to get through it without breaking down. There were a few that were in tears, although I think a few more had suspected ever since I got engaged. They know enough about me and my personal life to put two and two together. I got many, many hugs, and lots of that look they have when they are thinking hard about something – you know, the “processing big news” look.

Our year-end concert was this past Thursday, and again, I wasn’t sure what to say. In the classroom, I’m more able to articulate, but put me on a stage, under lights, with a microphone, and I’m not as comfortable. The kids performed well – I know they were doing their best for me, knowing it was my last one. At the end, one of my eighth graders, one I never would have guessed would grab the microphone, stepped up and read something she had written for me. As she read, multiple kids came up to hand me bouquets of flowers, and then there was no stopping the tears. So many kids came up for hugs, and I hugged each one individually. A few told me how they felt about me, and my class, that it was the only reason they liked coming to school, and such… It was all very sweet, and a touch heart-breaking.

I know they are concerned about what will come. A multi-year class is never the same with a new teacher. I know they are sad, and a bit mad that I am leaving them (some are probably glad, too!). I just keep trying to explain to them that sometimes you have to do things that are good for you, even if they don’t seem like they are good for anyone else.

I am still getting random hugs, and messages written on my white board, disappointed looks, and a few quickly-wiped-away tears. The eighth graders have asked me to come to their dance, a rather big hullabaloo the evening before the last day of school. Normally, I don’t, but I might pop by this year.

These kids represent 16 years of kids who have taught me so much about themselves, and human beings in general. I’m a better person for having been a teacher, and I really wish John Q. Public could teach for a day so they knew what really happens in schools, from the teacher’s perspective.

It is time for me to go, however. I’m so glad these kids have made it a sweeter experience.

Remembering on Memorial Day

Posted on May 27, 2013 by simpleijustdo

My bands used to do our local Memorial Day Parade. It took us a long time to prepare for it (we started in February), it was always scorching hot, and parents often complained about it. After being accused of exposing their children to heat stroke for making them wear blue jeans a few years back, I decided that this gig wasn’t really all it was cracked up to be.

As always, when breaking with longstanding tradition in the education community, it is best to simultaneously propose a replacement activity. Instead, we decided to visit a local nursing home and perform for real veterans.

This will be our third year, and I think it serves our elders well. They really enjoy seeing the huge group come in and play for them. Many end up in tears because it brings back memories of their own or their children’s experiences with school music programs. They insist on shaking my hand, and tearfully thanking me, which always gets me.

It also serves the kids well, to remember these elders, to see how much they enjoy their performance, to understand what it must be like to have to wait for your entertainment to come to you.

On this Memorial Day, I’m thankful for the service of our veterans, and also the elder community who supported those veterans.

8 Reasons Why The Boy May Be a Time Lord…

Posted on May 26, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Doctor Who fans are a fiercely loyal bunch, and I can proudly say that I was recently initiated via Netflix. Now, I’m sure there are various strata of Doctor Who fan-dom, and if there are, I am probably in the lowest of the low, because I have not watched all the old-old episodes, with Doctors 1-8, and have not even watched any episodes with the most recent Doctor Who, because I am fiercely loyal to (and have an equally fierce crush on) Doctor number 10. But. There are enough similarities between Doctors (I mean they are all supposed to be the same Time Lord, after all), that I think I can make some generalizations, and bring your attention to the fact that The Boy may actually be Doctor Who…

1. He has an affinity for wearing the same outfit everyday, because he thinks it’s the coolest thing on the planet. Or on several planets.

The Tenth Doctor’s Outfit – Keith Schengili-Roberts

2. He also has an affinity for Chuck Taylor’s.

3. He has a wee obsession with clocks and timers – What Time Lord wouldn’t?

4. He tends to use common objects in uncommon ways… like a Sonic Screwdriver, perhaps?

5. He is whip smart, figures stuff out on his own, and loves technology. He could probably fly a TARDIS meant to be piloted by six Time Lords with one hand tied behind his back…

6. He tends to need a companion to share adventures, and to rein him in when he gets out of control.

7. He wears glasses because he thinks they make him “look a bit clever”.

8. He looks typically human on the outside…

Now can you see why I’m a fan, and why maybe, just maybe, The Boy may be a Time Lord?…

Big News for The Boy

Posted on May 25, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Fantastic Babysitter is going to have a baby, and I was honored to be one of the first to know. She has become such an integral part of our family, and I can’t even begin to fathom how much we will miss her. She is going to be a fantastic mother, and there is so much happiness in store for her family.

She waited a bit before telling The Boy, but last night was the big night to impart her news.

We sat down on the couch, and she produced two jellybeans and told him that if he put the two jellybeans together, it would be the size of the baby that is growing in her belly. He opened his eyes a little wider but didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She and I both explained a bit more, and then he said, “Did (her husband) do this to you?”

It was a classic, if unexpected response that made us both laugh (we’re still laughing!). Makes sense coming from one so logical, though. I guess that sex ed curriculum is working!

Whoa.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by simpleijustdo

I’m so sorry not to have posted in awhile. It’s the end of the school year, and more specifically, the end of my last school year, meaning wrapping normal things up, while also wrapping up unusually large, abnormal things. Oh, and moving. And getting married. And helping my autistic son get used to the idea of our moving, and my getting married… Remind me why I did this to myself again?

I have officially resigned my position and told my students, which was difficult to do. Tonight is my last concert, ever. And I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little verklempt. Because of my overwhelming list of things to do, I’m not getting much sleep (the list won’t let my brain turn off), making me even more tired than I already was. And I feel as if I’m walking around in a daze, as if in limbo anyway, already saying goodbye here, but not really getting there yet.

Thank goodness for the extra day this weekend, which I will use to get caught up on sleep, and caught up in general. I just wanted to write a quick post to let you know I’m not going anywhere, at least in terms of the blog. I’ve missed writing desperately, and will be back as soon as I can take a nap… or four.

Zzzzz…

Men and Boys

Posted on May 18, 2013 by simpleijustdo

There are things in this world that boys need to learn from adults. I find that as a single mom, some things slip through the cracks, and I’m surprised when I realize The Boy doesn’t know something (like what the phrase “laughing like a hyena” means). Since The Man has been in our lives, he has often stepped in to teach The Boy something that boys (and really all growing kids) should know how to do, like ride a bike:

Today, we had an up and down day, which ended up being mostly up. Luckily, we were able to turn around a dramatic morning and spent most of the beautiful day at the park. When we eventually came home, The Man immediately set The Boy to work, teaching him how to wash Mom’s car:

The Man even points out to me the times when I am doing something for The Boy that he could be doing himself. I bristled at this at first, but it didn’t take me long to realize that he wasn’t telling me how to parent The Boy, and that he was usually right. Now I find his insights invaluable, and these lessons he teaches The Boy are so important. And even more important is the relationship that comes from these lessons and insight. This stuff makes me smile. 🙂

He Thought I’d Leave Him

Posted on May 17, 2013 by simpleijustdo

We picked up The Man at the airport yesterday and brought him home, and he was starving, so we planned to go to Chili’s. Except that The Boy wasn’t too keen on going to Chili’s right away, not very concerned with everyone else’s level of hunger. He decided to put his pajamas on, which he often does when we get home from school. Except we were going to Chili’s. A minor battle ensued.

I called forth every ounce of patience I had, and sat down on his bed, where he was just about ready to pop, and tried to talk him through, which has worked extremely well, especially lately. I asked him what was wrong. He equated going to Chili’s with going to school, and if he was going to school, I would leave him. Huh? Where did this come from? I assured him I wasn’t going anywhere, we weren’t going to school, just to Chili’s to have some dinner, and he could put his jammies on when we got back home.

As he often does when we have battles about clothing, he compromised with wearing his dress clothes, even down to the tie and suit coat. Better than jammies, I suppose.

Sometimes I realize I can’t even begin to guess what is going on in his mind, and what connections he is making without anyone knowing it. I guess that’s why talking it through is so important, and it’s why I am so thankful we can do that.

A Mom and Her Boy

Posted on May 16, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Just took an evening walk with The Boy around the block, because today was a gorgeous day — 82 and sunny, and this evening was a perfect summery evening, where the temp in the house is about the same as it is out of the house, and neighbors are playing in the yard.

We held each other close and talked about things to come and the things around us like the birds, and why they eat worms.

I love these moments when I get to hold my boy’s hand, when he wants my arm around him, when he seeks hugs. I know that pretty soon, he may not seek me out for this kind of comfort anymore. These simple moments are precious, and I know it.

Love that boy!

Crafty Bridal Headband

Posted on May 15, 2013 by simpleijustdo

In case you didn’t know, I have short hair. No, really short. I don’t have the luxury of getting my hair all done fancy for special events, like, I dunno… a wedding. I’ve been pinning pictures of brides with short hair for awhile to get a feel for my options. You know what? There aren’t too many pictures of brides with short hair on the interwebs! But the ones I did find looked super cute with a simple headband.

Next step was to price headbands, and when I saw that they run at least $25 or $30 (sometimes more), I thought I could make something I really liked myself, for cheaper (probably). So I started pinning DIY headband tutorials like this one. I still didn’t have a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted, but I was anxious to get crafty, so I headed off to Hobby Lobby.

This is what I came home with:

All told, I spent about $16 including tax on the various supplies. I sat down one afternoon and started playing with the supplies, literally throwing things together to see what came out. One of the first things I did was wrap the off-white ribbon (the kind that has a bit of wire in the edges, so it stays put) around the headband. This particular headband even had a handy little wrap of ribbon around the ideal spot to place a feature embellishment:

(And even better, there happened to be a knot in the ribbon that ended up right at that spot, so I could still locate it after I wrapped the headband!) I hot glued the ends of the ribbon to the headband when I was done wrapping.

Next I started playing with which embellishment would go on the headband. I had picked up some flat-ish crocheted flower shapes in the scrapbooking section and started playing around with those to see if I could make it into something that looked decent:

Then I stitched them down to the black felt right down the center, so it would stay in place.

Next I started beading the center of the flower with some glass pearls (4mm, I think), and some light pink crystal beads:

When I finished with the flower center, I added some “bridal trim” to the outer spokes. The trim came in one long piece, but I simply cut each individual flower off and hot glued it in place:

Next I hot glued all of the edges to the black felt, and cut the felt shape out. I put a dab of hot glue right on the headband, and placed the embellishment on the dab of glue. Then I cut some felt patches to glue to either side of the band to hold the embellishment in place:

And then I tried on the finished product:

Not bad for $16 and a little crafty fun!

Progress: Noticing a Difference

Posted on May 14, 2013 by simpleijustdo

I’ve done a few posts about exercise over the past year, and if you’ve been around awhile, you know it’s a relatively new concept for me. For most of my life, my high metabolism has carried me through, and I haven’t been too worried about what I eat, or my weight in general. Around the time of the breakup of my marriage, I was at my heaviest, and lost a lot that summer and fall, getting back to my more normal weight range. And then about a year ago, I started to notice the cellulite and flab creeping in, and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t so happy with what I saw in the mirror. Last winter, I bought some weights and a bike trainer so I could ride my own bike (which I love!) indoors. I also started breaking out the yoga mat again on a semi-regular basis. And it lasted awhile, but I didn’t really see results, so I slacked off and got out of the routine. This past fall, I wrote about needing to get back into some kind of routine, because I was shocked at weighing in at the doctor’s and finding I was 15 pounds over my normal weight – yikes! And then I came up with a plan. And when that wasn’t quite working, I adjusted it a bit. I struggled with it. I really, really struggled with it, and I felt like I was failing.

And then in March, something clicked. I started sticking to my plan. The thing I thought I’d never do, get up early to workout, started working for me. I found I wasn’t tired, I was very willing to get up and get on the bike, and just ride. It was another opportunity for some alone time, and to process thoughts, so it wasn’t a crazy, chicken-with-its-head-cut-off kind of all-at-once start to my day. And I coupled it with some targeted, low-impact exercises found on Pinterest a few minutes before bedtime.

And then… I actually upped it. I was riding the bike 3 times a week, and I bumped it up to 5 days a week (although sometimes I take a day off to do a 20 minute yoga routine instead). And I started doing the night-time exercises every night. And I added another routine found on Pinterest, and some sumo squats. Not a ton, but enough to burn. And I kept upping my resistance on the bike, making sure I was still sweating by the time I was done.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve gotten a few updates, which I promised, and which helps keep me accountable, and since the beginning of March, I’ve lost two inches on my hips! And I woke up yesterday, and I couldn’t see my saddlebags anymore. And that inner-thigh fat? It’s fading. They say it takes four weeks for you to notice the changes, and 8 weeks for close friends and family. It’ll be interesting to see what The Man says when he comes to visit this week.

All I know is, for the first time in my life, I am enjoying working out, and I’m seeing results. 😀