I can hardly believe it has been over a week since I posted to MtDC (Making the Days Count). It has been busy with school and other activities. William and Olivia started school the same day our school started with kids and it has been hectic. However, it is a much better beginning to the school year, than last year. Continue reading Back to School Week 1: Getting Back in the Groove….
When I woke up Thursday morning, a new day count began…. Summer was over, really over, and school was back in session. Well, not really. School for teachers was back in session. States across the country have different school codes and thus require students to attend differing amounts of school days. In Illinois, the state requires the school calendar to have a minimum of 185 days including student attendance, in-service, and emergency days. I have kept track of the days the past several years trying to make each of the days count. I have embraced the idea of making the days count for some time. I have even gone so far to number each student attendance day in my planner with the corresponding days remaining on my master calendar. Therefore, the first day of student attendance looks like 171-1: meaning 171 days remain and 1 because it is the first day of school. There are other days including parent conferences, in-service days, and teacher workdays – I just have not numbered them. Continue reading Back to School: New day counts begin….
Wednesday was a day of anticipation. It was the day I had been dreading all summer – the final day of summer vacation and my last day of ‘freedom’ until next year’s summer vacation begins. The kids had been waiting for the day since I told them about my planned trip to the city and the Cubs game, and Beth had been looking forward to it as it meant my ‘home invasion’ was over! Nevertheless, it was here and it was gonna be a great day, a million and six time better than the day before. Continue reading Day 82: Chicago, Wrigley Field, the Cubs, and Hello Kitty
I have seen a new Wal-Mart commercial, recently. It opens with a well-dressed mom walking in her front door and calling to her kids that she has returned from shopping for their school supplies. The kids come running and root through the packages with glee – just like Christmas. The kids, a girl and a boy, thank their mom for getting just what they wanted. It is way overdone and an announcer voices over the action and says, ‘We know your kids don’t act like this about their school supplies, so why should you pay too much for them? Come to Wal-Mart for your school supplies this year.’ It is a good commercial and it drives their point home, few people enjoy shopping for school supplies, mainly because what it means going back to school. Continue reading Day 81: Tuesday – shopping for school supplies
Monday to start the week, that is normal but not the normal I have grown accustomed to since summer began. Monday was just another day, like any other day, nothing special, nothing different. However, this Monday marked the beginning of a new week and the impending return to school, and work.
I woke early to find Ivy, as usual, waiting and I started the coffee. I had resumed the Chicago Tribune and now I had a newspaper to add to the routine. It was going to be great day and the weather would be, too. The heat and humidity disappeared Sunday for a few days. We slept with the house open and just before I woke, I needed to cover up with something more than just the sheet. This is the best sleeping weather, with more to come. There will be nights when I do not want to uncover, yet that kind of weather is far off, and unthinkable. Continue reading Day 80: Monday, the moon, and Olivia’s glasses….
Beth had wanted a wakeup call and I woke up early and came downstairs about six. As usual, I was welcomed by Ivy, but she curled up on her pad and went back to sleep, she was fast asleep and stayed that way until eight, when I had to wake her to go outside before I left for church.
Wheaton was established when the United States was growing rapidly in the nineteenth century. It is largely a Christian town with Wheaton College and legend has it – more churches per capita than any other town in the United States. Wheaton was established by the Wheaton and Gary families who settled it west of Chicago. Continue reading Day 79: Sunday: church the kids come home…
Ivy let me sleep late this morning and greeted me eagerly wagging her tail when I came downstairs. She has transitioned well from her days as a puppy. She has not had a wetting incident in quite a while. I contend these are more a function of being tuned into her needs. She is a good advocate for herself and has a special bark to let us know when she needs to go outside. However, lately her bark to go outside to check for rabbits is getting close to this bark and it is confusing. Either way, she goes outside on her tether. Sometimes I sit with her and other times I just go back inside. Continue reading Day 78: A Final Saturday
Last night, Thursday, after I posted, Ivy and I took off for a journey into the country. Earlier, I read this is the time of the astronomical year when the Perseid Meteor Shower can be seen by the naked eye and the peak viewing would be Thursday evening, especially in the late night and early morning hours. I remember making a similar trip last year with William and Olivia to look up at the sky for meteors, but we were unsuccessful.
This year and I drove west along the old Lincoln Highway toward DeKalb, Continue reading Day 77: The Meteor Shower, Triskaidekaphobia, and …
Thursday was hot, very hot. So hot the National Weather Service called for an excessive heat warning and urged people to stay inside and avoid strenuous activity. Ivy and I were more than happy to comply. But, I wondered how in the world did I ever survive growing up in Sugar Land, Texas? I do remember summer in my youth, but I do remember staying indoors quite a bit, but I also remember swimming in the pool or in the lake. But, that was then and I was used to the heat, now I am not. This type of heat is uncommon for Chicago. Continue reading Day 76: A visit to school…
The number of days remaining in summer vacation hit single digits earlier this week and now I am down to a single week. I am left with spending time getting ready for school and wrapping up loose ends before school starts.
Teachers view the end of summer much like students do, I am certain. We view it with a sense of sadness that our time to rest, relax, and rejuvenate is over. Our time of dressing casually will end, as well as sleeping late or staying up late, they too will come to a halt. It also means some activities will need to curtailed or stopped altogether. I had not really planned for summer to end so I had not planned what to do with the blog, I do want to continue but I cannot keep the pace of writing daily and maintaining my sanity and grip on class all at the same time. I have some thinking to do on this matter and I hope that – if you are reading – you continue to stop in and read along on my journey through the year. Continue reading Day 75: This means one week to go…