Monday, August 12, 2024

Hi! How was your weekend? I am linking up today with Holly and Sarah and the Share Our Lives gals, too. Their topic this month is least favorite activities.

Let’s go back to last Thursday, our first day of school with students. We lost bussing for lots of our kids so I anticipated really, really bad traffic. Oh, and also our enrollment increased and now we are the largest public high school in the city. We have 2200 students and change, I think.

So, your old gal Amy put on her new Jansport with her new Owala water bottle and her new gold Stan Smiths and her new Walmart green dress and hoofed it to school.

So, European, right?

We have assigned parking spots in the teacher lot this year. Here’s me “parking”. He he.

So, it was a lovely walk but my hair did go a little flat. Oh well.

Traditional day one photo and I am sporting my new audio enhancement system. You can either use the lanyard mike or the hand held. I actually did use it in the afternoon both days when my voice was tired.

We had a surprise the Chicken Salad Chick donated lunch that first day to all 130 ish teachers! Wow! I show you this picture to talk about the kale salad. OMG! It is simply kale, fresh mango, and pumpkin seeds with some sort of light dressing and I can’t wait to order it now.

Where the magic happens:

Our district gives us $400 in Amazon money and I bought a new set of my favorite pens. Tul is the brand. They are amazing! I am pretty good with technology, but I do some things old school because they work for me.

Both Thursday and Friday went well and it was really nice only starting with two student days this year to ease the kids and the teachers back in. We usually start with a three day week.

I walked both days but on Friday, Erica drove me home and stayed for a drink on the patio with Eddie Otis. He was so happy to have company. Such a social dog! I really didn’t feel that wiped out, but there was no way I was cooking! For dinner, one of the kids wanted to order pad thai and it hit the spot.

While we waited for the pad thai, I got to take a walk down memory lane as my kids and I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch! How fun!

I fell asleep on the couch around 9, but didn’t go to bed until 10 something. I slept in until 6:30.

Saturday morning at home….ahhhhhhh

I originally had a hair appointment scheduled for 9 am on this day and realized that I wouldn’t want to get up and moving early to do that on my first Saturday. I rescheduled it for last Friday and I’m so glad I did!

I made my low carb egg casserole:

Of course all my summer reads came in at the library!

And then we went boating on the most glorious 79 degree day!

Sunday we did it again on another glorious 80 degree day!

We took a different couple friend each day and went to lunch at two different places. We had two really nice days!

I came home and read on the patio or in my yard here each day, too. I did boring house chores in the mornings, but no one wants to hear about those, right?

For dinner Sunday night, we picked up Blaze pizza.

This is my first 5 day week with students! I will be wiped out!

Least Favorite Activities:

Changing sheets and folding sheets! So, I would have clean sheets every night (is there any better feeling than taking a shower and getting into a bed with fresh sheets?), but only if I didn’t have to do them. Tom and I have a deal – we strip the sheets together, I wash and dry, and then he puts them back on. I try to do this Saturday mornings but sometimes it’s Sunday mornings. I try to avoid ever folding sheets. We do have a spare set, but we are using our favorite Costco ones so we just keep using them. Ha!

Shopping for furniture in the store, shopping for tile, shopping for flooring, anything related to home improvements really. I find it overwhelming with all of the choices and it’s so time consuming and boring. Tom is super, super picky and that makes this an even more tedious process. So, now I usually saw to give me two choices and I will pick. I am happy to look at his choices online to narrow it down. The good news is that Tom has very good taste (in my opinion) and ideas that I would not have thought of when it comes to home renovations. Or, maybe I should say we share the same taste usually?

Puzzles. What’s the mystery? You see the picture on the box.

Taking my car to get maintenance done. I thought that was why I was getting married.

Getting gas. Again, married. Just kidding!

Anything financial. Going to the bank, getting house refinanced. Wealth (or lack thereof) advisor appointments. I do love reading about personal finance and frugality, though.

Meetings. Any type really. They are never efficient. People ask dumb questions. I get bored. I want to be in charge, but I don’t really.

Tell me your best weekend highlight and your least favorite activity!

Amy

38 thoughts on “Hello Monday + Share Our Lives”

  1. That sounds like such a fabulous week with really beautiful weather! I don’t mind folding sheets and even un-making the bed but remaking them? UGH! I hate that. Our mattress so heavy I can’t lift it and we have a large wooden footboard that makes it so hard to tuck anything in. I LOVE shopping for anything decorative when it comes to the house– mostly because I can almost always immediately see what it will look like all completed with the “new” colors/flooring/tile, etc. Luckily my husband is more like you and is happy to let me pick it out but he’s great about noticing the logistics of it- is it a good quality material? will it be a *itch to install? etc. so we make a good team. I rarely (if ever) pump my own gas. We have one or two full service stations left around and I will drive out of my way (though I try to plan better so I don’t have to) to go to a place that will pump it for me.

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    1. Yes to making the bed! Ugh! It’s so difficult.
      I know that I am probably abnormal about the house stuff. I like doing the little decor but not the big things.
      That is so nice. We don’t have any that pump that I know of.

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  2. Isn’t walking to and from work the best?! It gives me time to transition to the next chunk of my day and I love it! My weekend highlights were getting a bunch of yard work done and connecting with a good friend at church yesterday. Your line about puzzles made me laugh because I like puzzles 🙂 But I agree with you on anything financial — WHY!?!?!?

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  3. OMG good point about puzzles that I hadn’t thought about – ha!! But I still like the challenge!

    Your weekend sounds fabulous – the temps are perfect. I used to think I would walk to school or ride my bike (my school was less than 2 miles away) but it’s just too humid and I’d be a mess.

    I hope you have the best week!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  4. What a fabulous start to school-congrats on year 31! So amazing and inspirational. I hate anything financial too- great call

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  5. I’m glad you had a great weekend! Boating on Saturday and Sunday felt amazing, I’d guess. I love those low temps! We’ve had that here recently as well, and it’s glorious, albeit fleeting. It’s heading back up to the nineties this week. My best weekend highlight was being with all my family; on Friday, I had the most fun day with my sisters. Sunday was also wonderful, though, because I saw all my great nieces and got to talk to them lots at lunch. The one I posted on my IG stories yesterday is Kylie. I loved hearing her play the piano!

    My very least favorite activity involves cleaning bathrooms; I hate cleaning a bathtub or toilet. Most other mundane chores are ones that I enjoy. Have a great day, my friend!

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  7. I do love a good meeting where you are anticipating news or drama lol. (school-related)

    My least favorite is putting away clothes. I will put it off for weeks when it comes to the kids.

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  9. We have a Chicken Salad Chick but I haven’t been yet. I need to go get that kale salad! 😋 One of my least favorite activities is also financial planning. My husband tends to do this more for us. However, I am really good with the everyday money management and saving money. Another least favorite activity is cleaning the shower. I want to hire that out! 🤣

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  11. We had such a hot weekend, but this morning there was a really nice breeze and we had coffee on the dock. It’s heating up now though. Summer lasts here. I like puzzles, but am with you on the sheets. Whenever we travel, even if only for one night, I always change my sheets before I go. There’s no better feeling than coming home from a trip and sliding in to clean cool unrumpled sheets. Have a great week! How nice you can walk to work. I graduated from an enormous high school. There were over 950 kids in my graduating class. It was a small city lol.

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  14. I love how every teacher has their own ride-or-die pen preferences! You can pry my multicolor pack of Frixion erasable pens from my cold hands. We get around $350 from the state (Florida) to spend on consumables, so I’ll probably order some more of these along with legal-size copy paper.

    Today was our first day with students and I am B.E.A.T. It’s a full week, too. I’m already ready for the weekend. Next week is a 4-day week, but the Florida primary is on a Tuesday, so not even the luxury of a 3-day weekend.

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  15. That’s awesome you got some money to use on Amazon for your classroom! 2 days on the boat with good weather sounds amazing after easing back into the workweek. Your comment about puzzles made me laugh, but I do enjoy puzzles! I would agree to the financial meetings…usually not ever much fun.

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  16. Now, that is commitment…walking to school on the first day! I’m so glad your first two days were good. I remember, one year, we started on a Monday…exhaustion by Wednesday. My one good thing this weekend was sitting on the back porch in the beautiful weather, and I agree 1000% with you on meetings! I hated them then; I hate them now!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  17. Yikes – over 2000 students and less busses could be tough. Good plan to walk if you can. I would love to walk to school but I just don’t have time right now. I’m glad your first two days went well. I love the idea of starting with a short week. We start with four days but it still feels long. You had a great weekend, too! Good plan to move your hair appointment. I don’t let anyone put the sheets on my bed. I am so particular about how the bed is initially made. It’s ridiculous, but it’s part of me. I agree that I don’t like financial stuff either. I always walk away feeling like I don’t know enough.

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    1. Yes! It’s nice to start the day walking, but I will drive when I need to. I loved starting with just two days!
      I wish I liked doing the sheets, but Tom has got it!

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  18. You made me LOL about puzzles! I agree but I did find them entertaining during lockdown, and then I gave them away. What do you do with them once they’re done? I love your hair and outfit for your first day with the students. All the best for your 31st year of teaching!

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  19. Oh wow! That is crazy how many students you have in your school, at my youngest girls high school there was about 500. It sounds like a great start to the new school year.
    Changing the sheets is my fella’s job too. I strip them, wash them but I hate remaking the bed. My fella loves shopping for anything to do with DIY, I find it so boring.

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  20. I read once where Jackie Kennedy had fresh sheets put on her bed each day and I always thought that would be wonderful! Except I hate changing the sheets too so once a week here! Have a good week!

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