Celebrate the Little Things

Some weeks the world happens and it's hard to find things to celebrate, but those are the weeks we have to dig deeper and work hard to share the JOY. 

This is one of those weeks.

However!  Here are things I am celebrating this week.

A lazy day of wander shopping last weekend. You know those days. You don't really need anything, but you wander the stores and pick up little bargains. It's a treat for us since we're 60+ miles from a mall or large shopping area.  We make a day of it and end with someplace good to eat.
This time I bought myself TWO new notebooks: One with prompts and one with a great quote, soft writing paper, and it just felt like it should be mine.


The notebooks were my gift to myself because I have been writing almost every day since the beginning of the year (I forgive myself for the week or so I had the flu). That was the point of the notebook with prompts. It's been so much easier to write when I open up my notebook and there is a prompt for me to think about.  But I've been doing the prompts myself in my current notebook.

It was finally nice enough a couple of days this week to walk Chloe. She enjoyed it as much as I did. Even though we are getting a little snow this morning, the days are getting longer, the sun is feeling warmer and I know that spring is on the way.

Greg and I have also been trying new recipes each week. This one for smothered pork chops in the crock pot that we tried last night was really good. As always, we have a few things we'd do differently when we make it the next time (and we will make it again), but it's been fun changing up our menu a little bit.



I've spent most of the week appreciating the little things in my life that make me happy

• the plants in my window
• the white lights I light up in the kitchen
• Chloe's antics that make us laugh
• my son's reaction to his daughter getting her first Valentine flowers from a boy :)
• writing

So, although it's been a tough week, it's also been full of little things to celebrate and appreciate.

A Little Late to Celebrate? Nope!

So many Celebrations in the last couple of weeks. We've been visiting friends and family on the weekends, so I haven't been getting my celebration posts written.  But today I am going to get this done!

*** Last weekend we visited Greg's sister in Wisconsin. We went out to eat and saw other family. Spent Saturday driving up to  Green Bay, which is only a short drive, but a few little shops along the way slowed us down a bit.  Title Town in Green Bay is built around the Packer Stadium and a really cool place to visit if you are in the area.  

The thing I really appreciate about this is that with close family ("You're not just family, you're my friend," is what my sister-in-law said), is that we can also just say, let's just go back and hang out at the house.  There's no need to always be doing something or entertaining.  And so, we headed home after a late lunch and did just that.

*** I subbed a couple of times this week. Once in Art and once for English. I love both areas, so it makes for a couple of nice days. I appreciate seeing kids, visiting with friends, and the fact that I have no school work to do when I get home!

***Took a former student to lunch on Wednesday. These little moments, one on one are so precious to me. This is a student I miss a lot. And to catch up on her life and all the goings on was awesome.

*** This past weekend we drove over to the lake and went to the wedding reception of a friend's son. It was a great time visiting with friends, dancing, and just having fun with people we haven't seen in a few months. Lake time can't come soon enough. We stayed at a friend's home and we so appreciated how they went out of their way to make us comfortable and feel at home. I won't go into details, but they really did go above and beyond.

So those are my celebrations for the last couple of weeks. Better late than never! Right?

Celebrate: The Graduates (and a few of the Almost Graduates)

Retirement.

It could have been a lot harder to adjust to this if not for one special group of people.

My former students.

At times these past few months, I've felt a little lost. What to do with myself? I'm finding projects, purging closets, filling time. But about once a month, I'll get a text or a Facebook message from one of "my kids" and it seems to right my world again.

It started right away in August (which was a great time to hear from someone)

We had a great conversation about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and our school district.

My first visit back to school was to see a student who just needed to talk to me again. For a while, I went back every couple of weeks just to visit with her and make sure she was OK. Now that I'm subbing, I see her more frequently, but she is handling her issues and doesn't need me as much as she did. And that's a good thing :)

A text I received the other day began with "Hey Mom". One of my speech kids--and I was school mom to him--was just checking with me about a book we read in College Prep Lit. Another former student wanted to quote it in a paper he was writing and couldn't remember the name of the book (It was Night by Elie Weisel).

Last week a favorite student tagged me in her Facebook post because she decided to use a One Little Word this year. She and I are going to have lunch next week. I can't wait to catch up on her world.

And, of course, there are my kids still at the high school

• A, who squeals with delight every time she realizes I'm subbing in one of her classes
• L, who pretends he hates it, but just followed me on Instagram
• B and R who give me the best hugs whenever I'm in school
• K, C, and J who asked if I would still write letters of recommendation for them, even though I'm retired
• And all my formers who are still writing. They send me links or share them on Facebook. I love that they keep their blogs up.

A special shout-out to my colleagues who ask for me to be their sub when they have to be gone.

I'm learning to APPRECIATE this time in my life. I think I'm going to refer to them as my Rock Star Years.

#SOL18 Summer Sunday in the Midst of Winter

School Sundays. Wake up

• Coffee
• Grading
• Planning
• More Grading
• More Planning
• Bed
• No fun

I love Summer Sundays because they are relaxed and easy. Some are pajama days and lazy. Doing nothing but reading and enjoying the nice weather.  Others may find us golfing or going somewhere fun. Most find us gathering together in the late afternoon for friends, cool drinks, watching sunset and supper of some kind. 

Since I've retired, Sundays have been easy, but kind of boring. There's not much to do around here in the winter. But this past Sunday, Greg and I headed to a sports bar in the area where two friends were playing music during the afternoon. It was perfect. 

First of all, we love the music our friends play. I call it "Mom's Night At the Stereo" music. I can sing the words to every song. They make me happy. We also get to visit with the guys between sets and that too is nice. We talk about other friends, what's happening in the statehouse and music. There was another old friend there that we don't see very often and a visit with him is always a treat. He filled us in on happenings in his life since we last saw him and enjoyed the music with us.

Later we headed home to Red Lobster leftovers and a night watching the Golden Globes. The day was spent relaxing and enjoying friends. A Summer Sunday in the midst of winter.

2018: A Year to Appreciate

I started a list this morning of the things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

• Traveling: I don't know where we'll go, but I know we will start planning some trips soon
• The Eagles concert in March. Although we've seen them before, this is a group I could see a million times.
• Lake time, of course (Only 100 more days until we can open the cabin)
• I don't have to worry about snow/cold days anymore!
• Which means I don't have to worry about making up snow and cold days anymore!
• A midwinter trip somewhere

And then I realized that what I'm really looking forward to is the 

that being retired brings me. I now have the freedom to:

• sleep in or get up early
• work or not work
• read all day or be productive
• scrapbook or write
• travel or enjoy my home
• clean my house or close my eyes

I'm loving this life of no schedules--the ability to take off on vacation or a shopping day in the middle of the week is awesome. I love choosing when and if and how much I work. Subbing in our little district is great because no matter what classroom I am in, I feel at home because those are still my kids. 

I guess you could say I have eased into retirement well. I'm learning to APPRECIATE this new time in my life.

One Little Word

Each year I wait, and each year it happens. A word comes along that I know will guide me through the coming year. And, usually, it comes through a phrase that I use as a mantra throughout the year.

2013: Nothing Without JOY
2014: Live ALOHA
2015: Life is about BALANCE
2016: Concentrate the mind on the present MOMENT
2017: DISCOVER

I was playing around with words throughout December. Created a Pinterest board. Read quotes I had earlier pinned. No word, no phrase really jumped out at me.

But I was patient.

For a while, I thought my word would be enjoy. But the word never really settled in my soul. I want to enjoy my life now, the people in it, the fun things we are doing. But still, it seemed a little frivolous.

But I was patient and kept looking.

And then this meme came across my Facebook timeline:

And one word jumped out at me:  APPRECIATE

And, as always, I looked up the word:

To recognize worth, to understand situations, to enjoy, give thanks, to acknowledge, to be grateful...

These were things I wanted to bring to my life in 2018.

Oh. And I did find a quote