Things I’m thankful for on this Friday

I’m thankful that today is supposed to be “much cooler” than yesterday, when it again hit 101* at work and 92* in my classroom. They keep saying that the temperatures will drop, and they haven’t yet, but the air last night and this morning was/is significantly cooler than it has been. I have hope!

I’m thankful that my kids are really enjoying school again this year. My son’s Back to School Nigh zoom was last night and all the third grade teachers seem really nice and on top of it. It’s nice to be at a school with so much parent participation and support.

My daughter’s school’s Back to School Night is in person next week and I’m really looking forward to actually spending some time on the campus, getting a feel for what her school days are like. It’s been weird to be so removed from everything for so long, especially since she goes to and from school by herself (well with a friend).

I’m thankful that I don’t have to wear a mask at work anymore. I know many people still do, and I’m not 100% sure that not wearing a mask is really the best decision, but honestly I just can’t bring myself to teach in a mask again. I know I’m incredibly lucky to have had a mild case of covid and to have no one at home who is at high risk of complications, which allows me to make the choices I’m making now. There are still some kids in masks at school, but the percentage of those wearing them to those not flipped over the summer from mostly wearing to mostly not. It’s so nice to be able to hear most of my students now. Before I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. Now it’s a lot easier.

{And, I of course support students who want to continue wearing masks for whatever reasons. It really is a non-issue at my school. No one really mentions it either way. It just is what it is, and I appreciate that very much.}

I’m excited to get my omicron booster. My husband is looking into it for us.

I’m glad that I was able to find all the parts to an old pair of bluetooth earbuds so my daughter can practice using them (and not losing them) before she gets a pair of AirPods. Having bluetooth earbuds is making not having a phone a lot easier for her to stomach.

I’m relieved that both my kids still like to play Prodigy. It helps them challenge themselves in Math, since they are both accelerated math students with no accelerated math options at school. I paid more for the better subscription, where they get more stuff for playing, and they are both still pretty motivated by that.

I’m thankful that the library by us is open seven days a week now. We go to the library a lot. We read a lot. It makes me happy that we’re a reading family.

I’m happy that we don’t have anything planned this weekend. After last weekend, and this week, I need some time to chill out.

I’m thankful that Costco had a bunch of our staples on sale this past week. I feel like inflation finally hit Costco and I’m really noticing it now. It was nice to have so many things I needed be marked down.

Speaking of money, I’m so thankful for our tax return because my summer credit card bill just got autopaid and oh boy! Was it a doozy. We don’t usually travel as much as we did this summer because we don’t carry debt on our credit cards, which means we need to have the money that trips cost us in the bank before we go. We never would have said yes to that Maui trip without the tax refund (even though it was comparatively an incredible deal for a trip to Maui – $2.5K that should be $5K+ is still $2.5K). I’m so thankful that we could pay for all the traveling we did this summer.

I’m thankful that both of us got COLA increases last spring, which showed up in our August checks.

I’m so thankful, as I start commuting to work again, that I don’t have to worry about soaring gas prices. They are much lower than they were in the spring, but still so much more expensive than anywhere else in the country. I was really surprised to see that even the gas in Hawaii was a full $1/gallon cheaper than around here.

I’m thankful that I have nice classes this year. I was worried about them, because the current 7th graders have a history of behavior issues, but I seemed to have gotten a really nice group of them. I’m very glad for that.

I’m happy that we have an elliptical machine, so I’ve still be able to do my cardio without running this week. I haven’t been on the machine much in the past couple of years, but it’s a really nice machine.

I’m also really thankful that my husband uses the elliptical now – both because it means it’s still worth having in the house, and because he’s so much happier now that he does some regular exercise (I fact that he begrudgingly admits).

But most of all, I’m thankful it’s Friday! TGIF!