Not a Wasted Word

Oh boy was it hot yesterday! So, so hot!

And we were in the city, where it was less hot than ANYWHERE else in the Bay Area.

We are very lucky that we have a downstairs area that stays relatively cool. We spent the hottest hours of the day down there, playing Monopoly and our own silly version of Pictionary. Well down there, and out in the backyard with water guns.

We didn’t go anywhere because it was just so hot, and we knew anywhere we went would be that hot, or hotter.

I did think about hitting up a mall, or somewhere else inside with air conditioning (which we do NOT have), but I assumed everyone else would be in those kinds of spaces, and we could manage the heat at home.

It’s going to be hot all week, especially down at my work, where I my classroom does NOT have air conditioning. I am not looking forward to it.

My current plan is to cart my box fan to and from work every day. We need it at home, where my son’s room gets very warm and has no air circulation. I’ll also need it at school, where they provide us with nothing to combat the heat.

But I did get some good stuff done yesterday. I managed to steam clean the floors in the kitchen and the backroom, the hallway and the stairs. I also managed to steam clean the downstairs kitchen, which was DISGUSTING. Truly, I can’t believe I got those floors clean. I cleaned the sink too, which was a mess from a protracted clog that we didn’t get fixed for several months. We don’t really use the downstairs kitchen – it’s mostly just a spot where we keep extra groceries – so it has to get pretty gross for me to do something about it. It got way past pretty gross this time.

{I think I was able to get so much done yesterday, because I am really enjoying my audiobook. When I’m really interested in an audiobook, I can stay focused on house projects for much, much longer.}

I really hope this heat dome lifts (or dissipates, or whatever) sooner than they are expecting. It is not pleasant to weather heat waves like this without any air conditioning. I was VERY grateful that the temps fell to the mid-70s in SF last night, so opening the windows finally provided some relief.

I’m so happy it’s already Tuesday.

I hope everyone is able to stay cool this week. Be safe!

It’s been a really good weekend. Just what I needed.

Saturday I took the kids to the water park at Great America. It was definitely crowded, but they got to play in the water in all the ways they wanted. Luckily they don’t care much about the slides, so just enjoying the wave pool and lazy river was plenty for them.

The day was hot, but it wasn’t the hottest day of this heat wave, so the weather was kind of perfect. In fact, by the end of the afternoon the breeze was making us all a little cold. I saw that it was a full 12 degrees warmer down there on Sunday (almost 100!). I wonder what the water park looked like that day.

We hit up In-n-Out when we left, and then I dropped them off at my parents’ house. I got home just in time to shower and put on some make up before a 7:30pm reservation.

As always, my husband had a fun date night planned. We hit up a couple different drink spots, and tried some very tasty cocktails. Since we’d both eaten earlier, we didn’t really go out to dinner, but instead ordered some appetizers at the second spot.

We headed home before midnight and watched a little TV before going to sleep.

We slept in until 9:30am on Sunday (my husband actually had to wake me up at 9:30am on Saturday too!) and took our time getting ready. We finally headed to North Beach for a 12:30pm brunch reservation at a tapas spot. Sunday was much warmer than Saturday, and we definitely felt the heat as we walked from downtown to North Beach. It rarely gets over 75* in the city, so we were definitely feeling the mid-80’s heat.

We ate way too much at brunch, but still made room for a yummy iced coffee on the walk back to BART. On the walk I realized that my husband and I should take advantage of being downtown on a holiday weekend, and duck into Macy’s to get him some work clothes. He is supposed to start going to the office three times a week (up from two times per week) and he’s been complaining that he doesn’t have enough work attire to do that. So we ducked into Macy’s and took advantage of their Labor Day sale to get him some new brown shoes and a dark grey suit jacket. We also grabbed three dress shirts. I was VERY pleased to get this done, because my husband HATES buying clothes and I was trying hard not to give in and buy the clothes for him online. Together we were able to find what he needed in record time.

I also took advantage of Labor Day sales to buy some 10×20 prints for our living room from Shutterfly. I had them ready to go and was waiting for a 50% off sale, which materialized this weekend!

Sunday afternoon my husband and I watched the first half of The Batman, which we both had wanted to see, but never could find a night where we could make it through a three hour movie. I was so pleased that I thought to take advantage of the afternoon to start it, so we could finish it later that night. I really liked the movie (the last 20 minutes were not great, but I really liked most of it), and am glad we finally watched it.

I even worked out yesterday before the kids came home!

Today I have a few big things on my to-do list. The biggest is steam cleaning the kitchen floor, which needs it desperately. I also plan to get caught up on laundry, which I haven’t had a lot of time to do so far. I need to work out at some point too.

How are you spending your long weekend? Is it just what you needed?

I’ve started three posts this week. None of them made it past a few sentences.

I feel like I can’t get my brain to stop whirring. I’m all over the place.

Yesterday was Back to School Night. I was at work for 12 hours. I left at 7:45pm, exactly 12 hours before I had to be back at work again.

It’s been a steep learning curve this year. I’ve struggled to adjust to my schedule. Teaching at 7:45am is more challenging than I thought. I have two different classes before my first break, so I have to have them planned and prepped before lunch the day before. I’m getting to work at 7:15am and leaving at 4pm and I still feel unprepared most days. I’m tired of scrambling. I’m tired.

Today is a minimum day, so we get out at 1pm. I’m going to try to run by work if it’s not too hot. If it is too hot, I’ll head to the coast.

Tomorrow I’m taking the kids to the water park at Great America. Then I’m dropping them off at my parents for a much needed date night. They get to go swimming at my mom’s friend’s house on Sunday, which means my husband and I will have the whole day to ourselves.

I really need the break. And I’m very thankful that Monday is a holiday.

I’m almost just lost this post and I can’t believe I got it back so I’m just going to hit publish. I hope you all have a restful long (if it is long for you) weekend.

It was a loooong week. It felt even longer. The first three days with students went well, but each one required an incredible amount of effort. Just so. Much. Effort.

I will admit, it has felt like I’m in a boat that is filling with water, and all I can do is bail it out with some bullshit bucket.

Which is fine honestly. I had a phenomenal summer. It was just so, so much. If I had been reading me I would have thoughts along the line of, goddamn bitch goes to all these places and doesn’t even get COVID? Because for real, how did it all go so according to plan?

It wasn’t fair.

And now summer is over and I have to figure out how to make my real life work, the one where I actually have to pay for all those trips and all that fun. The one where I have to clean my house and show up at a job and cash a pay check. The one where I have to take care of my kids and do laundry and feed the cat and fill prescriptions and remember events.

I had a bunch of stuff to write. I swear I did! But now I can’t think of a single thing. I’m so, so tired. It’s Monday now and it wrecked me. (I started this on Saturday? I think?)

The days at school are so long. I thought it wouldn’t matter, whether I was prepping at 7:45 or teaching, but it might matter? It feels like it does matter, at least so far, but I also have hope that I’ll get used to it and it will matter less. But right now, getting to work at 7:15 and not leaving until almost 4pm most days… well that is a lot and it’s making me tired.

I got a lot done this weekend. On Friday I REALLY felt like I was in a sinking boat that I couldn’t bail out fast enough. It literally felt like I was drowning in our own stuff. It still feels like the boat is going down at home, sinking under the weight of all our possessions, but I was able to do enough to keep the panic at bay. I need to a real purge, a real and massive culling of the stuff, but that requires way more time and energy than I have. Maybe at Christmas? Bwahahaha!

What a way to set myself up for failure.

This week we have Back to School Night. I think once that is done I’ll feel better. I just got to get to Friday.

I keep reminding myself that the first weeks of school require a ton of energy. You can’t just give them a thing to do and let them get to it, because they don’t know how to do anything yet. You have to explain every thing to them. You have to show them all your procedures and repeat all your directions. It’s a lot. But it’s also short lived. If I do a good job of it over the next few weeks, things will get easier. I just have to stay the course until then.

I want to write more but I need to get to sleep really early tonight. So I shall publish this post and then try to show up here again later this week.

Thank goodness the coming weekend is a long one.

Well, I did it. I survived the first day of school. And it was fine! Imagine that.

It was a short day and each period was abbreviated. 35 minutes goes by really fast!

Tomorrow will be longer and it will feel longer and I’ll have a much better idea of how this year is going to feel in 24 hours.

But right now I’m glad that I got through the first day. I learned a couple important lessons. most importantly that 15-25 minutes is not much time at all before classes start! Today I totally lost track of time and if zero period hadn’t started later than usual, I would have been five minutes late for it! Zero period is going to take some getting used to.

I’m happy that tomorrow we don’t have any meetings. We’ve had them every day so far this week and I am tired of being talked at.

First day down. 180+ something days to go.

{Um… I just published this on my old blog because I wasn’t looking carefully in my app when I started. For f*ck’s sake…}

Getting up at 6am in rough y’all. I am such a happier camper if if I can get up at 7am or later, but alas, it will never be possible with my job.

(For those of you who get up earlier just to get things done, my hat off to you. I wish I were an early riser but I just don’t think my body is wired that way. Maybe when menopause hits me for real.)

Yesterday was a good day. I stayed focused on the things I really needed to do and now I’m pretty much ready to welcome students and start the school year tomorrow. I have a tentative plan for the first three days and I have everything I need to execute that plan set up and ready.

I felt wrecked yesterday by 6pm, but then I struggled to fall asleep before 11pm. Story of my life. Tonight I will definitely take a sleep aid.

Today we have a series of meetings that usually drive me crazy because I have so much still to do. I wonder if today they will feel less burdensome, since I’m pretty much ready to go. I plan on letting my training modules run in the background while I’m in said meetings. I’ve taken them all so many times that I don’t have to listen to them anymore.

I gotta get out of bed now and start the day. Blerg. 6am is an ungodly hour. At least it is for me.

Re-entry hasn’t been as bad as I was expecting, but it hasn’t been easy either. Tuesday we were all a little out of our minds from exhaustion, but the kids were ready for school on time on Wednesday. (I’m so glad I did most of our back to school shopping in between trips!) I took both of them on their first day, which was a treat for all of us because I’m usually out the door in the morning before they are even awake.

Thursday was a professional development day for our district. The 3.5 hour presentation in the morning was brutal – it just felt interminable. I always feel like the only thing I take away from those is the reminder that talking at the kids at the start of the school year is torture, and should be avoided at all costs.

Friday was a work day. I didn’t realize all my furniture was left strewn around the classroom after the carpet cleaning so I spent over an hour putting it all back where it belonged. That was frustrating because “move furniture” was not on my to-do list, but it had to get done. I had a hard time getting settled and staying focused, but I did get all the biggest things checked off my list. I have really been struggling to plan the first few days of school. I’m not sure why, but I can’t seem to settle on a a set of activities that I really like. I don’t know why I’m waivering so much, but I’m not a fan.

I am thinking a lot about procedures this year. Last year I lucked out because the 7th and 8th graders in my classes were so easy, I was able to get by with minimal procedures in place. Thankfully, I learned enough by the end of the year that I have some good ideas for how to make sure my flexible seating arrangement is a success with the rising 7th graders, who I had last year as 6th graders, and are a challenging class. I actually had them as 4th graders too, so I know very well how challenging they can be. I know I’m going to need to be really clear about expectations and consistent in requiring they meet those expectations. Unfortunately classroom management has never been my strong suit as a teacher. I’m honestly pretty nervous about this year because of it. I’m trying to think of it as an opportunity, after so many years of not having to manage behavior much, to strengthen those muscles again.

I actually already had a word stress dream / nightmare. I awoke on Saturday morning so relieved that I hadn’t actually taken a new job, that would be harder but paid less. In my dream I was so panicked about it, and mad at myself for letting it happen, that I was sobbing. I’ve never had a dream like that before. My work stress dreams are usually about me being late to class, not able to find my way back to my students on some campus that I should know, but can’t seem to navigate. I’ve never had a stress dream about getting a new job I regretted, even when I was interviewing for new jobs several years ago.

I haven’t given the possibility of a new job any thought in a long, long time, so I’m not sure where this came from. My husband did mention that there was a position opening up in his office that he might apply for, but we barely talked about it and it certainly didn’t stress me out. All I can think is that I’m really stressed about my ability (or lack their of) to manage the rising 7th graders, which make up the majority of three of my classes. The good news is, none of the students who struggled the most in my 6th grade classes last year are on my rosters, so maybe it won’t be as challenging as I’m assuming.

Friday afternoon I left a little early to run on my way home. It wasn’t the best run I’ve ever been on, but it felt good to be outside. While I never worked on a later trip as frequently as I did in St. Louis, I did keep up relatively well with my workout regiment this summer. I prioritized it to manage stress more than anything, and it definitely helped me maintain my mental health. I’m losing my running time every other Wednesday this year, so I’m going to have to figure out when and how I’m going to run this year. I also need to get back into my martial arts practice, which suffered severely this summer.

Saturday, our daughter had a birthday party and my in-laws picked up our son for a few hours, which meant my husband and I got to spend a few child-free hours with each other. He traveled with us a lot this summer, but we had very little time alone together, so we really enjoyed that reprieve. When the ILs dropped our son off, they took our daughter with them, and it was nice to have some one-on-one time with him. We’ve all been together A LOT, and having some breaks from each other has been nice.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to try to get to work by 7:30, which is when I want to arrive this year. I’m teaching zero period, which starts at 7:45, and I need at least 15 minutes before that to get ready. I was making it to work around 7:30 pretty consistently last year, which is why I offered to teach zero period, but of course now that I NEED to be there that early, I’m stressed that I won’t make it. I haven’t gotten up before 7am pretty much all summer, so tomorrow and Tuesday are going to be rough. Hopefully by Wednesday, our first official day of school, it won’t be so bad.

I’ve actually found that coming back from Hawaii has been the hardest for me as far as jetlag. I’m really tired at night, and even more tired in the morning. I had never really thought of it before, but being in California pretty much everyone is “ahead” of us, so we usually lose hours on our trip to a place and gain them back coming home. This was not the case in Hawaii. I suppose when we lived in Hong Kong it was kind of like losing time, except they were a whole day ahead almost. Still, adding 16 hours is a lot like losing 8. Of course I haven’t flown to anywhere in Asia since I moved away from Hong Kong in 1992. Anyway, my point being that I guess what they say about traveling west being easier is true (do they say this? I swear I was told this), at least for me, and I’m thankful that we usually get to travel west to come home.

Hopefully I’ll check in again before Wednesday! I hope you’re all having a relaxing end of August, no matter what that entails for you!

Also, I’m sorry I haven’t been commenting much, or at all on blogger blogs. I’ve found that I can’t really comment using my blogging pseudonym, or anonymously, with Blogger anymore. I’m sure I could if I logged into my regular gmail account, but I’m really uncomfortable even commenting under my real name. I have a couple ideas to try out, but it’s taken me a while to do that. Again – apologies if I haven’t commented in ages. I am still reading!

UPDATE: Hey, so it turns out converting to tankless will cost us a TON of $$$ because of (our house always makes shit hard) reasons, so we will be getting a regular water heater put in again. Boo. I’m sad, but it is what it is and maybe if/when we get solar we can look into an electric tankless water heater.

ORIGINAL POST: Hey all, so it turns out our water heater needs to be replaces, which should not surprise me as it’s 10 years old. I had vague plans to replace it with a tankless water heater, but I honestly know nothing about them. And now I need to learn more about them ASAP because I want hot water again and I have to figure out what kind of new tank that water is going to come from.

Thanks in advance if you have any info or experience to share!

PS – I’m very interested in hearing if anyone has a just electric tankless water heater. I was already more interested in that, and the installers said they would have to run a dedicated gas line to a tankless gas water heater and it would cost $$$$ so now I really want only electric. If anyone has any experience with an electric only tankless water heater I’d love to hear about it. The installation guy was saying they don’t make enough hot water for a family of four, but we only run our appliances (washing machine and dishwater) late at night, so I feel like it would be enough… Maybe I’m wrong though.

Well, our 10:50pm flight did take off on time, and we did make our connecting flight in LA, and our bag made it too. It was a LOOOONG 14 hours in Maui’s airport, and a long overnight flight in the last row with seats that didn’t recline. Some of us got 3ish hours of interrupted sleep. Some of us didn’t get even that. We were on the last row on our way to LA too, this time the chairs reclined but there was a horrible stink of urine in the air. I was very glad when we finally touched down in San Francisco this morning.

Today we’ve been wandering around in a daze, trying to get ready for the first day of school tomorrow. Our water heater stopped working while we were gone and I can’t get the pilot light to stay lit. My husband and son showered before we identified the problem. My daughter and I have not.

Thankfully, I did most of our laundry in Maui before we left. The place had a giant washing machine with TWO dryers and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wash everything together and then separate it into “high” and “low” drying cycles. I’ll probably never get that opportunity again. 😀

I was so tired when we got home today that I felt like I was hallucinating, so I took an hour nap. It definitely helped me get through the day.

I went to Lowes to get a new seal for something in the upstairs toilet. I also went to Grocery Outlet for some lunch fixings for the kids. The pets needed some extra care, as we’d been away for so long.

I spent more time today fixing things (or attempting to) than I expected, so not much else got done.

I’m trying to start thinking about work. Trying to decide how to spend the first three days with the students. I’m eager to get back into my classroom on Thursday, if only for a little bit (we’ll probsbly be in meetings most of Thursday as it’s a district-wide professional development day).

We had an epic summer, one for the books to be sure! And now it’s time to get back to reality. I think I’m ready.

Well, after seven hours of pushing back our flight, Alaska Airlines finally had the balls to cancel it. Luckily (?!) we rebooked on a red eye to LAX and then a connecting flight to SFO getting in at 9:35am tomorrow right before it was officially cancelled, when there were still a few seats left. Thank goodness our kids don’t start school until Wednesday.

Right now I’m waiting for our checked luggage to come out at baggage claim. Then I have to check us in for our new flights and finally clear TSA for a second time today.

We arrived at the airport at 8am and will be leaving at 10:30pm (please let us leave at 10:30pm), which obviously isn’t the way we wanted to spend our day. But it is what it is, and at least we’ll be home for most of tomorrow (all appendages crossed!)

This is our 8th flight of the summer and the first absolute disaster, so I guess our air travel luck finally ran out. The fact that we were getting such great COVID and air flight karma felt unfair, and if one had to go I’d prefer it be air travel!

I really, really hope our new flights don’t have any issues. Our connecting flight time is way tighter than I would like, and we have to check a bag.

🤞🤞🤞🤞