Morning Swim

 We had some friends over today to swim and have a picnic lunch.  We had the pool to ourselves for the full two hours we were there (and we got some pool time before the rain rolled in).  Bonus- we were home in time for my afternoon nap!

I did an inclusive thing!

I convinced my school network to encourage all employees to add their preferred pronouns to their email signature!

City Wildlife: Part 5?

On this morning's walk: a possum ran in front of me with 4 babies in it's back and one fell off and mama possum just left it behind (and the baby wandered off in the opposite direction).

Just a picture of my daughter

Family Zoom Selfie

9 hours

If my day goes as planned, I will be in video meetings for 9 hours today.

2 school meetings

1 yoga class

6 parent conferences

1 Dungeons and Dragons session

1 family hangout

Good thing most of those things are enjoyable.

Elementary Teachers

One of the reasons I'm a middle school teacher is that I do not possess the talent or the enjoyment in creating adorable classroom decor. I appreciate it when other people do it, but it never seems like it's worth the effort, unless you teach small children, and then it's an essential skill. 

In the online teaching world, my killer organizational skills made my Google Classroom enviable. That is until the elementary teachers discovered that you can make Bitmoji classrooms. Adorable cartoon avatars of yourself and your classroom, complete with working links on all the decor. It's unbelievably cute. And amazingly time consuming to create (especially if you are not good at it and don't really enjoy it).  Just Google "Bitmoji classrooms" and you'll see what I mean. 

During a Zoom meeting yesterday, the presentation had Bitmojis all over it. Korra asked why I didn't have a cartoon that looked like me so I downloaded the app, handed her the phone, and asked her to make one of me while I was in a virtual parent conference. 

Here's her results:

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

I tried this recipe the internet raved about. 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16715/vegetarian-chickpea-sandwich-filling/

It was just meh. 

School Dream

Last night I dreamed I was a middle schooler. I had to sing in front of the whole school and afterwards, some of the girls started calling me "Stevie" and laughing at me. (Stevie Wonder?) 

So I pulled each girl aside and said, "is this really who you are?  Are you sure you want to call a girl with short hair by a man's name?  That sounds like misgendering and I'm pretty sure the consequence for that kind of bullying is pretty severe. What would your mom think?" 

So basically even when I'm a student in my dream, I still talk like a teacher/mom. 

National S'mores Day

Celebrating this "holiday" with Korra's Girl Scout troop.

Zooming

 6 Zoom Calls so far today.  One more (for Korra's Girl Scouts) tonight.  In between I need to move far away from this desk.

Little Sewing Project

I made some reusable sandwich/snack baggies today (made with water resistant fabric).  I'm pretty proud!

Eating Out

We decided to try eating out at a restaurant tonight. We chose Torched Hop because 1) we should walk there, 2) we've been really impressed with their safety when we ordered take-out, 3) it's our favorite restaurant. In fact, it's the last restaurant we ate at (on March 13) so it seems fitting it would be the first one we return to. It felt really safe (masks required; order at the bar; single use- compostable!- menus, plates, cups, forks; plenty of space up spread out) and though it was nice to go somewhere, I don't think we'll make a habit of it. 

Next level swimming

This summer Korra learned how to tread water and swim on her back. Today she swam (on her back) across the entire pool without stopping or grabbing onto the sides. 

5 hour wait

Because Nate was technically squeezing 2 appointments into one day (evaluation and surgery), we were there from 8 am to 1:30pm. Most of the time, Nate was just waiting in the waiting room. The actual surgery took less than 10 minutes. Thankfully Korra was with friends and I had a beautiful office park to walk around and read in. Even more thankful that Nate is home and resting and should have 20/20 vision in a couple of days!

My office

Nate's in the Lasik office. This is where I get to sit and work (after I took a lovely 45 min walk). 

Lasik

Took a half day so I can drive Nate to and from his Lasik surgery this morning. He's nervous but also stop excited to be done with glasses (wearing a mask that fogs up his glasses finally pushed him to schedule the appointment). Korra was worried her dad might go blind but was more ok with the idea once we told her that if he does go blind, we'll get a seeing eye dog. 

Dinner and a movie

I made Ratatouille for dinner so obviously, we're watching Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tonight. 

Korra finished reading LWW today and just couldn't wait to watch movie. Ah well.  So much for a theme. 

Anti-Racism Work

This is not to brag.  It's just a big part of my life right now so I need to document it.

1)  I went to a webinar called "Cultivating Co-conspirators" this week.  It was amazing to see 1,400 educators from all over the country who want to be more than allies.

2) I'm reading and working through Me and White Supremacy.  

3)  I'm listening to the daily podcasts for GirlTrek's Black History Bootcamp each morning on my walk.  

Cloudland Canyon Camping!

I booked a site for 2 nights at the Cloudland Canyon campground for mid-September.  We're hoping to share the site with some friends from college and their 2 kids.  I needed something to look forward to!

3 Zoom Meetings

On my third Zoom meeting of the day.  It's cloudy outside.  I am so sleepy.

State of the School

I'm on a network-wide Zoom call and I'm 100% behind the focus for the year:

-Students and staff are safe

-Students and staff are social-emotionally well

-Students are holistically growing 

A weekend outside

This weekend I've spent a few hours in the pool, a few hours reading in the hammock, a few hours walking and biking, a few hours chatting outside with friends, family, and neighbors (on the phone and in person).  It's hot but it's been so nice.

Best Burgers

Just in case you wanted to know, the best burgers in Atlanta can be found at Torched Hop. This is an objective fact. 

Dream Big

The principal said twice this past week in faculty meetings that we should "dream big" with our lessons and that we won't be required to use the curriculum. That thought has filled me with joy, creativity, and optimism. I'm feeling really excited!