Happy Monday!
I have an in-service day today and tomorrow. Then Wednesday is officially my first day of summer vacation! Here's what we were up to this weekend...
Friday was supposed to start at the butt crack of dawn (4:30), but instead, it started at the butt-butt-butt crack of dawn (3:30). I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, so around 4:06 I finally just got out of bed. I did a light upper body workout, a deck of cards workout, and then headed to my 7:00 PT appointment.
I finally told my PT about my glute/adductor issues and he thinks it's my SI joint. He gave me a piriformis stretch to do and said all the exercises I'm already doing will help this issue. He also pulled my right leg so he could crack(???) my SI joint. It was weird! It didn't hurt. He thinks that will do the trick but I am of course skeptical. It's my nature. I'm going to go ahead and start researching SI stuff to see if there's any other insight I can gain about my woes.
By the time PT was over, I was so hungry and couldn't wait to eat my chicken and banana on the way to work. Unfortunately, after I peeled my banana, I dropped it between my car seat and the door. "Maybe it will be okay," I ridiculously thought to myself. I stuck my hand down in the crack and pulled out my banana...
I can't unsee what was suck to that banana!!!! I think it's time to vacuum my car!
Work was easy. The students were dismissed at 10:30, and the phys ed teacher took my morning class (long story). I didn't have to teach at all!
I did get a couple nice thank you cards from students. One of them brought tears to my eyes. My friends sometimes ask what teachers like as an end of year gift. I'm here to give you my honest thoughts on what teachers like as gifts.
#1. A thank you card. Whether it's written by the student or the parent, a card from the heart is PRICELESS. Who doesn't love feeling appreciated?
#2. Call or email the school principal or superintendent and let him or her know your good feelings about your child's teacher. It's always good when our superiors know we're doing a fine job!
#3. You can never go wrong with a Dunkin' or Starbucks gift card. Even just $5 is enough for a treat or two! I normally get a couple gift cards each year and Paul and I end up using them when we are on vacation. It is a very nice, inexpensive treat!
Every year on the last day of school, teachers blow bubbles outside as the students are dismissed for their buses.
I spent the whole day looking out over my empty classroom, thinking of how much I will miss waking up early every morning...
NOT!!!!
That evening was pretty chill. I did vacation planning, worked on a puzzle, and watched a couple Seinfelds with Paul.
Then I watched the live stream of East Pennsboro's graduation. It was so special to see. This group of students were in 1st grade my first year teaching, so I knew a lot of them. I'll be honest... I bawled my eyes out while watching!
For some reason I was not able to sleep in! I woke up at 6:00 and didn't fall back asleep. Finally I got up and did my favorite Saturday morning activities...
1. Drinking coffee
2. Puzzles
3. Blogging
4. Vacation planning
5. Watching CNN
Then I went to the gym to lift. But before I went, I stopped my TJ Maxx to get a new purse! I wanted something "nice casual" but could fit a lot of stuff. Okay, I bought it for CrimeCon!
It's a Baggallini bag that I have been wanting for awhile!
I actually want a smaller one too.
Today was me and my SIL's annual joint piano/violin recital- Opus VI! I am very proud of my students!
(Not all of them could make it.
I actually have 11 weekly students right now
and am picking up one more this summer!)
Later that evening, I went to a graduation party for one of my past piano students. I started teaching her piano when she was in 1st grade and I think she played until 9th or 10th grade! Now she is off to college! I'm so proud of her!
The graduate!
Her younger sisters, who I still teach piano.
We had a wonderful time visiting, dancing, eating, and celebrating! This student's family is from Nepal, so we ate authentic food and tried to do the authentic dancing along with the family. It is interesting how so many cultures celebrate with food, music, and dancing it's just in different styles. But food, music, and dancing makes everyone happy and feel good, and that certainly crosses all cultural lines!
I was exhausted by the time we got home!
My morning started with an 8.4 mile hike on the AT with my SIL, Debby! We jibber jabbered the whole time and solved all the problems of the world. It was so green!
I love my SIL. Debby is a WONDERFUL person and I'm so glad she is part of our family!
Not to brag, but when I got home, I began SPRING CLEANING. I started with the guest room, which is where I keep all of my clothes, weights, and spin bike.
I cleaned every nook and cranny of that room. I even cleaned the closet and went through all my clothes and threw out stuff that was gross and made a bag of things to donate.
I keep my medals behind my clothes!
I also threw out the shoelaces I wore during my first Boston Marathon. They were hanging on a hook in my closet and I never like, look at them or anything. So I figured, eh, I don't need them and pitched them.
Here's little baby Jelly!
Is your car clean enough that you could drop a banana on the floor and still be able to eat it?
Any other good ideas for an end of year teacher gift?
Did you get outside this weekend?
Do you save shoelaces from races?
Any other good ideas for an end of year teacher gift?
Did you get outside this weekend?
Do you save shoelaces from races?
So it is your SI joint! That makes sense. Im surprised he said to stretch your piriformis. Whenever mine acted up my PT said not to stretch it because it could pull the SI more out of alignment. I guess if you notice its worse after stretching that may be something to ask him about. I actually find that doing less is better for it. I try to keep everything else mobilized, like my mid and upper back and hips, but don't really go near my low back when its flared up. I hope things are feeling better after the adjustment!
ReplyDeleteWell you know how it is, one doctor tells you to do one thing and another says oh no, don't do that! I'm sure it could depend on our own individual body mechanics, our symptoms, the intensity of the pain, etc.
DeleteI'm with you that with certain things in my body, if they bother me I just tend not to mess with them!
If you were Cecil's teacher I would probably get you a Starbucks gift card. I wish my clients would send me gift cards as thank yous. I tend to get champagne or chocolates ... one time I got a pack of soft Pennsylvania pretzels that I had to leave for my coworkers. The thought is always nice but I would love more coffee. I need the caffeine to work on their accounts haha!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have the same issue if I dropped a banana in my car. I've been thinking of having it professionally cleaned for months but I never feel like I want to give up time to take my car in. Maybe I'll hire one of those services to come to my office and clean it in the parking lot. I wonder how much that costs!
Yes you can't go wrong with Starbucks! Especially because even if someone doesn't drink coffee, they can get a snack there! I don't really like Starbucks coffee but I'll drink it. Or get lunch there on vaycay.
DeleteWhat a fun weekend, Megan! I bet it felt wonderful to get all that cleaning done, huh? How is your SI joint feeling today? Hopefully the "crack" to get it back into place did the trick! So happy you only have 2 days left of school. That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteIt did feel good! We have 8 rooms in our house so we are dividing them up- 4 rooms each. I have us the timeline of having to do two rooms a week so that in two weeks the whole house is spring cleaned.
DeleteYou are lucky to get thank you gifts at the end of the year. The older kids don't seem to do that, or perhaps I'm just not well liked, lol!
ReplyDeleteYou are also lucky to have Debbie to have fun with. I wish my SIL lived close by.
I think it is definitely that they are older, not that you aren't well liked! I am certainly lucky to have Debby for sure, especially since I don't have a sister.
DeleteI love the idea of giving teachers a gift card or just a thank you card. I am sure you guys get tons of JUNK from parents each year for Christmas and end of year but at least a gift card to Starbucks, you can use that. It's a thoughtful gift. Love that you were productive with the cleaning and the new purse, and that your PT helped a bit. I hope your pains and issues will eventually be gone for good, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks girl! I don't get a ton of gifts (junk or otherwise). Some years I get more than others, it just depends. This year I got one Dunkin gift card, some chocolates, and a couple cards.
DeleteRight now my car still has the all-weather mats, and they aren't bad, but not clean. I need to wash those out and put in the summer mats, but I also need to get my car to a car wash.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a pretty clean car! :)
DeleteWhen I read your post on gifts from students, I feel like I don't hear enough from my son's other teachers, only the main one.
ReplyDeleteOMG!! The banana!! I can only imagine it! I just vacuumed my car, and Rogers Car ( we take his car on long trips and my son leaves Dorito dust and crummies all over ). The stuff behind my son's car seat are always just awful! I could not eat anything that fell back there!
It's definitely hard for special teachers to reach out to all parents because we have so many students! I have 500 students so I feel bad sometimes the only reason I contact a parent is due to bad news, which is never good! I try to email a couple parents a week with good news about a student, just to equal it out. That being said, I don't want you to think teachers expect gifts! We certainly do not!
DeleteI recently ate a chicken nugget that I dropped between the seat and the center console. My fiance was not enthusiastic about this choice, haha. I'm 99% sure that a banana wouldn't have passed my inspection test, though!
ReplyDeleteHaha that is hilarious! Chicken nuggets are so good... and could potentially be wiped off, right!?
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