TGIF!
Thought I was going to have an easy, relaxing day off work but it turned into a bit of a whirlwind. Now I’m at home pondering the question: to nap, or not to nap? I am exhausted.
So obviously I am only writing this to get in under the wire for NaBloPoMo. Today’s highlight: going to return a rental car and finding that the Hertz office that was there JUST LAST WEEK was longer there. Another highlight: learning all about sugar beets.
Seriously, it was THAT GREAT of a day. Aren’t you all jealous?
If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
Little-known complication of swine flu: pinched nerve in neck due to sleeping on futon due to sinus-infection-induced snoring.
Off to the massage therapist later for some relief.
Just in case anyone wonders what a day in the life of an elementary Spanish teacher looks like:
6:15 – 8 :30 Wake up, realize I forgot to print several assignments for classes, print assignments, have coffee read daily email, become embroiled in brouhaha over school parking lot, shower, get dressed, etc. get kids up, eat, put dinner in Crockpot, load dishwasher, drive to school.
8:30 – 11:30 At school, confer with co-teacher, photocopy approximately 1 zillion things, teach preschool class (sing, dance, color), teach 5th and 6th graders (much confusion over presenting weather reports in Spanish), confer with colleague re. a student’s behavior in Spanish, more photocopying, teach kindergarten, teach 1st & 2nd graders (meltdown by troubled child narrowly averted).
11:30 – 11:40 Eat lunch. Pee.
11:40 – 12:00 Try to set up DVD to show to 3rd and 4th graders. Discover 3rd and 4th grade classrooms do not have DVD players, TV’s, or projectors. Set up DVD on laptop on chair.
12:00 – 1:00 Teach 3rd and 4th graders. Interrupted by head of school coming in to ask students to go out and clean up the patio (mess left after lunchtime). Silent, inward scream at interruption of class. Fear that students will not have time to view DVD and thus won’t be able to do homework (write about DVD). Narrowly meet class goals for the day.
1:00-2:45 Teach back-to-back 7th and 8th grade classes, covering for co-teacher who has dr. appt. Discover it is difficult to teach two different classes, of two different levels, at the same time.
2:45 – 3:00 Try to plan next day’s classes, read email, etc. Discover I must attend 3 hr. staff meeting tomorrow. Bang head on desk repeatedly.
3:00-3:20 One-on-one with native speaker. Lecture the student on the more fascinating aspects of etymology and history of languages; discover to my surprise that student is as much of a language geek as I am.
After school: take kids to piano lessons, drive home, allow self to be talked into picking up fast food for dinner despite the chicken roasting at home. Decide to use chicken for dinner tomorrow night. Read emails, plan… yawn…
So I had the swine flu, probably, about 2.5 weeks ago and have been feeling crappy ever since. This week, the overall malaise morphed into a complete inability to breathe through my nose, resulting in a sore throat from sleeping with my mouth open. To add to the indignity, I apparently have begun snoring loudly enough to keep Señor Gumbo awake at night (please note that S.G. has been snoring for years and keeping ME awake, but I digress). Finally today I made a trip to the local Doc-in-a-Box who diagnosed a sinus infection, and also expressed alarm at my blood pressure, refusing to accept my explanation that my pressure is ALWAYS high when I’m at the doctor’s office, but normal when I take it at home. Anyhow, she said that 90% of sinus infections are viral, that antibiotics probably wouldn’t help, that I should use saline spray (which I have been doing), etc. etc. I said, okay, but it’s really frustrating when even the roots of your TEETH hurt from the pressure. At which point she completely changed her course — “If the roots of your teeth hurt, you definitely need antibiotics!” Apparently, that is the magic phrase you need to say to get antibiotics for a sinus infection (just like “chest pain” gets immediate service in the ER). Just thought I would pass that information along…
In my previous blog incarnations, I had a theme or focus. For my first blog on Salon, what seems like decades ago but was really only about 2003, I wrote about parenting, cooking, and the political implications of our daily choices. On my second blog (to which I’m not linking because I started this one so I could be anonymous, and linking back there would be defeating the purpose) I wrote about my yoga practice, as well as parenting, cooking, and eventually my dad’s illness and death. Here, as Gumbomum, I haven’t quite found my blog identity. I’m a lot more random and unfocused, probably because I now have an actual job (gasp!) and don’t have the time to devote to crafting thoughtful blog posts.
So don’t expect deep insight or beautiful prose! I’m going to take a “here is what’s on my mind today” approach. For today, what’s on my mind is: finding a high school for GumboBoy to attend next year. GumboBoy has been in a small (130 kids total) preK through 8th grade private International Baccalaureate school since he was 8. I am understandably nervous about throwing him into the big pond next year. It’s like the first day of kindergarten all over again. GumboBoy is truly a unique kid — sweet, sensitive, extremely bright, independent-minded. He also has ADHD and the worst handwriting you’ve ever seen. I worry that his teachers and peers won’t “get” him. I worry about him flying below the radar, with his gifts going unobserved. I want him to find an environment where he’ll feel comfortable and thrive. I hope it’s out there.
This morning we’re off to an open house at a private Jesuit school — which means I should be getting dressed right now!
More tomorrow!
Test from iPhone via ping
Testing posting via Ping.fm
Okay, why the heck not! I’m doing NaBloPoMo this year because a) I don’t have time to do NaNoWriMo and b) I want to get back into the blogging habit.
This is me: http://www.nablopomo.com/profile/Gumbomum
Anyone else up for it?
Here are my symptoms:
10 days ago:
Runny nose
Fever
Cough
Fatigue
Beginning two days ago:
Stuffy nose
Extreme fatigue
Periods of nausea 1-2 times/day
Sore throat/swollen glands in neck
I don’t think I ever got well from the first whatever it was, and now I’ve got another something or the other on top of it. Swine flu has been going around at school, along with a couple of other weird bugs. Anyone want to diagnose me, oh Wise and Wonderful Internet?
p.s. don’t worry, I will go to a doctor if I don’t feel better in a couple of days.
