Enough

There are not enough hours in the day.
Days in the week.
Weeks in the month.
You get the point...

It's summer.
I'm a teacher.
I don't think I am afforded the luxury of feeling there is "too much to do" during the summer months.
(Of course, I realize this "luxury" is really a burden.)

I had to go back to school yesterday.
It had only been a week since summer school ended. Since I left.
What's funny though is that it seems so much longer.
That's a good thing, right? I must be making the most of my summer if it seems like I have been out longer.
(I have seriously checked the calendar three times to check that fact because it just doesn't seem right.)
Nevertheless, I was back at school yesterday. For a School Leadership team meeting.
And, I was just a wee bit bitter that I had to return already.
When I had promised myself a full month mental vacation from all things academia.
Once I was there though, things fell into place. I felt calm, in place.
How easy it was to swing back into the pace of school life.
I have had so, so... sooo... many jobs in my life.
It is unfathomable to think that I just finished my 10th year of teaching. At the same school even.
I think I will get a pin for my name badge (which I don't wear) this year for that.
So, it is a good thing that I feel so "in place" when I am there. Not a burden, just life. My life.
Yesterday, we also decided that the Leadership Team would come back together the Monday before the staff next month.
Which is two weeks before school starts. And later that same week I will have meetings to mentor a new teacher (I think).
That too made me a wee bit bitter. Thinking that summer, that has barely started, is ending a week earlier than planned.
Though not really planned because I knew about the mentoring, which would bring me in that week anyway (probably).

I thought that meant I "officially" have three weeks of summer left.
But here it is almost Wednesday, and I have done nothing this week. Plans made. Plans nixed.
Days wasted away.
So I knee-jerked and planned a family vacation.
At a campground.
I don't camp.
But we're in a cabin.
With no bathroom. Or "rooms" at all for that matter.
And no water or stove... or even chair.
I told myself that mentally removing myself from home, town, physical life would be good for me.
For us.
God, I hope I was right... I am having my doubts.
But the cabin is booked. Paid for. Nonrefundable.
But, I still have my doubts.
And now I don't look at the calendar and think I have 2.5 weeks of Summer. I think I have One Week of Summer after we get back!

I look at my Summer Bucket List. Good idea or No to make it a screen saver?
And I see those things that can be checked.
Some that are still lingering plans.
And several that have been done but I want to do again before time runs out.
Time Runs Out.
Now though, the Every Days are weighing on me.
Jason has gotten things aligned to be back in class full-time next month. Next Month! Very Full-Time!
I think about how crucial it is to get things cleaned and organized before Time Runs Out.
Then I waste some more days away.
I don't mean waste them away in a good way, which I think is quite possible. Quite therapeutic.
I mean waste them away in a fugue of disorientation, not able to get through a load of laundry or a recipe.

These days of  Nothingness, intentional and not, make me question how I spend my time the rest of the chaotic year.
School. Key Club. Relay for Life.
Question my roles in each. My time. My purpose. My reward.
Place the efforts and returns on a scale side-by-side and see which way it tips.
Ask myself if I am doing Enough. For every role in my life.
For family.
For myself.
I don't even know what that means.
I find myself often in this funk of dysfunction when I don't have Too Much to do.
I must thrive on chaos.
Or I just don't know what to do when the next immediate task to be done isn't immediately laying before me like a guillotine beneath my neck.
There is certainly much I Could do. There is certainly much I Should do.

I am talking in circles. Much like the carousel of my mind right now. My life.
Going in circles with no immediate destination in sight.
I suppose I need to just lean back, hold on, and enjoy the ride a bit? Breeze in my hair kind of metaphor?
I don't know.

There is no purpose in writing in verse tonight.
I am being a cheat. Taking the easy way out of not having to connect more than one thought to the next.
No logical progression of paragraph structure required.
Funny thing.
I wanted to use the word calliope earlier instead of carousel. For a moment I thought they were the same thing.
Thankfully, I Googled. Lord Google.
Not a carousel. However, Calliope was daughter of Zeus, lover to Ares, and a muse of epic poetry.
Just an ironic word blunder tonight for this "mythology" chic.

Maymont - Richmond, Virginia

Yesterday, I had to hitch up the wagon and drive in The City to pick up the awards our Key Club won at International Convention. Not wanting to waste a 3-hour round trip for just that venture, I sought out some type of sightseeing adventure to add to the agenda. I did not find too many options that would be appealing to myself and the 17 year-old and the 4 year-old.

And honestly? I was a bit lazy and last-minute about it and quickly decided upon Maymont as I was surfing around. It was the 100-acre Victorian country estate of James Henry and Sally May Dooley during the Gilded Age of the late 1880s through the 1910s. After completion of the Romanesque-style mansion, the Dooleys spent three decades filling its interiors with treasures from around the world and establishing the gardens and landscapes. Following Dooley's death, with no heirs to the estate, Maymont was bequeathed to the city of Richmond  and opened as a public park and museum. (Information is more than slightly plagiarized from the linked website.)

I know... it doesn't sound like a place to entertain the adventurous pre-schooler, but it really did make for a great day. We did not venture into the Mansion or Nature Center, but walked the overall grounds and checked out the various animal areas. It was simply beautiful, and not in the overly flowered and spruced-up kind of way. I was hesitant too when I saw the map at the entry gate and paths marking the 3-mile hikes were traced along the paths (just sections of the paths!). And there may have been one hill I just had Cameron take my hand and drag me up at the end, but in the end it was definitely worth the venture (especially the free venture).

So, here I give to you and posterity's sake and to Cameron (since he told me this morning about reading this blog) a Mommy-blogging-photo-roll of pics from the day!

Dancing in the Street

'Cause summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the street...

Not really though. I live on a main street "in town." So that wouldn't be very safe... or sane.
We have, however, been ticking lots of fun off the Summer To-Do List.

We visited the local library for the Summer Reading Program Kick-Off. There is a punch card for the kids to use each week when they attend the program and check out ten(!!!) books. Those who get all the punches will be entered in drawings for prizes, including an I-Pad Mini. We will not be able to check off every week due to some other plans this summer but plan on joining the weekly program often.

 

The theme for the summer program is "Paws to Read" so for the Kick-Off they made "dog tags." Unfortunately these summer programs fall at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., and with the Summer School Schedule, it is only feasible to go at 2 p.m., which falls dead-center of nap time. So, having selected to skip naps for this day... and Benjamin being far more interested in the turned-off computers than books, this started out as a frustrated adventure. We persevered though (although there may have been some ineffective threats to "just leave" thrown in there), and once he had acclimated to the chaos of all that was happening we picked some (10!) books, crafted, and had a good time.

 

 

Cameron is volunteering with the library... for his third summer, I think? So, I was even able to park Benjamin in the Snowcones & Popcorn room for a while and check out some books for myself. After the library visit, the boys got much-needed (at least for Benjamin: see Pointdexter-parted hairstyle above) Summer haircuts. I have always been about cutting the boys' hair short-short in the summer and not dealing with "styles" until it was time for school again. Lots of times this even meant me pulling out the clippers. Benjamin may have inherited my unfortunately large head though, and I just couldn't bring myself to do that to his cuteness.

 

 

In addition to a Library Day, the boys and I have also made a trip to Busch Gardens. I really took a gamble heading on the 90-minute trek when there was 70% chance of thunderstorms. I just told myself that if I go and it's miserable, I will get over it... but if I don't go, I will spend days wishing I had... so we did!

It literally started raining just as we entered the park. It was near 3 p.m. and most visitors had already left for the day due to the pending weather. We were waved on to the preferred parking (for free versus the $15 normal cost) and parked right by the entry gate. After waiting a while in the car, I made the proclamation that were just going to take the umbrella and go for it! As fates would have it, the rain stopped before we even made it from the car to the gate.

Now the "Good" of going to the amusement park on a stormy day is that there were absolutely no lines to any rides. The boys rode ride after ride, with Benjamin often just staying on for three or more turns. The place was so uncrowded at dinner that we could look around and see so many "familiar" faces because we had seen them already in the park. The "Bad" of the day was although it did not rain, following the storm, in 95-plus degree weather, it was muggy shirt-clinging yuck weather (which was still highly worth it in trade).

 

We even got in a Beach Day. (I keep emphasizing the "even did" this & thats because I still teaching summer school every morning, but not letting that dominate my whole day, as in the past.) Kelby joined us and it was her first time being in Virginia Beach.

 



I was determined to get in a beach trip this week, even though I knew the holiday weekend would make it busier than it's busy summer-time normal. I even deluded myself into thinking that the impending Tropical Storm/Hurricane Arthur may stir some folks away from the beach... apparently not. It was definitely crowded. I keep going back and forth on whether I still prefer the crowded touristy spots. I like the anonymity of it... but am a little more irritated by the crowds as I grow closer to my crotchety old-woman stage.

 
At first, Benjamin was determined to spend our entire visit clinging to the umbrella pole avoiding the sand and the water. I think it may have been with sea shells that I lured him out? I spent the greater part of the afternoon hunched over, waiting for the waves to recede, and checking out any sea shells (or more often fragments of them). This entertained Benjamin for quite while too. So long in fact that the next day, I felt the way the Spring athletes complain after doing squats and squat-walks the first week of practice. I could even feel it in my upper back from having my arms perched ready to grab any gems I saw. Seriously, you would think I was culling rubies or diamonds. There was this old lady near me, who only after watching me, started to collect shells too (in a Ziplock bag shoved between the breasts of her bathing suit). Then, she got family involved. I started using a sand sifter... so did they. Then, she sent the young girl over to directly where I was to get shells. I was like "Bring it on Grandma!" Sea Shell Wars 2014. I can get ridiculously a bit competitive.

I also spent a morning yard saling last weekend. It was not a particularly fruitful quest. (I will avoid the details of a certain toddler clothes battle to not make my competitiveness border pathological.) Other than a few odds & ends, the big haul was 16 cookbooks... although I said I would stop buying cookbooks since you get sooo many recipes (any recipe) on The Internets for free... and since I don't cook.

So, Summer is rolling. We are getting out, staying busy, making the most of our 100 days.
(I would have never known Summer had 100 days if it weren't for the currently abused trending hashtag.)

Summer Bucket List 2014

Last summer, I cheated a Bucket List and just copped Martha Stewart's Summer ToDo List. Needless to say, very little of that was achieved because, let's face it, I'm not Martha Stewart. Who is? Other than Martha Stewart, of course... and that chick on "Saturday Night Live," who actually makes a better Martha Stewart than the Domestic Mothership herself. So, this year I tossed around my own ideas for a while and comprised this list, which fits me, my family, and our lives.

1. Big Brother - When I feel the itchings of Summer coming on, Big Brother is one of the first things I start looking forward to, even sooner than I start looking forward to the end of the school year. I watched the first few seasons, missed years upon years of it, and then picked back up as a loyal (obsessed) fan during the past few summers. I've read all the negative feedback lately about celebrity cling-ons and a lack of diversity in casting, and I too wish it was a greater throng of different people as once before... I can't even remember who won last season (or even care enough to Google it, sad). (I do remember the nerdy little Ian that won the summer before though. I loved Ian.)

2. Steamed Crabs - I'm not all about "my Hometown" or "Where I come from..." but one way in which I am very much an Eastern Shore girl is my love of seafood, specifically steamed blue crabs (And thinking Crab Legs is the same thing as "real" Crab is as bad as thinking Diet Pepsi the same as Diet Coke... just, no.) So, I hope to have at least one good Crab Feast this summer. A few years ago I spent my entire (ENTIRE) Labor Day shucking crabs and froze bags of crab meat. It was great to have the crab throughout the year, but my hands were so cramped the next day from the shucking marathon! Still, I would do that again if we could get a good deal on crab.

3. Watermelon & Sweet Corn - These two foods say Summer to me and I usually let summer fly by too quickly without having some ice cold watermelon and sweet sweet corn while they are still fresh and plentiful. (When I googled "watermelon and corn," I saw several pics of a salad like this. I am intrigued by the mixture.)

4. Go Blueberry Picking and Try One New Recipe with fresh blueberries - Cameron and I did this last year and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I didn't have a chance to make it out to strawberry picking this year, so I do not want to miss blueberries!

5. Make Popsicles - A while ago, I picked up a Zoku, Quick Pop Maker, which you fill with juice or other liquid ingredients and make popsicles in a magical 7 - 9 minutes. I have not used this yet though Cameron and Jason have. I am not a big "ice cream person," in general, and hand-held ice creams even less so, yet I want to give a few concoctions a try. I've been collecting ideas and recipes on a Pinterest Popsicles board.

6. Visit the Farmer's Market - We've made it a few times so far this season and hope to make a few more times. I love the market and the town that it is in, but finding the free Saturday morning to drive an hour out of town to go can take some planning.

7. Go Yard Saling - I do love a morning spent Yard Saling, an entire morning. I do not like chit-chatting with sellers or running into people I know. I am on a mission when I am Yard Saling. The listing is a Treasure Map and I am on a hunt, preferably with a sidekick to feed addresses into the GPS. At least a couple of times this summer, I'd like to grab the listings for Virginia Beach and set out for the hour trek to Yard Sale Mecca. I can easily hit 35+ yard sales in the five-hour window of Saturday morning when I embark on these Treasure Hunts.

8. Craft - I really wanted to make another list, probably not as organized- not as definite or planned, just general ideas, about crafting goals this summer- dreams, hopes, maybes, possibilities. However, when I saw that this list was turning into a "Where to take the Boys," actually just a "Where to take Benjamin" this summer list, I decided to toss in a couple of general For-Me goals. Crafting something, sometime, somehow is definitely one of those.

9. Household Cleaning, Organizing, Decorating - Likewise, I wanted to jot down another list of fluid goals for the house, but decided to expand this Summer Bucket List beyond idea that which involved the output of gas (although that too would be associated with accomplishing most of this). So, like most teachers, I am sure, I have all kinds of vapid aspirations about cleaning and getting organized this Summer... but two concrete household fix-ups I would like to do are to make the Chalkboard Wall in the upstairs hall and to bring home the library catalogues I scavenged to create a front hall display.

10. Summer Reading - This is a given, but it merits mention. Soon, I think I will collect Summer Reading recommendations to post soon. Finding books is so easy by the looks of my bookshelves but so hard by the fact that I can never find something on them I actually want to read. I'm not sure if this is a new program, but our library is having a Summer Reading Program for adults. I almost don't want to share it and add to the competition because you can win Amazon gift cards weekly by just posting about what you've read! (English Teacher Nerd Heaven, I am in.)

11. Children's Reading Program - I also want to get Benjamin involved with the Children's Summer Reading Program. Cameron has also volunteered with this program over summers past. There are weekly events every Tuesday for the kids and you pledge to read 10 books weekly to get your card punched and enter prize drawings.

12. Regal Summer Movie Express - Better known (or at least, more importantly known) as "The $1 Movie." We've only done a couple of movies with Benjamin, but I'm hoping to catch a few more this summer on Wednesdays (since Library programs are on Tuesdays, the other day they are offered). One big suggestion from me to those of you new to this frugal find, is not to get there too early and when getting your tickets specifically ask for a theater that does not have a daycare/summer camp group!

13. Visit Two Out-of-Town Parks - I have two new ones in mind, and one we discovered last year to fall back on, as needed. Note to self: On very hot days, playground equipment is very hot.

14. Go to a Tides Baseball Game - Our wall calendar is (perhaps a little obsessively) marked with Every Home Game and Promotion for the entire season. I have wanted to catch a game for a couple of years now and not made it back. Free Jersey Night and Navy Night are looking like good options for our clan!

15. Visit the Children's Museum of Portsmouth - I love this place. Love. Seriously love. It is going to be hard to visit and not renew our family membership that I let lapse over a year ago. And that was even before I knew that teachers get in free! Super excited when I surfed around their website and found that a Wizard of Oz interactive exhibit is coming for the Summer. Super. Excited.

16. Visit the Living Museum - Also love, love, love this place. If only everything wasn't a flipping hour away! This one's a bit more pricey, especially given my goal of frugal finds this summer. However, the summer exhibit is all about Dinosaurs... and I do have a four-year old boy!

17. Visit Busch Gardens Multiple Times - We have season passes to the park that we do not use enough. Unfortunately I deserve a swift kick for not taking advantage of the free (FREE) Pre-school Pass for Benjamin before the deadline... and since I will have to pay for his pass (in addition to the passes we already pay for), we really need to be making the trek across the ferry to Busch Gardens this summer... often.

18. Visit Water Country Multiple Times - The Water Park partner of our 2-park pass. Ditto every statement in #17 for this one too. I really want to put a number on it, like say we will make it to each park five times or go to one or the other weekly... but I am hesitant to fake-commit to something I am going to feel like I fluked if it doesn't happen. We also need to look at pic'nicking and timing arrivals/departures so we are not spending $35-50 on food to use the "free" passes!

19. Visit the Beach a Few Times - I can freely and honestly admit that I like the idea of the beach much more than the reality. Trekking across hot sand that is tucked into unmentionable places for days afterward becomes less appealing as the years past... as does the crowded tourist beaches that I once preferred.

20. Spend some time with Justin - I haven't seen this face in real-time since Thanksgiving. I would like to plan an Eastern Shore trip but I don't know if that can happen. It may have to be a day trip or mayyybe a simple overnighter. There are lots of "back home" places I would like to visit and make a trip out of it, but mainly I need to spend some time with the first boy that made me Mom.

Summer Storms and Naps

First day of Summer School. My class is small and the morning passed quickly. Thankfully, I made an organized notebook with day-by-day lesson plans, activities, and keys last year, so prep for the next day's class will be pretty smooth for most of Summer School this year. I will have to switch around and make some new plans for "Second Quarter" since the class changed format from last year, but there is time ahead to do that.

Out the door by 1:00 p.m. (Yay me! ). Lunch at Maryz. There's a comfort to small town dining where the manager comments that you are there "earlier than usual." Jason had a productive day- maintenance on both vehicles and Extreme Kitchen Make-Over.

Me? Not so much. Benjamin goes to Pre-School two days a week over Summer, so I was determined to take a nap this afternoon in the quiet house.

But, Jason was going to call if he couldn't get the vehicles done in time to pick up Benjamin from school.
So, I checked to make sure the ringer on my cell was turned on.

And checked again.

And checked again.

And then worried it might die, so I went to get the plug to keep it charging.

Then, I thought Jason might not realize the time and let me know to go pick up Benjamin, so I set the phone alarm.

Then checked to make sure the volume was on.

And again.

Then... there was a fly.

So, I turned on the ceiling fan.

But, I could still hear the fly.

And, let's not forget the parade of things I should be doing marching across my mind the entire time I laid down.

Yeah, in general, I am not a very successful napper... or rapper (just throwing that in there since it rhymed, and junk).

Big thunderstorms tonight. I am becoming someone who likes the peacefulness of rain and stillness of storms. The evening, after I gave up on the whole napping non-phenomenon, was spent being entertained by a 4-year old with an orange snake mustache.  We told Benjamin last night that "tomorrow you go to daycare." His emphatic response was, "Daycare is Jail!" We were quite taken aback by this and I asked him who had said that, thinking it was a comment from one of the pre-school workers. Then, he replied The Policeman told him and went into one of ramblings about policemen locking up people in jail. He is rather enthralled with police right now. So, it was another serendipitous moment when he just didn't realize how funny his response was.

Meanwhile this week, Cameron is five hours away at Radford University for Boy's State. I'm not sure what his expectations were going into it. The lectures and politics are a definite change from the synergy that is a Key Club event. He described it to a friend as "rigorous but fun." Mainly, I'm just proud that he is viewed as a leader among his peers, someone deemed a good choice to be among those representing our school with this opportunity. I worry to often that he's just seen as "McHenry's kid" and not as a young man that chooses to give of himself  to his school and community. I am particularly worried about this come scholarship time next year.

Summer Suspended

To return in approximately one month.

(I knowww I proclaim to be all "Don't wish your life away," but please let this month zoom by!)

My self-doctoring plan worked. I stayed in bed (for the most part) and ate little (for the most part) for 36-hours, and I am doing better today. I am not at 100% "healed," but I haven't been 100% gastro-healthy since my pre-teen days.

Over the weekend, I saw that some teacher friends were already making new Pinterest Board for "Back to School" nights and teaching next year and I scoffed, "Nerds!" Of course, before the dawn had fully set on the current teaching year, I too fell into the black hole of Pinterest and spent the greater part of my bed-ridden hours pinning ideas for school. I had planned to just clean-up and organize my  boards (That counts as being productive, right?), but then I got side-tracked by ideas for decorating...

 

I have a row of three filing cabinets that sit right behind my desk. They are the direct-visual upon entering the room. I would love to snazz them up like this, but looking at how the handle is on them today, I just don't know if it could work neatly.

I also looked at several ideas, even followed the links to read the blog posts (That's serious pinning there!) on ideas about taming paperwork. Paperwork in my albatross. To be an English teacher, the one that "makes kids write," I am quite ironically H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E about paper work, even attendance. And these days in teaching, there is a whole lot more paperwork on this side of this desk than that which goes across to the student desks.

Although it would be ADDING to the paperwork, not taming it, I am going to reflect the next few months over something like this- a "No Homework Form." I would mean changing my policy from No Late Work to Late Work for half-credit, but it's something worth considering. Of course, cheating on homework versus not doing it was the greater problem this past year. So, this would be like building an aquarium to house the chickens (yeah... no idea where that metaphor came from.)

 

I also added a board for classroom memes, cartoons, and videos. (This meme is sooo me, as my students would tell you!) I am deluded into thinking this will make me the "Cool Teacher" (not really), but it's a good façade for using technology in the classroom, right? (Ok, not really to that either.) 

I also found lots of general teaching material on units in literature, grammar, writing, vocabulary, and made a few other specific boards related to topics in my class. Now, time will tell if it becomes the Pinterest Dust Bowl, to be found during a pinning frenzy marathon... never to be looked at again (again) (again)....

Back on track.

So... went to Fred's for breakfast with the fam and then back up to high school to finish cleaning and packing my room. Summer School registration ended today at 3 so I was spacing out my tasks to stretch until then and figure out if/what class I had to get prepared for tomorrow's first day (short, sad, fleeting nonexistent break it has been).

Well, pretty sure I know what it feels like to be evicted now. Our custodians were all business. I could not get a desk cleared without them clearing it out of the room. I seriously thought I was going to be wheeled out on a dolly at one point (or three). Usually, I remove nearly all wall hangings too but since Cameron wasn't available to monkey around on desks to reach them, I have left them be for this summer.

I did not get exactly the Summer School class I wanted, which would have made for much longer, and much more stressful days... but more bank. The class I do have lets out at 12:30 though, which means I really need to not succumb to the "Summer Suspended" attitude I have already proclaimed and still make something out of the days ahead!


On a completely, unrelated note, once I finally laid Pinterest to rest last night, I was checking out the snark on GOMI ("Get Off My Internets") and adding all of their targets to my blog roll, which is totally counter to their purpose and I came across "Hey Natalie Jean."

I am utterly head over heels in love with this chick and her blog. I want to be her sister, her neighbor, her friend... her. This is the kind of newfound obsession that breeds stalkers. She says that her blog is
"a love letter from me to my family and from my family to New York City." (My alter-ego lives in a very small apartment in a very tall building in NYC. And she is very important in the best-selling fiction world of publishing... Reminding myself of why I do not allow students to use the word "very.") Anyway, I can overlook her refusal to use the shift key (annoying) (very annoying) because she is just the bohemian open-minded, free-spirited, adventurous embodiment of New York that I adore.

I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night reading through her old posts (stalker status, indeed)... and would do the very same again tonight if it were not for that blasted Summer School alarm going off in the morning.

I'm A Gust.

I thought I needed a new bathing suit. Thus, I have put off trips to the beach and water park all summer. I cannot even remember when I bought my previous bathing suit. It had to be well over ten years ago. Unfortunately areas of the bathing suit had worn too thin and became transparent, as  a mother (of a probably traumatized toddler) told me at the water park one day on vacation. As I went back to the locker room and check the back view... I'm pretty sure that level of exposure could be a criminal offense.

A year, maybe two, ago I saw bathing suit on the clearance rack at the sporting goods store and grabbed it. My Speedo. It's meant for functionality, not comfort... and there is no comfort to its function.

So, I needed a new suit this year. Buying a bathing suit is the Dante's level of Hell equivalent to dental work involving large drills, to me. So I put it off. And put it off. And... put it off. Until my only options were ordering on-line and spending about $100. I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money. So, I put it off. And put it off. And... put it off.

Well, here it is A_gust (don't want to fully admit to the nearness of my return to school date), and I just knew I needed to get to the beach. If I make it to the beach at least three times, that's a good summer. Even though I don't go to the beach nearly as much as many folks I know around here, I have always felt the need to live no more than an hour away from the beach. It's like some kind of geographical claustrophobia. I could never survive in a landlocked state. I need to know that at any point in time I can hop in my car and drive a convenient distance to see the ocean.

Alas, yesterday, I wrestled myself into my Speedo and Cameron and I headed to the beach. I like taking Benjamin to the beach. He is as enamored by it as I am but I wanted a long, relaxing pseudo-vacation day in the sand, so we left him home for this late-season inaugural trip.

Most folks in this town, and the surrounding few, head to The Outer Banks, North Carolina, for their beach escape... but that's just too droll and abandoned for me. It's like a setting for a Nicholas Sparks movie. I love the tourist traps! I like anonymity in a crowd, being the oxymoronic people watcher that I am.

We are at the height of tourist season and the coast was packed! The waves were calm. It was an overcast day with a mild breeze. The kind of day that makes you underestimate the sun's rays as your skin fries. Grrr! Frustrated. Apparently umbrellas do not offer UV protection. Still, it was a peaceful day. I brought three books to be sure that I had good reading material. After tossing the first choice one chapter in, I became enthralled with Lisa Scottline's,  Save Me. I did not find the last of her books I read that appealing so this was a good surprise. It was a real page turner. I finished half the novel.

Mainly, I just allowed myself to be... present. This is a task that I need to work toward constantly. Tucked in my beach bag was a notebook and pen (and backup pen) so I could make a To Do list, sketch out a Key Club summer newsletter, and start planning menus for August... excuse me, A_gust. Thankfully, I was so swept up in this book that I never even opened the Ziploc bags containing those tools of self-imposed micro-managing.

 

Instead, I took deep breaths, inhaling the ocean air into my lungs until I could taste its salt lingering on my lips. I thought about the vastness of the ocean. I watched the Naval jets roar overhead and disappear into the far-off clouds. I allowed myself to just... be present... for six nearly uninterrupted hours shared just between a good book and my thoughts.

Summer Suspended

The calendar says that it's July, the second week of July to be exact. I am well acquainted with the date because I write it on the board each morning before Summer School begins. Even though the calendar says we are in the throws of summer, I don't quite feel it yet. Shortly after declaring that morning Summer School was an ideal situation because I was earning some extra bank but still had the greater part of the day to enjoy summer... I was asked to remediate students in the afternoon that need to retake the state-mandated Reading test. Thus, at least three days a week I spend nine hour days at the school, more than I would on some regular school days (not most, because I usually am among the last to end the school day).

Summer School ends this week, and then there's only a couple of extra days of Remediation to finish next week. Summer Days are close. I can smell them. They smell like the chlorinated pools of Water Country. The truth is, given my school schedule- and even on weekends- I certainly still could have had a little Summer Fun. But I have not. I have not been to Busch Gardens since before school ended, despite our season passes. I have not been to Water Country or the beach at all. My soul is really craving some sand between my toes. I know... I know... I like the idea of going to the beach far more than the reality. Until I am still washing sand from hidden crevices three days later though, that fact is not really going to outshine the ideal.

Contrary to my decision to "Not Count Down" during the school year, quite the contrary has been true for the summer. According to the app on the front of my phone, there are

39 days, 10 hours, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds

until school starts back for staff... 19 seconds, 18 seconds, 17 seconds...

I am not at all counting down the days with the dread of returning. I look forward to the beginning of the school year. I was talking with my principal just today about how teaching is so unique in the way that you get to experience a complete renewal each year. I want to make sure I take the time to relax and revive before investing myself into a new school year though. So, the countdown serves to make sure that I don't let those opportunities sweep themselves away before life gets busy again.

I need to "Sharpen the Saw"- Habit #7 of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. It primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, prayer (meditation, yoga, etc.) and good reading for mental renewal. It also mentions service to society for spiritual renewal.

Of course, the only person that I have ever met that adamantly followed the Seven Habits committed suicide, so... not so sure they may be the "Path to Professional Enlightenment." However, I do know myself well enough to know that if I do not specifically carve some time away the everyday routine of life over the summer I am going to be simply grumpy and stressed when school starts.

A Summer of Unexpected Surprises

So, I hear that the official First Day of Summer has come... and past. (I didn't actually hear it, but rather surmised it from Friday's Google cover page... oh how many obscure holidays and forgettable birthdays would be lost without Google's homage.)

Well, I can't say that it feels much like Summer because I am, indeed, teaching Summer School. I know it sounds redundant to say teaching "Summer" School doesn't feel like "Summer" but my obvious point is that I am not yet frolicking in those "Three Reasons I Teach" that most teachers herald (June, July, August). Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised that I am teaching summer classes considering I submitted the request to do so. However, for the past two years, the class I was assigned to teach did not have enough students enrolled and wasn't offered. This year, I mainly made "the cut" because some of the shifting around of teachers due to those leaving.  It actually worked out that I am only teaching one class, 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. So it is only monopolizing a few hours of my day (because let's face it, I'd be in bed until 10 otherwise), and still giving me a little "bank" for the summer months.

Last year, I made the "Summer Bucket List." I checked in on its progress a few times over the summer. Some goals I accomplished, others I did not. I did not feel particularly upset about the unmet goals- some of which I made the conscious choice to veto, yet I did feel a need to justify them here on the blog. So, I am feeling a little torn about whether or not I want to go the "Bucket List" route this year.

Rather than checking items off a list, I have had a few unexpected surprises so far, only a couple of days into the "Official" Summer season. In sitting at the kitchen table working one night, I noticed the abundance of lightning bugs outside the window. So, I decided that I wanted to make sure that I took Benjamin out one night this summer to catch fireflies. Except... my vision of this involved a whole day's worth of activities including going to the library to check out a book with fireflies... and even making firefly cookies. (What firefly cookies look like and how they were actually going to be made, I couldn't tell you... and no, I share neither genetic chromosomes nor a zip code with Martha Stewart.)

Unexpectedly though, when Jason and I returned from a Wal-Mart run Friday night, Benjamin came outside to "help" carry in the groceries, which was really an excuse to get out and explore the yard more. Without any prompting from me, he discovered on his own the bed of fireflies that nest beneath our Magnolia tree.

It was still light outside and the amount of lightning bugs was uncountable. I wish I could have captured it better on camera. Cameron came out with a Mason jar and they entrapped a bunch to watch throughout the night. If you look past the boys, you can see the small streaks of white, which are the lighted bugs.

 

Unfortunately, the reality of fireflies in a jar wasn't as exciting as we had imagined it would be... even after vigorously shaking the jar and blowing in the punctured holes. (I know, I know... poor bugs.)

 

I donned Benjamin the "Bug Whisperer" because the fireflies would just fly to him and land on his outreached hand. Jason had commented before on how he could spot a ladybug from across the yard. He is definitely "typical boy" when it comes to liking bugs... thankfully, the cuter ones. Today, his affinity for nature showed again as a butterfly landed on his finger while outside playing. Jason commented that I may be raising a Tree Hugger. That, of course, would make me very happy.

 

 

On a similar note to Tree Hugging, Jason has decided that he wants to use more in-season local produce in our menu-planning. This too, of course, is something that would make me very happy (both using fresh produce and the menu-planning... and, of course, Jason doing the cooking). Considering that we live in such a rural area, you would think this would not be a challenge... you would be wrong. Jason made a Facebook post on a local on-line yard sale kind of site asking where he could buy fresh produce since the very publicized Farmer's Market we have downtown is a total flop... unless perhaps Avon perfumes fit your Saturday morning produce shopping needs. Sadly, and rather ironically, your options for buying produce fresh from the farm are greater the further you get from the country and the closer you get to the more city-like area around here.

 

He did, however, get many recommendations for the Farmer's Market in Smithfield, which is about 30-40 minutes away. Saturday morning, Jason and I decided to drive out of town and check it out. I remember having driven through Smithfield once before on my daily commutes to college when we first moved here. I remember thinking then that I would really like to take the time to stroll through the town and get to know it better. That would have been over eight years ago, and I never did follow through on that idea.

 

I really missed out! During recent trips to Staunton for the Shakespeare class and to Harrisonburg for the Capstone English class, I raved how much I loved the towns and wanted to go back. Well, Smithfield had all that I loved about them... and more. It reminded me of St. Augustine, where we honeymooned... except without the ghost tours... and they really need a ghost tour. The downtown area has stone streets and historic buildings that are just crying for a ghost tour. Being the "Ham Capital" of Virginia (the world?) it also had a lot more PORK than the other three towns.

 

We stopped for lunch before hitting the Farmer's Market. I thought I had found the perfect place. It was a converted house (or maybe public building) with a funky paint job and displayed art; the menu was very fru-fru and they had an attached bakery with fresh loaves of bread for sale. However... the customer service was deplorable. From waiting forever in being acknowledged, to being told repeatedly (and rather snidely) that they were no longer serving breakfast (perhaps if we hadn't waited so long I could have gotten my crab omelet?), to sitting with nary a waitress to ever come by.

 

So, I called on my good friend Siri who told us that we were 0.0 miles from the next restaurant, and we looked out the window to see the Taste of Smithfield, so we ditched the pretentious café and crossed the street, which proved to be a very favorable decision.

 

 



Jason got the Pork Loin sandwich, which the chef kept the top bun off because he was so tickled the batter made it look like the shape of a pig. I got the Spinach & Bacon Quiche. We both got a side of mac & cheese... with crumbled bacon. We decided to forgo the dessert, among the offerings brownie... with bacon bits. Yeah, Smithfield? They love their pork.

The Farmer's Market was a bit smaller than I had hoped, and did not have as many produce vendors as I would have wished. However, we did finally arrive there about 30 minutes before the scheduled closing time, so I think we may have missed out on some of the offerings. The overall vibe was nice though. It was very "Street Market." There were some artisans mixed in with their crafty wear, other type food vendors, and even live music. I was much less enthralled by the meat farmers than Jason was. As  general rule, I prefer not to see pictures of my dinner grazing in green pastures before it makes it to my plate.

Overall though, Smithfield was another Unexpected Surprise for the Summer. I want to make definite plans to go back there soon and spend a leisurely day visiting all the antique stores and thrift shops and art galleries... pork consumption optional.

Thus currently, I believe my stance is not to schedule the season off a Bucket List and be open to the Unexpected Surprises this Summer has to offer.

Counting Down Summer

My most dreaded time of the week is Sunday night. On Sunday nights, I lament all the tasks that did not get checked off my "To Do List" for the weekend and I stress about all that the upcoming week beholds. There are less than two weeks left before I return to school. I have a feeling that next week is going to be like one long Sunday night. I feel as if I have had no Summer Vacation at all. The first three weeks post-school year were spent teaching Summer School. Then, there was only a three week window until I had to drive Justin up to the high school every day for Cross Country practice. Midway into the first week, we had the death and I had to go back home for a week. Then, through the next week, Jason was home for the unexpected leave.

I'm not trying to say that it is no vacation with Jason here. It's just that Jason's catch phrase is "What's the plan?" I very well may have that engraved on his tombstone one day. Every day after school, when I call him or he calls me, that's what he asks- a question that's supposed to encompass what's for dinner, what do the boys have to do that night, what do I have to do, what comes on television even. When he asks me said question, even though I have come to perfectly expect it, I rarely have an answer. I cannot even think about the upcoming evening until I am in my car leaving the school grounds. During this past week he was home that was a daily, and more often more than daily question. Again, I rarely had answer. Like a hippie, I just wanted to "be, man, like, chill dude"... ok, a Surfer Hippie. On one of the first days were were back from Maryland, he laid down on the bed with a clipboard and mapped out the week with all that we needed and wanted to do. Ok, ok, twist my arm and I will admit this make perfectly logical sense. However, my insensible erratic mind wanted nothing to do with it. This is vacation. I don't want schedules. I want... whatever. I don't want to plan to do something and then be committed to doing it when I wake up and have changed my mind for the day. Now, Jason is gone and Cross Country practice has started. Practice only lasts about an hour, but it limits what we can do out of town... and, EVERYTHING to do is "out of town".

Today the boys and I went to Water Country. I think I went to my first water park (this one, the only one I have been to) about three years ago. I was scared of water rides. I went on a few with the "fam" that day and realized "fear" wasn't really what I was going to need to be worried about because SIZE was going to be a much bigger issue (no pun intended). It was exhausting to walk up those long flights of stairs to reach the starting point of a water slide. I was winded. My legs and feet hurt, probably back too, but I don't remember. Then there was the fact that I weighed too much to make the tubes float as there were supposed to. I'm pretty sure a low water supply was of equal culprit on the slide that struggled to churn and spit us out. However, after that I was paranoid about how I looked getting into the tubes and if the tubes would go down the chute once I was in them. I haven't been on a water ride since that first day. Thankfully, there are other attractions at the water park that I find entertaining, so it is not a total act of martyrdom to take the boys there.



I wasn't in the mood for those attractions today. I mostly lounged and engaged in other activities. First, there's my favorite water park game- "Is she bigger than me?" Thankfully, a few targets passed the test, not many. That environment makes me simultaneously feel okay and feel mortified by my body in alternating moments. I look at others and ponder if ill-fitting or poorly chosen bathing suits are a sign of a good self-image or a bad one. Such places also make me mourn the loss modesty of teenage girls and question what could some people possibly have been thinking when they got their tattoo. I did try to be semi-productive during my poolside lounging. I took a notebook and pens with me. (What, "normal" people don't carry school supplies to water parks?) I tried to make an overall To-Do List for the next two weeks, but that grew LONG and stressful. So, I decided to minimize the task and concentrate just on what needs to be done to the hall bathroom- from cleaning, to reorganizing, redecorating, and repairs. Five or six crumpled sheets of paper later I finally had an acceptable list. I can be OCD about list-making... just a bit.



To get to Williamsburg, where Busch Gardens and the water park are located, we can go highway or we can go backroads and across the ferry. Usually, we go backroads. The highway route is confusing and easily messed up when backrouting to come home, although I am convinced it still saves time. Tonight we pulled up to the ferry just as they lifted the ramp. I was PEEVED! They surely saw two cars coming down the path! "Dukes of Hazzard" scenes of jumping the ramp flashed through the recesses of my mind. The ferry is on a schedule on weeknights where it waits on each side of the ferry 30 minutes while it waits for passengers. So, we had to wait the full 30 minutes as it parked on the other side of the James River and then we had to wait on the ferry the full 30 minutes while it waited on our side. So, it took a full hour to take a less than 10-minute ferry ride. Between that and the steering-wheel-clenched-lookout for deer on the backroad, I think I am going to start figuring out the highway route, where however long it may be, at least it's a definite (as definite as such things can be, a least).