I'm telling you, when I grow up I will sit down every Sunday and bang out three of four posts to schedule, but until then I'm going to stick to being consistently inconsistent, I guess. I've finished a few books lately and need to do some "five things about..." posts, so hopefully I can get that going in the next day or two.
How is next weekend already Halloween? But, also, how is it still October? This time of the year is such a slog for teachers, since we go from the beginning of August to Thanksgiving without a break. Burnout it real this year in my profession; the kids aren't behaviorally worse, but their levels of ability and their needs are much different. There's also a lot of mixed messages "have high expectations, but also slow down," and "take care of their social-emotional needs but also make sure to collect a lot of data to fill out forms on assessment." It's no one's fault, we all have bosses and boxes to check, but it's just a lot, for all of us. Throw in one's life outside of the job and it can be overwhelming sometimes.
Yesterday evening I had my Moderna booster and a flu shot in the same arm, which is basically dead weight today. The side effects I have today are far less than the second shot, which I'm super thankful for. Frankly, I'm super thankful to have the option of a booster, period, and I can't wait for Sawyer to get his first one in a few weeks.
I just started Mexican Gothic for book club and while it's fairly entertaining, I'm not sure how I feel about the quality of her writing. We wanted something sort of spooky for Halloween and this one had gotten buzz when it came out, so it made sense. I think it will be a good one for us to talk about, though, since sometimes when we all love something it's a bit harder to discuss (I always go back to Michelle Obama's Becoming where we just sat there and repeated "I just love her. And him" over and over, haha).
Thursday Sawyer and I were invited to an Halloween trick-or-treating event in Pasadena and I can't wait, despite it being a bit of a drive. We have been really busy again over the past few months, but I love having new things to do and getting some extra mileage out of his Halloween costume (Indiana Jones!) always seems like the cost effective thing to do.
Speaking of new things, there's a map of a huge hiking area in Orange County that I've never been to next to me and I can't wait for a free weekend to head out there. I guess there's a small lake that not many people know about and is one of the few natural ones in the region. I love finding new nature spots that are easy to drive to.
I haven't been to a museum since a few months pre-lockdown, but I feel good about going again. My favorite art museum in LA has timed-released tickets and still requires masks, so I think I am going to take Sawyer next month if we can get tickets when they go up this week. I'm super lucky that he is so willing to go and is fairly engaged when we go to places like this. The only exception was one of the indoor tours at Hearst Castle a few years ago- he trudged along quietly but when it was over he requested to never have to go again!
LEGO is releasing a Home Alone set next weekend. SOLD.
My grandpa is turning 90 next month and after a false-alarm on a big family party (thank goodness.... I was against it for many reasons, mostly his health), I volunteered to spearhead a huge memory book project. Honestly, I'm pretty excited, since I love designing them digitally, I just need everyone to step up and send me what I need. I also know that the fact I said that people had until Friday means I need to wait until... Saturday. Ha!
As I sit here alternating between grading essays and adding to this exceptionally long, meandering post, my son is next door playing nicely alone. Most of me thinks this is amazing, but a tiny part of me feels guilty. He's an only child, our weekdays are a constant state of rushing, and studies say we should play more with our kids. But studies also say kids need to be self-sufficient and entertain themselves. It just goes to show that mom guilt is ever-present, even when everyone is happy and doing what they need to do.
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