All the Things

School starts Monday (for teachers) and to say I have mixed feelings about this would be a huge understatement. I love teaching! I love staying busy! I love knowing what I'm doing makes a difference! Any ordinary year would see me anxious to begin another school year. 

This year, however, I am anxious in a different way. I have so many feelings about this it's hard for me to put words into any kind of eloquent manner. At the end of June, the Education Commissioner of Florida, Richard Corcoran, issued a proclamation stating all schools must open in brick and mortar 5 days a week. At the time, this was not a big deal. However, since that time, Florida has become the corona virus capital of the world averaging around 10,000 new cases a day and yet our governor refuses to back down at all!  Parents have a choice of face to face or digital and so far, it seems split down the middle so that should help to hold class sizes down, but I cannot help but think this is not going end well!  I sure hope to God I am wrong, but I foresee many teachers and children contracting Co-Vid 19 with deaths of some involved. I just don't see how you can put a group of people in a closed room (we are not allowed to open doors and windows for safety reasons) with central air conditioning circulating the same air from one room to another for 7 straight hours without some virus transfer. So this year, most of my feelings are fear and anger. 

I've have enjoyed my extended time off much more than I thought I would. Zack and I get along very well so being in each others company nearly 24/7 for four-and-a-half months was not a problem. Here are some of the things I have enjoyed doing while enjoying this time off.....

- family game nights ---by far this was my favorite thing to do and I am so glad that C.J. thought of it. Normally, we try to go to Universal one day a week in the summer. Since that was not going to happen this year, C.J. came up with the idea of game night. We would play everything from Sorry, Life, Yahtzee, Sequence, and cribbage. 

- sleeping in--- the only part of my job I hate is getting up in the morning. I am a night owl so rolling out of bed at 6:30 in the morning is the worst part of my day. I have become acclimated to sleeping the hours of midnight to 9:30 or 10:00 so the morning alarm is going to be difficult. 

- 9:00 walks ---I took Ollie for a walk every night around 9:00 (unless we were gone or it was raining). 

- reading outside---most days (unless I was tutoring) I would take Ollie out first thing in the morning and then sit outside with him and read. Usually we could get about a half hour in before the heat and sun got to be too much and we had to go in. 

- Friday night dinner and shopping --- Fridays were usually our days to stock up on food for the week. Then, we would order food for curbside pick-up (usually Chilis) and head home to eat. Very rarely during the school year do I do a full week grocery shopping. I am more of a 'I'll pick it on the way home' kind of person. I think my life could be a lot easier doing a big shop once a week so I am going to try and continue that. 

- Drive-in ---Unfortunately we discovered this too late to take full advantage of it over the summer, but we did get there three times in July. We saw Lost Boys, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Ghostbusters. Being at the drive-in is so nostalgic for me. When I was little, my dad would make popcorn, put it in a brown paper bag, we would pack a cooler of kool-aid, and head to the drive-in. Funny thing is, my sister and I rarely even watched the movie. We would usually fall asleep before the movie even started, but it was still a fun memory. 

- American Horror Story and Dexter --- with all the time on my hands I re-watched Seasons one, two, and four of American Horror Story and Seasons 1 and 4 of Dexter. 

Even though we will be heading back to school, my feeling is that it will not last long. I predict we go all virtual within the first month. Again, I could be wrong, and I pray to God that I am.  

On Saturday we celebrated CJ's birthday and had an amazing evening!  


We started with dinner at Bahama Breeze

With the co-vid numbers soaring here in Florida, we were lucky to be able to eat outside. 

After dinner we did something that I have been wanting to do for quite a while now.

We drove down to the Silver Moon Drive-in Theater in Lakeland 

The movie playing was Lost Boys followed by Nightmare on Elm Street.  We were unable to stay for the second feature but will be paying another visit to the drive-in this week to see it (as they have reversed the order of the movies). 

I had an amazing time and I think it's safe to say that the birthday boy enjoyed his birthday.  

Game Night

We knew going into this summer that it would be completely different and our normal routines of Universal evenings and movie going would not be possible. 

We still wanted to stay connected and make the most of our summer vacation so CJ came up with an alternative - game nights. 

Once a week we head over to CJ's house and spend a couple hours playing various games.  We usually play cribbage every time; other games we enjoy playing are Sorry, Sequence, Yahtzee, and Life. Well....I am not sure how much Jon enjoys playing Yahtzee since he has never won (not even close).  He's had some pretty bad luck with that game. However, Jon and Zack have won every cribbage game so far so that kind of makes up for it!  To make it worse, CJ and I were on the brink of winning one game but then, between the two of us, we had 6 points in our hand while at the same time Jon and Zack had 26 points in their hands (and the crib).  Yeah, that was fun!!!!!  

Always being safe, we have the Clorox wipes on the table. 

Looking forward to more game nights in the future. 

It's the Last Day of School ---Sort Of

This year's school end seems so surreal. Any other year, I would spend the last day of school saying goodbye to my students (with plenty of hugs and tears) and cleaning out my room with "The Final Countdown" by Europe playing on repeat.  

I absolutely love my job, but would be looking forward to a life with a bit less stress, a bit more down time, and (of course) sleeping in!!!! 

In Wisconsin, summer would include trips to Upper Michigan to visit my parents, afternoons at the local pool, and days spent reading outside or mowing the lawn. 

In Florida, summer is spent putting in some hours at Universal, and once a week dinner out/Universal evenings with C.J. 

Today, I had no kids to hug...no room to clean out...and I've been sleeping in for the past two and a half months so nothing to look forward to there. 

While Universal plans to re-open June 5, I do not think they will be needing their seasonal employees this summer, so I'm not anticipating any work there. And since Universal will be working on reduced hours, closing at 6, there will not be any Universal evenings either. 

So what will the summer look like?  Hopefully I will be able to get extra hours at Huntington and C.J. brought up the great idea of having game nights in place of Universal. 

I would LOVE to go spend some time over at my parent's, but the air in their spare bedroom does not work so it makes sleeping difficult. 

For now, despite it being the 'last day of school', day to day life will not change. 

Week Seven (and Eight) - A Bit of Normalcy

This week brought about a slight change from the "new normal" of the previous six weeks.  A slight immersion back into society. 

On Saturday, we went to visit my parents for the first time in a couple months. I did a load of laundry, we played a few games of sequence, and then went to an actual restaurant, Manny's for pizza. 

On Sunday, we went over to C.J's. He ordered a pizza and we watched game 7 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals together. 






Huntington reopened this week also. Most parents are still opting for lessons through Zoom, but as teachers, we have to be in the center no matter what. I was there yesterday tutoring my student online and there were 3 students physically present. 

Also on Tuesday, I was at the Pierson Vue testing facility to take an exam that is needed for my professional teaching license. Let me just say, it should not be that difficult for someone with 30+ years of teaching experience to get a license. 

Wednesday evening I received a text from my mom that my dad had fallen outside, could not walk, and the ambulance had taken him to the hospital. Due to Co-Vid 19 rules, my mom could not accompany him. X-rays revealed a broken hip and surgery was scheduled for Thursday night. 

Broken hips have such a wide range of seriousness; especially in the elderly. The most severe breaks can result in extended hospital stays followed up by nursing home rehabs. Thankfully, my dad's was on the less severe side. He was released today already and physical therapy will take place at home. 

Zack and I were brave and ventured out to eat Friday for the first time in a couple months (besides Manny's). It was completely impromptu. We were out to do our grocery shopping, drove by Friday's, and noticed the huge sign  advertising their opening. Everything was very well controlled with tables marked for occupancy or unavailable due to social distancing, all workers wore masks, and hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes were readily available also. 

Finally, this evening was game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals.







We had to watch it on YouTube as our cable box stopped working this afternoon and we cannot get it swapped out until tomorrow. We are both sad it's over. It's been nice for Zack and me;  it's given us something to look forward to doing together........the Magic are doing the same thing with the 2009 season which I said I'd watch. But I really don't like watching basketball on TV and instead of winning it all, they lose in the finals, so might not enjoy it as much.

And the Beat Goes On --- Week Six

Today begins week 6 of "shelter in place". I know some consider it week 7, but since that first week I was still going into Huntington to tutor, it is week 6 for me. 

And today, Florida began what it calls a "gradual reopening". This means that restaurants and non-essential retail businesses may start operating at 25% capacity and follow the proper social distancing guidelines of spacing 6 feet apart.  But nail salons, barbershops/beauty salons, gyms, and movie theaters remain closed. The statistics derived from this "soft opening" will drive what happens next. 

For now, local theme parks continue to be closed and, if I had to guess, will probably remain that way for a while yet. I have all but given up hope of getting any summer hours this year. 

So, here's what week six looked like

- A Wednesday evening visit to C.J.'s to watch American Pie 3

Image: google

- Evening walks with Zack and Ollie. 

- Learning more Italian.  I am up to about 85 words now and 3phrases - - pleasure to meet you (piacere di conoscerti), how may I help you (come passo aiutarti) and my name is Judy (il mio nome 'e Judy).  

Watching movies. I finally got my act together and watched the Downton Abbey movie.


Was not disappointed in the movie as a whole, but was downcast when Lady Grantham revealed at the end that she was dying. 😢

Also reviving the 80's 


image ---google

image --google




Keeping routine and ritual going. Continue to set the alarm Monday - Friday and set myself up in the living room for a day of 'working' from home. 

See you next week!

Oh My

I was looking through a box Friday night in search of some paperwork and found some old pictures that bring back all the feels.