Movement

We made it!

TGIF! During my summer holiday, specific days lose their meaning. Monday? Just another day. Friday? So what the weekend is arriving…I have off today anyway! But now that I’m working, Friday means so much more.

Now don’t get me wrong. I truly love what I do. I like seeing the new faces looking all interested in what I’m teaching or coaching. I like having students come to my office for the first time to talk to me about a problem. And then there is my small bunch of girl groupies who come to my office just to ‘chat’ at least a few times a week. I definitely love that part of my life - to be the equivalent of a young aunt for these girls…mentoring them through those teenage years.

But at the same time, it’s very tiring. (Yes, I know, whine, whine) So now, Friday means that it’s the last day that I have to wake up at 6:20am…at least until Monday. I get to stay up a bit later and sleep in. So it’s worth looking forward to. I do love my sleep!

This weekend will be the beginning of my club field hockey season…we have a fun day of seven-a-side teams from noon to 4pm. I can’t wait. And then training begins on Wednesday. It’s back to hard work!!

Sunday will see me cleaning like a fiend as we get ready to put our flat on the market. Our lights are fixed, we’ve moved everything we can…we are ready!

Have a good weekend!

And lift-off!

I survived the storm…otherwise known as the first day of school. Everyone take a deep breathe!

On this day, we start out with a meeting of the entire high school in our gym (cause our theatre is being worked on). This went on from 8:05 to 8:30…then we went on to grade meetings. I joined the freshmen as I have some programming I do with them and had to explain it. I also get my face out there and kids tend to find me to ask me questions and eventually to talk about issues. Already I think I’ve found a few kids who will be in my office a LOT. But that’s what I’m here for and I look forward to this year’s challenges.

This meeting went on for another 45 minutes or so. Then classes began. We were going through all eight periods, twenty minutes at a shot. Our normal class day consists of four periods of 80 minutes. Yes, LONG classes.

Then we had the athletics meeting with the kids followed by sign-up for autumn sports (I coach field hockey). And the final meeting of the day - coaches’ meeting. By that point we were all fried and not up for it…but we took it decently well with a few snide remarks said quietly. Yes, we are worse than the kids. Much.

I was dead at the end of the day. Went home, put up my tired footsies and ate my dinner. Roy had a football match, so I was alone to process how the day went. And overall, it had been a good one. Busy as all else with organizing things and getting ready for today and tomorrow…but good.

Today I teach one of the two sections of Intro to Psych. I have a well planned afternoon. And we’ll have our first field hockey try-out. It’s the beginning of really long days…arriving around 7:50 a.m. and leaving around 6-something or later p.m. But it’s totally worth it and I have had a long break leading up to this. I’m ready.

My wine and whine

Roy and I went to a wedding reception last night. There’s an interesting tradition in England. There are two parts to the wedding festivities…a day invite and an evening invite. The day invite is for people to come to the dinner onward and the evening invite is for the second tier - people are invited for the dancing and drinks portion. Now, I find it tough. It’s basically telling someone that you aren’t QUITE good enough friends to come to the whole shindig, but good enough to come to the dance.

Now, one would think, that if you have invited someone to this portion of the evening, that you’d include the drinks - cause you’ve already told the people that they aren’t quite good enough for dinner. But in many cases, including last night, it was a cash bar - so really, people are potentially travelling to go to a disco and pay hotel prices for drinks.

Nothing against the couple who invited us, but I personally think it’s rude to expect people you’ve invited to a party to pay for drinks. Cash bars are WRONG. Especially if you are asked to travel to get to the wedding. This couple did provide Pimms & Lemonade for free…but it’s something you can only have a few of cause it’s so sweet. And personally, I like my wine…and to whine about this option. If you cannot afford to pay for the entire evening (or at least until a certain hour, like 11pm), then you ought to do something else - don’t invite as many people…have it in a different venue…don’t buy certain items. As a guest to a party, I should be treated to nice things, not have to pay for them.

So Roy and I decided to think of this as a night out of town. We happened to meet up with friends there, got to dance and stayed at a lovely hotel, the Falaise House. We stayed in their smallest room, which ended up being lovely! And the breakfast, which was included, was very yummy. The hosts were a wonderful and caring couple. It’s a place I would suggest.

The cutest of cutie pies

I just have to show you how CUTE my nephew is. He is about 9 months old and absolutely the most adorable little boy I’ve ever laid my eyes on. His ’specialness’ is furthered by the love my old dog, Amber, has for him, which you can see in one of the pics. Almost every third pic taken by my brother and sister-in-law shows Amber by my nephew’s side. Devotion is definitely there!

I wish I could be closer to PA to be able to spend time with my little love. He’s learning so much and changing so much. But I just have to live through all this in pictures, which is mom is so good about sharing online. I hope that eventually he comes to think of me as that cool aunt who lives in London…I’m sure I’ll get a visit from him as a teenager who wants to explore the world. I plan on taking him all over Europe if given the chance.

I think it’s due to seeing how wonderful this little boy is, that I’ve contemplated having one of my own. You could say that he has definitely turned on the ‘baby urge’ a bit…it’s not complete, and I know I’d be fine without a child, but I can see the positives of having such a cutie pie!

Lucky

Once again, I am one of the luckiest girls on the planet. This past week a very strong storm (on it’s way to becoming a hurricane) hit St Lucia. Winds tore through the small island causing all sorts of havoc.

I am both grateful and lucky that we went on our honeymoon during June instead of now. I was able to have an amazing honeymoon that was barely marred by rain, no less winds. For that, I will be forever grateful. And I feel sad for those people who have not gotten such a good experience due to the forces of nature. And even more so, for the wonderful people who work and live on the island who treated me & Roy with such grace and courtesy.

I have had quite a charmed life. No, I’m not the daughter of a millionaire nor have I become famous for something. I am not a girl genius (in terms of intellect) nor did I have the talent to become a great athlete. But I have survived quite a few experiences that could have gone very, very wrong…and I was born into a good life with wonderful (albeit flawed human) parents.

My first test in life was at birth. My mom had an extended contraction which cut off all the air supply to me for at least 15 minutes. I was born with an Apgar scale number of one Let me break this down for you:

Here’s how they’re used to rate your baby:
Activity (muscle tone) 0 — Limp; no movement…1 — Some flexion of arms and legs…2
— Active motion
Pulse (heart rate) 0 — No heart rate…1 — Fewer than 100 beats per minute…2 — At least 100 beats per minute
Grimace (reflex response) 0 — No response to airways being suctioned…1 — Grimace during suctioning…2 — Grimace and pull away, cough, or sneeze during suctioning
Appearance (color) 0 — The baby’s whole body is completely bluish-gray or pale…1 — Good color in body with bluish hands or feet….2 — Good color all over
Respiration (breathing) 0 — Not breathing…1 — Weak cry; may sound like whimpering, slow or irregular breathing…2 — Good, strong cry; normal rate and effort of breathing

So, yeah, I was born completely limp, like a rag doll, had no airway response, had a very light pulse, was completely blue and wasn’t breathing. It was NOT a happy day for the parents. But I both survived it and, after one year, they discovered that I was not brain damaged (no matter what my brother says!). The only legacy to this experience is a difficulty in short term memory at times. Not bad and makes me VERY lucky.

Another example I can give was when I was 12. I was riding a bike and my brakes failed. I hit a 3 foot high wall and fell about 15 feet down into a stream. My face was inches from a huge rock and I only ended up with a hole below my lower lip, needing a fake front tooth and a broken arm. How lucky is that?

So, yeah…I have to say that I have been a fortunate girl. When I was younger, I always wondered if I was alive to do something special. If surviving these accidents was a way of keeping me around for a purpose. I used to pray that I would live at least to 30 (yes, I did at one time think that was OLD). I no longer feel that way. I don’t think I have a ‘job’ to fulfill. Or that I was destined to do something important. I just feel lucky. Plain, old, lucky.

Nestie

The nesties rock.

I met two of them on Thursday evening for dinner. We went to Navajo Joes in Covent Garden for a yummy dinner (well, at least mine was). These two were great! So friendly and had the perfect level of sarcasm and bite…kinda similar to my friend Alicia who moved back to the States.

Then on Saturday I went to a larger gathering at one of the nestie’s house. We had a baby shower for a few of the women. It was a great time to meet a few women who I had only gotten to know on the board. Some of us then went on to the city…I couldn’t hang out with them for long as I was having ‘date night’ with Roy…but I suspect that I’ll see a few of them soon again!

It’s quite different to be part of this sort of community. How do you explain that you met people from the internet without sounding…different? You feel like you sorta know them and yet, you don’t. I have met quite a few people from internet groups and really enjoyed it. I’ve made some good friends and some lovely acquaintences.

I think I’m going to write more on this at another time…but right now I have Sunday brain…

Lessons learned..

I don’t want anyone to think that my husband is a complete ass. He’s really not. Nor is he an alcoholic, though, like many Londoners he tends to drink too much on occasion. He really doesn’t drink regularly (other than a glass of wine for dinner once in a while). And last night he came home from work and dragged me onto the bed to have one of our bed chats (don’t know why but we seem to be able to talk better in bed).

He had talked to his friend, Tom, about the situation last night. He basically told him that even if it was a pain or meant that he was going to be late, that he would always leave the car at home if he was going to be drinking. Or if he couldn’t, that he’d just leave the car. And if he thought that he hadn’t drunk too much, but had, that Tom could call me or take away his car keys. I was proud of my hubby for coming up with a plan. He again apologized to me for his behavior. It’s one of the things I do love about him…he’s willing to own up to his mistakes and to talk about things.

Hunger, anger and hope

This is bad. It’s only 11am and I’m already hungry. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I eat at 6:45am instead of 7:30am…I’ll be done for by 10:30! I guess I need to start planning in some healthy snacks. Like yogurt or something like that. It’s the downside to starting work again - having to get up earlier and then not being able to eat lunch when you feel like it. Oh, well.

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DH scared me last night. Actually, no, he pissed me off. We live in London, land of transportation. We have access to public transport and a gazillion cabs. So there is absolutely NO reason for anyone to drive when they go out drinking. Roy played in a football (soccer) game last night and then went out with a friend (his best man). Now, I understand the car for football as it’s tough to get to otherwise, but he ought to have dropped off his car and then taken public transport to the pub. But no. He drove. And then didn’t want to leave his car there cause he would have had to either leave it there and get a £180 fine or wake up at an ungodly hour to pick it up. So he chose to drive after drinking way more than he ought to have. I reamed him out last night. And again this morning. It’s unexcusable. He could kill or hurt himself or someone else. Yeah, he felt in control, but don’t all drunks. No. It’s not acceptable. He also now has a responsbility to me. He could even just call me if he wants. I only had one drink last night in my girlie night out, so I would have been fine to drive. Upset with him for doing this dumb thing, but okay to drive.

He will not do this again. I’ve put such a kabosh on it that I’m quite sure it’ll stick. He felt my wrath. Hugely. Which, when you are hungover, is not so much fun. And quite honestly, it disgusts me that as an adult, he’d even consider it. Come on…have you learned nothing since you were young, dumb and full of “*&£()&?

I’ve done the drunk driving thing once. And the results scared me so much that I never did it again. I had to pull off a highway, into a parking lot, lock the doors, put my keys somewhere unfindable by another person and sleep for a while. In NJ. I could have been killed, maimed, taken…or done so to another person on the road while I was driving. Never again I said. I hope that my DH will also learn. He better or I’ll have to do something about it. And that would make our relationship very uncomfortable. But better that than death.

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Anyway…work is going to be okay. Busy, crazy and tiring, but okay. I just have so many new ideas of things to do - I think I’m going to be working some seriously late hours and spending much less time online..which is good. I hope the kids like what I’m going to do!

Autumn?

I woke up at 6:30am. Wide awake. That kind where you know you just won’t find any way to fall back to sleep. Sigh. So I got up, trying to let Roy sleep his one more hour. I started out on the couch, and had my cereal as per usual and turned on the news. I wasn’t so excited about it all. I’d rather have had my sleep. But life sometimes intervenes. And then, it hit 7:00am. Ah, yes, I have a package to pick up from Royal Mail. And they open at 7:00am. Cool. I’ll do that.

I was thinking about wearing just a tee-shirt with jeans, but decided for some reason to wear a fleece instead. And a good thing I did. I walked out of the door and felt it. The feel of autumn. You know it…a cool tinge in the air. The weather that feels chilled in the morning but warms a bit as the day goes on. And it was. Chilly that is. I actually felt like I could have used another layer. My breathe felt much fresher. A small breeze bringing the little hairs up from under my headband. My cheeks. Definitely turning red.

So, summer is heading toward it’s ending. I supposed it’s appropriate in my last day before returning to school full-time. It’ll make it much easier to return than hot and sunny days!

If feet turn you off…don’t read any further!

Today was ‘make me look better before the kids return’ day. So I left at 10:15am today to go get my hair cut and coloured. Yes, folks, at the ripe ol’ age of 38, I have a head full of greys. It’s quite sad. I have to go every 4-5 weeks to get it done. Sigh. Unfortunately, my hairdresser dyed it a bit darker than I wanted..wah! But I’ll get over it. I wanted it lighter to go with my summery look I have going on (aka bleached lighter reddish brown by the sun). I’ll have to attack it with lots of shampoo and red treatment to get it to where I want it. But the cut will be nice. Easy to maintain.

Then I went on to get a mani/pedi. I haven’t had a pedicure since before my honeymoon. Yes, I’ve used a scrubbing brush on it, but no professional had gotten their hands on my tootsies in over two months. And it showed. After a lovely soak, she started in on my cuticles. Lots of gunk was removed. And then the shaving of skin. I’ve never seen so much skin come off my body in one fell swoop…shavings and shavings of it. Kinda turned me off I have to say. And I tend to like my feet. Then a scrubbing. At least the outcome was good - pretty dark hot pink toes with soft soled feet. Lovely.

The fun part of this experience was watching people sit on the bench outside the nail salon. The first was a woman who seemed surgically attached to her mobile phone. On and on she went. Even after she decided to remove herself from the seat, she was still on the phone, clutching her packages to her side in one hand…quite precariously I must say. Then on came the workmen. Four of them. One was a skinny sort who didn’t seem to quite fit. He was there first, followed by a more hardy fellow. They both brought over their bread and, what looked like, tubs of soup. Then two more, even bigger men, arrived and pushed the poor small guy to the edge of the bench. They were hoisting up these MASSIVE sandwhiches, the like I’ve never seen before. Seriously. I mean HUGE. GYNORMOUS! The three bigger guys were joshing each other and pointing at various people outside the shop. I just really wanted to know what they were saying…but then it was time to go get my nails dried…and when that was done, they were gone.

I headed back home, on my way to finishing up the painting. Tomorrow I get to hang out at home…carpet for our bedroom will be delivered and installed. That will be it. Done with decorating. All to do will be cleaning and organising. Woo hoo!