AC's, Bobbles, and Such Adventures...

This week has been well... a week... I've been continuing to do my Spanish classes, and they've been going well, for the most part. I've finally figured out which tutors to have (I have 2), so as long as I can have them, I think it will go okay. There's at least 30 different tutors, but if you jump around a lot to different tutors, sometimes it's hard to have the consistency and follow-through of the lessons. Neither of them were available on Saturday, so I have a new (though recommended) one. I feel like I've had more opportunities to use my Spanish these last few weeks-- and it may be that I'm (a bit) more confident with trying to speak/use the language. Wednesday I had a movie/dinner night with friends, and then Thursday was back to school inservices. My AC remote has been acting up-- it doesn't have a manual on/off switch-- I have to use the remote-- and I didn't want to turn it on, only to not be able to turn off the next morning-- so I actually opened my bedroom windows-- and slept without the AC. I've been a bit spoiled, b/c this was actually the first time I had slept without the AC. I was able to get the air/fans circulating pretty well, but it still took me awhile to be able to fall asleep. Thursday we had inservice-- with being able to work in our rooms, and then having our director talking about our theme for this year-- "The Story"-- Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration-- and what the Chapel services for Elem, Middle, and HS would focus on. After school, my goal was to get a new universal remote for my AC-- I took a taxi to Bellon (similar to Home Depot) -- and then to Ochoa (another hardware store), with finally finding a remote. When I got home the remote was able to turn the AC on, but I didn't press 'enter' immediately-- so the AC didn't recognize the code (though I didn't quite realize it at the time)-- so it cycled through the codes for about 3 hrs-- with never finding the right one. But thankfully the AC was ON, so I at least had that to sleep with-- it was a really warm night last night-- and for me, it's hard for me to sleep when I'm warm. I was a bit worried though, b/c I didn't want to leave in the morning with having to leave my AC on. I tried turning the breakers off in the morning-- but even that didn't turn the AC off! Miraculously though, about 5 minutes before I was supposed to leave this morning, I tried the old remote and it turned it off!

 Another thing-- If you know me, well, I'm a bit of (well a lot) klutz-- and a friend of mine says that I 'need to live in a bubble.' I seem to find these ways of hurting myself. So this is nothing new but-- I was going to bring the remotes to school to see if someone could help me figure out the whole AC thing-- so I was going to write down the model number of the AC-- which is above my bed. I got on my bed-- wrote down the number-- then looked at the number-- couldn't remember if it was a U or a V-- got back up on my bed, lost my balance, and fell off the bed, landing hard on my elbow, shoulder, and tailbone! After I did that I was actually somewhat laughing (and some frustration), b/c it seemed almost fitting that this would happen to me. Just another one of my klutzy moments! (And yes Mom I know you're reading this, and though I know you're worried about me, I'll be okay... I know you'll worry, but please don't... :-) ) I'm sore now, and probably going to be a bit more tomorrow...

My bus stop today was at 7:25 this morning, and in waiting for it, I forgot to put bug spray on, so I have about 4-5 more bites to add to the 10 (yes 10) that I have on my ankles-- note to self... make sure to put bug spray on in the morning... Next week the official year-long bus stop begins at...wait for it... 6:25 a.m..... :-O Last year the bus picked us up at 6:40. Now, I am a morning person-- in previous years I would actually sometimes leave my house at 6:30 to get to school by 6:45. But there's just something about when it's absolute -- that you must  leave at this time-- that seems to make it worse-- there's not flexibility... It usually doesn't take me that long to get ready in the mornings anyway... but it just seems ... early. Also I must remember that I'm on the bus for a full half hour-- and that I can't drink too much of my coffee beforehand, b/c I'm on the bus longer-- and we can't make a bathroom stop... I didn't move too far away from where I was last year, but just the way the pick-ups (and drop-offs) are-- I'm one of the earlier ones to get picked up-- and one of the last ones to get dropped off... So almost a full hour on the bus every day...

Going to try the AC remote again, and hopefully it'll work-- also going to try to use an app from my phone to see if that will work too. Looking forward to having down time, and trying to recover from (only) two days of inservice. School starts Monday!! I won't be teaching yet-- but meeting with parent's to sign SST (sped) contracts.

This is my 15th year of teaching-- which to me is so crazy-- b/c it doesn't feel like it's been that long-- every year is always different-- and b/c I've been in enough different schools/environments, I'm able to use those previous experiences to build upon the new ones. (Well, I guess that's true for where ever you're at...) Every one of those places/experiences have been a stepping stone God has used to put me where I'm at right now. If one of those 'stones' had been taken out of place, then the 'rest' would not have prepared me for the follow-through. Some years were better than others-- some I look back on, and can't believe I even survived...  But somehow, God got me through it...

Here's to another crazy, never dull, (klutz-free!!) hopefully wonderful year!!