Ballet

I went to a ballet class this morning. My friend has signed up her daughter, who recently turned three, for ballet classes at a studio in a nearby neighborhood. I had joined them to watch that class this week after school one day. While it was absolutely adorable and a total morale boost, it also made me want to do ballet classes myself.

I had only officially done a beginner series of six classes eight years ago, plus a private lesson and a single drop-in in an intermediate class after the series. I also had had a few beginner drop-in classes here and there years before that. Very little had stuck from those, though.

So, eight years after the beginner series, here I am, stepping into a class that is for middle- and high-school-students, but that is technically an open drop-in class for adults, too.

I was terrified, and I showed up anyway. This morning was certainly a morning filled with courage. I didn’t do amazingly – not at all. But I did do most of the stuff in the class. By the end of the floor work, we were doing some things I had not ever learned to do, so I was guessing and making it up as I went, and also stepping back to observe more before trying it out again. All in all, it was a good time had by me. I imagine the kids in the class were thrown by my presence, but I rolled with it happily. And the teacher made it clear that I was, in fact, invited back both for that class and for certain other ones, too. (I even asked if I could take the lower level classes, and she told me that I didn’t need to take them. So, though I was happy yet serious with my inquiry, she was, too. I apparently am functioning enough to stay in the class.) So, that was cool. Woohoo!

I look forward to improving and to doing better each class.

I certainly have things to work on before I go back, and I hope I can make that happen consistently, starting this week. Because I really want to go back and to do better by a lot each time. I truly enjoy the feeling of doing ballet right. It is such a good feeling. Not because it’s right, but because ballet itself truly just feels amazing to do.

God, thank you for this blessing and opportunity of today. Thank you for the dancing. Thank you for my own sense of humour and easy acceptance of my current levels with everything. Help me to honor you through practice and dancing. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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P.S. God, would you heal my grandma and my brothers’ dad, please? In your name, I pray. Amen.

Sleep

When will I get enough? When will I find a rhythm that actually works for me again? I am just so tired… everything is difficult right now. I want to do so much more in each day. I need sleep just to get done what I’m already attempting to do in a day, let alone more… I need to sleep more each night.

God, help me, please, to find a rhythm and pattern that gives me the sleep I need each night. Please. Amen.

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Kissen

Specifically, Kopfkissen… I believe now truly that I need a new one. We stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house over the weekend while moving my grandma’s stuff, and the pillow I used for my head was kind of exactly what I think I may need at home. I love the ones we have – Tempur-pedic-like with gel on the front for coolness – but mostly only for when I am awake or am sleeping on my side. But I sleep best and most comfortably on my back… and this pillow resists my head just a little too much. I have to have just the right eye cover in order to keep my head from shifting side-to-side all night, and that seems to be too difficult to manage consistently… If I just had a pillow that would let my head sink in a bit more, but not lots, it could work for sleeping on my back and on my side.

Just have to find that pillow… so, time to ask my aunt what pillow I may have used! Fingers crossed she knows!

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Tired

Today, I am tired. I was up and at school early for test proctoring, which I didn’t really want to do, but that I kind of needed to do in order to afford life right now. Plus, it was partly a favor for the person in charge, who needed a last-minute replacement for someone else. So, I went. I was grateful for the breakfast tacos we were given. Moving the desks around was more of a hassle than it ever has been, but they turned out to be quite nice eventually. And I had a surprise of the final section of the test just disappearing and not even being on there anymore, which removed about half an hour from the testing time (and I only discovered it when we were about to start the actual last hour of testing). And I ended up not having anymore work to do for Monday, as I’d gotten it all done last night before going home. So, I got to go home way earlier than expected and a lot less tired than expected. And I had a wonderful surprise set of messages from my best friend. And I got to see my man before he was booked for the afternoon and evening.

So, it was a good day and I am grateful for it. But I still am very tired.

Thank you, God. Guide me always to pursue and fulfill your will, please. Amen.

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Late Start

Whenever the school has events in the evening, they always have a late start the next day. But it is only an hour and a quarter later than usual. And most people still have to drop off their own kids and whatnot, so they still get up at the same time the next morning. Even if they don’t have all those, it is very difficult just to sleep a little bit longer in the morning than what one days every single day consistently. The body usually just wakes us up at the regular time, anyway. What’s more, traffic is worse later in the morning, so we still have to leave at almost the same time in order to get to school on time. And most students have parents with typical jobs, and so they still have to be dropped off at the usual time at school. What’s more, by starting late, the school eliminates the hour of open time we all usually get mid-morning, a time used for office hours, getting things done, eating a late or second breakfast, running around to play, or, even, napping – a valuable time for all each day. But it goes away for late starts.

So, basically, late start is annoying and doesn’t actually help anything. And everyone is tired and ready to go home…

Which leads me to the better idea that many of us mentioned today: Let us go home early instead. We all have to get up and going at the same time already. Sure, we don’t get that hour of free time mid-morning, but we get to go home an extra hour and a quarter sooner than usual. That also means we get to head home before traffic starts up, even the coaches with after-school practice. Then we can have the chance to go to bed early that night, to help make up for the lost sleep the night before.

Anyway, my two cents…

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La mort

Well, I got some sleep last night, but it don’t work out too well after I was informed that a chicken had wound up dead. And we don’t even know why. So, that’s sad. It wasn’t even the chicken who had been acting weirdly, like she might have been sick. It was one that had seemed totally fine. Again, so, that’s sad.

My man had found it before he went to bed for the night, and he told me later that he put it in a Target bag, then that in another Target bag, then that into a kitchen trash bag… and then he went and put it in a public trash bin somewhere nearby, so it would get picked up sooner than if it had gone into our trash bin, which doesn’t pick up for several days… anyway, it was weird to hear and to know. I guess all dying can be hard like that. It was also sad to lose that life. I liked that chicken. Sure, they’re somewhat unintelligent fat-like birds. But I still like them. And I am grateful for them for more than just the eggs they produce (though haven’t produced in a few days now). It’s just sad knowing that that life has ended.

Turns out that they have mites. That combined with the intense heat the past couple weeks or so plus the fact that they were drinking water from the AC drip likely is the combination reason why she died. I am hoping resolving the water source issue will help, as well as that all the work my man put in today to clean out the coop and having given the birds a sandbox that also has diatomaceous earth in it, and then the spray treatment for the coop tomorrow will help to clear of the mites issue and help to clear the struggle others may presently be facing with it all. They already got electrolyte stuff in their water today and will get some apple cider vinegar, too, soon.

God, help to heal our chickens, please. Amen.

And then there were seven.

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Monday

Well, I went and got the adapter from IT to be able to connect my external hard drive (with all my teaching documents on it) to the computer they gave me. Then I promptly returned to my office to get to work, only to find that I had left the hard drive at home… ugh! Haha

So, I got other stuff done today, and then left a little early. I then went to the chiropractor, who made a small huge difference for me immediately, which was awesome. And then I went to IKEA. They have a teacher discount right now, so, I went to re-purchase and then return the dresser we had just gotten (rather than hassle with a price adjustment that places don’t like to do, though it is the same thing. Anyway, we had gotten it at a 5% discount recently, because I’m an IKEA Family member. Awesome. But the teacher discount was a 15% discount, which was a difference of going from $16.50 of savings to $49.50 of savings. It was only $33, but every dollar counts right now especially. I confirmed twice with my man that it was worth doing, and we finally determined that it really was and today was the day.

So, I go to purchase the dresser, and, when I look up the item location, I discover that it is on sale… for a hundred dollars off the original price. (!!!) And then I went to pick it up, and ended up helping this nice woman/girl load up her cart and not lose her wallet, then I got all my boxes in my cart and went to check out. I was worried the teacher discount wouldn’t work on already-discounted items. I was thinking about that before I even knew the item was discounted. But the discount still applied! So, instead of saving an extra $33, I saved an extra $141.25 (because of tax). Well worth the trip!

And then I celebrated with my free coffee (decaf, of course) and the currently anniversary-discounted apple cake that I’d never tried for a total of 87¢ with tax. And they were wonderful together. I felt like I was in a Scandinavian version of Café du Monde. And it was delicious. And then my man came and had coffee with me, and spun around a lot in the spinny high chairs I had picked for my snack time. 😛

So, anyway, be kind and love all, including yourself.

Thank you, God, for the successes and growth of today. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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