Thanksgiving I managed to wake up

Does this seem trivial or deep?  No it does not.  And it's very brief as well.  (sorry to begin  the sentence with and).  My fabulous conference in fabulous Palm Springs-technically Indian Wells-is over.  We survived the long and some times aggravating day.  We survived the ride to the airport and the trip to Starbucks and the missing sign for rental car return.  We survived Ontario Airport -which wins my award for best airport candy store-the flight, long term parking, the ride home, the pick up at the airport-my dog who would NOT come inside and here I am.

A day with 5 parent conferences-I'm thankful I woke up and am some what functioning.  Starbucks every hour dropped off at Ladd Lane would be appreciated.

A Commoner is Thankful for the Desert

So this week I am in a conference for Professional Learning Communities and I'm in Palm Springs, California.  I've never been to Palm Springs California because there is no ice rink here. But you know what they have a lot of here in the desert? A lot of water.  There is water everywhere, ponds, fountains, pools, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, there's even a beach right here in hotel-oops I mean resort.
Yesterday it rained.  There's water everywhere.

I've only been to the dessert a few times and I know we learn about this in my classroom, but never in my pictures that the kids draw are there any of the above things.  The grass is green, the pools are warm and the water flows.  

So I'm thankful for my trip to Palm Springs and I'm thankful for the professional opportunity I've been given, but most of all I'm thankful that there is water in the desert, and it's not a dry vast wasteland like I've been led to believe all my life.

A Commoner is Thankful for Jet Planes

I mean that -people who know me know that I love 2 places most of all, cities, shopping malls, and airports/airplanes.  That's more than two but whatever.

Except for the cavity search in security I really love to fly.  I'm lucky because I have always found ways to do this.  I see a lot of airports around the country and some I like and some I don't.  A particular least favorite of mine is the Ontario Airport.

There are many reasons to not like the airport.  I don't like Ontario, everything closes at 3 O'Clock and now mostly I used to go there for CAHA meetings all the time and right now the scars in my back have not yet healed.  Oops -sorry

So imagine my surprise when I was asked to go to Palm Springs for a conference for work and had to fly in to -you guess it Ontario.  That's okay I told everyone I know this airport and it has a great candy store. A mix between the kind that sells old candy, bulk candy, and home made candy.

So while I was peeking around corners looking for the ghosts of California Youth Hockey-I  steered everyone in the direction of candy.

YUM.  I got a salted carmel candy. Salt and chocolate-what can be better.

So I faced the demonds at the Ontario airport, we got in our car and here I am in Palm Springs.  Like I said, I love flying and I really like landing.  So I'm thankful I got to do that today

I'll keep you posted on the seminar for sure.

A Commoner Is Thankful For Calculus

Okay this is a stretch.  But this  was one of the follow up lessons to the week long training in August. (Check out commoners learn calculus).  But you really have to be thankful when you get a chance to wake up super early on a Saturday and get to go to the high school to spend all day learning calculus.  Especially when you get to leave the next day for a conference in Palm Springs.

I was thankful that I actually can understand the math that I teach in third grade.  This means I could actually do what they asked of us.  Well not in the beginning when Dr. Flintstone was addressing the crowd. But in the break out part.

I was thankful I got to see all my friends (KRISTEN WHERE WERE YOU) and that I didn't get called on to show how to do anything (I Faked stage fright) and that I will get a paycheck for this.  Also I was very thankful for lunch.

I'm also thankful that Dr. Phil said he liked my blog and he didn't hold it against me when I confessed that I didn't really do the problems etc.

Tomorrow I'm going to Palm Springs for a conference.  If I have internet access I'll be posting my thankfulness-if not I'll post them when I get back.  I also have plans for  a December theme and let me assure you it has nothing to do with peace on earth.

Thanksgiving it's Friday

So today I'm thankful that it didn't actually rain during the day.  I woke up at 5 to go to the gym (don't get me started on my bitterness about having to work out and count every calorie every day)-and it was pouring raining.  So I psyched myself up for a rainy day schedule.

Rainy day schedule means you and the students are stuck in the classroom all day except for 1/2 hour of lunch time-most of which is spent walking back and forth to get them from lunch.  I like my class but not any of the 36 of us enjoys being stuck in the room together all day long. It makes me very cranky-I hate rain-no one wins when I'm cranky

But it was raining so I got ready for work-stuck on a hat -went to work-and what do you know?  No More rain!!!!!!  That meant they could have recess number 1, 2, and 3-I got a full lunch-was able to leave my classroom and have PE.

So I know the flowers need rain or whatever crap you're going to tell me-but it's all about me right? And today I'm so thankful that on this Friday-on this week-it didn't rain.

BRING ON THE WEEKEND!

Thanksgiving Day 2

Today I am really thankful that I was able to run 3 miles yesterday.  So that's pretty lame huh, but not so much.  I'm old you know and I'm lucky that my back, knees, and joints are still able to move let alone run.  I'm not so grateful for even having to run and not being naturally thin and able to eat whatever I want and not have to worry about cellulite, but oh wait-I've lost my train of thought.

My cousin Pat is my age and is running the NY City Marathon this weekend-next year I'm hoping to run with him, but if not at least yesterday I was healthy enough to run 3 miles really quickly on a Wednesday after school.

I walked into school today and the students gathered to see what I was going to write on the board to be thankful about today-my 3 mile run sparked the buzz around the room that they could run further than me-one kid is climbing half dome this year.  Like I said they always keep me humble but they were proud.

Tomorrow's Friday-that will be an easy one.

A Commoner Celebrates Thanksgiving

Everyone loves my Lenten Daily Random Acts of Kindness-I think they like them because they sometimes get treats-like coffee from Starbucks.  But they also lead to 40 days of springy Bitchiness-because well-it's draining to think of something nice to do every day.



I was reading Twitter yesterday when Dina Manzo former Real Housewife of New Jersey and traitor to her sister for siding with Teresa, said she was going to be thankful for something every day in November.  I thought great idea!  So in between snarky comments and observations about Hollister I'll let you know what I'm thankful for.

Now, while I'm a commoner, no second homes, not private jets, not even service in a restaurant on your birthday-but I'm also very lucky and very blessed.  Even though I'm the queen of complaining, in my mind and heart I always know this.
So today what am I thankful for?  I'm thankful for my class at school.  They test well, so my charts come out mostly green-which is a good thing.  Some of them I have known since before they were born because I know their parents really well.  Some are just awesome cute. But mostly I'm thankful that they are so nice and my days, while always a lot of hard work, are usually pretty easy.



I wrote that on the board today-I told them I was doing this-they were humble as usual and told me how great I was.  We are you see a mutual admiration society.
By the way-I didn't notice Dina being thankful for anything today-so much for that.

Stay tuned for tomorrow.