Slice of Life 31

Another year of Slice of Life is complete! I i my forget once this year! I’m pretty sure this is more than a decade of Slice of Life Challenges for me, which is pretty incredible.

I’m still on spring break, so today was relaxing. The dogs and I took our regular walk. I realized it’s time to start the dogs on their seasonal allergy medication, so spring is truly here! Other than that, I worked on some projects and started binging Ginny and Georgia. Highly enjoyable so far and perfect for spring break.

I will admit I’ll be glad not to panic about getting a blog post done late at night! However, I really do love this challenge and I’m so glad I participate each year.

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Slice of Life 30

Today the dogs and I walked almost 6 miles on a local trail. It was 60°, sunny, and perfect.

The trail is a loop that circles a local reservoir, so it usually has great birdwatching. It’s a little difficult to birdwatch with two herding dogs, but we managed. There is a pair of nesting bald eagles at the park, but I didn’t see them today. I did, however, get to watch two kingfishers diving for lunch! I’ve never seen them fish before and it was so cool! They hover over the water and then dive bomb into to water. It was so fun to watch.

I also brought along some books to leave in the Little Free Library at the park. The result? Some very tired dogs, a lighter bookshelf, and lots of vitamin D for me!

Slice of Life 29

It’s finally spring break! I took my work email off my phone, put up a vacation responder, and plan to try not to think about school until we return next week.

What am I planning to do? Read, write, walk the dogs, see family, relax, catch up on TV, sleep, and more.

I started break by relaxing. It was a beautiful day, so I walked the dogs and spent some time outside. It’s supposed to rain a bunch this week, so I’ll do some reading on those days.

Slice of Life 28

The daffodils are blooming. The forsythia popped this weekend. Chris has been working outside getting his gardens ready.

Spring is in the air!

Today wasn’t very spring-like, though. It was supposed to rain all day, but we lucked out and it cleared up a bit in the afternoon. It’s that weird time of year when the temperature in NJ swings wildly from day-to-day; one day it’s almost 80° and the next there’s a low dangerously close to freezing. Today it was weirdly cool and humid. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be chilly again. That’s just spring in NJ. We love having all four seasons, even if that means having multiple seasons in a single week sometimes.

Slice of Life 27

Spring has been here for a few days and the plants love it. The daffodils and forsythia are blooming, so my yard has pops of yellow everywhere you look. The robins have returned and today they were taking turns in the birdbath. The sun was out for most of the day and it was 70°, too. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day. Then it’s supposed to be cool for most of the week. However, my favorite part of spring is the longer daylight hours and the weather doesn’t affect that! Today it was still light out at 7:30pm. 🙌

I was also excited to wear my awesome new “Educators Are Essential” shirt from FreadomUSA. Freadom is a socially-conscious organization that sells high-quality, responsibly made products. All profits go to supporting literacy initiatives throughout America. Isn’t that a cool concept? They were kind enough to send me this shirt (and two others) and now I need to order more.

Slice of Life 26

We did it!

Spring break is finally here!

I spent the work day finishing up all the tasks on my to-do list: grading, checking up on students, contacting parents, and more. I actually finished everything! My vacation response is on and I’m going to try to stay away from school email for the duration of break.

I’m looking forward to sleeping in, walking the dogs, reading lots of books, working on a book proposal, and relaxing. Spring break is always a welcome respite, but this year even more than most.

Slice of Life 25

All week long some of my colleagues and I have been looking forward to getting Dairy Queen last period tomorrow. We planned to take orders and celebrate spring break.

Then we found out Dairy Queen doesn’t open until it’s almost time for us to leave school. 😭 Luckily we managed to come up with a plan B, but I still wanted Dairy Queen. Needless to say, I stopped for a blizzard on the way home.

Yes, I am wearing an awesome Anne of Green Gables t-shirt, too.

Happy almost spring break!

Slice of Life 24

Is it spring break yet?

Is it June yet?

I love my job, but I do not love this year. Pandemic teaching, especially concurrent hyflex, is exhausting. I’m planning day-to-day because I never know what will happen from one day to the next. My neck hurts all the time from being on a computer all day while using only unergonomic tools. 😭

Just two more days until spring break. Good lord do we all need this break!

Slice of Life 23

March is almost over. That is crazy!

He weather can’t decide what it wants to do: it cold, it’s warm, it’s cold again. My Facebook memories showed that a few years ago it snowed on this day, so March is just March, I guess.

The temperate weather is my preference for very selfish reasons. When it’s warm I can eat lunch outside, socially distanced, with my colleagues. That keeps me sane during the insanity of concurrent hyflex teaching. Otherwise I eat alone in my car (which a lot of us had to do all winter) and that stinks.

Slice of Life 22

Navan got a clean bill of health at the vet today. He also, very conveniently, split his toe nail over the weekend so they got to take care of that. I appreciated his timing as it meant I didn’t have to make a separate vet appointment.

Navan did not appreciate it. He is the worst patient so I said “Good luck!” and hoped for the best when they took him in. (Due to Covid the vet still does curbside drop off and I totally support that). Luckily they were able to clip it and it didn’t bleed too much, so he doesn’t need a foot wrap. 🙌 I wasn’t sure how he’d handle a wrapped foot seeing as he never stops moving!