Friday five point five

It´s been a week! 

1. I worked FIVE days this week! I know, I know this is what many people do week in and week out for years on end. My husband does it. Lots of people do it. It´s just that I´m not used to it at all. Last week for instance, I worked one day and one half day. It was jarring to go from that to five days a week.

I had one day scheduled, Monday, and then a teacher who likes me to sub for her asked if I could sub Wednesday through Friday for her. I said I would in large part because I was flattered to be asked :). And for sure there´s a real possibility that she asked another sub first (we have a few really good subs- former teachers who I know do a great job as a sub) and that sub said that she couldn´t. I don´t know, maybe I was her first pick but the bottom line is I was flattered and didn´t want to say no. Then she asked if I could sub for her on Tuesday, too. I had been looking forward to having one day off but I didn´t want another sub to start off before me in case the sub didn´t leave good notes for what the students got done.

The teacher had all her plans on slides that I showed to the students (she also printed me a copy of the slides). The slides let us all know what we were doing (obviously I viewed the slides at the beginning of the day so I knew what was going on) and were a great resource. I really liked how everything was done in slide format. And she added my name to the beginning slide of each day. There´s something about seeing your name in pixel form that seems very teachery/official (normally I write my name on a whiteboad in a classroom).

2. When I went to pick out an outfit to wear on Monday for school, I noticed a pair of pants in my closet that I´d not worn before. I got them at a Goodwill a few months ago. They´re a brand that I like, White House Black Market. I don´t remember what I paid for them at GW, but I´m sure it wasn´t much. I´d completely forgotten about them and was happy to discover them in the closet just for some variety. I feel like I wear the same clothes on repeat when I´m at school. They fit me pretty good, too- not too tight but not loose. They´re a style that needs to fit just right and I think these do. I liked them so much that I wore them on Tuesday (when I subbed at a different school. No, I don´t wash pants after wearing them just once!).

Wednesday is jeans day at school and I wore a pair of jeans that I´d forgotten about. Lately I´ve been wearing the same jeans on repeat. It was nice to put a new one in rotation. I like how these fit and realized that these were also purchased second hand at a consignment shop in town. They are the Lucky brand which I´ve always liked. 

Proof of head photo- I´m not just a torso in case you were worried 😆

My phone obscures the shirt but it´s a bedazzled spirit wear shirt. I got it probably ten years ago at a boutique in town that sells spirit wear. I´m mostly  impressed that it still fits me though it is tighter on me than it was ten years ago!!

Back to business casual for Thursday...

Scroll down to see my head- this was the best pictures of the pants. They were brand spanking new and I paid $1.99 for them at the Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic/Athleta return center place in northern Kentucky where you can score amazing deals.

3. I sort of killed it with dinners this week. (Sort of!) Monday, I decided to make meatloaf. I made it earlier in the month and we all liked it. You caramelize two onions and those become part of the loaf that gets baked. I found the recipe here and followed the recipe to a T except that I didn´t add any cheese. Cheese seemed too decadent. It already was hardly healthy as it was... I decided to make mashed potatoes with it and cooked carrots. Despite having no fewer than two packages of carrots in the fridge, I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted carrots from the garden. So out I went. Donnie arrived home as I was heading out to the garden. He asked where I was going. I told him that I was going to the garden to forage for our dinner. Why not be dramatic??

In the vein of drama, I´m naming this photograph, ¨Out of the earth.¨ (LOL)

I cut up the carrots, stewed them and drizzled hot honey on them when they were done. Delicious!

I made a roast with the largest slab of beef I could find to make it last two dinners. Not having to cook one evening would be lovely... and it was. As it turned out the guys didn´t even eat the roast the second evening. They got wings to watch the Reds lose to the Dodgers.

The next evening, I came up with a concoction that turned out really good- I used up some beef from the meatloaf and cooked that up with onion and a jalapeno. I added some of the roast beef that was shredded. To that I added chili spices and a jar of salsa along with some tomato sauce that I´d freshly made. I added a cornbread topping and baked it. It turned out so good! Was proud of myself for coming up with it! (I´d made a variation of it from a recipe a long time ago.)

4. I took a walk into town one afternoon after school (the schools where I sub start at a shockingly early time- the good thing about that is they dismiss at an early time due to the early start). I wanted to check out a new bookstore in town. It was disappointing to me but not super surprising (I know one of the owners tangentially (though not well)  from subbing)  Several books were featured on shelves and let´s just say, it´s pretty obvious that I have very different political views of the co-owners. It was not shocking in the least but disappointing to know for certain. 

I went into two other stores in our historic downtown (there are only about six total- it´s a small historic downtown) and found some good items. There´s a darling little (I mean tiny) store called Luck and it sells a lot of whimsical are supplies and art gift type things. (I´m not describing it well but it´s hard to describe). I bought some items for Abby that I know she will like. I chatted with the proprietor. She was super nice and remembers when I was in before (like almost a year ago when it first opened). I either made a good (or some perhaps not so good...) impression or she hasn´t had many customers in the past year. But seriously cute things for the creative person. 

Then I went into Suburban Hippie, another small boutique in our historic downtown. I think there´s a very good chance that the owner and I have different political views BUT she doesn´t have anything in her shop that pays homage to Randi Weingarten or Fauci so.... it was all good. (I don´t mind shopping at a store if the owner and I have different political views. However, if the store sells products that obfuscates the actions of those who´ve harmed others, that´s where I draw the line and won´t shop there.) I found some good things there at decent prices. 

5. I never mentioned how my school days went. They went OK. They ended, put it that way. The days weren´t great but they weren´t terrible. I was able to have a break during my teacher´s plan period every day which was nice (subs have to work during their teacher´s plan if they don´t have coverage for another teacher). I used that time to respond to blog comments a couple of the days during my break and I also read a book which was really nice. Some parts of the school days were not so good. I can do hard things but I don´t like to!! 

Technically, the last day has not ended at the time of this publication (I´m gonna publish it here in a minute on my lunch break. Multi day jobs in the same classroom are less than ideal. You have to deal with students who have been absent ¨on your watch.¨ You have to manage make up work and keep track of more. But it´s ok. I´ve gotten to know the students better, many of whom are great. Some are not so great. That´s just the way it is... There´s nothing like looking forward to the weekend when you´ve put in five solid day´s work, that is for sure.

Point 5- Fall weather should arrive by late next week. It´s going to be in the mid 80´s this weekend. NOOOOOOO. I need to try to embrace it. Tomatoes and peppers- that´s what I need to concentrate on. 

Just ten days ago, these plants were more full.

These plants are still doing well.

I have a ton of jalapeno peppers and bell peppers growing. I need to embrace these hot days and not complain about them.