Inclusion

Today our media center received some free books and bookmarks from an SCHS alumni who is a published author!

Our school has a pretty high ELL (English Language Learner) population. You wouldn’t assume that from a school in St Cloud but we actually have a large amount of non English speakers. When I arrived at St Cloud I noticed that there are no books in the Spanish language (the language our ELL population speaks) or bilingual books for those students which is very concerning! All kids deserve access to books and that’s when Isla to Island came in to play. A few days after I notice the discrepancy I get an email from Alexis, telling me about her book and asking if we would be interested in an author visit. It was like a sign!

Isla to Island is a beautifully illustrated wordless graphic novel that depicts the live of a girl that lives in Cuba, and how it changed when she was sent to the United States by her parents. I couldn’t think of a better story to help represent the way that so many students that come to the United States from different places feel. Students that are new to any place honestly. I feel so lucky and happy that Alexis reached out. The world needs more books like hers.

17/365

Gon’ fishin’

It’s been a very long time since I went finishing. Even though it was pretty cold out there today we went out on the causeway and fished and it was awesome. I missed fishing.

Today I also drove back to Kissimmee from Port St Lucie to go to the art ceremony, then drove back to Port St Lucie. Call me crazy (I would too) but I did it. Do I regret it? Hellllllll yeah! I’ve never had a moment where I actually regret doing something and I regret doing that today. I could’ve fished more. Instead I wasted three and a half hours of my day in a car. You learn from all situations and in this case, I learned to trust my gut.

Todays picture of the day was taken of me so technically not a picture of the day. So here’s a few pictures I did take today with a cool sunset and my cool little fan.

14/365

Rainbows before the rain

Today’s picture of the day was taken at sunrise!

Would you believe that about 5 minutes after this photo was taken it started pouring rain for a few hours? There was also a vivid rainbow that spread across the whole sky opposite of this sunset. So epic. So beautiful. Breathtaking!

Today was a solid day, busy, lots to do but a great end to the week and start to the weekend!

13/365

Cheaper than therapy

My ceramics class is back after like a month off. I missed it!

Today we had a new class of like 15 people start with us. I ended up painting some projects and then helping some new people learn how to do the wheel. Well, “helped” because I’m no expert.

Today I found out that one of the students I see regularly just randomly moved out of state on Sunday. She didn’t mention anything when we talked on Friday so I’m not sure if she knew or not. I always worry about the kids when that happens. I know people get job opportunities and have to go but to just up and move with no real notice. Leaves me feeling a bit concerned. I hope everything is okay.

12/365

It’s all you need.

If you can’t tell from the slight cheesiness of today’s photo collage. This post is all about love.

Love, one of the greatest gifts life can bless you with.

Love, that comes in many shapes and forms.

Love, that I feel so lucky to have experienced and be surrounded by in many areas of my life.

Love, the emotion I feel like we so often hide away.

Love, love, love. A beautiful thing.

In a few months I’ll have known Jess for seven years. I’m not sure what’s crazier, the fact that we’ve known each other for a whole decade or the fact that while it feels like I’ve known her my whole life, it also feels like it hasn’t been that long at all.

Jess has not only blessed me with the gift of her love. She’s also brought so much other love in to my life. O’Malley and Winston are two of my favorite things in this whole world. She’s helped me find a love for myself that I had honestly lost for awhile.

Jess started getting sick last night and had a fever for most of the day today so when I got off work I had one mission, take care of Jess so she’s good to go for the evening. I made her soup, took care of the dogs and while I was sitting there across from her in the living room (couldn’t get too close of course) I just couldn’t help but look at her and feel so thankful.

I wish for everyone the feeling I have when I look at Jess. I wish for them to experience the kind of love we share. I wish for them to find someone that is their best friend. I wish for them the warmth in my chest that I get when I come home from work and Winston and O’Malley greet me with wagging tails, and jump in my lap to lick my face.

The world needs more love.

10/365

Move over Kevin

Tonight was chili night! That’s one of my favorite things to make because it’s a great quick meal! After a busy Monday it’s nice to just be able to throw some things together in the instapot and have a hearty meal.

Here’s a super simple chili recipe if you’re interested:

(Will add recipe from my computer later)

9/365

On the eighth day

Today was the first day in awhile where we did absolutely nothing. Aside from the regular cleaning around the house, prepping for the week things. It was nice. Partially attributed I’m sure to the fact that we stayed up way too late last night. Jess also made me some awesome chocolate chip pancakes and got to try out her new nail doing tools! (I’m sure there’s a better name for it.)

Anyone else out there get a case of the Sunday scaries every week?

I’m not sure why. It happens every week, you know it’s coming and yet every time Sunday hits you can’t help but feel a little sad/nervous for the week ahead. I think this year in particular it may hit a little harder because of all the tough stuff surrounding education lately. The list of things to do is constantly growing and it’s really easy to feel like you’re just treading on water waiting until you can’t kick anymore.

Just like I’m sure a lot of people in my field are also thinking, it’s hard to be okay with that just being an everyday feeling forever. I often find myself questioning if I want this to be my life, always and if it’ll get better. I’m sure you can see by the mass exiting of teachers and people on education in general. At some point it becomes not worth the hassle, stress, and strain on your mental health.

Just a Sunday rant/food for thought! Albeit maybe slightly depressing (sorry about that haha.) I hope everyone out there has a great week!

8/365