Niner For a Heart of Gold

Greetings from a basement out here in the middle of Minnesota!

Hope this missive finds you doing well, friends, and feeling hearty and hale.

‘Twas a pretty solid Sabbath.

For the first time in a long time George slept in his own bed by himself all night long. I’d made a bed on the floor next to his, so that when he woke up in the middle of the night, I could help him back to his bed, and he was able to fall asleep again on his own. We got up this morning, and played pet show, which consisted of him handing me various toys from around his room, and me awarding the toys different colored ribbons. After, we made pancakes together and a short while later, the girls and Audrey got up and we all had breakfast.

We also played one round of Mystery Date (Ev’s choice) and one round of Soggy Doggy (George’s choice).

Later in the day, Audrey printed off and laminated WILD KRATTS materials, and we made a homemade board game.

Got to watch the 49ers/Seahawks game this afternoon, and was pleased as punch the Niners achieved a thorough victory over Seattle (It was a little iffy at halftime).

We had a snacky dinner: blueberry muffins, crackers, cranberry-goat cheese, veggies, and popcorn. I’d picked up Sriracha seasoning at Costco last weekend, and dusted my popcorn with it. Quite tasty!

It was the first five-day week of school we’ve had for awhile (all that inclement weather before and after Christmas), and it felt long. Part of that had to do with extra One Act rehearsals, plus a Single Board meeting at the church toward the beginning of the week. I spent a bulk of my time at work this week planning and developing professional learning sessions for a PD day on Tuesday. Here’s to hoping it goes off with minimal hitches, and that folks are able to take some of what they learn and apply it in the classroom.

The play’s coming along, and we continue to refine the performances, set pieces, and props. Our first public performance is next Saturday. Thankfully it’s non-competition day, which means we’re able to determine what’s working and what isn’t in a low stakes setting. We’ll skip practice on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and then pick things back up Tuesday-Friday.

Our van had been leaking oil, so I took it into the shop on Friday. Turns out an assembled part which houses the oil filter and something to do with our coolant was deteriorating, leading to the leak. They had to replace that unit as well as a couple of sensors, so it was a costly repair. Bit of a bummer, but I’m happy we can keep the van in good working order.

Writing-wise, I’ve mostly maintained my goal. I wrote for at least 10 minutes (again, I often went beyond the 10 minute mark) with the exception of Friday…fell asleep during family movie night, and then just didn’t have the energy to tackle writing afterward. I did finish the short fiction piece in response to the prompt I mentioned last week. I ended up writing more than the 537 word limit, so I saved the extra words for the next scene. I felt like I was just getting to now the characters and their world, so I’ll more than likely return to that story down the line. Maybe I’ll post it on the website for folks to read as it develops. This coming week I’ll bump the daily time up to 15 minutes/day, and return to the middle grade novel.

Reading:
-I’m still reading The First Binding by R.R. Virdi as my nightstand book (the story’s really starting to take off now)
-Almost through with Amari & the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston (audiobook). Excellent middle grade urban fantasy novel in the genre of adolescent discovers the existence of the supernatural world, and attends a “camp” to unlock her potential (apologies for how reductive that sounds…only trying to convey the sandbox the story is playing in).
-Listening to the 3rd Lockwood & Co. book (The Hollow Boy), as my drive time read.

SLIME Goals Update:

S-Doing fine with creative work, but need to catch up with National Boards
L-Seeing lots of progress here. Since dumping Safari from my phone, I’ve spent significantly less time on the internet, which has brought increase focus.
I-I haven’t mentioned my Improve goals yet, but I have some in mind.
M-I’d like to say maintain my daily exercise regiment, but that’s fallen off a bit, so exercise may become an improvement goal…I have been riding the exercise bike in the morning, and I’d like to keep that going at least five days a week.
E-No idea what I want to experiment with this year.

I’ll close for now. Take care of yourselves and each other. As always, thanks kindly for reading. Heaps of gratitude! Huzzah!