I teach Life Skills. The last couple of weeks have gone nothing like my lesson plans indicated and yet it was more true to the "Life Skills" curriculum than most weeks.

First our classroom assistant ended up in the hospital unable to breathe, she is now awaiting open heart surgery. My students have learned that there are set backs in people's health. They have learned that the plan can change, like the rescheduling of heart surgery. They have been learning how to channel that worry and concern into making some really sweet cards for their assistant.

Then this week a Life Lesson that no one wants to have to teach but we all do at some point. One of my student's mother died of cancer. She was well-known and well loved by many. Every student couldn't help but think, what if that was me? We cried, we talked, we were quiet, we made cards, we hugged, we asked why, we took comfort in our routines, we clung to our friends and on Monday we will attend a funeral.

I hope my students have learned a little bit about compassion these weeks. I hope they see that it is ok to cry but then one needs to carry on. I hope they have learned that it is sometimes about someone else and their pain. I hope they see how to walk beside someone having a tough time. Hope.....hope.....hope and thru it all may they see hope!

student t-shirt scarves

Just a few of my fabulous students and their creations!

t-shirt scarves

It all started in a resale shop. I saw a scarf made out of old t-shirts. I loved it, I had to buy it! I used it. I wrapped it around my sweet little grand daughter when we were walking on the beach.
I said to myself, "self, you could make one of these"! So I did. It was easy and fun. And then I thought of my students. They would love designing these scarves, some could cut squares and a few could even sew. They could sell them at the Holiday Fair and make them as gifts for friends and family members. Now....where to get shirts. An e-mail to school staff and viola...500 t-shirts!!!??? What a blast watching students design the scarves. My friend Melony to the rescue with some sewing and we have 30 scarves to sell. What fun and it all started with a little resale, recycled t-shirt scarf!

Priorities

Recently I made cookies for the two cookie monsters pictured above. When I asked them why they weren't eating any of them, they responded "Oh, we thought they we were for your students, not us." Ouch! The truth hurts. I put so much effort into my classroom, I forget to do some of the special things for my own precious children. I remember a similar story some years back. I set the table one night using the good dishes, cloth napkins and fun napkin holders. The kids walked in and said, "who is coming for dinner?"

I want to do the special things for the ones I love, not just for guests or my job.

So this week I am going to try and think of something special to do with or for each of my children and for my special guy. I am going to remind myself of my priorities, and these two are at the top of the list!

I love sweets. Sweets like this hot fudge sundae I am sharing with two of my favorite girls. Sweets mean reward to me. Sweets mean special occasion. Sweets mean I am bored. Sweets mean I am trying to avoid something. Sweets mean I am happy. Sweets mean I am sad. It is any wonder I find getting this sweet thing under control so complicated?
I know all the nutritional facts. I know my father is a diabetic. I know, I know, I know BUT that doesn't seem to help. So here is what I am going to do.

1. Take it one temptation at a time

2. Plan for those snack attacks (after school)

3. Face up to what ever I am feeling; identify it..don't eat it!

4. Don't keep highly tempting food in the house

5. Track food on Lose It

so...tomorrow is pretty packed. I will put together white chicken chili in the morning before school. I will have crackers and cheese for an afternoon snack. I will have yogurt/fruit for breakfast and a cliff bar for lunch. I will have warm cider if I am hungry at night.

I have a plan....much more likely to have success with a plan!

I miss Italy

I miss Italy! Today I miss it because of the open windows. Our 3rd floor apartment in Montepulciano had huge windows that swung open. There are no screens on the windows in Italy and I could lean out the window and look at the world go by on the street below. I loved waking up in the morning to the sounds of the town getting up. I felt like I was part of a bigger world but yet nice and cozy in my own place. It was 100 degrees in Michigan yesterday, we even made the BBC news for our extreme heat. I have all the windows closed and the air conditioning on. I draw shades and blinds on the sunny sides. I am thankful for air conditioning but I miss Italy and feeling apart of the outside world!

I think the state of one's kitchen says much about a person. I followed the FlyLady method of keeping house and her number one rule is clean your kitchen sink...which of course means clean the sink of dishes and then shine the sink. At our house the state of the kitchen sink is all over the map. Sometimes is good, many times it is pityfull and many more times it is somewhere in between.

I have tried the "never go to bed with dishes in the sink" method. I got mad because I was spending my before bed minutes picking up the kid's dishes! So then I went to bugging each person to put their own dishes in the dishwasher, I would hunt them down no matter what they were doing if I found dishes sitting around. My son got the hang of it and put my daughter and myself to shame! I tried hanging a reminder note on the kitchen window..."Never leave dishes in the Sink".

Well, I am at it again. Now we are going to charge ourselves $1 anytime we leave dishes out. We have tried to think of all the ins and outs. For example, if the dishwasher is full and clean...you can either unload it or wash your dish by hand.

I was so tempted today to leave dishes in the sink because I didn't want to take the time to unload clean dishes, I wanted to catch a nap before I had to play mom's taxi. I resisted and unloaded...took all of 4 minutes!

I have to keep remembering how good it feels to walk into a kitchen that is picked up. My life seems just a little bit more in control when my kitchen is free of dirty dishes. Control what I can control because heaven knows there is so much I can't control!

Meet "my kids"

Here is a picture of "my kids"....my other kids.......not my biological children....my students!! It gets confusing when I am talking about "my kids" because people are not quite sure which ones I am talking about. In many ways they are like my own biological children, I am the right age to have given birth to them, I care about them, I think about them and what they are going thru and I help them get ready to be adults in the world. I am getting to know their individual tastes and quirks. I see an idea and one of my students will pop into mind that I know will just love it. For example: E is the artist, L loves everything to do with gems, C is my social butterfly, S loves trains, R loves movies, M loves all things disney...you get the idea.

I spend much time dreaming and scheming up ideas to help "my kids" learn to read better, add to their skills so they can navigate the world and be social. We talk, joke, read, walk to local businesses, create things, dream, wish and at the end of the day I hope they are just a little bit better prepared for the world. I hope the world is kind to them and has a place for them to thrive when they leave me.....my wish for "all of my kids"!

This was THE BEST homemade lemonade ever! I went to the Florida Keys with my "mystery man" for a few days. It was from the Grand Cafe and I would go to Key West just to eat there. I love it when we discover something so wonderful, so out of the ordinary! On this Michigan gloomy, rainy, icy, snowy, too much to do day......I am going to remember this wonderful lemonade...ahhhhh sweet!

Another "chilling" moment

I had yet another of those moments with my new special ed program. We are planning a soup/chili supper fund raiser. I was talking to Mary who volunteers with my students doing some cooking, she also runs the school's resale shop across the street. I told her I would like to have a basket to raffle off for the event. She told me she would work on that. About 10 minutes after she left to go back across the street, here she comes with a beautifully filled basket of gardening goodies. Now, Mary is good but even Mary couldn't pull that together in 10 minutes. The "chilling" story unfolded. Mary went back across the street, a woman came into the resale shop with this basket she had won and wondered if she could donate it! The woman was a stranger and wished to remain annoymous. Hmmmmm......it gave us goosebumps!

Getting Back on Track

I just uploaded my before and after pictures from "starting where I am at" which happened to be my living room. I wrote that Dec. 29 and now it is Jan 23 and I am finally completing it (not the cleaning but the posting). I decided that it is not so much about the time frame but that I get back on track. No guilt just getting back on the road to where I want to be. So where do I want to be? I want to be more focused and get some of my house finished so it is a beautiful, delightful place to be. I want to write more. I have so many stories in my head. I write in my head constantly and I would like some of that material to make it to this blog. I have been thinking about writing a blog about my wonderful class of special needs young adults. I worry about privacy issues and think maybe it would make a better book some day? Maybe a blog but with no names and pictures that don't reveal faces? Dream....think....wonder! I will try to write one this week with that technique and then run it by a few people. I like that, I will be making progress and at least trying something.

Today I have been stopped short in my tracks. I think I pinched a nerve in my shoulder driving home from Grand Rapids in and out of several blizzards. I was up during the night, trying the old heating pad and unsuccessfully trying to find a comfortable position in which to sleep. I had to cancel my Sunday activies and I am sitting on the couch with motrin and the good old heating pad.

I have several things I can do with this change of events. I can write bills and balance out the month of January. I can internet shop for a clawfoot tub shower curtian. I can order my up and down blinds for my living room. I can work on my book club lesson plans for school.

Heres to "Getting back on Track" even if it is from the couch!

before and after

before and after