Category Archives: holidays

And on we go, into 2014

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Yesterday I described a few highlights and lowlights to what I’m now calling the Year of Survival, 2013. To follow up, I’ll address the other part of the challenge: What word reflects my intentions for 2014?

Many of my ongoing projects got set aside in the mess that was 2013. The manuscript for the book Educating Amigo is still in limbo, and sending out submission packages became less of a goal than learning to walk well and handle stairs without a cane. The book project is back on a front burner now, and I hope to reach out to a another potential writer/editor for guidance.

I wrote a few short grants at work, none successful. I don’t mind losing the grants; I learn a little every time I do the research involved in any project funding request. Looking ahead, my grant applications will still focus on our goals of increasing family involvement and improving reading skills. I might reach out to more grantors who have the same mission, rather than more general resources.

In a post on my employer’s national blog, I suggested setting goals in the form of a 3-2-1 summary. 3 good habits to keep in place; 2 bad habits to break or leave behind; and finally, 1 positive change. Let’s see how that looks in my own life.

3 good habits:

  1. Put my health first. Reach out to health professionals as necessary.
  2. Eat local, cook from scratch, and preserve (can and freeze) to keep the family’s menu healthy and delicious. 
  3. Rest. Make sleep a priority.  

2 bad habits to leave behind:

  1. Stop putting my health at risk by putting off routine care – this is a dangerous route to follow.
  2. Don’t sweat the small stuff; keep the big priorities on top of the to-do list. 

And in conclusion, 1 positive change to put into place:

Get my home office in shape and use it – for book work, possibly for summer school, and also for privacy, peace, and quiet.

Back to the first question: What word reflects my intentions for 2014?

Reach. Reach out to those who can help keep me healthy and keep my brain and body functioning properly; reach for resources that can help with grants for my work and help with the publishing process; reach for the sky, but keep at least one foot on the ground for balance.

Readers, how about you?

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Summing up the year

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The post on Facebook was simple, or so it seemed. “What one word sums up 2013 for you? And what word reflects your intentions for 2014?”

2013: For me, the word was Survival. My episode that resembled a stroke happened in late 2012, but I spent a great deal of 2013 recovering. Physical therapy, walking with a cane, gradually and slowly reconnecting the left side of my body to my brain.

A few highlights on Survival in 2013:

Choosing a word for 2014 is harder. I picked one on an impulse, of course. We’ll look toward the future – tomorrow.

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Decorating Cubicle Nation

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We’re elementary teachers in my section of the office, and it shows. Seasonal “ugly” sweaters were the norm in December. We may not have four walls and a chalkboard for decoration, but our cubicles do express our personalities and the season.

Packers' Stocking

Packers’ Stocking

Dear Santa; now that the holiday rush is over and you have a little time to spare, please bring Aaron Rodgers a healthy and strong collarbone. He needs it, and we need him.

Packers' Hat

Look closely!

Santa, if you look closely, my red and white hat has a hint of green and gold, too I knew you wouldn’t mind.

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Across the aisle from my place of employment, my coworker set up a theme she can keep up beyond Christmas. Like it or not, we will get snow, so we might as well celebrate the weather.

Not a tree

Not a tree

It’s not a typical tree, but with a few painted pine cones and a felt snowman, my plant can look festive, too.

So Santa, we keep working hard and making the place look homey and bright. Please give some thought to that little favor for the green and gold clan. Really.

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Reusing, Repurposing, and Mysteries

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Gift bags are easy to reuse. Stuff with fresh tissue, tie a new tag on the handles, and the gift is good to go. I pulled this one out of the basement stash a few days ago. The “stash” is a big Rubbermaid tub filled with holiday themed gift bags in every possible size and shape.

Pretty bag!

Pretty bag!

La Petite caught the bag in just the right light and discovered this.

Who?

Who?

Here’s the mystery. We have no Julie in the immediate family. The closest Travis is a cousin once removed, someone on the level of an annual card, but not in the gift circle. I have several friends named Julie – it’s a popular name for my generation thanks to Julie Andrews – but none that I know of with a Travis for a nephew.

Julie and Travis, wherever they are, probably don’t remember this bag. They certainly don’t know that their bag is a gift that keeps on giving. For that matter, they might not have been the first to use it. Ah, if only the gift bag could talk.

 

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Green Wrappings

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It’s not surprising that my holiday posts have been few and far between as we juggled health and shopping and wrapping and this little thing called working for a living. Many years I’ve shared environmentally friendly methods of wrapping. Amigo tells me I’ve gone too far, La Petite thinks through her wrapping by saying, “What would mom do with this?” and Chuck reuses what he can from my stock in the basement. I was so exhausted this year that I almost resorted to buying wrapping paper – but I held out. I stuck to my convictions. and the pile under the tree still looked festive.

For example —

reams of red

reams of red

I’ve had this ream of red paper for years and year. The school project for which I bought it is long, long done and gone, so I sent a small stack through the shredder.

Shredder Christmas!

Shredder Christmas!

The shred covers and pads several jars. Let’s work backward to see the rest.

jars and tags

jars and tags

Under the shred, the jars of homemade goodies are decorated with tops from old cards. The old cards also function as tags.

 

bags and napkins

bags and napkins

The reusable bags are from Half Price Books. They’re made of recycled plastic water bottles, and they make great shopping bags for farmers’ markets and more. Each bag has a small cushion at the base: a holiday napkin purchased from a thrift store. It’s reusable, too. To the right of the napkins, you see reused containers that now hold an onion soup mix. Don’t buy the packages in the grocery store; use a few tablespoons of this instead.

Grocery bags!

Grocery bags!

When I forget my own bags (gasp) bring too few to fit the purchases, I know I’ll reuse the paper bags, especially if the store has a seasonal set. On this note, I’ll turn out the lights and take a nap. It’s been a long road and a lot of work, but it’s still a wonderful and green holiday for my family.

 

 

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Holiday Home Tour

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I didn’t join the bloggy home tour initially because I was too embarrassed at the cluttered and messy and even dirty and dusty state of the O.K. Chorale itself. Instead, I took a few pictures for a close up view of the holiday home decor – Daisy style.
Front Door

Front Door

There’s a small wreath to welcome visitors at the front door. We no longer use the mail slot, but it suits the house.

Santa Hat

Santa Hat

Santa gets around the entire world on Christmas Eve, so why not a Santa hat on the talking globe? It fits.

Snowman and Oregano

Snowman and Oregano

“You don’t have to display everything,” said my dear darling husband. I scowled at him and walked over to hang this favorite snowman next to the oregano.

candy bowl

candy bowl

The candy bowl is looking festive, inside and out.

Historic Decor

And last, keeping company with a few holiday music CDs, a snowman that Amigo made in school.

Welcome to my abode, folks, simple thought it may be. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 

 

 

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Don’t Stop Believing

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A favorite memory from teaching 6th grade

The entire school was bouncing. I expected the building itself to go boing, boing, boing any time, with the amount of pre-holiday energy inside it. One of our specialists commented, “Ms. M. has the ‘too-cool-for-school’ class this year, and you have the energetic one.” She was right. My class, full of really nice kids from wonderful parents, has turned into the elementary equivalent of Animal Planet. Since tranquilizer darts are frowned upon in public schools (I’m KIDDING, I’m kidding!), I had to resort to creative drama to bring them to attention.
My class, as a whole, had been quiet exactly twice the previous day.
The questions of the day revolved around Christmas and Santa. All. Day. Long. “Is Santa real?” “How many reindeer does Santa have?” “Is Santa Claus real?” “How did all this Santa stuff start, anyway?” “Is Santa real?”
They were 6th graders, ages eleven and twelve. They were old enough to know the truth, but did they? I couldn’t take a chance on destroying someone’s innocence and having their parents hit the roof. So I gave them my stock answer: it depends on who you ask. Well, that didn’t last long.
During my graduate program, I took a class in storytelling from a professional storyteller. I relied on those skills to get the students’ attention. When they asked me how many reindeer there were, I stopped, put on my hmmm, there’s a story in here somewhere pose, and waited for quiet. Amazingly, quiet descended almost immediately.
“How many reindeer? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask Clement C. Moore, he’d have said Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen.” They were almost nodding along with me. Some were counting on their fingers. “Now of course you recall the most famous reindeer of all.”
“Rudolph!” they chimed in.
“And Rudolph makes nine. But there’s a tenth reindeer, too. Do you know her name?”
One highly gifted child knew. “Olive!!!”
Yes, Olive the other reindeer… you know, the one who “…used to laugh and call him names.”
And that was just math class.
The “Is Santa real?” question wouldn’t die. They finally cornered me during Classroom Guidance on my “It depends on who you ask” with the statement “We’re asking you.”
Thank goodness for the Internet.
I found a copy of Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, told them the story, and read them the editorial. For those few moments, they were spellbound.

That year my class left me exhausted and happy every single day. They wore me out with their energy, and they energized me with their enthusiasm. And every year around this time, I remember the way they listened and absorbed my answer to their question. This year, I’ll quote Journey and the Glee cast: Don’t stop believing.

from Facebook

from Facebook

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The Eyes Have It

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Oh, readers, it’s been crazy around the O.K. Chorale. In the midst of Christmas and birthday shopping, in the throes of one health issue after another, my left eye decided to go its own separate way.

Translation: the retina detached in my left eye.

In lieu of a complex narrative, here are a few highlights.

I learned:

  • the difference between Urgent and Emergency surgeries
  • How to reattach a retina in three easy steps (I’m kidding — do not try this at home)
  • why detailed protocols in surgery double and triple check everything
  • how to be guided rather than be the sighted guide
  • how much I miss reading when my reading ability is limited
  • I can tolerate three straight days without coffee if I must.
  • it’s possible to be sedated and still feel tense

Access to medical records is important. No, it’s huge.

  • In the ER Wednesday night, the ER doc read through the notes from Dr. Shoes, the neurologist, before even seeing me. He was able to rule out another episode similar to stroke almost immediately.
  • Eye Doc from cataract surgery was the opthalmologist on call Wednesday night. He had my history.
  • By the time I saw Dr. Retina Thursday morning, he had already started the wheels turning, scheduling a surgery room and all its trimmings and trappings.
  • Even though my records were available at the click of a mouse, pre-op procedures include verifying everything.

You may have noticed a hint about verification and double checking all details. When I walked in to register at the Alewives Surgical Center (not its real name), the clerk pulled up the file and said, “Oh, you’re having surgery on your right eye.” “No,” I corrected, “it’s the left eye.” She dove into Double Check mode and made a call to verify which eye this should be. As dear husband “Chuck” joined me, we decided to verify this ourselves each and every step of the way. After getting blood drawn, having an IV hooked up, changing into OR fashion, and talking to the anesthesiologist, Dr. Retina came in with a sharpie marker and made a note next to my left eye. He joked that we’d probably heard of mistakes, they were extremely rare, and this was one way he made sure he got the correct eye. We told him that I’d been met at the admissions desk with a greeting that included the right, er, wrong eye.

Dr. Retina was not pleased. After my surgery was finished, he had the trail of information traced until he’d tracked down the source of the error. The confusion came in the game of telephone from ER Doc to Doc Cataract to Dr. Retina. Somewhere in that train, Left was noted as Right. The preliminary information came into Dr. Retina’s office as Retinal Detachment, Right Eye. He corrected his records after examining me, but somewhere this incorrect detail slipped through the cracks.

So folks, friends, family, and fellow bloggers, the left eye is now healing, and my plans for the next few weeks are changed a bit. Here we are, almost at Christmas, and suddenly any shopping plans are modified. Here’s the new to-do list.

  • Incorporate eye drop schedules into daily routine.
  • Finish ordering online ASAP for getting things shipped in time.
  • Modify gift list to include more homemade and less store bought.
  • Make an accurate list and go out shopping with Chuck at the wheel.
  • Hide Chuck’s gifts at the bottom of the cart so he doesn’t see them.
  • Cards? This year cards might not go out. Love you, peoples, but there are priorities.

 

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Non-traditional places to shop for gifts

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Folks, you know me. You know I gave up buying wrapping paper several years ago. You know I plan ahead for gift shopping because of all the birthdays that mingle with Christmas. You know I love Christmas music and listen to it – well, I love to listen to holiday music, new or classic.

But do you recall – of course you do. Creative wrapping, frugal gift planning, and finally, the shopping, take a little thought. And then, with a little thought and planning, the fun begins.

Thrift stores! By carefully perusing the racks, I have often found good buys on brand name and quality clothing. Lands’ End, GAP, Old Navy, and my favorite jeans just take a quick cycle through the wash and then look good as new – or better. Better how? Because they’re already worn in, but not worn out.

Thrift stores again – baskets. I enjoy filling baskets with my own canned goods for special people like extended family. My favorite place to find baskets? Goodwill and other thrift stores.

Stores that specialize in vintage. This angle requires good knowledge of the gift recipient. If you’re considering that rabbit fur coat that’s marked 20% off, you’d better avoid buying it for me or for La Petite. But if you see a lovely scarf or classic cameo pendant, go for it.

Stores full of repurposed and crafty pieces. There’s a shop near my workplace that sells wonderful creative and useful household pieces. I look at their wine cork frames and trivets and think “I could make these.” Then I realize no, I don’t have the time or the talent. I’ll buy it from someone who does have the time and talent.

And finally, last but never least, I thoroughly enjoy shopping at Fleet Farm. Don’t bother with Toyland; just stick to my standard departments. Friends and family know that they can buy anything for canning and preserving and I’ll be thrilled. They might even find gardening tools and toys there, despite the weather outside being frightful. We’ve also discovered that the foodstuffs designed for hunting or camping are also good pantry staples. Bear Creek soup mixes, anyone? Yum.

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Signs that it’s December in the O.K. Chorale

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  1. My closet is cluttered with piles – the result of gift shopping! I have to sift through the piles to figure out what to throw in the laundry.
  2. Blanket throws adorn every surface made for sitting or stretching out – including couches, recliners, and bean bag chairs.
  3. Supper menus feature more comfort food than usual.Chicken soup, anyone?
  4. We finally finished the fall tomatoes. Sniff. Sigh. So sad.
  5. Hot cocoa is considered a normal beverage.
  6. I’m watching Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus and getting a lump in my throat.
  7. The Weather Channel provides entertainment and makes me want to stock the shelves in case we are snowed in or iced in or have a hurricane or — okay, maybe just the first two.
  8. The Weather Channel inspires me to ask: If they’re covering Snowstorm Cleon and Snowstorm Deon, will it be Eons before the next one hits? Please say yes.
  9. My fingerless gloves are in my desk drawer at work – that is, when they’re not on my fingers!
  10. Dear, sweet “Chuck” was overheard saying, “It’ll be up to 20 degrees Sunday. I think I’ll put up the Christmas lights then, while it’s still warm outside.”

P.S. I didn’t mention holiday music because we enjoy it all year round. And a partridge in a pear tree to you, too!

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