Day 406: Stage Five Clinger

I work on campus all day all day on Wednesday. I'm gone way over 12 hours. That means Thursday, I have a level five clinger:

I spent most of yesterday working and doing all of the things with Tora on my chest. I'm almost considering getting an infant carrier for Thursdays.
 

Days 404-405: Us versus Them

This is what I came downstairs to this morning:

Please notice the two cats staring down the two dogs.

The cats have become truly good friends. It has been so fun watching them play, and the dogs have always been tight. Now we just need some cross-species friendships!

 

Day 403: Still Learning

 In the past twelve hours, I have met with two different teachers. What I love about working with teachers is we are all still learners more than anything...

Last night, I had dinner with a veteran teacher. She works with a lot of rookies, and she just wanted some time to think out loud and process and imagine. As she is looking forward to next year, she wanted to dream about what a new normal might look like.

This morning, I had my final conference with one of my student teachers. She is shiny and new and looking for that first job. She is incredible, and I know she will be a fabulous teacher.

I love that in my work I get to see both ends of the spectrum.

Days 401-402: Lots of Snuggles

 This weekend was a bit of a blur. Brad and I had a great date night at Mez on Friday! It was so very lovely to sit at a table and have hot food delivered. We were ticked into a corner of the patio, and we enjoyed the fresh air and no people.

Saturday, Issa and I spent the morning at a dance competition while the boys went to the dojo. Issa's team danced the best I've seen them dance all season! We are anxious to see the pictures and videos later this week since I managed to take none.

Saturday afternoon, Issa and I watched a ballet with Nana and Aunt Shannon before the boys joined us for dinner. I love watching ballets with Issa; her commentary is hysterical, and she is seeing new things now that she is on pointe herself! 

Yesterday, though, we all just crashed. Neither Brad or I felt 100%. Brad had a migraine; I had the end of a semester. It was a day for naps, family movies, and snuggles. Please take note of how Tora likes to sleep with me now:

This is currently adorable, but I have a feeling it will be less so when she gets as big as I think she might.

The one productive thing that happened yesterday was Issa finished this cat bed:

Inks has claimed it, and Issa is so happy she loves it.

This is set to be another crazy week, but it's the last week of classes for me and we have our last dance competition this weekend. We can make it!

Day 400: Date Night

 400 days ago, the world shut down. I've been thinking lately about when I will stop counting. As we start to tip-toe into post-pandemic life, I'm trying to decide when I will make the end of the era. I think it will be when we go somewhere without having to think through logistics and precautions. We are getting closer...

Almost every Friday, the kids go to Mom's and Brad and I get a little date night. Tonight, for the first time in 400 days, we are actually going out. We have a reservation on a patio at a Mexican place we haven't been to this entire time. Enchiladas just don't travel 30 minutes well. I put on real pants, and I even put on a necklace for the first time in 400 days. It's really happening.

Day 399:

We have had Tora home for a week and a half now, and we can't believe how settled everyone is. Inks is a whole new cat again, and it has been great fun to watch the two of them really play.

My favorite part of the day, though, is when I head for bed. The first couple of nights she slept with me all night--as close as she could get. Now, we like to snuggle, sleep for a bit, and then she's off and running with Inks. The evolution of a sleepy kitty:

She likes to snuggle under the blankets. A few chin scratches later, we get sleepy kitty:

And then she is out:

She is just the sweetest little baby, and we are so very glad she is part of our family.
 

Day 398: Back at the Pottery Studio

Yesterday I was able to spend some time back in the pottery studio. Our family started watching the great pottery throw-down, and they have exaggerated views of my ability! As we watched, they kept saying, "You could do that!" No, no I cannot. But...it has encouraged me to try to be more deliberate about what I throw, and the family has started making requests.

Issa asked for a ring keeper, and after a few dismal failures, I was able to throw this yesterday:

I'm pretty pleased! We will see how it survives the kiln, but I have high hopes for this one!
 

Day 397: Lovely

 In an incredibly odd and lovely moment, I had coffee with a friend this morning. We sat on my sat porch for an hour and half and just caught up. 

We talk every week, sometimes multiple times per week, but this is the first time in over a year that we sat and had a cup of coffee. It was truly lovely how quickly the old conversation flow came back, and it felt so good to actually share her energy.

It was one inch closer to post-pandemic life, and I am so looking forward to more coffee dates with her.

Days 395-396: My Office Duck

 We had a great weekend. Brad got his second vaccine, we took a big family outing to Wegman's, and got a lot of projects knocked out around the house--like bathing the dogs and taking down the Easter decorations.

None of that is as exciting as my new office friend:

This sweet duck made her nest by our back door. This morning when I came in, I could see she has eggs:

Our whole department is a little too invested in this duck, and I don't see that getting any better now that there is a possibility of ducklings!

Day 394: Yardwork

Yesterday was one of those days at work where I spent most of my time rearranging things I had already finished once. It's no one's fault. Life changes at a crazy pace these days. But...it wasn't a day where I was feeling super accomplished.

By late afternoon, I was just frustrated. I needed to do something where I could see the progress, so I changed clothes and headed outside.

More and more, I'm finding all kinds of yardwork to be so centering. It doesn't require a ton of thought, but it does get me moving and breathing fresh air. I tell my family I am photosynthesizing. It feels good. 

At the end of the day, the weeds were pulled, pruning finished, yard mowed, fertilizer spread, and porch cleaned. You could see where I had been and my mind was cleared. I need to make more time to be outdoors working with the dirt and plants, and I'm going to make that happen.

Day 393: Baby Steps

 This week has been full of baby steps.

The boys returned to full face-to-face in the dojo. It was a big step for them, and we are still adjusting to everyone leaving the house in the evenings. The dinner schedule just got much more complicated!

We are starting to talk about a return to face-to-face classes in the fall. I'm juggling rooms to create more space, and I'm starting to think about what that looks and feels like. Sports returned to campus this week, and it's been good to hear those sounds when I teach in the evening. 

Inks and Tora are starting to play together! They were just passing a toy back and forth. It's exactly as we hoped.

Spring has been full of hope and progress, and I'm soaking it all in.

Day 392: A Walk About

Tora is adjusting to life in our household quite nicely! She does like to be close to me, though, which meant I did a lot of working like this yesterday:

We are also very excited that our vet is starting to see patients again! She comes to our house, and she is only seeing animals outside, which means our cats have to be harnessed trained. We though this was going to be tricky, but we had pretty good success last night:

Inks slipped the harness shortly after this, but she ran right to the back yard, which is good. We just need to tighten it up and try again!

Tora was fine:

She didn't see the point of exploring outside, but we know she will be fine for a vet visit.

I have my 12 hour work day today, and I'm very sad to be away from her. Thankfully Brad has been sending me pictures and updates. She and Inks are closed to friendship, and she has stopped hissing at the dogs. It's hard to believe it's been less that 48 hours!

 

Day 391: Welcome to the Family, Tora!

We welcomed a new addition yesterday:

Meet Tora Lily:

Tora is Japanese for tiger, and aside from the obvious stripes the name is very fitting for her fearless attitude:

All three and a half pounds of her has settled right in:

She is three months old, and was born at the shelter. She and her mama and litter spent the last three months in foster care, and we got to meet her and them on Zoom Saturday. This is the first time we have adopted from foster, and we can't believe the difference. She settled right in, although she thinks she is a parrot:

She is so playful:

Inks has been really lonely, and we hope those two would be friends. Last night, they had some good parallel play, and Tora and the dogs are slowly coming to an agreement. Right now, they are afraid of our ferocious tiger; she prefers to watch them across the room.

She slept on my pillow all night last night, and she is already a very special part of the family.
 

Days 389-390: A Lot of Green

This weekend, we spent a lot of time working with plants, which makes me so happy! 

Our herb wall crashed and burned. The original hydroponic plan supported sprouts, but then it fizzled. Saturday, we transitioned to good old-fashioned dirt:

Some herbs we just went ahead and started from plants, but the other jars have seeds. We have high hopes for round two! The boys are really loving grabbing some mint as they go by, and the wall smells so good!

Yesterday, we finished Mom's outside spaces! We found the rest of the plants for the front beds:

Soon this will be a beautiful bed of pinks, purples, and white with green ground cover!

The hardest piece of yesterday was finishing the lights on the back patio:

We finally got  it, though:

We love this outdoor patio, and the lights just add a little magic.
 

Day 388: A Respite

This week has been crazy. I feel like I've been playing one giant game of Whak-a-mole. After a particularly crazy day yesterday, I ended my day with this view:

 I am loving our new front porch set-up. The chairs are so comfortable, and I love the twinkly lights. I'm very much hoping for a bit more porch time this weekend.

Day 387: School Sounds

 I've been doing a lot of virtual observations of student teachers this week. More students are returning to buildings, but they are really limiting visitors, which is understandable. That means I observe virtually.

While I really miss being in schools, it has been so good to hear them again. The little voices in the hallway. Teachers coaching on the sidelines. Chairs squeaking on floors. Book boxes spilling all over the place.

Slowly, we are tiptoeing into post-pandemic life. It all feels so surreal, but it's time to start taking baby steps. The dojo is moving back to full face-to-face next week. We are planning for an in-person graduation ceremony on campus. It's good. It looks different, but it's forward motion, and that feels great.

Day 386: Spring!

 It is officially spring around here. The sun is shining, it's finally warm, and things aren't covered in pollen yet. After a marathon of Zoom calls, I spent some time sitting on the porch yesterday, and it was lovely. Today, I'm in the office enjoying a beautiful view of campus. 

This weekend, I'm really hoping to spend a lot of time outdoors just soaking all this sunshine in before it's too hot and yellow to do anything!

Days 382-385: Easter on the Coast

Last Friday, we headed East to spend the holiday weekend in Topsail, NC. Friday was freezing cold, so our plans of a picnic on the beach when we got there turned into a picnic in the car followed by hot coffee in a spot Tyler and Hannah recommended: 

We actually went to that coffee shop every day! 

We spent the rest of Friday afternoon popping in and out of little shops. We found our Christmas ornament, and Mom found her windchimes! By late afternoon, our house was ready and we settled in! Although the water was a little farther from our front door than we thought, we were right on the inner-coastal waterway, which made for great wildlife watching:

The highlight was absolutely the osprey nest:

Nana had packed kites, and the kids had a blast flying them in our big front yard:

Our host also put our a ton of yard games, and the kids had fun attempting badminton, yard darts, and football.

We packed in all of our groceries, so we made burgers Friday night:

Brad has the seasoning pose down:

Saturday, we went back to the coffee shop and took our beverages to the beach:

We found beautiful shells:

And got some great family photos:

After the beach, we did a bit more shopping, and Issa and found matching necklaces:

The necklace came with a mollusk from which we harvested pearls. Mine originally went flying off the porch, but we found it!

Easter morning, the bunny came:

The kids prefer finding eggs in locations they already know. They had to work a bit harder this year!

We went back for coffees and sea air, and I think this is now a thing:

When we got back, we played our first family game of D&D:

Once we got going we had a blast, although we completely ruined Brad's plans. 

We made our way home last night, and I hung my new windchimes from the beach:

 

I love the wooden sounds, and the bird's head bobbing make me ridiculously happy.

It was a lovely weekend away, and now we are headed back to a busy week of reality!

Day 381: Much Fun

The past couple of days have been much fun! Yesterday, Issa and I went with Nana to get her next round of plants. We found a really cute little nursery, and we were able to get a lot of what we needed and get it planted before the rain hit:

We have rosemary, yarrow, and phlox in the ground. We just need to add some color and we will be all set!

Last night, we watched a livestreamed county concert that was a benefit for the zoo. The concert was great, but see all of the animals was even better!

This morning, I got up early to make the kids Easter egg candies:

They were actually chocolate covered Brussel sprouts, which may be the best April Fool's joke I have pulled off ever!