Finally Feeling Like Fall

I woke up early Saturday morning and stepped outside to feed the cats.  I could not believe it.  It was quite chilly!  The temp said 57 degrees, but it felt colder than that because the wind was blowing.  It felt AMAZING!  After days and days of temps pushing close to 100, this is a very welcome respite!  I am so glad Fall is arriving.

I did a little housework Saturday, but I also took two long naps.  Work is just tew murchhh!  Online teaching for the kids is going great, but for some reason, I come home just exhausted.  I’m sure it’s all of the other added duties along with online teaching, but man!  I can honestly say that teaching online is NOT a cakewalk for teachers or librarians.  My planning takes twice as long because I have to come up with activities the students can do virtually instead of using paper and pencil or classroom supplies/manipulatives.  I have to find books online to read to them so that everyone can share my screen and see the book.  Then I have to go into our online learning management system and put in the days’ plans and activities there.  It’s twice as much work. I’m also sick of looking at my chubby chipmunk cheeks on the screen and hearing myself talk.  Ha!

However, finally getting to see my sweet students’ faces has been the best!  I miss their hugs.  I just miss THEM.  Being in the library alone talking to a screen just feels so wrong.  I’d much rather have school normally.

One thing I have really appreciated more and more each day since school started back is my husband.  He has stepped in to plan and cook a meal during the week and it always seems to fall just on the day I need it most.  He also cooked an amazing roast yesterday evening.  We threw in a couple of the banana peppers I’ve grown in my container garden.

Except for the banana peppers and one bell pepper, the container garden has been a bust.  The tomato plants are tall and strong, but they haven’t flowered out yet and I don’t guess they ever will.  The carrots, onions, and cucumbers didn’t make it.  The lettuce and cauliflower look very strong and hardy, but nothing yet there either.  But, we have banana pepper for days!

I have a sweet little new friend outside in the back yard.  One of the stray mama cats had kittens, but we can’t figure out which one had this little guy.  I named him Baby Smalls because he is so tiny.  He is the only kitten that has been friendly and not afraid of me, so he gets the royal treatment!  I bring him inside to feed him and I give him wet food since he is so little.  None of the other mama cats will nurse him and they aren’t very nice to him.  He is full of personality and marches right to the cabinet where I keep the cat food when I bring him in.  He’s very busy and doesn’t stay still for cuddles.

I also had an ER visit a couple of weeks ago.  My left calf started hurting really, really bad at work one day and just wouldn’t let up.  It felt like a bad cramp that would never go away.  I did some Googling and scared myself to death thinking it could be a blood clot.  Which, honestly, isn’t so crazy-sounding when you’re a heart patient. By the time bedtime rolled around, the pain was just excruciating.  All of our after-hours clinics were already closed, so I went to the ER at our local hospital.  I was seen immediately after checking in and the doctor was very kind.  He told me I did the right thing by coming in and they ran blood tests to check for clots.  The test came back negative and he told me it was just a muscle that wouldn’t relax.  They gave me a shot for pain and I was finally able to get some relief around 1 AM.  I felt fine for a few days afterwards, but the pain has started again.  A friend suggested these Salon Pas pain patches and they have helped tremendously.  I go to see my cardiologist at the end of this month, so maybe he can give me some ideas of what I can do for this.

Other than this, we are hanging in there!  It’s still hard to fight off the bad feelings I have about the future, but I am spending a lot of time in my Bible and praying for guidance.  I don’t like this new normal.  I am trying to make the best of it, but it sure is different.