A Compliment That Made Me Cry (or, I Have No Dignity But A Lot Of Fun)

New Year's Eve was totally low key here. We don't normally do much of anything (other than drink wine and champagne and watch the ball drop and realize how old and out of touch we are when we can't recognize any of the entertainment), but this year was particularly nothing. We dressed up and had dinner, and then promptly pajama'd. We read and watched the ball drop, the sad sad ball in the most empty Times Square I've ever seen, which was good, because pandemic, but still weird. Bryce said they should have made the ball a coronavirus, which was a dark moment but I forgave him. He read his math book at midnight and I got my kiss and we finished our bubbly and went to bed. 

But BEFORE the ball-dropping, math-reading, midnight-smooching, and champagne-guzzling, I did something different. 

I had what can only be described as a "weird selfie war" with my best friend's 9 year old daughter. It started with me just sending weird selfies to my best friend, and then I received an eye up close that was definitely her daughter's. And then it got weirder and weirder from there. 

I will share with you my side of the selfie war. Everything I did, she returned in her own way, like a strange dance circle competition at a wedding or a prom. 

The highly unflattering and creepy selfie that started it all.

Followed by this one, which I dubbed "Pretty New Year's Princess." I got one with a Happy New Year bead necklace from the 9-year-old in return. Also my best friend said, "Insane Asylum Princess, maybe"

Had to follow up "Insane Asylum Princess comment with something real weird. Don't mind my pores and dark eye circles. She sent a similar nose-forward picture.

This was titled, "Like my nose ring?" I then got one with the Happy New Year bead necklace as a nose ring. :)

I was hiding in this one. It is not a bad picture all things considered, ha.

Sparkly eyeliner. Yup, got the same thing back with the Happy New Year bead necklace!

Tried for a silly scary one, and the hair-in-the-face I got back was truly terrifying and a bit too much like the girl from "The Ring."

I was not going for glamour at all, obviously. Moustache selfie, returned with a mustache and long 9-year-old hair beard.

Upping the ante, this was Bryce's idea. DOUBLE OCTOPUS. The one before this that I can't find had the orange octopus on my head and a orange 3-d printed thingamabob in my hand, I got a blanket on her head and an orange lego thing in response. Pretty clever!

Then I went feral. She followed up with one just like this, but from the stack of flattened cardboard boxes to be recycled. RAWR

Then she got fancy and sent me her doing a handstand, and was like "BEAT THAT!" So Bryce and I mocked up a handstand on the floor, because I'M FORTY-FOUR AND COULD NEVER DO A HANDSTAND. Pretty clever mockup, no?

She won. This is me laughing after she sent me a video of backflips, and I sent her a video of me basically rolling around on the floor and pretending to run while lying on the floor, and I couldn't stop laughing, and then she sent back her version of my floor-rolling, with a somersault-backflip grand finale. SHE WON.

It was insanely fun. I cannot believe I just shared that handstand photo, but I draw the line at the rolling around on the floor video. There was a lot of belly and Bryce made a farting sound to make it seem like I tooted when I rolled over, which was hilarious, but not necessary to put on the internets. (Is any of this necessary? Nope.)

The next day, I talked to my best friend, who was still talking to me after this display via text/video/video call, and I thanked her for also doing a video call with me a day earlier so I could see her and talk with her kids and husband (who is also my friend from college). 

And then she made me cry.

How? 

Well, a couple years ago we were named guardians in the unlikely event that she and her husband passed at the same time, which is an awesome responsibility and an amazing honor, one that you hope never actually comes to pass (and is a lot of trust, since there are three kids!). I have been dubbed "the crazy sort-of-aunt, right?" by her kids, and they call us Jessica and Rice. We send them Christmas presents from Jessica and Rice. Rice is all in on this. 

So when she said, "You know, we don't plan on dying at all, but it's nice to know that if we did, our kids would have people who really GOT them." 

Cue tears that I hid until I got off the phone. What an insane compliment. And yeah, I love her quirky kids. Obviously it's not at all the same as having our own, but it's wonderful to have kids we can be silly with and maybe, when this stupid pandemic is over, can do Camp Jessica and Rice and give my best friend and her husband some alone time while their kids go nuts at our house sometime. 

It felt good to know that even though I don't have kids, I really do "get" kids, even ones who aren't my students. I think this might go down as one of the best New Year's Eves, ever.

#Microblog Mondays: The Christmas Books

Every year for Christmas and my birthday, Bryce gifts me with books that he has hand-selected with the help of various lists, hoping that they are books I've never read and may not have heard about before. 

This year, my haul from Bryce was TEN books: 

I am so excited, it seems to be a really well-curated haul (they usually are, but these in particular seemed perfect for the times we're in!). I am also sad to say that there are books he's gifted me previously that I haven't read yet, so I am now reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison because that was a pick a year or so ago that just hadn't made it to the top of my TBR pile yet. BUT, first I read three (although one is cheating) of the books gifted above during break: 

1) Notes On A Case of Melancholia or A Little Death - this is a wordless picture book but probably (definitely) not for the small children, about Death who is frustrated that he can't kill this therapist and then opens up about his disappointment in his progeny who apparently just wants everyone to smell flowers. Not giving anything away, it's delightful and very Edward-Gorey-like. This is the cheating one. Do you "read" a book with no words?

2) A Game of Fox and Squirrels - This is a young adult, really closer to middle grade, novel that mixes reality and fantasy, in a slightly less disturbing way than Pan's Labyrinth. The main character and her sister have been removed to a family resource foster care situation with her aunt following an incident that revealed her parents' abuse, and there's also a charming-not-charming fox and some (maybe?) helpful squirrels. It was good but also painful to read. 

3) Why not try to end 2020 with reading short stories by Brian Evenson, Song for the Unraveling of the World? I didn't quite make it, it was my first book finished in 2021 (not thinking about that too hard), and it was SPECTACULAR. Excellent science-fictiony-horror that sometimes defied classification. Really great collection. 

SO MUCH GOOD READING ahead. It's great to have something to look forward to! 

Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!

#MicroblogMonday: Happy New Year, Lady Doctor

No one loves going to the gynecologist. I truly have a gynecologist and not an OB/GYN -- I was thrilled to find a doctor who does not see any pregnant patients, since one doctor I had towards the end of our fertility process had an office that was a shrine to motherhood (all the paintings and statues were of giant pregnant bellies and women nursing, which is actually a small percentage of a woman's lifelong experience at her OB/GYN), which was all a bit much for me to swallow. 

This was my annual exam, which apparently I haven't had since the hysterectomy. I appreciate that they do an internal ultrasound to check out my ovaries, since I am terrified that the remnants of my nonfunctioning reproductive system will try to kill me someday. 

Overall, it was a positive visit, full of good dark humor but no scary results. And a moment where I forgot how gowns work and tried to wear the paper lap "blanket" until I realized the gown was on the back of the chair thing and tried to unfold it. It wouldn't unfold. The damn thing was more of a paper bolero jacket. What the hell is the point of that? I guess it's why they give you the lap blanket, to try and cover the massive amounts not covered by the crop top boob flap vest. Ugh. 

Until next year, Lady Doctor! 

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy! 

2020 Goal Reflections

New Year's Eve is a particularly good time to look back on the year and reflect--what did we do? What were our goals? Did we meet them? Last New Year's, Bryce and I wrote down our goals for 2020 in my under-used bullet journal. 

I just reread them and HAHAHAHA'd and then put my head down on my desk, dejected. 

Then I remembered, "oh yeah, we made those goals PRE-PANDEMIC." 

I have to be kind and recall, the me who wrote those goals, many of which are not fulfilled, had NO IDEA that only three months into the year everything would become very, very stressful and "normal" would become relative. So forgiving myself all the things that were left undone or completely abandoned is reasonable. 

Even if they aren't on the list, I want to think on the things I did achieve this past year. That DESPITE a global pandemic and DESPITE a very not-normal world and DESPITE a lot of stress, fear, and anxiety...I did manage to get some shit done.

HOUSE
1) I expanded the front hill garden on the right side. 2019 me wanted to attack the giant bramble hill on the left, but 2020 me knew that was unrealistic. But I am pretty proud of how the hill garden grew. Hard to see it all, but there were so many pretty switchgrasses (Ruby Slippers, Shenandoah, Cheyenne Sky), mistflower, and ferns (including a painted fern called Godzilla, that will apparently grow to be nearly 3 feet tall, which sounds amazingly prehistoric and I might have to get a dinosaur garden sculpture for it).

2) I created a whole new garden space, my "birdbath garden," which is right out my office window. Turned out to be a key spot as I spent A LOT MORE TIME at my desk in front of that window this past year. There were annual Black and Blue salvias,  red lobelia,  verbena bonariensis,  liatris (well, one got to flower this year, the rabbits beheaded the rest), and a new butterfly bush. I saw so many butterflies, hummingbirds, and even a hummingbird moth.

 

3) ANOTHER new/expanded garden space! This is on the hill going up the side of the house from the driveway, and started with a boatload of daffodils I planted in the spring. It doesn't look super impressive since it's Year 1, but there's narrowleaf mountain mint,  helenium,  pink lobelia,  astilbes galore,  dwarf bleeding heart,  purple verbascum, and campanula. Then I put in some coreopsis since it did so well in my corner garden, but we'll see what comes back! Always nice to have new garden space.

 

 

4) We painted the house a lovely dark color and replaced the siding on the "weather side" of the house. We painted our front door a fun butternut squash orange that makes me happy every time I see it. Also, a small thing that made a huge difference was replacing the door in our bedroom to a tiny deck that turned out to be grandfathered and not particularly structurally sound (plus the source of a giant yellowjacket nest IN OUR WALL that you COULD HEAR, a favorite space of wasps, and an area with absolutely brutal sun in the summer) with a window and no deck. Sooooo much better. Can't find a "before" picture, but it was a door with a window and a broken seal, and it was half the glass size. 

 

 

 

 5) Bryce made that campsite area behind our house, and then we worked together to clear up the pond a bit and get it even more campy! 

 

WORK

1) So many of the things I had on my list were impacted by the pandemic. HOWEVER, I did become Special Ed Lead Teacher for my building, which was a goal of mine and came to pass. A bit of a trial by fire, being lead teacher for the first time in a pandemic with hybrid model school, but I guess if I can do it now, I can do it anytime! I have no desire, NONE, to ever be an administrator, but I do enjoy being a teacher leader. 

2) I did join the Diversity Council, and have done a lot of diversity and equity work in my building. Including being the point person for the apparently very controversial Black Lives Matter In Schools t-shirts and support days on the 19th of the month, which landed my district in the news and had some back and forth before the district-level administration wisely concluded that teachers wanting to participate in this county-wide conversation celebration were looking to support students and build awareness, and not looking to attack kids of police officers or teach kids that the police are racist or go marching down the hallways shouting "No Justice, No Peace." For the love of all that is holy, it was a hot mess but we worked through it and have lots of good work that we're doing. I got a fun catalog full of amazing Black History stuff (my favorite is a t-shirt that you can put your school's name on that says, "Black History Happens EVERY DAY: Learn, Live, and Celebrate the Legacy") and looked to see how come it came to me and it was addressed to "___ ____ Middle School Black History Program Director." Which is NOT my title but was pretty damn cool that someone saw the catalog and said, "yeah, that needs to go to Jess."

3) A teacher colleague and I started a Social Justice Club that is limping along (hard to get a new club going when kids are in school 2 days a week but we're trying!). 

4) I haven't yet had a nervous breakdown due to the stress of pandemic teaching. A small thing, but an important one. Sadly I think the "yet" is an important modifier, as cases rise and this new variant makes itself known I am getting more and more nervous. 

FITNESS

1) Note it doesn't say "weight loss." I'm going for strong, which is good because the pandemic stress goes straight to my belly. I was AWESOME at doing virtual Pilates classes 2-3x per week, every week, all the way through to the summer. The summer even saw me able to do outdoor classes at the new Mobile Studio, an open-air trailer. I love how strong Pilates makes me feel. I hate how once school started, it became VERY HARD to keep up with it. I was so tired. The showering when I get home kind of sucks away the motivation I have to do anything else after, because why shower after a long day of walking COVIDy halls if you can't immediately put soft, cozy pajamas on and try to relax a bit before doing more school work? However, since I was sucking at doing it, I did jump on an opportunity to do semi-private in person lessons at my teacher's in-home studio, which she cleans and sanitizes to hospital grade, keeps the windows open, has an insane air filtration system, and never has more than 2 established, known clients at a time, always at least 10 feet apart and masked. At first I was super nervous, but it felt SO GOOD to get back on a Reformer, and unlike the online classes, I felt too guilty to skip  because a) I didn't want to lose money, b) I didn't want to screw her over if she was being nice and wasn't going to dock me, c) sometimes I just don't sign up for the online classes because I know I'll be tired, which then becomes self-fulfilling. This has been a bit of a gateway drug of sorts to get me back into the swing of things, and now I'm doing classes more regularly(ish). 

2) We're walking a lot, but mostly on the weekends. Because of the whole shower situation. And break has been great for long walks. I actually did so much better with fitness when we were on lockdown and all virtual, because while that was stressful in different ways, I didn't have all the protocol maintenance to help us feel safe at home to contend with. 

3) SUPER UNDER THE WIRE since we did it today, but we bought an exercise bike. Apparently, you can get really nice magnetic upright bikes that fold up. We just need something for cardio when we can't walk. Or when we want to do something different. I am excited, because I did the bike at the gym (although preferred the elliptical, but those are BEASTS to have at home), and when we stopped going to the gym (you will NOT find me in a gym-gym during this pandemic, no way) I missed that cardio part. Also I read my kindle on the equipment, so that will give me a 2-for-1! 

WRITING

1) Well, I sucked sucked sucked ass on this one. I don't know why I am so scared to branch out, to put things out into the greater world. Still haven't done it. Did more research on places to submit and stuff like that, but ultimately I chickened out. And it felt like more of a fail because of the whole "oh, pandemic, SO MUCH TIME to do that thing you've always wanted to do!" but then I forgive myself because THERE WASN'T ACTUALLY THAT KIND OF PRODUCTIVE TIME. Being in an anxiety state all the time kind of makes it difficult to do new and exciting things. 

2) I did keep blogging, and I'm trying to be more consistent about it since I love this so much. I really, really try not to fall behind but it's been sooo hard with all the stress of school. 

3) I have written some pieces, some stuff, and I'm trying to get in the habit of priming that pump and writing every single damn day, apart from this space. I love it so much, and I don't understand why I keep choking on it. Sigh. 

VACATION

Obviously we didn't take any vacations or anything, didn't get to see family who live out of state, and have had minimal adventures. We did discover a ton of local trails, many walking distance. We had our campfire nights, and Bryce is cooking up a storm. But no Scotland, no Washington State, no Maine, no California, no Texas. A lot of Pinterest travel. A lot of fantasizing about having a tiny house somewhere off grid but yet with a flushing toilet (I really want to like the idea of composting toilets, but I just can't get over how like a litter box it is). Looking up places to hike all over the world once this is over. I did read 91 books this year, so that was like many mental vacations.

When all is said and done, it was a pretty good year despite everything else that happened around us. We are surviving, maybe even thriving (even though it is exhausting and sometimes my job feels like a form of Russian Roulette). We managed to have fun and do stuff that made us happy even as it felt like the world was burning. 

 

I think, though, that I am going to make some very, very low-key goals for 2021. Nothing too crazy. I can always try to overshoot. (But not that whole Shoot-for-the-moon-even-if-you-miss-you'll-land-among-the-stars bullshit. No, no you won't. You will fall back into the atmosphere and burn up. Womp-womp...)

Happy New Year's Eve, may you be able to (safely) celebrate the end of this year and hope for a better one ahead.

The New Tree

 Well, we did it. The artificial tree is up, and I have to say that I LOVE IT. It's not quite the same as a "real" one, but it has: no needles everywhere, no sticky sap giving me hives, no fear of cat death from tree water lapping, no wondering where to put it when it's done, no lingering guilt over sanctioned tree-murder... and for positives, it HAS A REMOTE for the lights, which sparkle like stars, it fits ALL our ornaments, it's bigger than any tree we could safely transport in our cars (7.5 feet tall!), and it can live in the attic. I thought I would be all grudgingly okay with a fake tree, but man, I feel all in on it, even though the branches feel somewhat like mascara wands. 

I thought I'd share some of my favorite ornaments. Sadly, we couldn't find my puffin ornament (it's SOMEWHERE, I just don't know where), and this is not exhaustive, but here's the ornaments and stories that go with them: 

Love this book-toting mouse. Saw it a year ago and toyed with giving it away but couldn't part with her!

This is the newest, a Danforth Pewter Snowflake Bentley 2020 ornament. Trying to make this a tradition. Also love the owl peeking from the back.

This is also new, from our administration at school and the Tech teacher, who churned out one of these FOR EVERY STAFF MEMBER. Nice, right?

A beautiful hand-painted owl

Another owl, with slightly evil eyes and apparently placed where it can remind me that the tree has joinery. Hmmph

This was part of a set from Target within the last couple years, the rest is a bluebird in a scarf and an owl, but this reminds me of BingBong from Inside Out. So fun and also terrifying.

Speaking of terrifying, this was a gift to Bryce last year -- his very own Cthulu blown glass ornament! Hilarious, a Lovecraft Ancient Evil One on our tree, watched over by the fox that goes with the owl up above.

Beautiful, woodsy new home ornament. And a violin!

Bryce loves a woody tree car, and we have them hidden around the house all season (pillows, pewter ornaments, etc). So old-fashioned.

This is special, it was from the family of a young man with autism who I taught for three years in a unique situation where we were 1:1, when he was 15-18. This was the last year.

Also special, flowers from my grandmother's funeral. I love that she always has a spot on the tree.

Ahhh, Cape May! Used to go there in summer with my best friend, her mom, and her aunt, until she started having kids and I started not-having-kids. Someday we'll go back!

These are super special: 

These are each part of sets that my best friend bought me in 2006, sort of new-start ornaments. I had lost a lot of ornaments when I left my first husband. There was a box when I went to pick up stuff but I didn't feel safe or comfortable going inside the house formerly known as mine, so I had to be fine with whatever was there and chalk the rest up to loss. Christmas 2005 was pretty much a disaster as my marriage imploded spectacularly with the revealing of horrid secrets right before Christmas, and my dad whisked me away to L.A. so I could be somewhere totally new. So my first Christmas, sort of on my own (I was already dating Bryce at this point, but just, and living in my parents' house they'd bought for retirement), I got to have sets of brand new ornaments. I cried my eyes out because it was such a meaningful, thoughtful gift. And they go on the tree every year! 

There's about a zillion more ornaments with stories, but seeing as how it's supposed to be Microblog Monday, I'll stop here (which is still over the rules, sigh). 

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!

Creating Holiday Happiness

In a world where everything is filled with doom and gloom and terrible news and isolation and fear, I want to create some joy, dammit. 

I need to. 

I have been feeling really, really low lately. The cumulative impact of the pandemic is just weighing heavily. Teaching in person in a pandemic with soaring numbers and no testing and a film of rosy denial settled all over school is insanely stressful. I worry about getting sick. I worry about getting Bryce sick. I don't see anyone else, so I don't have to worry about that, but with the information out about possible long term cognitive impacts of the virus, I am TERRIFIED of getting it and also passing it to Bryce. He has a special brain. I like to think I do, too, but his mathy sciencey PhD-y brain is kind of our (gluten free) bread and butter. It makes me want to vomit and it makes me very upset to think that the job I absolutely love could change our lives forever in such a negative way. 

So, back to the idea of this post -- JOY, not further doom spiraling. 

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. I love sending out cards, those photo cards that typically are covered in children. I love finding presents for people that I hope they absolutely love, and wrapping those presents in fancy ways. 

This year, we did a photo card again (we have one for every year since we were married, which is a fun little time capsule) but did not do a photo shoot. We did "photos of the pandemic" that we took ourselves because that's the kind of year this is. It wasn't funny or silly like previous years, although we could have done pictures of us in pajamas or business-up-top-and-cozy-bottoms. I firmly believe that my family of two can have these photo cards and illustrate that families come in different sizes. I get an insane amount of joy putting these together and sending them out, and then looking at each year (I have a box with now 12 years of cards).

 Here is the 2020 card:

 

I don't know why the text came out so insanely tiny on the back. But maybe it just makes it an extra challenge, like an eye test for the holidays. 

We don't have a tree yet. I am still mildly resentful about having to pick one up, by myself, at Home Depot last year. It had to be small so I could pick it up myself and shove it in the back of my Subaru, and neighbors who happened to be there helped me get it in too, but it was worth it to have an actual tree in the house. And, I guess, to save a somewhat scraggly last minute tree that ended up looking lovely in our living room, even from the deck outside: 

I didn't want to go get a sad tree by my lonesome this year. I wanted Bryce to have to get it, or go with me. But there was nowhere we felt comfy going, and so this weekend Bryce ordered our very first artificial pre-lit tree. It's 7 1/2 feet tall, which is the tallest tree we've ever had, and it is being delivered tomorrow. I have been assured that it's the environmentally-friendly option, that it will last year after year after year, but it still makes me sad that it's not real. Probably it will make me less sad when I'm not constantly watering it, sweeping up dead needles, freaking out that the cat may drink the tree water and die (not sure that's actually a thing), or worrying about fire hazards. And of course, not worrying about where in our yard to dump it when it's done. That always seems wasteful, although I like to think that putting it somewhere in the scrub brush area of our property it provides a habitat for...something. 

Otherwise, I've decorated up the inside, and even splurged on some new decorations for a spot I've been dying to decorate: 

Bryce has since put some fairy lights behind "Merry Christmas," which is lovely and cozy.

I guess I do have a little tree, but can't put any presents under it. 

Love our mantel decorations, including the card I received twice from the same friend that always has a place of honor in the middle.

The dining room side of the fireplace. Not sure if you can see that the little black owl statue on the right has a Santa hat on.

  

The world's tiniest reindeer pulls a ginormous sleigh, while I tempt fate with a zillion tiny fires.

And of course, our woodland critter countdown -- every day we pick a new critter from the bag. It's such a fun ritual!

The outside got a wreath courtesy of my mother-in-law: 

Lit at night(ish)

Iced in snow during the day.

I felt like we needed more. So I went out and decorated our skeletal bushes: 

And our pine tree out front:

 

And even our mailbox: 

I feel this overwhelming need, in a time where everything is so dismal, to spread joy and happiness everywhere I can. To make the magic of the holidays something special for a couple of 40-somethings without kids. Everyone deserves some magic!