A Simple Woman's Daybook

Just for today.

Outside my window. At 8:08 in the morning the sun has been up for less than an hour. Low-hanging rain clouds are keeping it gray and gloomy. Thunder rumbled through earlier this morning and later today we are promised more storms, possibly severe. The storms will also drop our temperatures back into the normal-for-March range. 

The recent warmer days and rain have started the greening process and we are losing that blah, gray look that so embodies Pennsylvania throughout the winter months. My mother reports her crocuses have bloomed. So, we've survived "false spring" and see signs that "real spring" isn't too far off.

I'm learning. More than I ever wanted to about cyber schooling. With my daughter away for another 9 days, I am getting quite an education in how this all works and in what kids are learning these days. It's crazy. I took every English course my high school offered, read far above my age level all the way through school, and went to college as a journalism major. Helping a first grader with phonics should not be that hard. HA! Sounds and syllables are broken down and named in ways I have never heard of before. Personally, I think it is way more difficult than the "old-fashioned" way of learning to read. And the vocabulary words for a first grader? I'm having to Google the meanings for myself! 

Also, as I'm trying to get two kids with ADHD to focus on their work, I'm gaining a new level of respect for the teachers my own children (who both have ADHD) had and what they put up with, especially when they had more than one ADHD child in their classroom.

I'm enjoying. Even with all I have to do I'm finding that I'm really liking being at home. To get my full retirement benefits I have to work until I'm 67, but lately I'm thinking I might check at 65 and see if I think I can retire then. I know I'd take a hit in my monthly payments, the question is how much of a hit. At least I could get Medicare at 65 and working 3.5 more years sounds better than 5.5 more.

Things that give me joy. My kitty purring and "making dough" on my lap. Playing with my granddog's long Basset hound ears. Being the first person to dip into a new tub of butter or jar of peanut butter. A day with no pain. The smell of books. Rainy days. Hot showers with pretty smelling soap. Comfortable shoes. Doing crafts. Hugs.