Day Five of 31 Days of Life: Stuck

I'm not sure why I chose this picture; I was scrolling through my photos, saw this, and clicked on it.
I am in the midst of a stuck day.  We had two couples over for dinner last night and I prepared all day for it.  I did not become stressed out and was done (except for hubby grilling steaks) and had snacks  out 15 minutes before they were due to arrive.  Before Abilify was added  to my daily meds, I could  not focus continually in a day and wasted a lot of time, energy, and sometimes tears. Now a little green pill helps me focus and not stress out.  Wonderful!
However, it does not take away the effects of fibromyalgia and that is what has me stuck today.  I 'm paying for not sleeping/resting all day yesterday like I usually do on Saturdays.  I put in 12 hour work days as a high school English teacher on 5-6 hours of sleep per night, so Saturday becomes my 'stuck' in pay up day---the day when chronic illness sufferers pay for the previous days of work and/or fun.  It's certainly a part of fibromyalgia as I witnessed with my own mother.  She taught me to work in the pay-up days so that I could have all the other days.  It does work, but that doesn't make it desirable.  In fact, it's sometimes a day of combating negative feelings and heart-felt wishes for being 'normal'.
Today I am fighting frustration because there is so much still to do before school begins again tomorrow and I have no energy.  I am stuck.  (I will go  take a nap so that I will have some energy to do other stuff the rest of the day.)  Oh, by the way, it was worth it!
 Click on this to access Kate's latest topic of 31 days of writing --- Kate Motaung's 31 Day Challenge.

Day 4 - Learn -Where I'm From

At the end of every year, I teach poetry.  I have tried to teach it at the beginning of the year, but students and I are still wary of each other.  Thus, I don't get unfettered results.  At the end of the year, we have both loosened up and that makes for prime ground from which poetry can take flight.

One  poem that I always have them do is the "Where I'm From" poem.  It's a format poem, but I permit them to take creative licence with it.  The results are 'eye-opening'.  The benefits are two-fold: they learn that they can write poetry and also learn about the roots in each of them.  I learn more about my students and get a rare glimpse into their family life.  I am always amazed at the outcome and all that I learn from it.

Here are five samples.  I hope you enjoy them.

31 Days of Writing

Five-minute Friday: New

  Newness of life.  The  easy association is the birth of a  baby.  But there are other times when we can feel that it's all new.
 I  remember when I  went back to college at age 39.  It was not only new in terms of my age, but also in terms of technology and the manner in which things were done.  I remember having to email my paper to my biology professor.  I was 41 and totally lost in science.  (I rued that decision made back in freshman year not to take my science courses  -  I was 40 when I took chemistry.)  It seems so easy now, but back then it was new. I had a computer but was 'all thumbs' with it though a friend had set me up on a computer and set up an email account for me. However, I  didn't know how to attach a document and then mail it.  It was a fiasco.
The other day the other English teacher was telling me how the kids taking the dual-college-credit course did not know how to email an attachment and that most did not have an email account.  I could relate although considering their  technological savvy, I  was surprised.
Now we have i-pads at school and the younger teachers are doing all kinds of things on them.  For me though, it is still new.
Five-Minute Friday and 31 Days of Writing

View

View: I featured this window yesterday.  It was open and had no furniture or drapes.  Today I feature the view from it.  This was at the beginning of spring as you can see with the forsythia bush.  We have a set of three windows that we have utilized with trunk and a cat's perch.  The view is one of birds' feeders.  This is completely different from the view at the other house.  It was out on a dilapidated building in the front and an auto body shop on the back---not so great.  In fact my grandson once asked why we lived in a junk yard (the  cars at our neighbor's waiting to be repaired.)
That view colored my view of everything in my life.  I was sliding down into a depression through which I looked at life.  I finally told my husband to move me anywhere with an extra room and away from the body shop or I was going to  break down.  He agreed to the farm house( which he had been doubting although I was open to a smaller, less expensive  house on another street).  My view is colored now with trees, birds, deer, and regular houses (across the way). And my view of life is much better.
31 Days