My husband had a workplace party on Saturday night. His workplace was my workplace so I was looking forward to seeing friends and I did. The food was good and the drinks were even better. I drank something called a Lime in the Coconut which had lime juice, coconut, and pineapple juice, plus some rum. It was delicious and I drank two in no time and then I stopped because I don't like being drunk anymore (if I ever did) and I hate hangovers (I've always hated those).
It was so nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen in over a year, nurses, techs, and radiologists. A strange thing happened though, people kept asking me if I was enjoying my retirement and I told them yes, I was, some of them looked surprised. A couple of people asked me if I was coming back to work. No. I'm raising a 7 year old and that wears me out. I can't imagine working on top of that. We have enough money and I enjoy not having to rush all the time. Not to mention pottery:)
A friend of mine babysat Jack for us. We have never left him with a babysitter in the evening. If we had to go to something he would stay with grandma, or we wouldn't go. My friend took Jack to the park and got him ready for bed, and then got him into bed. Jack was sound asleep when we got home. In the morning Jack said to poppa, "I knew you'd come back!". Fuck me. He worried about it.
Pottery is still going well and we continue to learn so much from our new instructor. Yesterday I made a mug, probably the best mug I've ever made and it was easy to do because of things she has taught us. I suppose trying to make mugs for the last year and a half helped too. I've learned what works and what doesn't. But I am hopeful that this is the MUG, the one I can replicate, the one that is practical, and pretty. Fingers crossed.
Work continues in the garden. The pear tree is almost done with it's fruit and I have gathered most of it up, one tiny pear at a time. There is still lots of cleaning that needs to be done but I have a month to work on it, so I do a little at a time.
Jack is finding grade two much harder than grade one was. I'm hoping that's temporary. He is reading well which is wonderful but now he's being tested on his spelling. He can spell words phonetically but not in English. Of=uv for him. That seems to be getting him down, and the math is getting him down too. Last night he was telling me that they have to be able to count to 1000 and told me, "That would take like an hour!". We'll work on it. At least numbers follow a pattern. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that "x" was supposed to be a number, as in solve for "x". I was also an adult before I realized that "c'est ca" meant "that's it" or correct. Either I'm dense or the teacher did not convey the idea in such a way that I could understand it.
I still feel meh. My energy is back, some days, and other days there is still a piano tied to my ass. My cough is almost gone, except on Sunday when I was out with Katie at the mall. I coughed so long and so hard, she looked concerned. I was fine but I did buy some cough drops.
Jack at bedtime:)
It seems like school has become too academic. I know of the pressure on teachers and the system, the testing requirements, etc. but I also feel like kids are getting stressed about academics at too early an age. It took me a while to settle into retirement; I can't imagine working these days. I'm rarely ready to leave the house until late morning! Glad you had a good time at the work party. Sometimes they can be awkward.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about it and I did find the first six months difficult when I retired. I hung onto casual nursing for about eight months and then decided I was done.
DeleteParent teacher interviews are coming up soon, so maybe we'll get some more info. His teacher did tell me that he had been moved out of his pod and now sits beside her. Less distractions:)
"I knew you'd come back." Whoa. That's an iceberg of a statement, isn't it? But it's also a clear indicator of trust. Well done. Glad you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteVery much the tip of the iceberg. It seems so unfair that he has to deal with that kind of stress but as I tell him, nobody said life was fair.
DeleteI'm only now getting that idea across to my 33-year-old son, having not realized he (like me) expects life to be a cakewalk. Still learning, both he and I. You're wise to teach Jack early that challenges and hard times are part of living and don't mean your world's not as it ought to be. -Kate
DeleteThat relieved comment from Jack says so much about his life to date. So his trust in you is confirmed. I wish schools didn't pressure kids about learning. Adding anxiety is no help.
ReplyDeleteAnxiety never helps. I'm going to talk to him more about this tomorrow as there's no school tomorrow. It's a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It's the day the children were taken from the villages and homes. I can't even imagine how families coped with that loss, not to mention the children.
DeleteThat must have been a relief to return to a happily sleeping Jack, and knowing you can go out again when the occasion arises.
ReplyDeleteThere's no 'u' in forty? Well, there you go.
It was nice to go out and know he was safe and happy.
DeleteAh, the English language! The mishmash from everywhere and every time.
ReplyDeleteI think you should reassure him that English spelling makes very little sense, and it is because English is all full of old words that don't sound the way they did when they were first spelled, and words from Old English, old German, old and newer French, Latin, a little Greek, and wherever else we pick them up from, and they all kept their old spelling mostly. So I would encourage him to spell them phonetically first, and make sure he actually knows how they sound, and then try to enjoy the ridiculous game of how we actually write them down. There *are* a few rules but wait till he hits the o u g h words.
(I notice on Facebook quite a few people who can't spell a word but also who really don't know how it sounds, so their phonetic spelling is very hard to interpret. I would be all for switching to phonetic - - maybe Jack can be a pioneer!)
Now you have me wondering what the relationship is between of and off. They're not interchangeable but they certainly are friendly.
When do they start teaching French in Alberta schools? French is at least fairly consistent in spelling except for all the letters you don't pronounce.
So basically of and off used to be the same word
Deletehttps://www.etymonline.com/word/of
https://www.etymonline.com/word/of
DeleteBasically of and off used to be the same word...
I love how messy and old English is. I talked to his teacher and she said not to worry about the spelling, as his reading progresses, so will his spelling.
DeleteThere are French schools here, but in an English school, they can start in Grade 4 if the school has that program, otherwise probably not until grade 7 and up I think. We thought about French immersion briefly but there are already enough variables in his life and ours, French just seemed like one more variable that we didn't need right now.
Jack knew you were coming back enough to go to sleep. That says a lot for you as well as your babysitter friend.
ReplyDeleteShe's a good friend and loves children. Jack's known her for awhile now and she has cats, he loves cats too.
DeleteHad a bit of a giggle reading of=uv. I’m Australian and we have a very coarse accent. I was in Ireland recently and there were 10 Americans on our tour, one of them named Audrey. In Australia we say “Awww dree”, but Americans say “Are dree”, tickled my fancy. Marie, Melbourne, Australia
ReplyDeleteAccents are always so interesting to me. Thanks for leaving a comment.
DeleteI think we all honed in on Jack's "I knew you'd be back!" statement. It's probably good that you two get him a babysitter some times to show him that yes, you might go out but you will be back.
ReplyDeleteAnd why doesn't OF equal UV? Our language is really rather ridiculous and comes easier to some than others and it's frustrating for those for whom it doesn't.
We don't go out much in the evenings ever, both too tired, but it was nice to see everyone. To be honest the last five years have been so hard on Jack that I only feel comfortable leaving him with a babysitter now.
DeleteI love how messy English is; it's always interesting, never dull.
Jack :') I am glad you two got a night out and there is someone you and Jack can trust to babysit. English is confusing, counting to 1000 seems like a lot, I would hope no teacher will make everyone do that? Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteCounting to 1000 is part of the curriculum but they don't have to count to 100 in one go. I think it's more a matter of understanding the repeating patterns in numbers. We really only have 0-9 to deal with and all the other numbers, no matter how large or small come from those numbers.
DeleteIt was nice to get out, although we were home by 9pm I think:)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAre you planning to make a set once you have created the mug of your pottery dreams?
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed:)
DeleteDo you always dress like a Victorian governess when you put Jack to bed? And my-oh-my, how Jack has grown! He is a big lad for seven. His bedroom decor looks Dickensian.
ReplyDeleteI do usually dress like a Victorian governess, except when I'm gardening:)
DeleteIt took me a bit of time to get used to retirement, but now I enjoy it so much, and I smile a big wide smile when I see a school bus pass by filled with students. I am glad that you had a good time at the party as it is good to get out every now and then, and it sounds like Jack's babysitter is a good one.
ReplyDeleteI remember my sister telling me that her friend, who is an algebra teacher gave the kids a test. One of the questions was to "find x". A student raised her hand and pointed to that sentence. She said, "I don't get it..."x" is right here".
It took me almost a year to enjoy my retirement but I would not want to go back to work now. It's strange living off of savings though.
DeleteYeah, I'm wasn't great at math. I wish I'd had a tutor.