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.
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.
Ah, 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.