The cellphone blares its clarion alarm at 5:57 a.m. Why 5:57? I came up with that time awhile back, figuring out that it gave me three minutes to get up and shuffle to the bathroom, turn on the light and the radio, and catch the news as it starts at 6:00 a.m.
Today, though, I fall back on my "Sleeper Alarm" option. No, my cell phone doesn't really have that option. I swipe the face of the phone, wiping out the 5:57 call to rise, knowing that I set a back-up alarm to go off at 6:00 a.m. It goes off. I swipe the phone again and go back to sleep. The third alarm goes off at 6:15, and knowing it is the last alarm I set, I groan, roll over, and get out of bed. Should always make my bed immediately, but I didn't.
It is college class day, so I can't waste time. I shuffle to the bathroom, turn on the radio, and listen to the latest as I begin my morning routine. Unlike yesterday and the day before, I hear the weather is not causing any public school delays. I brush my teeth, get dressed, and head to the kitchen.
The coffee is set up, so I turn it on. The dishwasher is clean, but I ignore those dishes and pull out breakfast supplies. Eggs with some sauteed vegetables, a hot cup of coffee, and I glance at a few emails while I eat. Then I wake my student, and while he gets it in gear I make eggs for him as well.
The college class is a couple of hours away, so we enjoy some time together over Bible reading, Tale of Two Cities, and Gulliver's Travels. We've been working on these two books way too long, but we're getting much out of them using the Charlotte Mason methodology. We still haven't gotten to the Yahoo's yet, so I refuse to quit. Today's reading in Gulliver was so full of words we didn't know that I was glad to be reading it via Kindle -- a quick touch on the word gives a definition, if there is one. Gulliver has lots of made-up words, too, but today's reading also contained: ebullient, peccant, flatus, vertigos, purulunt, lenitives, aperitives, abstersives, palliaties, cephalagics, icterics, apophlegmatics, and more. I had to stop defining -- the teen boy was getting grossed out!
Hopped in the car and drove to the community college. Got there early, parked, and finished the last chapter we hadn't finished at home, then the student fleet-footed it to his class building. I wrapped myself in a blanket and opened my Kindle to the book and chapter I am working on for Small Group study Friday night. Okay, I also checked some email on my cell phone.
The student finished up and I drove closer to his building and picked him up. He was beaming. The instructor liked his writing assessment essay. That made me happy as well. I needed this English class for him as much as he needed it for himself.
- I have trouble assigning essays and sticking to due dates;
- My student has difficulty respecting my due dates;
- When I review his writing assignments I have difficulty deciding if I'm being too critical, not critical enough, and deciding how to grade.
We head home and stop at Starbuck's on the way. I buy him a beverage to celebrate the teacher's kind comments. Home again and a brief lunch break. Then the student struggles with Spanish and gets discouraged, struggles with Chemistry and gets discouraged, and works on his Algebra 2 lesson.
My bed's not made, my bathroom needs cleaning, and I'm trying to decide which dirt to tackle today. I grab a bucket and add Spic'n'Span and hot water.
Today I am washing walls and baseboards down the stairs. There are so many walls that need this,
but today I tackle the stairwell.
At 5:15 hubby gets home and I put away my cleaning supplies and transition to dinner preparation.
Dinner is a new chicken recipe I found for honey/lemon glazed garlic chicken. It's a good thing I am an experienced cook -- I notice the recipe calls for both minced garlic and garlic powder but does not call for honey. Hmmm. I skip the second garlic and use honey instead. Dinner takes longer than I'd hoped to get to the table.
We scarf dinner and head out to the Algebra 2 tutor. He's traveling for the next six weeks, so this session is really important to cover stuff to tide us over. The tutor covers imaginary numbers, college test-taking techniques, and factoring polynomials. Excellent session. I'm a bit concerned about getting through the next six weeks as the only instructor for Algebra 2, but what can you do? The tutor says we can email with questions.
We get home, and the student heads to his computer where friends have been waiting for him in cyberspace. I head to the kitchen, where my wonderful husband washed most of the dishes. I set the dishwasher up to start in two hours (in case someone decides to shower tonight) and set the coffee up ready to turn on in the morning. I head to the bedroom, put on jammies. While I'm there, I swish and swipe bathroom. brush my teeth, then go to my bed and straighten the covers, and then climb into bed. I'm beat and ready to turn out the light. It is 9:30 p.m. I say good night to my hubby, put on eye shades and ear plugs, and I'm out for the night.
What are your days like these days?
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