What to Do...?

In my personal recent history, I can't remember having the time to literally sit and ponder what I wanted to do with my hours in the day...

My alarm was set for 8 a.m., but, alas, the sun did its normal morning creep-in-the-window act, and I got up around 7:30 (after trying to avert the sun's rays multiple times!). Still, it was a slow wake-up...and it was nice...

Coffee in the filter and water in the pot - press the button and 2 minutes later, voila! A steaming pot of hazelnut Dunkin Donuts coffee. Mmm... What a way to start off a lazy Sunday. I had this idea that maybe I would go to the Botanical Gardens (I have my yearly pass I need to start using), but it was going to be a hot one, so I decided I would wait until it cools down a bit. I think I made the right decision. With that idea out of mind, I checked my emails and ended up getting permission to go to this conference in Phoenix on the Daily 5 and CAFE - I emailed them and they are still accepting registrations. When my principal gave me the go-ahead, I literally jumped for joy. I am pumped! And what's even more awesome is that two girls from the Tucson ACE house are coming out for it. Woo hoo!

It was nearing 10 when I talked with my parents on the phone. I told my dad I was going to the grocery store - not sure what he heard, but he seemed very confused, so I repeated myself. He got it the second time around. Anyways, it was good to talk to them. I hung up the phone, grabbed my purse, and scooted myself right over to Safeway, where I found some great sales on things I wouldn't normally buy (e.g. hummus and bagel thins). Marisa called when I got home - she and Kathy were at a Trader Joe's (Shhh...they were in search of those chocolate-covered peanut butter filled pretzels) - so that sounded like a good idea to me. I left my phone charging on my bed (later to find that was a poor decision) and took a short trip up the road to Trader Joe's, where I purchased some pretzels, almond cookies, tortilla chips (to dip in my white bean chicken chili for my community meal on Tuesday), and vanilla bean cake mix.

When I got home, I had missed two calls on my phone - one of which was from Francisco (calling from Ecuador) - man! There was no number to call him back at, so I emailed him and said we'd better try again another day. His ears must have been burning this week because everyone - the teachers at school, the students, my parents, etc. - was asking about him. Ha ha.

All right - all of this happened before noon. I still had a good amount of time left to do something - anything! At one point, one of my good friends gave me a call, and it was good to chat with her for awhile. Then, I ended up revamping my social studies first unit on maps (the extending and refining and performance assessment parts) for a bit, and I also got a chance to pair up my students with Bobby's (4th grade HFCS) - our classes are going to be penpals! I planned out what I needed to print off at school, and I created a science quiz. Yep, it was quite a bit of school work, looking back on it, but it gives me time to play with tomorrow...

Before I knew it, 6 p.m. had rolled around, and I was off to the ACE house to meet up with them before heading to Mass at the ASU Newman Center. The best part was I ended up not having to drive all the way down to ASU. The other best part was that I think at least once a week I am going to try to carpool to school with Molly and Dan - it's gonna be great.

Plans for tomorrow? Well, there's a few must-dos, a couple may-dos, and hopefully some time to just relax. I'm thinking a nice short run before the heat (but not before the sun, although that would have rhymed better, eh?), breakfast, lesson plans in Teacherease computer system, and then lunch at First Watch (fresh fruit crepes and muffin, it has been too long!) before going to school. I hope to be home after that by the early afternoon and get some reading in and maybe a nap.

Right now, though, I'm going to eat a few more pretzels, and then I will join my housemates in the other room for a movie before I head to bed. Thank goodness for a Sunday that actually feels like a Sunday should - restful!