If we were having coffee…I would welcome you to a dreary New Jersey afternoon. The rain today has been on and off, just as the weather people predicted and the cloud cover is about ten layers thick. Sounds like an excellent day to curl up with a cup of something hot and have a chat with a friend.
How has your week been? Did you have good weather? Did you hang out with friends or family? Have you had any life events, good or bad? I hope you’ve had a sufficient number of smiles and laughs in your week. I know sometimes that’s hard to accomplish, but it also makes all the difference.
If we were having coffee…I would tell you that my week at school has mostly revolved around preparing our classroom and our students for the testing that will be starting on Monday. That being said, I think that I’ll skip any further mention of the subject lest I veer off into a tangent. Sufficient to say that I am sad for the children who are dreading this interruption and for the teachers who will need to work their real lessons around this testing for the next month. Ick.
On a brighter note, I want to tell you about Martin. Martin is a second grader who recently came to us frustrated and unhappy and who has, in the last month, soared to heights that he never knew he could. Basically, he’s the kind of student that makes me love my job. Anyway, Martin has a habit of randomly throwing questions at me while we’re working….
“Mrs D, what’s your favorite movie? What kind of dogs do you like? If you could fly, where would you go?”
Stuff like that. Yesterday he said, “Mrs D, what’s your favorite song?” Since I have a lot of favorite songs depending on the day, I just responding by saying,
“I’m not sure. What’s your favorite song?”
“Well,” says Martin, “I like a lot of songs from ‘Nirvana’ but mostly I like the ‘Beatles,’ especially their ‘White’ album.” Then he went back to gluing his spelling words onto his work sheet. I swear this kid makes my day. I can’t wait to hear his next question!
If we were having coffee…you would have noticed that we were joined for a bit by my mother-in-law, the amazing M.J. who was out running some errands and just stopped by to drop off some cash for Miss Dee. We have begun our prom dress shopping and M.J. insists on contributing each year. My kids really have great grandparents and Miss Dee, being the only girl, tends to get spoiled a bit. My daughter, like myself is rather cheap frugal, and never takes these gifts or their generous nature for granted so she will truly appreciate it and, of course, will call her grandmother to thank her after she gets home from work.
Speaking of that, you may have noticed that my house is rather quiet today. Shh!….Hear it?….silence. Miss Dee is working till 5:00 and the Hubby and Mr D are at an afternoon Philadelphia Flyers game and won’t be home till dinner. I was just saying to M.J. (as I’m sure you heard :),) that there was a time when the children were young that I could count on one hand the number of times I was actually alone in the house. It was a big deal and I usually got really excited about it. Now, the times they are a changin’ and I find that more and more there is no one home but me. Hubby and I have also been doing a lot of “just couple” stuff again., which is very nice but also a little strange. I see an empty nest in our near future. Oh, boy. Time to suck it up and adjust.
If we were having coffee….I might notice that the afternoon has run away without me while we were enjoying ourselves. I’m sure there are many other things that I should be doing like getting together some information for my “A to Z Challenge” or even vacuuming the cat hair off the sofa, so I suppose we should rinse out our mugs and put them on the drainer till next time.
Thanks so much for stopping by and, as you know, this post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by the wonderful Diana at Part Time Monster. Be sure to stop by to see what everyone else has been up to.
The View from the Porch 
I have had much going on lately with two pets needing medical attention lately, so taking time now to catch up on my reading……Hmmmm, favorite song/s. That does make one think. While I have several I love, I would have to say my two favorites are The Rose by Bette Midler, and Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks (some may know it as White Winged Dove). Just something about those songs……………As for my day on 4/2, I am glad to say it was a gorgeous sunny day here, though a tad windy. Winds of 25 mph. That’s okay. For whatever reason I love windy days. I took the day to attend a horse show some friends of mine were competing in, and thoroughly enjoyed the time outdoors, though it was a bit tricky for the horses. They are less inclined to like windy days. 🙂
Both good song choices. I’ve always liked the song “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks. I would imagine that horse shows on a windy day might be more challenging depending what direction the wind is blowing! 😉
It can be more challenging, but mainly, particularly given horses cannot see directly in front of them, any movement can cause them to worry about something coming to get them. Place them in an unfamiliar place, with lots of wind, therefore lots of branches or bushes blowing (or flags on a jump) and they can tend to freak out about what is moving near them. That’s mostly why windy days can be tricky. Everything is moving therefore everything might be a prey animal.
Wow, never thought about it like that. I can see how it would be very unnerving for the poor horses.
Martin makes me happy. Nirvana and the Beatles White Album…Kid is going places. 🙂
Hope that you had a good weekend! Mine absolutely ran away with me because of the birthday stuff and A to Z and the coffee share publicity tha happened Thursday, but I’m finally beginning to get caught up.
I have weekends like that too but at least it was all good crazy! And yes, Martin is on his way places.
As always, it was fun to spend a leisurely afternoon with you. I will go check out your A to Z posts.
Thanks so much for stopping by!!
A second grader who’s into Nirvana and the Beatles? That’s an interesting fm little boy. It’s sad what they’re doing with this mandated testing. Sad for the kids and the teachers.
I really enjoyed that “cup of coffee” with you. Like your school, we are knee deep in state testing called Smarter Balance, last week and the next two. I feel it truly is an unnecessary interruption and hurts everyone involved. Also like you, my son is a senior in high school and is home less and less now and next fall Tom and I will be empty nesters. There’s a sadness about it but I do look forward to spending time with my husband. Have a wonderful week!😄
It sounds like we have quite a bit in common. Good luck with your week. We will have to meet for coffee again next weekend and compare notes! 😊
Wonderful to hear about a the good side of teaching. Martin sounds like a joy. Thanks for the coffee. Enjoy your week and hope you can come to terms with being an empty nester.
Thanks for the coffee and chat. Martin sounds like a real joy!
He is, just like the rest of them. They keep me going!
What a lovely coffee break 🙂
Thank you. I’m glad you came by!
Martin sounds wonderful. Kids like him are the shiny parts of teaching.
Probably best we don’t have coffee today as I am still suffering from a cold (passed on by the Eldest Son) and I’d best not spread it around. At least it’s the Easter school holidays so I have time to recover before work ramps up again.
Yes, the kids are what makes it so enjoyable. Sorry to hear you are under the weather. That’s kind of a stinky way to spend your break. Hope your eldest is pampering you! 😉
Yes, helping children is rewarding especially when it that special child. It is hard too believe that base all starts tomorrow. Looking forward to the summer. The Seattle Mariners is my team even though they haven’t done much. I will catch their score on my Kindle. I have problems seeing or hearing .
That’s too bad. I enjoy watching baseball and we usually try to go to a few games each season. I really miss watching my son play high school base ball. Those games were fun.
Tomorrow are the first games. Will keep track fvthe scores.
Second grade and he likes the White album? Nevermind Nirvana (spelling and pun intended), unless he’s a Bungalow Bill and Rocky Racoon type of person, that’s not the most kid friendly Beatles’ album.
After an OK start to the day the pouring rains came. But then it cleared up and it’s quite nice. Of course we are going to have snow tomorrow morning…
I don’t even want to consider snow! I’m not very familiar with the White album or Nirvana for that matter but there is the possibility that Martin was pulling my leg! 😊
Nirvana’s big hit album was named “Nevermind”, no spaces. I do like it, but i can’t take it for too long. The White Album is the Beatles’ most eclectic. The didn’t really play together as a band and pretty much had 4 studios running and put out a lot of music, so it was a double album. Some is as good as anything they did, some is strange (Revelation 9), and some is as bad as anything they did, worst than most. And maybe he was pulling your leg, but where did he get the names?
You just never know where kids pick things up. You wouldn’t believe the stories I’ve heard! 😳
If we were having coffee, I’d ask for caffeinated coffee, because we were childless last night and I mojitoed and dined and well, we were up into the wee hours. I could have used a nap, but Moo had her haircut appointment at 12:30 and our friend the stylist stayed on til 3, just visiting. We had a lovely time, but now I think it’s too late for a nap.
I’ve been enjoying spring break, no alarms. It’s been FABULOUS!
Stories about kids like Martin make me miss teaching. That is wonderful, and I love to read about children finding success and showing so much promise. Wonderful stuff.
Yes, that’s what makes all the other nonsense worth it. How nice to have a stylist come to your home!! I would love that, and personally, I think it’s never too late for a nap. Enjoy your last few alarm free days.