Relief

Today was the day... I finally saw the chiropractor. My back was out of alignment in one place, right where I knew it was. Oh the relief having it adjusted. It felt wonderful. To get my muscles to release some of the tension they put a electronic pulse thing on my back with heat. That felt fantastic. I went home and pulled my old mattress off and put my new mattress on (without straining my back). I think I will sleep an amazing sleep tonight. Which is good, because back to school night is in a couple  nights.

I have to have my classroom "mostly" put together and my bulletin board up by then. I have been putting off doing my bulletin board because hanging paper up on in while stapling doesn't feel great with a sore back. So I have that to do, some odds and ends to put away, and student name tags and welcome packets.  There are other things that need to be done but we are required to be there all day Thursday and Friday so some of the things can wait until then.  I am always amazed that they require us to be there on certain days to work. There isn't one single teacher that hasn't been there before then getting things done. It seems like overkill to require it. The first day we do have meetings for a couple of hours in the morning.

Our new administrator. It is interesting so far to see that she is taking input from individuals but addressing things to the whole group and putting ideas up for a vote. It is less of a dictatorship with input only from the special ones. It completely changes the dynamics.  So that is a good thing. We shall see how the rest of the year goes. Our administrator told me positions would be coming open to be a mentor teacher and she thought I should apply. It was flattering to be asked but I do not think I will. I promised myself that this year I would be involved a little less and focus more on my own classroom. I feel a lot less stress when I make my own classroom my priority. Mentor-ship is something our district DOES NOT always provide and I am really glad they decided to offer it this year. It can take up a lot of your own free time working with another teacher. I feel like I have a lot of my own new learning to put into my classroom this year. I want to focus more time on quality lesson planning.

I was in the grocery store one evening this weekend. I live in a rural community. The nearest civilization is about 3 1/2 hours away. You learn to adapt your shopping based on that. A good example is buying produce through BountifulBaskets.org . A neighboring state that has kind of a "banana belt" has started a produce stand during their harvest season that has some delicious produce. There are also certain things I order online. Walmart,com has a grocery section where an order of 50$ gets you free shipping. Amazon.com has Amazon Pantry that you get load a box with free shipping and discounted prices. So based on what I need and where I can get it those are my options unless I drive to the big city. The city is over 4 hours away. You can still get quality produce and products that you want for decent prices but you have to have a plan. Our local grocery store has high prices but they do a pretty amazing job at having variety and quality for such a small place.

In the grocery store the other night I woman came in line just behind me. The manager had just came to help the clerk because their printing machine was not working correctly. I could read the grumpiness written alll over this woman's face. She  asked the clerk in a condescending manner if anywhere else in this town sold produce. He said no sorry we were it. (There is another quite small grocery store but they weren't open that time of night.)  She  unleashed on him. I have been all over this store and I could only find one item of organic produce. You don't even have any non GMO foods here. Apparently YOU people here don't care about these things. (I though uh oh out-of-towner doesn't realize how rural they are). Luckily the manager was there and stepped in for the clerk. Mam if there is something specific you would like I can order it in for you.  Her rant continued. I could only find ONE loaf of non-gmo bread. ONE LOAF!  The manager continued to speak to her nicely and respectfully and ask if there was anything he could order in for her.  She was having none of it.  My first thought was oh another Californian. No insult to my Californian friends but a lot of you drive through with a little too much attitude. Then I thought OH NO what if they are from my home state that would be embarrassing. As I walked out to my car I thought there aren't very many cars in the parking lot I should be able to spot their out of state plate and their Prius. Yes, I assumed they were driving a Prius based on their bad attitude. I assumed a lot of things.  I quickly identified their car by firstly its lack of dust and second its out of state plates. To my surprise they were from Washington State. Even more interesting they were driving a new Large S.U.V. They aren't concerned about the environmental impact of their S.U.V. just the impact of G.M.O.'s on their body.  I had thought about saying something several times to this woman to help her clear up her ignorance. It just wasn't worth it. I thought about her self-righteous indignation about people not caring about G.M.O. food. I thought about how many students I have had that are thankful to have food on their table G.M.O. or not.  I thought if it was that important to her to have certain foods available to her she may have to plan a little more wisely when traveling through the boonies.

We have been getting smoke from the fires West and North of us in our state and neighboring states. It is quite a fire season in the Northwest this year. I have been reading how states are begging for resources  to help them fight the fires. I think of the safety of those fighting these fires and the families who have lost homes and their livelihood this summer. It is a rough one.