Coming down from the "high" of theater life last week took a toll on us. Well, on me and Analiese. She started the week off not feeling well and I soon followed. Oh, if only THIS week was spring break!
By Wednesday, I was out for the count. The allergens in the air were awful, not to mention the 65 mph+ winds that blew everything into my lungs. In Seminary, there were three of us passing the Kleenex box around the table. Insane!
I authorized "sick" naps for my daughter and I. A sick nap, as opposed to a normal nap, is an unlimited time nap. Generally, I only allow an hour for a normal nap: anything more than that does more harm than good, makes you too groggy, etc. But a sick nap is different. Your body needs to rest and recuperate so it's no holds barred. Sleep it out. We'd come home from Seminary and crash for an hour or two before moving on to lessons and chores and stuff.
By Thursday I was begging my husband for a priesthood blessing. I could not go through Seminary, not to mention VIPKids, without getting over this thing and FAST! He is always willing and able and the Lord helped me greatly. By Friday evening, I felt much better...I even went to the movies with my family! And Saturday, a horrendously busy day, was fairly sinus-gunk free!
They Call the Wind...Devastating
The weathermen called it...terrible winds coming. No, not tornadoes. But no little princesses, either. Wednesday was full of tearing, howling winds that caused damage all across the state. Our home here faired fine, but a portion of the Altus house fence was knocked down. Our Altus PM said there are branches, shingles, and fences down all over there.
I was surprised not to see too many tree branches down in Chickasha, and only a few bits of siding or shingles. However, Jonathan came home to report that the Walgreen's sign next to the store came down - at least the top half! That thing is big around, too, about three times the width of a telephone pole! Luckily, it fell at 2:30 a.m., with no one around and didn't fall on the building or in the parking lot. It fell the other way and - no so luckily - pulled out power lines. What a mess! I did notice they fixed that quickly!
Driving was a little tricky, too. In the Honda, low to the ground, we didn't feel it so much, but in the van.... It pushed! Jonathan said a Walgreen's truck came with deliveries and was glad his next stop was to fill up the empty truck! An empty truck in these winds is as good as a kite!
VIPKid Blitz
Coming off of Chinese NY, the kids there start up a new school semester. That also means they start looking for out-of-school classes and tutors. It means the scheduling goes nuts! This week didn't get too crazy, I ended up only teaching two kids on Saturday evening, but... next week!
Well, part of it is me. Next week is Spring Break: no school, no Seminary. So, I opened up my morning slots...not my usual. And I have bookings! Two on Tuesday, and one each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All in the morning, around 7 or 7:30. This is great except...the next week I go back to Seminary. So it's not like I can make regulars out of them at that time. I'm really not free to do morning classes - the most requested times - until the summer.
I spent a lot of time this week working on those lessons for this weekend and next week. I reviewed the slides, looking at the words, sentences, phonics, grammar, math (yes, sometimes!) and what props and rewards I would need. I've never had this many before, so this was quite a job! As I do more, I'm sure it'll go more smoothly. Still, I had to scrounge a few things around the house (an apple, an egg - plastic Easter egg) and make a few as well (a mouse puppet, a kite).
My Saturday classes almost didn't happen. I had issues between the VIPKid PC App and my headphones & camera. I was freaking out! I exited the program and got back in, but was late for my first class. Ouch! That'll be a deduction - they're sticklers for punctuality! But the boy (9 yo) was great! At first, he seemed to act like this is going to be boring, but I pulled him out of it. I have these "funny face" cards that fit around my nose and I use them as rewards for good work. He seemed to like those. Also, we talked about tigers and their claws and he got into the spirit of miming ripping claws! We were learning about horses's hooves and fish fins, so I asked him (extending my lesson) if a horse would eat a tiger or a tiger eat a horse! He laughed, growled and said a tiger would eat a horse and proceeded to mime it! So the lesson started off horribly, but ended great!
My second class was a 6 yo girl who's just starting out. She was very cute...she showed me her Dino doll (Dino is the VIPKid mascot) and her stuffed animal penguin. I showed her my cow puppet...Cow and Dino greeted each other. She was very wiggly, understandably, but proudly told me her whole name (Chinese) and it wasn't too hard for me to say! Still, being super-new, she's learning. We didn't get through everything because she had a hard time saying classroom and playground (that one was the worst!). Plus, she's just parroting at this point and didn't answer my questions, only repeated them. It was fun, but also very tiring. I hope she got something out of it!
St. Pat's & RS Birthday
March is the month of St. Patrick's Day, but also the Relief Society Birthday. I just happened to celebrate them both in the same week!
St. Pat's is Sunday, but the sister missionaries come to dinner on Thursday, so I made stew with lots of potatoes and homemade Shamrock Shakes for dessert. The girls were thrilled! Ken hadn't been pleased with the McD's shakes - he says they changed the recipe - but he liked my version very much. It's really not hard - vanilla ice cream, milk, mint (NOT peppermint) extract, green food coloring, Ready Whip, and green sugar sprinkles!
The RS birthday dinner was Saturday - in between everything I had to do! We had a salad bar dinner, a presentation on being ready to go to the OKC temple when it reopens in May (recommitting to attending frequently), and a lovely cake made by a very talented sister in the Branch. And it tasted as good as it looked!
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