Readjustment

Since that 5k race a couple of weekends ago, I had a touch of tendonitis (amateur physician diagnosis) that made walking slightly painful. Not painful enough to limp, but twinges with every step. It would come and go, too, but didn't prevent me from hitting the machines at the Y a couple of times a week.

Well, Saturday morning I had a cough that produced a lower back spasm that was less than pleasant. It was as if my back finally said "enough! you have been walking out of balance for too long and we won't take it anymore!" I had to teach, being the final Saturday session of the Math program (and got to turn in my timesheet for 36 hours at $25 per...not too shabby, with another 18 or so hours this summer, possibly) and be on my feet, but it was slow going. I walked even funnier than normal, lately, and was very careful of bending and lifting.

When I came home I then had to run the girls around for errands (pre-Mother's Day), then finally took a brief nap at about 4. Bad Mistake! I was so stiff I couldn't sit up on the bed, but had to roll to the edge. This morning it was also kind of bad, couldn't really get my shoes on. Now, in the evening, things seem to be in better balance. Knees are not painful, and the back seems stronger, less likely to rebel against my wishes when I want to sit, stand or bend.

Ten more days of classes. The closer the end gets, the longer it seems. Still waiting for that email about my plane tickets, and therefore starting to get nervous. Got a long-ish memo from the principal on the next two weeks - things like collecting books, cleaning out lockers, which class or grade has which field trips on what days. Finals are the week after this, for some reason, though, like mid-terms they are encouraging us to have a test that takes no longer than a class period, when in the past we have had double periods for the exams. I would rather have the longer ones, since my more diligent students take their time. Nothing I like less than having a lower student finish a 50 question test in 10 minutes. I still plan to have them answer 50 questions. If they have to come back a second time to finish, so be it.

Closeout procedures are a joke to me, and always have been. Inventorying the classroom, turning in various things (like gradebooks), entering grades. All of this I do anyhow, nobody needs to pressure me to have it done before the end of classes. Of course, there are some teachers who won't do it, even with prompting and personal reminders.