Thank you Paula and Jenna for encouraging me to slice two years in a row. I loved reading yours and the other slicers posts. Taking the time each day made me stop and reflect about things in my life that I am thankful for:

I am thankful for my health

I am thankful to be able to workout

I am thankful for family

I am thankful for my furry friends

I am thankful for friends

I am thankful for my coworkers

I am thankful for my students

I am thankful for food, shelter and clothing

I am thankful for the reliable vehicle I drive

I am thankful for springtime

I am thankful for my fellow slicers

Thank you all for your daily posts and I hope you enjoy the last two and a half months of school. Continue to take time to stop and reflect on how things are going in your life!!

About three years ago we invested in a Sleep Number bed. I heard so many wonderful things about them. Since we are in a bed 1/3 of our lives, we finally decided to buy one of the best beds on the market. We paid $5,200 for the bed and sheets.

We bought the California King Split Flex Fit bed that both sides can raise or lower the head or feet with a push of a button. We can each Control the firmness of the mattress too. Their are two negatives: each side is only an XL Twin Long and there is a gap in the middle of both mattresses. I have lost remotes,, my phone and books down in the gap. Even though it is a California King bed we have to buy twin xl sheets for the two mattresses.

Their sheets are pricey but well worth the price. I love that they have an extra strap on each corner of the fitted sheets so the corners do not come off.

I would not but this particular bed again because of the price, the space we lose with the gap in the middle. It is a very comfortable bed though.

https://www.qvc.com/Sleep-Number-p5-Split-King-Adjustable-Base-Mattress-Set.product.H218817.html

Our bed looks like this one.

I have attended four free workouts at GoZone Fitness this week. They are the most challenging workouts I have ever done in my life. Even though it is very pricey, I am going to join because I believe I will be able to get in the best shape of my life by being a member.

I am going again tomorrow at 7 am. So far, I have done 2 days of a power, an endurance and an agility workout. Seeing my heart rate up on the big screen with yellow, light green, dark green and red for everyone in class to see puts some pressure on me to perform. The goal is to keep my heart rate within the dark green and red colors most of the time. They have a trainer that shows us how to do the exercises and motivates us speaking through a headset microphone while music is playing in the background, They walk around from person to person making sure our form is correct so we don’t get hurt.

A co-worker introduced me to GoZone Fitness and I am so thankful she did. I am looking forward to getting into the best shape of my life and GoZone Fitness is the place to help me achieve my goal!

I attended a session today on worst case scenarios based on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) presented by Marti Stevens Improvisational Theater.

The four actors put on two scenarios for us. I will write about the first scenario. It was called Its Our Lives Your Talking About. It was about a young girl in high school with PTSD and how she reacted during a school lockdown drill. Her dad was picking her up for an appointment and was very mad with the school that they traumatized his daughter with the lockdown procedure. He asked for a meeting right away. The only staff that attended were the school security officer who works at three different schools so does not know the student and one of the school guidance counselors. The guidance counselor only works with students with last names A-H so didn’t know that student. They knew nothing about this student’s needs. They were putting the blame on the student. The student said it would have been nice to have been warned a day or two before the Lockdown so she could have prepared herself for it. When the counselor finally asked the student why she reacted like she did, she said it was because she saw a police officer in the hallway and that was the police officer who had raped her years ago. Hearing the loud noise of the bell and seeing the officer triggered her to have a screaming fit.

The audience was then able to ask questions to the actors on why they did things the way they did during the scenario. It was an eye opener for sure. We need to make sure all students have someone at the school who has established a relationship with the student and knows what triggers their behaviors.

I am going to a Literacy Conference tomorrow paid for by Kennebec Savings Bank. Sometimes I wonder why I sign up for them because I hate leaving my students for the day.

I have one of the best subs in our district so that gives me some peace of mind. I worry my kids will try and tell her they can do things they are not supposed to do. Six-seven year olds have a way to convince subs that Mrs. Cooper lets us do it this way.

The last time I was out, I had a different sub, our classroom was left a mess. It was like my students didn’t know how to pick up after their activities. We role played today on what the day will look like with a sub tomorrow and my expectations. I am hoping when I go back on Friday, the classroom is picked up and I have a good note left from my sub.

I left easier work so the sub doesn’t have to teach anything new. We are learning about mammals right now, which the students love so the activities will be fun for the students. It is so much harder to be out of the classroom when it comes to writing up sub plans. 9 pages of typed notes and I think she should have more than enough things to do!!

I am 55 years old and take after my mother with my hair. My roots are all gray. I have to color my hair every 5 weeks to hide the gray. Do I continue to color my hair or let it go gray?

I pay over a $100 to get my hair colored. That is a lot of money every 5 weeks. Right now I can’t put my hair up or wear a barrette because then my gray shows on the sides of my head. I feel so much older with the gray showing but I would love to use that money for my membership to GoZone Fitness which will help me more in the long run.

I do see women and men who have gray/silver hair and they look great. It is the in between stage that does not look good. I am not sure what I will be doing yet with my hair. Any suggestions??

Here is a photo of my hair from today after my great workout!!

I had my first FREE visit at GoZone Fitness today. I have not worked out since I broke my collarbone on May 8, 2018 while playing in a co-ed softball game with my two sons. The very first time in the outfield I was chasing a high fly and went into a pothole. I went tumbling down on the ground. I tore my hamstring and then landed on my right collarbone. I had to have surgery to put a plate in along with pins. It was by far the worst surgery I have ever had. It took me forever to recover.

The GoZone workout lasted for 55 minutes. I used a sensor belt to keep track of my cardio targets for an effective workout. Every 5 minutes I switched from cardio to strength training. I used The Landice Elliptimill along with a rower machine. I lifted weights while doing lunges, I did push ups and squats. I did things I have not done in many years. Up on the big screen was all the participants heart rate. Everyone could see if you were challenging yourself. Of course, I made sure that my numbers looked good for the first time.

At the end of the workout, one of the workers explained to me about what it would cost to join GoZone. I listened and then told her I was ready for another FREE class. They offered me a FREE week so I am going to take advantage of it before making a decision to join or not. The cost for a month is pricey! It was the best workout I have had since playing professional basketball in Germany.
I slowly walked out to my car and sat down exhausted. I could not drive yet. Within a minute, I was throwing up (sorry guys for saying this)! I have never worked out so hard to throw up! I was challenged to the max for sure! Some people would walk away and say that workout was not for them but not me!! I want the challenge of getting into shape so I never throw up again.

It was the best workout I have had in a very long time! I can’t push myself like that in my basement with my equipment. I need others to help motivate me…GoZone might be the right place for me even though it is pricey! Do I join for the pricey cost?

Our youngest son Walker lives with us with his wife Ginger and their two children Carter and Ariana. Our oldest son Wade bought a house right next to ours a year ago. Around 9 am, Carter and Ariana knocked on our bedroom door saying,” MoMo and Poppa wake up. We are going shopping for our first cookout of the year!”

We got dressed and then Ginger told us Wade and his girlfriend Alexis were coming over for lunch along with a few of their best friends. They went off to shop for the food and my husband and I started picking up the house. It was a little messier than usual because I had conferences Mon. – Thurs. this week until 6 pm.

At one point in the morning, Ginger, Alexis and my husband were all cleaning with me. It was wonderful to have them helping. We were able to clean out the den room that had the door going out to the grill. We organized all the outdoor winter clothing, the grilling items and and extra drinks we keep on shelves!!

Lunch consisted of steak, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, 2 pasta salads, pickles and corn on the cob. There were 11 people sitting around the table eating lunch. The men did the grilling while the women did the cleaning and set the table. Ginger asked, Can we make this a Sunday ritual?” I told her as long as some cleaning happens first then I am all for it! Everyone agreed! The other adults are all out four wheeling while my husband and I are hanging with Carter and Ariana! What a wonderful Sunday.

This morning my husband and I traveled up to Rumford for a basketball tournament that our soon to be 30 year old daughter is playing in for the day. We wanted to assist her husband in taking care of her two little boys while their mommy played. Her team… Corn N Oats won the first game and then we didn’t have another game until 1:00pm. Going home was not an option so we decided to go to downtown Mexico to Dick’s Diner to eat.

Coming out after having breakfast, I sat down in the passenger seat of our car. I noticed a man being rough with a dog (skinny). I started opening my car door to holler at the man and my husband yelled “no, if you didn’t like that you should have seen him a minute ago with the dog!” I was so angry with what I saw. He yanked the dog by the collar that he was dangling beside him. He did that a few times. The man walked away with the dog, yanking him into the apartment. I seriously wanted to throw up. My husband continued to drive to do a U-Turn to head back to the gym.

As we were heading back to the gym, we went past Dick’s Diner again. All of a sudden, that same guy came out of the apartment with another dog doing the same thing. I yelled to my husband to pull over. He told me this happens all around the world and I couldn’t help every dog.

Here I am at 2:30 in the gym and all I can think about are those two dogs! I bet they get put right into crates once in the apartment! I want to knock on that apartment door and offer him money for his dogs. I think he would sell them with the way he was treating them.

What do I do? Just go about my business watching my daughter in her basketball tournament and do nothing? Do I call Animal Control to report what I saw? Do I knock on his door and offer some money? What would you do?

There are six teachers in my school that are trying out flavored water in the classroom to encourage students to drink more water. It is a part of out 5201 Program to encourage healthy habits at school. So far, the students have tried cucumber, strawberry, blueberry and orange flavored water. It has been a huge success in my classroom!

We use disposable mini cups with the students classroom numbers on them so they wont be wasteful. Every day but one they have finished the whole pitcher full. One day I had to fill it back up at lunch.

Today when the students walked into the classroom, they noticed I had not filled the pitcher. They were all disappointed. They let me know they drink more water and asked me to please fill it. Within a few minutes, I had the pitcher filled and students drinking it! I would recommend to anyone who does not have a good water faucet in their classroom to try adding a pitcher!