The Saturday 7

We did it. We made it through January - the second worst month. Unfortunately, that means we're plunging headlong into the worst month: February. Don't worry. You can count on me to bring the optimism and cheer! #sarcasm

1. We only had one snow day this week! When I checked the weather on Monday night, it estimated that we'd receive 1-3 inches of snow overnight, so imagine my surprise when I woke up to a school closing alert and 8 inches of snow! Libby dropped her kids off at my house on the way to work, and the boys actually spent an hour outside in the frozen tundra! I eventually made them come in because the wind-chill was below zero, and facebook was all aflutter about how quickly one can get frostbite in those conditions.

2. Despite the snow day, Lena still had her basketball game that night. The roads weren't great, but that's just become the norm since temps barely made it to 20 degrees all week. Even if the plows remove the snow, the salt/sand is ineffective when it's that cold so the road is mostly ice. Until the sun came out yesterday, I don't think I drove over 45 mph all week! Anyway, Lena's Tuesday game was a fun one. She played a decent amount and it was a really close game - going back and forth until the very end when we pulled out the win! Lena fouled the biggest girl on the other team, which cracks me up. She didn't play a ton in her Thursday game because her stomach was hurting, but she did manage to get a couple rebounds despite her shrimpiness!

3. I had to do a few scary things at work this week. First, I had to host a meeting with the entire teaching staff to get them prepped for our next fundraiser. I've attended this meeting in the past, but was a little nervous to lead it myself. It wasn't bad. I know them all, and they're nice to me. Plus, there were donuts. On Thursday, I was in charge of "Shadow Day." Students from other schools came in to shadow an ACS student for the day. I had to answer their parents' questions and give tours of the school. Again, it wasn't as scary as I worried it would be. I wore my $5 Goodwill blazer and felt like an adult. The scariest event I have to lead is in about a month. It's the one that I've been dreading the most since I agreed to take this job. Stay tuned.

4. A year or two ago, I posed the question, "Why are kids these days so disrespectful?" I was fed up with a couple of my library classes who had absolutely no regard for authority - mine or otherwise. Over the years, I've become more and more convinced that it's not as much a respect issue as it is an attention issue. They are almost literally incapable of sitting still and being quiet/attentive. More and more research seems to be coming out in support of that theory. And the culprit is a combination of social media, video games, smart phones, and short-form video that result in a dopamine addiction. It's fundamentally changing the way people think and behave.

I saw something recently that said, "It doesn't matter how engaging teachers are. They can't compete with the constant dopamine hits of 10 second tik-tok videos that students now expect." And it's not just students. I've been really trying to stay off facebook lately, but it's like a drug that keeps drawing me in. Because I am incapable of being bored. I'm as guilty of seeking out those easy dopamine hits as anyone else. How do we stop this? Something has to give. Although, if you're reading this, you're probably not affected by it since I am in no way concise or entertaining.

Despite all my big talk, I still let my kids watch way too much TV, but I'm a stickler about making them watch something with a storyline. No YouTube. No shorts. No watching other kids play video games. Because this is what happens when short-form rules your life:

Add in AI to think and do your work for you and, as the kids these days are saying: We're cooked!

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now . . .

5. I only read two books this week: The Heart of Bennet Hollow by Joanne Bischof Dewitt, and The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri. The first one was fine. I started it as an audiobook months ago and just couldn't get into it, so I finally got a physical copy. It picked up eventually and I enjoyed it. The second one came highly recommended by my cousin with very different tastes than me. Haha. I almost never like the books she loves . . . and this one was no exception! Lol. It's a middle grade novel set in an interesting place and time (the 11th century Silk Road), but it was just too poetic and cerebral for me. I loved one of the reviews on Goodreads that said, "This is the kind of middle grade book that adults want students to love, but no student is actually interested in." Haha. Yes! So if you're an intellectual adult, you'll probably love it. But the rest of us with less discerning taste are going to take a pass on this one. That said, I did like this passage . . .

6. We made it through our first month of doing The Bible Recap with the kids. We're a few days behind because of sports and laziness, but for the most part it's been going well. We've read all of Job and most of Genesis. We had some laughs over Levi's discomfort about circumcision, and some cringing over his questions about rape. The girls don't have much to say, but it's been good for all of us to make our daily reading a priority even when it's difficult or inconvenient.

7. And now on to pics and memes. First up . . . the random pictures I find on my phone: