Random Bits of my Days

I took a bath last night to relax and read this from one of Rumi's poems: "A lover wants only to be in love's presence, an ocean whose depth will never be known."

I thought it was so beautiful, and I had a lot I wanted to say about it last night---But I never got around to posting, and now all I really have is the line itself. I do remember, though, that I'd wanted to comment on how easy it is to get caught up in the day to day stuff with your 'lover', when in the beginning it was almost always about just being in each other's presence. Why is that so easy to lose hold of if you're not careful? Rumi's poem was a good reminder.

Ok. So, speaking of, here is my love, working so so hard even tonight, after putting in at least ten hours over the weekend. His high school switched to block scheduling this year, so Adam teaches three different 90-minute courses a day plus an Advisor (which utilizes elements of what he learned at the week-long training this summer). It's a lot of change and a lot to incorporate at once. I'm proud of him, but I'm also a little worried. It just seems to be too much.

Here (below) is another love in my life, Montgomery, who finally got his way with the couch after a most impressive amount of bad behavior and whining and sneaking around. (Yes, he's back to his old self :)

The chain of events goes on and on, but here are the highlights: 1) Jumping up on the couch when I gave in once, standing on all fours on my chest, burping and then throwing up all over my new Goodwill shirt and the sheet that (thank God) I'd just put on the cushions. 2) Standing in front of the couch, all by himself, with his chin resting on the cushion. Whining a little. Then slowly going upstairs to curl up on the old futon amidst tons of comfy blankets, all by himself. 3) Barking, while looking up at the couch. 4) Doing the "scrape front paw on the floor like a bull" thing and barking, while looking up at the couch. 5) Sneaking up on the couch and curling into the fetal position two minutes after we'd tell him "no" and pull him down. 6) Doing this about ten times in a row until we finally gave in because we were about to go completely insane.

Congrats, Monty.

I took a walk Saturday and stumbled upon a garage sale. Here is my major find:

It gave me an excuse to get a new plant, so I found a beautiful peace lily and put the two together here:

It's fun to, piece by piece, assemble our living space. We still need to remove tape, put some trim up and buy blinds, but overall----done. Here's the dining room area:

I do realize that some of you might be sick of hearing about my living room and seeing pictures of my living room, yet--- Some have requested more pictures and are interested, plus it's been the main event in my life lately, so there it is. But I'm about out of things to say regarding the living room, and for that maybe we'll all be grateful :)

Today marks Day Three in the classroom for me, and really - I've had the best start this year than any other. The first year is incomparable and I wouldn't even known where to start in explaining, and then last year I started out team teaching with a man and therefore never really had authority or respect (women are much less respected on this reservation, especially white women). This year, though, I started with my own room plus two years' worth of hard-earned experience that taught me to do certain things from the very first SECOND of the first day, since otherwise you're pretty much screwed. So, yes. I'm feeling good. Exhausted, but good.

Since this is such a long post already and I must do some planning (and then some relaxing) before bed, I'll sign off here. Goodnight, all!