My Summer Vacation in List Form

By Elizabeth Prata

Most comfy outfit: loose capris and a soft Disney tee shirt

Best TV: The Royal (Netflix)

Movies/TV Enjoyed: The Imitation Game, The Pixar Story, The Commish, Court Justice

Most Enjoyable Drink: Chilled hibiscus tea with fizzy water

Most Enjoyable Meal: Scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese, home fries, creamy coffee

Best Books:

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Owens, Delia (novel)
• Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, by Philbrick, Nathaniel (Historical fiction)
• Internet Inferno: A Contemporary Warning and Reminder Regarding this Ancient Truth - "The Tongue is a Fire, the Very World of Iniquity, and is Set on Fire by Hell" James 3:6 by Michael John Beasley (Theological)

Favorite activity: Naps with kitty

Worst thing that happened: My cat Bert's screaming in pain the night I brought him to the hospital.

Second worst thing that happened: Bert died

Third worst thing that happened: My pneumonia

Best thing that happened: My friend Dorothy's bravery and grace in pain. Not that she fell and broke her hip, but if God ordained such a thing, her response as a new believer was Godly and inspiring. She is 89 years old and fell outside in her yard. She broke her hip. She lay for 4 hours in the sun before being found. She attributed many graces to God during that lonely time, and many more during her hospitalization and rehabilitation looking to Him for strength and direction. Astounding. An inspiration to us all.

Other Best Thing that Happened: My doctor and my nutritionist found a potential treatment for my IBS

Grateful for: Summers off, a job, children in the job, church, elders, cool mornings, air conditioning, sanctification, grace, good books, coffee, chilled hibiscus tea, church family, so much more!

Happy Back To School!

It's Saturday, but Summer's a coming!

By Elizabeth Prata

We are in the last days. LOL, not the last days before Jesus returns, the last days of school. We conclude the 2018-19 school year on May 21 at noon for the kids and Friday, May 24 for the teachers and staff.

It's hot, the temps are around the mid-80s, and tempers are about as hot. We love each other, but we are tired and worn out. It's just the way it works. When the last day comes, we are all ready to go our separate ways. When August first comes, we are all joyfully ready to see each other again.

This has been a really good year. I am blessed. I love my school. I love my Administrators. I love my Teacher. I love the kids. This year the chemistry among the kids in our class was smooth as butter most days, and they quickly cohered into a working group of pliable and well behaved children. A dream.

People have been asking each other "What are you going to do this summer?" They plan trips, they transport their kids to various sports camps or Christian camps, they swim in their pools. Whatever people plan to do, they are usually items of leisure and ease. Teaching is hard, wearying adn emotionally draining.

Personally I am not planning any trips, but plan to go home and stay there. I want to make progress on Challies' Christian Book Reading plan, study the Bible, write, and nap. I might go on a photo expedition or two and return with lots of pictures to process.

I call it hermit season.

The bliss of dwelling inside my home in clothing that is sensitive on my skin, being quiet, not having to converse, and being relieved of stresses that an autistic mind encounters, is compelling. I have not written much about these kind of struggles, but they are there and they are tiring. I need the summers.

For now, here are a few photos you may enjoy:

Mid-centrury building, Athens Technical College

Cat shaped car perfume:

Saturday Morning coffee with whipped cream

Summer 2018 has been good to me

By Elizabeth Prata

Goodbye summer! My summer break officially ends tonight. I'm headed to church in a short while, and then afterward stopping at Kroger to get lunches for the week. When I return home this evening I'll be doing Sunday-night-school-prep-stuff. Tomorrow is the big day!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, and getting onto a different routine. I didn't have any drastic issues this summer. Charter internet went out for 14 hours one day and shortly after, it went out again for about 3 hours. I was sick for a day and a half. But that's it for negative things that happened! All was truly well overall.

 Meanwhile I can say that my favorite things this summer were:

1. Coffee in the morning
2. Being with my kitties
3. Naps
4. Books

What I'm looking forward to this school year is:

1. Helping a new bunch of kids
2. Doing a good job for the District
3. Meeting & growing with new staff
4. Seeing old staff again

Thanks for coming along in this My Day Summer 2018 journey with me. Bye, bed, books, coffee, cats, and naps. I'll miss you.

Summer state of mind

I think these two photos represent my upcoming summer life pretty well.

Oh, the joy of reading. I found the Mrs. Pollifax book series lately and I'm looking forward to a long read through 14 of them. Well, 13, as I already read the first. They are cozy spy mysteries with an elderly female main character that turns out to have a knack for spying for the CIA.

And leisurely mornings drinking coffee. Sometimes with whipped cream! Slowly and quietly, from my favorite mug, not guzzled hastily from a Thermos so as to make it to school in time for the first bell.

School, where I work, is coming to an end in 15 work days. In 12 1/2 work days, the children will be released from school, and then we have a remaining 3 days to have our concluding meetings, and pack up our classrooms. School isn't over, and it's incumbent upon the teachers and staff to maintain standards until the end, but in my mind, oh, goodness, in my mind:

What a complete blessing to be able to work with children, educate them and support teachers on a  great team like I have in my school, then to stay at home and recover refresh relax rejuvenate...well, all of the above!

Teaching is demanding work. Gone are the days of snacks and fingerpainting, if they ever existed at all. Teachers work very hard to meed standards the Local Board, State and the Federal Government set, and parents too. It's like an extension of motherhood. Because our work involves real people with real needs from physical, to emotional, to educational, it almost never ends.  Planning, meetings, correcting, hugging, problem-solving, sometimes clothing and nursing, all happen in addition to teaching, all day long.

And I don't even teach. I am support staff, where I support my teacher in doing all of the above. When you invest emotionally and educationally in an entire person, it's tiring. When you do it for 22 little ones every day all at once, it's more than exhausting. The educational or behavioral strategies you apply, the changes you make in order to reach them, the love given out, the sadness when someone needs to be chastised, the heights when they succeed, or depths when they continue to squander their mind due to various reasons...all take a toll.

So summer comes along and as it approaches there comes a bounce in my step and a twinkle on my eye. I feel pretty happy also when moms get to spend valuable time with their kids at home and they do family things away from the hurry and scurry of the busy-ness of school year.

I always have Grande Plans for the summer. I'll write War & Peace! Not really, but huge plans, I never seem to meet them. Admittedly, it takes discipline to maintain a schedule throughout the 9 weeks we have off for summer. (We return on July 30). It takes discipline not to sink into a laziness that expresses itself in sleeping late, staying in pajamas all day, and eating potato chips or popcorn for breakfast (not that it has happened to me, noooo) but one has high hopes every year.

I do tend to wilt in the extreme heat of a southern summer, and I'm not an active person anyway, so much of the time I'll be in my small, cozy, lovely apartment that I love so dearly, reading, studying, listening to sermons, crafting, and watching movies. Alone. That is my summer state of mind.

Soon to make an appearance, first on May 22 at noon when we load the kids onto the buses for the last time of the 2017-18 school year, then again in force on Friday afternoon when we conclude our retirement party for the staff that are finishing strong after many years of service and are dismissed as staff for the last time this year.

Can't wait!!!

Summer break is over

I have 4 days left of Summer break. On Monday I head back to school. July 31. No one is happy about the encroachment of the school year calendar into July, but with all the other mandated and preferred "must haves" during the year, this is the way it turned out.

We have 4 days of pre-planning and then on Friday, August 4, the kids come. This year I'll be stationed in the second grade level and mainly in one second grade classroom for 95% of the day. I only have one segment in first grade, helping out another teacher who will be working with first grade students. My home spot where my desk is and where I put my purse and eat lunch etc. has changed too. I used to be at one extreme end of the school and now I'm at the other. This will be really convenient because my new spot is in the second grade area and it will save me a lot of time and steps during the day.

In the last 6 years I've never been stationed in one class or dedicated to one teacher as much as I will be this upcoming school year. I used to go somewhere different every hour. I traveled with the kids instead of the kids coming to me. Being with one teacher is like a marriage. The para-professional is a helpmeet, supporting and helping the teacher in any way that will help her be more effective for the kids. In being with one person all day, I hope I don't annoy my teacher too much! At least when I went somewhere different every hour the teacher knew that they only had to put up with me for a short time and then I'd leave, lol!

I'm looking very much forward to this year. I like the security of the job (as secure as these things can be) but also look forward to the small changes within the job because that means it never gets boring. I used to be dedicated to kindergarten, this year it will be 2nd grade. I used to travel the building, this year I'll mainly be in one classroom. I love the teacher I'll be with so that is a huge forward start.

Our school is really good and the Administration is excellent. It has a positive and friendly climate. It is a good place to work because of the collegial support and encouragement. The work environment is physically comfortable. The high-level professional quality of my colleagues and especially the Admins is all good. I am really blessed to have a good job with a steady paycheck, regular hours, and is fulfilling because it is with kids.

As a result of our good school's climate, we have a low amount of people requesting transfers away. Employees come, and they stay. We have historically had the largest amount of 20, 25, and 30 year workers in the system. The downside is that these long-term workers are starting to retire now. I'll miss them- they were good people. We were given funds to fill the positions for those who left. That, plus the blessing of receiving funds for some new positions, means that this year in our building we have ten new faces!

What I'll miss about summer break at home:

The warm glow of the kitchen curtains as the sun rises and filters through the lace

Savoring coffee slowly first thing in the mornings

The green grass outside my window

Hearing the birds in the morning, along with the Wayward Rooster (who crows a chortled crow at all hours not just morning!)

The quietness of home

Snoring kitties

Eating at odd times

Going to the bathroom whenever I want! (You teachers and mommies know what I mean).

Reading

Surfing the net all day

Naps

Not having to talk to or see people

Not having a schedule

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What I’m looking forward to at school:

Having a schedule

Seeing the children

Kids' bad knock knock jokes

Laughing

Helping children

Serving my teachers

Feeling useful

Being a good employee

Not being able to eat whenever I want to (phew I ate myself out of house and home this summer!)

Being part of a team that makes a safe place for children to come to and be loved

Actually earning the paycheck that comes through the summer

Seeing my principal and assistant principal do their work because they are so good at what they do

Coming home at the end of the day

Rainbow at dawn over my school a couple of years ago. EPrata photo

Summer fun plans

I love when summer comes around!!!

I'm a teacher's aide in a public elementary school and that means I have several school breaks during the year ... and ... wait for it ... summers off. Now, I'm not paid for those breaks, I'm paid for working 190 days per 365 days/year and that's it. So I enjoy the time more than the money, obviously! :)

So exciting. I've got plans. Oh yeah. Tuesday at noon the kids leave. When this Friday rolls around and the afternoon dismissal bell rings, I'm done. There are several things I plan to do this summer.

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MUSIC

I discovered that my streaming music station, Pandora, has a new thing called Thumbprint Radio. I had no clue, until I scrolled down my 'stations' list and saw it at the bottom. "What's this?" I asked myself. Oh-ho, this is cool. Pandora is streaming entertainment based on a music genome. You can choose a station, such as "Traditional Hymns" or "Jimmy Buffett Radio" and they'll play songs along those lines. Within the genre you might like this song or not like that one. You have the option to thumbs up or thumbs down a song, and Pandora will adjust your listening to what you like. If a song had more violin and less trumpet, or more harmony and less melody, they will present songs in that station with that selection in mind according to your thumbs up.

Thumbprint Radio is a station where all your liked songs go into one station! Though Pandora is free, I choose to pay $4.99/month for Pandora Pro which has no ads. So what this means is that I have access to music with a huge variety of songs that I already like and never interrupts itself for an ad or a DJ. I love it madly. I will be listening to a lot of music. Some of my stations I love are:

100 Hymns Instrumental Radio
Jimmy Buffett Radio (includes balladeers from the 70s like Paul Simon and James Taylor)
Gaither Vocal Band Radio
Mozart Radio
Hank Williams Radio (classic country)

and many more. Yay.

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BOOKS

I have some books stacked up. I want to read or finish-

12 Ways your iPhone is changing you by Tony Reinke
Son, a literary western by Phillipp Meyer
Hearts of Fire, by Voice of the Martyrs
Veronica Mars- the Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
The Autobiography of Hudson Taylor: Missionary to China (Kindle)
Bright Side by Kim Holden (Kindle)
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes (Kindle)

Plus a lot of "summer easy reading" eBooks I've downloaded from BookBub recommendations. At BookBub, you select which reading genres you enjoy, and thankfully there are a lot to choose from, and BookBub sends you a daily list of digital selections based on your preferences. You can download according to your desire, budget, and amount of space on your reading device! I choose the free ones but they also have eBooks for 99 cents, $1.99 and up. They tie-in to Amazon's Kindle store, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, Apple's iBooks, and others.

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CRAFTS

My friend Kim on Facebook sent me some photos from Gay Halseth-Frayed and Twisted's FB page. They're vintage spine bookmarks. Cool! I won't embroider like Mrs Halseth has, but I'll paint them.

And just where will I be finding vintage books? We have several places in the county where I look forward to shopping this summer. There are three in particular, and two of those I have never been to before. I like my usual haunt of Second Time Around. I have already found antique books of Swedish poetry, an old Methodist Hymnal and an old Baptist Hymnnal at that store, all for $1 each.

The other store is called Neat Pieces Antiques, which I've driven by but never entered. He has three buildings and a large outdoor area. He sells heritage pine, architectural items from old barn stairs to glass doorknobs, and inside, vintage clothing, antiques, and of course the books.

Well! I believe I'll be able to find some books here for sure! Befoe you faint from horror, I'll look for water damaged, moldy books that otherwise would not ever find a home and are one step away from a trash can. I don't like the idea of taking apart a perfectly good book just to get at the spine.

The third vintage store I'm planning to visit is called simply The Special Store. This place has lots of glassware among other items like furniture. I need an English porcelain or bone china teapot, and one more cup and saucer. This will be the place to find them.

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PHOTOS

Now that I have an automobile with AC, I can drive around this summer. I like to go out in the Golden Hour, just at and 1 hour after dawn, and 1 hour before sunset, taking photos. I downloaded the manual for my now 1-year-old Nikon and I've been experimenting with some of the fancier settings now that I'm familiar with the camera and its superficial capabilities. It will be a photo extravaganza! I also began using my rechargeable batteries now that I've finally gone through all the high-capacity alkaline ones I'd bought. I can recharge to my heart's content, even in the car, since it comes with an automobile charger too.

In addition to Flickr and Facebook, I also have an account at Unsplash to upload my photos, and also Instagram now that I figured that one out. I want to compose better, and post-process better. Summer is the time to play with pictures and try and get better at photography.

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MOVIES

Of course, movies and shows. On Amazon Prime I watched a nice movie called Mao's Last Dancer, the true story of Chinese ballet dancer Li Cunxin. I like movies like that and will seek out some more either on Snagfilms, Crackle, or Amazon Prime, and of course whatever I can absorb for free on Youtube.

I'll finish some classes I'd started, including "Understanding the Tabernacle", and "Principles of Biblical Interpretation". A new class at Ligonier called "Loved by God" has sparked my interest too. So, studying the Bible through classes and reading and studying it directly is on the summer fun menu.

Some friends have asked me to lunch, and in June I'll go to a wedding. That's pretty much it. We get out of school May 26 and begin again July 31. I'll also be taking a class for school sometime in July, so it's really not ALL that much time off as one remembers from childhood. But I'll take it!

Quiet summer is here

Today is the first official day of summer break. I celebrated by going to bed early last night and waking up an hour later this morning, lol. I made a run to the Dollar Store because I forgot to buy mayo yesterday, and I decided I needed to get some frozen shells. I have a ton of eggs. Two friends with chickens each separately gave me a bunch. I plan to use some in a green bean pate recipe that calls for a lot of boiled eggs. I'll make two quiches, also. Hence the need for frozen pie shells. (Red pepper & onion quiche, and mushroom and cheddar quiche).

I've got some laundry tumbling in the dryer and some writing to do. I've got chamomile sun tea brewing in mason jars in the sun outside. I've got lime and green apple fruit infused water steeping in the fridge.

At 3:00 at church we have a meet & greet our new prospective pastor. That should be really fun. Afterwards I'll come home, make the stuff I mentioned above, and then watch a young John Wayne in a 1934 movie "The Lucky Texan." I LOVE westerns!

All in all a great first day of summer. Some friends are headed to concerts. Some are headed to beaches. Others are fighting off bears on camping trips. Me ... I like the quiet life. Sun tea, a table fan, and a book is all I want. I'm glad friends are on the go. But I'm the kind who likes to stay.

The backyard

The side yard

My view for the next 70 days!!