#SOL19 Day 31: My Final Slice (for now)

I sit down for the fourth time today to write Slice #31. Knowing that this is my last official Slice makes it harder than the others. I want this to be a reflective Slice that summarizes who I am as a writer after my second year of completing this challenge, but I also need it to tell a story (thank you to Beth Moore for pushing me to do this!) Yes, I’m putting this requirement on myself, but I’m a storyteller now, and this is what feels right to me.

My other drafts are about selecting my One Word for this school year (it is “story”), about the delightful chatter in my classroom as we share and have conversations, and about reading Say Something for Classroom Book-a-Day. I’m sure they’ll make fine Slices someday, but they’re not working today. To be honest, the problem is that I’m trying to fit these stories to my theme instead of letting the story do the work.

So, here is Take 4:

There are about 6 people in line in front of us as we step into Mod Pizza. “Mmmm!” I say. The smell of Italian spices and the warmth from the oven are so welcoming on this 32-degree, blustery day.

We have time to look at the menu suggestions hanging on the wall. “Do you know what you want?” I ask my son after a minute?

“I’m thinking about the Mad Dog with bacon instead of ground beef,” he answers.

“Sounds good. I have a coupon for free strips. Garlic or cinnamon?”

“Definitely cinnamon!” he says without any hesitation. Then he adds, “With the strawberry dipping sauce for sure!”

Making up my mind takes a bit longer. I’m not a picky eater, and everything sounds good, but there are some things that sound delicious. I can’t get the roasted Brussel sprouts out of my head. The only problem is those are part of a salad, and I’m in the mood for something warm since there’s a dusting of snow on the ground. I’ll just have to go the make-your-own-pizza route.

“What can I make for you?” the woman behind the counter asks my son. He gets his usual red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and bacon pizza.

“And for you?” she asks. I start with red sauce, mozzarella, and grilled chicken. Then, I look down the line of vegetable toppings and try to decide how much to get without overdoing it., “A little red onion, please,” I say. After getting a sprinkling of those added to my pizza, I spot what I’m looking for. “Roasted Brussel sprouts,”  I say and then check how much more my pizza crust can hold. I know that I have to ask for all of the next toppings together so she can plan how to place them. “And then some roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, and roasted broccoli.”

“Sure,” she replies and adds them each to my pizza.

A few minutes later, our names are called and our pizzas and cinnamon strips are placed on top of the counter. My son takes his food, and I take mine. “Looks great!” we both say at the same time.

#SOL19 Day 30: MarioKart

Whenever I go to the library, I scan the thin, red Switch game covers for a copy of MarioKart 8 Deluxe. We are big Mario game fans, but we haven’t bought this particular one yet because we already have two versions of MarioKart for different systems (the Wii and DS). Once you have one MarioKart, you don’t really need another, right? Well, the library had a copy of the game available today so my family and I will be taking a test drive to find out for sure.

My daughter and I grab the controls and get started. First, we select our avatars (Princess Peach for Me and Baby Peach for her) and .then our vehicles (motorbikes for both of us). The first thing I notice is that I recognize many of the courses from our other Mario games, and all the races look so fun! Should we choose Peach’s Castle or Bowser’s Castle? Donut Plains, Sweet Sweet Canyon, or Cheese Land? With our avatars, it makes sense to choose the Flower Cup and have our first race be around Peach’s Castle.

Everything about the game is so much fun: flying over of the course at the beginning, zipping off the starting line, trying to snag coins and mystery boxes, dodging obstacles, and trying to pass opponents. We laugh when we crash into something and cheer when we pass one of the computer players.

There’s so much more for us to explore in this game, and I have a feeling that we’re going to miss it when our 7-day rental comes to an end.

#SOL19 Day 29: In Need of Spring Break

There are some things that only Spring Break can fix, and that’s how my mind and body are now. Hitting snooze, drinking tea, reading Slices, checking Twitter–none are making enough of a difference right now.

A sudden, “Goodbye, Mom! Goodbye, Dad!” breaks my trance. If my middle school son is heading out the door now, I definitely shouldn’t still be sitting here in my pyjamas!

“Bye! Have a good last day!” I reply. I press sleep on the laptop, begrudgingly push the chair back from the dining room table and shuffle with my empty mug into the kitchen.

After going through the motions of getting washed and dressed, I head back downstairs for the last thing I need to do before heading out the door: packing a lunch. The first thing I grab is a pack of tuna that I noticed tucked behind the cereal box when I was cleaning up after dinner last night. As I take a fork from the silverware drawer, the grapefruit on the counter catches my eye. Not sure how it goes with tuna, but I just love grapefruit, so in the lunch box it goes. “Hmmm,” I say aloud. “What else?”

“Animal crackers!” my daughter suggests.

Well, I do need something crunchy. I grab a snack pack of those and toss them in my lunch box. If this is all I take, I’m doing to eat half the chocolate in the office candy jar, and that’s not a wise choice. I take another look on the counter and take a cheese bagel from the pack. I wrap it in the reusable wrap I have and toss it in.

“What are you taking in your lunch?” I ask my daughter.

“Yogurt,” she replies.

“Not the cheese ravioli?”

“No.”

I smile and add the dozen or so mini ravioli leftover from dinner to my lunch. The fridge door is almost closed when I have another thought and pull it open again to grab a small container of marinara sauce and the shaker of parmesan cheese.

My husband and daughter are now staring at me since this is nothing like the usual lunch of salad, cut fruit and vegetables, and pretzels that I normally pack. “Don’t worry,” I joke. “I’m not taking the whole container of cheese.” I remove the lid and shake some into a small plastic cup, but two big clumps fall in the process. “Or, maybe I am,” I quip. We all laugh as I correct it to a reasonable amount.

I shake my head at the unusual foods filling my lunch box and zip it shut. I don’t know what I’ll end up eating from this smorgasbord, but it’ll get me through the next 8 hours until Spring Break actually begins.

#SOL19 Day 28: Wordscapes

E-T-F-R-T-L-U

Sometimes the words jump out at me, but not this time. I give it a few seconds, and I find FUEL. Yes!  TRUE. Another! It doesn’t fit into the crossword grid, but I’ll collect a coin in the end for finding this word. That’s all I see right now, and there are 13 more to go. I stare at the letters for over a minute, without seeing another word. Ugh! I try to save the Rocket and Bullseye hints I’ve received as Daily Prizes, but I have a feeling that I’m going to have to use at least one of them in this level.

I play a few rounds of Wordscapes every day, so I know it’s helpful to just start connecting letters, even when I know I’m not spelling a word; there’s something about seeing the letters arranged in a line rather than in a circle that helps. T-U-L-E. I say it in my head and immediately think of the rhyming word RULE. As I connect the last letters, I discover the anagram LURE! After these two words fly up to the puzzle spaces, I see that I need a 4-letter word that begins with L-E. Got it! LEFT!

I find more words, but I’m not close to finding the 14 words that complete this level. I put my phone away for a while, another helpful trick. Somehow, I can usually find a word or two if I just take a break. FLUTE. LUTE. I connect possible letters, use the clues, and find every word except for the last one–the one set off by itself, not connected to the other words. Should I use a hint? (I take a break to write this post. If I can’t figure it out soon after that, I guess I’ll have to.)

*****

Before I return to the game, I have a few quick thoughts to share: Playing WordScapes has made me think about how amazing that SO many words can be made out of 6 or 7 letters! Participating in the Slice of Life Challenge has made me think about how amazing it is that so many stories can be told with the words we make from these letters of the alphabet.

*****

Got it! No hints used! 🙂

#SOL19 Day 27: Things to Finish

I stopped my audiobook last night with just over 2 hours remaining. I need to complete about 20 more rows on the scarf I am knitting. As much as I want to lay in this warm bed a little longer, I am determined that I will go to school with both of these things finished. I let out a soft groan, throw back the covers, and roll out of bed.

My toes poke around next to the bed to find the slippers that will keep them warm. I take the three steps to the bathroom door and grab my chunky, blue bathrobe. I slide my arms in and fasten the tie as I make my way downstairs. I am rewarded by a beep announcing that my coffee is ready.

With a full mug of coffee in hand, I settle into the corner of the couch to get started. I increase the playback speed of the audiobook to 1.75x and press play. Coyote, from The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, is waking up just like I am.

Our school media specialist read this book over the weekend, and a student in my class is probably going to show up today and tell me that she finished the book last night. I have to leave early for a staff meeting, so my time this morning is limited. It would be torture to be a few chapters short of finishing and not get to talk about this book with them today!

I reach over and grab the pile of jade heather wool yarn that is my almost-completed scarf. I started it over Winter Break and made lots of progress on our numerous snow/cold days, but it’s been hard to find time for it lately. With this morning’s below-freezing temperatures, my scarf will be welcomed on the drive to school, and probably even at afternoon recess. I just don’t want anyone to blame the cold that happens in April on me, so this needs to be done today!

I sit on my couch for the next 90 minutes, sipping my coffee and enjoying my morning with these two jobs that just must be finished.

#SOL19 Day 26: Storyteller

I kind of kept March SOL to myself last year. I was a first-time participant, and I didn’t really see myself as a writer at that time. I joined because of the challenge–because I knew it was something I should do. You know those kinds of things: eat kale, make pizza with whole wheat crust, stop at one cup of coffee, drink more water, go for a walk, etc. After a couple of times, you realize you actually like these things (except for the one cup of coffee goal), but making them part of your lifestyle takes time.

That’s how SOL was for me. This year, it’s different, though. Now I tell my family about the stories I’m writing. I love to tease them when they do something outrageous with, “Ooooh! Now I have my next writing idea!”

***

“I’m ready for reading,” my daughter says. She’s in her pajamas, teeth brushed. I’m at the dining room table, clicking away at the keyboard.

“Give me just a minute,” I reply. I need to make a few notes about my writing that’s due tonight.”

“What are you writing about?”

“A story that you all say happened that didn’t happen,” I taunt.

She hardly acknowledges me. “Oh, we all know. You’re a storyteller just like Grandpa.”

Little does she know, that’s one of the best things she could have said to me right then.

#SOL19 Day 25: Change of Plans

My middle school son is debating where he should take a shower before he goes to bed or in the morning. There are merits to both, of course. It’s so relaxing to take a warm shower and then snuggling in all cozy under the covers; a shower in the morning helps with waking up and combating bedhead. He settles on taking it in the morning, and we each start going through all of the other evening necessities so we can start our read aloud time together. 🙂

As I’m downstairs preparing the coffee maker and taking one last look at my email, I see an important reminder from my his school: this week is Spirit Week, and tomorrow is Pajama Day! This could change everything since part of the appeal of Pajama Day is rolling out of bed and going to school without changing. I haven’t heard the shower turn on yet, so I hurry upstairs with the information.

My news is met with a smile that quickly fades to a quizzical look. “Are you sure?”

I show him the message on my phone. He scrutinizes it carefully and decides that the information is legitimate. “Ok, I’m taking my shower now,” he says with finality.

I know he made the right choice. Pajama Day is the best!

#SOL19 Day 24: A Sign

We’re in the car for a leisurely trip to Target because my daughter has a gift card she’s looking to spend. She’s not sure what she wants to buy, but it’s hard to go to Target and not find something. I certainly don’t mind getting out of the house and browsing as we walk around.

We get into the car, making sure the heated seats are at full-strength this chilly, March morning. I look around and confirm that we have a couple reusable shopping bags in the car. After backing out of the driveway, I once again have to manually adjust the self-adjusting mirrors once when I put the car into drive. (I really need to look up how these are supposed to work!)

Traffic is light this morning, and I don’t have to wait for anyone to turn onto the main road. My daughter and I talk about things in general, just having nice, casual conversation.

A shocking sight catches my eye. Did I really just see what I thought I saw? I blink and focus my attention on the school’s electronic marquis instead of what my daughter is saying. Yes, the sign definitely says, “June 13 and June 14, half days of school.”

I guess it’s never too early to plan ahead, but that’s not what I was expecting to see when we haven’t even had our Spring Break yet!

#SOL19 Day 23: Our Robofest Competition

“Welcome to the 2019 Gallimore Elementary Robofest Qualifying Competition!” I say into the microphone. About 100 pairs of hands clap, not for me, but for the 12 teams of students and their coaches who will be showcased this morning. They have worked for almost 3 months to build and program their own small robots that can move and stack tissue boxes.

I look at the sea of students in their blue t-shirts sitting on the gym floor, many of them nervous about how their robot will perform in the upcoming matches. “Raise your hand if this is your first robotics competition.” About a third of the hands go up.

“Today, no matter how the robots perform, we are celebrating all you have learned this season. Raise your hand if, at the beginning of the season, you didn’t know how to turn on the robot.” About a dozen hands go up. “What about those who used light sensors to help with driving the robot? Who used these for the first time this season?” About two-thirds of the hands go up. “One last question: how many of you tried something completely new with your robot this season? Maybe you built a new kind of attachment, or created MyBlocks, or learned how to use different command blocks in programming. If you learned something new, raise your hand.” This time, all of the hands raise! Some students know they learned so much they raise both hands and wave them in the air.

Coordinating these teams, mentoring them throughout the season, and hosting this competition takes so much time, but I do it so these students have this chance to learn how to do some pretty amazing things!

#SOL19 Day 22: Forgetting Things

I know we all forget things from time to time, but how is it that all three of my kids leave something at home in plain sight today?

“Good-bye, have a good day,” I say as the middle schooler closes the front door behind him. I return to the kitchen, checking on how the 5th grader is progressing with making her breakfast, and what do I see? The lunch that my older son just made sitting on the counter! Apparently, finishing off the few Sun Chips that didn’t fit into the snack container and throwing away the empty bag was enough to take his attention away from his original task.

Just enough time has elapsed that calling out the front door is no longer an option. “Could you quickly run this to your brother?” I plead. She slips into her boots and is out the door in a flash.

45 minutes later, this same 5th grader, who delivered her brother’s lunch, says goodbye and closes the front door behind her. I return to the kitchen to finish my breakfast, and what do I see on the counter? The sack of colorful plastic bags that my daughter was supposed to take to our media specialist for a school-wide craft. At least the project isn’t until next week, but that means these plastic bags will need to find a place so they aren’t forgotten once again.

I leave for work, but my husband and high school son are still at home. They still have another hour until meet up with the robotics team at the high school for a weekend-long competition in the northern part of the state. Apparently, the leisurely start and extra time this morning didn’t help my son make sure he had everything he needed, though: his safety glasses were left on the table in the entryway. Fortunately, my husband was driving separately to the competition and was able to bring the forgotten glasses.

Kids!