Wake Up & Smell The Routine

It's funny how quickly we has people fall into routines & how comforting they are.  Even at work I see it on a daily basis.  My students don't have assigned seats but day in & day out they sit in the exact same spot & God forbid someone else sit in their spot.  The same thing would happen when we as teachers went to lunch.  We would each sit in the same chair around the table.  And again, God forbid if someone tried to shake things up.  

I'm sure I'm not alone in this but this sums up exactly how I feel about routine:

I got back to Minnesota from Texas Sunday afternoon & by Monday I had fallen back into my summer routine.

One

Without an alarm I'm usually up about 7 am.  I have to note that it's without an alarm because during the school year, trying to get me out of bed at 7 am is like pulling teeth.  However, in the summer (or even on weekends during the school year) I have no problem waking up around 7.  I'm a morning person when I'm not forced to be.  The first thing I do is go take care of Jack & the chickens.  Which really just means letting the chicken out of their coop, letting Jack out of the porch, & getting him some food.  I should have taken a picture of my outfit.  My mother would love it ha.  It's just a tshirt & athletic shorts which by all means is normal but then I also throw on my shit kickers.  It should also be noted that my shorts are black & my boots are dark brown & slightly too big.  It's quite the sight.

Two

After I've taken care of the animals I make myself some coffee & breakfast & throw on The Today Show.  I eat so much better when I'm at my parents' house.  I think it's mostly because I don't have work to deal with so there are no timelines in which I need to get stuff done.  While eating & getting in my Today Show fix I read & comment on blogs, respond to comments, & work on posts for later in the week if need be.  This all lasts until about 11 when the Today Show is over.

Three

Random times during the day I read.  I read SO much more in the summer than during the school year.  As in I read 0 books from Jan 1, 2016 - Jun 5, 2016 but within the first 2 days of break I had read a book & a half.  This week's books are Me Before You & My Life Next Door.  Also at some point during the day I do my 5 minute Spanish lesson on Duolingo.  As far as basics are concerned I know a lot more than I gave myself credit for so right now it's pretty much remedial.  However, I did learn drink & apple so I guess there's that.

Four

Last summer I always tried to get my walk in in the morning.  I've been doing it in the afternoon/evening though so far this summer...and by that I mean the whole 4 days I've been on summer vacation.  I love this walk.  One thing that makes me sad though is that top left picture.  If you'll notice, while pretty, it's just overgrown plants & a little pond.  My entire life up until this summer there was always a heard of cows out there.  However, last summer when my neighbor stopped by to pick up his dog who had decided to come hang out at our place, he told us that they were going to be done dairy farming.  They were already one of I think 3 remaining operating dairy farms in the county.  As you can see on the bottom left they still have some cows for their own use but no more herds of cows in the pasture or milk trucks driving down the road.

Five

To shake things up during the week, I went to the zoo on Wednesday with my cousin/BFF & her kids.  We got to the zoo soon after it opened, walked around to see the animals, ate some lunch (why is food at the zoo so expensive?? My plain hot dog was $4-5), walked around to see the rest of the animals, & then went to the amusement park at the zoo so the kids could ride some rides.  After 5-6 hours of zoo fun it was time to go home.  All 5 of us were exhausted.  On the drive home Becky & I talked about what we wanted to do the following week in order to continue our summer of fun & rival the awesome summer we had last year.

Thursday I had the weirdest interview of my life.  I've had in person interviews, I've had over the phone interviews, I've even had Skype interviews.  However, on Thursday I had a digital interview.  What in the world is that you ask?  You are shown interview questions & then record yourself answering them & then submit them.  I can see the point.  It's summer which means schools aren't open and teachers & administrators alike are busy with their own lives.  I had 48 hours to get the interview done which means a)the interviewer didn't have to spend their time scheduling & sitting through x number of interviewers b)I could do it whenever it was convenient for me...it could've been midnight if I really wanted it to be (I didn't... I did it around noon) c)schedules didn't have to be coordinated.  While I can see the point...it's still the most awkward type of interview I've ever had.

Linking up with Amy & Amanda