A Nigel update…
Well, life just has a way of throwing up roadblocks or potholes or whatever you want to call them. If you’re not a regular reader of my blog, here’s a tiny little update. My husband, Nigel, had his right hip replaced on July 30th. At his two week check in, they discovered the stem of one implant had receded a little more into his femur. Erring on the side of caution, the doctor ordered him from full weight bearing to 25% weight bearing. This was to prevent cracks in the femur which would be a very bad thing! When we went back in four weeks, the surgeon said the x-rays indicated no further change and that the recession had probably happened the very first time they stood him up in the hospital. Fast forward four more weeks and another x-ray…the surgeon was surprised to see bone growing where it shouldn’t (I can’t read those daggone x-rays). He told Nigel he was a very lucky man because it appeared there had, indeed, been a small fracture in his femur. But, his body did what it should (for once) and repaired itself with more bone. That, however, makes Nigel a little more cautious about putting full body weight on the leg. It has been quite the emotional roller coaster, my friends!
Global writing challenge…
Last year, I joined the wonderful women from Is This Mutton, MK’s Adventures in Style, Deb’s World, Grownup Glamour, and Frugal Fashion Shopper for a global writing challenge. Later, Suzy from Suzy Turner, and Leslie from Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After, and I joined in on the fun permanently! Last month, we welcomed Rosie, and this month, we welcome Anne from Spy Girl! Penny chose this month’s theme. This is one of my favorite posts to write and to read! On top of the wonderfully different opinions and thoughts, the writing itself is wonderful! I hope you’ll visit all of these blogs because you are going to be amazed at, not only the diversity of the ideas, but the stories of each person. There’s also a link party at the end of this post!
If you want to participate…
I borrowed this listing from Deb as she’d already done the work (thanks, Debbie)! If you’d like to join in, we post on the third Thursday of the month. You can link up with me, Gail or Debbie.
- November: Confidence (Gail)
- December: Going Green (Rosie)
Enter the way back machine…
Considering I’ve spent most of my life in school, either as a student or a teacher, this month’s prompt provided me with so many different ways to go. Ultimately, I went way, way back…even before my traditional school days.
A little history…
I have written before about the wonderful neighborhood in which I lived when I was growing up. I’ve also written about the playground my dad created. What I haven’t ever written about is our basement. Hahaha! I bet you didn’t see that one coming!
We didn’t have a finished basement. It was actually kinda creepy in places. It ran the length of the original house (Mom and Dad added on at some point). There was a furnace room that contained the furnace (duh) as well as the dryer, the oil tank for when we had oil heating, and Mom’s carefully canned goods. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time in there!
But…
The main part of the basement was huge and had concrete blocks on three sides with a wooden wall that was the other side of the furnace room. My mom (coulda been my dad, though) had screwed a magnetic board to it. Basically, it was the 60s version of a whiteboard. It had lines you could write on so I guess we had special markers, too? One thing I know we did have was a magnetic set of letters. We also had a large chalkboard on that wall and lots of chalk.
First classroom…
Somewhere along the line, we acquired two small school desks. I have no idea where they came from, but I own them to this very day! I gave up many things when we downsized to this house, but those were non-negotiable. They are still in the same condition they were when I was a kid. We also had a telephone bench down there. I’m not 100% sure why it was in the basement instead of upstairs. I’m guessing it was given to my parents from one of their parents. And, that, my friends was my first classroom! I was going to go up in the attic to take a photo of my desks, but I voted today. I waited in line three hours!
A little more…
I coerced convinced many of the neighborhood kids as well as my little brother to visit my dark den of learning over the years. Since there were only two desks, I could only have two students at a time. The telephone stand was my desk. I’m pretty sure it was always neater than my actual desk was when I was teaching! In fact, I know it was! I was notorious for having the messiest desk in the entire school (but I knew where any given thing was). I would make up worksheets and use the chalkboard to instruct my “students” in whatever skill we were practicing at the time. Did we have recess? Have you read my post about our backyard playground?
Finally…
I loved my little classroom in the basement even if my students didn’t! The funny thing is I don’t believe I was even reading myself! I was just writing letters and such on the chalkboard. My worksheets were just scribbles. A lot of times, they were just pages torn out of a coloring book. But, even then, I loved being in front of a group of students! Guess what? I still do!
Wrap it up, Marsha!
I think I came out of the womb knowing I would be a teacher. I love to teach, but I also love to learn! While I know many do not have this experience, I will always look back to my schooldays and smile. So, can we talk? Do you have fond memories of your schooldays? Can you name all of your teachers in order? Or, was school a part of your life you’d just like to forget? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.
Where you can find me:
Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
What others are saying…
Suzy “reflects on her varied and memorable schooldays, from culture shocks and cherished friendships to inspiring teachers and unexpected changes.” Find her over at www.suzyturner.com.
Mary Katherine “ponders her Schooldays, and what she learned that she actually used in later life.”
Penny says, “As usual, Penny goes a bit off-piste with this theme. She does look at her schooldays, which were sooo long ago! But she also looks at the British class based system of schooling; as in private v state schooling. This is because it not only impacted her life but also it has huge consequences for British society as a whole.”
Gail from Is This Mutton “serves up some amusing memories from school, including the missing gerbil and her mum’s ride home in a hearse.”
Anne writes about her current job: teaching Photoshop and Illustrator to fashion design BFA students.
Debbie “shares memories of her schooldays in Australia, and sending her daughters to school in Cheddar (UK) where (by coincidence) she’s currently staying! ”
Jill from Grown Up Glamour says, “My take on this one is a smattering of memories from my long ago schooldays.”
Leslie writes, “For October’s prompt, Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After reflects on a long but beloved career as a school librarian.”
Rosie “is talking about her village primary school and a very special ‘School Girl’ rose!”
And, now, it’s your turn!
If you’d like to link up your Personal Style posts, you may link up here or at Gail’s or Debbie’s blogs!
I guess that Nigel also has a mental path to recover from, it’s not easy to lose faith in your body.
Your basement story brought up memories. I also had a playing area in the, very messy and full of spiders, basement. But it was a space for myself. Your story is so funny and I just loooove that white desk!
Nancy, you are so right…and it finally hit me yesterday just how hard, mentally, this has been for him.
I forgot to mention we had a salamander (a kind of small lizard) in our basement. I don’t have any idea how she got there, but my mom always told me she ate centipedes which just make me shudder! I’m glad you like my white desk. It’s one of those things that has moved house to house with us for years. And, I never know where to put it. Now, it’s the first thing as you come in the house from the garage so it’s usually covered with stuff!
I love the idea of a little school room all of your own. Yes a teacher in the making form an early age, I’d say!
Thanks, Rosie! Yes, I knew from the start I would be a teacher! I loved playing school in the basement!
Oh my goodness what a roller-coaster for Nigel. Good to hear that things might get better – do give him my very best wishes.
And you know what you were obviously born to be a teacher. So interesting to hear how you ‘taught’ from such an early age! Amazing! And yes, it is also interesting to hear about your basement. Some of our houses have basements – usually the Victorian and Edwardian terraces, but otherwise no, we don’t have them. But they often feature in American films and they are different to UK basements which are smaller and don’t usually have a furnace (the boiler is usually in the kitchen). Fascinating stuff!
Thank you for your best wishes, Penny! It’s truly been a roller coaster…and I don’t like them any time!
I loved teaching and still do. It’s really what I was meant to do. I love that you find my basement even more interesting, though! I’ve only ever lived in two houses without a basement…the first one and this one. Our second home had a very small basement as it was built under the original house. The house had been built onto a couple of times, but the basement was still very small. It would flood at times so we learned to keep things off the floor. Our house up north was mostly unfinished and that’s where I did laundry as well as worked out and sewed. The other side was finished, but we only used it when it was really stormy outside. None of them were as creepy as the house where I grew up, though! It had those wooden stairs you could see through so I was always expecting something to grab onto my foot!
My schooldays were a mix of feeling cozy (elementary school where I also discovered my love of rain), fine, okay, and annoying.
I have good memories and bad memories, for example about subjects that I would have loved to avoid (such as everything science and math), but also teachers whom I loved. Most of my good memories are about my friends and some of the teachers, bad memories usually about other students who were not full blown bullies, but simply not very nice to students who were in any way different from them. I was two years younger than most which was reason enough for some to try and pick on me.
As a child, I had to play school with my little brother for a while, and I sent my Mattel Stacy both to school and to the library. There was a very short phase when I contemplated to be a teacher as a child, but instead I became – a librarian! 😉
Cat
https://catswire.blogspot.com/
My best wishes for Nigel’s recovery!
Thanks so much, Cat! I’m hoping his recovery moves a long a little faster now. You know, it’s funny you mention not liking science. I didn’t like it in elementary school, either, because we did it out of a book. I liked it better in high school because we had labs where we did something. And, I loved teaching science because my teaching co-horts and I would come up with some of the best plans. Our students liked it, but I think we liked it more. My bad memories have more to do with just plain feeling awkward when I was by myself in high school. My friends weren’t usually in any of my classes, and I’m very shy. It was hard to get to know other people.
I think being a librarian would be lots of fun (though I’d probably be hunkered down in the stacks reading).
I forgot to mention that I’m at a university library – the location which has all the science books, lol. And my ex-husband is a scientist. Yeah, life can go strange ways 😛
That’s funny considering you don’t like science! But, I bet you’re a whiz at finding the books! Life is definitely strange!
You know you were in the right profession just by how you talk about teaching. We need more teachers like you, for sure.
I love these memories,
XOOX
Jodie
Oh, thank you so much, Jodie! That means the world to me. I really loved teaching and wouldn’t have retired when I did if not for a couple of things going on in the background. I miss it every day.
Glad to hear that hopefully Nigel has turned a corner to recovery.
You were born to be a teacher , your story about the classroom in your basement is proof of that.
I must admit that I have mixed feelings about my school days but I do remember special teachers.
Thank you, Jill! It’s funny that I knew, from the beginning, I would be a teacher. I had a cousin on my dad’s side who taught, but no one else did until my sister and I started. My oldest sister actually has two teaching degrees. She got one for secondary school then decided to go back for elementary school.
I was lucky and had very special teachers almost every year.
That is a gorgeous story. I used to teach toys in a class room – isn’t it funny, we’re so desperate to go to school and then become so desperate to get out.
I really hope things pick up for your husband, that’s so hard. For you both. Very emotionally exhausting, along with the rest of it.
Thank you, Lydia! It has definitely been a much longer recovery than we expected. I appreciate your kind words. The only time I was desperate to get out of school was college so I could start teaching! That seemed to take forever!
My goodness Marsha you were a natural teacher, from a very early age!
I could visualise lessons in your well equipped basement classroom….with the luxury of a phone.
Fun interpretation!
Thanks so much, Gail! Oh, the telephone stand didn’t have a phone. But, there was a phone in the basement because my dad worked for the phone company. We also had a private line! My poor neighbor friends…I did give them recess, though!
Hi Marsha, this was fun to read! Playing teachers and schools before you could even read :). I like the idea of the worksheets and blackboard. I’ve never had a basement so don’t know how I would feel about being under the house like that. It’s great that you ended up being a teacher and seemed to be your destiny from a young age – I love it. Another great prompt for us all this month.
Thanks, Debbie! I really do love teaching and can’t seem to get out of the habit (even when I should…like with the husband). I really don’t like not having a basement because it offers such wonderful storage as well as protection from violent storms. This is only the second house I’ve lived in without a basement. Just think of it as another floor but without windows (though our last house did have one). I have so enjoyed these writing prompts, too!
What wonderful memories, Marsha! I was shocked when you said you still have the desks! That’s awesome! But you keep them in the attic? Can’t you have them on display somewhere in the house? I’d love to see them! Fab post…and such a good prompt from Penny!
Hugs
Suzy xx
Hahaha!!! Yes, I still have them, but I could never sit in them. They are more like kindergarten size. I do wish there was a way to put them in the house. I thought about painting them once upon a time, but I’m glad I didn’t! This was a really good prompt, and I loved reading everyone’s perspective on it!
Thanks, Suzy!
I am so glad you kept the 2 desks and the telephone bench. Precious keepsakes. What a grand time you must have had in your classroom in the basement. I would have loved to have had a blackboard as a kid. And I think drawing on a whiteboard is about as fun as school can be!! I write all over the whiteboards in the classrooms where I sub. And draw. We always draw when I sub.
Good grief, Nigel has had a time. But it is encouraging that what looks to have been a fracture in the femur has healed on its own. I think you recently mentioned that he is walking again finally. I am so sorry this has been such an ordeal. Sure hope by the holidays he is much closer to feeling 100% again.
Thanks, Leslie! I have no idea what will happen to my desks and telephone stand when I’m gone. I don’t think any of the kids have any kind of sentimental attachment to them. I wish I had a place to put them in the house, but they are kindergarten size rather than bigger kid size. I don’t have any idea where Mom got the chalkboard, but I think that white board was probably a Christmas gift. I was so lucky to get a SmartBoard the last few years I taught. Oh, how I loved that thing! I had so much fun with it which meant the kids did, too! I took attendance and lunch orders on it. We had a class song we sang every morning. The kids loved to use it, too! Oh, geez, I wish I was still teaching!
He really has been through it (as has your PC). But, things seem to be looking up now. Yes, he’s been walking with a walker again and has even started using a cane sporadically to walk around the island. The problem, though, is his left hip needs replacing, too, so he still struggles with that leg. That surgery won’t be until probably February or March. I just hope it goes much more smoothly than the first one!