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).
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.