April Finally Turns to May

It's Thursday and I was trying to think of some big thing to write about that I'm thankful for. The weather was not great today, so I kind of felt trapped in the house, but when I looked out the window, it struck me how green everything was. Why does it seem so sudden to me that the trees have come to life? I look out that same window every day! The transformation from bare branches to lush leaves didn't happen overnight, so why hadn't I noticed it until today? Apparently in all of my staring out the window, I failed to appreciate the incremental changes taking place before my very eyes!

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm thankful to have made it through the month of April and I'm looking forward to a new month tomorrow. This whole month has been spent in quarantine! That is serious business and I'm not sure I won't be saying the same thing at the end of May...but the beautiful trees are evidence that spring is finally here and I'm hopeful that we've all got better days ahead of us!

April 1 seems so long ago! I decided to write a blog post each day, and I'm going to continue that into May, with a few tweaks to some of the daily themes:

Music Monday

Travel Tuesday

Wisdom Wednesday

Throwback Thursday

Furry Friday

Small Shop Saturday

Summary Sunday

I'm going to make a concerted effort to be more aware of my surroundings and be grateful for all of the beauty around me in everyday life!

Happy Tails to you!

Old Dogs

I have a real soft spot for old dogs.

The ones who've been let down by humans.

The ones who find themselves at the end of their lives with no family of their own.

The ones whose outward appearance cannot compete with the adorable puppies also looking for homes.

The ones with the gray muzzles, the cloudy eyes, the missing teeth.

The ones who are overlooked.

The only downside to adopting a senior dog is you do so knowing you will not have as much time with them as you both deserve. No matter how much time you do get together, it will not be enough.

Five of our eight dogs were seniors when we adopted them. Technically, any Dachshund who is eight years or older is considered a senior. Eight short years on the planet and already they are seniors.

As the photos show, our five seniors were 14, 12, 15, 12, and 10 when they joined our family, and we were lucky enough to love them for 14 months, a little more than 4 years, a little less than 3 years, about 2.5 years, and less than 5 months.

We miss them terribly every single day. There are times when I am so overcome with grief that I don't know what to do with myself. And then I remember their funny mannerisms and how much joy they brought us, which help to elevate me from the depths of that sorrow.

Their absence is always felt, but we wouldn't trade our time with them for anything in the world.

Dogs lives are short, too short,

but you know that going in.

You know the pain is coming,

you're going to lose a dog,

and there's going to be great anguish,

so you live fully in the moment with her,

never fail to share her joy or

delight in her innocence,

because you can't support the illusion

that a dog can be your lifelong companion.

There's such beauty in

the hard honesty of that,

in accepting and giving love

while always aware that it comes

with an unbearable price.

~ Dean Koontz ~

I love writing my blog on Wiener Dog Wednesdays because it's a small way I can honor these little sweethearts who have enriched our lives in ways we could never have imagined.

Happy Tails to you!

Our Top Ten MLB Stadiums

Yankee Stadium
beautiful!
exceptionally well-managed!
great fan experience!
definitely in our Top Ten!

Years and years ago (like more than twenty years ago!) we decided to go to a baseball game in every one of the MLB stadiums. We completed that travel checklist in 2004, having been to all 30 stadiums!

However, over the years, new stadiums have been built, so we've been slowly getting around to returning to those MLB cities for games in those newer stadiums. As of right now, we've been to 36 MLB ballparks! 

The last "new" stadium we went to was in Philadelphia in 2016, and at that time, we had four new ones still to go, but that number is now up to five, because in 2017, the Atlanta Braves started playing in a new stadium. So despite the fact that we've already seen an MLB game in these five places, we've got new stadiums to visit in Atlanta, Miami, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. We actually had a trip planned for this summer to Atlanta and Miami, but that is looking unlikely at this point!

Over the years, people have asked which ballpark is the "best" one, and it's a difficult question to answer because what we think of as "the best" is not necessarily the same as other people!

Since it's Travel Tuesday, C and I had a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of the different parks, and we've come up with our Top Ten. (Side note: when two names are listed, it's the current name of the stadium and the name when we attended a game there.)

Our rankings are admittedly subjective, but these are the ten parks we've loved the most, in no particular order! In determining our list, we talked about the stadium itself and its architecture, but more importantly, our experience as fans. At times we were cheering for the home team, other times we were cheering for the visiting team, and to be honest, there were times we were indifferent to both teams, so we thought about the staff throughout the stadium and how things were managed when we were there. We also considered things like parking and/or transportation to and from the game, the general atmosphere, and the rituals and routines and celebrations and mascots and countless other little things that go into an MLB game.

It was a great little trip down memory lane to think about all of those games and reminisce about the good and the bad of each!

L & C's Top Ten MLB Stadiums

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

home of the Baltimore Orioles

Yankee Stadium

home of the New York Yankees

Rogers Centre / SkyDome

home of the Toronto Blue Jays

Petco Park

home of the San Diego Padres

Oracle Park / Pacific Bell Park

home of the San Francisco Giants

Kauffman Stadium

home of the Kansas City Royals

Coors Field

home of the Colorado Rockies

Dodger Stadium

home of the Los Angeles Dodgers

PNC Park

home of the Pittsburgh Pirates

T-Mobile Park / Safeco Field

home of the Seattle Mariners

At the other end of the spectrum, the worst MLB stadium we've ever visited was the Oakland Coliseum. NO contest! Simply atrocious!

We know that once we get to those five new stadiums, it's possible that our Top Ten list might change a bit, but until then, these are the ones we think are amazing!

Next Tuesday, I'll share our Top Ten NHL Arenas!

Happy Tails to you!

Disney Touches at Home

We're extremely fortunate to have visited the Disney Parks as often as we have, and we try to have some of the Disney magic at home with us, too! I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Disney things we have in our house for today's Magic Monday!

Queen Minnie and King Mickey

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Cinderella Castle

sign in our library

sign in our kitchen

the most spectacular gift
from my mom...she had
Carl & Ellie chairs
made for us!

We've also got a lot of Disney art hanging in our house, so I might write a future post to showcase that, and of course, there are all of the little Disney things, too…like mugs and glitter cups and ears and so forth!

Speaking of ears, I've been wearing a different pair of ears every day for zoom meetings, and that is helping to keep the magic alive for me during this quarantine!

Happy Tails to you!

Quarantine: Week 6

It's been a good week! Some things remained the same – lots of zoom meetings, lots of Ginny time – and there were a few new things to keep the week interesting!

Of course, the most important photos of the week are of Ginny:

Take Your Child to Work Day

my new Mushu shirt

she did not budge for three hours
during my office hours

while I was grading, C brought me a snack
of cheese and crackers, and brought
Ginny her own little bowl of cheese

We finished that map puzzle we started last weekend and also completed a second puzzle…what we've learned about ourselves is that we become slightly obsessed and do little else once we've started a puzzle. It's not something we would have predicted! We're not people who have binge-watched any series during this quarantine, we haven't had any movie marathons, or done anything else where we've been focused on just one thing. But apparently puzzles are our downfall. A free moment in between meetings or calls? Let's work on the puzzle! It's late and we should really go to bed? Let's work on the puzzle! Waiting for the coffee to brew in the morning? Let's work on the puzzle! Thankfully, we've recognized this about ourselves and have yet to start on a third puzzle…although my sister loaned us several, so I'm sure we'll be back at it sometime this week.

puzzle #1 completed

puzzle #2

puzzle #2 completed

EXACTLY

Walt Disney World streamed a recording of its Happily Ever After fireworks show, so that was fun to watch, and I finally got around to watching the Disney Singalong show from a week-and-a-half ago, which I was not impressed with. I feel like people think I only say positive things about Disney, and for the most part, I do, but that singalong was not good! The "How Far I'll Go" performance by Auli'i Cravalho, the performance of "Friend Like Me"Broadway cast of Aladdin, and the "Gaston" performance by Luke Evans/Josh Gad/Alan Menken were outstanding, but the rest of it? No thank you. I was so excited to watch Donny Osmond singing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan, and then that turned out to be a train wreck. Please stay true to the source material, Disney! I don't want to watch people sing off key!

I love this fireworks show and
I'm missing WDW terribly!

My favorite singer of all time did a live stream concert yesterday, and it was awesome! Definitely a highlight of my week! We've been fortunate to see him many times live in concert (several times with BNL and three times during his solo career) and he never, ever, ever disappoints!

I adore Steven Page!

We had some landscaping done in our yard this weekend. Last summer, we cut down a tree in our front yard that had died (well, C cut it down while I watched), and we hadn't dealt with the stump until now. The landscapers put a chain around it and pulled it out using their truck, which was pretty cool to see! I'm so happy with how things look now!

just need to replace that one shutter
that blew off during a storm!

Happy Tails to you!

Lovely Lyrics: Look for the Good

I heard a new Jason Mraz song on the radio a few days ago, and not only did I buy it immediately, but I knew it would be a perfect choice for Sing Song Saturday. Even though I usually feature Disney songs for my Lovely Lyrics posts, Jason Mraz is awesome and this is not the first of his songs I've written about!

These words offer such a powerful message, not only for the current situation we all find ourselves in, but also for life in general.

Look for the Good

Look for the good in everything

Look for the people who will set your soul free

It always seems impossible until it's done

Look for the good in everyone

People done gone crazy, people done gone mad

People done forgot the superpowers we all have

We were born to love, not hate

We can decide our fate

And look for the good in everyone

And celebrate our love most days

If there's a silver lining

You still have to find it, find it, find it

Look for the good in everything

Look for the people who will set your soul free

It always seems impossible until it's done

Look for the good in everyone

Everyone needs sunshine, everyone needs rain

Everyone is carrying around some kind of pain

I see who you are, you're just like me

I see you're searching for a purpose, guided by a dream

I see who you are, I'm just like you

I get lost sometimes and I forget what I came here to do

I keep on trying

When it gets frightening

Look for the good in everything

Look for the people who will set your soul free

It always seems impossible until it's done

Look for the good, look for the good

Look for the good in everyone

Everyone is nature, everyone is God

Everyone is love and light and vibration

Look for the good, look for the good

Everyone gets mad sometimes and maybe they should

Look for the good, look for the good

Yeah, look out for all the heroes in your neighborhood

Look for the good, look for the good

Life sure would be sweeter if everybody would

Look for the good in everything

Look for the people who will set your soul free

It always seems impossible until it's done

Look for the good in everyone

Music and Lyrics by

Jason Mraz

these two are my "good"
every single day

Happy Tails to you!

Teammates for Life

It's Framily Friday and this is going to be short and to the point. I've worked with awesome colleagues over the years…many of whom have grown into great friends I love dearly. But there are three people who are the best of the best. I returned to my school after having resigned not once, but TWICE, when they had unexpected openings on the grade level, and let me be perfectly clear: I would not have done that for just anyone! I adore these three people and I still refer to them as "my teammates" even though technically, I'm not on their team at school any more! But in terms of the real world, they are my teammates for life. They make me laugh, they keep me sane, and they are more than anyone could hope for in a group of friends…the very definition of framily!

Happy Tails to you!

Proud Math Nerd

I love teachers. That might sound a little self-serving, but I do. I get to witness amazing things every single day – not just at school, but during this quarantine, too, and I'm so glad people are starting to recognize how hard it is to be a teacher. Unless you are in the trenches, you just have no idea the toll it takes mentally, physically, and emotionally to give your all under the intense scrutiny of parents, administrators, district leaders, and, if I'm being honest, colleagues. No matter how much you do, it's never enough. You are judged as being too strict or too lenient. Your assignments are judged as too easy or too hard. Your expectations are judged as too high or not high enough. It is a never ending battle to please people. NEVER.ENDING. This is what you don't learn in college. No matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, how many professional development sessions you attend, how many professional books you read…it will never be enough for some people. There will always be someone judging you and at the ready to point out your perceived shortcomings.

I try to remember this when
dealing with difficult people!

But here's the thing: teachers change lives.

When I was figuring out what to write about for Thankful Thursday, teachers certainly came to mind. The teachers I work with are incredible. In my role as a reading specialist, I now have the opportunity to witness learning happening in classrooms throughout the building. All I can say is that I absolutely love my fellow teachers and I'm in awe of all they do each and every day. Their young students may not yet realize how lucky they are to have these educators guiding them, but one day they will.

I've had some amazing teachers myself over my many years of schooling. I still exchange Christmas cards with two of my music/band teachers from high school every year. I fondly remember the teachers who made things fun and I also remember the ones who pushed me to do more, write more, think more. I've had some outstanding professors during my doctoral program, including my portfolio committee chairperson and my dissertation committee chairperson, who have shaped my thinking about teaching and learning in more ways than they will ever know.

But if I had to choose THE teacher who changed my life, there's only one answer.

When I was taking my teacher licensure courses, I knew I would have to take an elementary math methods.

Well, let me tell you something. I absolutely HATED math.

This was me...

I was very "successful" in math until about halfway through high school. Which means I could memorize an algorithm and carry it out perfectly. I was convinced I was good at math and that I loved math. Then I hit a wall. Math stopped being about steps to follow and became something to make sense of, and I was lost. All those years of "success" were anything but, because I hadn't really LEARNED anything. I had very little conceptual understanding when the understanding became more important than the procedure, I struggled. I could not wait to finish the required math classes for high school graduation and never think about math again. I ended up selecting a major in college that didn't require math (sociology), and planned on teaching primary grades to avoid any "hard" math.

So back to the teacher licensure courses. I dreaded that elementary math methods class something awful and I put it off as long as I possibly could.

I was terrified when I started that class. I was sure I would fail. And I was convinced that as a result, I wouldn't get to be a teacher.

Given that I actually am a teacher and also finishing my Ph.D. in Mathematics Education Leadership, you already know that's not how the story ends.

I ended up loving the class. It was an amazing experience! For the first time in my life, I actually UNDERSTOOD math. I was beyond excited to go to every class, read every article and book chapter, complete every assignment. And I realized that I was, indeed, "good" at math, after so many years of being intimidated and feeling inadequate.

I owe EVERYTHING to that professor. I am the teacher I am because of him. Because he opened up an entire world to me and helped me to recognize and appreciate the beauty and power and magic of math.

He changed the trajectory of my life.

It's a simple as that. He absolutely changed my life.

I am forever grateful!

one of my favorite bracelets ever
from one of my favorite families ever

Happy Tails to you!