Author: joysha2@aol.com

If you are anything like me, we just need to git ‘er done! So many things have to be done all the time! I thought I had a relaxing summer to look forward too but in all reality, summer break just gives me more time to get things done!

I thought (I don’t know why I thought this but…) when you get older, things calm down, you begin to rest easy and get some relaxation in! Boy was I wrong! One of my close church friends replied to me after saying this, “Why in the world would you think that?” Now I have to rethink everything!

I thought that since I had everything established, everything could run itself. Ha ha… I am still helping to take care of mom, thank you to my sister who is nearby, so she helps. And not to leave out my older brother, Ken, who lives in Missouri, so he is quite a bit out of the way, but when he is around, he helps too. Still battling with those tenants down south! I have filed eviction papers (GET OUT!), summary of ejection papers (NO, REALLY! GET OUT NOW!), we have a court date, on the previous date of when the lease was to end anyway, but now I have to file a “Writ of Possession” of my own parent’s house! Ridiculous. All this could have been avoided if he had just paid his rent like the rest of us mere mortals! All I can say is, “It will all be over soon… thank you God!” Hopefully, this will almost be over for good. It’s hard not to blame the ex realtor who talked my mom into renting in the first place, when he knew she didn’t want to rent.

At least I get a trip down south out of the deal. I have gotten into hypnosis lately and I plan on sitting on the beach NOT worrying about all this and not in the living room. Maybe the change of scenery will do me good. I am packing my hypnosis tapes and special glasses to enhance the process.

I am so sorry for complaining but believe it or not, I feel better when I get it all out. My mom is moving back in, we redesigned the downstairs and it looks awesome! I will have her closer and maybe she won’t be so lonely. And I want to give a shout out to my daughter Ashley, ten more days! And my husband for still sticking by my side through all of this mess. And my new grandson is the cutest little baby ever! Thanks Shayna for the visit last week with the kids, it helped me to forget for awhile. 🙂

Remember those old commercials that showed a hot frying pan on the stove, “This is your brain,” cracks an egg on it, “This is your brain on drugs?” Yeah, me too. I remember.

I’ve always been fascinated by the brain. When getting my master’s degree, I had to take a class on the brain. I thought it was so interesting! I loved hearing about how it worked, and why, how to make yourself remember things and why certain tricks worked. My dad had joked with me, “If you like it so much why don’t you become a brain surgeon?” he’d ask. I think he just wanted a daughter as a brain surgeon.

Lately, I have been diving into something involving the brain and it’s power. I don’t want to reveal my secret yet, but I will. It really is an awesome organ if you think about it. It really tells our whole body what to do and how to do it, and when! It has all this power, all we have to do is control it and do our will. Whether we choose for evil, or for good. Ha! I am just reprogramming mine to do what I want, too bad I waited so long… but just like a bad habit takes awhile to train, so does a good habit. So, wish me luck, even though I have already decided. I know some of you detectives out there already know what I’m talking about but you’ll just have to wait until I’m ready.

Your brain makes all your decisions for you. When to get up, what to cook for dinner, how to drive to work or school. We can either make good decisions, or not so good ones. Every decision has a consequence, so let’s try to keep the good ones!

Have a great day everyone!

Don’t hate me, but I love Mondays. The only hard thing is getting up in the morning, and once I am past that, I love how it’s a clean new slate to begin my week. Hopefully, I won’t get a flat tire, be late for school, or lose my patience quickly. Typically, those are the reasons that come to mind about bad Mondays.

I like how I can start the week with a new found energy that I didn’t have yesterday. Now, my thinking may be a bit off kilter because it is summer time, and I can’t be late for school, until September that is. I do have a long “To Do” list to accomplish today, but mostly it’s just phone calls that I have to make. An online sale to complete, and my bible study tonight, but those are all easy things to do right?

Here’s to your Monday! I am wishing you a great new week to accomplish things on your “To Do” list, I hope your day goes well, and I hope you have a great week! Enjoy!

Joyce

Are you responsible? Do you take care of your children? Your house? Your car? Can people depend on you at your job to “get it done?” I am responsible, in fact, sometimes too much. I try to help others with their responsibilities, but in fact, I shouldn’t do that. I am taking away a lesson for them.

Recently, I have a nightmarish tenant renting my mom’s house in North Carolina. Let me rephrase that, “this tenant is an absolute nightmare.” One of my favorite church friends said that word to me and it rang a bell in my head, yup! nightmare! That’s what this is! He seems to think it’s ok to pay his rent 27 days late, EVERY month. I know it’s my fault for letting him get away with his RESPONSIBILITY for 11 months but I didn’t want to get confrontational, what a joke! ME? I have my father’s blood running through me and HE knew how to take care of business. I think I was just waiting until summer time to take care of it correctly, legally, purposefully, with an end. After all, it is your responsibility to pay your rent isn’t it? Makes me angry that he is consistently trying to rip my 80 year old mother off. He tells my realtor “she is evicting us!” Like, jeez, she is so mean! My view is “yes, she is! That’s what happens when you don’t pay your rent…duh.” He lies to my attorney and says Mays rent is really Junes, when he himself wrote on the money order “Mays Rent.” What a jerk.

I apologize for venting, please say a prayer this all ends soon as it causes undue stress on my mom and me, :(.

Please take care of your responsibilities and don’t take over anyone else’s. This world would really be a better place if everyone just took care of their own responsibilities. Mothers and Fathers, please teach your children to take care of their own responsibilities, should be one of the most important parts of an education there is in this world.

Have a great day!

Back to the first day of summer vacation! I am excited to relax and get things done but I find myself doing the exact same thing as I have for the past 19 years! Always fighting the paper war. I have let my home office get out of hand. As school was moving along, counting down to the last days, I would drop everything in here and think, “next week I’ll do it…” well, it is now “next week!”

If you are anything like me, I have a million little things to do. File this bill, call these people, put that away, mail that, file those papers, clean that sink, it’s just a ton of tiny things to do. Nothing major, except for waiting for the tile guys and the contractor to come and finish the downstairs for my mom. We are upgrading the entire downstairs to make it suitable for her own apartment living. We are moving her in again, which always reminds me of my brother, he was always the mover for everyone. She did live with us for a year, but a few issues caused her to move to her own space. It took a bit getting used too for both of us, yet gave us the insight to make it better. We all sat down and discussed what drove us both crazy and fixed it for this time, wish us luck!

Just like the end of chapters in our lives, new beginnings come along. End of 2018 school year, beginning all things new! I just pray for the motivation, inspiration, and perseverance to get everything done in time to relax for a while! Happy Summer everyone!!!! I wish you a joyful, relaxing, wonderful season!

I don’t want to push what I believe to be MY Higher Power on you, because I believe you have the right to choose, but I hope you do have one. It is so freeing!

I am a control freak! But, slowly but surely I am beginning to let go. It is truly up lifting. I hadn’t realized how control pulls me down. I am finally starting to realize I can’t control ANYTHING! Except my reaction to things that happen to me, or around me. Learning about myself and how I react. I am stressed because I let it get to me but the truth is I can’t stop or change what other people do, or what happens. All I can do is deal with it and let it rule my emotions or let it go! I have been letting it go lately, and wow! What a change! When ever that thing bothering me pops into my mind, I repeat, Let Go and Let God. I am powerless over the situation but I am not powerless over what I am thinking. I do control what I do, what I allow myself to think, and how  I allow myself to react. It is hard, I am retraining myself to think and react (or not to react at all) differently.

In case you haven’t realized by now, my Higher Power is God. I talk to Him all the time in my mind. I believe in Him because I am human and I have the need to know there has GOT to be something more. I don’t consider myself Crazy Mary, (a woman who had scripture written ALL OVER her car and rode around town screaming scripture all the time when we were kids), but I do believe I will spend eternity with Him and not Satan. I am scared of evil. It is mean, just plain mean, evil. When I am good, I feel good. I like to feel good, so I should do good. I pray to God to protect my family and friends against evil. I am blessed and I thank God every day, sometimes every minute for what He has given me.

I implore you to find your Higher Power!

I have been fighting a battle within my mind. It’s tough. I am a tired soldier. My husband had to go away for a bit and I was in the situation to keep up alone, with no best friend by my side. I had to revert to single life, taking care of the house, job, yard, bills, school, you know, the normals. I am not going to lie, my husband is the best! He is not one to shy away from hard work. He takes excellent care of his wife, I am beyond blessed to have him by my side and I am forever grateful for him in my life. To say I love him is a huge understatement, I adore him, I honor him, he is a big part of me.

Of course, my mind and thoughts creep in that are not welcome. I consider it my job to reject wrong thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. Sometimes it’s hard. Other times, it’s not. When things are going great, it is easy. When I am feeling down, it is much harder. Almost like a battle. When it gets hard to fight, I should stop, put my shield on, and fight back. My kids help me. Yes, they can be challenging at times, but they prove to me that I can do it. Maybe just in smaller doses. For instance, I had an observation today in my classroom, my assistant principal was observing me and how I teach. I always get a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to observation time. My job is very hard and I work overtime to try and make it go smoothly. I have been teaching for 32 years. I am not one of those “sleep at my desk” teachers, I am up, around, trying, trying, trying. Making sure everyone is engaged and at least trying to pay attention. But, there is usually something I forget to do when someone is watching me. I know I am a good teacher, just being there everyday for them is a huge feat that some people can not do. Another battle. Trying to teach them how to interact socially is a huge issue unlike any other. But, we did it! I think the lesson went great, even if it doesn’t say so on paper, I know it was great. And, my husband is on his way back, battle almost won! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I also want to take a minute to thank all the people I know and know me that encourage me, even without knowing I am going through a tough time, thank you, I am blessed by knowing you!

I’ve been down in the dumps lately. It seems the older I get, the harder it is to lift myself out. It got me to thinking about my dear, childhood friend Dierdre. I sometimes wish we could go back to those late nights drinking huge cups of coffee with tons of cream in them in the triangle house. We would then pass out, so tired, yup, after a huge cup of java. I wish she could come over but I have a cat. She is very allergic. I love my cat Oreo, he keeps me company when the house is quiet, he follows me around too like he wants to know what I’m doing and why, he’s interested. Then I got to thinking, he never goes outside! He isn’t one of those cats who dart when the door is the slightest bit open, he shys away, he has no desire to see what’s out there. I wondered why, then thought maybe because every time we come through the door, we’re overloaded with bags to put down, drop everything and sit, just sit, and sigh. When the weather is bad, we run in, shut the door quick, what’s out there? he must think, it must be bad, cause they are always shutting it out.

I know there is more, I’ve seen it, I just can’t seem to remember. It’s all around me, I just have to learn to see it again, find it, grab it, keep it. Pull it out when I need it, where is it again? There it is! Shayna texting me a picture of the baby in her belly! 🙂

Have a great night everyone.

I am not a football fan, never was. In fact, when I was dating, I remember that being one of the top requirements of my man. It’s okay to like sports but to be a crazy lunatic at games I didn’t adore. I just see those people as tacky, just the crazy ones. It’s good to route for a favorite team but I don’t like the mean-spirited competition part of it. Philadelphia Eagles fans are known for some mean-spirited, off the wall, offending language type episodes. Some are funny, but I wouldn’t want to be known for a potty mouth online, tv, or radio, I just think it is crass.

For the first time EVER, they won the Superbowl! Like I said, I am not a fan, but there is just some spark of excitement that I get when I remember! I love all the people celebrating, getting along, dancing in the streets, all the excitement at the parade, it just feels awesome. I wish my dad could have been here, even my brother. I don’t remember my brother being a crazy fan but always remember my dad screaming at the tv, yelling at them because they did something wrong. I found myself wanting to buy him a shirt, a commemorative flag, license plate or something, only to remember he couldn’t enjoy it. At least the Phillies won the World Series while he was alive, I loved the flag and the newspaper I got him, I know, because it was still hanging in his space (the garage) in a place of honor, and my mom made sure I knew he loved those Phillies things.

Such excitement, the togetherness, the love, the celebrations, just feels great! Most of my readers know I teach in Philadelphia, the city is known for a lot of different things, but I love my city. I used to be an outsider of the city growing up but now I belong. My initiation is over, teaching in North Philly for 18 years qualifies me, I looked it up, it does.

Congratulations to all the Eagles fans, the players, the coaches, the families, the friends, I am happy they won! The best video I saw this week was police officers, Latinos, and African-Americans all dancing in the streets together, yes, together. Love, love, love!

Have a great night everyone, and remember… our team won the Superbowl!!!!

I haven’t felt like writing in awhile, until 30 minutes ago. I’ve been sick and my husband got sick with me. Good, but bad. We stayed home together but neither one of us wanted to get up off the couch to make chicken soup, go to the pharmacy for medication, or clean up after ourselves. But we trudged through it, together. It kept popping in my mind… “in sickness and in health” that was one of those times. Needless to say, I had been feeling poorly and I was at the stage of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was bored again, trolling through facebook when I was awake to hopefully bore myself back to sleep. I always come across these great teacher ideas that are completely meaningful to me and I want to do them so I repost on my wall so I won’t forget. Or, so that I can easily find it when I’m ready. Tonight I reposted this cool pizza fraction idea that was perfect for my class, hoping I could convince the local Pizza Hut to donate 30 pizza boxes to my class. I have had businesses tell me “NO” before so I was building up Plan B if Plan A didn’t work. Along comes my facebook/online friend Anna. I call her an online friend because about 2-3? years ago, I bought something from her on a VarageSale site, ever since then she has had nothing to say but encouragement and happy words for me. Later, I guess it was last year, I had the pleasure of running into her again at VarageSale to take a peek at her beautiful daughter. Our only conversations are online. Also, I might add, she was the only one who sent me flowers after my brother’s death. Soooo, anywho, back to my story. I run out to get a movie and my private message alert goes off… “the pizza boxes will be at your house Wednesday” What? It was from Anna, she purchased those boxes and ordered them to arrive at my house! Wow! That is crazy awesome! I don’t know how to thank her but to tell her thank you! She tells me thank you cards aren’t necessary, but I insist on my students knowing someone cares about them, and I insist on them writing her a letter of thanks. Thank you Miss Anna, from the bottom of my heart, you are truly one of the best!!!!! I will be needing your address too…. I am not so savy in finding your address!

Thank God for the people who are still offering encouragement as the end of times draw near…

THANK YOU ANNA!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX