AuburnChick's Adventures

I am linking up with Kate for her Five Minute Friday writing prompt. It’s a weekly challenge – for me anyway – being the wordy girl that I am.

I like this exercise, though, because it’s good for my brain. It helps me think quickly and more concisely – skills that I definitely need to improve on.

So, without further adieu, let’s go!

Today’s word is five.

START

Five. Wow. The first phrase that comes to mind when I hear the word “five” is five more minutes.

I used to say this a lot to my kids when they were growing up.

There was always one more task that needed five more minutes before I was ready to move on to the next thing. This often put us behind in wherever we were going, much to their chagrin.

I’ve been on the receiving end of the phrase.

I believe it started when my sweet Chicky was a wee thing and wanted five more minutes before bedtime.

It’s funny how we want to stretch time out a bit more sometimes.

Ironically, we’ve been given lots of “five more minutes” with the quarantine we’ve all be under the past few weeks.

Needless to say, I haven’t said or heard that phrase very often lately.

I can’t help but reflect on just how much one can accomplish in such a short amount of time.

I can:

• Have a quick conversation with a friend (despite my wordiness – I talk fast).
• Wash the few last dishes in the sink.
• Move seven boxes to the car as we try to clean out in preparation for people coming to fix our house.
• Play two Words with Friends games – priorities people!

Time is still, despite the abundance of it, such a precious commodity that I don’t want to waste even five minutes of it.

STOP (with five seconds to spare)

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Five Minute Friday | 2 Comments »

Happy Friday, y’all! It’s time for the weekly Five Minute Friday writing prompt. To play along, write on your own blog and then link up here. I’ve been visiting some amazing bloggers recently. The talent out there is incredible!

This week’s FMF writing prompt is: ANOTHER

START

When I think of the word another, I can’t help but think of how we are living Groundhog Day every single day.

We wake up to another day of being at home (which I don’t dislike in and of itself, mind you.)

I sit down to another day of checking email, responding to students’ questions, grading, and trying, haphazardly, to take attendance for invisible students.

I think of my students who are facing another day of endless online assignments and, if they’re lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective), jobs.

It can seem like an endless line of monotonous days because it’s always another of the same that went before.

For me, though, I’m not minding this.

I crave the routine. The familiarity of another day gives me comfort because I know how to approach my day.

I’m not one for frenzy, so I’ll gladly welcome another day in comfortable clothes, hair not straightened – barely brushed in fact.

Sometimes another is actually okay.

STOP

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Five Minute Friday | 4 Comments »

Good morning y’all!

I’m so proud of myself for my consistency in participating in the Five Minute Friday Prompt Linkup. Of course, being sheltered at home has played a role in that by clearing out my otherwise-busy work schedule, so there’s that.

Regardless, I’m actually glad for the challenge of this weekly prompt. It’s making me think a little quicker on my feet – something I’m not necessarily good at because I like to chew on my words a bit, which the challenge of writing for only five minutes doesn’t allow.

But enough about that. It’s time to queue up the timer and get busy.

Today’s prompt is patient.

START

What a loaded word, eh? As an overachieving gal, being patient can be tough.

I want things done ASAP, and I don’t have a lot of patience for people who take too long to complete tasks or make me wait to complete mine.

I am a check-it-off-the-list kind of gal.

However, Hurricane Michael, which hit us exactly 18 months ago today, primed me for the patience I need now, during this pandemic.

I am learning to be patient while we wait for the insurance company to approve our estimates to get our house fixed.

I am learning to be patient while subcontractors add us to their lists to visit our home to give us said estimates.

Currently, I’m trying to learn to be patient while students I can’t see perform tasks I can’t be with them to work through.

Being patient is hard . . . especially when it involves connecting with parents who previously took a hands-off approach to their children’s schooling and expected teachers to do the grunt work.

I’m learning to be patient in other areas as well . . . waiting for grocery deliveries . . .

Waiting for the mailman to deliver my Amazon packages. I mean, such moments are highlights of my day.

Being patient is an art form, I’m discovering. It’s one I’m slowly learning, sometimes not too easily.

STOP

Y’all, I did it. I have no idea how coherent my thoughts above are, but I actually finished my prompt when the timer went off!

Whoop whoop!

I hope you have a blessed day on this Good Friday.

I pray that you take time to rest and remember that it was today that our Lord, Jesus Christ, surrendered His will to His father’s and laid down His life for ours.

May we never forget that no matter how life looks, especially now when things can seem so dreary, there is an eternal good that happened so many years ago and is waiting for us when Jesus returns.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Five Minute Friday | 6 Comments »

I’m taking a few minutes out of my day (let’s call this my lunch break) to join the Five Minute Friday linkup.

The rules are this (somewhat paraphrased from the site): Each week a one-word writing prompt is shared, and anyone who is interested may freewrite for five minutes flat – no overthinking, no editing . . . just write!

This week’s FMF writing prompt is: NOW

So, now is the word of the day, eh?

Well, right now, I am sitting at a blue card table surrounded by papers, folders, and a notebook.

Right now, I’m dressed in sweat pants, a sort-of-matching Auburn shirt (War Eagle!), and a red plaid robe (because it was a chilly 55 degrees when I got up this morning).

My to-do list is a mile long. Teaching online has added exponentially to my already-hectic profession.

So, for right now, I’m doing my best to focus on the tasks that matter the most – connecting with students and parents to ensure that they understand class expectations and can get online to fulfill them.

I am usually a big picture kind of gal, but I’m finding that looking at the big picture is a bit overwhelming.

I’m trying desperately to focus in on the smaller things I can do – tasks that give me small victories throughout what has become a line of frenetic days.

For this overachieving gal, it’s a tough lesson but one that will prove beneficial for days to come.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Five Minute Friday | 4 Comments »

I saw Joyce’s newest post and the mention of the Five Minute Friday linkup, and I thought it might be fun to play along.

Disclaimer: I know it’s Saturday, but y’all my life has been nutso this week, and this is pretty much the first chance I’ve had when I’m pure and out exhausted and can sit and think of stuff besides all things teaching, which we are officially resuming in these here parts on Monday – via online means, of course.

I’ve never participated in this linkup before, so I’m a little nervous. I am a wordy sort of girl who takes loads and loads of time to write. However, I’ve had my students do timed free-writes before, so now the shoe will be on the other foot.

And I’m setting my timer NOW.

So, here I am, and today’s word is adjust.

This is a word that does not often sit well with me. I am, after all, a self-ascribed overachieving control freak. The thought of having to adjust doesn’t usually sit well with me.

The Lord is probably laughing right now because adjust is exactly what I’ve had to learn to do over the past year and a half.

In October 2018, I had to adjust, in more ways than one, after Hurricane Michael hit my beautiful corner of the world.

Everything was closed, including schools. We were out a month, and when we returned, we had to meet in a middle school down the road from our high school campus. Talk about adjusting! Our classrooms were smaller, and our schedules went from a whole day to half of that since we had to share the campus with the actual middle school teachers and kids who were based there.

Then, two months later, we adjusted again when we were able to return to our campus; but there were even more changes. Three-quarters of our teachers were housed in portables a half mile away. Nearly everyone was displaced.

So, adjust is something I’m learning to do – especially with this pandemic we are living through.

My schedule has completely changed; I’ll be teaching remotely beginning on Monday.

Many of my lesson plans went out the window. I’ll be facilitating an online program now.

And y’all, my timer just went off, but I need one more minute to close this because this post just cannot end here.

Told you I was wordy!

Adjust doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is, as I’ve recently discovered, the springboard to the next thing coming down the road, which God is preparing in advance for all of us, if we’d just take the time to recognize His hand in our current circumstances.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Five Minute Friday | 2 Comments »