Day 1 – Alarms

As I walked in the door after work today, an alarm on my phone started going off. “What in the world is that for?” I wondered to myself, juggling my phone, computer, purse, lesson plan notebook, and empty cup from this morning’s Diet Coke. After dropping everything on the kitchen table, I finally looked at my phone to see what I was forgetting: SOL. Aha! Slice of Life, Day 1. I know this morning I would not have time during the day to blog, so I set the alarm to remind myself to bare my soul every day! 😉 So here I stand, at my kitchen island typing away, while ground beef browns on the stove for tonight’s dinner.

Does anyone else set alarms to remind them to do things throughout the day? Maybe it’s (ahem) my age – (cough) – over 50, that necessitates my obsessive alarm setting. Am I stretched too thin? Am I stressed out? Answers: I don’t think so, and definitely! Most teachers are stressed, that is for sure!

The alarms though, definitely help me. I currently have 37 alarms in my phone, starting at 4:40 a.m., and the last at 8:30 p.m. Of course they are not all set at the moment, but I leave them in there because I use them to remind me to do many things over and over. 6:00 a.m.: certify 8th grader, 6:15 a.m.: grab computer, Mondays at 3:10 p.m.: son’s saxophone lesson, call chiropractor, plug in lunch, read aloud, the list goes on and on. If I did not set them, I know I would forget to do something. Even with the alarms set, I still have forgotten things! One morning not too long ago, I forgot my computer at home. It’s a little difficult to teach these days without it! Luckily, the LRC Director had a spare I could use. But that little misstep made me take the extra step of putting my computer by the door as soon as that 6:15 a.m. alarm goes off! So… I will continue my habit… and count the days until I can erase many of them for two and a half glorious months of summer!