Top of the spiral

I've been listening to a lot of Uncle Kracker lately.  He's my happy music.  I am grateful for the time off that allowed me to take a hard look at myself, and finally get better.  I don't think I qualify for bi-polar disorder (DSM-V standards), but I do have a feeling those wily woman's hormones may have something to do with my mood cycles.  Anyway, the good news is that I'm feeling much, MUCH better.

So we've been decorating our classrooms for the day when the kids come back (whenever THAT will be) and here are the colorful posters I made... stole most from the internet, but the backgrounds are all me.

 Had to do something about the parts of a story, so that's what the red and black one is.  Using the 3 little pigs to show the problem and solution.

We are going to be teaching online classes for a while until it's safe for the kids to come back.  So I guess I can add 'online teaching' to my resume.  Lord, let me come back with a job!!

It seems like Tuesdays will be the days that I have dinner with S - we went to Outback.  Yeah, I know, but it was interesting to see what they have here versus in the US.  No bloomin' onion.  And the salad I had came with THREE different dressings already on it.  It was... odd.  Good, but odd.  Beef is EXPENSIVE here and the prices reflected that.

Anyway, we wandered around Metapolis after dinner and ended up at Daiso where I had to be strong and NOT get a cute little Darth to come home with me.

 However, we then went to Artbox where they had my favorite little Galapagos pal - BOSS!  So I went a little nuts... I already had the ring for the back of my phone (but I may need to get another one before I leave... you know... for my next phone), but I needed a little pouch for the dice that I'll eventually get when I start playing D&D.  Then S showed me the pen, which will be good for journaling, and I would eventually NEED a new journal, so I HAD to get that one, and the stuffy... well, look how happy he is with his fishy!!

S laughed at me... a LOT.  However, it was nice to be able to be goofy Mandi again.  I hadn't been like that even when M&M were here - I was too sad that they would be leaving.  I resisted getting a big stuffed Boss cuz, you know, I already have 2 cats that I'm not sure how I'm getting home with, so another big stuffy seemed like a bad idea.  

I need to say thank you to everyone who reminded me that I am loved and missed back home, thank you to those in Korea who took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself, thank you to those who tried to bring me out of my darkness, thank you to those who shared their own struggles, and thank you to those who are my silent cheerleaders.  I'll do my best to remember that I am loved, even when I don't feel worthy of it.  I'm sorry that I scared you, but I am so grateful that you didn't write me off.  I can't really describe the place that I was in, except to say that it was deep, it was dark, and it was painful.  I resolve to keep myself from getting to that place again - it's me, so I can't really make any promises, but as I heal I'm hoping that the dark won't be as deep (if that makes sense, honestly I don't have the words to express all this crap - unless you've also struggled with depression, it's hard to explain).  I feel like I have my spikes back... the worst of my voices have been duct taped. :D