Welcome to the January edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah.  It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running with Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and me!  

Now, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, and let’s chat briefly!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I got a new domain for my blog.  I do like zenaida.net but wanted something different (the former still works and if you type that, it will direct you to the new one).  I really wanted a .com domain but it wasn’t available – it was over $2,000 to get it.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I was not picked to run the Chicago Marathon this year.  I read that 120,000 people entered the lottery.  I had mixed feelings about it.  I was relieved but at the same time upset.  I was hoping to run it this year but now am wondering if deep down I really, really wanted to run it or was it that I was inspired when I went to spectate in October.  I won’t pick another marathon nor will I apply through a charity, but if I get a bib then that will make me happy.  I plan to spectate again and that is ALWAYS fun.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that on Monday I went to an Amazon Fresh store.  Wow!  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  Not sure why since it is like a regular store.  I liked that I used a code on the Amazon app to get in and exit/pay.  I found a few things on sale and ended up buying all of the Starbucks Holiday Blend K-cups for me and my nieces.  Each box was $5.

I went to another one the next day and the experience was different.  I didn’t need a code to go in.  I had to use the self-checkout or the cashier to pay and exit.  There was a miscommunication with the price of iced coffee and the worker would not give it to for the price that was posted on the wall.  She told me that it was for another type of coffee (same brand) that was sold out but the sign said “All Varieties”.  I went to check again and took a picture of the sign to show her.  Then I showed it to her.  She had to go check again.  I was waiting for her to come back when another worker came by to ask if everything was OK.  I told her what was happening.  She then told me that any price discounts could not be done at the self-checkout and I had to go with a cashier (which the line was LONG).  She knew I was frustrated and proceeded to take care of me at Customer Service.

I know stores like Target would give me any discounts whether I pay with the cashier or a self-checkout.  I don’t understand why the same cannot be done at the Amazon Fresh store.  Overall, I like the stores.  They’re not close to my house but can see myself going again whenever I am in the area.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that today is my last day of Winter Break.  Two weeks off is just what I needed.  Another week would have been nice but oh well.  I created a few draft blog posts and wrote a few posts to be ready to be published.  I also read, watched TV, cuddled with my cats, and took it easy.  Next week I have a Teacher Institute Day on Monday so I won’t see my students until Tuesday.  I did miss them and can’t wait to see them again.

My next long break will be in April for Spring Break and then the last day of school is Thursday, May 30th.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I have unfriended a few people on Facebook.  They weren’t really “friends” but more like acquaintances.  I became friends for a reason but a few of them I’ve never met (I am sure you are asking why I became friends with them in the first place) and others I haven’t seen or talked to in years.  I have a friend that passed away a few years ago and her page is still there.  I want to unfriend her but at the same time I don’t.  There is one person that noticed I unfriended her and she sent me another friend request.  I rarely see her and don’t talk to her so I was very surprised to see another request from her.  I deleted the request.

The topic for next week’s Fit Fit Friday – 5 things you want to accomplish this year.  Feel free to write about this or any fitness topic you’d like.  We hope you’ll link up with us!

Welcome to the December edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah.  It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running with Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and me!  

This is the last coffee date of 2023!  What a year it has been.  I wanted to participate every month but made it to all except for two months.  Not bad at all.  It is fun to catch up and read everyone’s post.  Now, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, and let’s chat briefly!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I was inspired while spectating the Chicago Marathon last month and entered the lottery for next year.  I will find out in a few days if I get picked.  I haven’t run a marathon since 2016.  I got a PR that year and bettered my time by 40 minutes from my first marathon in 2006.

I read my race recap and laughed.  Erica wrote about how disliked “The number of people who report being “disappointed” after running a personal best in the Chicago Marathon”.  I agree with her, but I wrote the same thing in 2016.

I may not have gotten a huge PR and I am a little disappointed in myself.  I trained hard this summer. OK, so I did miss a few runs and the last 3 weeks I hardly ran at all.  I am glad I was able to finish but I know I could have done better.  I was hoping to finish under 5 hours. Sigh. Maybe I should just stop here, let it go, and move on.  Another marathon in the books and call it a day.

I also entered the lottery for the NYC Half Marathon in March and I got picked.  I was actually surprised that I got picked again.  I am excited about it.  I hope to actually train for it and that it isn’t too cold like it was this year.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that even though I am not a big fan of Halloween, I had a good time that day.  It was wild!  I spent the morning going over reading and math, but the afternoon was all about Halloween.  We passed out candy; played musical chairs, bingo, and hot potato; we danced; and then we had a school parade.  My students said they had fun.  Mission accomplished!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that last week I got the covid and a flu vaccines along with the second shingles booster.  Last year I only got the flu and shingles and was sick the next day.  The same thing happened this year.  I had a fever and my whole body ached.  I could barely get out of bed, but I managed because I had to eat and use the bathroom.  Priorities.  On Thursday I felt so much better and felt like a new woman.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that Kim will no longer host the Tuesday Linkup with me.  Her last post with me will be on December 26.  We had a good time together and am happy for those years we hosted it together.  I am pleased that Jenn will be hosting the linkup with me.  I have been working on a new graphic for us.  It was fun creating one and I even made one with our favorite pets but, no, we will not be using that one.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I’ve been looking for a race shirt.  I’ve always liked how Erica has one shirt she wears for her races.  During a big race it is “easy” to find her.  The shirt that I originally wanted wasn’t available in my size.  I found another one in a different color but in a men’s size.  It doesn’t fit quite well.  I will keep looking and hopefully will get one soon.

The topic for next week’s Fit Fit Friday – 5 running/fitness safety tips.  Feel free to write about this or any fitness topic you’d like.  We hope you’ll link up with us!

Welcome to the October edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah.  It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running with Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and me!  

Now, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, and let’s chat briefly!

If we were having coffee…
I’d ask you if you’ve been a victim of credit card fraud.  I’ve had two credit cards that were both in my possession ALL OF THE time used by two different people  One person used my Chase card and purchased over $600 on the Adidas website and someone else used a debit card (from another bank) to make multiple purchases (almost $200) from Little Caesar and Uber Eats.  Luckily, Chase removed the charges and issued me a new card.  I am still waiting on the other card.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you I had the Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso from Starbucks and IT IS SO GOOD.  Thank you Marcia for the recommendation!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that one of the things I hate about doing laundry at the laundromat is that I tend to lose some socks.  I don’t know how since I am careful and double-check the washer to ensure I don’t leave anything behind.  Well, somehow I “lost” a sock.  I noticed it when I got home and put the remaining one on top of the drawer meaning to throw it away but then I forgot about it.  Well, the other day I wore a jacket that I hadn’t worn in a while and guess what I found in the pocket?  Yep, the missing sock.  Running socks are not cheap so yes I was happy to find it.

If we were having coffee…
I’d ask you what your thoughts on about the cut-off time for the 2024 Boston Marathon.  It is unfortunate that even though people qualified, they cannot run it due to the cut-off time.  I understand the history of it, but why not just have a lottery like the other major marathons?  I wonder if people will still be drawn to it even though it doesn’t require a qualifying time.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I entered the lottery to win tickets to see Hamilton and I won.  Yep, I found out yesterday.  I was given 2 hours to claim the tickets and made it with 40 minutes to spare.  I asked my friend to go with me and we’ll be going on Wednesday.

The topic for next week’s Fit Fit Friday – 5 goals for the last 1/4 of the year.  Feel free to write about this or any fitness topic you’d like.  We hope you’ll link up with us!

Welcome to the September edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah.  It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running with Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and me!  

Now, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, and let’s chat briefly!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you about my first week of school.  Wow!  Tough, challenging, but I know we will have fun!  My kids will learn a lot too.  The AC broke on Thursday and we were all miserable.  Our school wasn’t the only one.  The whole situation was handled very poorly by the people above.  We all knew it was going to be HOT those days.  Administration should have let us do remote learning.  That is what ended up happening with another school.  I was really disappointed in them.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that we have a new Reading curriculum and have already had to do assessments – in English and in Spanish.  Let me also tell you that we weren’t really trained in doing these assessments.  It was a very short PD with minimal hands on exposure.  Don’t you love it when training is like that?  But thanks to a Reading Interventionist helping me, I am almost done with the assessments.  

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that as I was doing these assessments, I was very disappointed with how my students were doing.  Almost all CANNOT read.  Wow, I am still shocked!  I kept looking at the reading interventionist to tell her how they were doing.  I know last year some of my kids were low but I had some really good readers.  This year maybe 1 or 2 are readers.  It will be an interesting year.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I have a tough group this year.  Besides many being non readers, I have a couple with behavior issues.  And many just talk so much.  I know they’re kids, I get it.  But I tell them that there is a time to talk and there is a time to be quiet.  We are still working on the latter.  I may just have to bribe them.  I mean, reward them for good behavior.  I am off today and I think I will miss a little bit those kids.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I need to keep reminding myself to not do so much for work and to take care of myself.  I’ve stayed late almost every day since school started.  I’ve also gone in early too.  Work will never be done.  I don’t have “official” lesson plans but know what I need to do.  I don’t have emergency lesson plans done.  My classroom library isn’t set up.  I’ve mentioned the new reading curriculum and some changes were made to the dual language program.  Did I mention that our school day is now 30 minutes longer?  And the countdown begins till Winter Break!

The topic for next week’s Fit Fit Friday – 5 tips for fall running/fitness.  Feel free to write about this or any fitness topic you’d like.  We hope you’ll link up with us!

Welcome to the August edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date hosted by Coco and Deborah.  It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running with Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and me!  

Now, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, and let’s chat briefly!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I am excited to see Desi at the Chicago Marathon.  I won’t be running but will be at my usual spot spectating.  It is much more fun than running!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that we are two weeks out from our first day of school and no word on when we can go into our classroom to start setting it up.  That is stressing me out because it takes me DAYS to set it up.  We have two days of Institute (8/18 and 8/21) with our first day with our students on the 22nd.  I have a few meetings in the next two weeks and I am doing a couple of things at home for my students – time is precious!!

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that a friend of mine invited me for the weekend on a trip to Mexico City.  She is going with her daughter and sister-in-law.  I was interested and bought a ticket.  It is for 4 days but it is still enough for a nice getaway.  The other day I had lunch with my cousin and she also invited me to go to Mexico (Aguascalientes) for her daughter’s wedding.  That is tempting too!  Now I am torn on which trip to take.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I had Southwest credits and got a ticket to go to NY in November.  I will be there to visit my nephews and spectate the NYC Marathon.  I am looking forward to this trip for many reasons.  The only thing I don’t like is that I have parent/teacher conferences on November 6th so I would need to be on the first flight back on Monday morning.  That is what I did in March.  I guess I can come back Sunday night.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that after looking at different venues for my mom’s birthday party next month, I secured a place for it.  It will be lunch at Paisan’s Pizzeria.  I already sent invites to family members and a few have already confirmed.  My sister and I will be picking out the menu.  Luckily there are several options to pick from since we don’t want pizza.  I will get some decorations and confirm the guests’ attendance closer to the date of the party.

The topic for next week’s Fit Fit Friday – Your 5 ways to avoid fitness burnout.  Feel free to write about this or any fitness topic you’d like.  We hope you’ll link up with us!