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!

Welcome to the July 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 almost took 4 books from the Free Library.  I was walking back home and stopped to check out the books.  There were many kids’ books that I liked.  I picked 4 but then I remembered that I am supposed only to take one.  And I am supposed to put one in there too.  I took one book.  The next day I took another one.  I haven’t taken another one yet, but I am tempted.  

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that on Tuesday I ran my 5th race for the year.  It was a great day for a fun race!  I went out too fast and ended up with positive splits.  Isn’t that the way to do it?  Regardless, I enjoyed it.  July 4th is special because we emigrated from Mexico to the US on July 4, 1978 – I was 5 years old.  I will forever be grateful to my parents for making this decision.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that in May I switched insurance plans from HMO to PPO (effective July 1).  Imagine my surprise when I checked the website and saw that it is still showing up as me having HMO.  I reached out to BSBS and was told they hadn’t received the updated information from my employer.  I don’t understand how or why.  We had to make any changes (or confirm our current plan) by May 31st.  That is plenty of time to submit the changes to BSBS.  I am not the only one that this has happened.  Someone dropped the ball and we are paying for the consequences.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I recently switched website host servers.  What a stressful process!  I switched from SiteGround to HostGator.  They were using many words that I didn’t understand and sometimes I became frustrated.  At times I regretted making the change.  After spending hours with someone from HostGator, I got it transferred.  So far I haven’t had any issues and hopefully it says like this because I paid for 3 years.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I do not understand why people don’t use their real name on Facebook.  A few times I’ve logged in to see a random name.  And I don’t mean just a name I didn’t recognize but it wasn’t even a name that made sense or it was a condensed version of their name.  I get that some people want to keep their profile private but isn’t that what the privacy settings are for?

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

Welcome to the May 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 today is my last day of school.  How many times have I mentioned that already?  It will be an easy day today.  However, I am running out of ideas with what to do with my students.  After work, I have plans with my coworker to go out for drinks and dinner.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I am happy that when I tried to sign up for a half marathon on Sunday, it was sold out.  I have a graduation party on Saturday and know I will be up late.  When that happens I struggle the next day.  I need a full day just to recover.  I will have little energy to run on Sunday.  Well, maybe a few miles, but not 13.1 miles.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that I paused my Peloton membership (effective 6/15).  I was using it for running and not worth paying the membership monthly fee.  I know, I know, I need to use the bike.  Sigh.  I have no reason as to why I am not using it.  Hopefully, I will once I get my life together.

If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that it is so fun seeing all of the graduation pictures on Facebook.  It is also fun remembering my high school and college graduations from way back in the 90s.  

If we were having coffee…
I’d ask you if you’re interested in running a half marathon in Fargo, ND with me next year.  Let’s take advantage of the early bird special of $64 for the half marathon (regular is $99).  I still need 8 more states to run in to finish my 50+1 state goal.

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