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59. Friday Five 🖐️

Friday, August 15, 2025

My favorite post of the week! Here we go!

1. Speaking Invitation. This week, I was approved as the main speaker for a small lib

2. Sick Days. Yesterday was my first day to ride my bike across campus. Court took me to campus on Sunday, and we practiced parking my bike and using all of my locks. We rode my route, practiced some more with the locks, and locked her up for the night! The next day, I rode my bike without any issues! This seems like a thing that most people wouldn't even think about, but my brain has been fixated on it for a month. I'm glad to have that space back to deal with other things!

Also, my bike's name is Ruby.

3. Hour blocks. Yesterd

4. 🧡Taylor Swift.🧡 Yesterd

5. First Campus Ride. Yesterd

58. Friday Five 🖐️ (On Tuesday)

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

My favorite post of the week! I do it even if I miss my normal Friday! Here we go:

1. Lola's Cameras. We recently set up our cameras to watch Lola during the day. We receive a thousand and one alerts of her shifting on her bed, but it's really nice to be able to check in on her. She has a path, which she usually starts around lunchtime. She leaves her bedroom (she loves looking out the window), walks through the living room to check the front door (Court's entry point), and then to the garage door (my entry point). She then turns around and runs to the front window. Sweet baby is going to run a path in the carpet looking for us.

Sometimes, she creepily looks straight at the camera like she knows I'm watching her. I made the mistake of talking to her over the camera, and she lost her ever loving mind.

2. First Campus Ride. Yesterday was my first day to ride my bike across campus. Court took me to campus on Sunday, and we practiced parking my bike and using all of my locks. We rode my route, practiced some more with the locks, and locked her up for the night! The next day, I rode my bike without any issues! This seems like a thing that most people wouldn't even think about, but my brain has been fixated on it for a month. I'm glad to have that space back to deal with other things!

Also, my bike's name is Ruby.

3. Jurassic Park - IN CONCERT. We love Jurassic Park. Court has loved it since the moment it arrived in theaters, and I fell in love when I fell in love with Court! Last week, the Buddy Holly Hall announced that the Lubbock Symphony will be performing the music score live on stage while the movie plays on the big screen behind!! We're so excited, and we immediately bought tickets. It means we'll be spending our Halloween in a movie this year, but it'll be worth it!

4. Guess How Much I Love You. I graduated high school and moved to the big town of Lubbock to attend the giant Texas Tech University. My cousin sent me a copy of this book: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney with the sweetest note inside. I've kept it for 18 years, cherishing the book. It was the beginning of my picture book collecting. I highly recommend sending books instead of cards because they can say so much more than a few words. But make sure you put words inside! This year, J is headed to college. He was a bitty baby, only 5 months old when I received this book. Here we are full circle!

5. Leal's. If you grow up in the small towns of West Texas, you are probably familiar with Leal's. It's a family-owned Mexican restaurant nestled in the small town of Muleshoe. Yup. Mule. Shoe. (My Granddaddy had some clever name for it like Ass Foot or something... But I can't remember. 😁) Leal's is my favorite restaurant and my family loves the TexMex a short, 20-minute drive from our hometown of Earth. There's another branch of the restaurant in Plainview. Yup. Plain. View. (Town lives up to it's name.) My family meets there because it's about equidistant from our homes. We met there on Saturday to discuss life, see each other, and talk business. (Have I mentioned we own a cattle company?) It was delightful.

With love, love, love! 🩷

Laurie

57. Sticker Anxiety

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Sticker anxiety is real. I've suffered from it my whole life, which is awful because I really love stickers. I grab them when I travel, I pick out packs of them on Amazon, and I collect them from every vendor booth I pass! But I cannot stick them to anything because I'm so scared I'll never get to use that sticker again. Because... what if I put it on the wrong thing? What if it gets damaged? What if I don't use that spiral ever again, and it disappears?

Some of you are saying, "OMG, I feel the same way!" while others are thinking, "That's fully irrational, I don't even like stickers."

Here's a couple of things I'm going to try to overcome this sticker anxiety:

Court wants to make me a giant board cut out of Masonite to stick on the wall. Then I can sticker bomb it with everything I want!
This sticker book on Amazon! It's made out of the same material as sticker backing, so it can be stuck, then removed!
I'm going to keep a sticker journal where I add in my stickers. If I want to add in a little something about where it came from, I can!

Do you think if I solve this, it could be the root of all my anxiety? I'm willing to try it.

I'll leave you with this. Good luck with your sticker endeavors!

"You don't know when your last day on earth will be. SO USE YOUR STICKERS!!!"

With love, love, love! 🩷

Laurie

57. Sick Days

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

I have a motto. Well, I have a lot of mottos... but one of them is: mental health IS physical health.

Mental health has such a stigma around it, and it is often overlooked as an actual health disorder. But, it is. Your struggle with mental health IS the same as a disease. It IS the same as breaking your leg. It IS the same as having the flu. Mental health is physical health.

As a teacher, sick days aren't really possible. It's so much harder to plan for a sub than it is to show up, power through, and teach the kids. What I've noticed, though, is that you heal more slowly this way. When a sinus infection puts you down, you will feel sick for longer if you don't take a single day to rest. It's the same outside education when your to-do list is a mile long, and you have 4 meetings to attend - being sick will put you behind. It's a mentality that is reinforced by your colleagues, by your bosses, and by the district. It's expensive for them if you are gone. However, we are no longer worrying about that expense. We are worrying about ourselves!

Back to mental health. It's much easier for us to wake up with strep throat and call in sick. It is contagious, you need to see a doctor, and you can't stay upright. But what if you wake up and can't handle the anxiety of the day? Your head is swimming, you can't breathe, and going to work feels absolutely impossible. What about the days that you're close to a breakdown? You're suffering from burnout and overwhelm; you can't make it through the day.

These are all reasons to take a sick day. These are all symptoms of an imbalance in your brain, and a day of rest will help you break that mental fever.

We will no longer say, "I just have to push through" because that is detrimental to our health.

All of that is well and good, but how do you actually make it happen when it's just easier to go into work?

Teachers: create a sub binder. Do it before school starts. Do not try to put this together the morning you are sick, posting shit on Google Classroom or Schoology, scrounging the Internet for a video...
1. Put in a journal activity, an assignment to review something from the year before (that way it's not reliant on anything you've taught), crosswords, word searches, and coloring pages. That should be enough to get them through a 50-minute period. For the love of everything, do not include anything with technology. Do not ask the sub to use technology.
2. The front office once told me, "A sub is here to keep them alive. That's all we care about." It's absolutely true. Those kids are not going to be learning anything! And that. is. okay!
Draft an out-of-office email that says you won't be in today, direct them to your secondary contact (or make them wait), and tell them you won't be checking email. Save it in your drafts, so it's easily accessible.
Put your phone and computer away. Your job is paying you to stay at home and get well, not work.

Above all. Remember that you are the most valuable thing in your world. Your world doesn't exist without YOU.

With love, love, love! 🩷

Laurie

56. Tech Tip Tuesday 💻 SAMR

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

There are many technology frameworks for educators, but the most common is SAMR. SAMR guides you through analyzing your own classroom activities to see how students are using technology. Remember, SAMR is all about the students!

SAMR stands for:

S - Substitution

A - Augmentation

M - Modification

R - Redefinition

Let's break it down:

Substitution - The use of technology is a direct substitute for a paper project.

Examples:
- Students type an essay or journal rather than write using paper.
- Students read a digital article.
- Students use Google Earth to locate a place or landmark.

Augmentation - Technology is a direct substitute, but there is some improvement. The task is the same, but there is some improvement.

Examples:
- - Students explore a 360-degree image or video.
  - Students play a Kahoot, Quizlet Live, or Gimkit rather than a paper review.
  - Students screenshot an image and identify shapes on the image using an iPad or computer.

Modification - Technology significantly changes the task; the product has changed.

Examples:
- - Students combine audio, video, and text to create a video or podcast.
  - Students work on a project collaboratively and write blog posts for their classmates to read and review.

Redefinition - Technology allows a brand new task that would be inconceivable without technology.

Examples:
- - Students research a topic and collaborate to create a website on a tool like Canva. Everything is student-led, including the choice of medium.
  - Students create a digital 3D world that provides a tour of a historical landmark.

My favorite graphic to explain SAMR:

Image credit: Sylvia Duckworth, via @DavidGuerin

Now, how do you use this?

Think about a single activity. Identify where it is on the SAMR spectrum.
How could you level up that activity? (move it from Substitution to Augmentation)

Don't judge yourself for where your activities lie! There is a reason to use each of these methods, but try to challenge yourself!

With love, love, love! 🩷

Laurie

55. Friday 5 🖐️

Friday, August 1, 2025

Happy August, everyone!!! 5 things that were on my mind this week:

1. New Piercing. Every few months, I have an itch to get a new piercing or tattoo, and this one came at the perfect time to celebrate my new job! Liquid Ink in the mall did a phenomenal job with my mid helix, and I got a phenomenal lighting bolt (my favorite symbol, but, surprisingly, not because of Harry Potter). The piercing hurt much less than my forward helix (front one), and is healing better than any I've ever had!

2. Bicycle. I need a bicycle to get from my parking spot to my office on campus! I started looking at Facebook Marketplace and came across this AMAZING red Schwinn bike! It's a 1970s version, and has almost all of the original parts on it! Getting it was a hassle... because Facebook Marketplace. But it is mine, and we're working on getting it cleaned and fixed up! Court is finding all the parts, and we are working on restoring it together. It's gorgeous, and I can't wait to actually take her for a spin! (New tires arrive this weekend!)

3. Two Offices. I have two offices in two buildings at Texas Tech University. They're about a 15-minute walk from each other, and I'm splitting my days between the two. Yesterday was my first day in the new office (cubicle), and everyone was so nice! I'm struggling with juggling my things between the two places. Taking a laptop, making sure I have my favorite (comfort) pens and things. I'm sharing the space with someone, so I feel weird just decorating it like I usually would with Legos & books! Currently, Karen (my anxiety) and I are fighting about whether we need to carry a backpack AND a purse every day. She says both. I say that's overkill. But we'll see who wins. 😂

4. School Starting. Today I realized something. For the first time since 2012, I do not know when school starts. I don't know when teachers are supposed to report for duty. I don't know when students will show up for the first day. It's a strange feeling, and I'm wildly thrilled by it. There will always be comfort in K-12 education for me. I loved the teaching, the connecting with kids, and the camaraderie of the building. I was good at it, and that brings a whole other level of comfort. But I know it's not my place anymore.

5. Dog Anxiety. I took Lola to the vet this week to get her heartworm shot & ask for anxiety medications. (By the way, I highly recommend the heartworm shot because you don't have to remember the chews!!) After an hour wait in the office with an anxious dog and an anxious me, we see the doctor. She spent 5 minutes trying to explain to me that anxiety in dogs isn't usually what we think. It's probably a flea, or an anal gland, or separation anxiety (which... isn't that anxiety?). We've tried CBD, supplements, calming spray, putting on music, closing windows, opening windows... all of the things. I just wanted some doggy Prozac, but she wasn't having it. Because I don't know what anxiety looks like. Um... hello? I'm like the poster child for anxiety. I've tried more anxiety meds than I can count (literally) and currently take 5 different meds to handle my anxiety. So... anyway... we're trying supplements.

With love, love, love!

Laurie 🩷

54. Tech Tip Tuesday 💻 Wikipedia

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

My new job is all about finding free resources for students. Finding textbooks written by other professors to be included in a course, replacing a traditional textbook that costs $100-$300. Part of my office's job is to locate free resources that are able to be used under copyright. All of us have access to a free encyclopedia of knowledge, but we generally don't think it is "academically sound" or "reliable".

Let's talk about Wikipedia.

I am a librarian who LOVES Wikipedia! Honestly, don't we all? When you're looking up an actor and you want to know who they are married to, don't you go to Wikipedia? Or if you want to find out if a singer is still alive? Wikipedia! What about when you are watching a movie, and a specific period in time is featured? Do you want to look up more about it? Of course you do!

With most searches, Wikipedia will show up as your top search. Under the embedded AI tool, and after the sponsored posts. Wikipedia is usually your first option. That's not because they've paid to be there. Search engines (like Google & Bing) take your search and compare it to all of the other people who searched for that same thing. Then their algorithm identifies which site most people choose to click on. The site with the most clicks is the one that shows up first. Wikipedia is the first choice of most users!

Let's talk about teaching with Wikipedia. If we Google something, and Wikipedia is the first thing to pop up, why are we telling our students to skip it? The usual response is that it's not "credible" or it can be edited by *gasp* anyone! Both of these things can be true; however, Wikipedia is a fairly sound platform. To edit an entry, you have to provide a citation that verifies your claim. Each change alerts editors (some paid, some crowdsourced from people like me) to verify the claim. This is done in a few ways: Wikipedia will alert that there is "opinion-like language" or that a source is missing. Editors then verify the information, add citations, or remove opinion language.

Should we teach with Wikipedia? YES! Absolutely! Our students are going to use Google, Wikipedia, and AI to find information, regardless of what we tell them. If you aren't using Wikipedia, you are losing out on mounds of information. I believe that we should prepare students for the world that they will enter: one with Google & Wikipedia.

Should we teach students to avoid using Wikipedia in research? YES! Absolutely! It's important for them to go to the source of the information, rather than a mass collective of information.

Here's my suggestion. When you have a question come up in class (regardless of the age group), show them how you would Google the answer, or have them determine what words to use! Look through the results and talk about them: AI, sponsored links, Wikipedia... then click into Wikipedia. This is an excellent place for them to get basic information. To learn about the topic they are researching! To gain background knowledge that can help them find more information.

Final opinion: Wikipedia isn't the devil. It's a beautiful treasure trove of free information that our students will always have access to. (Unless the world ends, but we'll deal with that when the time comes.)

With love, love, love!

Laurie

53. Libraries are a Right

Monday, July 28, 2025

Libraries are a right. Not a privilege.

As human beings, we have the right to access information. We have the right to be provided a wide variety of viewpoints from diverse perspectives. We have the right to choose the information we (or our own children) want to absorb. (An emphasis on "own children" here because you do not have the right to dictate what other people's children read. You are not all-powerful; sit down.)

A privilege is conditional; it is limited by the boundaries within which it exists. It can be revoked, changed, or upheld at any time: "Living in my house is a privilege, not a right!" or "It is a privilege to serve you today". Access to the library is not conditional, nor is it limited. All humans are welcome in the library.

It is the public library that truly embodies this right. They provide so much to a community beyond books:

Air conditioning and water when it is too hot.
Heat and water when it is too cold.
Access to free Internet.
Various forms, like taxes.
Workshops that teach English as a Second Language, computer basics, and more.
Access to technology that most people can't afford, like 3D printers, sewing machines, or a giant collection of shaped cake pans!
A safe place for teens to gather and be weird.
A safe place for adults to gather and make friends.

All of this and more, provided to you for free. You already pay taxes, and the library is fully funded by local, state, and federal funding. So, go check out a book. Download an audiobook. Attend a class. Walk into the library and look around.

Each one of these things shows interaction with the library (more interaction with the public means more funding!)

The library is a right. We, as Americans, have a right to the services and knowledge rendered by our libraries.

With love, love, love!

Laurie

P.S. I took a week's vacation from writing. It wasn't intended, but I was feeling a little overwhelmed and tired by life. So, let's try this again!

52. Friday 5 🖐️

Friday, July 18, 2025

5 things that were on my mind this week:

1. My Babies. As a teacher, your students stay with you forever. You think about them periodically and wonder how they are doing. But the real joy is seeing them in person! As adults! With actual lives! This week, I saw two of my former students (my babies - because they will ALWAYS be my babies) because both work at Texas Tech! Proud doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about these ladies. I'm overjoyed that they are thriving in life. One is working on her degree as an interior design student and working as a student worker in our library. (She was a middle school library aide for me once upon a time, so I fully credit myself for this job. 💁🏼‍♀️) The other works at Tech & will be starting grad school in the fall, at the same time as me! I was on cloud 9 after seeing both of them. Truly made my day.

If you ever question if a teacher remembers you, I promise, they do. They want you to send them that random Facebook message that says, "You did something in my life that matters!" or just "Hi! Remember me?"

2. First Cukes. My garden is finally producing!!!! After planting late, a bad hail storm, tons of rain, and waiting... waiting... waiting... I finally have my first vegetable! This cucumber has doubled in size this week, and I'm so proud of her! Can't wait for the rest of my plants to start producing. Currently, my zucchini, butternut squash, and pumpkins only have male flowers. Waiting on those female flowers to show up! Did you know that's a thing in the goard family? The female flowers have a miniature version of the fruit at the bottom of the flower! The male flowers are just flowers!

2. Straight from the Garden. As much anxiety as I have in life, my garden is truly chaotic. I plant the weirdest possible plants with no color scheme or attention to order. This week, I got to cut flowers for my first bouquet of the year! A mixture of a volunteer sunflower, some hyssop, and my favorite flower: a rock rose.

My walk from Commuter parking to the library.

4. Parking Permits. Working for a university means buying a parking permit. As a faculty member, you get to park on campus, BUT there are way more staff and faculty than there are parking spaces. (Tech apparently employs over 6,000 people!) As a new employee, I'm on a waitlist to get into one of the on-campus lots. Which means that I'll be parking in commuter lots for the foreseeable future! Way too much of my brain power this week has been spent on trying to figure out where I should park, how long it will take me to get to the library, whether I should ride the bus, a bike, or walk, and how early I will now need to wake up to make it to work. Karen has been working overtime 😆. Once I got everything figured out, I learned that I'll be spending part of my time in another office! Off campus, but adjacent to campus. Which started a whole new round of overthinking. Basically, it boils down to this: wherever I park, it'll be a 15-minute walk or 6-minute bike ride to my office. Which will be perfectly fine with me until it rains and/or snows.

5. Reusable Paper Towels. We recently switched to reusable paper towels! Paper towels feel wasteful, and they require so much water to create! Plus, they fill our landfills. I recognize that it's a small change, but it's made a bit difference for us, so far! I also have OCD, specifically surrounding germs and illness, so having a hand towel option that I can toss after one use is helpful. For my brain and for Karen. We didn't buy the traditional reusable towels, but a pack of 100 shop towels. I have baskets in the kitchen and each bathroom where they live, and we toss them in the laundry! I put them in with my towels to wash, and voila! I have reusable paper towels! I love them. They might have changed my life.

Happy Friday! May your weekend be full of all the things you love.

With love, love, love!

Laurie

51. Settle

Thursday, July 17, 2025

I'm honestly not sure what to write today. My brain is tired and feels overloaded from learning new things at work. My back hurts from sitting too long in my new chair. And I didn't feel motivated to do a workout tonight. Do you have days like that? Of course, we all do. Days when you just want to get comfy on the couch and stuff yourself with food, bingeing a good TV show (even though you should be doing laundry or washing a dog or feeding a child).

I think we should give ourselves permission to have these days. It doesn't make us less productive, nor does it make us lazy. Society and our culture have given us really strong feelings about being lazy. Our parents and grandparents passed on feelings about laziness and productivity, which were given to them by their parents and grandparents. I'd like to go back to the middle of the COVID lockdown. Before we became crazy from lack of connection, but after we worried about filling our time with deep cleaning, organizing, and sourdough. That middle time where we all felt like it was okay to settle. To not be productive. To be so grateful that we were safe and alive, that we took nothing for granted, especially quiet moments with the ones we love.

We should give ourselves more quiet moments. More opportunities to settle. More time to spend with ourselves, to love ourselves.

With love, love, love!

Laurie

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