Tag: lifelessons

What I Learned From School House Rock Live

Once again it is the beginning of March, and I am wrapping up another show as the costumer for my school’s Drama Club. This time the show was School House Rock Live! I remember some of the School House Rock songs from when I was a kid, but there were ones that I heard for the first time during tech week. In both cases the songs have reminded me that school is never out for the teacher!

Premise of the Show – Tom is really nervous about becoming a teacher; he is afraid of not being a successful teacher. I think all first time teachers can relate to this. Even after 11 years, on the first day of a new school year, I always think “Do I still know how to do this?” I even felt the same way when I recently started doing online tutoring. I spent a lot of time teaching online with NTI and having seven Online Learning Academy classes, but I was still nervous about being able to be a good tutor online. Thankfully, so far so good!

“The Preamble” – Apparently a lot of people had to learn and memorize The Preamble in elementary school. I never had to do this, and I will admit that all I know of The Preamble is “We the people”. Given the importance of The Preamble and The Constitution, I really should pay more attention to it. I suppose that it’s just something I take for granted as being important while not feeling the need to know the details. It’s kind of like knowing that you get money on pay day and never looking at your pay stub because your money is direct deposited.

“Ready or Not, Here I Come” – I had no idea about the counting by fives on your fingers coordinating with the multiplier. I just memorized my times tables as a kid without tricks. It makes me happy to know that I now know a way to teach fives multiplication to those who need a manipulative to help learn math.

“Interplanet Janet” – Besides being a fun song, this one made me think of “Planet Schmanet Janet” from another musical. This got me to thinking that there are not a lot of women’s names that rhyme with planet. I also love that the song is old enough to claim Pluto is a planet! I still think little old Pluto deserves to be a planet!!! Are you team Planet Pluto?

Along with my takeaways, it was great seeing my favorite numbers from childhood – “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill” – brought to life! Did you ever watch School House Rock? What did you learn from it?

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

Stronger Together

From a young age we are taught the importance of independence. We are taught how important it is to be self reliant and not need the help of others. In a lot of instances this is true. It’s good to be able to take care of your own hygiene needs; it’s good to be able to cook for yourself; it’s good to be able to take care of your own basic daily living needs. However, there are times in our lives when we are stronger together and having people work together accomplishes more than an individual can achieve. The Tornadoes of December 10 and 11 are a great example of people being stronger together!

December 10 started out as an ordinary day for me. I was going to work, and that night I planned to have LilKsby watch Santa come by on the fire truck that night. During my second block class, students started asking me if I thought there would be tornadoes that night. I’m not big on paying attention tothe weather – that is more of Mr Kisby’s department – so I said “oh I don’t know”. As the day went on, I realized the threat of storms was very really. When the fire department preventively cancels Santa, you know the weather is going to be bad! The threat quickly became reality as around 10:15 the first tornado warning – yes first – was issued for our area. While taking cover in our basement, I first noticed how important being stronger together in a disaster is. I can’t count how many people were posting about the warnings on social media to make sure everyone was informed. I also can’t tell you how many messages I saw asking if people were accounted for or people saying they were safe. Even once the first warning expired, people were checking in one another making sure everyone had what they needed and offering help as they could.

Two hours later, the second warning was issued. I was sure that this time we would be hit. By pure luck and helpful geography, we were spared. However many were not so lucky. It turned out that during 24 hours and 11 minutes on December 10 and 11, there were 61 tornadoes from the storm system including the Quad State Tornado and the Tornado Family that damaged much of Western Kentucky. The destruction that was seen by the late of day on December 11 was incomprehensible even with pictorial evidence. The light of day was devastating to say the least. However, the devastation once again proved that people are stronger together.

How did a tornado outbreak prove people were stronger together? Simple, people have come together by the multitude to help. Organizations have spear headed donation drives and taken semi truck loads of needed items like diapers, baby wipes, water, personal hygiene items, etc to the impacted areas. Small business owners of food trucks have driven hours to go Western Kentucky just to give free meals to those in need. I’ve heard of people donating blood; I’ve heard of people taking their excavators to help go through the rumble. I’ve seen personal vehicles lined up to take donations to drop off points. I’ve seen people open their homes to serve meals. Dollar donations have also been amazing! The support of people uniting to help is proof that even though we are taught to be independent that we are stronger together!

As time goes forward and areas begin to heal from the devastation, I hope that the importance of stronger together will remain. I hope that we will continue to be stronger together in everyday life and not just during tragedies.

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

A Secret to Happiness 😊

Do you want to know the secret to happiness? With the caveat that I’m exhausted from last night’s insomnia (see the previous blog), I will tell you a secret to happiness. Are you ready? Here goes…

The secret to happiness is to realize it is okay for the things that bring you happiness to change.

As I write this, I’m lying on bed with LilKsby while he plays educational games on Mr Kisby’s phone. Normally, it doesn’t bring me happiness for him to play on phones because I believe there is a link between screen time and attention span length (I’m a mama not a scientist, so I could be wrong). However, on a day like today when I could go to bed before bath time, it brings me great happiness to just relax with him next to me. On a normal day this might make me feel reminiscent of a sloth, but not today!

This example of day to day happiness variance is not typical; however, it is reminiscent of how what brings us happiness changes throughout life. If you think back on your lifetime, I bet there are things you can think of that used to bring you happiness that no longer do or you’ve simply out grown. For example, Barbies brought me happiness from like 5 to 12. Do I wish Barbies still made me happy? Nope, but I’m glad I enjoyed them and the creativity they fostered while I did!

From about 19 to 29, a game called Amtgard brought me a lot of happiness (along with some headaches literally and figuratively). It’s been almost a decade since I’ve been active with it because it became more of a habit than an activity of happiness. However, I’m EXTREMELY thankful for the time that it brought me happiness and the skill is learned while playing. (Side note, it was stress relieving to get to legally hit people with foam sticks!) Today, I am ABUNDANTLY blessed by the husband and friendships that came from it. Guess what? They still make me happy!

Likewise some of the things I never knew would bring me happiness when I was younger have brought me more joy than I ever could’ve imagined. I am an only child, and I was never around babies much growing up. From this experience, I was sure that I never wanted kids. That is until I met my husband, and I got to see how cool kids were with our niece and nephews. This led to me finding out at 36 that being LilKsby’s mama brings me more happiness than I ever knew possible!

And there you have it. The secret to happiness is realizing that it is okay for the things that bring you happiness to change. So if you find yourself not enjoying something like you used to enjoy it, I challenge you to try something new. Read, paint, start a blog, plan a vacation, start a side hustle…invest in yourself and make time for happiness! Most of all, if you agree with me, pass the secret to happiness on to someone!

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

Feel Good Friday

What if every Friday you did one good deed for someone else? It could be buying them their favorite drink; it could be writing them a quick thank you note; it could be sending them a message saying “you’re doing a great job”. Whatever you did for someone would not have to have a financial cost, but it has the potential to have a reward greater than money: happiness. The more happiness that someone has in their life, the more happiness they can put into the lives of others. Imagine a world where people experienced more happiness! I bet it would be a more peaceful world!

Today I challenge you to do something that makes someone else feel good. You might inspire them to do something good for someone else. There’s no telling how big the ripple effect could become!

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

Resolution Revelation

It is New Year’s Eve, and there is about 2 and a half hours left in 2019 (to be honest, I started this blog on the 30th in the wee hours of the morning before pumping, but that’s mom life).  There is about to be a new year and decade.  I’m already seeing New Year’s resolutions on social media. There are a lot of “common” resolutions such as:

  • I’m going to lose weight.
  • I’m going to eat better.
  • I’m going to stop cursing.
  • I’m going to be on my phone/social media less.

90% of the time it seems like these resolutions inevitably fail (really I don’t know because stats and research tend to bore me).  If I made New Year’s resolutions, then I’m sure that I’d be in the failure group. Why? For one, because a lot of New Year’s resolutions seem to be made with a band wagon mentality.  Therefore, if my resolution doesn’t actually match my purpose and passion in life, then I’m not going to follow through with committing to the resolution.  For two, if I just make a resolution without planning, then I’m going to forget it before January 2.

Thus, here is my Resolution Revelation!  In order for a resolution to be successful it should actually be a goal. Additionally, it will help if it is a SMART goal.  In this case, SMART doesn’t mean intelligent; SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.  I feel like Achievable and Relevant are key components as it is easy to become discouraged when things seem impossible or outdated. For more specifics on SMART goals Google the term. There is a lot of information out there!  I had to Google the term just to remember what all the letters stood for at one in the morning when I started writing the rough draft for this blog.

To test my theory, here is a typical resolution versus a SMART goal:

Resolution – I want to lose weight.

SMART Goal – I want to lose 20 pounds averaging 1 pound per week by Memorial Day as measured by Saturday weight checks.

Do you see the difference? The first is very vague, but the second provides a plan of action. You could even add mini-goals within the SMART Goal such as losing 5 pounds by Valentine’s Day.

I also feel like the SMART Goal helps provide direction.  At this point in my life, I feel that having a sense of direction – a sense of purpose – is necessary.  That said, one of my SMART Goals is the following: I will blog a minimum of three times per month during 2020 as blogging helps me sort out my thoughts and provides me with a creative outlet.

For me personally, this blog is out of my comfort zone. However, they say that we often teach what we need to learn ourselves. I feel that for 2020 to be a success I needed to critically think about goal setting.  This blog came from that thinking.  Subscribe to my blog to see if I make my SMART goal associated with blogging!

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

 

Leaving Laramie

The past couple months I’ve had the privilege of working on a production of The Laramie Project. I had the job of costumer which involved making “like big ass wings” for a band of angels, and I performed the part of Trish Steger. Trish is a real person – as are all the other characters in the play – who lived in Laramie, Wyoming when Matthew Shepard was murdered.

“Who is Matthew Shepard?”

That’s a question I was asked yesterday, and at first I didn’t know how to respond. I was flabbergasted that someone didn’t know who Matthew was. I thought knowing about Matthew was as common as knowing about Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Mother Teresa. I explained in brief that Matthew was a young man killed for his sexual orientation.

However, Matthew was so much more than that! He was a college student studying political science, friend, son, and brother who was passionate about equality. In his brief time on earth he saw more of the world than some of us will ever see as he lived in Saudi Arabia and went to high school in Switzerland. Tragically, he was savagely murdered in Laramie, Wyoming for being gay. At the time of his death he was 21 years old, and now it has been 21 years since his death. I can’t believe that time has passed so quickly that Matthew has now been gone for as long as he was alive. Matthew’s death has had a lasting impact not only through The Laramie Project, but also with The Matthew Shepard Foundation (https://www.matthewshepard.org/) and legislation such as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

For me personally, The Laramie Project has been important because I believe that it is essential to remember events and notable persons of the past. When we – society as a whole – forget the past, then we cannot learn from it and create a better tomorrow. This is the same reason that I liked being a part of The Crucible back in the spring and enjoy teaching it each year! By remembering history through the arts, we can experience the raw emotion of the past and use said emotion for improving our own minds and the minds of those around us. We can teach love, tolerance, and fairness! We can inspire hope and change! Through the arts we can also continue the legacy of ordinary people who’ve purposefully or unintentionally played a part in extraordinary things!

So as I leave Laramie behind, I can say that being a part of this show – even though I only had 6 sets of lines and dressed folks – has been an impacting, significant experience that I have learned from and will never forget. To all those who were part of the cast and crew, you did a terrific job of breathing life into Laramie! To all those who saw the show, I hope you felt moved to make a difference to someone in your life! To those who didn’t see it, take some time to learn about Matthew Shepard (another great resource is http://eatromaine.com/1/index-laramie.html).

Most of all, never forget…

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby