Absence - I am Tired of Being Hot

Sorry about not publishing my writing for the past couple of days. I have been hot and crabby and nothing that I have written has been something I want out in the world right now. I have entered panic mode about the state of my home and the upcoming visit from my family, but I am also stuck working in a room without ventilation, a broken air conditioner, and clients who are unable to regulate their temperatures. I leave my job everyday absolutely knackered and cannot bear to work when I get home.

I have finished the first half of my week and am now entering the second half. This week, we have been doing centers - they get kids close to the floor where it is a little bit cooler, and it offers opportunity for independence and leisure skill development. We have three stations, and I have "must do" and "may do" things at some of the centers.

We have a music symbol matching game and a stack of performer pictures to peruse at one center. The second center is a fine motor skill center. Clients stack cups and small chairs and then play cards. The last center is mine, and my clients roll the musical alphabet dice and then play the corresponding boomwhackers. We are spending between 10-7 minutes per station (depending on the session length). I am not certain what we are going to do for the second half of this week, but I will figure it out before clients arrive for their second sessions with me.

We had a bit of a schedule change at the start of this month, and I am still trying to get the hang of the new routine. I know that it will become habitual eventually, but it isn't right now, so I am working on making it that way. This is where my boxes of stuff help.

The June box contains information about zoos and aquaria. I will be looking for and then adding information about Juneteenth into the box this year. It is the first year that my state is recognizing the holiday, but my school district is behind the times and has not declared this holiday as such for us. So, we are heading to work today. It is time for me to learn more about this day and how it figures in the bigger picture of my clients' lives and lived experiences. One of the centers next year could include this topic. I will think about that for my June box.

We have a week and two days of work before our next break. My break will be a combined vacation with my family members, so I have to get my home ready for guests - who will immediately pick up sponges and clean things - gotta love moms! Right now, my house is still a mess. I have to either stuff things in boxes and in closets or actually clean up. I think I will end up doing a combination of the two techniques with the stuffing happening two Fridays from now in a panic mode! (I know myself well enough to figure it all out!)

I am not looking forward to going into my work area. I tried an experiment to see if the fans actually cooled the room. I have been keeping the fans on the entire time, even when I am gone. On Monday, I turned off the fans when I left work to see if the temperature would get hotter without them on. It didn't. It remained the same as it was when I left. When I turned the fans on, I watched the thermometer to see if the fans would change the temperature. They did not affect the temperature at all. All the fans do is move the air around, and that is helpful, but it is not "significantly cooler" in the music therapy room as one of the administrative staff stated loudly. It is exactly the same temperature. I am stating, for the record, that 80 degrees Fahrenheit is too hot for doing much in the music therapy room. Period.

It will be time to go here in a bit. I am taking a later day today since I know that I will be later getting home this afternoon. We have a "specials" pod meeting this afternoon, and I tend to enjoy the chance to talk to my other specialists so I tend to stay. Tomorrow will be an early day because the meeting that I usually have on Thursdays has been cancelled. I will engage in some self-care by moving myself to work at home. That will give me an additional 30 minutes of cleaning time here. We will see if I take advantage of that time ... or not!