Well, tomorrow starts Fall 2026 teaching for me! 😮
Hopefully, I will be “cruising” along soon, but it is always a little rough adjusting to the choppy waters as we start. I feel like I need to manage a few things better this year to avoid feeling overwhelmed by Week Six. So, here is what I’ve done to set myself up for success in my classes.
#1 Edit classes to decrease grading
I edited down my graded assignments a ton; I didn’t get rid of all of that work, but made it part of a portfolio assignment. I have built units that I hope will feel more intuitive for students than just following the order of book chapters. Each class is mapped out in a skeletal fashion, with some slack, just in case.
#2 Meal planning
I am not a meal planner typically. But, last semester, some of my most frustrating times were coming home from work exhausted and there being zero plan for what to eat. Exhausted me does not handle decisionmaking well and I am often hangry after work. So, having a plan will definitely help. Executing that plan will be the challenge. But, for this week, I have five recipes for this week, went grocery shopping today for the items needed and I’m ready to roll tomorrow! Here is what I’ve planned for the week:
Monday: Greek Chicken Bowls from Eating Bird Food
Look at this photo:
Mine probably won’t look half that good, but YUM! And healthy!
Tuesday: Easy Sheet Pan Gnocchi from The Nutrition Junky
Again, a great looking dish:
Wednesday: Tortellini Pasta Salad from Insanely Good Recipes
Since my husband travels for work on Wednesday and pasta isn’t his favorite, I try to do pasta-heavy meals while he is gone. This looks like heaven in a bowl to me!
Thursday: Pasta with meat sauce (will consider frozen meatballs as well) and garlic bread
Friday: Leftovers
After Senior Sunrise at 7:30 am and with my husband coming in late that night, I want to make it as easy as possible!
Saturday: Sheet Pan Pork Chops from I Heart Naptime
Yum, yum, yum! Again, I just need to execute on all these plans!
I also have decided on Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowls for this week to try to increase my protein intake a bit. I don’t eat fish, so I’ll skip the salmon one and I don’t have all the same ingredients, but I have enough of them that I can improvise the rest!
#3 Chore Chart from Lamberts Lately
My husband and daughter are both a little “clutter-blind”. This also creates a bit of frustration in exhausted me. So, I’ve printed out the Cleaning Schedule with morning and evening things to do, daily chores, and even Room of the Week Chores. I hope this “checklist” style reminder will help them see that things need to be done even if they don’t naturally notice. We shall see…
#4 Showering at night
This is a new one to me. I am a morning shower person typically, but I read that this is a good strategy for improving sleep and my sleep has been ROUGH lately. I made the mistake of getting off my sleeping schedule (staying up way too late) during Summer and now I’m back to perimenopause-style sleep. I feel like it had really improved at the end of last semester, but here we are again. So, trying the showering at night to go along with my Magnesium Threonate and Vitamin D. Fingers crossed this works. I’m also going to fight my rebel urges to stay up late and try to be in bed by 10 pm every night. I have no problems waking up. I haven’t used an alarm clock in years because I start waking up around 4:30 am and even if I get back to sleep, it is never for a lengthy amount of time. So, no worries on the morning side of things!
What about you? Do you have any tricks, tips or changes you’re making to keep your cruise for Fall 2026 as smooth as possible?
sparkle and spritzers 