Busy, busy, busy
Life. What can I say about life?
It's busy, for one thing. This last week I had a site-based meeting, a workshop, a meeting about teaching at the DAEP, counseling for Will and I, Will's group counseling, a parent conference, an ARD, plus John took Will and I out to IHOP for my bday on Wednesday and Mom and the not-sister-in-law and John and Will and I went to Palominos for a bday lunch on Saturday, followed by visiting the Arts Fest. And then I graded papers for 2.5 hours today b/c I haven't had time to do it at work.
AND, I'm supposed to start teaching at the DAEP tomorrow--it's a new program where teachers from the core subject areas go over for 1 hour every other day to teach the kids there so we can meet federal requirements about "highly qualified teachers"--but I have jury duty. So whether or not I'll be done and able to go is questionable. There are currently three kids over there, none of whom I know well, but two of whom are significantly below grade level (4-6 years below) and one of whom is on grade level. That made planning for the sub interesting. I'm wondering a bit if I'm taking on more than I can chew; it's hardly like I need *more* to do. But A) I get a substantial stipend for doing it, B) Will's over there all year so this will help keep me up on what he's doing, and C) I get paid a substantial stipend. It's just going to make scheduling a whole lot more important. I'm not naturally anal; my life makes me that way, I swear.
My bday was one of the nicest I've had in a while, if only because my mom and brother bothered to care about it. My sister sent me some truly awesome meditation CDs that I've been listening to as I fall asleep at night, and I swear they're actually helping me feel calmer and more in control of my emotions. Honestly, I don't care if it's a placebo effect or not, I've dealt with some of Will's nonsense in a very good manner over the past few days, and *anything* that lets me do that is awesome in my book. Mom stopped by my class and dropped me off a mini-cake on my actual bday, and the kids in my class sang me happy bday (don't tell the copyright idiots). Several people wished me happy bday online (thanks to all of you! I hope I managed to reply to everyone, if not, it's because I'm absentminded, not ungrateful). A. sent me an amazon gift certificate that I've mentally spent in many different ways so far and am having the most fun with; I suppose eventually I'll have to settle on one concrete thing, but I'm just not sure what I want yet. All in all, I felt like people noticed I was alive and actually *cared*, which . . . makes me sound pathetic, but I've been in a very "feeling sorry for myself" place lately, and this was a nice bump out of that place and into a more positive one.
The Arts Fest was really nice. The animal shelter had puppies and kitties out for adoption and I managed to resist. Go, me! And I totally didn't resist getting a few plants from the county master gardener's club-thingy: a spearmint, a peppermint, a garlic chive, a mother-in-law's tongue, and an aloe vera. We looked at a bunch of the booths, ran into various people, and listened to a jazz band and jazz singer briefly. I was able to be calm and ignore Will's attitude ("when can we look at things that are my interest? what about my interest? I have interests too, you know. We need to go look at things that are to my interest." over and over and over and over and over without pausing for breath. I didn't even snap at him. I am AWESOME.)
And I managed to make homemade applesauce that is very, very tasty, and get papers graded. Go me!
It's busy, for one thing. This last week I had a site-based meeting, a workshop, a meeting about teaching at the DAEP, counseling for Will and I, Will's group counseling, a parent conference, an ARD, plus John took Will and I out to IHOP for my bday on Wednesday and Mom and the not-sister-in-law and John and Will and I went to Palominos for a bday lunch on Saturday, followed by visiting the Arts Fest. And then I graded papers for 2.5 hours today b/c I haven't had time to do it at work.
AND, I'm supposed to start teaching at the DAEP tomorrow--it's a new program where teachers from the core subject areas go over for 1 hour every other day to teach the kids there so we can meet federal requirements about "highly qualified teachers"--but I have jury duty. So whether or not I'll be done and able to go is questionable. There are currently three kids over there, none of whom I know well, but two of whom are significantly below grade level (4-6 years below) and one of whom is on grade level. That made planning for the sub interesting. I'm wondering a bit if I'm taking on more than I can chew; it's hardly like I need *more* to do. But A) I get a substantial stipend for doing it, B) Will's over there all year so this will help keep me up on what he's doing, and C) I get paid a substantial stipend. It's just going to make scheduling a whole lot more important. I'm not naturally anal; my life makes me that way, I swear.
My bday was one of the nicest I've had in a while, if only because my mom and brother bothered to care about it. My sister sent me some truly awesome meditation CDs that I've been listening to as I fall asleep at night, and I swear they're actually helping me feel calmer and more in control of my emotions. Honestly, I don't care if it's a placebo effect or not, I've dealt with some of Will's nonsense in a very good manner over the past few days, and *anything* that lets me do that is awesome in my book. Mom stopped by my class and dropped me off a mini-cake on my actual bday, and the kids in my class sang me happy bday (don't tell the copyright idiots). Several people wished me happy bday online (thanks to all of you! I hope I managed to reply to everyone, if not, it's because I'm absentminded, not ungrateful). A. sent me an amazon gift certificate that I've mentally spent in many different ways so far and am having the most fun with; I suppose eventually I'll have to settle on one concrete thing, but I'm just not sure what I want yet. All in all, I felt like people noticed I was alive and actually *cared*, which . . . makes me sound pathetic, but I've been in a very "feeling sorry for myself" place lately, and this was a nice bump out of that place and into a more positive one.
The Arts Fest was really nice. The animal shelter had puppies and kitties out for adoption and I managed to resist. Go, me! And I totally didn't resist getting a few plants from the county master gardener's club-thingy: a spearmint, a peppermint, a garlic chive, a mother-in-law's tongue, and an aloe vera. We looked at a bunch of the booths, ran into various people, and listened to a jazz band and jazz singer briefly. I was able to be calm and ignore Will's attitude ("when can we look at things that are my interest? what about my interest? I have interests too, you know. We need to go look at things that are to my interest." over and over and over and over and over without pausing for breath. I didn't even snap at him. I am AWESOME.)
And I managed to make homemade applesauce that is very, very tasty, and get papers graded. Go me!