september and october 2021
September
The last two months have been stressful and bananas and did I mention stressful? One clue of how stressful it has been: I totally thought I sent an update for September already. Whoops. Guess I didn't. Here's the quick rundown of our chaotic lives at this point:
+ I started my new new teaching gig at a big public school in Minneapolis on September 10. Because of the wackiness of the other job I resigned from, I started a few days into the school year which was not my favorite, but it ended up being okay. Plus, I only teach at one school as opposed to 4, so that's great! So far, school has been weird. My co-teachers are pretty good so far, it's nice to be back with students, and the staff I've met have been nice. I am grateful to have been a "newbie" already at a big public school before so I get the gist of the whole "sink or swim" "eat or be eaten" "fake it till you make it" vibe. Some things that are less than great: the school has no principal since I guess he thought that he was White, male and hetero enough to not complete the licensure requirements he was supposed to by the licensing board (narrator's voice: turns out, he wasn't) - so there is a leadership vacuum when leadership is desperately needed. Why is leadership needed? Well, because these kids are wildin' out! Teenagers are bullshit detectors, so they know there's no real leadership in the school and they're acting accordingly. Apparently, it's a well-documented thing now that students of all ages and locations are having a hard time adjusting to school. That's so random! I wonder why?! I thought the pandemic was over! There have been a ton of fights, anarchy in the hallways, and while 80% of the students comply with masks, there is a strong contingent of boys who just don't. Oh, and the adults. I am in an email school. I came from Lincoln, where no one wrote anything in emails for fear of retribution or looking stupid or lawsuits. If you wanted information, you needed to go find it somewhere. My current school sends upwards of 40 emails a day - while we are teaching? And the vast majority of them are staff members - human adults - replying all and sending out some truly ridiculous, passive aggressive complaints or observations about our school via electronic mail! I heard through the grapevine that during all staff meetings last year, staff were cyberbullying other staff members in the chat function during the actual meetings. Phew. The dysfunction! Also - have you no shame? Save your shit talking for the teachers lounge like regular people. I just can't. All of this to say, I think this is all just part of getting to know a new place and for the most part, I'm generally happy to be back in a school building because this dysfunction is where I'm most comfortable apparently.
+ We extended our stay in our apartment through the month of September. So, September was basically Diego waking up at 6:45am with me, driving me to school, and then driving 20 minutes to the house to work on it before driving 20 minutes to pick me up and then either drive back to the house or the apartment depending on the work being done. Every Saturday and Sunday we spent at the house or Home Depot (our other home - we have transitioned out of our Target phase currently) getting stuff and working on the house. No days off, just work. So imagine our happiness when the end of September (and our lease) rolls around and we have no toilet, sink, hot water, or bath tub. We got a hotel. Imagine me the most angry or stressed out you've ever seen me, and then imagine me like that all the time. I feel like that's where I was at the start of October.
October
+ By October 4, we had a toilet and a sink, and dwindling resources to fund our extravagant hotel lifestyle, so we had to move in to our construction zone home. We went over a week without a bathtub or shower because of miscommunication with the contractor. (Shoutout to Lindsay, Tom, Jess, and Mike for their fair warning about contractors and communication! Even the good ones are terrible!) Then, they installed the bathtub and shower but never turned on the hot water. I tried to light the water heater several times because at this point I had not showered in 9 days (true story) and I couldn't do it. Diego hired someone, they came and did the exact same thing that I was doing and got it started in 5 minutes for $125. Best $125 I've ever spent. Then, I took the most glorious bath that I ever dreamt of.
+ Currently, we are waiting on countertops, our kitchen sink, dishwasher, range and our bathroom radiator to get installed. Those were scheduled for October 22 but wouldn't you know? That didn't happen! Now, we are allegedly on for an October 27 installation day but I'll believe that like I believe any of Erika Jayne's stories about Tom. It was 36 degrees last night and we don't have heat yet because they haven't been out to install it. At this point, we have let go of our frustration toward our contractors (and there's a lot of it) and are just trying to accept that in a pandemic no one is their highest selves. Also, it just sucks to be mad all the time.
So, things have been kinda rough, to say the least.
There are still bright spots. Like, we have a house. I'm still really surprised and shocked and happy about that. And, we are making it into a home. The bathroom is nearly finished and I don't think our minds have processed yet that we actually did all of it. We gutted it, we removed a 500 pound cast iron tub, we installed drywall and subfloor and tile floors, we installed beadboard and trim and baseboards and new lighting... I mean, we really did that.
We took up the carpets to reveal amazing original hardwood floors, we are almost finished painting almost every room in the house, Diego has repaired almost every tiny crack or fracture in the plaster walls, we have a washer and dryer that works, we have a yard for Tito to go poopoo and peepee in, we have a garage, a king sized bed for the first time in our lives, a front porch that's too cold to sit in. We have all of the things (except for a kitchen and an office, my and Diego's favorite rooms respectively) and we are really fortunate. It feels like we are right on the edge of being done with the big projects and we can hopefully really settle in and enjoy.