life together (a friends & family update blog)
Here, in no particular order, are the results of this weekend’s efforts. Mine’s first.
You just don’t mess with a T-Rex. Or a wildcat. Though they’re not quite the same league.
Speaking of league, wasn’t it nice of the Rockies to at least give their fans some false hope the last two games?
Well, it was at least my birthday party.
I have been uberproductive this weekend. Here’s the rundown:
Saturday: worked out, cleaned the house, did laundry, got haircuts, ate Panda for lunch, went shopping for Halloween-ness, carved pumpkins, visited with dad, made dinner, planned the week’s meals, went grocery shopping.
Sunday: worked out (two days in a row! Go me!), went to church, went to Trader Joe’s (that place fills me with joy! You should try their spicy cider), went to family birthday party for my cousin and me, enjoyed the merriment, returned home and actually did my school to-do list of planning, emailing parents, and writing a letter to parents in English and Spanish.
That’s why I rock my socks. Sorry for the gloating. No, actually, I’m not that sorry. If it bothers you, just skim next time.
This at school week went better. Though I had meetings coming out of my ears (one every day, the earliest I was done was 4:30, one day I was double booked), the card system has proven quite effective. The students are now full of the fear of Becky, as well they should be.
I discovered something about myself this weekend. Two things, actually, but both about my level of job satisfaction. One is that I hate to work on weekends, and it makes me resent my job for taking up “my” time. This week I’m going to try to work smart during the week so I don’t have to do too much during the weekend. With report cards coming up, we’ll see how that goes. The other thing I learned has to do with administration. I seem to do better when the administration thinks the teachers are awesome as they are–it makes me want to do better just to rock that much more. At my current school, the focus is on constant improvement. Now, I’m all for constant improvement, but I’d rather do it because I want to, not because I’m expected to. It almost feels like the message is “You’re not good enough right now, you must get better.” They’d never say that, but it’s how I feel. I’m not sure what to do with my realization, other than recognize that it’s how I feel, not how they feel (I hope).
Hopefully the post right above or below this one will be Jamie’s pictures of our carved pumpkins! Whee!
It’s been quite the week.
Tuesday was my birthday. I happened to schedule an eye doctor appointment for that day so that I didn’t have to couldn’t go to work. My husband spoiled me all day. In the morning, he gave me CDs and chocolates to enjoy while at home. After picking out my new glasses, I went to enjoy a pumpkin spice latte and a book. I knit and in general forgot my responsibilities as a grown-up. Then Jamie and I went out to a nice dinner where he proclaimed that my birthday gift would be a new sewing machine! I’m so lucky! In related news, anybody know what kind I should get?
Wednesday…sucked pond water, as my sister would say. My students were very naughty and in general acted very little like children who have been in a civilized school since kindergarten. I received an email from the principal about the math training we had the next day (which I had forgotten about), so I realized I needed to write sub plans after the staff meeting we had after school. I got home late and cried and never wanted to be a teacher again.
Thursday I had to be a teacher again. The training and the kids were okay. The impending windstorm gave me hope that I would not have to be a teacher the next day.
Friday there was no such luck. The kids were squirrelly, but I blamed it on the wacko weather. We had our October birthday party (for me, since I’m the only October birthday) and the kids tried to surprise me by singing Happy Birthday. They were cute. It’s also good to know they’re not that great at getting the whole class together on a surprise–there will be no mutinies without me knowing about them ahead of time.
This weekend I brought home a lot of work and did very little of it. Oh well. No student ever died from not having their papers graded. I’m going back to school tomorrow with the dreaded behavior cards (green for good, yellow for warning, orange for losing recess, etc.) and a smack-down, zero-tolerance attitude. Should be fun.
It is “crunch time” at Jamie’s company. That means that I get lots of solitude as he is required to work 12 hour days. It’s good and bad for me.
Good: eating Trader Joe’s frozen pizza instead of cooking
Bad: eating too much Trader Joe’s frozen pizza. Ug.
Good: knitting and watching mindless TV
Bad: watching mindless TV
Good: plenty of time to make friends with new Nordic Track
Bad: newfound fear of being alone in basement in the dark (where aforementioned equipment resides). What?
Good: plenty of time to catch up on planning and grading papers
Bad: I hate planning and grading papers
And now Jamie’s home! Good!
I thought I’d write a post. Here is a list of things we’ve acquired on Craigslist.
We love us some Craigslist.
In other news, I want to call a substitute tomorrow. I’m not sick, and it’s only a four day week, (3.5 if you count the half day I’ll miss for math training) but I still don’t want to go. Just because. If I had made myself an account in the sub system, I probably wouldn’t. Good thing I didn’t do that weeks ago when I should have. Meanwhile, I’ll just pray for a windstorm to knock out power. What’s my deal?
