Monday, March 31, 2008

Easter Photos




Saturday, March 29, 2008

Too Much to Say, Too Little Time!

Since I last posted, things have gotten better over here. We had a wonderful weekend in Louisiana with my family and Darren's (I'll get around to posting pictures eventually), then a too-long drive home for no reason last Sunday. The workweek was endless. I am sick again, and felt miserable all week. I spent an hour and a half waiting to see my ENT yesterday, then he was able to give me about two minutes of his time. I have to go and have a CT done of my sinuses, then go and see him again. He did give me new meds, which should help. I'm at the point where my sinuses are so full that my eyes are crying, and my ears are stopped up, so I am having trouble hearing. Everyone else in the house is well right now, which is nice.

We spent every evening after work looking at cars this week, but still haven't made a decision. We got a very nice check from State Farm yesterday, and plan to buy a car today or tomorrow. That would mean we need to get dressed and leave the house, but we're not progressing too well on that. We don't have any plans for this weekend. It's our last free weekend until sometime in May, so we need to make the most of it. Next weekend, Zoe and I are flying to South Carolina for five days to be with my sister. She is having her baby on the 7th, and I am so excited that I get to be a part of it! That means four more unpaid days off work, but I don't care enough about that.

I interviewed for the art position at my school yesterday. I spent hours Thursday night putting together a portfolio and researching the curriculum. I don't have a feeling either way about the job. I know they are interviewing six people for the two positions, and should make a decision sometime next week. I would love to have the job, but am not getting my hopes up. I don't know how you are supposed to get experience teaching art if no one wants to hire a teacher without experience!

Our dear cat spent the night out somewhere last night. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and realized I hadn't seen him since last night. Darren and I both went outside to look for him, but couldn't find him. He came home about an hour ago, completely unscathed.

I'll post pictures of our new car when we get it. It's going to be a long day!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Sadly Mistaken




I don't have time for a full update right now, since I am supposed to be gathering stuff for our taxes, cleaning up for the housekeepers tomorrow, and packing to go to Louisiana for the weekend. All I'm going to say is that I wish I hadn't posted that last time. Since I last wrote, everyone in our house has been sick, even Zachary. In addition to that, Darren smashed his car up Tuesday night, and I have gotten a significantly smaller amount done around here than I would have hoped.

For me, Spring Break is pretty much over, since we are leaving tomorrow for the weekend. I still have not gotten research papers graded, nor did I make time to get some scrapbooking done. I also haven't found someone to take over my den leader position within our Cub Scout pack. I guess I should focus more on the positive; I finally finished laundry, cooked dinner several times this week, got a haircut and massage, bought some new denim capris, and Darren walked away from a really bad accident unscathed. In addition, we get to spend the weekend with family, and our house is being cleaned tomorrow by someone other than me. One last thing that I almost forgot: I registered for a summer school class today at our local community college and got my first student ID in at least eleven years. That was humbling!

Next week, I guess we'll have to go car shopping. Not what we had planned for the present, but now it's a necessity. With all of Darren's driving that he does to and from work, our life with two SUVs is over.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

On the mend, I hope

It's been a rough few days. Thursday, I was feeling awful. It seemed like I couldn't do anything to get the congestion to go away, and I was thankful to get to leave work at noon. I did observe the art teacher that morning, and absolutely loved it! I talked to my principal, and my chances at getting a position seem better than I though. I gave her my resume Friday, and they are supposed to be doing interviews sometime around the 27th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed; feel free to say a prayer for me! In the meantime, I've been scoping out jobs online. There seem to be quite a few that might appeal to me if the art thing doesn't work out. I'm looking at possibly substituting next year, along with maybe a receptionist position in a doctor's office. I'm also going to go and get advised this week at the local community college, to see about starting the nursing program this summer. Call me crazy, I know!

Anyway, Darren went to the doctor Thursday afternoon while Zoe and I napped. It turns out that most of his friends from SXSW had gotten sick, and it was some sort of virus. Since Thursday, Darren hasn't gotten out of bed much, and has broken his fever several times. While I was home that afternoon, I went ahead and scheduled an ENT appointment for me for this week, and a pediatrician's visit for Zoe that afternoon. Her congestion wasn't getting any better, and I had the time to take her. We saw a nurse practitioner that afternoon, and her infection was back to both ears. They gave her a shot of Rocefin? and made an appointment for us to return Friday afternoon to see her regular doctor.

Thursday night was supposed to be a Cub Scout pack meeting. We ate dinner, I ironed Zachary's and my uniform, and we went to the church and waited. Four other families showed up, so we didn't have our meeting, but we did get some important planning done for our pack. I think I am going to take over as committee chair, which is the person who plans the year and delegates each event out. I will also be responsible for the pack registration paperwork, which doesn't seem like it's going to be a big deal. Now, I just need someone to take over as den leader. I need to send out that e-mail...

Friday, Darren stayed home, and the kids had a half-day of school. 6 of my 24 kids started spring break early by not showing up that day. We had short classes, and I showed a video and gave a spelling test. Zachary got out at noon, and our neighbor brought him home. Our students were dismissed at 12:45, and we had the afternoon for planning and conferences. I went to a workshop on our new webpages, and we had one conference. I didn't get nearly as much work done as I had planned, but I did get my classroom pretty clean. I took Zoe to the doctor again, and there was no change in her ears. She got another shot, and we went home and did nothing that evening. The ENT called and cancelled my appointment, so I scheduled an appointment with my GP for Saturday morning. I was feeling really miserable, and knew I didn't want to wait to be seen.

Yesterday, I woke up and went to the doctor. They did an x-ray of my sinuses, and they were pretty full. I got 12 days of Prednisone, and 10 days of Biaxin. I had to take 5 pills at once, and that made me feel yucky for the rest of the day. I haven't taken them yet today, but know I need to get that over with. Plus, I need to drink more. I am so bad about not drinking anything all day!

After the doctor, I did some exciting things, like picking up our comforter from the drycleaner's and getting some flea medicine for Chance at the vet. I brought McDonald's breakfast home, and we sat around all day. We played some Wii, watched some TV, and I read a book. By yesterday evening, Zach was driving me crazy because he was so bored. I went and played outside with him for a while, and watched the pollen rain down from the trees. Everything outside is yellow right now. The flowers are starting to bloom, as well, and people are working in their yards. We're going for the look of neglect in our yard this year, I think. Thank God for the fact that we live where we are expected to have a certain percentage of our yard look like the natural forest. We definitely have that going on! My friend Jennifer and her boyfriend, Brandon, brought us dinner and milk last night after I posted on Twitter that I was hoping the dinner fairies would come. I really love the Internet sometimes!

Today, I am feeling better. I slept until 10:30, which is the first time in as long as I can remember, and then made waffles for breakfast/lunch. I need to do that more often; they were so good, and so easy to make! Now, I need to get dressed and get busy doing something productive while I am feeling decent. Hopefully Zach is content today; he rediscovered his DVD collection and is upstairs watching Ratatouille.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Not Much to Say

We survived Darren's absence this weekend, and had a good time with Mom and Dad. Mom and I did some shopping, we spent Saturday afternoon/evening at Zach's school carnival, we cooked, and played with the kids. I was sad to see them leave Monday morning, but the kids and I did just fine Monday night and yesterday morning on our own. We had our annual nighttime performance at school last night, and the kids just went with me. Zach walked with me, helping to "grade" the students, and I wore Zoe in her front pack. I only got accosted by one parent, so I guess we're okay.

Darren rolled in around 1:30 this morning, and we all had a rough day. My legs hurt from all the walking last night, and I had a hard time putting together a coherent sentence. Needless to say, my students didn't learn a whole lot today. I had a rough afternoon, and spent the latter part of it just trying to keep it together until it was time to go home. After a bike ride, some reading time, and some Guitar Hero therapy, I'm feeling better. Of course, I have to go back to work tomorrow, but only until noon.

Zoe's babysitter is sick, so Darren is going to keep her in the morning, and I will take over after noon. I don't mind missing work one bit right now. This project, which I can't stand, but looks good for the parents, is stressing me out, even though I vowed it wouldn't this year. Several students still haven't turned in the research paper and timeline, which were due last Monday. I quit bothering them about it, but since some of them are special ed, and they're not supposed to fail, I have to keep after them. Also, I've had at least one parent per day call or email to complain about the project, or their child's grade. We spent eight weeks on this project, and students were given specific instructions almost daily. I will not do this next year!

On the job front, I feel like there are more and more signs in my life that I need to give up teaching. I like it less and less each day, and am completely miserable the whole time I am at school each day. One of my classes is extremely difficult, and I am so angry after spending an hour with them each day. They never stop talking or walking around the room for them to teach me, but get angry when they don't understand something and I won't explain it yet again. I could just walk out one day and never go back!

One of the options that I have been exploring is teaching art. I am certified, and have tried for the last few years to make the switch. It's hard to find an art position, and it happens that my school has two positions open for next year. I've been given the opportunity to observe the art classes tomorrow morning to decide if I want to apply for the position. I thought this would happen before the jobs were posted online. I've worked at this school for five years, and haven't made it a secret that I want to teach art. Next year's principal e-mailed me today to let me know that two experienced art teachers have already applied for the position. Talk about a slap in the face! Should I even bother applying? It doesn't sound like I have a chance.

I'm going drink some wine now.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

New Exciting Post Coming Soon!

I have tried to sit down and write for almost a week now, but have been too tired or busy to make any sense. There's not a whole lot going on here anyway. We didn't do much this past weekend, besides the Beer Can Opener Friday night (see my Flickr photos), and this week at work has been stressful in preparation for reading TAKS today. I am so glad that's over! It was a LOOONNGGGG day of sitting and doing nothing while the kids tested. We're not allowed to do anything beside walk around and stare at the kids, and the pile of projects sitting on my desk taunted me. Tomorrow, we are watching Shrek 3, and I am going to grade my heart out!

Darren is leaving Friday for his annual geek-fest trip to Austin for SXSW Interactive. He's so excited he can barely contain himself, but I am dreading trying to keep both the kids dressed and fed by myself. My parents are coming in to babysit us for the weekend, and hopefully staying until Monday. I have my kids' Wax Museum performance Tuesday night, so I will be grading with a baby in her front pack and Zach walking beside me.

In other news, spring break begins next Friday, and I can hardly wait! I am staying home this year, except for maybe a weekend trip to Lafayette for Easter. The kids are going to the sitter for a couple of days, and I have lofty goals of cleaning out the office and working on my scrapbooking. I have been itching to do it for a while, and just need to get everything set up so I can get back into it. I have several albums that I need to work on, and getting started seems to be the hardest thing for me.

Time to go fall asleep on the couch in front of some recorded TV.