The Longest Short Week Ever!

Work was a four day week due to having Monday off for the holiday, but it sure felt like a regular five day week! I'm now doing homework club on Tuesday nights, writing tutoring on Wednesdays, and math tutoring on Thursday nights. We have staff meetings every other Monday night so basically I get a break after school every other Monday and then on Fridays. My planning time during the day is taken up by meetings every day, so I don't get a planning time ever! This week was especially busy because I had to get assessments done and then pick up all the slack from our reading program because my co teacher had her baby. It was just chaotic. I feel like I have a TON of work to do this weekend and if I don't do it then I pay for it later. Does anyone have a 9-5 job, meaning that when you're done with work you come home and don't have to work at home in the evenings? I love having summers off, but in reality I've already worked all those hours I get off during the summer so technically I'm just being compensated for all the extra time I've already put in, I basically have a year round job, which a lot of people don't understand. But, I am SOOOOOOO happy to have a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to keep that in the front of my mind at ALL times!

Wednesday's Words

Work is just insane right now. My coworker that I co teach with had her baby on Sunday so this week has been a whirlwind trying to figure out what she has and hasn't done. Needless to say there was a lot that wasn't done that we are trying to figure out. Her sub is great and we're getting along really well but it would have been nice to have more time to get prepared for her departure.

Speaking of my co worker, sh*t hit the fan the two weeks before she went off on leave. It was a total high school gossip fest and I was ready scream, well actually I think I did scream (into a pillow). You see we haven't had the best communication. I kind of gave up after she just did things without us discussing them first and deciding together our plan of action, and to top it off she's majorly controlling. It was just a disaster from the start. I tried to reach out to her via e-mail and she printed off the e-mail and gave it to administration. It was just a MESS but I think we finally got a few things ironed out and hopefully we'll make some progress while she's gone so we can get off to a better start when she returns.

I'm hoping that things calm down some now that the second quarter will be over next week but there's a lot to get done before then. I'm usually a VERY organized person but things are just out of control right now because I feel like I have no time to catch up. I've been working a lot at home and staying late at work. I'm just glad that we have some time the first week of February when we have conferences to get some planning and catching up done.

Oh and can I just say that I'm thoroughly disappointed with my O.lay wrinkle creams. My face is flaking and still very dry. I'm going to give it another month or so to see how my smile lines look and if I can really notice any other positives before I try another brand. I had Th.e Bod.y Sho.p sample face cream regime awhile back that I had forgotten about and I think I may try that again because the night cream was really great for my dry skin. The problem was that it was pretty pricey.

Have a great rest of the week, it's hump day!!!!!

Random Thoughts

This post is just going to be bullet style post highlighting a jumble of different things that I am thinking about.

• I hate the inlaw crap. R isn't a family type person because his family was never very close or functional. He doesn't especially like my mom and so I put myself in the middle trying to mediate and just keep everyone happy. It ends up that he feels like I'm not sticking up for him and so then R gets mad at me. The whole thing Saturday night was about a football discussion between the males in my family. My mom was getting annoying because she kept making comments and closed the door very loud to try to get them to stop the discussion because it was getting heated (but not in a bad way). I just wanted them all to stop the discussion because that way I wouldn't have to keep hearing her talk about it and complain. I put myself in the middle and once again my hubby was ticked that I didn't stand up for him. Thanksgiving should be fun!



• I've been running for the past couple weeks to try to desperately shed the rest of my pre preggo weight because my neighbor finally asked for her maternity clothes back. She needed them for her sister and I was still wearing the jeans which were just bigger sized, not maternity as well as some of the shirts. So far I've been able to fit back into more of my clothes so I'm definitely going to keep it up and add in yoga and weights too. When I'm going to find time for this I'm not sure but my intentions are really good! I'm also not sure about how I feel about running in the cold weather and snow. Yesterday when I went it was snowing and my face was pretty cold. R has some great cold weather running gear so the rest of my body was warm but I'm not sure how to keep my face warm without looking like a bank robber wearing a face mask.



• I'm not enjoying the time change. With the exception of the extra hour, which was great, the time change has caused Little man to stay on his old schedule, therefore he gets up an hour early according to the new time, and the same time if it was still our old time, which throws off our mornings. I also hate that it gets so dark so early. I hate going out after dark and right now it's pitch black and it's a little past 5:30pm. I'm just thankful that my teaching day ends way before it gets dark. I couldn't imagine driving home from work at 5 something and it being completing dark.



• Subbing is still going great. I took today off because I had a LaLech.e Lea.gue meeting and the house was a wreck. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'm at the high school and then Thursday I have a half day at the elementary near my house. The kids don't have school on Friday so I'll also have Friday off. I'm really loving the flexibility and teaching but not having all the take home work and extra work that's involved if you have a "real" teaching job.


• R still hasn't found a job. He's applied for jobs in California, Nebraska, Indiana, and Connecticut. It's getting really frustrating because the holidays are coming up and it's really hard to get through them without money. He found out that his previous employer has 7 weeks to decide if they are going to approve unemployment and it hasn't quite been 7 weeks yet since he filed. That is equally frustrating!

I'll have some more random thoughts to add later this week but until then here's what's new.

Rocking it Out!

So subbing this week has been awesome. I subbed at the middle school on Wednesday and ended up chatting with the teacher that I had subbed for on Monday as well as the teacher I was subbing for that day (she was planning at the school so she was there). They were asking me about my experience and after talking with them for awhile they both asked for my name and phone number so they could start requesting me. One of the teachers also went on their sub system when I was there and put me on her "top 5" list. I guess they can send along a list of their favorite subs so that they can get the subs they like. So that really stoked my ego. It's nice to be noticed as a sub and actually feel as though you are doing a good job and recognized for your ability.

Today was even better because I was at the elementary school right around the corner from my house. I like subbing middle school and high school because it's easier for the money but since I'm certified in elementary I really need to start cultivating relationships at the elementary schools. I was in a tough Kindergarten classroom today that apparently drive subs to cry. The teacher had an in service so she was there to explain everything to me and warn me about the students who were going to be a handful. Now let's take a step back and think back to my experience down in FL. Let's just say that what's considered "bad" up here in MI is NOTHING compared to what "bad" is down there. Needless to say this was a piece of cake today. Now on to the exciting thing that happened.

At lunch the principal came in to introduce himself and welcome me to the building. He asked if a certain problem child was in attendance today and I told him that he was but so far things had been going well. We made it through the whole day with just a few minimal incidents, but nothing that warranted sending a child to the office. At the end of the day when I returned to the office to drop off my name tag and key the principal approached me again and shook my hand and thanked me for doing such a good job. I told him that I was back at the building tomorrow for another job and he told me that he wanted to sit down with me and get my phone number because they are really looking for subs that are resilient. It was another ego stroke! It's just such a nice feeling to know that even though I'm subbing my work is being recognized.

I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday! This week has gone by really fast. As of right now I don't have any subbing jobs next week. I'm really hoping that I can pick up at least 2 because the pay period ends on the 15th and I need a few more days on my next paycheck. This weekend we are heading to my parents house to spend the weekend. My mom always cooks an annual stuffed cabbage dinner (a Russian family tradition) so we're heading home for that. I'll be posting some new pictures soon, though some of you have already seen them since I put them on Face.book last night.

A Break

I'm taking this week off from subbing because R is going to be in Denv.er for a conference. It was something he was already scheduled to do before the job loss thing so they were still cool with him presenting even though he wasn't technically working at his job any more. I'm going to be with the kiddos all week by myself, we'll see how it goes! Things are going really crappy right now and I seriously just want to see in the future to know how this is all going to end up. Still no job prospects for R and still no unemployment money. He for some reason doesn't really seem too motivated to get his a** in gear to get the unemployment money or at least figure out what the process is and follow up to see if he's eligible. I did remind him to call the automated system on Thursday so he did do that but we still don't know if he's even eligible. He also hasn't really been applying to any jobs. The whole deal is just pissing me off. I know he doesn't have a lot of time but if I were in his shoes I think I would be doing everything in my power to take care of my family.

I'm seriously ready to have a mental break down. Baby M is going through these terribly fussy periods, not sure if it's colic or what. They happen pretty much ever night from like 8-11 or 12am. He's still waking up every 2 hours at night to feed so I feel like I'm not getting any sleep. I feel like by now he should be able to go more than 2 hours in between feedings. I think my milk supply is to blame, it feels like it may have gone down since I've been unable to pump as much since I've started subbing. Luckily, I'm off this week so I can work diligently on getting it back to where it should be. Meanwhile, Little man has turned into a devil child. He seriously isn't following directions and we have to ask him more than once to do something and usually he ends up in time out. I'm so sick of him not doing what we ask. I know his world has been flipped upside down and that's probably the reason, which causes me to have a huge amount of guilt and I feel so sad that his life is the way it is right now.

I'm really trying to stay optimistic right now but I'm wishing that I could just have my life back. Why did we ever leave FL? I freaking had a job down there and made descent money. We had a nice apartment and I had a car. We had benefits and money to spare at the end of the month. Surprisingly it doesn't seem so bad now. I feel like we were very selfish for coming back here. I'm getting to the point where I'm really pissed. We came back here because our family was here and we were trying to get back to somewhere where we could raise our kids in a better environment but it all back fired.

The last thing on my mind is these last 6-7 pounds that I can't quite shed from having Baby M. The weight came off immediately after having Little man and I think I was expecting the same thing to happen this time. I wasn't mentally prepared for the situation that I'm in currently. I have been running and walking but again with my crazy schedule it's really hard to find time to fit exercise into my day. I know that I must make it a priority for my mental sanity but I'm still working on fitting it in. The one nice thing is that taking 2 kids in the double stroller sure is a nice workout so at least I can do that while R is gone.

I'm sure once I have some time to relax this week that I'll be fine but it's going to be important to work on finding time for exercise. I invited my brother to come down so I can have someone to hang out with. He loves to exercise so I'm hoping that he'll decide to come so I can have an exercise buddy to go on walks with. It will also be nice to be able to get together with my friend T who lives down the street. I feel like I haven't seen her in ages since I've been working. I'm really looking forward to this week and I hope it will be a nice break!

Piece of Cake!

So I was nervous today about subbing in the resource room. After talking with the sub yesterday, seeing her evaluation from yesterday, and hearing the classroom teacher and classroom aide prepare me for what the day was going to be like today, I was really regretting taking this job. If there is one thing that I have no desire to ever teach, it's special education. It's just not my cup of tea and I don't have the never ending patience and love that it takes. I debated about whether or not to accept today's job but went against my gut feeling and accepted because we need the money. In the end I have to say that I'm so glad that I did because the kids were great. I kept getting warned about their behavior but didn't have a single behavior problem. Today reminded me why I love teaching so much. There isn't a better feeling in the world to end the day feeling like you kicked butt and were awesome. If there is one aspect of teaching that I have a handle on, it's behavior management. I taught in some rough schools and had some VERY rough kids so it's one of my strong points and I was really able to control the kids and engage them in their learning activities. I felt like I was on top of the world when I got done. The best remark came from the para pro who said she's never seen the 4th hour group of kids be as good as they were today, not even for their regular teacher.

Today was especially long though because I didn't get a break until lunch time. I had to sub for another teacher during my prep hour. By the time lunch rolled around I felt like I was about ready to burst because I hadn't pumped or fed Baby M since 6:30 am and lunch was at 11:30am. I ate lunch in my car so that I could pump the whole time. It ended up working out fine and I'll just have to be sure to pump more and drink plenty of water in the coming days so my milk supply doesn't go down. R goes to Denve.r next week so I won't be subbing. Tomorrow I'm subbing in the afternoon so I won't have to be at the school until 10:30am. I talked with the teacher today for whom I'm subbing for and she has 5th hour prep and then I'll also get 30 minutes for lunch after I get there so it will be an easy day.

I just want to mention how incredibly awesome R is doing at the stay at home parent thing. It's so hard to transition from working to being a stay at home parent and he's doing awesome. I came home today and the kitchen was clean and he was reading and rocking Baby M. I'm actually liking the reversal of the roles because I forgot what it was like to work. I do enjoy getting back into schools and going to work in the morning. The feeling of earning the money for the family is empowering too, I got my first check today. I ended up with $158.40 for two days of subbing. R still isn't sure if he's going to get unemployment or not but he called today so we'll see if he gets any money.

Well I'm off to bed, finally at a descent hour.

Off to Work I Go

It's been exactly 6 weeks since Baby M was born, that's so shocking to me. I'm sad that he's already 6 weeks old because he's definitely out of his newborn clothes and working on growing quickly out of his 0-3 month clothes! This day not only marks 6 weeks since I gave birth but also the day that I return to working, albeit not a full time job, it's still work. I'm both excited and sad. I do miss being out in the working world sometimes. Just getting in the car and driving to work in the morning all dressed up is a very nice feeling, though on the other hand I really do love being a stay at home mom. I get to witness every little thing that goes on with my children. Just this weekend I had the pleasure of observing Baby M while he explored his hands and fingers, I think he's going to be a thumb sucker once he figures out how to get that thing to stay in his mouth! I also get to be his food source which is amazing to me. I've been pumping and praying that I'll have enough that we won't have to supplement with formula!

Today I'm off to the Intermediate (6th grade) building to read for the state test. I'm not sure what to expect but I think I'll be a test proctor from the sounds of it, we'll see though. I'm at the same building doing the same thing tomorrow. I have to find a way to pump while I'm there so that's my only worry. I have a power converter for the car so I can plug my pump into my car and get the same power as if it was actually plugged into a wall. I'm hoping that I will be able to pump at lunch and break time. The only problem is that sometimes they have you work during your break time if they need you someplace else. They kind of take advantage of subs so that's the annoying thing that I'm not looking forward to. I remember at my first school I taught at the principal made the subs shelve library books from 3-4 so they were kept busy. Here at least I don't have to stay too late after school. Hopefully it will be a good day! I'll update more later.