Oh, dear

oh goodness. Here we are, almost a month in between posts. If you know anything about me (which, I'm assuming you do, since you choose to read this), that means I'm either super stressed or I've been incredibly busy living life. I'm relieved to report that it is mostly the latter, although there is some stress in my life. But, I'm solely responsible for the growth and development of 9 miniature humans. Who wouldn't be stressed about that a little bit?!?!

Anywho, like I said, I've been SO busy living, and loving life!  A quick recap:

lots of family time, lots of dispatching, lots of grading, lots of lesson planning, lots of traveling, lots of late nights, lots of counting down until breaks, lots of smiles, lots of laughter. lots of joy.

not much sleep, not much relaxation, not much alone time, not much quiet, not much productivity.

If I had to sum up the past month of my life in one word, I'd choose joy.  My life has been so filled with joy.  No, my life isn't perfect.  But I'm trying to be more optimistic about the not so great things. 

I really have no purpose or plan for this post, if you couldn't tell.  Usually I do, but I'm so scatter brained that this could go in so many directions.  I could gush about Calypso for an entire post, but I feel like I've already done that before.  Plus, that would mean I actually have feelings invested and we can't be having that!  I could talk about the changes at school and how I'm now teaching all subjects to my 3rd-5th graders and how happy I am to be doing so, but how the work load has doubled (seriously).  I could talk about my family, and how I've gotten to see all of them within the past 6 weeks, which is rare in the middle of the school year.  I could talk about visiting my grandma and possibly giving her the last hug I'll ever get from her.  I could talk about the millions of thoughts I've been having about thousands of different things as I've driven or flown thousands of miles in the past 6 weeks. 

But I feel I've provided enough updates for the time being, via my sporadic open ended thoughts.  Who knows.  It's late, I'm tired, and just want to see Calypso.  Gah, there are those feelings and emotions and crap!

Fall...

It is FINALLY fall! I love this time of the year. Football games and changing leaves, cool nights and warm days, some sort of a routine for my life and ultimate Frisbee tournaments. It means sweaters and boots, crunchy leaves and apple cider. It means preparations for my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I love how the focus for almost the entire month of November can be on being thankful, and no one complains. I have my students, during every school day in November, write in their "Thankful Journal". They have to write a paragraph about one different thing they are thankful for each day. Eventually, they get to be a little silly (pencils, nail polish, etc.) but it forces them to be creative because they then have to tell me WHY they are thankful for it. Usually, every students writes about school. They are the sweetest little kids ever, sometimes! I've always wanted to do that "Thankful Every Day" post on Facebook but I always worry that I'll forget someone in one of the posts and their feelings will be hurt. Dumb, I know, but everyone takes Facebook so seriously nowadays :( So I think I'll just start making a thankful list on here and I'll update it throughout the month. I'll be sure to denote the updates at the bottom! *I'm thankful for my family. I'm so lucky to have the mom, brothers, and sisters-in-law that I do. Whether it is a phone call, picture, or simple text message, they know how to make me smile each and every day. They listen, support, encourage, love, support, and challenge me in their own individual ways. *I'm thankful for friends. Having friends all over the world makes it difficult to maintain those relationships sometimes. But with their patience, understanding, and flexibility, we're able to catch up and stay close. Their willingness to meet up on a short notice makes life adventurous and interesting. *I'm thankful for great co-workers, both at school and at the PD. They make the rough days go smoother, and the great days even more exciting. They take care of me when I won't take care of myself. With a hug, laugh, or listening ear, they help me stay sane within the crazy environments I work in. *I'm thankful for the time change (I think). Aside from it allowing me to work an extra hour, it will be SO nice not having to start the school day in the semi-dark. It makes it really hard for the students and me to get up in the mornings when it is still so dark out. *I'm thankful for employment. Yes, I complain about both jobs from time to time. Yes, both jobs stress me out occasionally. But I'm so lucky that I have not one, but two jobs that I love doing and that they are willing to work with the other's schedule.

Things I Do While at Work...

Keep in mind, "work" is at the PD.

*grade papers
*play solitaire
*play solitaire
*play solitaire
*get random cravings
*talk on the radio
*answer phones
*get random cravings for food (currently craving McDonald's fries and chocolate, not not together)
*read
*do sudoku
*think about friends and family (seriously)
*play solitaire
*talk with my officers


And then, really late at night, as the rest of the world is sleeping, I like to get REALLY emotional and paranoid and convince myself noone likes me, Calypso is just around because he has nothing better to do, I'm a terrible teacher, and a slew of other things. Yeah, it makes for a GREAT last 2-3 hours of being awake. If you ever find yourself up from 330 AM-645 AM, feel free to shoot me a text. I'd welcome to distraction, although if my Solitaire game is going well, I might be a slow response :)

The "G" Word

Yeah, he (Calypso) dropped it. The infamous "g" word that most girls love hearing for the first time. But not me. Not right now. He said it and I didn't exactly freak out but I definitely didn't jump into his arms and have a giant grin on my face. Being his "girlfriend" just sounds so...official...high pressure...committed...scary.

We didn't really talk about it beyond that but it still caught me off guard. I mean, yeah, I basically am in the meaning of the word, but the label just makes everything so DIFFERENT. We'll see what happens...

School is going well, aside from having a coworker who tests my patience daily. Without going into too much detail, I'm very nervous that this year is going to go very similarly to last year.

Working at the PD is great. It has allowed me to keep up with grading and paperwork, and also lets me spend time with people I don't see every day.

There's not much to update about other than Calypso and school, but I don't want to overanalyze or stress out so I'll leave everything at that.

4th Time....

This is the 4th time I've started a blog (if I've counted correctly) and I STILL don't know how to start them. Do I introduce myself? Do I provide a recap of my life/recent events so the reader knows what I'm referring to? Do I explain the name I've chosen and why? Do I leave the reader completely in the dark and make them guess/infer/never know?

Well, you're gonna kind of get some of all of that. Just settle in, and see if you can keep up! :) Why a blog? Well, it has been 6 million degrees here lately, or I've had meetings late, or I've been working. These are all reasons why I haven't had the chance to ride my bike in weeks. My time on my bike is MY TIME. No one can bother me or get a hold of me. It's just me, my bike (I still need to name it), my thoughts, and the trail. It's where I get the best thinking/processing of life done. When I don't get my bike time, I get stressed out. When I get stressed out enough, I start to sleep crappy. When I sleep crappy, I am a generaly unpleasant person to be around. And no one wants that. After discussing this situation over with Calypso (not his real name), he strongly encouraged me to find an outlet for all my stress that wasn't weather dependent.

So, alas, here we are. Now, I'm guessing you have 1 (or 2) of 2 questions: 1. Why a new blog? 2. Who is Calypso? (and why aren't you using his real name?)

1. A new blog becuase I feel I reached a new part of my life months ago. Although I didn't start a new blog at that point, I am now. I'd had the last blog for roughly 4 years, and I think it was time for a fresher start. So, here we are. My old blog will stay up, at least for a while, but I might take it down eventually. Just because some of that stuff no longer holds true and doesn't need to be out in the public. But we'll see.

2. Calypso is, depending on who you ask, many different things in my life. If you ask me? He's the guy I share ridiculous news stories with. The guy I talk to when I need a distraction from life. The guy who unlocks my car after he locked my keys in it. The guy who works multiple states away and is only home for a few weeks at a time. The guy who doesn't have too high of emotional expectations for me right now. The guy who is just what I need in my life right now. So, others may try to label what he is, but for now, I'm just happy with where things are!

I'll post an update later next week talking about life and the various stressors, but hopefully this answers some of your questions you didn't even realize you had!