A Pleasant Day Off

Ahhh, it's so nice to have a day off once in a while.

And two Mondays off in a row, to boot.  I am going to be so grumpy come Monday next week.  But currently, I am just basking in my day off.

Do not judge me but I am especially loving that I am getting some time to myself.  It's not that I don't love my husband and love being around him.  I do!  But I was raised that it was a good thing to get some time to yourself every now and again.  I was an only child, and even though my parents were very good, active, involved parents, it was still a childhood that depended a lot on me being able to entertain myself alone.  As such, I developed two things: a good imagination and an ability to sit quietly with my own thoughts.

As a teacher, this never happens.  Especially when you teach elementary school.  If your door is open, someone is walking in it.  When I have a free period where no one is in my classroom using it. . .I lock the door.  And spend at least thirty glorious minutes by myself, just taking care of business.  Yes, it is very difficult to get work done when one is constantly fending off younguns.

It also just so happens that my husband very rarely is not at home when I am, recently.  Which is fine with me.  Usually, on afternoons when he works, I come pick him up after school, so even though I get more work done, I'm not alone.  He recently has gotten the weekends off, too, so even though we get to spend a lot of quality time and do a lot of activities together, I am not alone then either.

Mostly, I'm really okay with this.  If I really need it, I can have alone time at the gym or simply go into our bedroom and shut the door and be in there by myself.  Usually that's all I need, but every now and again I love getting at least a morning or an afternoon to myself.

This is my midday to myself.

And what have I been doing and what shall I do later?

So far, I have cleaned the apartment half, taken a practice test for my teacher test next Saturday, watched a whole movie, cleaned out my backpack, wrote two holiday cards, and made a homemade veggie lasagna.  Noms!  And it's not even noon!  For the afternoon, I am planning on doing some reading, perhaps watching another movie, making dinner, and doing some homework.  Oh, and more cleaning.  I just feel so productive!

And relaxed.

Somehow, when I get some time off on the weekend to really let my mind and body unwind and relax, even if I'm actually doing work, I feel so much more prepared for the week.  And much more cheerful.  I'm sure the kiddos appreciate that, because then I'm much more patient and happy with them, rather than curmudgeonly.

And now to what I've been reading.

Two weekends ago, the hubband and I went down to Phoenix for a wedding (which I realize I have not yet write about, so I will have to do that another time -- suffice it to say it was amazing).  He had some extra audible credits so we got The Hobbit on audiobook.  Man, I forgot what a great little book that is!  So now I'm finishing that up in real book form.

Then of course, I'm still working on Bleak House (when am I not??).  But I just decided the other day that I was in the mood for another Michael Crichton novel, so here I am reading Sphere.  Yes, I'm bad.  Yes, I love Michael Crichton.  He's fluffy enough that I feel my brain gets a bit of a break from the big bads like Mr. Dickens, but not so fluffy I feel like I'm wasting my time or my brain is turning to mush.  In fact, most of his books are technical enough that I end up looking things up and. . .dare I say it?  Learning something!  WHAT IS THAT NONSENSE?

Well anyway.  Enjoy your President's Day off, if you have it!  If not. . SUCKAAAAAAAAAS!

And there's a photo of my lasagna.  In an all edges pan.  Yup.  That's right.  I went there.

Be jealous.

Crazy Busy but Crazy Happy

It's been a bit since I've been blogging, for several reasons.  First of all, I've been crazy busy.  Second of all, I needed to replace the battery in my laptop because it was old and sad.  And it's very difficult to blog on a phone.  But now I have a new battery and it's back to blogging!

This new beginning to this year has been very busy.  First of all, it took us longer than expected to go back to Flagstaff over the break.  So that was stressful, and then coming back to school was stressful.  The kids were just starting to settle back down when we put them all topsy-turvy again by taking them out on field trips.

Let me just say, even when your kids are wonderfully, fabulously behaved, it is still enormously hard and stressful to look after 120 ten and eleven year olds.  And they are lovely children who still manage to give me huge headaches.  I guess they wouldn't be children if they weren't a little tough.  Having said that, I know that adults often cause more headaches than children.  If you don't believe me, just ask any of us teachers about parents meetings, hahaha.

Moving past field trips, I've still been very busy with school.  The week after field trips, grades were due and the grading period ended.  Yikes.  The week after that, I kicked it into high gear.  AIMS is coming up in April.  Even though there's quite some time yet until April, it's never as much as you really think.  So we are BUSY learning things and practicing things and perfecting things.  The kids are doing great, though, and we had an awesome week last week.  Honestly, I think part of it was that I took the whole weekend off from work and didn't grade anything.  I did a lot of reading and exercising and spending social time with friends and loved ones.  Fandiddlytastic.

The last thing that is making right now super busy is that my spectacularly wonderful cousin got married this past weekend (or should I just say yesterday?)!  It was an absolutely gorgeous ceremony and reception, and I honestly felt that everything truly reflected the bride and groom.  The vows were touching, sincere, and beautiful, the dress was unique and elegant, and the cake was om-nom-nommy!  I kept saying this but it was completely true: I cried more at her wedding than I did at my own wedding!  Yes, I was trying to really keep it in on my own wedding day and yes, I do just have random crying spurts when I think too deeply about how much I love my husband, but it was just. . .magical and spiritual and moving and powerful watching them join their lives.  Tears galore.

What I realized this weekend, watching my cousin get married, catching up with friends and relatives, and then heading home today, was that I am so happy to be where I am.  I like a good adventure, but mostly I am happy in a small, settled life.  My life is small, but it is not uninteresting and meaningless.  Merely because I am not a constant globe-trekker and enjoy the simple life doesn't mean my life is lame or boring.  One class period alone can be more exciting and interesting than some people's whole week of work.  Not to be crass or anything, I'm not trying to compete or one-up anyone, but I am just saying that I am. . .contented.  Satisfied.

I am a happy person.  I love my husband, I love my home, I love my job, I love my friends, I love my city, I just love my whole life.  The nice thing too, though, is that I am always thinking of new fun things to do and new adventures to have and new things to learn.  I'm so glad I can realize this and say all this and be genuinely happy.