Working Woman

I have successfully navigated my way back into full time teaching.  It was not a pretty or graceful transition, but it was successful nonetheless.  I was nervous the first day, as expected.  Not expected was the car ride home.  I believe I was suffering from sensory overload.  Seven hours under fluorescent lights surrounded by constant teenage noise and bodies did not do my body good.  I had so much anxiety trying to come down from the day that I spent most of the night vomiting in the bathroom.  (I told you it wasn't pretty.)  I convinced myself that I made the absolute worst decision of my life and I was locked into it until June.

Flash forward three weeks and maybe it wasn't the worst decision.  It's definitely doable.  Week two was complete exhaustion; week three not much better, but better...a little.  So, yeah, maybe I can get through to June, and yeah, maybe I can return permanently to teaching.  I'll somehow have to figure out how to sleep without taking Z-Quil.  Bottom line is that it's teaching.  It's all the the crap that teachers have to deal with, but it's not quite as bad as the crap that I dealt with at my old schools.  It's a nice, small district with relatively good kids.  

Sadly, my January challenge of ten Julia Childs's recipes didn't even get started let alone completed, but I'm going easy on myself.  Returning to work and surviving it (not something I thought I'd do that first night hanging over the toilet in the middle of the night) was challenge enough.  I have continued my ongoing reading challenge.  For the month of January I picked up The DaVinci Code.  This is an unusual book for me to choose as a favorite.  It's "action and adventure" and very Indiana Jones-esque (not my thing at all).  I think the fact that half the book takes place in Paris and the other half takes place in London was the draw.  It's a very intriguing topic, too, with the ancient secret groups and the "real" holy grail.  I read the illustrated edition that provides pictures of the artwork and architecture referenced in the book, some of which I have seen in person, is another factor in enjoying the book.

I plan on starting a new reading challenge for the next twelve months in February, when I started this past reading challenge.  For now, I'm rereading To Kill a Mockingbird.  It's funny because I often picked this book up in the past year to reread, but put it back on the shelf for something else.  The reason I finally settled on it two nights ago, just one week before my reading challenge is to end, had nothing to do with the challenge at all.  I'm going to be teaching it.  I'm taking this sort of as a sign that somehow this tiny part of my life, this reading challenge, this thing that's in many ways driven this past year, inspired me to start this blog and try other challenges, is now very strongly connecting to this new part of my life, a very big part of my life.  

I've been feeling God's hand at work a lot in the past three weeks.  As difficult as what this has been, I feel as though I've been waiting for a door to open and this is it.  Whether it be the job that lasts forever or a lesson to show me what I need to do for the rest of my life, it's clear I need to be there now.

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow is January which means I should be embarking on my January challenge, but quite frankly I don't have a challenge at hand.  When I first concocted this monthly challenge idea, January was going to be a tribute to the person who initially gave me the idea in the first place, Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia.  I was prepared to make ten recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  And who's to say I won't still accomplish that?  January is a long, cold month.  It is perfectly conceivable that I will pick that challenge up in a week or two.  But for now, I must concentrate on the next five or six days.

You see, on December 15th I got a call from another school district close by to interview for a long term substitute position.  My expectations for myself were low, seeing as how great I did in the last interview.  And typically when my expectations are low is when I do my best.  I pulled an old skirt, sweater, and shoes out of my closet, ignoring the suit I bought for the first interview.  I let me hair go naturally curly instead of straightening it, and I donned my daily glasses rather than put in my contacts.  I also did no research on this district, not completely by choice, as the school has very little material on its website.

It was the best interview I ever had.  They actually asked thought-provoking questions that allowed them to get to know me not only as an educator, but as a person.  I really liked these people, and I've heard great things about this district.  Long story, short, I got the job.  The question is that I don't really know what the job is.  At the start of my interview it was long term substitute position through to the end of the year.  At the end of the interview they said there actually was a small possibility that the person who was currently out would be coming back, but he/she wouldn't be coming back to this particular position.  That sounded hopeful for me in that this could possibly turn into something permanent.  Then I met with the superintendent that Friday and what started as a long term substitute, somehow morphed into a per diem position.  Apparently, the person's doctor's note is good only through the end of January and they can't hire me as a long term substitute.  I've been given no details as to why this person is currently out except that it's a medical reason and he/she hasn't been in the classroom for some time.  It's been described as, and I can't remember which word exactly, but "tricky" or "sticky."

January 6th is my first day.  I am simultaneously excited and scared shitless.  Luckily, I haven't had that much time to dwell on all the unknowns because Milo came down that Sunday before Christmas with what I'm assuming was a mild case of the flu.  I was a day to follow and pretty much missed out on all the last minute Christmas preparations.  Christmas is a bit of a blur to me, and I have been sitting here the last couple of days trying to figure out where days have gone.  I missed a day visiting my dad's family (yet another year), but did make it up to visit some other family.  And the last two days we've spent cleaning and prepping freezer meals to prepare for my return to full time teaching.

I have to say that Bell-Bell kept us going, through the flu and all!  My husband thankfully picked up the challenge for me in the final few days, but we managed to get all of the little activities in.  Here they are:

December 18th:  Drive around and look at Christmas lights.  This was the night of Eli's winter concert.  It was Sal's winter concert night the year before, so it was my sole purpose to avoid what happened last year...a cat whose tail needed amputating.  We ate and were out of the house a half hour early, so we drove around town and looked at the lights.  After the concert we headed a few towns over to a disgusting display of unnecessary electricity that spans an entire street.  The kids ooohed and ahhhed and then asked to go home.

December 19th:  Watch a favorite Christmas movie.  I was hoping they'd pick Elf, but we ended up watching Frozen.  Eh, close enough to Christmas.

December 20th:  Visit Longwood Gardens.  This was a bit of a disaster.  My boys are used to going here during the day during non-peak times.  They pretty much have the run of the place and they do just that, run all over the place.  With ten times the amount of people and add in total darkness, there wasn't much place for them to go.  This was also the day just before Milo came down with the flu, so we ended up leaving early.

December 21st:  Write Christmas cards for your friends.  Simple.

December 22nd:  Visit Santa at the mall.  OK, so Bell-Bell was suppose to not bring anything on this day.  We were completely wiped out with illness and school activities and all the other crap that we were going to skip out on this one activity.  But, that morning, Eli comes bounding back up the stairs shouting that we were visiting Santa.  What??  My mind reeled.  How did this kid know that was suppose to be the activity for the day when Bell-Bell didn't bring a note?  Sure enough, there was the note.  My husband forgot to throw away the paper, or did he?  Maybe Bell-Bell was at work again?  Milo and I sat this one out.

December 23rd: Wrap presents for family members.

December 24th:  Decorate sugar cookies for Santa.  This has been a four or five year Christmas tradition.  I make cutouts and on Christmas Eve day we decorate.  My mom and dad came down, so she took over this activity with the older boys.

And that marked the end of Bell-Bell for this Christmas season.  He did his job and, with the exception of being sick, he managed to keep the Christmas melancholy at bay.

Now we look towards 2015.  Eli asked me yesterday what my New Year's resolution was.  Ha!  Sorry to disappoint, kid, but this year there will be no resolutions.  I have no idea what this year will bring, but clearly big changes are in store for me.  I certainly don't need to impose any more self-help upon my already stressed self.  I suppose I already set in motion during 2014 a series of events that would alter my life forever, all the way back to last spring when I prepared my career portfolio and filled out my first application in some ten years.  This year my "resolution" is simply to ride the wave.  What will be, will be.  Happy New Year, all!