Where does the time go?

So I've realized that it's been waaay too long since I posted something. It's amazing how life can just pick you up and sweep you away before realizing it.

So this blog was meant to be (in my eyes) a tribute to all things "teachery" that happen in my life. I've come to realize that it's extremely hard for me to differentiate between school and the rest of my life. Probably not the most healthy thing to do, but it's me, so whatever. Things that happen in my personal life affect my work at school. Just like things at school affect my personal life (ie: did I finish planning for next week, that will affect how much fun I have on the weekend).

So instead of writing a huge in-depth dissertation of last week, I'll just give the highlights.

Saturday 9/19: spent 4 hours sitting at the Scion dealership getting an oil change and having them fix my back window. It now goes up and down with ease, hurray! Especially since PHX is returning to a more normal state of temperature. I can actually roll down my windows again. I did manage to finish all my lesson planning for the week due to the fact the dealership had wireless for it's customers. The slowest wireless on the planet (I think it was dialup).
Sunday 9/20- spent 6ish hours at church in meetings. Nuf said there.
Monday 9/21- At school from 7.30-4pm. Then raced as fast as I could over to teach teachers how to use an extremely involved software program that is Amazing! Promethean products should be in all schools if I had my say. One of the only interactive whiteboard systems that is made by educators for educators. No outside commercial sales. Truly innovative and responsive to student needs and learning. Now if only teachers would relinquish their reign at the front of the classroom and let the kids learn with it, that would be the ideal. Finished at 7pm then ran over to church for our monthly potluck. 200+ people and I still don't know them all.
Tuesday 9/22- Taught at school from 7.30-5.30, then raced home. Met with a friend from my church leadership group to go and meet new members of our congregation. Home by 8.30pm.
Wednesday 9/23- Taught at school from 7.30-5pm. Came home to have a presidency meeting with the women's leadership for church. 7.30-9 had bell choir rehersal. It's really the one thing that I truly do for myself. I've played in a bell choir for the last 4 years. I love it. They are so christmasy and beautiful. I've staked my claim at the top of the line. I love the little little bells because I can fit more of them in my hands and play double octaves. I've been proclaimed as our choir's designated "bell hog". I think I can live with that name.
Thursday 9/24- Taught at school from 7.30-2:20 (early release day), then sat in a staff meeting from 2.30-3.40. Raced over to another technology teacher meeting to learn about Adobe Photoshop and how to begin using it. Super fun. Most of it I already knew. Then stood in the parking lot with my technology supervisor discussing the woes of our district and just because "it's always been done that way" doesn't necessarily mean that it's right for students. It irritates the living daylights out of me that we continue to bang our heads against the wall expecting things to change just because we put a new committee name or new title to an area. Isn't the definition of insanity "Doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting different results"? For heaven's sake let's shake things up and see if we can get different results! We decided at 9.30pm when the cops circled the parking lot and a 4 door sedan came around the backside of the building and shut it's lights off that it was time to go. We followed each other out of the parking lot until we got to the highway.
Friday 9/24- Taught from 7.45-3.40. Raced over to meet with my Realtor to look at houses. The PHX market is amazing right now. Even I, a single girl with limited income, can afford to buy a house right now. But not any of the ones we looked at last night. Just a quick rundown of the 8 houses we saw
#1- LOTS of work needed. Tile was laid, but furniture was put back in place before grouting. You could see where the grout lines stopped, at the bed, dresser, cupboards, cabinets, pretty much anywhere a piece of furniture stood. Still had the tiny X pieces though, wouldn't have to buy those!
#2- really old but lots of charm. No bathrooms or fridge, 4 of the 10 windows were broken, and the "guest house" was a 6 1/2 foot 23 foot long coffin.
#3- occupied by a "tin foil hat guy" would need $100,000 on top of what I would pay to make it habitable.
#4- built in 1925, cheap price, but the entire house bowed from the middle. Not a single right angle in the entire place. Squishy subfloor and scary bathrooms.
#5- Backyard was next to manufacturing plant, missing windows
#6- lots of tile, very loud and echoy, exactly 2 1/2 feet of backyard. I could touch the back wall by standing in the sliding glass door.
#7- same layout at #6, but broken in glass door (all boarded up) and right next to the canal, serious security threat.
#8- no kitchen, period. Nasty carpets, weird smell.

So there's my week. Fun huh? Under everyday where I placed "Taught 7.30-4pm" there is just so much more that goes into that. I just don't have the patience to relive it all this afternoon. I am so stressed out that I can't even remember the funny things my students say to me. I can usually always remember silly quotes. There is a breaking point, and I might be at it already. It's only week 7 and this is no good.

Well I'm off to drive by more houses. My Realtor told me to not get discouraged. She actually believed that we wouldn't find something last night anyway. Soooo, yup. I'm going to keep on looking and hopefully find something before the end of the tax credit runs out. That would be sad to miss out on the $8000 the government is willing to hand over to new homeowners. That's me!

Signing off...
Teacher Teacher!