Crunch Time

It seems I only have the time to publish something about once a week right now. Today I really don't have the time but am taking a little bit anyway. I have a major paper due Saturday and I haven't started it really. I have some information, some research, and some books, but that's it. I've been bombarded with a million other things like Church, grades, homework in my other class, animals to feed, not to mention all the other little things going on at school. So here's how the week has been thus far:
Last Friday - UIL contest ALL day.
Saturday - Music rehearsal 9:00 a.m.; Sing for funeral @ 11:00 a.m.; Another music rehearsal at 1:00 p.m.; play at Saturday evening service @ 4:15 p.m.
Sunday - Sang at 11:15 Mass; Went to school to leave sub plans; worked on assignment due that day; printer broke; went to Walmart to get a new printer; that printer didn't work; took it back; got another printer; started paper at 8:00 p.m.; uploaded at 11:41 p.m.
Monday - Judged LD Debate all day until 3:00; did some work at home until 6:45; choir rehearsal 7:00-9:30
Tuesday - School all day - graded papers; picked up dinner at 6:00; Watched American Idol (while grading papers); graded papers until 11:00
Wednesday - School graded papers, handed out grade sheets, graded more papers, made sub plans for tomorrow; picked up Sonic (grilled chicken wrap and diet cherry limeade); blogging when I should be doing something else.

So that's been the last few days. Tonight's agenda includes a short nap (maybe?); watching American Idol (I do have my priorities, right?); working on senior yearbook pages; printing out the articles for my paper.

Tomorrow I've taken a personal day from school to devote the entire day (at least until early evening) to writing my paper. The paper is 15-20 pages with 20 sources used. I have the materials (I think) but need to digest it all and then put it together.

The rest of the week consists of:
Thursday - Holy Thursday Service - playing at 6:15; Friday (1/2 day of school - then more paper writing and other homework), Good Friday Service @ 6:15; Saturday (more writing of the paper), Easter Vigil Service @ 7:15, upload paper before midnight; Sunday - Sing @ Easter Sunday service 10:15 a.m. Then I'm going to sleep for the rest of the day - not really - then I have to edit and finish ANOTHER paper for a different class. It is never ending.

There's a job I'm interested in the Dallas area. I haven't decided if I will apply for it yet. I've submitted my application to another local district. My principal is still being wishy-washy about my schedule next year. So I'm keeping my eyes open for other possibilities. Though I do like the district I'm in, I really want out of teaching.

Well, that's it. I'm sure you're exhausted just reading this. Now, I'm thinking I might lay down for about an hour. Of course I'm going to feel guilty about it, but I'm lagging right now and I think a power nap is in the works. Since I don't have to be up quite at the crack of dawn tomorrow, I think I can afford a quick nap and staying up late tonight. Maybe.

Hanging in there

I felt very guilty by the fact that I didn't do any paper grading during spring break. I finally decided that spring break should have been just that - a break. I read a book NOT for a class. I crocheted. I made a bunch of rosaries. I watched a lot of t.v. I played on the computer. I napped. I attempted a little cleaning until I realized I had clogged drain on Sunday. My brother came out today but I'm going to have to break down and call a plumber tomorrow. I guess it is a good thing that Southwest won't take my credit card that I've tried to use to pay for our trip this summer. Hopefully calling the plumber won't break the bank for me.
I caught up on some of my grad school work, but I've been uninspired lately. I had homework due tonight and I didn't start it until I got home from school today. Luckily it seemed to go well and I got it done by 6:30 so I had the chance to go to the communal penance service at Church. I made another rosary when I got home and watched the second half of American Idol. Last night I watched an interesting documentary called Afghan Star which is basically Afghanistan's version of American Idol. It was kind of odd, but fascinating at the same time.
I'm going to start the biggest loser challenge at school again. I didn't win last time, but I also didn't push myself. I probably gained a couple of pounds back over spring break, but I'm going to try to push myself a little more and add more exercise this time... at least that is the plan right now. Well, I'm going to call it a night and go to bed early - which I think is unheard of!

first real day of spring break

Monday was spent mostly in bed. I didn't even get to say bye to Josh before he headed out on his spring break trip to Colorado with his buddies. I did do a little reading on Monday but mostly spent it in bed recovery dealing with the cold I caught in El Paso. On Tuesday I had homework due - which I think is horrible during spring break. I didn't get started until late though. I continued to read the book I started on Monday and had to finish. It was the first time I read a book for pleasure since Christmas. So I read the book and then watched American Idol. I eventually got to the homework and got it done by 10:00.
Today I got up around 9 something, got dressed and headed to Amarillo. I bought a bunch of rosary making supplies. My friend, Pam, wanted two rosaries made so I got the materials for it as well as several others. I spent this afternoon making a few of them except I miscounted a strand that I bought and I'm one bead short. So I guess I need to go out and buy another strand just for one bead. Now I'm watching American Idol while chatting with Marty online.
I'm going to take another day of doing nothing school related and on Friday I'm going up to school to do some work and pick up papers to grade. I'm getting to the point that I really just don't like my job any more. I don't know if it is the five-year thing for me, but I want out right now. I heard there might be a librarian opening in another district close by. I think I might go ahead and put in my application. I don't have anything to lose by doing so.
Well, I'm going to watch to see if Lacey is going home. It's not looking good right now.

What a way to start spring break...

...that is to be home sick in bed. I guess it is better than having to miss school and plan for a sub because trying to do that while sick really sucks. I've been gone to El Paso since last Wednesday. It was uneventful for my students. One broke to a quarter-final round and the new speech coach forgot about entering them into consolation events so they had nothing to do on Saturday until he and I were finished with our duties in the tab room. Luckily we were done by 2:00 so we left and took the kids to the mall. This was a bad place to be for someone that gave up shopping for Lent. Well, I have been meaning to buy new bras for some time. You have to understand that I rarely get frivolous and buy a new bra for the heck of it. Basically I wait until my one good one is so worn out that I must replace. It was getting to that point. You should also understand that I have only been able to find a great fitting bra at Victoria's Secret. So I'm at the mall with a Victoria Secret store. But I somewhat justify the purchase because it was more of a necessity than a want. But then later I also found a pair of jeans (in a smaller size than I've been wearing) as well as a new shirt at JC Penny's. So I felt a little guilty for those but I vowed that I would not buy ANY new clothes that were the size I've been wearing. New jeans are still snug, but they zip AND button and I have to say I look rather good in them.
On Saturday I could feel the beginnings of a sore throat. We had a late dinner and I came back to the hotel and just crawled in bed. We left at 8:00-ish on Sunday morning which was really 9:00-ish Texas time, but really 8:00-ish prior to the time change. It was an uneventful drive, but I could tell a cold was creeping up. My eyes watered. I sneezed some. Just felt a general blah and drank my weight in cokes on the way home. (So much for the diet)
I saw Josh for all of about a minute before I took a benadryl and some tylenol and went to bed (at 6:00 p.m.) yesterday. Now he's gone on a boy's road trip so I still won't see him for a few more days. So it's spring break and I'm sick. I wanted to take a few days to really be on a BREAK, but of course I have homework due tomorrow. (What kind of teacher makes an assignment due during spring break?) But I've declared today a "Stay in bed so I can maybe feel better and just read, sleep, surf, and take it easy kind of day."
I guess I won't be heading to Key West this year for spring break. Though I did threaten Marty that if it snowed during the break this year, he should expect me. Today it is rainy which is fine. I'm just sick of snow.

Better, but still need something...

I'm not sure what that "something" is that I need, but I think I need a distraction. I need to do something that is not related to work or school. Leann mentioned that I might be dealing with some level of depression. While that is a possibility, if that is the case, it's not that bad. I've had much worse and really, I'm o.k. - not miserable, but still distracted to a degree.
I tried going to band rehearsal tonight and realized that I couldn't play on this next concert because I'll be going to Waco on that date. Though I don't have to go to the bus safety state competition, I want to see my friend that lives in Waco and it's at a time where I don't have major assignments due so I think I'll go. Not having to go to band each week might lift a little of the burden I feel. I do love playing in band, but having many of my assignments due on Mondays made it difficult.
I think I'm going to try to do a little more crafting. I hadn't made any rosaries in a long time. I didn't even realize that once I got my personal website set up again that I had the rosary site on there and out of the blue I sold one of my rosaries online. It was already made so I just shipped it out. Then my choir director placed an order for a rosary with specific colors so I went out and got the beads for it and made it. I sold it for $20. My website design project is going to be do revamp my personal website - basically start over so I think I'll try to get my rosary site going again and make a few more to put on there. I have sold some, given a few away, and I have beads I've bought in the past that I've never used. So I want to go back to that for a while.
I enjoyed watching Chuck tonight. I just love that show. I should do some homework, but I'm still not in a mind to do it right now. I tried to book my vacation for this summer, but Southwest Vacations seemed to have too many "technical issues."
I still don't know what, if anything, I'll do during spring break. I might try to read a few books at least. I haven't done that in a long time as well. Well, there's not much to report here. School is still blah. I think it is just time for a break... yeah, right.

Unfocused

That's how I feel these days. Sure, I'm still overwhelmed, but even when I know I need to get things done, it is very haphazard. I got up by 9:00 this morning and started working on much overdue homework. I worked until 10:30 and then decided I needed to go to the store so I could get milk (for cereal) and cat food. So I go to the store and amazingly only spent $18 which I think is a first. I come home finish the tutorial I was working on and then do a post for my web design class. I ate some lunch and then decided to take a nap. (Don't judge - I catch up on sleep on the weekends.)
After my nap, I tackled the next homework assignment which required reading three articles so I proceeded to print them out. As I was doing that, I was looking at other things on the web. Then I finally started to read some of the articles. In the middle of that, I decided that I was hungry so I took the articles and went to Sonic where I got dinner and read in the car. I finally finished the articles and came home around 5:30. Then I did more web surfing. I didn't start writing until 7:00 p.m. and finished around 8:00. Only after I submitted my assignment did I decide that I didn't answer the question completely but by then I just didn't care. I don't have the focus or drive that I should right now. I should have gone on to do another tutorial for my web design class, but I just didn't want to.
I took a shower tonight and have just been taking it easy for the last few hours. I played some Boggle (a word game) on my iPhone and have been doing mostly nothing. I'm not sure why I am just not focused right now. I don't know if I'm feeling too overwhelmed (which is odd because I'm not as overwhelmed as I was last week) or if it's something else. It's not just school work. I don't feel any satisfaction in my job right now. My faith is o.k. but I'm mostly going through the motions. I'm just a bit out of sorts.
I've thinking about getting away for spring break (and thus the bits of web surfing today) and for the life of me, I cannot think of anything I would want to do or anyplace in particular I would want to go. Anything within driving distance would be reasonable for me but I don't want to do the same old things. I've been to Dallas a million times. I really don't want to go to Albuquerque again. I thought of maybe Colorado or someplace else in New Mexico, but again, I just don't know. Should I go someplace that has something to see and do? And if so, is it something I really want to do alone? Or do I just need to get away and curl up in a hotel room with some good books? Or do I need to get away where I can focus on some of my homework? Or do I need to spend my spring break cleaning out my garage (yet again)?
Like I said... I have no focus. I'll probably just sit here at home during spring break and watch the episodes of Psych that I've missed.

Just going... going...going...

Well I survived the NFL district tournament. I had great fears that we wouldn't have enough judges, that there would be some major arguments and it would just all go crazy! But it really went surprisingly well. A few glitches happened here and there, but overall it ended up going well. Of course that put me enormously behind on homework. I had a research paper due on Monday and I hadn't even started writing it. I had some research but nothing set down. I wrote all day Sunday and got half of it done. I did the other half after school on Monday. I stayed at the school until 7:30 then headed home, stopping at Walmart for cat food before the cats complained too loudly.
I was able to get the paper finished. Probably not my best work, but I did enjoy the topic which is how technology impacts literacy.
This class is kicking my butt right now. I have put off work in my other class and I need to get back on track. What am I doing besides blogging right now? Watching American Idol of course. Is it so wrong to take a break once in a while?
I was rather productive at school today. I had to clean my room in preparation for TAKS testing tomorrow. I didn't get it all done but enough to make a difference. The desks are cleared and cleaned. I cleaned up my area at the front of the room.
Tomorrow I is TAKS testing day and I have to read the test to the 5 students I'm testing. It's not a bad deal. Less students and I don't mind reading it out loud. At least it gives me something to do. I'll take my new Mental Floss magazine and the Reader's Digest that I haven't read to peruse after the test is over. I really miss reading. It seems I don't have time for it these days despite the fact that I noted its importance in my paper.
Well Idol is over so I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Yes, I should be doing homework, but sometimes you just need a break!!!

Buried

I'm still here... just totally buried. I can't even begin to explain how incredibly busy I have been. I'm overwhelmed with the planning for the upcoming NFL tournament. Right now I'm watching American Idol and entering all the tournament information in the software program. I was disappointed in Lacey Brown's performance on American Idol. She is from here - Amarillo. I hope she gets another chance and makes it through next week.
Grade school is kicking my butt. One of my classes requires an assignment every week that take a lot of reading, writing, commenting, and citations. The other is a web design class which takes me about 3 hours to complete a practice assessment. This weekend I drove down to Denton (6 hours away) on Friday after school and went to a panel discussion presentation on Saturday. I drove back home Saturday afternoon. I sang in choir at church on Sunday and then took a nap because I was just plain tired. Once I got up I spent 6 hours trying to find research studies on an upcoming research assignment that is due on Monday. I finally emailed my professor telling her that I couldn't find anything. She was kind enough to allow me to use other articles instead of research studies for my paper. There are some books on the topic I would like to see if I could get. I hope to make it to town tomorrow to check out the bookstore.
Last night I was supposed to have a band concert but we got another bout of snow and it was canceled. That was good since it allowed me to get my homework done that I didn't get done on Sunday. I also spent two hours working on setting up some assignments for a student in prime time. I didn't get to bed until almost 11:00. This morning I had to get up early so I could get to school and leave sub materials and turn in the prime time assignment. Because of the weather I knew I would need more time so I left at 6:30 a.m. I got the stuff done I needed and then headed to the admin building for a meeting with the district librarians. It is part of the checklist I have to complete this semester so I helped them with preparations on a project they are working on.
Tonight I had to run by the grocery store to get food for the animals. I knew I would be in trouble if I came home empty handed tonight. Of course they have plenty of "dry" food, but they are spoiled. I had cereal for dinner since I ate a HUGE lunch of enchiladas and rice today. I probably totally blew the diet, but it was quite good. So far I've lost about 11 1/2 pounds. I haven't had to pay for gaining weight at least. I've either lost or stayed the same. I need to get back into exercising a little, but there's that time factor that seems to get in the way.
I posted on some of my class discussion that is part of my assignment and now I'm working on the tournament set up for the tournament that starts on Thursday.
So that's my life in a nutshell. I didn't go into all the details of dealing with grades, yearbook, lesson, etc. that are a constant. This is just the big stuff for now.
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't even been on facebook much. I still have two episodes of Psych to watch. I'm still here but posting might be scarce for a while. I really appreciate the concerns from Mago and Summer and anyone else that reads. I'm really just hanging in there right now.

Managing

All I can say is that life is insane. I never have time to get anything done at school. I'm mostly hanging by a thread. As much as I know I need to grade papers and such at home, I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't know if it is a mental block or extreme laziness, but I bring papers home nightly and just take them back the next day. This is one of the reasons why I'm not destined to stay a teacher.
I have officially lost 10 pounds. Although I wish it was a little more, I can't really complain. I'm mostly dieting. I haven't found a lot of time to exercise lately. Last night I had a paper due for my class and I didn't even start it until I got home from school. I had to miss band rehearsal to finish it. I did get it done though and posted response discussion at school today.
Not that I don't have enough on my plate right now, I'm going to Dallas next weekend. Well, Denton, really. There's a library panel discussion that I thought would be good to go to. Plus it gives me some bonus points for my class.
I'm trying to teach my senior English class how to write a research paper. It's a very daunting task. Just writing one bibliography citation is difficult for them. They are panicking over writing a minimum of three pages. It's not like I'm having them analyze difficult literature or authors. Their paper is over a career they are interested in.
I guess I'm probably rambling. I'm not going to grade papers. I'm going to watch the episode of Psych that I recorded on Friday and call it an early evening. I was really tired this morning.

A Nightmare

I'm dealing with a nightmare. I don't even know if I can explain it in a blog. For the past two years I've been elected to be part of the NFL district committee. This is a group of three people that are responsible for planning the district speech and congress tournaments in which we qualify students for nationals. It is a horrible position to be in because we have two groups within our district that despise each other and nobody is happy with any decisions that have been made. I'm caught in the middle of it because I've always been relatively neutral and have stayed on good terms with both sides. Until today at least. We've had bickering via email going back and forth about decisions that have been made, questions that haven't been answered, and general nastiness from some very strong personalities. For the most part I've been a passive member of the committee and haven't really made an effort to be more active. Generally I do what I'm asked and offer my opinion when asked. Now I'm trying to step up and get some things done because it's not going very well. I sent out an email today first apologizing for my lack of stepping up to the plate and finding out the answers that needed to be provided. I also commented on the fact that the original email sent out should have be directed specifically to the committee rather than the entire district. I answered the concerns aired the best I could. A few people responded in support. Two of the original email people responded by questioning some things I said. A third called me a liar and said I should be ashamed. Ultimately it all boils down to a total lack of communication which is ironic since we all teach "communication." I'm just tired of trying to remain neutral, not tick anyone off, and keep everything going. I guess I have to realize that I can't please everyone. It's just very frustrating and disheartening. Well, that's my vent right now. The arguments are still going and I'm trying to stay out of it. I'm voicing my opinion to the committee as needed, but I don't know if I should continue to straddle the fence or choose a side. I hate the idea of burning bridges.