Once Again . . . Musings from the Realm of PRE-5 AM . . .

Well, well, well!! Look who's awake again! I honestly don't know what happened. . . . there I was, sound asleep like a baby, and BAM! It's 3:45 and I'm ready to run a marathon, cook dinner, and mow my lawn. (Be sure and note the sarcasm there.) I laid in bed for an hour in denial, and finally gave in. So here I am, once again for your reading pleasure!!

But, I guess I can't complain much. I am finally ready for school to start . . . well, I guess that depends on your definition of ready . . . I have a plan for the first day. Does that qualify as ready? . . . my Cubs are first in their division . . . my house is quasi-clean . . . other than being conscious at this awful hour, I don't have an excuse to not be pretty pleased with life right now. Now when it is time to get up for church and I have only had 4 hours of sleep, my outlook may change. But right now I am awake, pleasant, have a German Shepherd sleeping on each foot . . . who wouldn't want to be me right now!!! I think I should call all of you and share my current state of contentment . . . yeah, I should call each and every one of you RIGHT NOW!!!

Peace Out!!

Eminent Doom . . .

Not really . . . I always just liked the word "eminent." It's a cool word!

I cannot believe that school is upon me. It is Thursday, and the kids start on Monday. Never in my 7 years of teaching have I been this unprepared this close to the first day. I am one of those teachers that goes up 4 weeks before we have to. By the time we officially have to report, my room is completely done (and probably rearranged 4 or 5 times), my lesson plans for the first 6 weeks are done, and my copies for the first two weeks are done.

OHHHHH MY!! NOT THIS TIME!! I haven't even finished my room yet, and don't get me started on lesson plans! I don't know what has been so different about this coming year . . . what could possibly have so diminished my motivation. Is it burn out? Did I just get too spoiled this summer by not having to do anything? Hmmmm . . .

I went to a really great training this week that I got so many great ideas from . . . and yet I can't force myself to sit down and organize those ideas into something coherent and usable. AARRRGGHH!! I hate the feeling that I would rather be cleaning my toilet than lesson planning.

Did I mention that my precious Zoey ate my skiing ear muff this morning?

I am so overwhelmed this year. My responsibilities include:
-Teaching 2 honors history classes
-Teaching one non-honors class
-Coaching 2 volleyball teams(and all of the opportunities to assist the high school teams)
-Technology Committee
-Wellness Committee (We had to pick a couple of committees.)
-Mentor a 6th grader
-"team leader" for 7th grade social studies (which is just a really nice way of saying that I get to be responsible for all the paperwork and documentation.)

The first three are given, but I can honestly say that if I had known the other three would be placed on my shoulders, I would have put off beginning my master's degree yet again.

I need prayer. I need prayer that I will find joy in the midst of all of this so that I can stop reading back over my blogs, disgusted with myself and how much I tend to whine lately.

School Supplies . . .

I ran into a fellow school teacher at Wal-mart. Her cart had a significant amount of beer in it. "What have you been up to?" she asked. "Getting ready for school to start," I replied, not without a sad tone to my voice. She glanced in her cart and said, "Yeah. Me, too."

Awesome. I've got to update my school supply list.

I'm Putting a Junk Mail Container Beside My Mailbox

Of all the Junk Mail I have received in my mailbox throughout my life, I cannot remember a time when I ever thought, "Wow! I can't believe my luck! I was just hoping with every fiber of my soul that this ad would appear in my mailbox, and there it is!!"

And why is it that when you sign up for something on the Web, that organization gets license to not only pummel you with Junk E-mail, but also fill your snail mail box at the same time?

The reason I bring this up (sorry, darkness reigns again) is that here I am, 2 weeks from what should have been my due date, and even though I unsubscribed to all of the cute little pregnancy newsletters I had signed up for, my mailbox is still filled daily with ads for diapers, samples of formula, and . . . this is the one that did me in today . . . requests for DONATIONS for newborn prematurity research. Not from a reputable organization like the March of Dimes, mind you, but some organization I've never heard of.

So here is my thoughts: If my e-mail can filter out junk mail into a separate folder, and do so relatively effectively, my post man should do the same. He can drop all junk mail into the basket beside my mailbox, and once every couple of weeks I can either go through it or trash it, just like my e-mail junk mail folder!! It's perfect!!!