Well, I’ve made it through 3 full weeks of school. The house is a mess, but I’ve been keeping up with the school part of things, so life is good, right?

Really, the house isn’t that bad. It’s more or less that we just haven’t had time to look through all the boxes and put things away properly, so it makes everything look more cluttered. Which I can barely tolerate, meaning Jared is on the verge of a breakdown for not having time to keep things pretty and organized. (Love you, babe.)

In my spare time, I have been working on my project for Aunt Linda for way back when with the whole “Pay it foward” thing. I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ll post pictures once I know she’s gotten it. I am close to being done, but it’s taken a lot of man hours and planning. 🙂

My students are a lot of fun. Naturally, you can’t get away without having a couple of them be complete pills, but in general class has gone really well. I love the fact that my students look forward to “Poetry Circle” and get sad when we don’t get it or get to sit on the floor. This class is so different from my kids last year–I think part of it is that I am more sure of myself and what I am doing, but part of it is that many of these kids are really just more involved with good things in their lives.  They are a lot of fun, and when I am in class, I can remember exactly why I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.

So, between frantically trying to keep up with my students and planning the class and unpacking the home, I haven’t gotten a lot of downtime. Unless you consider “Downtime” the moment right after I get home from work and take care of the dog,  I collapse on to the couch or bed for a bit in a comatose state. 🙂

The best thing of all is that it’s finally raining here. We’ve been in a pretty nasty drought the past two years in the area, and in this weekend alone, I think we got around a foot of rain. MUCH needed rain. It’s so lovely to be able to look into the back yard and see all the wildlife; crazy dancing squirrels, doves, pigeons, hummingbirds, blue jays, cardinals, and even some really neat tropical looking birds with a black back and NEON orange belly. The closest thing I can find to it is this picture of a Baltimore Oriole.

So, life is pretty good right now. It would be even better if I had about 5 extra hours per day so I could do everything I need to and then get the sleep I need on top of it, but alas, it is not to be.

By the way, some books to read if you have time (I do silent reading time with my kids almost every day, and I try to read along with them, so that’s where that time comes in):

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (sequel)

Uglies, Scott Westerfield

The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

I love these books!