Am I All Work and No Play?

(photo by Jason Smitherman via flickr)

There's been a lot of introspective thought on my end over the last few weeks. The school year is winding down (I don't think I can manage one post w/o mentioning it... have you noticed?) and I want to have fun, but...

I feel like I never have any fun. uh oh. The first time I thought this I immediately wanted to swallow the words in efforts to hide them and make them disappear. If I say it aloud, it has to be true, right? Do I really want to be the person that's not having any fun? Well, it certainly doesn't make me feel good, but I think I need to own it.

This post had been rumbling in my mind for a few weeks now, and truthfully, there has been a lot happening in this ol' brain of mine recently. Lots of thoughts pertaining to where I am, where I want to be, and how gosh-darn overwhelming it all is. I really just want to wake up and life to be a'ok and 100% balanced between work and play.

But let's be real, that's not going to happen. The majority of my friends in this area have kids, which limits how often I can see them and how much future planning we need to do in order to hang out. I really love those people, but there is a side of me who wishes I had friends who could still meet up on a whim or be a little more flexible in making plans. As a result, it's pretty much just me and Cory most of the time, making our own fun.

Since Cory and I are both teachers, both incredibly involved in our schools, work is a priority these days. I like to be at work early (usually around 7:30 a.m.) to ensure I'm ready to go for the day, and Cory can't usually leave his school until 5 at the earliest. Since it's performance season (and he teaches at an art school), he didn't make it home before 9:30 p.m. last night. It's been pretty tough getting used to our new work schedules this school year. Unfortunately, I think I've hit the mark where I am absolutely working too much and not having enough fun.

Have you ever been there? What do you do once you hit that wall? Do you instantly plan a vacation or run outside and scream "SAVE ME!", because I think I'm on my way to doing one or both of those options!

I know I'm mostly documenting this moment for myself in efforts to give myself a pep talk. It's okay to feel like you're working too much, but as soon as you get there, you have to make some fun for yourself. You have to or the work won't be as meaningful in the long run.

And since it's only Tuesday evening, I have 3 more work days to daydream about what kind of fun I would like to get into this weekend. ;)

Thank you for reading my ramblings!

xo,

Oh, hey, it's Tuesday!

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This morning I woke up, completely cuddled up in bed. To my amazement though, I had completely slept through my alarm and was an hour late into my routine! I realized that I had convinced myself that today was actually SATURDAY and I had set my alarm for no reason! YIKES! What a way to start the day! (How unfortunate is it to think it's Saturday when it's truly only Tuesday! Oh dang.)

Fortunately, Cory and I prefer to get to work ridiculously early so we can leave right when our contracted time is over for the day. While we got to work a little later than anticipated, everything ended up going pretty well. With my student teacher around, I honestly didn't have to stress as much as I normally would, because I knew she could get everything under control. All was well with the world. The rest of the day, I felt like I was running on adrenaline.

Right now, I'm staring at a gigantic crate of colorful yarn and am feeling a little over inspired. I don't even know where to start! Yikes! I have the Indie Craft Celebration coming up in 3 weeks and really need to load up on my inventory. So that's what I'll probably do while I spend some time bundled up watching Glee!

Are you watching Glee tonight?
What did you think about the Super Bowl edition Sunday night?

Hmmmmmmm?

:)

Liz

What I'm Reading This Semester..

I started my 2nd semester on Thursday with a crop of fresh students and a determined student teacher. It's days like these that really inspire me to hit the books and come up with clever ways to have my students fall in love with the characters they meet throughout the next four months.

Before I share my reading list for this semester... did you know that if we don't have a single snow day this school year (and so far, so good), we will be released for summer vacation on May 27th!? That is CRAZY for Maryland! Also, we aren't supposed to report back to school next year until August 20something. AMAZING! So, here's to rid our calendar of snowdays (okay, maybe one...) and hit the road straight through until May!

Now, back to reality. Here are the goodies I'm introducing to my students this semester:

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Do you remember reading any of these pieces of literature while you were in school?

Any personal favs?

:)

Liz

Back to School

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I go back to work today.

I'm hoping this week will be light and cheerful as I wrap up my 2nd to last week with my current students. Unfortunately, this might be the hardest week of the entire semester, as my students take their English High School Assessment (HSA) the following Monday (Jan. 10th). This is a test that they are required to pass to graduate. It's a basic skills test,  but I teach a large population of students who are struggling readers, so they enter the test at a disadvantage compared to other students. Long story short, this week I will be boosting their confidence, reviewing loads of skills and strategies, and doing whatever it takes to keep a smile on my face.

I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about teaching this semester. I don't really feel comfortable sharing everything on here, as I need to be professional and keep a lot of opinions to myself, but I feel as if one day soon, I will hopefully be able to open up and share my thoughts about public education in Maryland and in the United States.

With that being said, I'm off to start my day!

Happy Monday,

Liz

Knowing Your Limits

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So, I have to give credit to my insightful husband for this post. He has been talking to me a lot recently about the seperation between work and home and thought it would be a reasonable conversation to persue in the DIY/blog world. So...here's what I'm pondering (and I would LOVE to start a little conversation in the comments, so please don't be shy; chime in)!

1) Do you ever have trouble reconciling your professional life and your crafty/DIY life? Some of you might be really fortunate and have a profession where craft/DIY is your work. For me, I have made a huge effort to leave work at work and enjoy my personal time at home creating and crocheting. Sometimes, though, I feel frustrated because I enjoy my creative side so thoroughly, I'm always searching for my "million dollar idea" so I can stay at home and craft full time. Do you share the same sentiment?

2) Do you ever find that your craft carries limits? For example, I love to crochet and think I am really gaining skill and speed, but I am restricted from a multitude of patterns because most of the yarn community is focused on knitting. How do you deal with this situation? Do you learn the new craft? How do you reconcile this situation?

Sometimes I'm really torn between keeping a paycheck and feeling like I'm losing my sanity and losing my paycheck but keeping (and improving) my sanity. It's pretty perplexing!

A lot of my crafty friends don't work full-time or their full-time job is in the craft industry. Some of my friends do work full-time. Either way, I am constantly searching out various outlooks and opinions! Do share...

San Diego

I'm in San Diego for a work conference until Saturday!

See you soon!