I didn't mean to go so long without posting. The temptation is to say there's nothing going on, because really, it's just the daily grind and then some. It's life.
In one week we went from low 60s to mid-to-high 90s - spring is here! Today is my first day of spring break week, finally -- Easter was yesterday. It was a good day, but busy-busy leading up to it, with the usual shopping and cooking and finishing up school stuff before break. All done, now!
I can theoretically relax, but I don't think I know how. I feel weird when I'm not working on new curriculum or lesson planning or grading. It's just how life is, now. For many months I would take off a few evenings during the week but I figured out that was a huge mistake, because everything would pile up and make the weekends hellish. So I've been consistently putting in a few hours of something every evening... except for the past four days. I've had a lot to do to keep me busy but when I plunk myself down on the couch, I find myself chasing down internet rabbit holes because I don't really have to do anything else.
Kids are fine. Oldest is poised to start a new job role with a big pay raise. Youngest is enjoying challenging studies, finally. Middle is about to graduate and is sort of, kind of looking for a job. I have joked that two out of three ain't bad, but Middle offspring will find her own way, I'm sure. It will work out.
DH is working from home almost all the time, still, which is good because he doesn't have to commute, but bad because he works all the time. Oldest is also working from home, and having them both here will definitely put a crimp in getting renovations done this summer. We'll see.
We have no plans right now, but hope to see family this summer. I'm fully vaccinated and have been for about a month now; DH is due for his second dose shortly. The hope is that will make it easier for us to travel, but who know what the rules will be by then. Covid numbers are trending way down in AZ currently but I have no idea what's going on out on the east coast. We'd like to see family this summer. Here's hoping.
I sense in myself a forward-looking habit, skipping the next 7 weeks of school entirely and going straight to summer vacation. Knowing we're almost done with this insane year is so encouraging, but I'm worried I'm going to hit a wall before the school year is over. It's probably not healthy that I'm counting down the days, but so far it seems helpful.
Anyway, in the rest of this vacation, I am going to do as much planning and prep as I can, especially since I have only one assignment left to grade, and it's not a big deal. The hope is that will make the rest of this year easier.
One reason I feel optimistic now is because I have the sense of having turned the corner at school: science fair is long over, but also, I'm finished with the awesome but labor-intensive 8th grade chemistry curriculum. This year's constraints required me to bring the lab into both 8th grade classrooms, so it literally required twice as much setup as in the past. Plus, I moved everything online, so that required printing and laminating lab instructions so no Chromebooks were damaged by all the liquids we were using. It was massively successful, but my favorite part of the entire experience was being able to put everything away last Wednesday after school. There was no way I wanted to have to do it on Holy Thursday, so Wednesday was it. Can't tell you how many things I washed out and put away, but I made the effort so next year I won't have to figure out where everything is and clean it. Future me does not need to be burdened by current me!
One of my philosophies of life involves not making work for others, including myself. I'm doing a better job of sticking to it these days.
