Hitting A Stride, Even Though It May Not Be Mine

After several weeks in a row of interruptions to a normal routine, this last week was pretty much back to "normal life". I always find it hard to work a full five day week after having a few shorter weeks - and indeed, this last week did feel long. Maybe because I'm now in second half of the school year and June doesn't feel so far away, or maybe because it's been several months of living at a hectic pace and I'm finally "psychologically in shape" for all that I've been trying to do...either way, I found it easier to find calm in the midst of some very full and very busy days. I'm not saying that I like being this busy, because I don't. Just yesterday the husband and I were talking about the future and me having more free time for the things I love but have had to cut back on or give up altogether since last September. I don't know how it happened but, I've found that I feel peaceful even with so much on my plate. It helps that I really love my job...it's challenging me like crazy, and somedays I feel like I'm in over my head, but I truly love it. The other day I used the analogy of the job feeling like running a marathon that I didn't train for...but since saying that, I've realized that I have trained for this "marathon"...if I really wasn't meant to be teaching in the school that I am during this time, I wouldn't be enjoying it and I wouldn't be having the success that I am with my students. Not to say that I've got it all figured out, I don't, but again, I love it and I'm learning quickly on a very steep learning curve.

Speaking of steep, I took a nice walk this morning with Bambino, part of my route is a steep hill. Even though I know I am not in good shape right now, whenever I've taken that walk in the last couple of months, I have been able to keep a good pace, work up a sweat, and end the walk feeling energetic. I am not exercising as frequently as I need to be - especially considering the amount of stress I have in my life right now...but in the last few days I've been trying to turn that around. I'm committed to getting that part of life back to where it should be. I've managed to keep from getting the last round of colds and flu that hit our house and took the husband and s-son out, which is probably why I'm even trying to be more physically active every day. Normally if I get sick, all plans and attempts to exercise and be active are completely derailed.

Next weekend is the daylight savings switch back, one hour of sleep lost, but an hour of daylight gained. Usually I dread the lost sleep, but this year I'm not feeling that way so much. I'm actually kind of excited to have more daylight when I get home from work to enjoy doing things like going for a walk.

While I was out this morning I noticed that our trees have budded out and are getting closer to blooming, and many of my tulip and daffodil bulbs have started to peek through. In a few weeks things outside will look completely different. I love spring - it's definitely the most beautiful time of year (to me) around here.

That's all for now, cheers to another peaceful (albeit busy) week!

Busy, Busy Life

There's so much to say and yet I don't have the desire or the energy to even sit down and put everything that's been going on into words. Know that I miss blogging, I still will compose potential blogs in my head from time to time...I'm just too busy and overwhelmed right now to follow through. I'll be back. Not sure when. But I know that life can't continue at this pace. It will slow down at some point.

Sleep Saga

It's the end of the weekend and once again I'm feeling that Sunday night angst...it's worse than normal because last week was particularly rough. I had some pretty serious insomnia 4 out of the 5 week nights. It was bad. Even with Tylenol PM in my system was still waking up around 2 am and immediately my mind would switch to go mode and it would be impossible to go back to sleep. When it happened again early Friday morning, I laid in bed for a couple of hours, once again tossing and turning, then I decided to get up. I ended up downstairs and worked for a while at some of my online job responsibilities while watching re-run episodes of "Saved by the Bell - the College Years" with Figaro at my side. That was a low point. Since when does sleep elude me? I love to sleep! Earlier in the week there were a couple of nights where I had Bambino to blame. After coming off of our couple of weeks of winter break and sleeping in, his sleep patterns were completely off. He was barking to be let our to pee in the middle of the night. Even after the husband or I would let him out and then put him back to bed in his crate in the garage, he would inevitably start back up with the barking...it was starting to feel like we had a new born. Laying in bed one night, listening to him bark, knowing that he was barking for attention - he'd already been out to pee - I had an epiphany. I shared my idea with the husband: put Bambino's crate - with him in it - in the back of the jeep in the garage. The husband literally got up and moved the dog, crate and all, right then. It worked, the sound of his barks were muffled by the jeep's insulation. So that was great, but the next night it wasn't Bambino's bark but the husband's snoring that woke me up. It had the same effect though, once I was slightly awake my mind turned on and it was impossible to fall back asleep. By the time I went through the Saved by the Bell morning, I was ready to pull my own hair out. So the past couple of nights (over this weekend), I have been keeping up the Tylenol PM regimine, Bambino is still sleeping in his crate in the back of the jeep, and I've added ear plugs to the mix. Normally I hate earplugs, I don't like anything going into my ears, I also don't like how they amplify the sound of my own breathing. When I was in my last year of college I had a roommate that snored like a family of bears put together. I actually missed a flight to go to a job interview because I was wearing earplugs and didn't hear my alarm go off - she also didn't hear it over her own snores. I didn't get the job, though I didn't hold it against her because it wasn't because I missed the interview. I think the experience stayed with me though because I've avoided earplugs for years. Until now. They have been my salvation this weekend. The husband is going to be on duty to listen for my alarm in the coming mornings - it's a good thing he can hear over his own snores! So here's to a busy work week with lots of restful nights of sleep!

Christmas Closet Organization!

Several weeks ago when I was straightening up our master bedroom, I complained to the husband that I didn't have a good way to organize my shoes. For the last few years I've been keeping my shoes on the floor on my end of our walk in closet. This means that typically my shoes have been in a giant heap without order except for maybe a few weeks a year after I got a cleaning bug and straightened them into rows. The pile below is what the shoes looked like after I'd moved them out of my closet recently, but the shoe pile in my closet before I'd moved them was a pretty similar sight. Trying to find the right pair of shoes in the morning when I'm in a hurry to get ready hasn't been easy. I've developed the bad habit of not putting shoes away in the closet, leaving them on the bedroom floor made them easier to find in the morning. Well, the husband heard me and decided to fix my problem...he is a skilled cabinet maker and has a full cabinet shop - I'm not sure I ever got around to mentioning it, but we built a shop on our property this year where he was able to relocate all of his equipment and machinery. He made me the shoe shelf...I'm pretty pleased with it. I can't imagine what we would have paid to have someone make this custom shelf for us...and I love that it matches the other closet units he's made in the past.

Getting the new shoe organizer of course made me go through my shoes with a pretty critical eye - when I was done I had a nice little donate pile. As you can see below, if I want to keep my shoes off the floor - and I do - I don't really have the space for any more shoes. I guess I could go with the option of storing off-season shoes that I know I won't wear for several months...and maybe I will eventually. I also think I'll make a point of trying to get rid of a worn out pair of shoes when I bring home a new pair. I like having my shoes up off the ground because I can better see how worn they are. Maybe because the light to the floor of my closet is blocked by hanging clothes, I was kind of suprised at the kind of shape some of my shoes were in. I just hadn't noticed.

It can't be good for shoes to be kept in a big heap either, I'm sure some of the "wear" that I was noticing could have probably been prevented if my shoes had been stored properly.

To have a clear floor in my closet is wonderful, it makes using the closet and putting things away so much more pleasant...being as busy as I am, this really was the perfect gift. I appreciate anything that makes life feel more organized and manageable in the midst of my very busy schedule. The husband "gave" me this gift a few days before Christmas, he was very excited to get my reaction. Once the shelf was in, it inspired quite a bit of further cleaning and organizing. I appreciate anything that makes life feel more organized and manageable in the midst of my very busy schedule.

Speaking of busy schedules, I have loved having the last week off, I needed the chance to rest and catch up. We had a wonderful Christmas day...fun times playing new board games together, good food, lots of laughter. It's also wonderful that I still have a week left before returning to work. This time of rest will make pushing myself easier. I can't imagine life always being this busy, as a matter of fact, I have found myself saying just that in conversations with friends recently. Even though I love what I'm doing, I know I couldn't continue at this pace for forever. But for now, I am grateful to have a job that is both fulfilling and well paying.

I'm sure I'll be around here sometime in the next few days, I hope the rest of 2010 is as restful for you as the past week has been for me!

Dropping In...

I'm not even going to attempt at an apology...because honestly, life has been too incredibly full of tasks and obligations and requirements and all other assorted and random "have-to's" for me to worry about not getting around to blogging. I love this blog, it provides me an outlet to express myself. But when life is the way it has been recently, having the time to express myself on a blog is beyond a luxury. An "affordable" (and more appropriate) luxury is to take sometime to sit down with my husband and tell him how things are going (as I did this morning over eggs and cinnamon rolls, thank you very much!). My new job has taken much more time and energy than I could have imagined. If I wasn't enjoying it so much, I might even be resentful. But this is one of those periods of life where the end result is going to require some sacrifice in the meantime. This is the meantime and this blog is a sacrifice [one of several]. I hope that there will be moments where I can check it, but realistically speaking, I know that there may not be too many moments that can be stolen for blogging luxury. In the meantime, I hope you are doing well this fall. The bite in the air is refreshing for me, I hope that fall leads into a winter with lots of snow (I could use the unplanned slowness of a snowday right about now!)

Cheers!

~Dara

Fall Day at the Fair

This summer, we didn't make it to either of the two small local fairs near where we live. So when some free tickets for a larger fair in Puyallup came into my hands (because I'm an educator!), the husband and I decided to take the s-son this past Saturday. We've been going higher than full-speed lately, so it was nice to get away and have a day of fun. It was also nice to be able to take a couple of hours in the morning before we left to get some chores done around the house...but that's another story. The fair was fun, though much more commercialized than the fair's that we've gone to in the last few years. It's been a while since I watched one of those live "infomercials" for shammy's or the latest and greatest set of knives. It was also fun as always to check out the hobby halls...and even though I didn't partake of any of the rides, I had a good time taking pictures while I waited for the boys to make the rounds in the carnival area. It is back to the hectic pace now, up before the crack of dawn and going busy until bedtime. But, tonight has been slower because I have been able to get more caught up in my classroom lately and it is a slow night for my online job. I can feel life slowly starting to get into a normal routine, as a matter of fact, I'm counting on it! I'm incredibly happy in my new job, so the exhaustion has been worth it.

Happy 3rd, Baby!

Yup, we've made it through 3 years (yesterday)! It's been a very full 3 years, and in particular the last 3 months (or 3 weeks for that matter!) have been very full. We (or rather the husband mostly) are in the final stages of finishing a building project on our property. For my part I've been part of a couple of painting days as well as a day spent tiling floors and a day of tiling a shower. These are things we've done before which makes the work easier. A new challenge this time was learning how to do some rock/masonry work, it ended up being pretty simple once we go the hang of it. I've been reminded lately of how well the husband and I are able to work on projects together. I feel like I always hear how married couples can't work well together with remodeling or construction-type projects. So far we've been able to make it work, and we're no where near killing each other, if anything it's been good for us. In addition to all of that, I just signed the paperwork for a new brick and mortar teaching job which I will officially start next month. In the mean time though I have already been to some strategizing and planning meetings with other faculty - proving further to myself that this job is a great opportunity for me. I am still working part-time at the greenhouse supply store for a few more days until the end of this month, it's a bit torturous to be a short-timer there right now, it would have probably been better for me to give two weeks notice and call it there, but it will pass. We have also in the last week hosted a bbq for extended family and had some dear friends and their four great kids come from out of state to stay with us for a few days. I also got hit with a nasty summer cold that turned into an even nastier sinus infection. It's one thing to be sick when it's gross and rainy outside, it's a whole other game to get sick when the weather is gorgeous outside, summer illness is no good!

So here I sit, happily married for 3 years now. Life is full of joy and anticipation. I understand now when I hear people say that they love their spouse more after years together than they did the day they were married. Evolving as people together has been key, so has good communication and flexibility. I feel very lucky in life and love!

By the way, those flowers are my "wedding flower", liatris. They once again have blossomed just in time for our anniversary and making me think back 3 years to that beach in Hawaii. *swoon*

We plan to celebrate a bit more formally next month when our project is finished. I'll be done with my greenhouse job and there wil be a few weeks before I go to work full-time. We've talked about heading to the Oregon coast, which sounds very restful, and before the busyness of a new school year, I can go for that!

Been Away

I've been away from this space for a bit of time again. It's been a full and exhausting couple of weeks, but also a blessed and exciting couple of weeks. Now that June has ended and July has begun, let me share what has been happening lately...

Early mornings and late nights.

Long days of work upon work.

Too much coffee.

Not enough tea.

Not enough exercise.

Picking fresh salads and strawberries by the pound in the garden.

Perfect summer weather on some days.

Rain that would be more appropriate in February other days.

A huge - and exciting - change in my work status.

Time spent with dear friends who came to visit before they headed up to Canada to be married.

Much needed cuddle time with my Figaro and my Bambino.

An unexpected apology.

A random "small world" meeting here in my little podunk town with a person with whom I share many mutual old college friends.

Wine with a view on the balcony.

A sense of being overwhelmed at a seemingly never-ending to-do list.

A sense of peace and contentment with life.

This Week...

The husband and I went on our annual date to see the Oakland A's play the Seattle Mariners...it's become an annual tradition for us. We have lots of fun cheering against each other's teams, razzing your mate can be fun!We sometimes get tickets for a cafe in the stadium...you eat overlooking the game from right field and your ticket includes a voucher for food, it's pretty cool.

We noticed this time that the cafe has switched to compostable cups...the husband told me that the company, Cedar Grove, that makes the cups is the same company that makes and distributes the vegetable mix soil that we used to fill our raised beds. It was kind of a cool full circle moment for us.

By the way, my team lost...so I was glad that we didn't make a bet on the game outcome this year.

I hope you're having a great weekend, I'll be back soon!

Alternative Energy

I went to the Seattle Home show recently...mostly because the husband and I were interested to see the exhibits. An unexpected (to me) part of the show was being able to see the vendors who had green/alternative energy and recycled products. There were of course lots of solar panel products, geo-thermal heating units, high-efficiency-organic insulation, roofs made out of all sort of recycled materials - plastics, tires, metals, but probably the most interesting to me were the wind energy turbines. I may have never shared in this space that I studied mechanical engineering as an undergrad. Several of the courses I took had an emphasis on alternative energy and efficiency. I am drawn to the idea of being "off the grid" (or at least partially so) on an intellectual and practical level...good thing is that the husband has similar feelings. Some day in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later, our home will be running on sustainable energy.

Laundry Room Follow Up with a Head Cold

I've got a horrible head cold right now...it's a very winter appropriate cold, all I want to do is cuddle up, drink tea and eat soup. I actually took a nap for a couple of hours today after I came home from a morning sub job, I can't remember the last time I slept for a few hours during the day. I don't know if the rest helped my body heal much, but it felt good.Before I head off to bed to get more rest, I am finally getting around to explaining where I got the inspiration for the laundry room painting I did recently. I found a shop on etsy that sells vinyl wall decorations, the shop is called Byrdie Graphics. I get super inspired by their designs and start trying to think of rooms in our house that could use some sprucing up. As a matter of fact, I was just moments from buying the graphics that ended up inspiring my painting, but I decided I wanted something larger to fill the walls a bit more.

The process was pretty simple, I sketched the pictures onto the wall with pencil and then went over with paint. I think my years of drawing geometry diagrams on classroom whiteboards have improved my "eye-balling" skills.

I am still thinking about this laptop graphic, I think my laptop could use a bit of girly sprucing up!

Be back soon - hopefully more healthy!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I heard that old Phil saw his shadow so we are in for 6 more weeks of winter. With the kind of winter we've been having here - wet and mild with days of gorgeous sunshine mixed in - I can honestly say that I'm already mentally moving into spring. I suppose it really wouldn't matter much if temperatures dropped off a bit and we even had a bit of snow, this winter realy hasn't been too harsh.Today I spent the first half of the day substituting for an elementary music teacher. The closest thing I have to musical talent is a tiny little drop of rhythm, I can snap or clap to a beat. I'm really not qualified to be a music teacher. BUT, it was still a very fun day. The lesson plans were easy to follow, playing a few specific songs for each class so the students could vote on a few ideas about the songs, then taking requests from a list. The lesson time was followed by what was basically a junior karaokee/dance party. There was lots of singing along and shaking it going on all day. I have never had the chance to get my groove on as a teacher in a classroom before, it was fun! I loved being goofy and dancing with thirty 3rd graders...they are still young enough to forget to be self-conscious, today they made me feel that way too.

Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away...

I mentioned yesterday when I blogged that it was beautiful but cold outside, which was true...but it wasn't so cold that I could resist when the husband offered to set me up with an adirondack rocking chair on our upstairs deck so I could enjoy the sunshine...isn't that beautiful!?Folks, you have to remember that this is January in Washington, so sunshine is at a premium. Who needs a corner office in a fancy skyrise building when this view is available!? This was one of those occasions where the benefits of working from home are just too good to fully explain.

I brought out a few pillows and a down throw to cuddle up with.
My little buddy Bambino even got to come up to enjoy the view with me (this is a big deal, he's never allowed upstairs in our house).

Once I set down the camera (hard to do) I ended up getting about an hour and a half of work time and a healthy dose of sunshine-provided vitamin D.

The husband even joined me up on the deck for a while...spending his time planning and running numbers for some upcoming business stuff. I like how casual his drink and calculator look sitting on the railing in the picture below, somehow it works.

I feel lucky in so many ways right now...that we have such an amazing home with beautiful views and that our schedules and job responsibilities leave time for us to sit quietly together outside to enjoy the sunshine and crisp air on a beautiful winter afternoon. It was very peaceful.

A Year Ago Today...

It was a year ago today that our 44th President took office. I remember turning the television in my then-classroom to CNN to watch the innagural ceremony. I also remember all of the uncertainty I was feeling, on a personal level there was uncertainty about my future employment and the survival of the husband's business in a dead economy. On a broader level, I remember feeling like I was living in a society that had been altered by war and poverty. In the days that have made up the last year, I have been able to get closer to having a balance that I was missing in my life a year ago. I thought I'd reflect just a bit...it's a beautiful and sunny (but cold!) January day outside, the kind of day that gives you hope for spring. I recently saw the first of my tulips beginning to peak out of the ground. In the next few weeks/months, the husband's business related work will be amping up again. Changes seem to be on life's horizon right now, so I suppose I'm in the mood to process all that's gone in in the last year.

My marriage has gained strength in the struggles the husband and I have had in the last year. We have both seen the other hit lows and still be able to reach deep to find strength. We have found ourselves going through things that have made us vulnerable to each other at a new level. It has been a good year for us to learn together to live on less and to find joy in what we already have. The pressures that we have at times been under have transformed into an ingenuity that probably would not have blossomed otherwise. I can clearly see how this whole "marriage thing" is dynamic, the relationship changes as time passes, maybe that's something I didn't fully realize before.

I have been able to take several steps to being content and happy in my professional life. This is an ongoing process, but I am happier in my job situation than I have been since I moved up to WA two and a half year ago. 2010 is a year for me to continue to seek out balance between my professional life and my personal life. It is the year for me to go to the next level.

There are numerous outlets for my creative side. I don't feel as "pent up" as I used to. I have made space in my home and in my schedule to be able to put into physical shape the ideas I have in my head.

Physically, I am in better shape than I was a year ago. Though I will forever be on that journey, I have been much more active since the end of the summer. Since the beginning of December, I have been sticking to my goal of exercising 5-6 times a week. Zumba classes and the ellyptical we have here at home are my current modes, but as the weather improves I want to get back to my outdoor walks and jogs, Bambino will be happy about that, he likes to come along.

As far as food, the husband and I have come close to elliminating from our diets any meats that come from feel lots that could be contaminated. There is a wonderful meat store minutes from where we live that sells only organic, grass-fed beef and pork, and organic free-range chicken. People literally drive from hours away to buy their meat at this store which is so convenient for us. Though we've been through some difficulties with our chickens (a story for another day), our hens are continuing to lay plenty of eggs to meet our needs. We had a successful harvest from our vegetable garden last summer and have plans to expand it further this coming season. We are also eating mostly foods made from whole ingredients, there are still some processed foods in our pantry and refrigerator, but because of the husband's migraines, we haven't bought foods containing preservatives or nitrates since we were married.

I can't imagine having the challenges and responsibilities that President Obama faces each day, and even though he is not without his flaws, I am still proud to call him my leader. I also fully support the efforts of the First Lady to improve the physical and nutritional health of our nation's children, it's a huge undertaking, but I think that her leadership by example is fantastic.

I think it will be interesting to see what the next 365 days hold, for the society around us as well as personally. I have to finish this post with the true but cheesy *Yes, We Can!*

Tired, But Drinking Tea

I just spent one of the longest "school days" of my life substitute teaching for a fourth grade class. I took the job last second without much thought. These kids were fine one-on-one, pretty sweet actually, but as a group they gave me a run for my money - literally. You can tell a ton about a teacher by the way her student's behave when she is not there, and this teacher has definitely got her hands full. If I were her I'd probably take the Friday before a 3-day weekend off too, I'd need the rest from that group of darlings. I was glad when the bell rang to let the students out for the day, it couldn't happen soon enough. So now I'm catching my breath, marginally helping the husband prepare dinner (steak fajitas), and allowing myself to sit down for a cup of tea. Tea has become a recent habit [again] for me. There's something soothing about a warm cup of tea. I'm also trying to not talk myself about hitting a Zumba class tonight with my neighbor...even though I'm tired, I need the exercise after a day like today. So thank goodness it's Friday and thank goodness I'm not that 4th grade teacher!

Dreary and Dark with a Little Bloom

Today was one of those classic dark, dreary, soggy Pacific Northwest kinds of days. The weather outside didn't help that I was already feeling kind of tired, or that I had to get up early for a substitute job. There's something wrong with arriving to work when it is still dark outside...at least there was still a bit of daylight when I got home this afternoon. Enough to let Bam out of his kennel so the two of us could go visit the chickens, throw them some corn scratch and check for eggs. One piece of the "bright side" was going into my greenhouse for a moment, it's where I've been storing the corn scratch. Rain was coming down in a sprinkle and I stopped for a little while to listen to the sound of the drops on the greenhouse roof. It is a happy sound for me. I spent every moment I could out in that greenhouse during the first long grey winter and spring I spent in the Pacific Northwest. That year even locals who'd been here for decades were talking about the never ending rain and grey skies, it was a particularly gloomy winter and spring. The greenhouse was my retreat, my happy place during that time. That sound of rain drops was part of what was then a new life for me, a life that I was trying to find my place in. Today that sound made me think of how far I've come in a few short years. I feel grateful for the fact that I've gone from feeling like an outsider that doesn't belong, an "extra" in my husband's life, to feeling like a true local, someone that belongs here, someone that loves living here, someone who has made dear friends in this area.

So where are the sunshine and crisp days of last week? When I came into the house from my garden, I continued looking for the "bright side" and found a bit more of it in my kitchen window. The hyacinths bulbs that found their way from my Christmas stocking to this bulb vase have begun to bloom. I thought I remembered forcing some hyacinth bulbs about a year ago but wasn't sure until I went back through some of my first blog posts and found this one.

It's interesting to me to see how my blogging "style" has evolved over this past *almost* year. I hadn't done much pleasure writing for many years before I started this blog. Journaling had been an on-again-off-again habit a long time ago, but it never really felt completely like me - at least not enough to keep me writing for any extended period of time. So this blog has been a good way for me to grow as a writer (not than I fancy myself to truly be "a writer", just someone who likes to put down a few words on a semi-daily basis...) It has felt a bit awkward at times to try to find my writing voice, sometimes when I try to put thoughts into written words it just doesn't come out right. But, it has become easier with each post.

I mentioned a celebratory give-away back before New Year's to mark my 200th post, and even though I'm now somewhere close to the 220's, I haven't forgotton...the idea is still rolling around in my brain. I'm not promising when, but soon I'll make something happen there.

Hope your week is off to a good start, Happy Monday!

Laundry Day

There is something refreshing about laundry day. It's not that I like the chore aspect of it, I just like having lots of options. Sometimes when all of my clothes are freshly laundered I feel like I just went on a shopping spree. This time it was the colors of my tank tops all hung together that caught my eye. It was so pretty that I stopped what I was doing to get my camera.

School Day

Yesterday I found myself back in a "brick and mortar" school classroom for the first time since last June when my former job ended. I spent the day substitute teaching for a middle school Social Studies teacher. I got the job at the very last second, probably because the teacher woke up ill, the call actually woke me from a dead sleep at about 6:30 am. It didn't help that the night before the husband and I had stayed up until about 12:30 am talking about all of life's rewards and challenges...luckily he got up with me and helped me gather a few things as I was rushing to get ready. I only had about 50 minutes to get dressed and get to the school on time.

So, I really didn't spend much time thinking about what the experience of being back in a classroom would be like for me until I was driving home at the end of the day. I realized that if I'd had more time to anticipate going back into a school I would have probably been more anxious. Schools always feel familiar to me, even if I've never been to a particular school before, it is a familiar environment. But since I went through so much with my last job ending and now teaching online, I wasn't sure if it would feel strange or sad or whatever to be in a classroom again. But I think stepping back into that world as a substitute was good for me, it's a pretty low commitment situation, typically one day and that's it. There's no extra work with grading, no follow up with struggling students. You get to show up, fill a role for a bit, and leave. You don't even have to go to faculty meetings or make yourself available before and after school for students that need help. I also realized that I don't miss school bells. So much of the day in a typical school is spent hurrying to get somewhere or finish something before a bell, or anticipating the bell that will tell you when the next thing happens. School bells do not leave much room for organic timing...I'm glad I no longer have to spend my days being managed by a bell. My day of subbing made me appreciate my current job even more. I love my freedom. I love it that I don't typically have to rush through my mornings. I love it that there is time for me to go grocery shopping if I so chose. I love it that I have been able to devote myself to some regular exercise and get back on a path to being in shape (Zumba classes as well as doing cardio on our home ellyptical have helped me lose a bit of weight in the last two months!) I am going to be continuing to substitute teach as jobs come up, and I'm not dreading it at all, I think it will be an interesting use of my time and the money will help us stay on target budget-wise. I also think that being in and out of classrooms as a substitute will be a great regular reminder to appreciate my online teaching job even more! And that, boys and girls, is a lesson I had to go to school to learn!

2009

As a first year blogger, I have found so much joy in documenting the things that have filled my year, both at home and abroad. I thought I'd celebrate the New Year in this space with a look back at some moments from the last year...Enjoy!

The canning was lots of work, several days on my feet in the kitchen, but it is always worth it when the pantry is full of the preserved tastes of summer.It is the coolest piece of furniture I've ever seen let alone owned. I still can't believe he turned an old gym floor into my desk...such a good man!I loved watching them play in the yard together and slowly become friends. I felt lucky that such a unique one decided to grow from one of the seeds I'd planted, I looked at it daily, sometimes twice a day. He found a way to be productive in his stress and had the added benefit of becoming physically stronger and ready to help others when he went to Egypt with Habitat.
Could I ever take too many pictures of my lovely little egg layers?

In the first month that I had the job, while it was still warm outside, I made a point of having lunch with him as much as possible.
I lost track of just how many times I posted ads on craigslist for him, I guess we are reaching a point in our marraige where we each tend to take care of certain tasks and there's no real need to ask why.

I'm sad that I don't see more of her, but I did enjoy the short visits I had this year.
I do think of him as a child, and I am just about past caring what that looks like to other people.
They have been a good addition.
Once it stopped raining, the views at the Gorge were amazing.
It was smaller than I'd thought it would be and the nose is most definately gone.
Wow. Surreal moment of life.

For some reason they remind me of large cats and I love their fancy get-ups. It was a pretty place, full of leaning buildings. Walking through Anne Frank's house was surreal and humbling. Also, the cool air felt good after the heat of Egypt.

I met one of my goals for 2009!

It was actually not that hard to make, I'll do it again next year.

Even though we were in paradise, it was hard to relax. That was a tough season of life.

When we hit 7 dozen, it was definately time to sell some.

Half the fun for me was in the planning.

In a matter of a couple of days we went from being prepared for the worst all the way to having much more than just a glimmer of hope.

It felt like we'd never be done with the entire car buying/selling process, but it all turned out the way it was supposed to.

Standing in front of a booth full of things I'd made, wondering if people would actually want to give me money for any of it, now that felt weird.

Probably the prettiest dinner time view we'd have all year, I'm glad I realized that at the time.

I was so glad when the clouds parted for those couple of crucial picture taking minutes...I'm bummed that we didn't think to take a picture together in front of it.

Those couple of hours spent driving around before we had to catch our flight were probably the best part of the whole long weekend for me.

All I could think as he landed was "oh crap my camera's covered in snow now!"...later I was glad I got the shot and that I didn't get plowed over when he landed.

It was a beautiful day for 3 reasons: the sun was out and it was gorgeous, she was able to pick up on it quickly and had a good time, and I had the chance to teach something I love.

It was the perfect bag for that trip.

It was nice of him to offer to spend a big chunk of our stop over day in the garment district looking at fabric stores.

It felt like a huge accomplishment at the time, little did I know just how many more I would still do!

Wow, I came home and the suprise was that he'd built it for me...it was a very sweet gesture.

Getting that fence up was a huge accomplishment and a commitment to growing it ourselves in the years to come.

It was hard to remember that they weren't pets, but babies of all types have a way of catching my heart.

It's my little piece of creation.

My first give-away, my first apron.

It was a happy birthday set in a difficult season of life.

They have taught me to nuture, to protect, to be patient, to get past the "yuck" factor, and that sometimes you shouldn't try to make predictions about or have control over nature or life in general.