Fighting a cold, lots of baking, and an Ugly Sweater Party

This week felt insanely long. Throughout most of the week I wasn't feeling great. Luckily it just ended up being a cold. I had a few nights of very little sleep which was frustrating to say the least. I was productive at least and ended up making cookies in the middle of the night.

School went well. I had a lot of kids out sick, which is difficult when they need to make up work. I also had a few long days with parent teacher conferences and days with 4 classes in a row.

Friday night I went to the grocery school and then made another cheesecake, and a batch of linzer torte. Then Saturday I made sugar cookies, and mac and cheese, and baked ziti. It was a very productive day. People from both schools and a few other friends came over that evening for an Ugly Sweater Party. It was a lot of fun! It was quite enjoyable to watch everyone interact together.

This week should be pretty typical. Normal teaching and review, with a quiz right before Winter Break. Plus a staff holiday party mid-week to look forward to. Then eventually heading to my parents place for Christmas. It'll be nice to have some time off, that's for sure.

Roller Coaster Week

This week was full of ups and downs. Monday was a pretty normal day. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Tuesday was fine with students, but was stressful after a planning meeting. As much as working with other teachers is great, sometimes trying to balance things at both schools can be difficult when we are in different places in the curriculum. I stayed at school until close to 7pm trying to get caught up on grading. By the time I left I felt like I was in a decent spot.

Wednesday was a very long day. Within 10 minutes of getting there I was asked the question (Which school do I want to be at next year?) I've been dreading for a while, because I don't yet have an answer. I was asked it again later in the day. It just added to the stress of the day.  I had students come in for extra help starting at 8am. Then I taught 4 blocks in a row with the exception of lunch (40 minutes without students from 8-4). Right after that I met with the principal to finally talk about my observation from right before Thanksgiving. The meeting went really well and he was very positive. It was a good conversation and I felt great about the whole experience.

Thursday and Friday were both pretty typical. After school Friday some of us from the math department got together to wrap presents for the family we adopted for Christmas. It was a fun night to hang out together and get into the holiday spirit.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling kind of sick. Just really congested and gross with a worse than normal headache added on top. I made my to-do list for the weekend and it was a little overwhelming. There was a handful of stuff to do for school, and then a lot of stuff I wanted to get done around my apartment and to get ready for the holidays. Between Saturday and Sunday I've gotten almost all of it done, which makes me feel pretty good.

This week I'm giving a test to start off my week, and then it should be business as usual. The other principal said he was going to come in and observe on Friday, so we'll see how that goes. This coming Saturday I'm hosting an ugly sweater party. I'm excited to see who comes and how it goes. Hopefully it's fun!

December already?!

I can't believe it is already December. I think the fact that it isn't really cold and I haven't seen snow yet is throwing me off a little bit. It feels weird to be getting ready for Christmas and not have snow everywhere. It is kind of nice not to have to drive through it though.

This week was pretty good. Nothing too out of the ordinary. There were a few late nights grading, and making sure things were ready for the next day, but for the most part I've been relatively prepared.

This weekend was a blast! Friday evening was the holiday get together for one of the schools. We were up at a beautiful winery relaxing and enjoying each others company. After that I went out with a few people from the other school. It was a late, but very fun night!

I've decided that as much of a hassle working at schools is, it has given me the great opportunity of meeting some great people. I've made some good friends and I think it would have been a lot different had I only been at one school.

Saturday I was slightly productive, and did a little bit of decorating, and made some brownies. That night I went to a friends house warming party with some great people! Another fun night for sure.

Today I graded a bit, and did some laundry and just tried to relax a bit. My headache has been ridiculous since Thursday night. I was super bad all day Friday and still not great Saturday. I did my best to ignore it and work through it. I'm grateful for medicine that takes the edge off, and drinks that will help relax me and take some of the pain away. Luckily today was a little bit better, but these are getting difficult to deal with regularly. I know it's life, but it's annoying.

This coming week should be pretty normal. Starting the week off with quizzes and going from there. We'll see how it all goes.