Back to Work

School's back in session and my summer days of relaxing and creativity are gone. Oh how they're gone! Last week, I'm pretty sure I didn't make it home before 6 o'clock even once and we ate out 4 times, I think (it's all a blur now!) I spent 4 or 5 hours doing school stuff over the weekend and still I didn't feel prepared for Monday morning.

Even though I felt sick this weekend, I managed to muster up enough motivation to make homemade spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday for dinner. I think maybe I was trying to make up for a whole week of eating garbage. I found the recipe on Gina's Weight Watcher blog... Spinach Meatballs. They were so good and a little bit healthy. I'd definitely make them again, although next time I'd just use a jar of Ragu. Her homemade sauce was a bit too acidic for me. I had to add 2 tbsp of sugar to even it out.

After a super-stressful week at work I've decided to make it a priority to maintain a better sense of balance in my life. I love the girls that I work with... they're the type of teacher I aspire to be, but gosh dang it, they work a lot! I roll in at 7:30 AM and I'm exhausted after only 8 hours of sleep (still not enough) and they're already at school and have been for at least an hour. When I ask how late they stayed last night, some of the girls say, "Till around 10 or so!"

Working till 10:00 PM is not even a possibility in my world. Seriously, that just cannot happen. Like I said, they're the type of teacher I aspire to be, but alas it will never happen.

So like I said, balance... that's my goal. Over the summer I cooked, baked, and was creative. I loved it! I feel like I'm the best version of myself when I take time to do the things I enjoy. That's not to say that I don't enjoy teaching, I just don't want it to overtake everything else. During the school year, I come home and feel so wiped out that it takes every ounce of energy just to walk up the stairs. My hope for this year is to try to do at least one enjoyable thing for myself each week. Try a new recipe or craft, maybe just take a fun picture, or even take a walk with my dog.

Lastly, I hope to live by my new motto, "Just unload the dishwasher" this school year. I'll explain more later, but my theory is that it'll save me time in the long run.

Now I'm off to hop onto my school blog and post for tomorrow's reading lesson. Balance...

One for me, one for you!

Kyle came over today for a few hours. We decided to give Tysie some treats (Cheerios) in her treat ball. Kyle was in charge of filling it up, but here's what happened instead.

Looks like Cheerios are a treat we can all enjoy!

Gymboree

Saturday was a busy day. I helped my sister organize her house to get ready for baby Kianna to arrive in November, while Ryan helped John lay new kitchen flooring. As a way to say thanks, Steph took us out for dinner and ice cream (side note - Yogurtini in Zona Rosa is a really yummy and fun place to visit).

Afterward, Steph wanted to run into Gymboree to look at little girl clothes. So Grandma, Kyle, Steph, Ryan, and I all perused the clothes in the store. I found several cute outfits (not that I have a reason to buy them... yet!) but the prices were high, in my opinion. Ryan, on the other hand, didn't think too much of the newborn clothes.... in fact, he found them to be very confusing.

Exhibit A:
Stephanie found this sweet little girl's outfit. Pink zebra print with the face of a zebra in the middle of the shirt (pictured here). Ryan said, "Why would you put your newborn baby girl in a cow shirt?" After we finished giggling, we had to explain that it was a zebra face, not a cow face and that the zebra print was super cute! He still disagreed.

Exhibit B:
Later, while Steph and Grandma were checking out, I showed Ryan this cute little outfit in the back of the store. It was a white/sage green set with 3 elephants down the front (pictured here - minus the cardigan). Here's how the conversation went down.

Kristy: Since we won't find out the gender when we're pregnant, we'll have to buy a few outfits like this. Isn't this little green one cute?

Ryan: With the little piggies? Seriously, I'm not putting my kid in an outfit with green pigs on it.

Kristy: Umm, they're elephants, hence the trunks, and this is cute!

Ryan: [steps closer and whispers] I don't like this store. I can't even tell what the animals are in this place!

I started laughing hysterically! He was half serious/half joking, but it was so funny to me. First the zebra - cow, then the elephant - pig. I think we'll have to work on our animals before we get pregnant!