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...