I just watched a squirrel, not once, but twice, try to figure out why there wasn't any bird feed coming out of the wind chimes hanging off the eves of the shed. Stupid squirrel!

It's that time again- report cards. I'm so grateful for having Veteran's Day off. It's going to be impossible to get all my papers marked and grades in by Friday as it is, but if I hadn't been able to spend today in my cozy home office marking social studies projects and summer reading reports (and on the phone with HP trying to convince them there really is something wrong with my new printer), I shudder to think...

I continue to seriously question the sanity of this job. The Bible says that God will not give us more than we can handle and He will give us the strength, etc to handle what He does give us. I can't handle what the work load I've been given this year, which means that it's not all from God. SO, I need to figure out from what I'm being asked to do, what I can do/handle, and do it. The rest just doesn't get done. Not an easy task for this little type A- perfectionist teacher!

I feel like the Israelites- Oh Lord, how long must I endure this?

LJ really needs a mood option that says "over-worked" or "over-whelmed"!

I've read two fabulous books this weekend: Steinbeck's Ghost, by Lewis Buzbee, and The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters, by James Dashner. Both very cool, fun, reads. I've not yet finished the 13th Reality, but I'm close.

I love books!

I love where we live! We have at least 2 pairs of goldfinches, a pair of cardinals, a pair of Baltimore Orioles, a pair of wild turkeys, scads of chickadees, titmouses, and nuthatches. Yesterday afternoon, while I was out raking the backyard, I looked up to see a pilated woodpecker on a tree about 15-20 feet away. It was so cool. Those are BIG birds, and beautiful. I just love this place!

Not that anyone is reading this, and I don't really care either way... (okay, so I do care... it would be nice to know if people are reading this, especially my old friends that I've not heard from in for ever).
Life is truly an adventure. Married Life rocks. School sucks the life out of me, but I love the kids and the content. I'm back doing worship team and loving it. Who knows what will come next. I wish I had more time for reading, writing, and all that other fun stuff.

Just checking that my journal still exists, despite the fact that I've neglected it for months, yet again. Life has certainly taken a different turn. I was married in June and spending the summer playing susie homemaker. I have little time to spend on line, and don't miss it all that much.

I'm teaching 5th grade yet again- gotta love those kids. Here are some answers written on tests by my students:

Question: "Describe the civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca peoples."
Student Answer: "Maya lived in planes and grew food. Aztec lived on cliffs and hunted. Inca lived in the snow and hunted."

Question: "How were the lives of the Mound Builders and the Anasazi the same and different?"
Student Answer: "Because mound builders do their farming in the desert and the Anasazis would do it in a plane."

I seems that I'm only able to get around to updating everyonce in a while. So here's the update. I got the teaching job in MA, and have moved. While my job is incredibly demanding, I love it. My best friend has the classroom across the hall, and I have met an incredible guy who I am now dating. Life is good!

Let's see:
I'm life guarding for the summer. Got a good start on my tan *grin*. I'm being a good girl and applying my official- work issued- SPF 35- water & sweat proof-sunscreen 3-4 times a day and drinking lots of water.

After much prayer & discussion with trusted counsel, I decided that God has called me to be a classroom teacher. I've applied to Holden Christian Academy in Holden, MA, and am hoping to be hired for this next school year. For now I just have to wait.

Waiting is hard.

If I'm not hired by HCA my plan is to continue to work with Coastlands Consultants full time again this year. Finances remain INCREDIBLY tight. I know that if God keeps me full time with Coastlands He will also provide the money for me to pay my bills. I need ATLEAST $1,000 a month and right now I'm only getting $300 a month. If God does open the door for me at HCA, I'll teach and work with Coastlands part time- doing the newsletter, teacher training, and women's ministry venues.

I probably should do a big update, but I really don't feel like it. It's been forever since I've even checked my friends list.

I'm keeping busy. Life is hard, but good. And as Rita Springer sings, "It's gonna be worth it all".
This is week 2 of a 6 week stretch of travel, except I'm taking the week off because I'm sick. This is week 4 of an annoying head/chest cold. I went to the doctor Monday and was confirmed in my decision.- Antibiotics and bed rest were prescribed. I'm finally starting to feel better.

Yesterday was spent on the couch, today much better. I was very productive.

I suppose I should update more often. I think I always say that.

Yesterday afternoon I got the "Thanks for your interest, we'll keep your information on file for future reference" email. At least I didn't have to wait long, and have time to think about how great it would be a get my hopes up.

Finances remain TIGHT. I get half of what I need to meet all my bills each month, and so far this month I've only gotten half of that. Sigh. On the positive side, I'm being much more disciplined about budgeting and not spending frivolously.

I did accomplish a lot today and I'm happy about that. I still have more to do tomorrow, but I'll have the morning and part of the afternoon to do it.
Today I:
picked up my mail
mailed a cd and our journal to Cathy
went to the bank and made a deposit
got caught up on emails that have been sitting in my in-box
put together an initial distribution list for email newsletters
sent out an update email
unpacked some more boxes
updated my check book ledger & budget book
washed my dishes

Tomorrow night is Jake and Kristin's wedding. I hate weddings, but I go anyway. I'll get to see many friends from camp, so that is good.

Wednesday I'm going snow shoeing with Ari and then having dinner with her family. Thursday I head to my parents' in Maine for Christmas.

I think I finally got my resume sufficiently updated. Money is incredibly tight, I'm getting less then half of what I need a month and the school that Matt and I were just at paid us $400 less then what schools normally pay. That really hurt. It's not that I'm doubting God's provision, I've made it through every month so far, but I think that provision comes in different ways.

I got home Thursday night, we ended a day early because of bad weather, and saw an item on the 11 o'clock news about a concierge service that does all the things that I did when I worked as a family assistant. I thought, "Hey! I've done that before! That would be a great part time job! It should be flexible enough to fit my travel schedule, and coordinating that shouldn't be a problem, since almost all of our events are booked close to a year in advance."

So I spent much of last night and this afternoon tailoring my resume to the concierge business. I'm not very good at selling myself, and trying to get into this type of business is so different from the field of education. I'm really grateful for my friend Kerry's help. I think the resume is ready to go. I'll email it off and see what happens.

If I'm able to get this it would be good for the summer, too. I'm going to need to work this summer, but I've got a white water rafting trip scheduled for the end of August. Cathy's already paid for me. We're determined to do this, we both need it.

This afternoon wasn't as productive as it probably could have been, but I still have a sense of accomplishment.

One good thing about having no money to buy Christmas presents? Not having to deal with the crowds!

I picked up my bite guard today. It's going to take some getting used to, and it tastes like soap, but it's a small price to pay for keeping my teeth. Cathy told me that she broke a tooth because she clenched and ground her teeth so much. Not something I want to do. So I'll get used to the guard.

I talked with Cathy tonight. It was good to talk with her. I'm wish I could get down to visit her, but it will be over a week before I'm able to get down there.

Tomorrow is the day that I am going to finish moving and cleaning. Friday my parental units come for a visit and to see the new apartment. I haven't seen the apartment in two weeks. I talked to Debbie on Sunday, though. She said that it is coming along nicely.

Saturday is Hilary's wedding, then Sunday I head to Manchester for the week. We'll be at Concord Christian School next week and I'm staying at Pam's in Manchester.

So that is my life right now. Nothing overly exciting.

Oh how nice to not set an alarm last night. Of course I was awakened at 9:30 am by a phone call from Cathy K, but that's okay. I can't complain when a good friend calls to make sure I'm okay. Today was good. It was my day of rest. I spent the bulk of the day writing, it felt so good! I've had this idea for an allegorical story that I've wanted to write, but wasn't sure how it was going to play out. Today I was hit with it. I cranked out almost 3,000 words- 6 1/2 pages. It's still a pretty rough draft, but I like it. I did a little bit of work- had to write an update on the last week. But spent the rest of the day doing email and IMing.

I decided that I need to get some real food tomorrow. I got sick tonight because I haven't eaten much real food today. It's hard living in two places. This week is it, though. I'm planning to finish cleaning the house this week and move to the apartment on the weekend. It's kind of weird to think about.

I'm still clenching and grinding my teeth, but today hasn't been as bad as the last several days. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to Wednesday's dentist appointment. I'm scheduled to pick up my bite guard. It'll be good to get some relief from this.

I actually get to be home for more than 12 hours. The last couple of weeks have been intense, especially last week. I've met a lot of great people and have some wonderful new friends.

Now I get a week off to sleep, finish moving, and write the newsletter.

I've gotten to go mountain biking quite a bit and I finally got out on the water this week.

Yesterday was the Big Move part 2. Sue and Sarah helped me finish packing and moving. I now just have some loose ends to tie up here. Wow, this is real.

It's the middle of September and I'm still wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I don't feel like summer is over. Not being in school is making it hard to keep track of days and feel like it's fall. The weather isn't helping any. Although, I don't miss those days of sweating through class and wishing, along with my students, that I was outside.

Today Matt and Pam came and helped me pack and move two loads of stuff. I have way too much crap. One of my goals for this year is to do a MAJOR down sizing. I had wanted to do it before I moved, but just didn't have the time. So My plan is to do it while I'm unpacking, especially since I'll most likely be moving again in the spring- I just don't know to where. I'm kinda excited about that, to be honest.

I'm so grateful for Matt and Pam's help. We did a lot. They are enjoyable to work with. I had three really good cds in the player and we talked, laughed, and sang as we worked. They also helped keep me from getting too frustrated or overwhelmed.

So tomorrow I need to do laundry and try to finish packing. Monday Sarah and Sue come with the truck to finish moving my stuff into storage. The new apartment won't be ready for another couple of weeks. That's okay, since I'll be traveling for the next three weeks. After Tuesday, I'm only "home" three nights- the 23rd/24th and the 2nd; and by the 2nd I have to be completely out of the house.

My plan is to get everything moved Monday afternoon so I can spend Monday night and Tuesday morning cleaning. I also need to find some time to work on the things that I need to teach the last week of September. I'll be glad when this whole move is done.

It's hard to plan for the next three weeks and the thought of living out of a suitcase, but I need to get used to that because that is what my life is now.

Today was another great day. It started out crappy with a dentist appointment- two fillings... only 3 more to go... I don't know if my poor jaw can take much more...

but then I got to go to Ari's house. We packed a picnic lunch and went to this nearby state park to eat. It was so beautiful and peaceful! After a late lunch, we went to school and got to interrupt classes and say hi to people. It was fun, but weird for both of us to not like, be there, but to be just visiting.

After a couple hours at school, I headed over to see Matt. We sat at a picnic table at camp talking for almost 4 hours. It was so great. I love just spending time with him.

It's been busy this summer. The last couple of weeks were hard- my car had a fuel leak, my computer needed a new hard drive, and my home phone wasn't working right. All are fixed now, although I'm still having a problem with my computer, which I hope to correct soon.

I've to be at the conference center this weekend. i don't want to, I want to be done. But I've got to run a bonfire and life guard. :0(

Next week I start with stuff for Coastlands. I'm so siked!

The down side of things is that I'm not sleeping. Grrr. I hate when I have these spells.