Fadedwords

I consider myself a very hard worker.  There are days here and there that I am a little more laid back or that I slack off more than I probably should… but for the most part, I work hard and I do a good job.  I don’t think too many people would disagree with that assessment of my work habits either; so far this year my superiors have seemed genuinely pleased with my efforts, minus one incident that was quickly remedied. 

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I do work hard or that I do well, but I’m finding that I am being loaded down with more and more and more.  We’re moving in to End-of-Grade testing time right now, which to pretty much everyone in a school system is a time of great stress and worry.  For me it is doubly stressful, because it is my job to coordinate all of the testing.  It is an incredibly big undertaking, and a huge responsibility.  People get fired for things going wrong in testing situations, so I have to be very careful and cover all my bases three times (and maybe four) to ensure it goes well. 

Lately I’ve discovered, through all of this, that any sentence that starts with “It would be great if you…” is bad.  It always leads to something else being added to my list of responsibilities.  Usually it’s something else that a teacher could have helped out with, or a secretary, or really anyone else at the school.  I’m not saying I don’t appreciate that I’m trusted to do things, or that I’m not glad that I’m counted upon.  But to be honest, you can only give me so much and expect it to get done.  If you keep piling it on, something is going to not get done properly… and then you won’t trust me anymore.

The list of things, right now, that are on my plate:

• Summer Academy Planning
• EOG Testing
• Extend1 Testing (for self-contained students)
• Extend 2 Testing (for students between self-contained and regular EOG)
• NCCLAS Testing (for our ESL students that are low in language proficiency)
• Training for all of the proctors for EOGs
• Training for all staff for EOGs (this involves two separate trainings)
• EOG Pep Rally
• Spirit week
• Trying to get things donated for door prizes for the EOG training for staff.
• Teaching in classrooms (I have 9 more classes this month)
• Trying to get to students who need to talk to me.

And honestly, that’s just what comes to mind right now.  I’m certain I’m forgetting things… because it’s impossible not to.  And that’s the fear.  I’m going to forget something important and I’m going to get in large amounts of trouble. 

To top all that off I have so much else to worry about with my back and trying to keep up with things at home.  I haven’t had one spare second to make an appointment for physical therapy.  I leave work, I go home and clean up whatever looks the worst, try to make something for dinner and then I go to bed early.  Then I do it all again the next day. 

I feel completely overwhelmed.  I know that most people will suggest talking with my administrator about this…  I’ll go on record now as saying I feel that I have a very positive relationship with both the principal and assistant principal.  They’ve been supportive and helpful, and I really respect them both.  I also feel that going to them and saying, “I can’t do all this” would lead to them losing respect and faith in me… and as a first year person here I can’t afford that.  So I feel kind of stuck.

There aren’t enough hours to sleep.  There aren’t enough days in the weekend.  I just want this next month to be over with.

So it would be great if… this time would fly by.  It would also be great if you told me what some of your least favorite things to hear at work are. 

Does anyone else feel a little pissy that it’s only Tuesday?  I mean, honestly, it should be at least Wednesday… maybe even Thursday.  When I take over the world, the first thing I’m doing is getting someone to invent a time machine so I can just time ahead in the work week.  I’ll never have anything but Friday-Sunday again. 

I made Pot ‘O Goodness for dinner last night, and it was definitely good.  We’ll be able to eat leftovers for at least two more meals… and I have some for lunch today.  Everyone will be envious of my fantastically yummy lunch.  Or at least they should be. 

I decided that I’m going to do just a 2-page layout in my Jake/Kate scrapbook on Biltmore.  If you’ve gone to the album on line you might be asking, “But Kate, how will you get 184 pictures in two 12×12 scrapbook pages??” Good question.  I’m not going toget 184 pictures in those two pages.  I decided that I’m going to do a separate album for Biltmore.  There’s just too much that we did and saw that I want to include, so I’ll do a nice layout in our book of that day, and then do a big album for all the rest.  It should be very nice, and I think it’s the best decision for all the photos.

Speaking of scrappin’, I’ve been invited to a crop on May 9th at my friend Bre’s house.  It’s going to be  a workshop put on by a consultant from Creative Memories, which is a nifty scrapbook supply place.  I’m really looking forward to it, as I’ll be able to use a lot of fantstic supplies and get a lot of pages done.  I’m trying to decide if I want to work on my Savannah album, or bring my Merlin album and get it caught up.  There’s also my book for me and Jake that is behind.  We shall see.  I should get a bunch done though.  I have three new books that I want to do now… the Savannah one, the Biltmore one, and I also want to make one for pictures of friends that I’ve taken over the last few years.  I have so many fun photos that are just kind of hanging out on my computer. 

*sigh* It’s only Tuesday.  Seriously how can this week be only at the second day?  It’s Tuesday and it’s gray and rainy and cold.  Talk about a blah feeling.  How do you make a seemingly long week go by quickly?

Merlin’s second favorite thing in the world is his tug rope. It’s very unfortunate, because nobody is selling the huge ones anymore down here.

Jake and I went to Biltmore yesterday to celebrate my 27th birthday. I don’t have words that are appropriate to describe all we saw. So I’m just going to link you to the pictures and tell you to enjoy.

Click on the picture… it should take you to all the photos

I was tagged by the wonderful Erin. The rules are simple -

1) Write your own six word memoir.
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Jake, Merlin, Family, Friends… Finally Happy.

I’m not going to tag anyone, simply because I don’t have a lot of people who I know are reading (aka- that comment) that have blogs.  Here’s the deal, if any of you reading have blogs do the meme.    It’ll be fun.