Another Day Off

Gees, it's not been months since I last wrote!

Actually, I'm going a bit bonkers. I have today off and probably tomorrow too. I do know that I'll be working on Friday, although I'm not too thrilled over that. My husband is coming home tomorrow night and I'd rather spend the day with him rather than 6 classes of 7th-graders. But we need the money and I don't mind the school, so I felt I should.

For those that don't know how substitute teaching works, once you are hired, you gain access to a website where you sign up for assignments. What the site tells you is the date, the school, the teacher, and the general topic. So, for Friday, I know where and when and for whom I'll be subbing, but I only know the class is "social studies". At this school, I'm not even sure of the grade. Some school districts have teachers put the lesson online, so I could see if the "social studies" was history about the Reformation or geography of South America. This mystery factor can be interesting! (And sometimes not in a positive way.)

Anyway, I spent today working on some calculus and on my new pink skirt, along with some housework. Again, I thought about working on a painting, but I took a nap instead. My excuse today was I am using my art studio for a sewing room and getting out all the paints will only add to the mess in here. I really do need to rearrange this room so I can do both. I think there's room, if things were better layed out. I doubt that I'll get to that until after school is out -- it's something that will take 5-7 days to do.

Well, the cat herd is complaining. It only took them 2 days to get used to being fed at 5am and 5pm, so now I'm late!

No Wind in My Sails

Well, I've set a new record for not blogging -- almost 5 months. I've kind of missed it, then again, there's a lot about my former life that I really miss.

• Emily -- My cat of 18 years died in January and it's been tough without her. I've been meaning to write a few words about her but I've never gotten around to it. She was so much a part of my life, especially towards the end when she was very ill. One of these days I will have to write her eulogy.
• doing art -- Several times in the last few months, I've tried to do something like painting or sculpting. But I can't. It still hurts too much to do it for fun. Call it sour grapes if you will, but I don't think it's fair that certain 'artists' are still making a fine living while I had to get a normal job. So, I've channelled my artistic drives into making my own clothes. It's not as creative in some sense (I'm too much a novice that I find commercial patterns a challenge), but it is satisfying.
• time -- With this new career of teaching (substitute teaching right now), I have very little time to do anything. I get up at 5am and get home at 3pm exhausted, but having to do all the housework. I do know that once I get thinks settled (such as getting a full-time teaching position), things will be less stressful. But even then, I won't have the time to relax and putter around like I did.

Right now, however, I do have a few days on my hands. This is the time of standardized testing in California and the schools prefer not to have substitute teachers during this time. So, it looks like I'll be home for the next week or so. I have quite a list of things I need and want to do -- some such as filling out applications for college, and some such finishing another skirt -- so, I'll keep busy.