Cutting Back

I know I've mentioned in the last few posts how I've been really busy lately. I like being busy...In fact, I'm at my best when I'm busy. But everybody has their limits. I just can't work 7 days a week and be a pleasant person to be around! So, I finally made an effort to cut back on work, and it feels INCREDIBLE. Today is really the first day I've had off, but it gave me a chance to see what I've been missing. And wow,  I've been missing out!

Last week at work was a little bit rough. I love my job, and the fact that the kids challenge me. They make me think, and many times think completely outside the box, in order to get them to work. Honestly, I remember thinking that I'd had a pretty good day, each day as I left the school. In fact, I walked away from a couple of days with some hilarious stories, that non-teachers might have a hard time believing. But for some reason, last week was more physically draining that usual. I'm  not quite sure why. Maybe it's the fact that I went on a field trip yesterday... That certainly took a lot out of me! Field trips are fun, and yesterday's was no exception. We went to a fur trading post, and the kids learned a lot about trading and the Ojibwa culture. As a teacher, I found it very interesting. The kids I was working with did a really good job, and they were well-behaved almost the entire time. I think the exhausting parts of the trip were the outdoor pieces (I'm not a fan of being outside in the rain and cold weather, but I'm just being a whiner... The outdoor things were actually pretty cool), and the bus ride. Oh, the bus ride.  After riding on the bus with 50+ fifth graders, I've determined that bus drivers do not make enough money! Overall, it was a great trip, but it truly did wear me out.

Feeding chickens at the apple orchard.

On an unrelated note, earlier this week, one of my friends came over for dinner with her two kids. It was SO much fun. I genuinely enjoy cooking, but haven't done much of it in the last 2 years, because I'm used to cooking for at least 2 adults and seem to have a hard time cooking the right amount for just Charley and me. I'm all about eating leftovers, but you can only eat the same casserole for so many days in a row before determining that you'll never eat it again! Anyway, they drove up from the cities, and I made a simple spaghetti dinner, complete with all the fixings. It was great! The kids played, my friend and I had a chance to catch up, and have an adult conversation on a weeknight. Kind of out of the ordinary for me! With that said, I'm hoping to do more cooking and weeknight entertaining, during the upcoming months.

So, back to the title of my post. Cutting back. I've officially cut back on my weekly private lessons. It's hard when people have specifically sought me out to work with their kids, and I have to tell them I can't do it anymore. But I am human. I need a little bit of time to myself, and more than anything, I need to work less so I'm less stressed out around Charley. Today was legitimately the perfect fall day, and I wouldn't have experienced it if I'd have been working. Charley and I slept in until 7:30 (in our world, that's late), and ate breakfast together. Then, I started some Saturday morning cleaning. Sometimes, in my world, cleaning consists of shoving things into closets, to clear the space I can see. Other times, I do the nitty-gritty, deep cleaning that I really SHOULD do more frequently than I do. Today, I actually had time to do a nitty-gritty clean, and my house looks great as a result! When I was finished cleaning, Charley and I headed out to lunch with my sister. We haven't done enough of those outings lately, and it was nice to catch up, just the 3 of us. My sister commented on how Charley was in such a great mood. "Probably because she slept for 12 hours!" I said. She really was in a great mood. After we left lunch, Charley and I headed to the apple orchard. It was a nice orchard, about a mile from our house, but it wasn't a self-pick orchard, so it really wasn't what I'm used to in terms of apple picking. There really wasn't any picking involved! With that said, Charley had a great time, and we bought some apples that we turned into homemade apple crisp as soon as we returned home. With all of the cooking and cleaning in the last week, I'm beginning to feel my little 'Suzy Homemaker' side coming out, and it's kind of nice! My home looks and smells incredible (apple crisp in the oven is making my house smell like sweet, cinnamony-goodness), and I feel more relaxed than than I have in weeks! Hopefully, with reducing my work schedule, I'll get to have more days like this coming my way. Have a great weekend!

My little apple-crisp maker!