DeadpanAnn (old blogger version)

When I was a kid, I loved watching the Olympics. In the summer, my favorite things to watch were diving and gymnastics; in the winter, it was iceskating. In adulthood, however, I find it less interesting, but I've been watching a little bit this year. Now that Michael Phelps has broken the world record for the most gold medals ever won in one year, there's really no reason to watch. Let's face it. Women's volleyball isn't that interesting.

My feet have never hurt worse than they do now. They're better today because I was off work yesterday, but during the week there's no relief. Nothing I could say could make you understand the true extent of my foot discomfort. And my husband won't massage them, even though I think that would really help. At the end of the day they feel like they just need to be rubbed and squeezed.

The Pre-AP class I'm teaching is going to be more of a challenge than I thought. I was really looking forward to having a class made up of the cream of the crop, but it has its drawbacks. For example, they know when I make a mistake, and no teacher likes that. They also know they are really smart, and there are a few truly smart mouthed little boys in there. Finally, they seem to be bored. I'm struggling to find ways to make it challenging for them. I'm used to dumbing things down for students who are far below grade level-- not that the goal is to bring it down to their level, but you have to take it to them before you can bring them up. Anyway, the hardest thing I've thrown at them so far has not been hard enough.

I'm going to be writing my lesson plans in a few hours, and I'm going to go nutso on them this week. I have no idea what I'm going to make them do yet, but they won't be bored, and they won't think the class is too easy for their superior intellects, which is exactly what they think right now. The stuff that's in the curriculum is really too easy for them. I mean, last week we were supposed to teach prefixes/suffixes and run-ons/fragments. In the 8th grade. Anyone who's been half conscious at any point since about 3rd or 4th grade already knows all about that stuff. I almost think I should just give them stuff on the side that has nothing to do with the 8th grade curriculum. Why not? I mean, why not teach that stuff because I have to, but then make them write tons of papers and do projects? I can't think of any reason not to do that. Well-- I can think of one-- I have no idea what to make them do.

Yikes. This is scary.

Last week at work my boss told me to put in for my maternity leave as soon as possible. I was going to put it off until this weekend, but on Friday she insisted that I get it to her by the end of 6th period, so I had about 20 minutes to sit down with a calendar and decide on some dates. I didn't know what dates to take off because it's not like I know when I'm going to have the baby. They assured me that the dates aren't carved in stone. I'm due October 31, so I said I would work until Oct 22, which is a Tuesday. That's really close to the due date, but I didn't want to take off too early and then not have as much time off after the baby gets here. I said I'd go back January 12, which is the Monday of the second week after kids come back from Christmas. I didn't have to count the weeks that school is out for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so even though it's nearly 3 months off, it's still only 8 weeks of missed work. The district only gives 6 weeks, but you can take up to 12 through the Family Medical Leave Act, thanks to Bill Clinton. I thought 8 was reasonable, but the more I think about it, the more I wish I had just put in for the full 12.

I'm getting nervous. The bad thing is that my anxiety isn't so much about taking care of a tiny baby as it is about whether I'll be able to even come close to doing all the other things I need to do. It's hard to get it all done at work now. I run out of energy now. My house is never clean now. I'm always always behind on everything. My lesson plans are always done at the last minute, there's always a stack of papers to grade, there's always a boss reminding me of some task I completely forgot to do, my house isn't clean, my laundry is never done, the floors get cleaned every other week if I'm lucky, I barely have time to go to the grocery store or prepare meals....that's NOW. How am I going to make it through a day with a baby?