The 25th Hour ~karenjcardoza.com~

So, in light of the post last night about what this week looks like, you can be sure that there will be no time for the things that I actually WANT to do like:

• go to the gym
• finish the book (Wicked) that I’ve been trying to get to all weekend
• start the next book in my TBR (to be read) pile
• do a post-draft podcast
• finally do another Muse
•  work on  two shawls for the Rendezvous
• continue on my decluttering and spring cleaning

The heck with needing a 25th hour… I need a clone!

It’s 10:30 and I just finished the A New Earth webcast with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle and although I need to get to bed, I need to go over my to do list first so that I can let it rest and get some sleep. I’m currently stressed out because Bella’s been barking all night and I’ve taken her out 5 times in the rain since I put her down. Since she only peed the first 2 times, I keep taking her out because I don’t know if she’s still got more business to do or if she’s just not tired. (A little birdie told me that they napped a real long time on the couch with Dad today.)

Anyway, we hit the gym after school then went to the market tonight. (It was quite the day at work because there were two shootings (resulting in dead teenagers) over the weekend so the school is on lock-down and everyone was all riled up. It’s a very sad situation and there’s rumors of retaliation so the streets at dismissal were full of police cars from our district and the neighboring communities. This is a very scary reality in the inner city…..

Tomorrow I have a faculty meeting, a special Ed meeting Wednesday before school and one after school, a hair appointment on Thursday afternoon and Jake’s wrestling banquet at night. On Friday, I have a doctors appointment first thing in the morning and the girls are getting their stitches out after school. We have plans for Saturday and then on Sunday I’ll be at the Special Olympics all day with my students.

This week I don’t have many free periods either…. lunch duty Thursday… GRRRR! and my “Lucky Day”… the day that I don’t have a single break and also have to teach the entire group falls on Friday. I haven’t planned yet for that and the ASSessment is due next week.

Right now, there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.. and if there is, it looks to be the train coming to hit me head on. Sigh…

Tomorrow at 2:31 pm my spring vacation begins. And believe me, I can’t wait. It’s been a very frustrating and stressful couple of weeks. Of course, it’s no surprise to anyone that the Alternate Assessment is to blame. I’m currently in the middle of an ongoing dialog between our technology department and the site that I need to connect to to enter the data into the system for the datafolios. I can’t connect to the server from school and time is running out. I’m not even close to being done and every time I try to sit down to work on it, I can’t connect. Today, the emails were flying and I’m hoping to get access tomorrow because I’ll be damned if I have to spend my entire vacation week at home working on it.

I have lots of plans for next week and I’m in dire need of this vacation. I’ve had 3 migraines in the past week and I hadn’t had one in over a year prior to this. I’ve also been having back spasms for the past couple of weeks and that’s likely related since it’s not uncommon to carry stress in the lower back… So, I’ll spend an hour a day during vacation working on it but that’s it. My principal is going to have to accommodate me when I get back and help me find the time to do it during working hours.

Here’s the agenda for next week:

• Keeping my fingers crossed that my new gym will be open. It’s supposed to be ready this weekend and it’s perfect timing to hit the gym every day.
• Take the dogs out every day for a walk in the woods.
• Pedicure and Manicure
• Yardwork and gardening, including clearing the backyard so I can start using my clothesline and shut off the dryer until October.
• Scrape and paint the bathroom.
• Continue the move to wordpress for as much of my website as possible.
• Get caught up with Pats news, update site, and podcast.
• READ, READ, READ!

Speaking of reading, I haven’t switched over the link yet but I’ve moved my Book Nook to a Wordpress platform. The new home will be here.

It’s really Thursday night around 9:00 and I’m already in bed with my book bag. This has been an incredible week chock-full with meetings and commitments. I’m thankful that tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is almost here. I didn’t get a chance to do any assessment work because of the schedule this week at school so I’ll have to get some done over the weekend. I had meetings every day after school so my new routine of taking the girls out for a walk in the afternoon hasn’t happened all week. (Kinda tough when you don’t get home until after 6:00 each night!)

Tomorrow, we have our last bowling practice in the afternoon and Special Olympics Bowling on Saturday. We’re heading to a dinner at the church on Saturday and although I haven’t checked the weather, I’m hoping that it’s springy on Sunday so I can get out and enjoy nature and take the girls out to break up my assessment work.

As of now, I’m opening a book and reading until my eyes close… which will likely be after a paragraph or two after this week!

For the very first time since I started teaching my population of students (those with significant cognitive disabilities) I’m seriously considering leaving my position and looking into something else at the job fair this June. I love my kids and I love what I do every day. I love my teaching assistant and the teacher that I share a room with. I love to be greeted with hugs when I arrive at school on Monday mornings and I love celebrating with them when they achieve something that they’ve worked hard to learn.

I’m very sad about this but I feel like I’m being torn because my love for those kids is being overshadowed by my disdain from the Alternate Assessment Datafolios that I’m required to submit to the state every year. I know that every job has pros and cons but that’s just it… the scales have tipped so far this year that my hatred of the project that I’m mandated to do far outweighs my love of the job. I fear that the stress of it all is permeating every aspect of my life and the stress surely can’t be good for my health and well being. (Only 2 teachers in my district are required to do them and the number of hours that I spend working on it is completely unrealistic for anyone. Not only am I required to dream up 36-48 distinct activities to match goals, but collect data on over 100 others, enter data on a website that continually crashes for me, and have the students actually perform those activities … All in addition to the typical things that we just do each and every day as part of our curriculum.)

Of course, there may not even be anything available of interest to me at the job fair but to think that I’m seriously considering it is just unbelievable. It’s so sad that I feel that I’m almost being forced out of my career of choice because of something beyond my control. (The completed datafolios are due May 8th and as of now, I’m not even close to being done… and I mean not even close…. so, I’ve got every free period, school night, weekend and April vacation earmarked to work on them. Forget about reading, getting enough exercise or sleep, enjoying nature and putting out any web content. My life will begin again on 05/09/08.)

New England is in the midst of a huge rainstorm and my front yard is like a swamp. The storm cloud is overhead but not just outside. Sometimes I’m just in a funk… I call it the Funk Fog rolling in. I’m in the midst of a storm right now. Just too many things to do to catch up with in work, and the day to day grind is getting to me. (Note to self: Don’t fall down the stairs and get a back injury that puts you out of work for 6 weeks and still have to get the dreaded Alternate Assessment done on time.) I’ve got lots on my mind, feeling fat, and it’s raining… At least Chloe doesn’t mind the storm..

Just a quick post to link today’s podcast. I can’t get Frontpage to connect to update my website and to fix my borders. Posting my shownotes on my show site is giving me a 500 Error. Something is definitely very strange tonight. Not sure if this will make it through either but in essence it’s a test.

BTW.. TGIF! So glad as it was an intense week. Tomorrow, we’re heading to see Rent then of course Sunday we’ll be at Gillette for the AFC Championship Game.

Look up. Yes, way up to the top of this page and read the blog’s title. I could use that 25th Hour. In fact, I could actually use several extra per day.

Being back at school means 6 weeks of playing catch-up and bringing work home. Life with a new puppy means not being able to sit at the computer because I need to keep an eye on her. Of course, my Pats are in the playoffs and have home field advantage so the games have been at Gillette. I’m walking the fine line between doing it all and over doing it.

While I managed to finally update the website this week to reflect current news, the podcast hasn’t even been thought of and the tailgate report has yet to be done as well. (Unfortunately, there was no memory card in the camera so there won’t be any pictures to post this week which does cut down on time but I would have preferred to have them.)

So, although I’m behind on things it’s not because I’ve been spending time online playing it the Social Mediasphere. My Twittering is sputtering and my message board surfing is minimal as well. I can’t even tell you the last time I logged into Seesmic and my Google Reader is bursting at the seams. (Actually, I do know the last time I logged in. It was for a conversation about Twitter which was captured in this SeesMix episode.)

Right now, it’s all I can do to let my body heal, catch up at work, and care for my family and puppies…. Sometimes I wish there was a magic wand to wave to get everything done, or at least that 25th Hour to help me squeeze some more work in before finally heading to bed each night.

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