The 25th Hour ~karenjcardoza.com~

It’s a windy, sleety day here and I’m beginning my day of working from home with my favorite breakfast: steel cut oats, fruit and nuts and coffee with soy milk.  I’m fueling my body right, will spend some time doing my Wii workouts (Wii Fit and Biggest Loser), get my laundry finished, and jump into the HUGE stack of school work that I brought home. I’m also making my shopping lists, cutting coupons and planning my week as it’s already gearing up to be a busy one. I have a calendar full of appointments during the week and both weekend days are already booked up as well.

Here’s to a productive day to start me off on the right track….

Since I’m just getting back to work and into the groove, I’ve got LOTS of things to do. November is a notoriously busy month at school with the change of quarters, report cards, progress notes, various individualized plans for students and shortened weeks due to days off.  It’s also  the start of the holiday season.

Naturally, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, there will be shopping and planning for feasts both at school and at home. I’m anxious to be completely back on my feet so I can get moving on the shopping and not wait until the last minute.  There’s lots-o-yardwork to do as well,  and it seems that most weekends  this fall have been rainy. Here’s hoping for a nice one coming up.

So, as soon as I log off here, I’m going to look at everything I need to do this month and plan it out week by week so that I’m in good shape. Although I’m a digital girl,  making the actual To Do list is something that I prefer to do the old fashioned way.. on paper with a nice sharp pencil.  (Of course, specific items will get transferred into my google calendar and will text me reminders on my phone.)

While I’m at it, I need to definitely schedule in  Sushi with Syd  and exercise time, including Yoga classes which are good for the body, mind and soul…

NaBloPoMo 4

Spring has sprung!

A time of new beginnings… and hope. <3  Things have been crazy here due to some medical things going on and the endless tests and waiting for answers.  I’ve pretty much been on auto-pilot for the last two months and have been pretty quiet in the social media/new media space. Thankfully for Pats fans it’s the offseason so they’re not missing much due to  my lack of podcasting. (Honestly though, family comes first so even if it was right in the the middle of the season, there probably wouldn’t be many shows anyway right now.) Hopefully, we get the answers we seek by the end of this week.

School is chugging along and with it, the dreaded Alternate Assessment hanging over my head… (I won’t get into how much I despise it and disagree with it here AGAIN…. let’s just say that it almost has convinced me to switch positions and leave the kids that I love teaching just to escape it, more than once!) It’s the time of the year that paperwork is piling up and I’ve got lots of IEP meetings to try to schedule as well.  I also need to really decide what I’m going to do in terms of taking more classes to apply towards my re-certification. I would prefer to work towards something that will give me some more options for the future rather than just take a bunch of random classes and end up with lots of credits.

I’m dying to get out in the yard and get my hands in the earth.  I’m planning on expanding my little garden and want to put in a raised bed across from it but we have to do some repairs to the fence first.  Last year, I had a great tomato crop and pole bean crop but many of my other vegetables didn’t do that well because of the cramped space. I’m hoping that my expansion will work out well and I’m looking forward to getting to work. My compost bins have been doing their thing and I’ll be uncovering my rainbarrels soon. (I’m such a nature girl.. always was and always will be!)

Although it’s grey this morning, I hope to get out to Lincoln Woods later today for a nice walk around the pond. I’ve also got the usual laundry, library, CVS,  and marketing to do before heading back to school tomorrow. Hopefully, I can squeeze in some reading time in there somewhere. Here’s looking forward to a productive week and some good news along the way.

Walking the girls

I’m on school vacation this week and couldn’t be happier. <3  Of course it’s a classic Staycation but that’s fine with me. I just LOVE being home. Plan for the week (not that a week is really all that long…) is to take my girls for lots of long walks, do some yoga every day, catch up on my reading list, do some major cleaning and decluttering and (ughhhh….) do some work on the Alternate Assessment for my students.  I’ve got a few appointments this week but just knowing that I get to live a little of my “summer life” this week has put a HUGE smile on my face.

btw… Happy Valentines Day, all.  I hope you get to spend it with the ones you love <3

Looking forward to some more snow tonight into tomorrow to add to the ice that we have on the ground already. I’m hoping to hole up inside tomorrow and do some relaxing and maybe even take a nap. I Uttered yesterday about the mini-funk that I’m in and I think some it may relate to not getting enough sleep. I’ve been going to bed early enough but rarely sleep more than an hour or two straight. I’m hoping for a cure soon…

Jake’s wrestling all day today in a tournament so we’ll be heading out there in a bit. I’ll be bringing my knitting and a book since there are lots of teams wrestling and there will be some waiting around between his matches. I’m also working the concession stand for a bit but I’ll go crazy without something to do for all of those hours. Lord knows, I’m sooo behind on all of my reading!

I downloaded Suze Orman’s newest book, 2009 Action Plan,  from Oprah’s website  and will be reading it via pdf.  It’s available for free until January 15th so grab it NOW! This is the year of really cracking down, with upcoming college expenses and everything else coming down the pike.

It’s a weird feeling without the Pats in the playoffs so football will be on, but it won’t be the same.  I’ll be able to multitask with the games on; something I often do but NEVER when my boys are playing. I’m planning on getting a podcast done soon.. It’s just tough to find quiet time with 3 dogs in the house!

For now, I’m going to eat some steel cut oatmeal with nuts and berries and head out to cheer on my son then watch some movies and drink a little wine tonight. Have a great weekend!  /me is doing the SNOW dance!

Apologies to my fellow Pats fans who look to me for content… I’m just too busy with REAL life right now to spend much time online. Between the holiday prep, my job (with increasing demands and growing class roster), my kids, and my 3 dogs, I’ve been swamped.

I spent much of the weekend shopping because we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on Sunday. This coming weekend is booked solid and unlike many of the communities around here, I still have school the following week.

I’m behind on:

• Website update
• Steelers tailgate
• Upload holiday pictures
• Podcast

We still haven’t taken our Christmas card photo, and at this point, who knows if it will even get done. Trying to get both kids home at the same time to take it has been a feat in itself. KLC is working a lot and JAC is busy with wrestling practices and meets. Love to keep the tradition alive but life is full of changes…

Phone Update: I decided to keep the Samsung Omnia and once I learned how to use the Optical mouse and set the orientation to the right side, it’s been much easier.

I’m sitting here quietly while the rest of family is asleep. Little Sugar is curled up in my lap and I’ve got a full cup of coffee. I love the early mornings… it’s still dark in here with just the pellet stove fire, some candles and the glow of my macbook pro’s screen to light my way. It’s been a very busy week filled with appointments and meetings and I’m very behind on my endless To Do list for the week. Last night, I planned on getting caught up online but Mother Nature took over and I crashed very early.

I’ve already got some laundry started and will head out to do a few quick errands in a little bit. The plan today is to buy our tree and continue decorating. I’ve really pared down on the decorations over the years and have put up just a few things so far this week when I took down my fall look.  I love textiles, so of course my table and island are already set with Christmas domestics as they are always handy, but it will be a big project to dig out the bins of Christmas ornaments and such from the black hole that is my storage room. The tree will need to sit for a day anyway so perhaps we can decorate tomorrow afternoon before the Pats game at 4:05.

I bought a new phone this week, the Samsung Omnia but I’m not sure if I really like it yet. I was told that I could sync to my Mac but it’s strictly Windows based so it doesn’t. Because I use gmail it’s not THAT big of a deal as it’s web based so I do have access from the web, but I can’t easily sync up with anything else and can’t transfer any music or files from my laptop.  I really wanted the Blackberry Storm but there was a waiting list. The guys at Verizon were really high on the Omnia, with it’s 5 megapixel camera and other features so I went with it. I’m still getting used to a touchscreen and in my opinion, the keys are not big enough to be practical without using the stylus. I’m not sure if all touchscreens are like that but it’s probably just a learning curve. I’m used to flying through texts on my LG enV keyboard and not spend more strokes backspacing than going forward. Also, I’m sure there has to be a way to prevent erroneous dialing and launching of programs but I haven’t found it yet.  Every time I bend over, it enters something. Like I said, there’s a learning curve… and I’m still figuring things out.

Time to refill the cup and switch over the load and jump into my email and feed reading before heading out. It’s a bitter cold weekend and unfortunately, I have some things I need to do in the yard as well.  (Why do I always pick the bitter cold days?!)  I’ll probably alternate between inside and outside tasks to make it more bearable… They’re calling for some snow tomorrow and I can’t wait! <3

*The pic has nothing to do with the post but I love it and they’re the most important thing in my life.

Still trying to get my bearings since coming back from San Diego. I’m exhausted, fighting a sore throat and swollen glands and I’m totally swamped at work and at home.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that there aren’t any updates from my trip yet but I hope to get them done tomorrow. Unfortunately, we made plans to go out tonight awhile back, not knowing how I would be feeling right now. I’m not even thinking about a night game on Monday yet and what that’s going to do my situation.. sigh…

As for work, I’ve got so much paperwork to do, I feel like I’m in a hole that I can’t get out of. I wish I could just “teach”… unfortunately special education is packed with paperwork. Right now, I’m faced with ILPs (Individual Learning Plans),  PLPs (Personal Literacy Plans), IEPs (Individual Education Plans), NECAP testing and the dreaded Alternate Assessment. Deadlines are looming and I’m overwhelmed.  I feel like  I’m getting to a point where I need a job that I can just “do” everyday, go home, and come in the next day to a new day without stuff carrying over.I love my kids but I’m not loving all that’s involved in teaching any more.

Of course, it’s probably just how I’m feeling right now, and I’ll probably feel better when I’m not sick and when I can actually cross some things off the To Do list.  But right now, I could sure use a hug….