Yes. Most of the time. I'm exactly where I should be. Not at all. And probably the same as 26

I'm currently sitting in the backseat of Boyfriend's sister's car, on our way to northwestern Wisconsin for the Thanksgiving holiday. And even though I'm bouncing along at 70 mph, the rushed feeling I had leading up to the point in which we got in this car has not yet worn off. Tonight I didn't get off work until 6:20. I GPSed my drive home, as I always do--not because I don't know the way, but because I like to see the live traffic. It told me my drive that under perfect conditions should take 33 minutes was estimated to be a whopping 1 hour and 17 minutes. Cringe. Fortunately, living in a city whose streets are all in a grid pattern, I was able to chop over 20 minutes off my time by not taking the freeway highway. 

Once I got home though I still had less than an hour to attempt to pack, eat dinner, shower, do the dirty dishes in the sink, find enough food/activities/magazines to hold me over for the 4 days we'll be gone. I was able to accomplish all of that except the showering. Boo. I mean, it's not like there won't be a shower at his grandma's house, but it's always more comfortable to shower at home, right?

Anyway, I didn't start this blog to just tell about my busy evening. Since it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post, I figured I was way overdue and since I've still got over an hour of this leg of the drive left to go, now is definitely as good a time as any to catch up on my blogging.

My school job has become approximately 20938409280272 times easier, give or take. We had a TACC (Teacher, Assistant, Coach Conference) two weeks ago and we rearranged our groups to ensure that all students' needs were being met and that they were in the program that would best suit current needs. As a result, my fifth grade group went from 6 kids to 4 and I only have one of my "original" students left. I also switched programs to one that is much easier to do (not that I don't like a challenge, but this new program just runs so smoothly) and the dynamic amongst my new students is really the aspect I appreciate the most. They're all so positive with one another and not at all vindictive like my last group sometimes was with one another. 

I subbed one morning last week for a 4th grade class and next Tuesday I'm covering a Special Education class for a bit in the afternoon. I'm thankful that I'm able to be utilized in sub positions whenever the teachers need to be out for meetings. I love the chance to be back in the classroom and know that every time I'm flexible and accommodating of my school's needs, it just makes me look that much better :) A true team player! 

Speaking of jobs, lately I've been giving some serious consideration to leaving my afternoon nanny job. Mostly what's becoming frustrating isn't the job itself, but the commute. More often than not, the drive takes me nearly an hour when it should just take around half an hour. Add to this the fact that it's not doing anything for me as far as furthering my teaching career. Yesterday in my district's newsletter, I noticed two part time positions that are open at other schools in my district that would work with my existing Reading Interventionist position. 

By a stroke of luck, the woman in charge of hiring for those positions happened to be at my school this afternoon and I ran into her in the office and chatted her up and expressed my interest in replacing my nanny job with another position within the district. Fingers crossed that we can schedule a meeting next week to talk about the potential opportunities. I'd be willing to take a pay cut to leave my nanny job. My district is only 6 miles from my house and I can get there in 15 minutes. I've dreamt of a commute that short my entire working life. I talked to Twinsie about it a bit last night, and she ensured me that I need to do what is best for me. Love having her for advice, especially since I am essentially following in her working footsteps since she was a Reading Interventionist last year and this year is an amazing 2nd grade teacher :) Plus the position(s) don't start until January 9th so I'd be able to give the family I nanny for plenty of advance notice which makes me feel better about the whole situation. 

In other non-school/work related news, I went to my first NFL game this past Sunday. I saw the Bears take on the Chargers. I really couldn't have gone to a more fitting game. My home team versus my new home team :) Even though it was pretty cold (42, with a wind chill of 34), I still had an awesome time. I hope we can go again next year, but preferably earlier in the season when sitting outside for 3+ hours isn't as daunting of a task. As a result of using so much energy to keep myself warm, I fell asleep at 9:30 on Sunday night. Hah. I must be getting old?

Speaking of old, my birthday is one month from today and I'm having a hard time understanding how it is that I'm going to be 27 already. Seriously 27? Am I mature enough for 27? Am I where I should be at 27? Do I look 27? What does it feel like to be 27? Haha. I'm pretty sure the answers to my questions are, in sequential order: Yes. Most of the time. I'm exactly where I should be. Not at all. And probably the same as 26 :P

There's a lot more I could continue typing about, but motion sickness coupled with the pillows that smell gross next to me as a result of our bedroom's proximity to the kitchen, have crippled me with some intense nausea now. But I vow to post a Thanksgiving/Things I'm thankful for blog sometime over the next 4 days :)

I kind of can't even comprehend how big that must mean Alaska is

I'm laying here on the most delicious chair-and-a-half, listening to "Sounds of Nature", specifically the tracks with rain and thunder and wind, as if I don't get enough of that here, haha. It makes me wonder if people who grew up with those types of weather elements find the sounds as satisfying as those of us who put them on to pretend. At least, that's why I listen to them. I am adjusting well I think to living somewhere that gets nearly 40 inches of precipitation a year compared to the measly 12 inches at home. 

It's funny because tonight on Facebook, a lot of people from home are commenting/complaining about the cold weather. It's actually going to be colder the next few nights in Southern California than it will be here in Chicago, haha. Though I'm sure they will be the ones laughing when in just a few weeks, I'll be the one covered in snow while they enjoy their mild, 60 degree winter.

I can't believe it's November. Like for real. I saw my first Christmas commercial today. Seriously?! And at the grocery store I saw Christmas candy already too. I know I'm probably jaded in my view of Christmas, since I've always felt it cheapens my birthday, but I think Christmas supplies/decorations/etc in the same week as Halloween is just absurd. Considering Christmas is nearly at the end of December, bringing it out so early is overkill. I am excited for this Christmas though, I will admit. But that's only because it's the first one I'll spend in a city that actually has seasons and maybe we'll get snow on the big day :) And a tree will be super fun to decorate with Boyfriend. But I'm not excited enough to start preparing/celebrating it yet! Haha. And hopefully by then we'll have a puppyfriend in the family! Tomorrow is our home visit with the volunteer from the rescue, so fingers crossed that it all goes well!

Boyfriend and I might take a little weekend trip somewhere next weekend. We're kind of playing it by ear but I told him it might be one of our last dog-free weekends so we should take advantage of not having the responsibility of a puppy quite yet and go away to recharge our batteries before the busy holiday season is really upon us, not this fake, 4 days after Halloween crap :P If we had more time than just a weekend, we really are within a day's driving distance of some places I'd like to see someday, like Pittsburgh and Nashville and Washington D.C. and Minneapolis. That's one thing that it's nice about not living in the country's 3rd largest state--here, you can drive through multiple states within a matter of just a few hours, unlike home where it takes over 4 hours to leave through the East and over 12 hours to leave through the North. Road trips from home to my aunt's in Texas seemed like such looooong treks because it takes just as long to get from home to El Paso as it does to get from El Paso to her little town. I kind of can't even comprehend how big that must mean Alaska is...Oh the thoughts that scamper through my head. How random they are.

And now it's 2:00 in the morning and we really should go to bed since tomorrow we have a busy day of projects around the house, our Mastiff visit, a beer tasting event, and our usual Saturday night out on the town :P And when I say we, clearly I mean me and Boyfriend. I don't have multiple personalities. Pretty sure at least ;)

It fully explains my aversion to nachos

I really don't know what it is that inhibits me from keeping myself out of crappy moods. I was in a perfectly lovely mood while I was driving home from work, happy to get home before 7:00 for a change. And now since I've been home, I've been ridiculously productive: emptied/reloaded the dishwasher plus washing the pots and pans that we don't put in there, cleaned the kitchen counters, started dinner, finished all but 1 load of laundry (out of 7!), folded 2 other loads of existing laundry that had been sitting around for nearly a week waiting to be folded, cleaned up the living room...yet, somehow during my massive housework accomplishments, I slipped into this super cranky state of being. Thankfully, Boyfriend's not home to have to experience this side of me. 

Or maybe that's the reason why I'm annoyed. He's out with a friend and his phone died and now I have no idea when he's coming home and it's bothering me 'cause I'm such a planner and want to have all the details of my life figured out all the time. I really try not to be such a stubborn, over-planner but it's really hard to change that about me. It's also going to be hard to not be annoyed at him when he gets home, which sucks because we rarely ever argue, but if the situation were reversed, he would be just as annoyed as me. Mostly it's just that I worry when he's out. It's not like we live in a bad area or anything, but we do live in the 3rd largest city in the U.S. and who knows who or what he might encounter walking home alone from the El. Ugh, makes my stomach hurt just to think about. 

In other, more positive news, my phone call with the volunteer from the Mastiff Rescue went really well and we have a home visit scheduled for Saturday afternoon. I had our vet records faxed over to the president of the rescue and the volunteer is planning on contacting our references, so providing the home visit goes well (which I'm sure it will), we should be added to the list to be placed with a mastiff :) I was told that after everything is cleared, it typically takes between 1-3 months to get placed with a dog, though it's happened as quickly as two weeks so there's really no telling. Hopefully by the end of the year, but I'll be patient :)

I think I'll attempt to find something to do to keep my mind off of my...mind? Maybe I'll go read one of the 20+ Time magazines I've been stockpiling and not reading, for some inexplicable reason. Speaking of reading I just came across this article, and I can totally relate: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/11/02/the-psychology-of-food-aversions/?hpt=hp_bn8. It fully explains my aversion to nachos :P

Kbai.