crazy me

It's that time of year again...the end of the school year. Every year around this time things get so crazy that I sometimes think I'll scream, cry, go insane, or all of the above. Let me break this down for you...

~ I'm a teacher, and my CRAZY school does this to me every year, they PILE on loads and loads of stuff that needs to be done before the year's end...uh, HELLO, it is almost year's end PEOPLE!!! Mathmatically there's really not enough time to get this all done! Sometimes I want to take over the entire school and show them how it's done. I'm a neat freak and being super organized is one of my specialities (my big sister is even worse than me, maybe I'll bring her over here to help me with my take over plan).

So here's the recent load; graduation ceremony (I had to help coordinate and supervise the 1st graders singing act, in addition to that I had to help make props, having a degree in Art is sometimes a curse when people find out), Project Based Learning (don't ask, too complicated to explain), Assessment Exams, Report Cards, creating a Department Newsletter (again the curse), Extra English Classes (about 2 extra weeks of teaching for those students who need some extra help), touching up the murals in the school (again the curse), and additional end-of-the-year wrap-up things. I teach ESL (English as a Second Language) which means that I'm a "subject" teacher. I don't have my own classroom, rather I go to my students' classrooms. This year I have 3 classes, each with about 25 students. You don't have to be good at Math to figure out that I have a total of 75 students. So that's 75 report cards, 75 assessment exams...you get the idea. The good news? My little 2nd graders have only this week and then they are finished for the school year. The bad news? Teachers have to stay until July.

~ Traveling...as exciting as it is to go every year to visit my family, it never fails to give me some sort of stress. First of all have you ever traveled half way around the world with a child? My little guy is almost 3 yrs old and it's not an easy task keeping him happy and occupied during a 13 hour flight. And then there's all the other details; tickets, car rental stuff, and packing...OH MY! Don't even get me started on packing. Even though I feel I learn and get better each time we go, it's still a huge headache for me. I've started my lists already, my goal: pack as light as possible!!!

~ For some reason it's always around this time that I have some sort of dental problem. One year we left for America on an evening flight, that very same morning before traveling, I had a root canal...yes, I'm not kidding. I had this massive pain and went for an emergency appointment and that's what the dentist had to do. Crazy, I know. Last year I had to get some work done weeks before our trip and here we are this year. Half of the filling I had done last year decided it should break off and cause some pain. So tomorrow I go to get that worked on. Thank goodness we still have a month until we travel.

~ I love my son, I TRULY do. But he has decided that it'd be nice to start a new phase. It's called "Let's scream and shout and kick and pinch until I get my own way". It's not attractive and this Mommy is not gonna put up with it. Time out has become an almost daily activity, I even have a cute little bench for it. Let's hope that this phrase ends soon. I don't need any tantrums during our trip!

So there you have it. Of course there are a million other things going on that I won't bore you with but these are the major things going on. I just can't wait for vacation. I'm counting down the days!

Thanks for listening...:-)