Busy as a bee

Yeah, only not in a cute way. Whatever you do, do NOT picture me wagging my fanny in a yellow-and-black stripey costume and dancing to "Flight of the Bumblebee."

Um, so, yeah. I started teaching the 7th period, and that's keeping me from home until probably 5 o'clock, but it's really fun. The swing dancing was great, and a bunch of kids who aren't mine joined up, so I'm meeting new students from other years of the program. I'm getting to know my own students a little better, too. Between ballet two nights a week (I paid for three, but haven't been making it), various other engagements, and trying to grade, prepare, keep up on my reading, grocery shopping, keeping my house tidy (definitely falling behind there) . . . well, I'm a little beat. I had planned to be at Gynagirl's birthday party like, right now, but still have about thirty errands and chores before my weekend is over, and most of tomorrow already scheduled away (for good, happy things, but still all booked up).

I've been trying to get to school earlier, and that's probably my biggest time management struggle right now. I won't say I'm not a morning person, but I'm not at my all-time best before about 7:30, and if I'm not already at school by about then, I usually don't have time to do all my running around/copying/bathroom trip/writing stuff on the board/getting out overheads- kind of stuff. Then I feel disorganized and underprepared and yucky, but to get my ass out of the house by 7:15 requires practically a Herculean effort on my part, and almost certainly involves my failure to blow-dry my hair, which helps me look professional (I think). So prepared and unkempt vs. unprepared and professional-looking. I don't want to make that choice, but I also don't want to get my ass out of bed at 5:30, either. I'm going to find a way to make it work, I'm sure, but winter is ALWAYS harder for me in terms of getting out of bed. If it's cold, I can hit the snooze button for half an hour, trying to avoid getting out of bed and hopping into the shower.

Fun stuff this week -- a couple from Midtown Stomp came to school and taught our class several Lindy Hop moves. We borrowed the cafeteria and had a great time. I had dinner with an old friend, her daughter, boyfriend, and two brothers, and it was like a big happy family reunion. They're all people I deeply care about (the friend and her daughter especially), and it was really nice to see them again. We're having a birthday party for Mom tomorrow. Thursday is the big Gynagirl birthday bash at the Distillery. We went to Malouf's for dinner last night and gave them our thank you note. We included a picture of the food (unfortunately the only one we got -- if you have more, would you shoot them our way?), and Rita loved it so much she taped it to the front of the display case of desserts. I'm sure there's more, but I'm tired and need to get to my to-do list.
Take care, all,
CM