No Knitting, No Blogging

I have been busy and very distracted this week. School is going well enough for the kids, and I'm getting a little better at working through the part-time job thing. But, everything seems rushed to me. I think I got very used to working according to my own time table or DH's work demands. He has had several very hectic weeks in a row at work. His boss is seriously ill with a rare form of cancer, and his group is trying to make sure she isn't working to much. They were getting ready for the next shuttle flight to the space station, which has now been delayed. I'm not sure it will make any difference in their workload though.

The weather damage to the vehicle is a huge disappointment for everyone. I heard a reporter ask, "Couldn't they have put the shuttle somewhere safe. Even I would put my car in the garage if there was a hail storm...." I wanted to cry. I suppose it isn't easy to get an idea of how huge the shuttle is or how dangerous and complicated it is to move it. The hail storm wasn't sending out announcements 3-4 days ahead of time saying it was on its way. Moving the shuttle,once it's ready for launch, takes time. We should know something more this week about the extent of the damage and what it means for the station assembly. If you want to know more about the work they are doing, go here.

Knitting and blogging have fallen off my schedule in the last few weeks. I miss talking with e-friends and having a place to note the interesting things going on. The kids like to read about the things we've done or are planning. I thought that working part-time wouldn't make much of a difference in all of these things, and maybe it won't once we get used to a new schedule. I'm working a couple of hours today. It should make much difference to my family as they have their own Saturday morning and afternoon plans. But, this is usually a time when a have an hour or more alone in the house. I'm going to miss that. I need to get my blog-rings all fixed, but I'm not sure what to do about that. Any of you that have switched sites have suggestions?

We did get our Police tickets on the first day of the presale. We'll be in section 111 row J on July 26! M. and I have been playing all Police cd's in preparation for the big event. There are quite a few songs I didn't know. My guess is it will be strictly "Best of..." stuff. In their press conference announcing the tour, Sing said they would not be performing any new material. (Yes, I watched the press conference. I've warned you all of my geek factor.) I know there are tons of people that are really excited about the reunion thing. I would have rather seen Sting with his own band. Dominic Miller and Jason Rabello are wonderful musicians and some of the other artists like Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis are amazing. Of course, it was always a privilege to attend a live performance with the great Kenny Kirkland. So, I guess we just have to give his exs a chance. ...

Saturday Morning

My house is quiet. I woke up at 6:30 (damn) because my husband wasn't in the bed. By the time I got up and found him, I couldn't go back to sleep. He had gotten up in the night because youngest child had a bad dream. He slept on the couch the rest of the night so the boy would feel safer. What a sweet guy! Now he's tucked in bet sleeping soundly.

That means, I'm the only one awake in the house. Oh, the possibilities of having time for myself! What do women do that actually have that in their lives? I could read, knit, look at knitting magazines. My mind is reeling with possibilities. OTOH, I'm might just go lay back down now that my sleeping partner has returned. Robert Heinlein's character, Lazarus Long, once said, "Never miss a chance to eat, sleep, or go to the toilet. You just don't know when you'll get the opportunity again."

Work Adventures Con't

I finally had my first student last night. All the hassle of starting back to work, trying to reorganize our lives to allow for a few hours away from the house, having to get dressed in work clothes....

I was kind of regretting going back to being a productive member of society, but I had a student last night and was actually teaching. I had so much fun, I would have done it for free. So I'm tired, I'm flaring like crazy, and our house is a wreck, but I have a job and my student learned. I'm not down about it anymore.

Tomorrow is our charity knitting group: From The Heart of Texas.

This will only be my second meeting, but I'm really going to try and make it since I'll most likely work on some of the Saturday meetings/times. On the other hand, I'm feeling guilty about leaving the kids and husband after I already was out of the house two nights this week. It will be good when we develop a new routine and know what's going to work. In the mean time, I really had fun yesterday!

Work

I've always said, "You know you're at work when they pay you, you don't pay them." The last couple of work days have definitely been of the I wouldn't do it for free variety. After three years of staying home, just the having to get dressed part was too much like work. My morning beauty routine has mostly been basic hygiene and very comfy clothes.

Today, I have real students and teaching, but I've had to ditch my Valentines for the evening. We did our cards and gifts last night, so it should be fine. My hubby rightly pointed out that I like teaching kids lots more than the other bits of being a teacher, so hopefully tonight will be great.

My kids have been a bit cranky since all this working business started. I think they miss me! Yeah to that, but it's also occurred to me that they also be finding it a tad inconvenient to have me unavailable for my full-time services as chief cook and bottle washer. ...

No knitting, no reading, and not much else going on. Even for working part time, it's sucking up a lot of my "me" time. I'm off Friday-Monday, so we should have some time for fun then. My daughter and I are going over to the wonderful Ramona's house for a total Saturday girls night. Her house is a boy-free zone and it's so beautiful. Everything is clean and pretty and so girly. We love it there.

Teaching

I've been super busy for a few days working out a plan to take on some students for tutoring. I still don't know how many and the exact schedule, but I'm pretty well past the biggest hurdles. It will be nice to have some new kids to teach and also to work with a few other teachers.

My latest bout of joint problems cleared up nicely on prednisone, but the doctor flatly refuses to prescribe it long term. So, once again, I'm off to a new rheumatologist to see if there is a new magic rabbits to pull out of the hat. I do have some hope that a more experienced person might be willing to experiment with low doses of the prednisone. Also, my own doctor has talked with the new woman and made it clear that I'm to receive no lectures on weight loss. They gave me the number and name for the nurse so that I can talk out my expectations ahead of the visit.

I've been thinking about what I want to do most, knit socks, walk the dog and kids, shop till I drop, go to Bandera and ride horses. The possibilities of a normal life...... I'm trying to keep my expectations low, but darn.