Chapter 14: Out with the old, in with the New

The way I always thought about my life has been in the form of chapters. Mainly because I love to read, and also...it's kind of an easy, pretty cliche way to view life. At any rate, this is how I see it:
Chapter 1: Birth/start of life
Chapter 2: The Elementary Years
Chapter 3: Adolescence at it's Finest
Chapter 4: High School's Stupid
Chapter 5: First Job, First Love, First Glimpse of Reality
Chapter 6: Friends...or not-so-friends
Chapter 7: The College Years (better than Saved By The Bell's)
Chapter 8: New job, new lifestyle
Chapter 9: Marriage and Stuff
Chapter 10: Figuring Out Where to Go From Here
Chapter 11: "....and Baby Says"
Chapter 12: Housewifery
Chapter 13: Best Friends, old and new
Which takes us up to now, this very point in time...

I am officially not a "housewife" any more. I am both happy and sad about this. Happy because, well, YAY MONEY! Sad because of the obvious reasons...not being home all day to do whatever I please, housework will be slacking, and I can't stay in my pajamas all day long every single day. My "unofficial" first day of work was this past Monday. I say unofficial because for now I'm just doing odd jobs around the school until I start actually teaching in September. For the past 3 days I have literally been paid to just sit around opening things. Yep. On Monday I opened up the k-3 curriculum. It was all boxed up and wrapped in plastic, so I had to go through and open it all to make sure all the necessary info was included. On Tuesday I worked in the Kindergarten room (aka my temporary classroom...my REAL classroom is still being built on the 5th floor), and the 1,2,3 room. The 1,2,3 room will temporarily be combining 1st-3rd graders until enrollment increases. Right now the 1-3 classes are SO small, it just doesn't make sense to give them their own teachers and rooms until there are enough kids to warrant separate rooms. Between both rooms I opened/set up at least $4,000 worth of brand new educational material. It took like, 4 hours just to unwrap everything! I was home before 4:30 on both days. Today all I did was open a few things for the toddler room on the daycare's floor, and I finished up some things I didn't get to yesterday in the K-3 rooms. I went in at 10am this morning, and was out of there by 12:30. I am earning some very decent money at this school, and I'm ridiculously excited about meeting my kindergarteners and getting my brand new class room on the 5th floor. The classrooms are HUGE, and since I was the first teacher hired for the new school, I get dibs on the rooms, and you're damn right I'm taking the one with the balcony that overlooks the waterfall! Oh, and get this...my boss is even seriously considering getting me a Smartboard. If you don't know what one is, check it out: http://www.smartboards.com/
They're like every teacher's wet dream, and a lot of schools can't afford to provide them. If I actually get one, it's going to be like Christmas for me. :)

In other news: Chase did well with her first 3 days in day care. It's awesome that she's in the same building as I am. Today, I was working in the office right next door to Chase's classroom (aka "The Bunny Room...how effing cute is that?) and I could hear her crying through the wall :( I felt so sad because I couldn't just run right in and grab her. I could hear one of the infant teachers trying to comfort her, but Chase still cried for a little longer than she would have if I were comforting her. I was like, "Ahh, so this is the downside to working in the same place as your child's daycare." However, there are more pros than cons to this. If there's ever an emergency with Chase, I am only a few floors away. Her teachers can easily reach me if they need to, rather than having to try to track me or another emergency contact down. I am comforted by that thought. Another great thing about it is, the infant teachers have an "open door policy", meaning at any given time of the day, I am allowed to just pop in to see Chase, or I can peek in at her through their window just to make sure all is well and they don't mind one bit. The women who work with the babies seem very sweet and nurturing, and I am already fond of the main teacher who already adores Chase. At the end of each day, I am given a report sheet detailing Chase's day...what she did, what she ate and how much of it she consumed, how many bottles she drank/how many ounces, it keeps track of her diaper changes, and let's me know how her mood was throughout the day. So far she has been nothing but "cheerful" and "content", which is a good sign.

I really do love this school, and I have never been so excited/happy about a job before in my life. I have worked in a few learning centers, but this one  BY FAR outranks them all. I love that there is actually a real elementary school within the building, and I can finally have my own classroom with actual curriculum. I have so many ideas and visions for this school year, I can't wait to apply them. And listen, I know you're all disappointed that I will no longer be reporting on my daily housewife antics, but don't worry. I have an idea for a new blog in mind, but I have to wait and see how things pan out before creating it. In the meantime, I will be keeping this blog to update about various aspects of my life, (for those who still follow/care), and I won't be changing the title, despite the fact that my personal title has changed. So, here's to the beginning of a brand new chapter in my life. *cheers*.

Oh, and P.s. I know I only have 5 "followers" on this site, but a lot of people on Facebook told me that they read and follow the lame shit I type. Thanks guys, I appreciate the support, but maybe you could make me look less like a loser in blogland? Maybe? No? Fine, fuck you then.

Wait, wait...I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You know I <3 you, right? C'mon, let's see a smile...huh? Who's my special blog reader? Who is? You are! That's right. Now go get me a sandwich.