Week 10 Day 3

Well, to say I was tired when I woke up was an understatement. I don’t know what is draining me so badly, but it’s obviously something.

I don’t think I was quite prepared for this school day either. I had about a million things going on at once. Aside from regular teaching, I had student glueing tables, glueing chairs, getting the computer cart when I did not even ask anyone to get it or that we were having computers right away, received word that my parents would gift us the trip of going home so I have to find a place for my animals to stay for the two weeks, trying to get a tutoring schedule ready for our new program so that the tutors can at least prepare for the topics they will be tutoring, signing the report cards so they could be ready to go already a day late, and the myriad of other things. Oh boy. What a day.

And to top it all off, we had an InReach meeting (Social Committee) that went 1 1/2 hours overtime. We did get some things settled which was great, but wow. I got home late today!

After I got home, I ate. Then my husband suggested I could take a nap. Then he suggested that he would take a nap with me. And that walkless sleepwalk that I sometimes have came back, and I apparently shut off the alarms again. Meaning that we didn’t get to the gym last night. I was not happy, my husband was not so happy. But you can be sure we will be there tomorrow, rain or shine, tired or not.

Week 10 Day 1

After last night’s little truck mishap, it was nice just to sleep until I felt like getting up. I felt pretty good, was doing some laundry, and cleaning of the house, but unfortunately was not able to do a whole lot because I had to finish grading/report cards. So I sat upstairs for several hours, finishing the remainder of work. It felt SO GOOD to get it all done.

After I finished, we quickly got ready and went out for groceries. We then came home, ate, and were getting ready to go to the gym. Right before we left, I went downstairs to change the load of laundry only to find out my basement flooded… again! This is the second time in two months since we’ve moved to this townhouse. That threw a huge monkey wrench in our plans as my house was still is a state of disaster, and when I report the flooding, they will come in my house (plumber and landlord) to see the damage. I could not let him see the three weeks of neglect in my house. So we spent almost two hours cleaning and straightening up the downstairs. The plumbing truck was actually going door-to-door as this was once again a manhole back-up, meaning he had to move the water along in the manhole, our basements would drain, and we would need the cleaning company to come kill all the bacteria tomorrow. What a mess. We went to the gym incredibly late.

Once at the gym, it didn’t take me long to realize that this weekend’s frustrations had got to me. My mind was defeated, my adrenaline all used up, my body tired, and my body literally was refusing to complete some things properly. My box jumps, for example, should have been between 6-7 levels high. My body absolutely refused. Not even once, whether I closed my eyes, whether I reset myself, whether I tried to do it without thinking, could I do the jump with both feet. The right one would go up, the left one would do back down to the floor. I struggled. I had to put the jump back down 3 levels, something that seems like a baby jump to me now, and even so, my body seemed like it was punishing me, making it seem way harder than I know it is.

When I was in the main part doing barbell preacher curls and resistance band preacher curls, my husband saw me struggling. He came over, simply gave me a hug, and apologized for all the things that have happened. I can’t say that it gave me superb motivation and energy after that, but it did help me to at least feel good enough to power through the rest of the workout and complete 12 minutes of HIIT after. This weekend just has not been my weekend, and I’m looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

Week 9 Day 3

Today I woke up with a much better mindset. I got the sleep I needed, didn’t have to wake up to an alarm clock (the best feeling ever!) and I had no rush to go anywhere.

When I woke up, I did some school work and went to the gym for my first workout. This one was just 25 minutes of cardio but it was also my second time using my Sweet Sweat belt! I love that thing. I’ll continue to keep you updated about what I think about it.

I then came home, ate, and basically worked on school things while also taking some moments to read about the soldiers and reflect on what Remembrance Day is really all about.

My husband was not feeling good, so I ended up going with him to the doctor, then to get some winter clothing for his work, then to Wal-Mart for odds and ends, then to Shoppers for his prescription, and finally to Safeway for groceries. This took a chunk of time from my grading, but I’d rather know my husband was safe, especially since the roads are nice and icy now.

After we came home, I finished some more grading, and we got ready and went to the gym. Tonight was a heavy leg workout, but it was different than the others. Tonight, I prayed before I worked out and while I worked out, dedicating every fight I had with the weights to little Lennon’s fight for his life. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, please read yesterday’s post. With every struggle I had, I prayed it would somehow be me helping to fight his fight with him. Please continue to pray for him.

I’m now back at home and it’s past midnight, but I have still more grading to do. I haven’t even started writing my report cards yet. I’m not sure how this all added up. I’ll be so happy for sleep this coming weekend.

Hope you have a good night everyone!

Week 8 Day 7

Today was a rest day in many ways. I slept more, I relaxed a little. And then I had to work on grading, EPPs, and report cards! I’m behind, so the grading pile is massive. But I managed to get through all 17 EPPs and a bunch of grading, so I at least feel like I’ve progressed!

Not much really happened today, other than we woke up to snow. It’s the first snowfall of the season! As much as I know I’ll get tired and sick of it eventually, this first snowfall is kind of refreshing! I’m not sure how that works, but it does. I’m coming to the realization that even though it’s 12-15 degrees Celsius colder with the snow, I actually feel warmer than before the snow was here. I’m predicting the reason for this being that when it looks nice outside, my mind believes that it should be nice. So when the temperature is cold, my body freezes. But when there is snow on the ground, my body expects it to be cold, and therefore my body has adjusted to what it has seen and it doesn’t feel as cold.

Anyone else feel like this or is this just me?

Week 8 Day 5

My teeth hurt so bad. Honestly, I cannot wait for this to get easier. Today I did not forget my pain pills!

Work went good, but it was busy. There were a lot of things to get done, especially since this weekend will be spent catching up on grading and doing report cards. If there is one job I would love to get rid of, it would be grading. If I had the money and could find a legal way to do it, I’d hire a grader. It would help so much.

**Any fellow teachers who may be reading this blog, I’m curious what one job you would get rid of if you could? Leave your answer in a comment below!

I also had a meeting after school which was actually a training session for our new tutors. It went very well. We reviewed the expectations for them, what tutoring looked like, and how to be a positive influence in the lives of the people they would be tutoring. It honestly went very well, and thankfully, the other teacher I’m working with did most of the talking so I didn’t have to do more than I could handle. I love when people can do such great teamwork!

Following this training session, my husband came and brought me a smoothie! Oh how nice it was! I still can’t chew anything, so liquid food it is! I packed up my stuff, and my husband helped since I’m so behind in grading (seriously, that football weekend messed me up). We came home, ate (or I drank my food), and went to the gym. Now, my husband ended up taking a nap so we did get to the gym late. This was ok for me, but he still had to work the next day. So I didn’t have enough time to finish my whole workout.

I did all of the back exercises, and saved the ab exercises to go with my workout the next day. That also meant I had to bump a cardio session to the next day as well. But we were able to get some stuff done and get home followed by a quick getting ready and into bed.

Week 8 Day 3: Going Crazy

Today was a bit more stressful than usual. I have a big dentist appointment after school that I need to have my kids ready so that I can leave as soon as the bell goes while the other teacher will watch over my class, and yet have everything I need prepared including teeth cleaned before I see the dentist. Ah. All of this on top of trying to get as much grading done as possible since report cards are going to be an soon and upcoming deadline. Ah! Too much at once.

Somehow, I made it out the door to the dentist on time. Today was the day I was getting my Invisalign put on. But I definitely didn’t have any time to spare. In, to the washroom quick, and straight into the chair. First the polished my teeth. Then they put on these attachments to help the apparatus twist my teeth properly. Then they had to sand in between my teeth to make more room for movement. Finally, the plate got put on. Prior to leaving, the dentist made sure I knew how to take it off and put it back on as you’re not supposed to eat with it on.

Now, I had braces when I was in junior high, and I can remember the days of just laying on the couch in pain. But I don’t think I was as prepared for how much it would drive me crazy this evening. In fact it was driving me so crazy, and I was using every ounce of willpower I had not to take it off, that I ended up sleeping my evening and night away so that I wouldn’t be awake to have to deal with it. I didn’t even go to the gym. It’s messing me up so bad! I can’t even call it painful. But I can say that there was nothing more forefront on my mind than getting that tray out of my mouth. And I think the fact that I knew it was possible to take off made it all the worse. Ah! Sleeping away reality.