Easy week ahead

It's Sunday night, which is usually when I start worrying about the upcoming school week, however, I feel a little differently this Sunday.

This week will be a piece-of-cake! I have one teaching school day this week, a Day 6, which is my easiest day. Tuesday is an in-service for all of the regional schools' music teachers. Wednesday is an in-service at my school. Thursday and Friday we have off for the NJEA convention. I guess technically we should go, but for the past two years, we haven't. There is never really a whole lot there for music teachers, and we usually go to the NJMEA convention in February, which is much more beneficial (BTW, the "M" stands for "Music"). I was actually planning on going to one day of the convention, but I changed my mind. Since Meg is home, I'd rather stay at home and spend the 4 day weekend with her.

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I have this feeling right now about the baby that can be described as that feeling you get when there is a major snowstorm in the forecast. You know how it is. You stay up to 11 and watch the news reports, snowfall total forecasts, and the Doppler radar. You know it is late, but you don't care, because there is a chance that you will get to sleep in tomorrow. Then, you finally go to bed, and can barely sleep. You wake up every hour or so, and want so bad to peek outside and see if the snow has started, but you can't get up the guts, because you'll know that if it hasn't started, you'll be going to school. It is just a feeling of anticipation and excitement, but only conditionally. It all depends on whether the snow actually comes. I am feeling like this right now with the baby. Just being told that it can happen at any moment is like constantly waiting to see if it is going to snow tomorrow! Chances are it won't anytime soon, but just knowing the possibility is there....

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This weekend has been very fun and relaxing. Friday night Meg and I went to Peter's, which wasn't our plan, but Meg got some money from her surprise baby shower at school on Friday. Afterwards I went shopping solo, so that Meg could go home and rest. I know she really wanted to go with me, but I feel better knowing that she is comfortable, and don't mind shopping on my own.

Saturday morning we went to Sam's for our monthly stock-up trip. Oh, the 'grocery experiment' as I call it went well in October. We were only $7 over our budget for the month (which is way better than the $50-$100+ that it was before), and that was with our 'mock thanksgiving' dinner that we have every year with my family.

On the way home from Sam's, we saw that they were doing free carseat inspections in the new Target parking lot. We had both of our cars inspected, which was good, because I really didn't have either carseat tight enough, even though I had them as tight as I could get them.

After that, we cleaned the house, since Meg's mom was coming to, well, help us clean. I learned this weekend that some people are cleaners and others are straighteners. I am a straightener--a major one. I hate clutter; I like everything to have a place and be nice and organized. I like desks, counters, and tables to be clear, and floors not to be covered with stuff. Meg's mom is a cleaner. She spent a while today cleaning the kitfchen: inside the microwave, cleaning the vents on the front of the oven with a toothbrush, scrubbing down the fronts of the cabinets. However, she is not a straightener. When she was finished, the kitchen was cluttered with dishes and cleaning supplies. I felt bad, because to me, it looked worse than when she started. And I hardly ever notice things like dust and dirty microwaves. Oh well, at least I know the area is clean and germ free.

Meg's mom took us to Cotardo's, a nice Italian place in Blackwood. This has been one of my favorite restaurants since I was a little kid. I had the special, which was black and lobster ravioli. Meg had chicken, topped with cheese and crab meat, and Mom had one of my personal favorites, Tortellini della Casa, which is homemade tortellini served with blush sauce with shrimp and scallops. Yum!

I spent the rest of the weekend getting caught up on grading papers, and deciding how to best utilize my Zen. I put on my Christmas list that I want a yearly subscription for Yahoo Music Unlimited To-Go, but was disappointed with the performance of Yahoo Music Jukebox. In the process of syncing with my Zen, both the Zen and the computer froze three times. Plus, I love the new version of Windows Media Player. So, after talking to my brother and doing some research, I discovered that I can download the songs from YME and play them in WMP. Windows MP will even refresh the licenses for the files too. So far, I have been very impressed with the new version of WMP. It has integrated seamlessly with my Zen. It is also much faster than WMP 10 (especially with searching). It also has a new, clean interface, which relies on album art. Most of the CD's I have ripped did not have the album art, but that is okay, since you can manually add it yourself. I am most impressed with the synchronization. It automatically synchronizes all music, pictures, and videos, and playlists. It also synchronizes media information whenever you change something.

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Okay, I really should be getting to bed now... I've gotta be mentally prepared for my easy week.

Ready for parenthood...

Ahhh, I miss the days of summer when I actually blogged every day. Lately, I am lucky if I blog once a week.

Everything in the baby department is going well. Check out Baby D's Blog for an update on her health. As far as myself, I can happily say that I am completely ready, if not too ready, for Baby D's arrival. First off, I am tired of referring to her as Baby D. Meg and I are very happy with the name we have chosen, and I am just dying to start using it. But, it is a secret, and will stay that way. Second, the house is ready. The nursery looks fabulous (pictures here - updated pictures at the bottom), and we have all of the equipment we need, and I am eager to start using it. Thirdly is the issue that I hate the unknown. I like to have things planned and mapped out. And, well, this is impossible to schedule. So, the sooner the baby comes, the sooner it will be until we are out of limbo.

Despite all of this confidence, I can't help but feel that I am completely underestimating parenthood. But, then I think about all of the other things that I (and we) have accomplished, getting married, buying a house, moving into three different homes, getting a dog, getting a job (or two in my case), and securing our financial independence to name a few. This is the logical next step in life. I am sure it will be a challenge, but so has everything else, and hey, what exactly is wrong with a challenge anyway?

Next week, my students have one day of school. Then, we have two days of in-service, and then the NJEA convention. I am looking forward to a relaxing week of school, as it has been very hectic lately. We had our first performance on Tuesday, the Halloween Parade. In my three years there, it was the best performance yet.

Things are going much better with pretty much everything this year, yet there are still some challenges. I am having some trouble motivating my younger band students. I have a huge group of 4th and 5th graders, and they all seem to have a very defeatist attitude when it comes to learning anything new. I feel like I end up reviewing over old stuff and teaching very little new stuff in every rehearsal. I know one reason is that they don't practice, and I am not sure how to motivate them to do so.

I am also dealing with the same behavior issues in my classes. Well, now the major problem has come down to one class. They just seem to have it out for me. Students who are generally well-behaved in other classes turn into obnoxious, attention-starved brats when they get into my room. I had a girl on Wednesday who would not stop calling out. I decided to completely ignore her, and then the calling out got more frequent and louder. I finally gave up, and gave her a demerit. Then she pretended to cry, very badly mind you, because she kept laughing in between 'sobs.' Another teacher suggested calling her parent, so I am going to try that next.

Tomorrow is Friday, and then the weekend, and then one easy day of school, and then the rest of the week is professional development (i.e., no kids!). I need a break... unless Baby D decides to come this week!