Saturday, November 08, 2008

What do you do with a Bye Week

The last two weeks have been exciting, busy, and stressful.  I sure am glad I had a bye week in the Saints season to get some things accomplished. 

Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States.  Though I tend to have Republican leanings, I have been pretty anti-republican since Katrina.  Since this feeling has not abated over 4 years, perhaps they won't ever go away.  And though my father-in-law is a die hard conservative, my mother-in-law (who lives much closer) is a die hard liberal and educator.  I agree with her and her partner on most everything these days.

Last weekend instead of watching football, my wife and I went looking for nice towns and neighborhoods in New Jersey.  Sure, Pennsylvania is nice, but it's an hour from work.  I miss all the plays and games and special events because it's a two-hour driving sacrifice, one there and one back.  I like the school, the parents, and the children a lot, and I want to be part of the things that go on there.  But I haven't been able to justify it time wise.  And I can't commit a baby to a school if it means he's going to be in the car 2 hours a day.  So we went looking for houses.  We found a nice town with a train to New York and big trees and a cute downtown with an Indian restaurant and a coffee shop, all within walking distance of just about every house in town.  Now we need to start getting this house together so we can start really making a commitment to this move. (In contrast to New Jersey, there are three (3!) Indian restaurants in the entire Lehigh Valley.  I can only imagine life in Missouri.)

It's getting to the end of the marking period, and I have quite a few students that I just am not connecting with yet.  I feel like the kids and I have just missed each other.  I have too much work to do, and I think that I may be forgetting to remind them of simple things that I would not normally forget.  So between trying to figure out what I am missing, forgetting, and being consumed by my new history class, I am a little loopy. 

This Friday we played the seniors in touch football.  Since we don't have a football team, the kids usually get beat pretty badly.  This year, our quarterback was a little bit off.  For the first time in the 230 year history of our school, we tied. 6-6.  I feel like I kissed my sister. 

My wife has been traveling a lot with her work, and I have been home alone with Baby George.  I love hanging out with him, but its really hard to get any school work done.  Part of it is guilt for not spending time with him, and part is that he doesn't really nap all that much.  He sleeps through the night, and he goes to bed fairly early.  However, once he hits the sack, I am way too tired to do much except drool on myself and watch tv.  (He really hated the time change last weekend.  (I did, too.)

It's all I can do to keep the house clean enough to walk around in by myself.  Right now, the shop vac is in the dining room, test papers are on the island in the kitchen, leaves are all over the yard, and halloween decorations are everywhere.  I think most of my laundry is in the dryer, and the dishwasher is running.  The floor is covered with leaves and dog hair and dirt pieces.  If I had a minute I would vacuum or something, but I have no idea when I am supposed to do that.  I don't know how single parents do it.  They must be saints.

Tomorrow, I have to go grocery shopping, plan for school, and cook some good Louisiana food before the Saints play at 1 PM.  I know I can do it, and I will have fun doing it all with George.  But I sure wish I had someone to help me out so I could take a shower sometime this weekend.

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