Blessings and Challenges

Today had definitely had its ups and downs. I've been blessed by:

• see Eric run his hardest in the 100 m and 60m hurdles in a the junior pentathlon
• seeing Eric thoroughly immersed in reading
• great company and conversation at my social knitting group this afternoon
• Anthony tidying up the living area and vacuuming to give me a head start on the housework for the night
• Scribing a letter for Daniel to his new pen friend in California

However there are also some challenges:

• A very strained conversation about my work (or lack thereof) and how we can manage just on one much smaller income
• The great unwillingness and mini tantrums being thrown by one son whenever he is asked to help out with anything.
• Piles of laundry everywhere that must be dealt with before Thursday (when I'm leaving on a jet plane, la la la la la la la la)

Waiting...Waiting...

What Works for Me this week is trying to be patient but it isn't working all of the time.
Ok, I've had my time at home and now I'd like to split my time before home and school but I need ot have some schools ring up to ask me to work. I've mainly been hanging around at home, procrastinating about doing housework and not making too many plans for the day. Now, I'm thinking that if Murphy's Law is in effect I should plan some things for next week, especially my birthday! and then I'll be called into work.
I've got my bag of tricks packed up, a work outfit picked out ready to go and I am ready but them the phone doesn't ring.
So I need a very definite "Plan B" to follow around here so that things get done. Who knows? I may havea sparkling house with all the laundry up to date by the time the Christmas Holidays come around. Or maybe not.
And while we're on the subject of earning money, feel free to click on my Google Ads or I may never be able to buy any yard for knitting ever again!

When Working Isn't Working

On Friday I made a heart wrenching but necessary decision to resign from my position at school. I've come to a time in my life when I know I need to spend some time looking after myself and my family. I've been having issues from migraines, stress and being overweight and I need to do something about it because it is affecting my quality of life too much. And when my quality of life suffers so does that of my family. So I've changed from teacher to "stay at home Mum" for a time and I'm planning to do a year or so of relief teaching before looking for another full time position.

I'm feeling very fragile about making this move because I'm leaving behind a wonderful school community and being out on the big wide world on my own (aside from when I am at school in my "mum" role). I've been very anxious and my GP thinks I am actually grieving for what I've left behind.

Being a full time homemaker is actually a daunting prospect as I haven't done it for any great length of time before. Somehow I managed to get through a huge amount of work at school every day but I get very little done at home. Part of that is the distractions lurking around at home - it is very tempting to while away too many hours on the computer or to flop in front of TV. The routines at school are what help me keep going at school and the minimal distractions so I'm going to try to implement some routines at home as advocated by FlyLady. I've got a lot to get done to get our home and family running smoothly so I'm making lots of lists and hopefully I'll have a lot of positives to report on here.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the nurse that I see to discuss my anxiety issues and I'm planning to get stuck into Little Athletics Preparations as well as doing some housework. Organising the food is another high priority. I need to have a good look at what we've got in the cupboards and fridge and start doing proper meal planning again.