Busy Busy

This week has been full to the brim of things to do, despite (or especially because) of the fact that the boys are gone. Every morning this week, I subbed for another teacher at the junior college. It was my job to make their students talk, and to get them to fill out one specific survey. That's it. I scrambled through the materials they gave me when I started working there, and the time possitively flew. I guess I'm used to planning fifty minutes at a time, and these classes were forty. Everything took longer than I expected, so that was great. The first day, we made sympathy cards for their teacher, whose grandmother had died. The next day, we did the survey as an interview, that spilled into day three. Since then, we've been playing games that involve talking. I've been loving being in the classroom again.
Also, this week I started class two of my masters degree. This one is called Action Research, and is part one of a three part set that is meant to help us do our major research project for the degree. Step one is to identify a problem at your school that you might be able to aliviate. STRESS! If you haven't noticed, I love my school, and I hope it never changes. It took me most of the week to 1) do the reading to figure out what I was supposed to do and 2) identify any problem at all, much less the three we're supposed to start out with. So that's kept me very busy and very freaked out. Research makes me nervous. But I think I'll like it once I get past the panic attack. That's going to take awhile, though.
Friday, I had agreed to keep Mel's cat while the movers were packing up her stuff. She came over before school to drop him off. I let him wander relatively free while I was getting ready. Before I left for school, he had jumped out a window, and I was certain he was lost and gone forever. If I didn't have to go to school, I would have spent the morning running around the neighborhood calling for him, but I couldn't. Instead, I called Mel and begged forgiveness. I told her the window through which he escaped was still open, and I'd look for him the minute I got home. Then I set about feeling super super guilty. I thought of everything Mel's done for me since I've been here, and that just made it worse. Visions of squished cat danced through my head. I got in my car to go to school and promptly saw the cat running across the road. I threw the car into park in the middle of the (very narrow one-way) road and dashed after him. It didn't take long for me to lose him again, and the honking from the street indicated I really better get to my car. So I gave up and went back to feeling guilty. When I told the teachers at school what had happened they assured me that Mel was going to die of grief, so I went home determined to find the stupid cat or die trying.
When I got home, the cat was in the house acting like nothing was wrong. I closed the window and called Mel. As it turned out, she spent all morning freaking out. She even got someone to come stay with the movers so she could go looking for him. Obviously, she didn't have any luck, and she was certain she would never see him again and she was devastated. I felt horrible. Then, we investigated further and realized that the window he jumped out leads to a balcony (the realitor called it "not safe" when we saw the place originally), and from there, there's no where to go. Literally. We decided that he would have had to stayed on that balcony or he never could have gotten back in. SO, as it turns out, the cat was on my property the whole time, and I chased some other cat through the road, and Mel worried for nothing. :::sigh::: At least he's back safely. Next time, I'll tell her to take him to the kennel on base.
Friday's class was actually my childcare class, too. I had planned what I thought was 90 minutes of work and expected to have extra time at the end of class. We got through 10 minutes of my plan. Their level is low, and things take time. So I can relax a little about lesson planning and expect to get through less material this semester. But I like them. They're a good class. We're going to be fine.
After all the chaos of that day, I enjoyed a lovely bath before bed just to relax enough to sleep.
Saturday, I let myself sleep in, then set about doing the masters work I had been avoiding all week. That took most of the morning. Then I cleaned up the house (it was getting pretty bad) and took care of Dory. Back home, I allowed myself an afternoon of play time before Mel came over to go out for dinner and then come back for a movie. Saturday was also the last day before the election. Mel and I did not realize this when we arranged to go out for dinner together. At seven, the trucks with the speakers were out in full force, and outside on the streets, people had gathered in support of their favorite candidates to wave and cheer. Even the guy who owns the Mexican restaurant was fascinated watching the vans go by and the people yell. It was insane! I think my hearing got worse. We enjoyed dinner, all the same. The Mexican place makes fresh guacomole, so that was yummy.
Then at 8:00, everything had to stop, so walking home after ice cream, it was so quiet it sounded, as Mel said, like the world had ended. We watched our movie and I allowed myself to go to bed early.
This morning, it was pouring down rain, and the silence of the night before was still pervasive. No one is out and about today, which suits me just fine. I went to church, came home, finished my school work for the week, and here I am. Next week is looking a lot less stressful, and I'm glad.
I'd have some pictures for this post, but SOMEONE :::glares playfully at Zack::: took my camera with him. We'll be investing in a new one soon, he assures me. In the mean time, words will have to do...