"Don't Be Afraid"

So says Julia Child. So shall I be.

Post Grad, redux. I'm going back to school. I'm getting my Master's in Instructional Design & Technology. I'm finally learning to combine my love of design/programming with education.

And if I don't like it? After 4 classes, I'll have a certificate in Instructional Design.

"Be ye not afraid." I'm trying, oh Wise One.

Boy, do I have a lot to get used to

It's been quite a day. In fact, I've been told it's almost "back to the country." At least, it's preparing me for that.

It started yesterday. My landlord had a guy come install a new front door. No reason, except it looks nicer. In doing so, my door was left off for about an hour. By the time I started eating supper, I had flies buzzing around my head. A few swats and they were gone. I THOUGHT.

By this morning, I started looking closely. The front window had maybe 5 or 6 flies. Aggravating but manageable. I don't know what caught my interest, but I headed to the window in my dining room. I never go in there these days because it's full of school things. There had to be 20 flies on the window, not counting the ones in the air. Holy Toledo. I flew my tail straight to Home Depot and got THREE fly traps. Two hanging fly paper type things and one bag that has attractant in it. One of each in the dining room. A hanging version at the front window.

As of now, Maggie: 8 Flies: 0

I have this sick fascination with going to check on the bags. When looking at the one full of water and attractant, it falls straight to my CARPETED floor. Oh, fantastic. I dab it with paper towels then left it covered up with clean PTs. Either my flies are stupid or that junk doesn't work because not a one has gone to the spot on the floor. Either way, most of the liquid remained in the bag. It still hasn't caught a fly.

Oh, but then. I was walking back to check on my traps. Barefoot. La te da. Probably singing in my head. When I came this close to stepping on a LIZARD. In my DINING ROOM. Oh, yes.

I haven't checked a trap since.

Sad Days of Summer

I'm very much a homebody. I love being at home. When I thought I was going to go back to school this week to start setting up my classroom I got nervous. Butterflies. Nausea. Sweaty. Figured it was because I was going back to see people I hadn't seen in a month.

Today, I finally left home to go to the grocery store. I got nervous. Butterflies. Nausea. Guess it's not just school. It's me.

Me

Before I met the engineer, I had never laughed so hard that I snorted.

Ketchup Summer

I just got some great news. They're going to open up my hall of the school, which means I can get in there and slowly start setting up my room. Which means, I can get all that stuff out of my guest room and finally clean it. AND, I can get into the boxes of my books and finish sorting them by genre and labeling by reading level. I can't describe the peace I get when everything is sorted and labeled. I feel so relaxed!

Post Grad

Sometimes I get these feelings like I'm not living up to what I should be. I graduated from college 2 years ago. I teach school; about to start my 3rd year. I've always wanted to be a teacher. Love my principal. Love my coworkers. Love my kids. Something's not right.

I love math. I'm good at it. Standardized tests would make me giddy. Knowing there's only 1 right answer. The perfect evenness of it. I miss those.

I read like it's going out of style. Everyday. All the time. I have to physically tear myself away when the engineer is home so I can spend time with him. Torn between 2 loves.

I used to stay up till the wee hours of morning working on computer programs. Creating way more than was necessary for an A. Just for the thrill of it.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing what I should be. Should I have been a mathematician? An accountant? Librarian? Writer? Programmer? I wish I could go back to my freshman year of college and take all those classes again and really listen to my gut this time. Cause right now? I don't have a clue.

Itch to Pitch + Ketchup Week

I'm feeling very overwhelmed in my apartment these days. I feel like I have too much junk floating around and I'm just dying to get rid of things. This would, ideally, be the time to take care of it, but I'm lost and don't know where to start.

Okay, okay. Start at the beginning, right? The room bothering me the most is the guest room / office. It's full of my school things, so I can't get in there until school starts again in the fall (and I can unload all of it back into my classroom!). It's the elephant in the room. It's all I can think about it. I started on some half-finished knitting projects in the mean time. I also need to do some sewing, take some clothes to good will, clean out the closets. I also need a bit of motivation. I firecracker in the rear, so to speak. Any ideas? Ideally something less painful?