Monday

Sometimes I get really burned out by my job. It's not that it's all that difficult. It's just that it's not that easy either, and I rarely turn down work. I've always had a hard time saying no to work, but it's much worse now that I have post-traumatic-2005-finances syndrome. I'm working a program for that, but it's hard to find the time to make the meetings ;)

Last week I was really burned out. It took a lot of time to finish anything and I had to think awfully hard to write anything adequate. There was no feeling of satisfaction, just relief when I could finally turn something in. Chris went away and it was even worse. There were so many other things to be done. Plus, I couldn't sleep (and it wasn't because off the kids and the dogs in the bed, although there were kids and dogs in the bed).

But last night he came home and just as it should be, all is right again. I can sleep knowing my Big Strong Man is home. I don't know what he'd do if something went wrong because he can sleep through anything, but I slept much, much better having him nearby. Having him on the other side of the basement, puttering through his work projects, lends an element of balance to things. And so I Got Things Done today. And by the end of the day, I felt better about things. I honestly do like my job when I'm not letting it ruin my life. Although I harbor no romantic beliefs about it, I accept it for what it is. Schools need textbooks. And as long as politicians are involved in approving textbooks on behalf of our largest states, there will always be work for me.

There was enough money tonight to get the printer I needed as long as I got the cheapest one Office Depot had to offer. Afterwards we had $10 left over so we went to Meyer's Dairy and got ice cream. Yum. I went with an Epson this time, a big deviation for me since I have owned printers for 12 years and never ever purchased one that wasn't a Hewlett Packard. (The first printer we ever bought--a Lazerjet 4L--still works. No other printer we've owned since then has lasted nearly as long. But it does its work sloooooowly compared to "modern" printers and so it is relegated to backup.)

Happy August. This is our last week of swim season. The twins have their last two swim lessons this week. Max has his last week of swim practice and the Championship meet on Saturday. Next week starts Football season. With 3.5 hours a night devoted to football (20 minutes to get there, 10 minutes to set up our "watching" station, 2.5 hours of practice, 10 minutes to break down the "watching" station, 20 minutes to drive home), four nights a week, that should pretty rapidly propel us to September. After that it's two months of little more than school, football, piano lessons, rinse, repeat. Somewhere in there I'll can tomatoes. I planted more lettuce yesterday.

[It's 11:20 at night and 78 degrees outside. That is soooo wrong!]

I thought I was going to get more work done, but I'm passing out as I type. Off to bed.