Weekly Wrap-up for October 4, 2015: On Being Busy and #15in31.

Hi everyone!

It has been a little while since I've done a weekly wrap-up kind of a post, so I thought it would be good to jump on this morning and catch up. I have a lot to get done today, now that I'm finally feeling semi-human, but I'm seeing this as a bit of a priority.

The truth is, during the school year, school and the work that goes into being a high school English teacher, takes precedence over everything else in my life. I determine what I can actually do at night based on what grading I have to do. I plan weekend activities around how much school work I have to do. It's really quite sad.

I have noticed that the last couple of years my at-home workload has gotten lighter. Probably because I am creating less new material to use in my classes (that's what happens when you teach a class multiple times-you have lots of things stored up, so you're not creating a lesson from scratch for every day of the week). I've also become a lot better about cramming in work at school and being more productive. That's hard for me because I don't really grade while the kids are working (I can't concentrate, and I inevitably get called on to help, which is fine because that's my job). In any case, I'm still working to create that work/home balance.

This year I made a goal to leave by 3:30 every day. That has yet to happen. Truthfully, I'm productive when I'm at the building after school. It's quiet because most teachers go home, and I have free reign of the copier! But I'm working towards getting my stuff done at school and bringing less home at night, with the exception of weekends. That's a hard balance, but I'm trying.

I'm telling you all this because for my own sanity, I do need to reestablish some time for myself, and that's the goal I have moving forward. I love my job, I'm good at it, but I need to spend some time doing other things.

The biggest thing that has fallen apart since getting a fulltime teaching job is reading. There are some days where I come home so mentally drained that the idea of picking up a book fills me with dread. That's when I binge-watch a show. But I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with going a month without picking up a book. So I'm trying to remedy that.

When the #15in31 challenge popped up in my Instagram feed, I debated for a moment before joining in. I know it's crazy. I rarely read 15 books in a month during the summer, so how would I do it during the school year? Ha! But why not try? So I am. I think this challenge is a great way to inspire myself to keep pushing forward with that work/home balance and jump back into the things I love doing-reading and writing about books.

I think it'll also serve as a great warm-up to November and NaNoWriMo. It's been a few years since I've participated, but I'm jumping in this year.

In any case, I had a great weekend of reading. Truthfully, the only reason it was so successful was because I was super-sick Thursday and Friday (I came home from school on Thursday with a 102 fever, so I called in for Friday and stayed in bed coughing and sneezing all day). But that meant a lot of time to read and relax and take a little pressure off myself. I ended up reading 4 books! You'll see reviews for them in the next couple weeks because I've already written them (look at me go!)

Anyway, I'm hoping I keep this balance going so that I can do more of the things I love doing. :)

Have a fabulous week!