Weekly Wrap-up: March was a Fail, Spring Break, etc.

Oh, hi. So, March went by in a total blur. February was the month of being sick (the flu AND walking pneumonia) and March turned into a month of catch-up, grading, and stress. Stress in all parts of my life.

First, owning your own home is expensive, especially a home that needs work to live in comfortably. When we were originally approved for our mortgage, it was with a down payment assistance program from the state. We found out a week before our closing, after an audit from the state of Michigan, that we would make $900 OVER the max limit to qualify. And lost the $7500 in closing assistance we had been counting on (I still qualified for the Homes for Heroes program, which gave us a percentage of our closing costs back in a check a week after we signed). So, our savings went toward closing costs and money we were counting on to renovate the kitchen, etc was gone. Essentially in the months of January and February, all our money was going to fixing the kitchen so we could live in it comfortably. It was rough. And we fell behind in bills. We're still playing catch up, but the month of March was a bit miserable. It helps that Matt is starting his new (big boy) job on Monday with a huge increase in income.

But being an adult sucks. We've never been amazing at managing our finances, but we've gotten a lot better at it over the last few years, which is why we could even buy this house in the first place. But it brings back a lot of anxiety when we fall behind. Once we're ahead, I'll be good and things will settle. And realistically, we aren't in bad shape. We have debt (namely, Matt's student loans), but we are not in a bad position at all.

In addition to all that stress, work was crazy. Just crazy. I fell behind in grading and just couldn't catch up. I'm still not caught up, but I'm in the best position right now that I could hope for. I hit the point in my APUSH classes where I was just trying to keep my head above water in my grading to get to where I needed to be by Spring Break (we hit 1980-huzzah!). My other classes also seemed to be stressful and I was just doing my best to stay afloat.

I also got my new IFP installed (Interactive Flat Panel-a fancy Smart Board) and had every tech problem imaginable in the two weeks it's been in my room-dropping signal, freezing, booting me from my lecture notes, changing pen colors and widths mid-sentence, sound issues, etc. It's being permanently mounted over break, so hopefully that fixes some of the issues, but there were days where I was so frustrated because I just wanted to teach and my technology kept failing.

We're also in the midst of a renovation thanks to bond money, so our media center closed, reducing the number of computers we have for kids. I was also told a week into the month of March that I need to box up my room and tear things off my walls to prep for my room being painted over break. Seriously. So, I had to tear down everything, move furniture and pack up fragile items in my classroom so it can get painted. When I get back on Monday (the 9th) after break, I have no idea what I'm walking into. And I have to teach that day. So, yeah. I understand that they're trying to get smaller tasks done over breaks to reduce the work getting done over the summer (our roof was replaced last summer), but it had a big impact on me. With the technology upheaval, personal stress, and just my regular job workload, I was in a terrible mood for the last two weeks.

BUT! Our last day was Thursday and I spend Friday doing absolutely nothing. I slept about 15 hours Thursday night and spent Friday playing video games and watching Netflix. Seriously. Saturday wasn't much better. I did some things around the house I've been neglecting (laundry) and went to Target for some necessities, then just vegged around. I really needed it. But now I feel like I'm getting a cold. And it's cold and rainy in Michigan and we're supposed to be getting snow this week. Yay spring break.

I'm actually really excited to have the week off. We have boxes in the basement that I need to go through. I want to finish going through my book boxes and sorting-a lot will be going to school to go in my classroom library, which is pitifully small. Some will stay in boxes until we buy a couple more bookshelves in May (we budgeted it out for a big IKEA trip for a few things we need. The closest IKEA is an hour away). I told myself that once I have all my bookshelves, my personal collection has to fit on it. Extras go to school or get donated.

I'm also planning on finishing some decoration around the house. We haven't really hung anything on the walls, mainly because all that knick-knack stuff is still boxed up. I also just want to toss some things that we never use and declutter, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also planning on putting new fabric on our kitchen chairs, but that depends on what I can find at the store.

But I'm also just looking forward to reading, relaxing, and spending time with Matt. His new job will have him home a couple days per week, so he'll be around the house with me. Truthfully I'm hoping he'll carry boxes upstairs for me. ;) It should be a nice, relaxing week.

Well, we're off to Easter celebrations-first a breakfast at my parents', then brunch out with Matt's family. Happy Easter!