Work/ School Balance

I have been on vacation from work this week, which has been very nice. I’ve been able to sleep in, relax, watch TV, and do homework. I know, that last one isn’t that much fun, but just because I get a break from work doesn’t mean I don’t have school also. I’ll admit, it has been nice.

What wasn’t nice was having to spend a few days of my vacation on a big paper for school. I needed to do it and here’s where I ran into the problem. I probably could have had it done in like a day if I had just done it. I spent so much time not working on it that it took three times longer. I also didn’t exactly finish it. My teacher is fantastic and before “grading” it she looks it over and tells us what we need to improve on. I got a lot of it done and I got the information on the page, but the conclusion was weak and the second half of it wasn’t organized. I told the teacher all of this when I submitted it. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not when I know what is wrong with my paper and tell the teacher. She then glosses over what I said was wrong, saying that I called out what was wrong and to fix it. Does that mean I’ll be a good teacher because I know what is needed without the teacher telling me? I hope.

So that was half of my vacation. The other half consisted of a day trip to Longwood Gardens and getting some amazing pictures. I will be uploading them to my Etsy shop, by the way. I went with my mom so we were able to get some quality time in. Yesterday I spent half the morning having a procedure done and the other half both wired and half asleep thanks to the anesthesia. (Everything is fine, it was just a kind of confirmation of acid reflux I’ve had for twenty years and a check in on a condition I have) I had no idea you could be both wired and half asleep at the same time. It was strange. I was too awake to sleep and my brain wasn’t functioning enough to do anything.

I haven’t mentioned the big thing that’s been going on in my life since the end of January. I am getting a house! I’m getting a manufactured home. So while I have been doing school and work, I’ve also been packing. My room looks like a combination of a tornado coming through and empty. It’s strange. I’ve been living with my mom since my divorce many years ago so I have years of junk and stuff crammed into my room. I’m now going through everything and getting rid of what I don’t use or need and packing everything else. It’s still going to be a while before the house is put in and I can move, but there’s a lot to go through so the things I’m not using I’m packing. I’m also getting all this stuff for my house that I want to open and “play” with like my new pots and pans, but I need to leave them in the box for when I am in the house. I don’t want more things to have to pack up. I have pots and pans that work right now.

The hardest thing about getting the house is the wait and timing. From September until maybe mid-November I am so busy at work I can’t take off. I also need to be completely moved in by December because I MAY have a friend coming to visit and I need to have my dog comfortable in the house before he comes (the joys of a reactive dog). June brings my huge capstone class that I need to do well in and that’s eight weeks of concentration. I also have to wait for the well and septic to be put in. That is the holdup right now. I have to wait for one permit for the septic before the well guy can get the permit for the well and they can’t get the building permit until the other is done and they can’t order the house until they get the building permit. It’s been a hurry up and wait. It’s also a learning experience for me. When I was married we were in a townhouse so it was maybe a month or two once we decided to get it before we could move in. It’s coming though and I can’t wait!