Mondays are for ME!

Hey, before I ramble on about today's topic, I just have to say, HIP-HIP-HOORAY!  BILL HAS GONE BACK TO WORK!!!  The doctor signed the medical release allowing him to return to work!

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This Fall we lost 500 of our students to a new elementary school the district built nearby, bringing our total population from approximately 1,200 to a number in the 700 range.  Because of this, we lost a lot of teachers (who transferred to the new school or elsewhere in the district), and specialties were reduced from four to three.  Because of the drop in student population, we receive less funding, which in turn, reduces the contract hours the principal has to offer to me.

I was on a 3/4 contract and was very happy with it.

Now, I am on a 6/10 contract.  From .75 to .6.  I calculated that between reduced salary and increased medical insurance premiums, I will be making between $5,000 and $6,000 LESS this year than last year.

That stinks.

However, the reduced contract was achieved by eliminating specialties on Mondays.

I now have Mondays off!

There is the silver lining in this nasty storm cloud on my horizon!

Today was my first Monday off.  I was really looking forward to finally finding out what it would be like to be a 'stay at home' mom!  Of course, when my kids were pre-school aged, I did stay home with them.  Ever since they have been old enough for school, however, I have been at work while they have been at school.  I always envied the ladies who had a quiet house all to themselves.

I have had all summer to think about what I should do on my Mondays.  I came to the conclusion that it should be filled only with things that I want to do!  A day dedicated to me!

That may sound selfish, but, actually...

First thing after seeing the kids out the door, I headed off on my 13 mile bike ride on the trail that loops to the canyon and back.  I was hoping to get a really good time on it.  I knew I would have to deal with the 3 main obstacles on the course... a stretch of unfinished trail in the middle, a large road construction zone to cross, and the monster hill.  Unfortunately, I also had to contend with A LOT of joggers!  Apparently all the pedestrian exercisers come out in the morning.  I simply couldn't blast past them going full speed.  Trail etiquette required that I slow down and warn people when passing.  In the end it took me over an hour.  Phooey.  I'm looking forward to cooler fall weather when I can trail ride mid-day.


When I got home, I decided that I wanted to tackle some weeds while it was still cool and shady out.

Before...

After!

I will admit, I think the mailbox looked better with all those weeds below it.  Sort of rural chic.  Not to worry, though.  They will be back before you know it!  Also, that power pole smells strongly like the piers in downtown Seattle.  It is such a flashback for me every time I pull weeds next to it!

After showering, I decided that I wanted to get some home improvement done, too.  So I put on my old painting pants.  You know the ones!  The 'I don't want to ruin any other clothes, so I'll just hang onto these and use them every time I have a painting project!

Of course, mine are now two sizes too big.  Ah well.  I can paint and hitch my pants up at the same time.  I am talented that way.

My original plan was to clean off and paint the laundry room window sill.  

That turned out to be a bust when I discovered that the sill hadn't been caulked, yet, and I couldn't find the caulking gun.  After searching for over an hour, I called Bill.  He didn't know where it was, but promised to bring one home from work.  So sweet of him, but that meant that the window became a project for next week.  I needed something to do, now!

I decided it would be a good time to do some touch up painting to cover marks on the walls.  The walls in the basement have been collecting scuff marks for about 3 years now.  It was time to do something about it.  And there were spots that we simply never got around to finishing.  So...

...here are the before and after shots!

Laundry room towel rack.  The marks came when I accidentally dropped the clock while trying to hang it.  Oops.  I did touch ups of the walls near the kids' bedrooms, too, but I didn't take a picture of that.

Laundry room ironing board cupboard trim.  I painted before the ironing board was installed and missed a spot.

When the folded laundry cupboard was initially installed, they put it in the wrong spot and I made them move it.  That left some holes in the wall that the workers spackled over, but that I needed to repaint.

The most glaringly unattractive spots in the basement!  Originally, we planned to keep going with the renovations to the main floor as soon as the basement was completed, so I didn't finish painting the transition.  However, the downturn in the economy forced us to postpone indefinitely the rest of the house renovations.  But the transition remained unpainted.  Not anymore!  I still need to paint the trim work on the stairs, but that can wait until next week when I do the laundry room window.

By the time I was done with the first layer of paint on that last project, the kids were walking in the door from school and I was starving!  So, I had lunch before finishing the second coat of paint.

The 'ME' part of my day was over.  I drove Will to get the gear he would need for lacrosse, which will be starting up this week.  Then I picked Bill up from work (he gets his work truck back tomorrow) before coming home and baking cookies for tomorrow's lacrosse party/parent meeting.

I was even able to watch one episode of Star Trek: Next Generation before heading to the pool with the family for an evening swim.  I know, I am a Trek geek.  At the pool, Helena was frustrated with the rest of us because we all wanted to swim laps.  I can't be in a pool and not swim laps!  Really, what else is a pool for other than SWIMMING?!  But still, I think everyone had fun.  The hot tub sapped my energy and now I am forcing myself to finish this post so I can go to bed and return to my normal life of working while the kids are at school.

It is funny, because I got a lot done today, but I didn't consider it 'work'.  It was just the stuff I wanted to do!  Truthfully, though, I don't think of my job as 'work', either, because it is also stuff I want to do!

I like my life!