Thank you, Thanksgiving.

These four days have been so perfectly, exactly what I wanted and needed.

I got to sleep! Like a normal person! Eight to ten hours a night for four nights in a row! It's amazing. During the week I can never ever get enough sleep (mostly because it's impossible to get to bed early enough to be well-rested by six am)(and I know a lot of teachers get up before that. I don't know how you do it!), and then two days of weekends is just enough to get a taste before the early mornings again.

I promised myself I would not work this weekend. However, I brought my school computer home because technically I have stuff I should do. (Lesson plans? What?) And for less than an hour this evening, I actually did a little and put together a couple activities for the week. But other than that, I've hardly even thought about school. The mental break has been such a blessing!

I spent some time with my friends on Thanksgiving, and I spent some nice time with my boyfriend. Nothing super exciting, but really enjoyable. We went out to eat once or twice, and we played some games at home. It's so relaxing and peaceful to be together or at least in the same room when it's not a school/work night.

November is such a weird month with all the days off, but still crazy stressful. December seems really long, with the beautiful vacation at the end and no little breaks to ease the stress. However, I think I can work it so it will be a little more bearable. The weekends are already filling up, and a family member will be visiting, and I think I get to hang out with an old blogger friend that I've never met! I'm hoping to get a little photography in as well.

I keep thinking about last year and comparing. I do feel stressed and I do work too much, just like last year. Like last year, at times I feel a LOT of frustration and anger about my class (certain misbehaviors and my inability to prevent/fix them), admin issues, and work/life balance. However, I'm not crying. I don't exactly feel successful--there's far too much that I'm supposed to do every single day to ever feel like I'm caught up or where I need to be professionally. But I don't feel despair. I'm not sure that I felt despair last year, but I should have. :) I guess we'll see how December starts off this week.

I haven't been on here much, and I'm grateful if anyone is still reading. I have a lot going on in my head, I promise (including more silly/cute quotes from Goofball), and a lot I should be exploring and reflecting here. It's hard to make the time and make the effort when I only have one or two hours at home before I have to go to bed again. Work/life balance is tricky, you know? :)

I probably shot myself in the foot by not working this weekend, and I probably will need to work too late this week. I will do my best not to make it excessive though. I will make more of an effort to pop on here. I like sharing things and I like having a record to go back and look at.

I hope you all had a wonderfully restful weekend and wish you a happy Monday!