you'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best (I've been drunk for a month, I've been drunk since I left)

I'm spending my Saturday with students; sometimes I'm not sure why I do stuff like this.  I want to stay home with Shawn and the pups.  I have to leave in an hour to meet four of them at the school and drive them to the theatre where we will meet the rest - and they perform at 2:30.  It's nice that they get to do their show early in the event ... if only it meant that we could leave immediately afterward.  I'd actually like to sneak off and not watch the other schools' performances, but that wouldn't exactly set the right example for people I'm supposed to be teaching about theatre etiquette.  And it would leave kids stranded without a ride home.  So I'm in for the long haul.  Goodbye Saturday.

The weather is lousy today, and though I freely admit my definition of lousy has changed significantly since we moved here, I am not excited about driving in it, especially with students in my vehicle.  My father-in-law just called to ask if he could offer me his CRV in exchange for the Element for today, because he's worried about me driving in the snow and the CRV has all-wheel drive.  It's so nice to have family here.

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Yesterday was crazy in the world of trying-to-have-a-kitchen-again.  They were supposed to phone us early in the morning before we left for work so they could be let into the house.  But, as we are learning is typical, they didn't call until long after we both had to leave.  

I arrived at school to find that the other Drama teacher was "sick" (again) and an administrator was filling in because there was no substitute teacher.  He begged me to fill in even though it was my free block - and I agreed.  Partly because people who are trying to get a permanent contract don't say no to requests from administrators, but mostly because I am a person who has trouble saying no to anyone about anything. 

So I was stuck looking after this class of kids with no plan of what to teach them, and a million other things I had planned on doing instead.  Like sorting out how to let in the cabinet installers, and preparing for round two of my teaching evaluation.

I ended up showing a movie to these poor kids whose teacher isn't coming to school much these days - and made a zillion phone calls to the installers and to Shawn while we sorted out what to do.  Was the alarm set?  Was the door locked?  

Finally I took matters into my own hands and raced home to disarm the alarm and unlock the door so the installers could get in to the house at their leisure; leaving the house unlocked makes me extremely nervous.  But I didn't really have any other options.  I did this run while I was still supposed to be teaching.  Fortunately, I live close enough to the school that I could manage this disappearing act in a class that was absorbed in a movie and actually not even have them notice I was gone.  Thank goodness nothing went wrong.

Next block, I stumbled and stuttered through an evaluation I felt completely unprepared for - but the evaluator seemed pleased with it.  I haven't received the write up yet, so I could be wrong, but I think she liked what she saw.  Does lack of preparation work in my favour?  Hah.

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When I got home at the end of the day, the installers had managed to put down most of the subfloor and had started moving the bottom cabinets into place.  It's not a kitchen yet, by any means, but I'm finally starting to be able to see, at least, something that helps me see where we're going.  I'm not a person who look at a drawing on graph paper and envision what that will look like in real space.

After an hour at home to feed the pups and play with them, it was time to go back to the theatre for our tech rehearsal.  So I lost my Friday night to the kids too, soul-sucking little creeps.  I guess I must love them.  Sigh.

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