Tonight was Back to School Night at Nana Bear's elementary school. So far this year, I have not been as present as school as I have in past years. Nana has decided that she doesn't want me waiting with her in the mornings and now that Dare Bear is going to pre-school that is nearby the elementary school it is just as easy to just drop her off and then drop him off. But I miss chitchatting with parents or teachers before school and feel a little disconnected.
So, tonight was one of the first opportunities to get a feel for the teacher. So far, he's been great - e-mailing at the end of the first week, over the weekend no less, sending out reminders for picture day, etc. BUT, of the two 2nd grade teachers, he is also the less structured teacher and when it comes to school stuff, I'm all about structure, comforted by structure. Nana, however, has been very happy and extremely excited to be in this class.
He answered a lot of good questions from the parents and in a thoughtful manner. I like his philosophy and more importantly, I think his style suits Nana well and also balances out my tendency to be strict. He raised many good points and this year will be learning experience of both Nana and I, but in a good way.
Showing posts with label Non-Crafting Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Non-Crafting Life. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Settling In
Life is finally settling back into a routine, slowly but surely. Last week was my first week at the new job without training wheels, ie my predecessor, to make sure I didn't forget anything. Aside from one or two little mistakes, the week went well. My parents came back from their vacation and none to soon as Dare Bear came down with a cold and had to stay home from day care on Thursday. He promptly gave the cold to Tiger Daddy, who then developed a sinus infection. It was also Dare's second week at the new day care and he's begun to settle in there too. So I am at little more at peace and life is a little calmer.
We had planned on going camping, for the first time this year, but due to the germ ridden men in the family, we canceled the trip. While it's disappointing that we have not yet had our first camping trip of the season, it turned out to be a blessing. We had beautiful weather and the kids got to play out in the backyard with my dad this morning. Then Nana Bear got to go visit my grandmother, and unexpectedly, got to go to a friend's birthday party, which just happened to be at the playground my dad took her to after the visit.
Meanwhile, I got to get some prepping done for some projects that have been on my to-do list. I have a baby shower to attend next month, so I worked cutting the fabric as neatly as possible for a blanket. My mother-in-law's birthday is coming up next weekend and I need to finish her present. And finally, I have set a goal of June 1 to "open" Etsy shop, so I cut the fabric for my products and all have have to do is sew them together. Well, that's not all I have to do: I want to make tags for products, brand them, if you will, so I have to come up with a least a start-up logo. Oh, and must determine prices... math, bleh.
The baby shower present:
Hopefully these will turn out to be dop kits for the men or make-up bags for women...
So all-in-all, this weekend home, so far, has been very productive and relaxing. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to finishing some of my Etsy products.
Happy Crafting!
We had planned on going camping, for the first time this year, but due to the germ ridden men in the family, we canceled the trip. While it's disappointing that we have not yet had our first camping trip of the season, it turned out to be a blessing. We had beautiful weather and the kids got to play out in the backyard with my dad this morning. Then Nana Bear got to go visit my grandmother, and unexpectedly, got to go to a friend's birthday party, which just happened to be at the playground my dad took her to after the visit.
Meanwhile, I got to get some prepping done for some projects that have been on my to-do list. I have a baby shower to attend next month, so I worked cutting the fabric as neatly as possible for a blanket. My mother-in-law's birthday is coming up next weekend and I need to finish her present. And finally, I have set a goal of June 1 to "open" Etsy shop, so I cut the fabric for my products and all have have to do is sew them together. Well, that's not all I have to do: I want to make tags for products, brand them, if you will, so I have to come up with a least a start-up logo. Oh, and must determine prices... math, bleh.
The baby shower present:
Just my fleece/flannel blanket, but this time I am attempting to personalize the blanket using some of the left over fleece.
My Etsy project:
Hopefully these will turn out to be dop kits for the men or make-up bags for women...
So all-in-all, this weekend home, so far, has been very productive and relaxing. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to finishing some of my Etsy products.
Happy Crafting!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Art of Juggling
The euphoria of the quick crafting at the end of last week has worn off and I find myself in need of another fix, but yet, quite unmotivated to go after it. In part, I am waiting for some supplies for my Father's Day dop kits. But mostly, I am just feeling tired and unsure. Unsure about my ability to craft, unsure about my ability to do my (new) job and unsure about my ability to parent. As I sit here writing, I feel as if I am madly flailing about trying to keep all the balls in the air.
As mentioned in the last post, I just started a new job and when I left my old job, I only had a week to train someone in my duties. So that last week of the old job was extremely stressful as I tried to get someone up to speed as well as get as much done as humanly possible. Then, of course, came the stress of starting the new job and trying to learn every detail in two weeks.
In that last week of work, I also learned that Dare Bear's daycare provider had a medical emergency and would be unable to watch him indefinitely. So we also had to find a replacement daycare provider (THANK YOU MOM) and then, had to make the decision to find a new daycare provider as well as find said daycare provider. The hardest part was probably the fact that we felt extremely guilty for leaving our injured daycare provider. But, while we were fortunate enough to have my mom available to watch Dare, she went on vacation for 10 days this past Sunday and it was a choice of starting a new provider hunt two weeks ago or start it next week. We chose the former to minimize the stress to all parties, but still there is some guilt about leaving our former daycare provider who watched Dare for the past 2 years. Thankfully, our first two days with the new daycare provider have been absolutely wonderful - Dare has come home happy, adjusted very, very quickly, and seems to be blossoming before our eyes. It helps that some of the things we didn't like about the old daycare are not an issue here. When we pick up Dare, we get to go into the house and see Dare interact with the other kids. Drop-off and pick-up time is quick, efficient and informative. So this was all-in-all a very good change, but the ramp up to the change was a little fraught.
The new job is awesome - awesome co-workers, awesome clients, awesome environment. I couldn't be happier in this position. I will be mixing my administrative knowledge with client centered care/front line social work, taking what I have been doing and mixing it with what I used to do just after college. But as I train with my predecessor, my insecurities have blossomed. I have gone from knowing that I was rocking a job to not knowing whether I will rock this job as well as my predecessor. Logically, I know I will make this job my own and I know that it's not a competition. My predecessor is me at my old job. Whoever takes over will have big shoes to fill. And after late nights, fitful sleeps, and other confidence issues, there's the little voice of doubt growing larger and larger.
The sphere of parenting... I fully admit that I should be a better parent. I need more patience - and sleep would help that immensely - and I need to play more with my kids. My relationship with Nana Bear can be contentious - I see too much of myself in her and I want her to be better than me. I want both of them to go farther, travel more, be more than me. Getting them there - that's the challenge. Maintaining a sense of calm is a struggle. I wish I could just let things be...
Finally, my crafting. I find great joy in crafting for my friends and family. I find great joy in coming up with my own patterns, no matter how simple they may be, and no matter how unprofessional the results may look. And I would like nothing more than to put an item for sale on Etsy. But again, the doubt bubbles to the surface as the opportunity to actually put an item on Etsy presents itself. The "What ifs" abound in my head making it hard to sleep. What if it doesn't sell? What if someone buys it but doesn't think it's well made. What if, what if, what if... So on and so forth until the crafting what ifs merge with the parenting what ifs merge with the job what ifs, etc.
I told my cousin recently, there is no greater fear than fear itself, and that is certainly true. Hopefully when the world settles down again - when I find the rhythm of the new job, when I actually start going to bed on time - I will find the space to silence the fear and to move on with my crafting. But until then, I need one less ball to juggle and to focus on the things that are truly important - my family and friends and my job (because without that there would be a whole lot more to be stressed about).
As mentioned in the last post, I just started a new job and when I left my old job, I only had a week to train someone in my duties. So that last week of the old job was extremely stressful as I tried to get someone up to speed as well as get as much done as humanly possible. Then, of course, came the stress of starting the new job and trying to learn every detail in two weeks.
In that last week of work, I also learned that Dare Bear's daycare provider had a medical emergency and would be unable to watch him indefinitely. So we also had to find a replacement daycare provider (THANK YOU MOM) and then, had to make the decision to find a new daycare provider as well as find said daycare provider. The hardest part was probably the fact that we felt extremely guilty for leaving our injured daycare provider. But, while we were fortunate enough to have my mom available to watch Dare, she went on vacation for 10 days this past Sunday and it was a choice of starting a new provider hunt two weeks ago or start it next week. We chose the former to minimize the stress to all parties, but still there is some guilt about leaving our former daycare provider who watched Dare for the past 2 years. Thankfully, our first two days with the new daycare provider have been absolutely wonderful - Dare has come home happy, adjusted very, very quickly, and seems to be blossoming before our eyes. It helps that some of the things we didn't like about the old daycare are not an issue here. When we pick up Dare, we get to go into the house and see Dare interact with the other kids. Drop-off and pick-up time is quick, efficient and informative. So this was all-in-all a very good change, but the ramp up to the change was a little fraught.
The new job is awesome - awesome co-workers, awesome clients, awesome environment. I couldn't be happier in this position. I will be mixing my administrative knowledge with client centered care/front line social work, taking what I have been doing and mixing it with what I used to do just after college. But as I train with my predecessor, my insecurities have blossomed. I have gone from knowing that I was rocking a job to not knowing whether I will rock this job as well as my predecessor. Logically, I know I will make this job my own and I know that it's not a competition. My predecessor is me at my old job. Whoever takes over will have big shoes to fill. And after late nights, fitful sleeps, and other confidence issues, there's the little voice of doubt growing larger and larger.
The sphere of parenting... I fully admit that I should be a better parent. I need more patience - and sleep would help that immensely - and I need to play more with my kids. My relationship with Nana Bear can be contentious - I see too much of myself in her and I want her to be better than me. I want both of them to go farther, travel more, be more than me. Getting them there - that's the challenge. Maintaining a sense of calm is a struggle. I wish I could just let things be...
Finally, my crafting. I find great joy in crafting for my friends and family. I find great joy in coming up with my own patterns, no matter how simple they may be, and no matter how unprofessional the results may look. And I would like nothing more than to put an item for sale on Etsy. But again, the doubt bubbles to the surface as the opportunity to actually put an item on Etsy presents itself. The "What ifs" abound in my head making it hard to sleep. What if it doesn't sell? What if someone buys it but doesn't think it's well made. What if, what if, what if... So on and so forth until the crafting what ifs merge with the parenting what ifs merge with the job what ifs, etc.
I told my cousin recently, there is no greater fear than fear itself, and that is certainly true. Hopefully when the world settles down again - when I find the rhythm of the new job, when I actually start going to bed on time - I will find the space to silence the fear and to move on with my crafting. But until then, I need one less ball to juggle and to focus on the things that are truly important - my family and friends and my job (because without that there would be a whole lot more to be stressed about).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)