It's my last day of summer break. I'll be going back to work tomorrow at the school, leaving behind my last ever extended "vacation." Pretty much from this point forward I will be "working" until the day my last child moves out for college (or gets the boot).
So what did I do with my last summer of freedom? Pretty much the same thing I did all throughout grade school during the summers, when my parents went off to work, and my sister went over to her friend's house. I stayed at home and chilled with the dog.
Of course, since my mom wasn't coming home to cook and clean, I spent my days doing the laundry and dishes. I kind of exercised a little. I made a real effort to make dinner most nights. And I even got a little summer job, if teaching summer school counts. I even got paid little-summer-job wages too! The tax rate was like 35% for summer school wages, since they are considered as "overtime" hours. Hopefully we'll see that money on our income tax return for 2012.
Honestly though, I am glad to have done summer school, and the reasons are three-fold. First, it was good for me to have a reason to get up, get dressed, and be productive during those 6 weeks. My days at home after summer school have been quite a bit lazier and less impressive. Second, as an educator, I truly am glad to have spent that time helping my class of high school girls earn some much needed credits through a credit recovery program. It feels good to say that I gave it my best for as long as I could. Third, I did make a little bit of money, which is nice. Except that it was pretty much already spent before I even got my final paycheck.
A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with one of my teacher friends, and she asked what I did with my summer school money. I was slightly relieved that she interrupted to tell what she had done with her money, and that I didn't get a chance to say. At the moment, I was still a little resentful that my money would be spent on vacation and medical bills. Neither of which were mine. That day of our phone call was actually the first day Ryan was back at work after having his first surgery to repair a dislocated collar bone sustained from a biking accident while on vacation in Colorado during the last week of summer school.
More on that later. That story will probably come in installments.
So the second half of my summer was mostly spent helping Ryan get better from his injury and the resulting 2 surgeries. There have been several days, though, that he's been able to be at work. For those days, I've made sure to catch up on important things like researching cloth diapers, scrubbing the bathtubs, figuring out why the dryer won't dry, and spending quality time with Jack.
And napping. I've tried to nap as much as possible. I love my naps. I will miss my naps.
So now, at 3 days from being 8 months pregnant, I'm gearing up for what's probably one last Fall at the school - even though the real Fall season won't begin until the baby is born. And even though summer break is over, summer and 10 thousand degree heat is not over yet.
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