The Caffeinated Writer

I started writing this blog at the start of the year with intentions to buy a house. I didn’t want to spill the beans until it happened. And, well, it happened. I closed on my first home on Tuesday, March 5th. We moved my mom in that weekend and then my girl and I sailed out of Miami on our first cruise for Spring break to the Bahamas. It was absolutely amazing and I wish I was back on a boat. The weekend after we came back, we moved into the house.

It seems like moving farther away from work would mean earlier alarm clocks and less time in the evenings. But the exact opposite has come from this move. The first morning driving to work from my new house 15-20 minutes further up the road at about the same time I normally left my apartment, I got to work earlier than I originally did. It seems the jam up between my apartment and getting on the freeway sucked away my precious sleeping time. So now I can sleep in a few extra minutes. I drive home to most days a meal already cooked or cooking, but even when I’m cooking, it doesn’t really detract from my time. My kid has her own bed in her own room. She gets ready for bed between 8 and 8:30 and we do our normal snuggles for 5 minutes and she gives a thousand “good nights” to Nana and the uncles and then she goes into her bed, after which I have free time to myself.

The first week of April, I started working out after Daenarys went to bed. A couple nights I did it with her up still. And on the non-rainy nights I’ve added a run in at the end. At least for the first week. It felt good to get out on the road again, but I feel like such a clutz going down the road. I just can’t wait until I don’t feel so heavy plodding down the road. I have actually let up on the run since beginning because I feel like I need to just focus on one thing first. The consistency of movement needs to be established and the loss of maybe 5-10 pounds and then add on the running again. I also need new shoes when that happens.

I have three half days left of the 2023-2024 school year and a contract signed for 2024-2025. My plans for driving a bus in the Summer are waxing short as I have not been scheduled for my DOT physical or drug test and the training for bus driving starts next week. This is all out of my hands as I have continuously attempted to follow up with the lady in charge of this for weeks and got no reply.

Meanwhile I am working through a day planner to schedule out most of my days. Up until now, I have been scheduling out my weeknights minus Friday night which has been a “free” night. And on Saturdays and Sundays, I simply list the things I need to do sometime that day or even weekend (laundry can be done either day but working out has to be done both days at some point). As my Summer is currently wide open, I will have more time to plan for to keep my Summer life productive and not one of wasting time.

Things on my list to accomplish this Summer:

1. Obtain ESL certification on my teaching certificate;
2. Draft three chapters of my fiction work, Aquila;
3. Write the second book in my children’s book series;
4. Get my kid into several Vacation Bible Schools, hopefully at least one Spanish program;
5. Read 3 books;
6. Go to a beach;
7. Finish BBM 9.0 and start the Summer Challenge program; and
8. Complete a Whole 30 cycle.

In further contemplation of my current life status, I became rather restless with the fact that I have at present achieved most of the major life goals I had. And while I have goals of losing 60 pounds and writing my books, I felt like something was missing. So I took the plunge and applied for Graduate School. I was accepted in 3 different schools but ultimately chose the Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction program with a concentration in Educational Leadership via Texas A&M International University out of Laredo, TX. Go Dust Devils! lol I am not impressed with their clothing options so do not expect to see me wearing any school attire anytime soon. But I have registered for a full load of classes this Fall and it shows me to be 35% of the way there. It blows my mind that in one full year of classes (4 classes Fall and Spring and 3 classes next Summer) I will have a Master’s degree. One year of work and then extra earning potential following that.

Side note completely unconnected but related to the education field: my school’s system seems to think I have a Bachelor of Science from Texas Southern University. I tried calling them to tell them I have no such degree, but it still sits there in my file.

Perhaps another day I will get on here and post pictures from our Spring Break cruise. But I have been trying to get this post written for months now. And currently my kid is hungry so I must leave and if I don’t post this now, I will likely forget to return and finish this.