Hello October!

"October gave a party,

The leaves by hundreds came--

The Chesnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band..."

--George Cooper

I have gone too long without writing! Feel like these past two weeks have been very hectic. It's now the halfway point through the semester, the holidays have arrived at my part-time job and I've started substituting. Needless to say, there hasn't been much downtime! Somehow though I've been able to fit in my running plan so that has helped to keep me a little balanced. haha

Thankfully, I have gotten a break from work this weekend. I was supposed to work yesterday for four hours but there weren't many customers. My boss gave me the option of taking the shift or giving it to another gal. Since I've been working quite a bit, I decided to use the day for homework instead. I'm so glad I made that choice. Plus, I got to hang out with Jennifer in the evening so that was a fun ending to the day. I enjoyed spending some time with her and getting a change of scenery.

The "change of scenery" consisted of going to the mall to do some shopping. I haven't needed anything but sometimes it is fun to get some new items (and to do girlie things). Yes, I will admit, I have a weakness for clothes. And even worse, for Forever 21. That darn store always has clothes that fit my body style and they're so cute. Oh well! I'm pretty careful with my money so I didn't go overboard. I only spent about $26 for two shirts, 1 skirt and two headbands. I had a little money on a gift card so that made my total amount reasonable. :)

I am excited to get a little more breathing room in these next few weeks. My work schedule is going to be considerably less crazy for the rest of this month (at least for the part-time job). I am going to try to sub a few more days this month if possible. I already have a half day set up for later this month and am looking forward to that!

Ah yes, I have to say it feels great to be teaching again. On Thursday I had my first subbing day for the school year and at my favorite school. I subbed for second grade, which was fun. Thankfully I was able to meet with the teacher the day before to go over things. That helped to calm my nerves quite a bit (though my stomach was in knots in the morning!).

I'm happy to say that I haven't lost my subbing skills either. I know, I know, you can't lose teaching skills over the summer but I panicked last [academic] year when I didn't sub at least once a week. So yeah it's great to be subbing again! I kept saying to myself throughout the day, "just one chunk at a time." That's a great line I learned from the first teacher I subbed for last year. Such good advice!

Anyway, the day went by very quickly. I was busy every moment! For the most part the day was successful. As I expected, the kids were hyper in the afternoon. I think having it be their "Friday" (statewide in-service day was on Friday) and the activities in the afternoon contributed to their energy level. Oh well! It was all good though.

Fall is certainly here :) I'm totally embracing it too! When I go running I love to look at the trees and their changing leaves. I just love the color palette of fall: reds, oranges, and yellows. Such beautiful rich colors-- all created and orchestrated by God.

Hope you're enjoying this season too!