My Life Outside the Bubble: The "Almost Summer Vacation" week

Have I mentioned that I am now officially in "out of school, but not on vacation yet" mode? In case you are wrinkling your nose in wondering how that is possible, let me clarify.

The students are now at their homes happily reading books, writing massive novels, and enjoying doing model math drawings on the refrigerator. (hey, a principal can dream, can't she?)
The teachers are in Vegas, going sky diving, lounging at a pool, residing at Turtle Mountain and Fat Squirrel, and occasionally giving thanks that they are no where near a PDSA or an Essential Standard. (You know this is true). They do have to sign a disclosure paper that if caught by law enforcement, they will let them know that they are employees of Puesta Del Sol..not Colinas. We have standards, you know.
I am at school, trying to balance classes, wondering what in the heck that paper is STILL doing in one of my piles, and trying to send in paperwork that has been due since 1932.

In short, it's summer vacation for everyone except me..and I am getting close to it. (Only 3 more days, I might add..if you don't add the weekend, which I never count. It's only right).

But the one benefit of my residence at school still..yet..really.. is that I can relax slightly. No one is waiting to pounce upon me about a natural disaster on the bus or about the fact that I am STILL responsible for global warming. We have interviewed teachers, and although this is a tedious process, I am happy to report we had more excellent candidates for the positions than we had positions to offer. And this is a very good place to be in if you are me. At a school, still.

The other excellent part of this being at school during the summer is that our gym/cafeteria project is underway. And I mean really underway. The cafeteria and the gym floors are now dirt mounds, you can see through big holes that are gaping in the walls, and who knew that we had so much duct work in the ceilings? But the best part is that we have a construction superintendent that is a cross between Sammy Hager and the guy on Diners, Drive ins, and some other words that escapes me at the moment. And he rocks the casba, as Whitney would say. We are ahead of schedule, he communicates with us on a regular basis, and he has three great children named Rex, Crash, and Blaze Susie Q 2.0. (and no, I am not exaggerating). And Crash and Blaze are girls.

The new stage..where I most likely will sing some kind of song that will make the staff cry..literally.

I am also (since I do not collapse at the end of the day, as I normally do) pursuing things to make me fitter and a better me. The latest is a series of Tony Robbins CDs. Tony Robbins is a very tall man, with a voice that you definitely pay attention to when he speaks. He is teaching me how to visualize the life I want and the goals I want. He does this through incantations such as, "Every day and every way, I am better and better"..and "I am all the love I need..yes." I will add this is very invigorating and has helped me. I do this in the morning when I walk the dogs, and so far no one has carted me off as I chant these mantras with vim and vigor, I might add. I think the thing I like about him the most is that he is encouraging...the dogs love me, but aren't good at saying, "You are doing great, Laura!" as I try to jog and walk without running into a bush. He is kind of like my new best friend and counselor combined into one person...except I've never met him and he is just a voice.

I am also back at the pool. I like to swim for many reasons:

I'm good at it.
It's a good way to cool off when you are hot without taking clothes off.
You can do a lot of thinking while doing the back stroke.
It helps me get fitter.

I go to this pool that is a city pool, but for some reason people in Rio Rancho think is a private neighborhood pool. This works well for me because I can go and swim laps without causing small children to go fleeing out of the pool. Although I will say when I was there today, a couple of children were there from Colinas. Fortunately, they didn't recognize me..which I think is a good thing, because I wouldn't want to be responsible for their therapy bills later on. I guess you just don't think that your principal would be swimming in a bathing suit...ever.

I also have more time now to work in my yard and garden. I love doing that, although sometimes the plants do not cooperate with me as they should. At the moment, all my tomato plants and garden vegetables are happy and growing, my yard is looking green, I've only bent one lawn mower blade, and my butterfly bush that the office staff gave me is still happy.