11.16.2007 at 11:19 am
beautiful things
with the holiday shopping season almost on top of me... i have spent the past few days looking around at all the wonderful things i would love to fill my new home with for Christmas....
i found a photo of a bedside lamp on flickr and fell in love....
who wouldn't love a lamp like this in a bedroom? it just speaks to me. I GOTTA HAVE IT.
but... can i find something even remotely resembling it anywhere?
no.
i also have decided that i am going to try to make a few Christmas ornaments this year. my mom bought a book that has all different kinds of crafts in it and i came across this:
i love sparkly, glittery things. and i think i could make a few of these next week during thanksgiving break.
oh yeah. did i mention that i'm off all next week? i did to a friend of mine and his grumbly reply back was something about how lucky i was (because he apparently forgot that he just got back from a little vacation in south florida... but i digress) so he later got an email that went something like this...
you're right, i am off during the summer. for 4 weeks. and i don't get paid for those 4 weeks. same with the week and thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, and the week at spring break. all together, that makes 8 weeks a year. not including, of course, all of those holidays that you mentioned that i get off. and yes, i get a paycheck all year, even though my measley wage is merely prorated throughout the year so that i won't have to go half of december and all of july without a paycheck.
but... what about all that time that i spend at the school and get no compensation for? football games... basketball games.... softball games.... volleyball games.... baseball games.... after school faculty meetings.... after school detention.... the hours on end that i have spent (and will continue to spend) grading papers and projects... the conferences during the summer that are not during my contract time.
and yes. i am on contract. which means that i am basically salaried. BUT i doubt there is another salaried OR hourly position in this WORLD that has as many duties as teaching has. i feel bad for ever thinking my mom had it easy by being a teacher. because... i've figured out.... the good teachers have the hardest jobs. the ones that don't care are a totally different story.
this is the hardest job i have ever had. but it is also the most rewarding. there are days that i just want to throw my hands up and storm out of my classroom, never to return. but then.... a senior that i helped with algebra comes to me and hands me his grad exam results right before graduation and with a tear in his eye, says... "i passed..." or a former student emails me out of no where needing help making a decision about her major in college -- because she has no one else to talk to about it that she trusts to give her an unbiased answer.
so... maybe i take it back. i don't get paid close to enough money for the work that i do at that school and for that school.... but i know that i will be a better person because of the lives that i get to influence and the continuous impact that these kids have on my life and my attitude.
and that is worth so much more than money....
*whew*
i hope this über-mega-entry has made up for my lack thereof lately....
xoxo
tell me i'm beautiful...
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