a FT job to my schedule and have that be the only change. It's not as if I'm going to give up a few hours of sleep each night to get the work done. The first decision I made was to deactivate my Facebook account as that can be a time waster. I did so for awhile, and then on Monday night I reactivated it because I wanted to post the first day of school pictures. I plan to deactivate it again today. I contemplated also giving up this blog, but I decided not to go that route at least for now for two reasons #1 I think if I didn't have a blog or use Facebook I'd take far
fewer pictures, and #2 I think having this journal of sorts is beneficial for my emotional health. In the beginning I partially did it as an alternative to the daily emails I used to write my mom, and of course she's not even reading this blog any longer, but after these almost 11 years I've gotten very accustomed to writing posts on a regular basis. My second decision was to only sign up for one Bible study this fall. Last spring I was in two Bible studies at the same time. I picked one on Nehemiah on Monday nights. I really enjoy participating in a Bible
study, it's spiritually beneficial, and it means Paul will come home earlier one night (every other week if I am only in one study) as he has to be home by 6:15, which means he gets more time with the kids that night. Frankly it would be worth signing up for a Bible study just for that reason alone. I am glad I decided not to sign Nadia up for the acting class. Right now we have three evening commitments a week for the next two months - my Bible study on Monday nights, flag football practices on Tuesday nights, and choir for me and AWANA for
the kids on Wednesday nights. Our three other regular commitments each week are gym class on Friday mornings, football games on Saturday mornings, and church on Sunday mornings.
At the moment I am not inclined toward hiring a cleaning service. For one thing I am trying to teach the kids various skills and also with three kids and two guinea pigs (they make a mess!), even if we had a cleaning service I'd end up doing a lot of cleaning because we only had them come every other week.
I don't know my salary yet so I haven't gotten to the point of making a plan as to how it will be spent, but one thing I do know is that I will be putting some of it toward increasing the entertainment budget so that we can afford to either buy takeout pizza or go out to eat once a week. Doing a little less cooking will be a help to me. As for other financial commitments, I know part of my salary will be used to pay for Paul's mole removal (ended up costing us $1K), two new tires for the van, a new washing machine, and tickets to see Disney on Ice. Due to our
limited budget since I quit working, we haven't been to one of those performances since 2012. I'm sure Ian has no memory of it, and I was pregnant with Oliver at the time. I'm also definitely going to use part of my salary for a family vacation in 2018 - maybe to San Diego, and part of it will go toward paying down the mortgage. When I am feeling frazzled as I try to find time to prepare these new classes, I keep reminding myself of #1 how much I love teaching and #2 how we will appreciate the extra income. If I had been PT, my income for one
semester plus Paul's for the year would have put us back to where we were when Paul taught at Bucknell. That was a depressing thought - to think he has to work far more hours and I also have to get a job just to equal what he used to make on his own. That's another reason I'm very grateful I'm being offered a FT job because then our combined income will be significantly higher than what his was at Bucknell. I am not sure if I will have any benefits. If I was being offered a full year contract I definitely would, but I'm not sure since it's just a one semester
contract. We don't need health insurance, but I would love to have access to the vision plan. It was amazing. If I don't get access to it, then part of my salary will be going to pay for eye exams for Paul, Ian, and myself and for glasses and/or contacts as needed. I for one cannot wait for that to happen. The headaches I am getting from vision issues are truly problematic. I've scheduled the appointment for two new tires and started looking at washing machines. Next on the list is to get myself an eye appointment!
I admit the last several days I have felt like I've bit off more than I can chew. Trying to prepare for three classes, two of which I've never taught before while taking care of three children and homeschooling all three of them has been challenging. Naturally I've had to say "no" to them some times when they've wanted me to do something with them. I think though in time the amount of hours I am spending per day doing work for the university should decrease although I will have an additional email account to maintain, assignments and exams to
grade, etc. Hopefully I will be able to get some of the work done during my office hours on campus. It's just a one semester contract. Although I had been hoping at some point this could translate back into a permanent position (particularly if they took me back with tenure and at Associate Professor), maybe after this semester I'll realize it's too much for me to juggle. As much as I enjoy mowing the lawn (because I like getting exercise), I'm glad that won't need to be done much longer because my plate is full to overflowing at the moment. Trying
to juggle caring for the kids, homeschooling them, being a professor, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. is a challenge at the moment. It would be more manageable if Paul didn't work such long hours. Many days I function as a single parent because Paul either doesn't see the kids at all (ex. he got home at 8:30pm on Monday night and he usually leaves around 3AM while we're sleeping), or he sees them for a few minutes at night before they go to bed. He usually works Monday through Saturday, and sometimes he also works on
Sunday (which has been the case the last two Sundays).
We are also shifting our schedule toward getting up earlier and starting our day sooner in light of the fact we'll have to be out the door by 6:45am on T/Th. I bought a bunch of pop tarts and told the kids those are only for T/Th as I figure that way they can eat breakfast in the van as we drive to the babysitter's house. I'll still eat my oatmeal at home, but I eat much faster than they do. I do love homeschooling them, and I am so glad that can continue. Yesterday
we were separating plastic and stuffed animals into different phylums and classes, as you can see from some of the photos. I imagine we will go on fewer field trips this fall due to my job. Don't tell that to Nadia. She would not be happy as field trips are SUPER important to her. I signed Paul up for one on September 12. He'll have the kids that day instead of me taking them to the babysitter. Here's to hoping we have an awesome semester, and that I find ways to make this work!










































