I Can't Live Without You!

Last week I gave you the worst products ever. So in the interest of fairness I'm going to give you what I think are the best products ever. The ones I can't live without.

Again, in no particular order


#1 - Dental Floss Sticks.
Not just from the aesthetic point of view (no one wants to look at you when you have nastiness between your teeth) but from a comfort point of view. Nothing sucks more than having something stuck between your teeth. I've given myself headaches from trying to hook stuff out of my teeth with my tongue.
Now I carry dental floss sticks. I have them in my car, in all my purses and bags...I am NEVER without them and I am a much much happier person.




#2 - GPS
If you read the beginning of my post about getting a GPS you'll know that it's not something I ever thought I'd use. I can read a map, I have a Perly's in my car and I used to mapquest everything. But then I was given a Tom Tom (jane jane) as a gift and since then.....
On Thursday alone I used it to map my way to my coworkers house, to an unfamiliar high school and then out to the west end to a church. That would have been a lot of map reading. And let's face it, looking down to follow a map is not as safe as glancing at your GPS that is stuck on the window. Love it.




#3 - Flushable Wipes
Too much information ahead. These bad boys aren't just for kids. They are the best thing ever invented. And now my tushy is a wipe addict because the thought of not having them in the bathroom makes my colon clench.
This is another 'always have with me' item. It's bad enough if you have to 'go' in a public bathroom (a whole other issue) but to have to go in a public bathroom and NOT have flushable wipes available....well, I just don't feel fresh!




#4 Crock Pot
I'm willing to put the time in in the kitchen to cook a nice meal when I have the time. But I don't always have the time. Even when I worked at home - cooking a nice meal with 3 under 2 underfoot wasn't always an option. But Rival came to the rescue with the Crock Pot. You can cook anything in it. And mine is huge!
Needless to say, now that I work out of the house this guy will be working overtime and we'll be eating our good, healthy meals, on schedule, everyday.




#5 - Digital Cameras
Whether it's a high end DSLR or a cheap point and shoot, the digital camera is a fantastic invention.
When Emily was born we took (as all new parents do) 85 million pictures of her. And they are all developed (in doubles so that we could send copies to Sean's mom and my mom) And they are all in a big box in the basement. We never see them. They need to be sorted and organized. I'm a creative person but I don't have time for scrapbooking and even if I did - 85 million pictures is only a slight exaggeration. I'd never have enough money or space for all those scrapbooks.

But the digital...I'll admit this does mean I take even more pictures than before BUT - I can delete the crappy ones and save only the great ones. I see them all, either displayed on my digital picture frame or on the slide show/screen saver on my computer. It doesn't cost me to send photos to family and friends via email, FB or this blog....
Truly, a genius bit of technology and one I could not live without.



So there you have it. I can't live without any of the above 5 products.

What are yours?

Discouraged

Incredibly discouraged.

I'll start from the beginning but my head it swirling so it might be a bit jumpy.

I found out on Monday that the teacher I was going to be working with decided to retire. I'm happy for her (truly, I am, I saw her today and we talked and I am happy for her)

On Thursday I met the teacher I will be working with.

I came out feeling more apprehensive than I did before. I didn't feel the 'click' I did with the other teacher but hoped I was just looking to hard for it.

So, the conversation went something like this.

Me: So are you planning to go into the school again tomorrow?
Her: I don't know. I ordered some things. If I get them I will, if not I won't. I was in there on Wednesday and got the room set up.
Me: Oh, great!

Later on.

Me: If you decide you're going to go in tomorrow please call me and let me know, I'd like to get into the classroom with you before Tuesday just to see what we've got to work with (let's remember, she's also new to this school...just hired on Tuesday
Her: Oh, that would be wonderful.

We then discuss her plans for this morning and agree to meet at 11 am at the school.

So 11:10 I get to the school (yes, I was late and yes, this is totally not in character but I did that on purpose, I wanted her to get there before me)
But she was not there.

So I spoke for a bit with the other teacher as well as the one who I would have worked with had she not decided to retire.

And then I went to my class.

Now, if you read above, my teaching partner said she'd set the room up. I'm gonna lay it out there. It was not set up. It was a mess. There was no rhyme or reason to anything on the shelves. The furniture was not set up. The walls were bare. There were no name tags on the cubbies.

So I talked with the other teacher for a bit. I said, I'm not sure if I should go ahead and start. I don't want to step on toes but there is a lot of work to be done in here.
She said, well, maybe you need to take control.



This is my struggle. I am a self proclaimed control freak. I would have no problem going into that classroom, spending 4 hours and having it set up beautifully. But here's the thing. I am but one player in a team of 2. And my teammate was no where to be found. I'm also treading on new territory. I don't want to step on toes but I also think this reflects on me. I CAN do it, the question is SHOULD I? And though I've never had the "If I'm not getting paid for it I'm not doing it" attitude, the simple fact is, I'm not paid to be there this week. This doesn't seem to fall under what is considered my responsibility.

So, I put names on the cubbies. I tidied a couple of the basins. I talked to Sean on the phone and texted the other ECE from my school. And in the end I spent 2 hours in the classroom waiting for the other teacher to come. Looking at what we had (and more importantly what we DIDN'T have) making mental notes of what I should bring in on Tuesday. I admired the other kindergarten class and will admit I'm horribly jealous of my fellow ECE because her classroom is all set up and gorgeous. So I left and I cried all the way home. And I'm left spending this last weekend before school starts wondering what the hell I'm going to face on Tuesday morning.

In an ideal world I'll go in on Tuesday and see the teacher has been there and has it all organized and set up. (In a perfect world she would have shown up today and we could have done it together)

I need to push this from my mind because I'm already feeling those pangs of regret. I'm worried. No, I'm scared out of my freakin' mind now because it seems to have fallen apart before my eyes.

I'm going to go in early on Tuesday morning. I'm going to hope for the best but if I show up and it's like it was when I left.......I just don't know.

Why me? Everytime something good happens to me something comes along and shits all over it. I was so excited. And now I'm completely discouraged.