Hi-ho! hi-ho! It's off to work I go!

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.

--Jerome K. Jerome

 You know, I could get used to this not-going-to-work thing. My apartment is spotless and has stayed spotless for the first time in ages. I got all caught up on laundry. I tried two new recipes AND kept my kitchen clean. I went to three family events and brought delisciousness to each. I had a friend over and made her lunch . . . then played Donkey Kong Country (the oldschool super NES DK . . . Ooo ho I love it!).  I think all the cleaning even got the cats to stop making messes on the carpet (oh please! oh please! oh please!). I started my Christmas shopping. Golly, if I don't feel like the most efficient housewife since June Cleaver.
And, after this weekend, I'm afraid it all will end.
School starts back up, along with lesson-planning and parent-emails. I checked my in-box today and the stomach knots came back. Any time now, they'll begin again.
School vacation as a teacher is pretty much like school vacation as a student: it's beautiful, relaxing, energizing, and over waaaay too soon. The difference is that as a student, I wasn't worried about the pay-cut.

Today, I'm getting myself ready by updating my gradebook. And doing a self-evaluation survey. Is it just me, or does anyone else just HATE those?
"Tell us about your weakness."
If I do, you're not going to fire me, are you?
"Tell us about your strengths."
If I do . . . are you going to find me an arrogant jerk? Or hopeless?
"What can you do to improve?"
Aw, come on, I'm trying! I'm doing the work, man!
Ug.
My comfort lies in the fact that my employers are awesome and want me to succeed. They've known me and my family for years and years, so they're cheering for me. I just hope I don't let any one down.
I wonder if I'd do better teaching an older grade--my passions are literature and history, the language arts. The discovery of the secret codes of words, the symbolism, discovering the human character and condition through a story. It's a treasure hunt! And I don't know if kids understand that, or if they can be shown that it's really fun and it's not rocket science. It's a thinking science, learning to look beyond appearance. But, if I am given first grade, I will do my best in first grade. Plus, the kiddos are so stinkin cute! I cannot tell you how many hugs and pictures covered in "I love Mrs. Bocchino" I receive. It's a wonderful thing! :]

Soon, I update on some of the "random" things going on around here . . . the Sushi/Sashimi night . . . the Christmas tree . . . the hair cut fiasco . . . the plague of cat puke . . . . the in-laws' flying squirrel . . . maybe all in one post. I dunno. We'll see if I survive the return to the classroom first. Dun-dun-DA-DUN!!!

Now, the question remains: Indiana Jones, Star Wars, or LOTR marathon? I can't do my gradebook in complete silence, you know ;]

What about you? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you go on vacation? OR how about your favorite old school video game?