I finally get a chance to sit down and relax!

The first week of classes is over. Hallelujah! My feet, especially my heels, were killing me all week long. I got a pair of supportive shoes that I found to be very good to my feet 2 years ago. When last year started I bought the same shoe style, and the support fell apart in less than a month. I went through the year with them anyway, but I never took the time to contact the manufacturer and complain. I thought what happened to them last year was a fluke, so I bought the same style again this year. The support is already breaking down. Thanks to my mother's late birthday present to me, I will be able to buy new shoes this weekend, and I will definitely not buy any made by that manufacturer!

The main problem with teaching is that I spend almost all of my day on my feet with not much movement around the room. Ouch! I have been doing a new set of exercises over the past 2 weeks that have helped, especially in my posture and balance, but the shoes are extremely important. If you ever wondered why middle-aged school teachers wear "old lady" shoes, it's because we have to keep up with much younger people even when our feet hurt.

Having a freshman homeroom is just as time-consuming as I figured it would be. I did save myself a lot of hassle with assigning seats before any of my students walked into my classroom. I also have my "Always use good manners in this classroom" sign up on the front wall where I can point it out any time one of my students start using bad manners. That is working out very well. Yea! It also helps me to wear more conservative business attire for teaching because I know from my past that I tend to behave in a more serious manner when I am dressed that way. It's like putting on a suit of armor before going out to joust.

I was on the move all day, every day, at the school last week. I really had little time to slow down with preparing 4 subjects for 6 class periods plus helping the other faculty with computer problems. Next week I will be showing a few educational DVDs which will give me a bit more time to fix stuff up while the students learn.

I didn't post on Monday because my feet really hurt and it was our 35th wedding anniversary. We went out to celebrate, and I went to bed when we returned. Tuesday, I took a nap, ate, exercised, and worked on lesson plans. Ditto for Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday, I did all of the same except I did not exercise but I did stay up to see The Daily Show for their last DNC convention "coverage" as a result of a promise to my son.

With Monday being a holiday, I expect to be in better shape next week. I really want to keep this up on an almost daily basis because it's nice to vent and explain. It helps me, at least.