A productive Saturday and a goodbye to a crazy month.

Finally, March is almost over!! This has maybe been the busiest month in a while. Between program planning meetings (where each 9th grade teacher meets with about 30 students and their parents individually throughout the month to discuss registration for next year and future goals), cheerleading tryouts every night for a week straight, a Saturday in-service day to make up for a missed snow day, and welcoming a new nephew, March has been crazy, fun, AND EXHAUSTING.

I took a personal day last Monday to catch up on everything I've let fall by the wayside in the meantime. You know...laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, SLEEP. For the first time on a personal day, I did not even think about school. I left my precious students in the capable hands of a substitute with a long and good reading assignment and did not even think twice. I was THAT behind.

Now that all these little loose ends are being tied up, I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. I can finally get back to a normal routine of coming home from school on time, exercising, fixing dinner, and spending some good time with Patrick. I'm heading into the final stretch of school with one last book to teach, a research paper, and preparing for the final exam. Whew! I can't believe it's getting here so quickly! I love this time of year. After feeling like I've run around like a chicken with my head cut off and barely holding everything together for the last couple months, I'm reengergized, motivated, and looking forward to finishing the school year strong.

That being said, today was a great Spring Saturday. I thought it would be a lazy one, but I surprised myself with an incredible amount of productivity! I love when that happens. Here is an impressive list of all the things I did (And I did not rush through any of them! I moved with a great sense of peace from one activity to the next and fully enjoyed the day):

• slept in until 9:00
• made a batch of oatmeal, cinnamon-topped muffins and a pot of good strong coffee
• leisurely caught up on some missed tv
• ran 2.25 miles at the gym
• prepped all the veggies in our fridge for easy salads and cooking this week (I was inspired by watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night on ABC. Fascinating and wonderful.)
• got up the leaves in the front yard (which should have been done this past fall)
• made progress on the leaves in the backyard
• planted some thyme and cilantro and vowed not to kill my potted herbs this time
• had family dinner at my granny's and caught up with cousins not seen in a very long time
• caught up on most of my grading
• updated our blog!!

What a great day! I'm looking forward to a good week ahead (and to Spring Break the next!)

Holy Week is upon us. I'm glad I've gotten my distractions out of the way and gotten back into a routine so that my focus this week can be on Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. May you have a blessed week as well!