A Hard Day's Work

For the past four-and-a-half years I have been a star employee. I’ve consistently gotten my paperwork in on time. I’ve tried my best to stay current on the research in my field, I work well with the kids, and I get glowing reviews. Well…so much for that…

Pregnancy has turned me into a state employee at her mediocre-ist. Today, I was 20 minutes late. First, I got light headed and had to lie down for five minutes. Then, I puked up my Raisin Bran (oh, yah, I’m attempting to transition to healthy cereal), which then necessitated that I change my clothes (don’t ask) and brush my teeth again. By that point I was late and hungry because my stomach was empty. So, I decided to just give in to the lateness and go through the espresso stand drive through, too (attn: pregnancy police—espresso stands serve other things besides coffee). As substandard as my timeliness was today, last Thursday was downright reprehensible. Following is a chronological account of my day.

8:00 meeting at school 1 (It sounds like work, but I mostly just stared at my notebook)
9:00 drive to school 2
9:10 drive past school 2 and go to the coffee shop for a steamed milk and muffin
9:30 check work e-mail
10:00 eat muffin
10:15 check personal e-mail
10:30 take out manual for scoring a test and lay it out on my desk
10:31 play with wind-up toys on my desk
10:32 notice my favorite wind-up toy isn’t working
10:33 try to fix the wind-up toy
10:40 despair
10:45 recheck e-mail
10:50 leave for a home visit (okay, so that one is really part of my job)
12:00 return to school and have lunch
12:30 – 3:30 score and write up one test, eat again, stare at the wall, eat again, recheck e-mail, and go home

Now, this day was a little unusual as I didn’t have to see kids and there was no one else in my office, but as the old saying goes, “When the cat is away, the mice will check their e-mail and eat.”