Almost biting off more than I can chew!

So, it turns out that doing ALL THE THINGS all at the same time is not such a good idea!  If I had had a choice, I don't think I would have set about getting a new job, planning the first PTA event, starting online and in-person training for teaching online Seminary, adding 10 new students to the buses, and getting back from vacation and right into school with new homework routines for two kids all in the space of a week.  Not to self, do NOT do this again if you can possibly help it!

But I couldn't help it this time around, so off I went and since this is (literally, without exaggeration) the first time I have been able to sit down at a computer without having to accomplish something that needs to be done RIGHT NOW THIS INSTANT, let me take a moment (but only a moment, because of course there really is more to do that I am just ignoring temporarily) to tell you how it's all going!

• My New Job: I started officially on a Thursday, the last day of our work week here, and was immediately given a HUGE amount of editing to do (three monographs all in disarray) by Sunday, so I worked 30 hours that weekend, got it all done, and almost passed out, but now they love me and think I can do wonders and feel so great about meeting their (completely insane) deadlines, so good on me!  The work has actually been fun, if very fast-paced, but I worked so hard in the beginning, I've been able to ease up a bit at the end of this week...though they did send me yet another essay to read on Friday morning when I was leaving for a day trip to Abu Dhabi (see  Seminary below), so after a quick trip to the business center, I spent my waiting time and flight time editing because they wanted it back by that evening at the latest.  Soon I will actually be done with the monographs I was hired to edit but I'll still have contracted hours left, so I'm trying to convince them I can edit or even, gasp! write their monthly newsletter and the conference program.  We'll see how that goes!  Regardless, it's been very, very nice to use my professional brain for a change.
• PTA: we had our first parent meeting just after we returned from Greece, our first teacher appreciation day breakfast a few days after that, and our first big event is coming up this Saturday.  Now, being PTA president is a big job under any circumstances, but here we have the added challenge that a large percentage of our parent population has no idea what the PTA even is or does and has very little understanding about things like potlucks and assignments and school-wide events, so we don't actually know how this social is going to play out.  At this point, a few days away, I am cautiously optimistic it won't be a disaster...but I could very well be wrong!  Meanwhile, I am making flyers (wishing I knew more about digital image editing, those two degrees in English doing me very little good in this case), running errands to the craft-esque store (no real craft stores here; this is an oddly stocked stationary store in point of fact), driving between the two campuses, and emailing ad infinitum--so busy!
• Online Seminary: this is my new assignment for church, basically scripture study class online for teenagers.  I have taught the face-to-face, early morning version of this class in the past and really liked doing it, but the training for the online version is trying to kill me!  First, there are a gazillion and five online modules with which I have been struggling (I am not a "hip" learner--video instructions do not help me!  Please give me something I can simply read, people!) and then it just so happened we were going to have a stake-wide training just now as well, so that was why I took a day trip to Abu Dhabi, a 14 hour day from start to finish, three hours of which were actual training and the rest I spent either in transit or in the airport (some of the time working on editing).
• School Bus: As I have shared before here, I am still the parent coordinator for the school bus, only now we have two buses going to two different campuses and many more kids, many of whom joined up on the first of October, which meant there was much emailing and calling back and forth to get those kids paid for and set up with the schools and ready to ride at the first of the month.  Some days, I think this particular responsibility I have is my least favorite of all.  80% of the parents are gracious and helpful but that remaining 20% are constantly upset about something and complaining right and left and I just want to scream at them that I am VOLUNTEER, for crying out loud, a volunteer who is saving you hours of your time and many levels of aggravation because you longer have to drive on our roads and helping your kids get to and from school safely and in a timely manner and maybe, just maybe, you should be a little nicer to me and not Reply All with accusations in ALL CAPS!!  Just sayin.
• Homework: I am really of two minds about the homework situation.  On the one hand, yes, I see the value in extra practice of concepts at home to solidify skills learned in class or to enrich instruction from the day.  On the other hand, I find 45 solid minutes at a minimum of homework for a second grader (and that is solid working time, not counting interruptions or wandering attention or anything else) to be excessive.  The 20 minutes of reading is absolutely fine, no arguments here, but the spelling brouhaha is so labor-intensive: 12 spelling words with a whole gaggle of "points" that have to earned each week by doing activities of varying intensities with the spelling words.  I'd say 75% of the activities take longer than 20 minutes, which seems like a lot to do every single day.  I'm already steering J toward those that require less effort just so he doesn't burn out on homework before the week has hardly begun.  Will he know his spelling words for the weekly tests?  Of course.  Will he have the energy to do all these really not spelling-based activities for such a long time?  No.  And don't even get me started on Arabic, where the homework sheets are once again completely in Arabic and so we have to send pictures of them to our Arabic-speaking friends just to get through the worksheets!  And now E also has homework, reading by himself and reading with me (which, again, we already do anyway and want to have him do as much as he is able to do) and many, many, many (like 30) sight word flash cards, which include words like it, a, Dad, and...going?  One of these things is not like the others, folks!
• Husband's Job: In other, hopefully happier news, the current announcement is that the husband's work will only be cutting 25%, so we are all pleased to hear that.  No one knows yet which 25% will be cut, which is unsettling, but after a week in Greece during which I didn't think about all this one iota, I came back with a very zen attitude about the whole thing and have ceased to worry.  In the meantime, the husband has been applying for other jobs and has gotten some nibbles, and I have dutifully scoped out schools and house prices in those potential areas, just to be on the safe side.  But for now, we are awaiting the other shoe and hoping to make it through the school year here, if not beyond, so we can achieve our goal to pay off all our debt.  Speaking of debt, are we extremely happy we finally sold our house in South Carolina over the summer, given the horrendous flooding there this past week?  Why yes, yes we are, especially since our house backed up on a ditch usually mostly empty of water and was right next to an area that routinely flooded, even during the most usual of rain storms.  Whew!  However, we are so sad to see and hear about all the devastation our friends in SC have faced and send them our love and prayers.

If I/we can make it through October, things should be more manageable.   And to think I was a little bored before summer...careful what you wish for!