So 3 months is bad, right?

I guess it's been over 3 months since I last posted. Strangely enough, both nothing and a ton o' things have happened since my last post.

Tilda is talking up a storm and is at the stage where she repeats everything that she hears. Which means that Mike and I (but mainly me) have had to severely curb our "language" around her. Which means that life, overall, has been less fun.

It also means that Michael, who often latches onto an annoying phrase or saying from whatever form of media has currently captured his attention and repeats it until I develop the desire to clutch his throat until his face turns purple, has been teaching Tilda all sorts of things she should probably not be repeating. Like "Why...So... Serious?" Currently, her catchphrase is "EXTERMINATE!" It makes me less than happy.

T-day was great, as usual. I picked up knitting again and am currently working on armwarmers, a purse and a magnificent creation known as Scarfhat which I am convinced that, once finished, will solve all of my problems and possibly world peace. But mainly it will keep my neck warm since I got my hair cut supashort. (How short, you ask? My brother-in-law called it lesbian-esque. In case you were wondering.)

My birthday was very nice-with one exception. My sister gave me a purplish bowling ball, which I have since named Jesus. Michael gave me a t-shirt which I love. My parents took me out for a nice dinner, drinks and it snowed. The exception? My parents also gave me a gorgeous necklace made out of 2000-year old Roman glass. Which I promptly lost. I tore apart the house looking for it, but have not found it to this day. (I think I may have thrown it away.) Being the history major I am, who loves Ancient Greek & Roman history more than anything era, the idea of throwing away ancient Roman glass is killing me.

Christmas with the in-laws was very pleasant. Tilda got to be a flower girl in a wedding. She thew the petals on the aisle and apparently promptly began to clean them up. Sigh.

But I guess the most riveting development is that I quit my job, which was making me quite unhappy. Now I know that quitting a job in the middle of a bad economy was not the smartest thing I could have done. But 1) I was very unhappy (despite being well-paid and being able to work from home in my jammies 3 days a week). 2) I got another job teaching ESL at a local high school.

This past week was my first week and it was exhausting. I have no idea what my students have been learning since they have had a slew of substitutes and I am coming in mid-year. Most of them speak Spanish and snicker when I try to speak Spanish to them. On the second day, one of them taped my butt. Some of them are big and intimidating and quite a few of them are rumored to be in gangs. A small part of me is kinda dreading returning tomorrow. But I understand this is quite common. In fact, on my second day of school, I collapsed into our teacher workroom to get some planning done and ended up staring at a blank screen for 20 minutes, my brain refusing to function. Another teacher walked in the room, took one look at me and said, "Yeah-I wanted to quit my first year too."

All teachers understand.

But overall...I am happier. My only regret is not being able to work at home in my jammies. But I was SO bored. And now I feel like my brain is working again and I face new "challenges" every day. ("Challenges" translates to "students.") We are all still adjusting to our new schedules and I am sure it will get easier. And eventually, the summer will come and it will be me, Tilda, the pool and a couple of cases of Abita Strawberry Lager. Ah, bliss.

For now, I am trying to improve my Spanish, keep my head above water and am constantly checking weather.com for potential snow days. Now excuse me while I go turn my jammies inside out.