Life Lately - August

August has been kicking my butt.  I thought July went fast, but August has been insane!  And we've been so busy!  But we've been having fun.

I'm still so tired.

Here's what my son thinks about that:

(source)

Our month started with a visit to the Crayola Factory with some friends from out-of-town.  If you've never been there, I highly recommend it.  My son loves it there, and I do, too!  But I will warn you... get a good night's sleep before you go and be ready to collapse when you leave.

The kids were busy, busy, busy!  Of course we had to try everything.  I think we were there from 10:30am until 4:30pm.  It was a long day of playing, and the moms were EX. HAUS. TED.  The kids, however, were not.  Go figure.

There's also been a lot of this lately:

My son wants me to play with him all the time.  I do play with him a lot, but - after a while - it's mind-numbing.  I love my son to pieces, but after playing Ninja Turtles for an hour, I'm spent.  I just can't.  It's too much.  I try so hard to get into it, but I can only take so much... and then I feel guilty for not wanting to play anymore.  Is this what mom guilt is?

I've also been really focused on getting ready for the school year.  After going into my space this past week, I realized how much work needs to get done.  It is a hot mess.

I'll be starting with lots of this:

Getting lesson plan binders prepared -- one for each grade level.

Putting together a prize box to use for classroom management, specifically positive reinforcement.  I'm working on figuring out a weekly ticket system to earn prizes.

This year, as a librarian, I'll have an office.  It's not big by any means, but it's all mine! (I've always wanted an office, by the way.  It makes me feel special anytime I say "my office."  Is that weird?  I don't care.)

When I opened the door to it, it was overwhelming because of how messy it was.  I knew it would take me a while to get through everything because I am a freak when it comes to organization.  There were papers strewn everywhere, old files piled up on bookshelves, and lots of other random stuff.

Here are some before pictures...

One corner:

Next up - my desk.  Notice the Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup.  A definite necessity for tackling all this!

I cleared off the big bookshelf and moved it to a different corner in an effort to make the office seem a little larger.  Have not yet begun organizing the smaller bookshelf.

 More piles.  This is seriously how it looked when I entered.

Look what I found!  An old Rikki-Tikki-Tavi movie.  My husband used to watch this over and over when he was a kid.  I don't remember it at all... clearly because I'm so much younger (wink wink!).

Hopefully I'll have some after pictures to share with you soon.

In other news, I'm working on our family calendar.  I got a big ol' one from Walmart and am putting everything on it for all of us.  It's quite a task, but I'm hoping it'll help keep us all organized as we begin the new school year.

I keep trying out calendar apps on my iPhone, but I have always been a paper planner person.  I really want to find an app that works for me and is super user-friendly, so if any of you have any suggestions, please share!

I'm working on getting organized around the house, too, though that is a never-ending battle, mostly because I live with men.  Here is the current state of my husband's closet (I have a few things in there, too...ha!):

Notice our dog Chance sleeping in the back corner.  He loves that spot.  Also notice my hubby's large collection of hats.  On the floor.  Instead of on the shelf we have in there.

By the way, I should never feel guilty for buying shoes if he needs that many hats.  Girls, don't you agree?

Oh, and have I mentioned that we're completely re-doing our family room?  All we did when we moved in seven years ago was paint the walls and put in new carpet, but it was in definite need of an update.  We had this awful, shiny oak wainscoting around the entire bottom half of the room, and the trim around the doors and window were also just as shiny (and ugly).  I suppose it was in style at one point in time, but I've hated it for, well, ever.  So we're doing a makeover of the whole room right as we all get ready to go back to school because, you know, we don't have enough stress in our lives right now.  Pictures to come soon.

Lastly, we've been at Walmart and Target so much in the past few weeks to get back-to-school stuff, birthday gifts, etc.  My son insists on taking pictures on my phone of things he wants for his upcoming birthday.  You know, in case I forget.

Here are two of his latest interests:

This week will be another busy one.  I'll be working in my library, my son has another few days of kindergarten camp, and we have a few other commitments with friends and family.  I see a lot of coffee in my future.

(source)

Hope you have a great Monday and an even better week!