First Day of School Again

School started on August 19th this year, which seemed way too early for all of us.

Landon is in 11th grade this year and has a Football class 1st period on A days (hence his lovely shirt). Whitney is in 8th grade this year and is determined to figure out how to manage her hair.

Can you feel the love?

Of course Junie had to be included.

I had already been working for a couple weeks so school starting was actually kind of a relief. This is my 4th year in the front office and my 5th year working at the junior high. Good times.

Bumpy Ride

We took Whitney to the 6th grade open house at the junior this week. Randy and I were excited for her but found out right away that she was not. As soon as we got out of the car and I asked her to pose for a picture in front of the sign things got weird. I didn't fight it, I just got her to agree that we could take a photo on the way out instead.

It was really well organized, and I've been seeing these signs around the school for a month so it was nice to finally have the event here.

They had student council members greeting the kids and giving them these papers as they walked in; Whitney immediately handed them to me (what the?!)

 I chalked up her hesitation to junior high jitters and moved forward with a perplexed look on my face.

She got to try opening a locker, which proved tricky for her left-handed ways (she naturally wanted to start by going left instead of right) but she got it on her 3rd try.

Despite the smile on her face in this picture she was NOT keen on having to get her TDAP booster shot. I was thrilled though because it means one less thing to do later.

After a little bit more wandering around and some visiting with some of my co-workers (aka her future teachers) there were some tears (on her part) and dismay (on mine and Randy's) we decided we were done.

She reluctantly posed for this photo on the way out, then suggested we pick up something for dinner, then made a miraculous recovery and was pleasant the rest of the night. Good Hell!

Migraine Woes

All of my days at work are pretty crazy, it's just how things are, so whenever I leave work I feel rather victorious for having survived the day. But last week Wendy was ill so that meant I was running the office by myself for 3 days. I mentally prepared myself (i.e., knew I had no choice and that I was capable of doing a great job) and approached each day knowing it was all on me. I also prayed each morning and night that I would feel great and NOT get a headache.

I'm happy to report all was well. I was firing on all cylinders and I was headache free. In fact, on Thursday morning I had just gotten to work when one of our teachers walked into the office sweating profusely and gripping his chest. I immediately got on the intercom to call down one of our science teachers who is also an EMT, then the administrators came running to the office and called 911. It was an intense 20 minutes for all of us but the ambulance came and took him away and he is now doing alright (it was a major heart attack and he had to have stint put in).

Friday morning I felt a little irritable due to the endless (and often obnoxious) "needs" of the students, but I got over it and had a good, but exhausting day. I read in the cozy after work and had Randy bring home 5 Guys for dinner and we had the added bonus of both kids spending the evening at friends' houses.

But then Saturday morning I woke up feeling dizzy and headachy, so I made my way to the couch and watched "Phenomenon" on TV. That movie makes me sob, so it might not have been the best choice with a headache brewing. After the movie I made my way back to the cozy to read and try to recover. No such luck! I got worse as the day went on so I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to book club that night, plus things got so bad I couldn't even read. I had to get the room as dark as possible and just lie there hoping to die. I kid you not, it was the worst migraine of my life. It felt like I was wearing a tight helmet and goggles of pain. It took several hours for the Relpax to work and even after that I felt wasted. I ended up staying in bed all night long and surfaced this morning at 6:45 feeling robbed of my Saturday, weepy and frustrated. Good times.

Very Little Anxiety, How Bout That?

Whitney got her 7th grade registration papers in the mail today!! As you know, I'm not comfortable with the passage of time, and even though we've been experiencing a lot of hormonal havoc at home the past 3 months or so,  I'm actually really excited for her to start junior high.

She went back and forth between already "knowing" everything to being flabbergasted when I didn't explain something; and decided she's disappointed by the lack of choice in electives (i.e., she's mad she has to take Math, Science, and English!).

She chose Drama Foundations, Drama & Film, and Intro to Foreign Languages as her top 3 electives with Dance Foundations and Art Foundations as alternates. You would think she'd be all about the Art class but since she has taken art classes before she knows what she likes (creating cartoons/drawing animals) and isn't really interested in all the rest.

I can't believe it has been 3 years since I freaked out when Landon got his junior high registration materials in the mail! My oh my what an incredible change of perspective I've had since then...I practically live at the junior high now, plus Landon will be registering for high school in a couple months!

After yesterday's football practice, Landon and I stopped at the grocery store to get a Redbox movie since I had a free code. As we went into the store I recognized a couple of girls from the junior high, so I said "hi" to them. They looked confused (perhaps my slouchy summer look and sunglasses confused them), so Landon and I kept walking. We got our movie, despite the instructions being in Spanish, and passed the girls as we walked out of the store. I said hi to them again and asked them if they were playing at the grocery store. They laughed and said, "see it is the receptionist from school!" and then one of them points to Landon and says to me, "He's hot!!". Oh my my my.

First Dance Recital

Landon has been taking a Men's Dance class at school this semester and they had their performance the other night. I was super curious about this because I'm familiar with many of the boys in the class (because of working at the junior high) and knew it was a huge class (50 kids). I have no idea how the teacher is able to wrangle that many crazy boys in one class!

They performed "The Evolution of Dance" which was highly amusing! They were going every which way and had a wide range of skills and enthusiasm. The kid in front of Landon (in the stripes) had us howling with laughter. He was a good dancer, but his intensity, wardrobe and pelvic gyrations were hysterical! We were wiping tears from our eyes!

It was hard to take pictures in there because of all the heads in the way (there a broad shouldered woman with a wide puff of hair sitting right in front of me), but luckily Landon was on the sides and not the middle so we were able to see him.

We had a random stranger take our picture afterward and while she was taking it her little boy said, "Who are they!?" As if she was just taking our picture for her own use--I found this funny.

We went to JCW's for a celebratory ice cream cone...the boy was pleased.

Olivia, Robyn, Austin and Landon were on one side of our Mormon-family sized booth.

Randy, Me, Whitney and Ashley were on the other (don't worry, I didn't purposely pair the scarf with my jacket, I'd worn the scarf all day and only put that jacket on at night. (My mom didn't come to JCW's.)

**Do they offer a Men's Dance class at your Jr. high?

Would you have gotten vanilla, chocolate or a twist cone?

Isn't Whitney super photogenic?**

Comment Window Tidbit: My sporadic blogging has been driving me crazy! I have been so busy that I'm too pooped to fuss with it at night, plus I need to do a bunch of rewind-type posts and that feels overwhelming. I'll do what I can do.

Oh the Humanity!

Usually I really enjoy my job. It is NEVER the same day twice even though many of the elements of my days are the same. Usually I laugh (to myself of course) at the extreme junior-highness of it all, the drama, the nerdiness, the locker jams and so on. But today, despite having a relaxing yet productive weekend at home with plenty of sleep I just was NOT in the mood for junior high. I didn't feel sympathetic, tolerant or even very nice but I did my best to mask those feelings and somehow made it through the day. Of course, I had a screaming migraine after that and even though I took a Relpax at 1:30, got home and into the cozy by 2:45, I wasn't okay to surface until 5:30pm! It's robbery I tell you! I seem to be having a resurgence of headaches lately and I am not happy about it. I am rereading my headache book in an attempt to eliminate any triggers that may be stirring things up. Aargh! Hopefully tomorrow's junior-high dramas will find me at full strength.

**How was your day?

How often do you get headaches?

What are your triggers?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm having some motivation issues tonight with a little side of guilt since I know I should be doing stuff today that will make my tomorrow easier.

"American Fork Junior High, this is Jill"

This photo actually goes with my 12 on the 12th grid, but since I have nothing else to post today and since I'm at Michelle's mercy for my grid I'm using it. Today was absolutely crazy busy at work and I did great! I wear this ear piece so I can answer the phone even if I'm away from my desk (and also so I don't go crazy picking the phone up a million times) and it has taken some getting used to but I think I've got it.

It's weird when things come so naturally, but I'm guessing that since I worked at the junior high last year and since I've run an office before this hasn't been a hard transition. Of course, I say that but really the teachers aren't all back yet and the students aren't either, so I may be singing a different tune next week.

Speaking of tunes, I may or may not have spent over an hour (at home, not at work) searching for the perfect ringtone for my new iPhone. It was fun to search through iTunes trying to decide what song won't end up driving me crazy but I finally settled on "Free" by the Zac Brown Band because I like it and because I know it will get stuck in my head constantly and I think that message will be uplifting for me. Good times.


Comment Window Tidbit: I'm a little afraid that I'm going to get a hunched back from sitting at the computer for so long. I get up a lot while at work, but then I come home and sit at our computer for a long time too. Oh dear.

Bizarre But Funny

Last week while registering Landon for school online I was double checking the information they have for us and did a triple take when I saw that they have my middle name listed as Annabelle! What the?! I have no idea how this is even possible, and to make things even more confusing it wouldn't let me change my own info!

I was able to remedy the situation the next day when I went in to work, but they were equally baffled as to how that middle name came to be.

**Have you ever had something like this happen?**

Comment Window Tidbit: The first 3 hours of work went pretty fast today, but the last 3 did not. I'm sure this is because school hasn't started yet, but it's not making me very excited to go back tomorrow.

One of Those Cool Experiences

Today was my first day going into the school to be trained to work in the front office. I was there from 9-1 (the time flew by so fast) learning as much as I could from the secretary who has been there for 19 years, but who is switching to another position. I took notes, asked questions and answered about 20 phone calls and made many successful phone transfers (yea me!). I am feeling excited about this job now because contrary to my hermit-like ways and tendency toward solitude, I really do enjoy working with people and being busy. I find it energizing, even though it seems like it would be exhausting instead.

My main goal with this new job is to be a welcoming, helpful person in the front office. I have always been inspired by the secretary (actually there are 2, but Jean is the main one) who works in the front office at our elementary school because she is so kind and helpful and always seem genuinely glad to see everyone who visits the office. I've written about her before because her kindness in checking up on Landon when he broke his arm in 6th grade was so touching (it still moves me to tears when I talk about it). It is such a talent to make people feel cared for and special and that's something I would like to do in this new job. So as I was working today and imagining what it will be like when school is officially in session, I kept thinking about Jean and what a difference she makes at the elementary school

So after work I called Cafe Rio to order lunch (for the 2nd time this week thanks to a birthday gift card from Brooke & Ashley) and as I was tucking my gift card back into my wallet after I paid, I looked up and saw Jean at the register right next to me picking up her to-go order! I immediately got her attention and said hi and then got to tell her about my new job (she actually advised me last fall when I was interviewing with the school district) and how I admire her so much and want to be like her. It was one of those poetic experiences, like someone actually composed the day just for me. There was just something about running into her right then that felt significant, almost like a message of comfort for my new job. Very cool!

**Have you had an experience like this before?

Have you worked in a busy office?

Are you a good multi-tasker?

Have you had Cafe Rio recently?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Two of the math teachers I worked with during the school year came into the office today and let me know they were sad that I won't be working with them in class anymore. They were the only teachers who came in the office at all today, and that felt like it was just for me too.

Junior High?!!

Thank heaven I experienced all my anxiety about Landon going to Junior High back in March when I first received mail from the school regarding class selection, immunizations and an open house. Landon had been giving us some attitude at that time, and I was feeling seriously panicked about this next stage of his life (and ours as parents).

Fortunately, we went to the open house at the Junior High which put my fears to rest and made me excited instead of worried for him. Also instrumental in putting my mind to rest, was the life-changing service project that turned Landon from a lippy pre-teen to a super sweet, service-oriented, almost too good to be true sort of boy. Phew!


So when Monday morning rolled around and we had to go to the Junior High to pay $51 in class fees (#$@!), I was cool as a cucumber (they are notoriously cool).


Then again that evening when we went to the Junior High for back-to-school night I felt totally calm. We familiarized ourselves with the map, found all his classes, tried out his locker (at least 4 times for good measure) and felt the energy of this new adventure.


It's amazing how quickly my locker-opening skills came back to me, even though it has been 20 years since I've had to use one, I was able to walk him through it like not a day had passed.


The classrooms were all in order and Landon was very happy to see the BYU football poster on the wall of his history class.


So Tuesday morning was his big first day and he was READY! He had woken up on his own at 6:00am, showered, eaten breakfast and was all but out the door when I got up at 7:15.


We had plenty of time for some early morning photos, including this one of his very faded name on his backpack which he has had since kindergarten!


It seems just like yesterday that Randy and I excitedly got him ready for his first day of kindergarten.

I'm going to O.D. on nostalgia!

The backpack was laughably ginormous on him then, so seeing it on him now really hit me with how much he has changed (cue tears).

Obviously he was excited!

I love it that he knew I'd still be taking pictures as he walked away.


I ended up driving over to stake out the bus situation. This is the first time he has ever had to ride a bus to school, so that seemed noteworthy. Not a bad view eh?


I made our traditional first-day-of-school chocolate chip cookies for him and Whitney made this cute sign with acorn paper weights.

He had a great day and came home feeling like he knew where everything was already (it's a BIG school).

**Do you remember your first day of 7th grade?
Do your kids ride a bus?
Do you have a tendency to O.D. on nostalgia?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Writing this post and being able to reference two of my previous posts made me feel overwhelmed with happiness for the beauty of blogging. All of these things would have been forgotten if I hadn't written them down, and since I'm not a dedicated journal-writer when it comes to traditional journals, it is amazing how blogging has made me a dedicated documenter and I love that!