Working for the weekend

I have a job where I have very flexible hours in the months of June and July. However, these are my husbands busiest times of the year. I find the shift from the daily job during the rest of the year to the flex schedule in the summer (and I only have to put in about 15 total days in these two months) is hard to adapt to. I have so many things that I put on hold until I have the summer "off" and then the weather is so nice and I have each day to myself and before you know it, the time flies by with only one or two of my goals for the day accomplished.

One way I cope is to treat every morning like work. When I have finished my "paid" work there is time for my saved up goals. I have my list, I give myself a start time and an end time. I have my big list on a tablet and check them off as they get done and I write my short list on a white board and erase what I get done and add other things as I go. I call it Long Term To Do because I feel better when I get things done that summer.

 

The afternoons are for outdoor projects like lawn and flowerbed maintenance and appointments or running errands.

Then, before I know it, it is August and time to get back into the regular work routine. And when winter arrives I am ready for vacation!

Preparing for a Grant trip

Often, the best travels are ones that don't come about quite the way you expect.


This is the blog of two best friends who will be teaching in El Salvador for 3 weeks. Lots of pics.

Their story goes....

June 5, 2013

Preparing for Departure

A couple of years ago, we (Angie and Lara) discussed getting a grant to go to Mexico. We wanted to learn a little more about what our students from that region experience before they get to our little school in Nebraska. That discussion was put on the back-burner until last fall, when we decided that we really wanted to follow through with the application for this grant.

Once we decided to apply, we defined our mission, enlisted proofreading and guidance help, and spent about 35 hours drafting and refining our application, which we sent in the end of January…then it was time to sit and wait…

and wait…

and wait…

Lara had a few speech tournaments, Angie found out she was pregnant (It’s a girl!), we each received other grants for our classrooms, but we continued to wait for the big one…

and wait…

and wait…

Finally, on the Monday after Easter (in APRIL!!) we received a letter from the grant providers, Fund for Teachers, and they had denied us.

Just kidding!!

We had received the money we had asked for, plus more!! The reality hit us. We would be spending three weeks of our summer in El Salvador working on teaching English to students of all ages with the program Travel to Teach.

We soon received our checks, set up a joint checking account (adorable, we know), ordered our plane tickets, school ended, Angie traveled to Florida, Lara to Europe…and that brings us to today…

We leave the US in two days!

Follow Angie and Laura here:  http://searchingelsalvador.tumblr.com/