Well, I've got some lights at the end of my tunnel. It's been a dark, cold, and pretty exhausting winter. But now that spring has arrived and the weather is improving (slowly), it's time to take stock of a few things.

1. Work.
Yes! I have a job, a temporary one, at least. I got hired to take the place of an English teacher at the nearby high school who is going on maternity leave. The job is supposed to start on April 11, although it could start earlier depending on if she delivers early. It's four classes of freshman English and one of junior composition, and it's a paperless classroom. The students use Google Docs to submit and revise assignments. It's not exactly what I did back in Memphis, but it's pretty close. I'm really excited about it. I am a little disappointed in one aspect, because it sounds like the high school ISN'T expecting to have any teachers leave at the end of this year. Originally, there were supposed to be at least four teachers retiring at the end of the year, because their contracts were supposed to be up at the end of this school year. But the teachers' union ended up rolling over their contract negotiations until next year, so the teachers who were retiring are apparently waiting until the end of the next school year instead of this one. I had hoped I would get one of their positions for this fall. So my status for this fall is still up in the air, but this temporary position will be a nice test run to see if I'm still up to the classroom, and if I can stand to be away from the boy all day.

2. Friends
Well, we still haven't become social butterflies or anything, but I did get invited to a Pampered Chef show at a neighbor's house a few weeks ago, so I had the opportunity to meet a few people. And getting into a school for a little while will give me the chance to get to know some of the teachers too. Plus, we're going on vacation next week to go see my husband's grandparents, his sister and her family, and some of our friends where we used to live. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and showing off the boy.

3. Weight loss
Yeah, not so much. I'm at my heaviest (nonpregnancy) weight ever. Not good. I do hope that I can change that. We joined the local Y a few weeks ago, and I've managed to go a few times. Hopefully since our neighbor will be watching Brendan, I can zip over there after school to work out. Also, I'm hoping with the warmer weather we'll get out to walk, run, and ride with the boy a bit more. And at school I won't be able to snack all day long.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better about things. Hope that'll continue...