Today seemed extraordinarily normal. No major stresses…no major incidents…no “accidentally” eating a Milky Way…just a regular old day. That felt nice. It would be AWESOME if this was the new normal. I am ALMOST done with my picture project and let me tell you it has been a BEAST! I pared down a Photos library from 82,000 images to 24,000! I still have I am sure 5,000 to go but it feels so good to have this monster under control. It is amazing how many flipping picture I take. And its stupid shit…images of things that I want to make or do or remember…only to be lost and forgotten in the black hole of Photos library. I think I have a game plan…I will post the regular shit to Facebook then delete them if they are not “book” worthy. And by book worthy I mean publishable. My new game plan is to make a photo book for every year…in January I will organize the previous years adventures, selecting only the finest and funniest images. I will them whip it up into a digital book and have it published. As I am making the book it will give me another chance to go through all the images for that year and toss the old ones. Then I can move all of those albums into a GIANT folder titled for the year and start fresh with new albums! Facebook has them already nicely catalogued online…and there are apps out there that will turn your timeline images into a book too so combined I figured I am DOUBLE covered! Sound like a good idea? In my head it does so I am running with it!

I am really starting to freak out about the upcoming school year. There is just a ton of shit that is still up in the air and I don’t do good in this situation. But a colleague and friend reminded me that I can only do ME. What comes down the pipeline is whats coming and there is nothing I can do to stop that freight train. All I can do is focus on my kids and making sure that their needs are met before tackling the next big thing. My sole job is to make sure my kids are getting what they need from school. The rest has to come second…there are just not enough hours in the day to do all the shit that people want in education. I m REALLY going to strive for a work/life balance this year. I am keeping track of my hours and being honest with my time that I give to work. Again- I have an app for this! Being an online teacher you have a million things going at once and at times it can be easy to get distracted. You are ONLINE for Gods sake all flipping day long! Things pop up in your email and then before you know it you are looking at the newest trends on Nordstroms. So I need to get better with my work time as well as my personal time. I am hoping this dedicated focus will also help me in the struggle. Maybe if I am more focused and intentional with work and life it will spill over to my releasing goals. All I can do is try…observe…and adjust as needed.

I stepped on the scale today it was was LOW…like 5 pounds lower than last Thursday. I REALLY hope that is the case this Thursday. I am feeling the need for a big victory. I have taken the advice of my coach and my therapist and applied in with purpose this week. That should equate to a 3+ pound release. Just two more days then off to the scales Thursday!