and then...there might have actually been some thumb twiddling going on

Thursday was Koji's first "real" day at school. He was up before me....sitting on the sofa...just waiting for me to crawl out of my futon. While my coffee was brewing, we had a nice talk about school and what all we thought was going to happen. He was a little nervous but he was nervous in a good way. When it finally got to be 7:00, we woke Issei up (that took a bit of time and a lot of effort...he is NOT a morning person..especially on a school day!!), had a good breakfast, brushed some teeth, got dressed (Koji changed twice!!) and then finally, they were ready.

I followed them to the top of the stairs, and after a quick "See you later...have a great day!", I sat down and watched them walk off together. Issei was telling him about what all they have to do when they got to school....I watched them until they disappeared and then realized I was looking a bit 'stalker-like' sitting there in my old sweats and flip-flops with my cell-phone camera in hand, ready for a great shot, so I finally just gave it up and went in the house.

From this moment I realized that things had changed. My "babies" weren't so little anymore and, though I wasn't sad or anything, there was still a little fwip in my heart...things had changed.

And boy howdy have they changed!! For one thing.....I have free time in the morning. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've always had a little free time, but now? Now, I have more than I have ever had~~~and I'm not sure that I am actually comfortable with it. Yes, I know...it's only the second day...it will get easier...it'll start to feel not so weird soon....but for now...yeah, I'm twiddlin' my thumbs!

For 10 years (5 at a public school, 5 at a private girls' school) I was a full-time teacher and incredibly busy....the last 3 years were a bad busy and I was miserable. After that last job was finished, I found myself working, basically, as a freelance English teacher. The last 5 years of working like that haven't been easy and I have worked my butt off to get the classes to fill my days....but, this, my friends, this is a good busy...a fun busy! I love it!!

Plus....I have an extra 45 minutes in the morning and almost an hour and a half in the afternoon...time that used to be spent taking Koji to and from the daycare.

Sure I have things to do...things I should be doing but would rather be doing something~~anything~~ else...things that have to be done. For example, yesterday, I did 3 loads of laundry, folded 2 that were on the line from Wednesday and spent about 20 minutes chatting with my neighbor next door over the wall between our houses. She asked me if I felt like I was "too free". I tried to convey in Japanese how I was feeling...."Yeah! And it's kind of making me crazy!!" (smiling the whole while were were talking about this.) She convinced me that everyone goes through this and I should enjoy it while I can because before I know it, I will have become accustomed to it and it will be just like any other day. I'm hoping that I can get my room clean before that happens.....the "path" from the door to the computer is getting smaller by the day and I really need to make it walk-able!!

So....if you had some extra time in the morning or afternoon...what would you do?

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What do you get when you search for "Easter...flamingos" on Google Images, Yahoo Images and Flickr???

You get these beauties...that's what you get!

(Except that one of me and one of my flamingos....that one was from my own cell phone!)

Have a good Friday everyone!! (get it, Good Friday! I crack myself up sometimes!)

FYI.....Many, many moons ago, I was born on a Good Friday so, as my mom says, this is my "real" birthday. I say, "That's why I'm so good." Oh yes, I do, too, say that! :-D