So...

August is gone and September is almost done as well. *sigh* Where did the time go? Anyway, here's a re-cap of what I've been up to over the last month and a half...

Locked out
I was at a lunch/orientation thing about 3 weeks ago, when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but I answered it anyway. It was my mom. She was calling from the neighbor's house and asked me if I had my house keys on me. I said yes, and when I asked why, she said that Teagan locked her out of the house. What?!? Apparently, my mom went outside to grab the mail (the mailbox is on the opposite side of where our front door opens, so you physically have to go outside to get the mail). Teagan was in the other room, so she didn't think anything of it. Now with our door knob, if you don't unlock the switch thing, it'll be locked on the outside, but you can still turn the knob from the inside. Anyway, Teagan apparently came running from the other room, and all my mom heard was the click of the door closing. She didn't unlock the switch thing, so she got locked out. Meanwhile, Teagan was looking out of the living room window, waving at my mom. My mom motioned to her to open the door, but she didn't (not that she could anyway, because she can't quite reach the door knob). Of course, my mom was worried because she was cooking at the time, so the stove was on and she was afraid that whatever she was cooking would boil over and Teagan might get into it and get burned. But all Teagan did was stare out the window. When I got home, I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. I know it wasn't funny to my mom, but there was a bit of humor in it. It's a good thing that Teagan didn't get into anything and get hurt. The moral of the story is, unlock the switch thing on the door when you're with a child who has a habit of closing doors. Or always carry a spare set of keys with you.

Course update
So far my course is going well. The content is a bit dry, but what can you expect. I have a midterm in a couple weeks, so hopefully I can get all my reading done.

Playschool registration
Teagan's playschool is a parent co-op, meaning the executive committee is made of parents who volunteer. We went through the school policy; talked about our duty days, fundraising events, etc. One of the things parents are assigned is a cleaning night to clean the toys. When it came time to sign up for a specific night, it was amazing to see how fast people jumped out of their seats to get the date they wanted. Being a new parent in the playschool, I didn't really know what to expect, so I just waited and filled out my post-dated checks for her tuition. Because I waited, my cleaning day is in May, which doesn't really bother me, so I don't understand what the big deal is?

Preschooler parent
I've graduated to a parent of a preschooler. Teagan's first day of school was a week and a half ago, and I was more anxious than she was. Up until her first day, I was excited, nervous, anxious, and panicky all at the same time. It was weird to go back-to-school shopping, since I didn't think I had to get her anything. I mean, what does a preschooler really need? In the back of my mind, I knew I had to get her some "inside" shoes, some (dark) clothes (for when they do crafts and anything that involves them getting dirty), and a school bag. But when I went shopping for these things, the list grew longer and longer. I ended up buying her 3 pairs of shoes, a small backpack, a notebook, a cup, and some clothes. Man, kids are expensive!

On her first day, I had the camera with me. I took a few shots, and stayed for a little while. Not because she was clinging to me, but more because of the separation anxiety I had. I was a bit disappointed that Teagan didn't really care whether or not I was there. She was in there as if she knew what to do. I left without her knowing and went back to work. And no, I didn't cry.

Fundraising
As I mentioned earlier, one of the things we have to do as a parent of a preschooler, is fundraising. So, what we had to do was sell these student union coupon books. I'm not one to go up to people and get them to buy these books, but I managed to sell 7 of them. I only needed to sell 5 to fulfill my fundraising quota. That's one crossed off the list.

Bigger calendar
Between Teagan's schedule with playschool, my work stuff, and appointments, I had to go from my "handy dandy" pocket calendar to a notebook-sized one. Everything is color-coded and laid out on one big calendar, which is very helpful in looking at what's coming up.

New manager
Our new manager (the third one since I've been here) started last month. At first we didn't really know what to expect, but I am so happy she's here. In such a short period of time, she has turned things around and given us a sense of direction. As a department, we still have a long way to go, but things are much better than before. In addition to our daily stuff, she's assigned each of us a project, which I think it a good thing and gives us variety in what we do. There are some minor things that bug me (hey, no one's perfect) but overall, things are looking up. As we've said in our team meetings, there is light at the end of the tunnel.