tired and cranky

That's how I described my self to Gerry (my hubby) when I called upon leaving work at 6 pm tonight. Yes - I know teachers are supposed to work till 3, but HAH!!! that's a fallacy if I ever heard one. Most days lately I am there until 5 or 6 pm. Today really wasn't all that horrible, but I am so exhausted (but you see, I still have energy enough to write on my blog - guess it's therapy).
The school day started out very nicely. I was in charge of leading a group of 105 kindergarteners in making gingerbread houses, using milk cartons, graham crackers, icing and candy. This was our first year attempting this. But I have a wonderful team of teachers, and there were a group of parents from the class next door who are just fabulous. So, there we were in the cafeteria at 8:30 AM, and would you believe, the kids actually paid attention. Of course, they knew they had BETTER or else they would miss the fun. And fun it was. They made great little houses and hardly ate any of the candy at all. All the leftovers were put into holiday ziploc bags for them to take home.
The rest of the day went smoothly, but I was SO tired from yesterday. I should have come right home and gone to sleep Wednesday, but instead we went to the movies to see Christmas with the Kranks. It's not the kind of movie I would rush to see, but we had sat in on about 15 minutes of it the other day and it was funny. Once seen in it's entirety, it's a fun movie. I was falling asleep on the way home but as usual, got my second wind and stayed up until midnight. So by noon today I was wiped out. I had a meeting at 1:15 and then a staff meeting from 2:10 - 3:15. Then I went to my room to work, spoke to Becca for about 10 minutes on the phone (that made me smile), and spent the next 1 1/2 hours putting grades into the computer. I never got to do my lesson plans and other things as planned. Once I left school I had to go to Costco and Publix to do the final shopping for our staff Holiday Party Friday night. When I called Gerry on my way home I told him to go ahead and have dinner without me. He heard the sound of my voice and said,"do what you have to do and we will go out to eat." He didn't have to twist my arm. Then I did what any girl will do when feeling tired and cranky...I called my mom. She was very sympathetic...for about 2 minutes. Then she proceeded to tell me about HER day, and never again asked about mine. No, she isn't selfish, she just is turning 80 in 2 months, and while she is more like a 60 year old, she does tend to pass over information that is not imminently important. Actually, that was good for me, cause it took my mind off of my day. Then I spoke to Alison...that was VERY satisfying. She was having as lousy a time as I was, so we commisserated with each other. How could you feel crabby when your daughter is feeling crabbier? I loved chatting with her (I always do) and by the time I got off the phone with her I was more myself...tired, but no longer cranky. So I did my shopping, came home to a big hug (was that ever needed!) and off to dinner we went.
I know tomorrow will be a crazy day, as I have to work and then zoom 30 miles north to home, do a few things here and then go about 35 miles south to Plantation, where we are having our staff holiday party. I hope I didn't forget a thing. As usual, I didn't delegate, and so if anything is missing or not right, it's all my fault.
Can't wait until Saturday - lots of presents to wrap and some to be mailed out of town. Maybe I can actually sleep late Saturday, before getting started. Won't that be nice??