small life changes

So there's a tiny chance you've been like "Joelle, where you at? Why aren't you writing?" Because as of this current moment, it's April 30th and I've only written once. This is an all time low. Maybe you thought I was in the hospital or something, or maybe you've been like "Man, watching episodes of Modern Family on Hulu is much more entertaining than reading Joelle's blog." Despite your feelings about my lack off blog presence, I still like you.

But there have been some changes. When I logged in today to write this, I was surprised to see Blogger's new layout. You wouldn't know anything about this unless you also have a blog and use Blogger, and that's okay. It's just kind of a big deal to me and makes me feel lost. Kind of like that time that I managed not to go into Target for 24 days, and then when I did go in, they were re-modeling and everything was in a different location. FYI I was in Target yesterday. The remodel is finally complete and all the aisles aren't going to be moved around anymore. I'm probably the only person in the city who carries a store map of Target in my purse for a quick reference. But give me two weeks and I think I won't need it anymore.

I have some news for you, that you may or may not know about, depending on your personal level of communication with me. If you don't personally communicate with me, you probably should, even if you have never met me. Just saying. And I'm not saying you should talk to me because I'm super cool. I'm saying you should talk to me because you are probably super cool and should share your charisma with someone who is lacking in it.

So my news is that I landed a 40 hour a week job that will last through mid-August. In case you didn't know, I quit my job as a teacher last June and haven't worked full time since then. Until now. This gig is really going to help my bank account. Not that it pays oodles of dollars, but having any sort of income gets really exciting when you haven't made much in the past 8 months. Plus, I really feel like it was the right opportunity to take. I'm working with a teen program for The Boys and Girls Club that helps kids with job skills, financial literacy, college applications, scholarships, and motivation and support to graduate from high school. It's pretty stellar and I'm glad to be a part of it.

In other news, I attended a totally awesome 80s birthday party two weekends ago. Here is a photo for your viewing pleasure. It was super fun because all of the attendees are super great people.

I'm in the yellow, in case you forgot what I look like. Because you know, it's been so long. And that's my best friend in the spandex.

Accountability Notebook

Being marginally employed has its downfalls. Like, I get home at 9:15am from teaching Bible Club, and all I want to do for like, two hours is read blogs and look at Pinterest. So yesterday I tried an accountability tactic that involved me writing down how I spent my hours. Knowing I'd have to document "watched YouTube videos of baby elephants" made me not want to do it as much.

 I felt very accomplished during some hours, like when I cleaned my room, did laundry, scrubbed the kitchen floors, and responded to e-mails. But then there was the 45 minutes I spent trying to futilely make a soap pump out of a mason jar. Does anyone have a metal hole punch? And there were the 25 minutes I fell asleep on my couch.

Tuesday afternoons I tutor a first grade boy, and yesterday I met his hermit crabs, Hermy, Wormy, and Twinkle. Twinkle has rhinestones glued to her shell. J also has two turtles. He informed me that one is a boy and one is a girl, and they will probably have babies some time, but they want to get married first. J knows that they want to get married because they kiss each other underwater, which is really adorable and romantic.

But this whole time documenting, thing, I'm telling you, it really shaped me up. Even though I didn't want to go to the gym, I did, because I preferred writing "worked out" in my little notebook than to write "watched two episodes of The Firm" down.

What do you do to stay motivated and productive while at home?