Yesterday was a good day

 I ended up not getting dressed at all yesterday. That bummed Mavy out a little as he never got a walk, but oh well. And while not getting dressed might not sound like a great day, it truly was. After my blog post yesterday, I sat down and looked over my biology course. I ended up spending a few hours, okay 5, planning and I now have the first 9 weeks of school planned out. Woo Hoo!!! Biology is done. I changed things up and made some doodle type notes that I will be doing on the board as I lecture. No more slideshow. I hate slide shows. I always have hated slide shows. It feels so stiff and unnatural. So starting the first day we return, no more slide shows. I'm going back to doing what I do best. I did the same sort of thing for chemistry the other day. I have the entire first unit planned out and the notes all ready. I just need to get something ready for AP Bio and I'll be relaxed and ready to start the spring semester. I honestly think this is what was missing last semester. I really did no advance planning. Even though I know that waiting until right before class to plan does not work for me, I did it anyway. So I have the first 5 weeks of chemistry ready and the first 9 weeks of biology ready. AP I will work on soon. I need to do a little thinking about that one though. Do I do like I'm doing with chem and bio and dump the slides and go to lecture? I could do that. Some of the topics are really small and easy to give a short lecture on. I think I might do that. I know some of them never look at the slides or the videos. I could still make the videos because of one student who is sick frequently. Also, they would be good for review. Maybe I'll look them over and see what I can come up with. 

So doing that has taken a huge weight off my shoulders. I am in my element teaching that way. I've got the notebooks for chem and bio all set up and I'm ready to dive in. So huge weight lifted. Now, the other huge weight on my shoulders is money. I think that's the next thing I tackle. I started a new budget, a blank budget, with the intention of having it all set up by January 1. This will be one of my new years goals, to not only keep the budget all year but to get us out of the hole I've managed to get us into. But then this morning I was thinking that instead of starting a brand new budget, because that is a lot of work, I'd maybe do a fresh start on the one I have. The current one is not that old and doing a fresh start basically just wipes out the balances but leaves all the information in place. But then I thought I'd link all my accounts and keep track of them automatically. That might be more useful at this time. They will automatically update and I don't have to rely on my memory to enter things. Don't know. Have to work on that. But I know that once I get that in place, I will be able to develop a plan for getting ahead and things will be good again. 

The final piece of the puzzle is my business. I have got to start selling some things. I. Have. To. But, as usual when I don't know what I'm doing, I feel kind of paralyzed. When I'm unsure of how to do something, I tend to just freeze. I see it in myself all the time. I did it with my laser, and still do it occasionally. I am doing it on and off with my resin stuff. Rather than jumping in and trying something until I find something that works, I freeze up and do nothing. I really need to get over that. I know part of it is the perfectionist in me. I've been beating her back for years but she still pokes her head up now and again. I look at what others are doing, which is a double edged sword. Seeing what they are doing gives me great ideas but then I get bummed because I can't do it like they can. Now granted most of them have been doing it for years and I know that it took them a long time to perfect it to the point it's at now, but it still bums me out. So I have some great ideas but until I can figure out how to do it, I just struggle along making messes. 

So, as I said, yesterday was a good day. And today is clearly a good day. Yesterday I felt kind of blocked and had a really hard time writing that post. Today, I at least can identify what is bothering me and what I need to work on. Progress for sure. Now, off to do something with the budget.