a day in the life

655am
Wake up and semi-consciously get dressed for work, which means throwing on basketball shorts and a sweatshirt.

715am
Walk across campus to cottage, helping the seven boys get ready for school. Play monopoly with two boys until school starts, spending most of the time acting as peace-keeper.

820am
Hooray!! Walk the boys down to the NPS school on campus with a little jump in my step, knowing I have a six hour break until school is over and I have to clock back on.

845am
Play volleyball with some of my co-workers, a good outlet for what can be a very stressful job. Exercising always makes me feel better (ha, I write that like I exercise all the time).

1030am
Head back to Hillview and shower. Grab some lunch and start to work on finishing an application, but instead find that watching shows on MTV is a more entertaining way to spend my time.

100pm
Wonder why I wasted so much time online when I could have been doing productive things. Lay down in my bed to read, but instead fall asleep until I have to get up and go back to work.

230pm
Clock on and head to cottage, waiting for the boys to return back from school.

238pm
Barely have time to put my purse down before I see a child trying to strangle another boy in a headlock. Pry him off and escort him outside, trying to have a conversation about why he made the choice to hurt another kid. Listen to him justify choking another kid and explain to him that in the "real world," he would be going to jail yaddya yaddya yaddya...stuff that goes in one ear and out the other.

400pm
Go outside with the kids for afternoon outside time, but when I walk through cottage, hear a screaming child...the same child that tried to choke a kid earlier. Roll my eyes as I walk down the hallway to be available in case the child becomes unsafe again. He does. So he is placed in a floor restraint, while struggling and screaming that he is going to kill me and the other staff that is holding him (along with some crude language thrown in, just for good measure). Get spit on. Get hit. Get kicked. Get called a multitude of demeaning and crude names that don't shock me anymore. Thankful for my job, but seriously?? Enough of this ridiculousness.

500pm
Transition the boys inside for dinner. Chaos.

630pm
Some shouting down the hallways, but the boys are now mostly calm and in good moods. Put on a movie for them to watch, while others play with their game systems. Counting down until bedtime.

800pm
It's here! Bedtime for the boys. Help get all the boys in bed, asking if they need anything. Two boys are really loud, bouncing around on their beds and taking forever to get settled in.

830pm
Quiet.

915pm
Tell the staff that even though the day sucked, we did great. Clock off and hope that all the chaos today means that maybe tomorrow will be better.

930pm
Get back to my room and hang out with co-workers/friends. Try to get to bed at a decent hour because tomorrow, I have to do it all again. Buuuuuut, I am lucky to have Saturday and Sunday off this week!! Looking forward to a weekend with no screaming children or getting assaulted and sleeping in! Sleep has never been so beautiful.