Okay, I can do this...

It hasn't been a great beginning so far.
My site is old and musty and dusty and hasn't been taken care of very well.
It wasn't closed down properly, the refrigerator is full of mold (yay, I get to clean that up) and there is a whole cabinet full of half used cereal packages and assorted expired food that should have been tossed out at the end of the school year.

I get the feeling that there has been a series of babysitters rather than people who run programs out there.

It looks like an old church nursery. Old yucky carpet and dusty bulletin board that was probably last changed about the time Hoover was president.

I was out there on Wednesday and did some poking around, seeing what's there, what I can bring in to make it more fun, and DEAR GOD how to rearrange stuff. It's a squarish room and everything is lined up along the sides. Then, tables are arranged in the middle. It kinda looks like a classroom. A not very clean or well kept classroom.

On the good side, there are a ton of supplies. Paint and markers and paper and construction paper and crafty things. Quite a bit of storage.

I'm not thrilled with the space except I am pleased that it's a designated space, meaning I won't have to put everything away each day.

I learned that I will be first in the building every day.
Met with the custodian and got the alarm code and was shown how to work the alarm system.

I had to get a key card to get into the building.

Talked to a nice lady at the school district offices who told me that not only did I have to pay 59 bucks for a criminal background check, but I had to pay another 25 to get fingerprinted. Drove over to the district office, got the paperwork filled out, drove to the whole county-wide office and did the fingerprint thing, then back to the district office and was issued a badge/keycard with my face on it. It was a couple hours out of my day that I had not intended to spend driving around, but I'm glad I got it handled. Otherwise, I'd have shown up on the first day of school and been unable to get into the building. Not a good thing.

All the costs will be reimbursed. Things I buy for my program will be reimbursed. They will pay my mileage to go from the school to the office!!

I had to attend a meeting/training thing this evening, it didn't get over until 9:30. Meaning I didn't get home until 10. I will have to make the drive once a week on Thursdays for various paperwork and other things.

But after going to the meeting I feel a LOT better about things. It was starting to feel like I was just being tossed into a location without any support. I was already wondering if I had made a bad move.

I think things will be okay. It's a small program to start with, but three of my kids are K age kids, so that's a good thing. They can grow along with my program, right?

School starts on Wednesday. I'll be at my site early on Tuesday making sure I get things cleaned up and looking new for the kids who are starting school. My goal is to make it a place that looks completely different for them.

New beginnings.
Woohoo.