The Best Laid Plans....

A lot has happened since my last post. The most significant thing is that I will NOT be retiring.

The last two months have been filled with a lot of discussion back and forth between myself, the group who was going to be hiring me as a literacy coach, and the Kentucky Teacher Retirement Systems. It took three visits to Frankfort, but today it finally became apparent that I just wasn't going to be financially able to leave my job and take a different one.

I won't bore you with the details. I will just say that there were certain stipulations placed into legislation that I still don't understand. They are just too open to interpretation, and apparently we were not interpreting them the way of the powers that be.

I am a bit disappointed. The idea of a new career had given me a renewed enthusiasm that I had been lacking for quite a while. I only hope that I can find a somewhat similar enthusiasm once I discover what my position will be in education next year.

This is IT!

Today was my last day at school. The teachers met to finish up all of the end of year paperwork and to enjoy a celebration meal together. My principal presented me with the traditional "Bell" that is given to all retiring school personnel.

I am very excited about the future. My new position has given me a renewed enthusiasm for learning and for my career. My head is swirling with ideas that I can implement, along with the teachers at OCES. This is not the end of my "play"; it is merely the end of one act and the beginning of another.

Milestones

Significant events come along every now and then, but for me it seems that many of them are hitting me all at once. My son is a senior and will be graduating from high school next week.

That means that I will be the mother of a COLLEGE student in the fall.

 Sweet hubby turned 50 last week.

That means that ME turning 50 can't be very far away.

Perhaps most significant and definitely most difficult for me to believe is that I will be retiring from teaching this year. I am completing year 27, and while I am still fairly young for retirement, I felt that it was time for a change. A position as Literacy Coach became available at the elementary school and it just seemed that it was meant to be. The timing was perfect for me to go ahead and step aside, leaving room for some new blood in the middle school language arts class. My new position is funded through some grant money and I will be paid through Berea College.

I am excited about helping younger children learn to love reading and writing. I feel more invigorated about my job than I have in quite a while. I will miss the middle school faculty. We have become a real family over the years. When one of us hurts, we all hurt; when one of us cries, we cry with them; when one of us is joyful, we help them celebrate. I will miss many of the students. Some of them have really touched my heart over the years. I will, no doubt, have to drop back in from time to time, just to check up on them and see how they are doing, but I truly think that God has prepared me for this time and this change. I have faith that his hand is helping to guide me and that my future, with this job, is meant to be. I hope that this change will be less stressful and will allow me more time to be with my family and to create. I look forward to posting more on this blog and sharing more of my creative endeavors with all of you.

Am I Getting Too OLD For This???

Nope, I'm not talking about scrapbooking or crafting....

I'm talking about some of the little things that we teachers do.

This week was literacy week. As one of the middle school teachers I went out of my way to make sure that my students were actively engaged in reading, writing, speaking, and listening to literary things. To end the week today some of us thought that we would do a little something special.

We selected either an author or a literary character to portray.

I've been racking my brain for a few weeks to try and find something creative to do. (I rarely do anything halfway....)

It was Wednesday of this week when my character finally started coming together: a blue robe and a red stretch scarf from the second hand store, a little acrylic paint, a few bobbie pins, and a toy lizard.

The result:



Don't recognize her??

For those of you without younger children, I was Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus series.

Here's a full length look:



Don't get me wrong. I LOVE doing whatever it takes to get my students to enjoy learning, but somehow I think that maybe....just maybe.....after 27 years of teaching, numerous costumes, silly songs, and silly dances that I might just have passed my prime.

There were a few others who joined in on the costume event:



Before I left for school I asked Keenan, "Be honest, will you be glad when you leave home and you don't have to deal with any more of my foolish things?" He answered, "No, I've gotten used to it."

Oh well, at least I have some great photos to scrapbook and some memories to document....

The Creating Bug....

My creative spirit has renewed itself. I have been busy at work the past two weeks on a mini album that will be a gift for a dear friend. I'm actually making two of them, so I still have a bit of work to do. The hardest part is done however, since I plan to use the layout from the first album as the basis for the second one.

I've also been playing around a bit with Photoshop. I figure that I should develop a bit more "techno savvy" when it comes to photos and editing. I started by locating a quote that would reinforce my One Little Word and decided to try creating my own "subway art" piece.

Here is the result:



Not too bad, eh?

A New Year...... A Renewed Me

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to the first day of 2012.

I realize that this is really just another "tomorrow" that has become "today", but it really does kind of feel like a new start, doesn't it?

With that in mind, I have chosen One Little Word to guide me and my thinking through the remainder of the year: RENEW.

My hope is for this year to be one of renewal: renewed energy, renewed enthusiasm for life and my career, renewed creativity, and renewed romance within my marriage. I will endeavor to devote more time to the things and people that truly make my life better. I will renew my focus on things that count; things that truly make a difference.

In the past I have, too often, allowed work, stress, and the woes of the daily grind to weigh me down. I have focused on the negative and forgotten to take the time to be grateful for what I have. It is my hope that I can renew my focus on myself, my family, and the positive things about each day.

Keep watching this blog because, if things go as planned, I hope to have many more positive things to share with you.