Summer Half-time Report

Today marks the beginning of the second half of my summer break from teaching. During the past weeks I've pretty much kept up with my routines, except my often neglected desk day duties. I've cleaned out my bedroom closet, my mud room entryway and my drawer in my home office desk. I thought cleaning out my overflowing desk drawer would help motivate me to work on the stuff on top of the desk. No such luck. I've made a list of some furniture and a few organizing accessories that will have me on the lookout when I'm out and about in the next month or so.  I've read a few good books (nothing great yet), took a few day trips, went to see a few movies, and relaxed  while occasionally  getting splashed in the pool. I have had several days that I really didn't do much of anything. They were days when I just did the basic, bare minimum, routines and whatever I wanted to do like catching up with my television programs, reading all day and even into the wee hours of the morning, cyber-socializing and surfing the net, hanging out with friends and family, or sitting by the pool drinking something cool and refreshing. I've also kept up with work as most teachers do, reading parts of a couple of education books, getting caught up with reading my education journals (magazines), spending a day at a workshop with a couple of colleagues, and working on plans to restructure the classes I teach and preparing for a smooth start for the new year. Planning and writing has started for an education themed blog that I hope to launch soon, and I am currently playing around with a couple of specific ideas for its name and purpose. I've spent a couple of days in my classroom getting supplies, books and manipulatives uncluttered and labeled, and at least an hour or two each week I've spent working on planning for the smooth start for the new school year.

So much for the reflection of the first half. It's done and whatever my level of productivity, I feel rested, semi-organized and ready for what is to come. Now it's time for the pep talk to prepare for a great second half. Very soon we will be on the go as my family has been planning our summer vacation for weeks. It is hoped to be an exciting trek north and west to see Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park,  the Seattle, WA area and our family living there, the Olympic and Rocky Mountains, my favorite city, Colorado Springs, CO, and everything in between. Joe is staying behind this time to work as this is the busy season for his new job. He has a long list of projects that he is hopeful to complete while the boys and I are away, and hopefully some quality fishing time. I've arranged for neighbors to take care of the flowerbeds and the dog as those are things that Joe may not have time to deal with day to day. My almost ten year old and I will be celebrating our birthdays during mid-July and when we return, we will also have an extended family party here at home. Before school begins again we are planning to see a couple of movies when they are released in theaters, a day trip to the zoo and another one to a theme park. We will do some camping on our trip northwest and hopefully will do some lake time and more camping with Joe when we return. And before it all begins I am working on getting a lot of things organized. Whew! Is that enough? I'm amped to get as much as I can out of the rest of this summer break. Ready....Set.... Just do it!!!!!

Summer Challenges!!!

It's been a while since I updated my blog. Busy, busy, busy...that's my life. I am enjoying slowing down a bit and focusing on some personal and home goals during this brief, but much appreciated, break from work.  

I have purchased the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin Rooney Doland. I bought it several months ago thinking I could focus on one day in the book for seven weeks, but even that proved too much of a challenge for me. I only made it through the first two "days" in the book and it took me over two weeks to complete them. So I am going to begin the process again and follow through with it during the next week and see how far I get.

I have several other goals I want to explore over the next two months as well. I have a large stack of books to read, and I haven't even started after almost a week of surplus time. I did get caught up with The Tudors series on Showtime. I had been recording the new episodes since April and just caught up on them this week. Bittersweet. There are only two episodes left, and I wish the series would continue beyond the reign of King Henry and onto those of his children. I really love that show. Oh well, I'll have to find more good novels to read. Did I ever mention I am a big connoisseur of history? I love reading both biographies and historical fiction, but will also spend time reading fantasy, science fiction novels as well. Another item on my to do list is to get back into working out daily so that I can be in shape to run again. I miss the level I was working at even a year ago and how healthy I felt. I need to get that back on track to enjoy some new energy. And the last goal I have is staying connected to the people who mean so much to me. I really enjoy keeping up on Facebook, but have also attended many family and friend events over the past two months, taken a few day trips, as well as welcoming family over to visit on many occasions in May. I am planning a trip in July to visit family and national parks in the Northwest with all five boys, but Joe will stay behind to work. That should prove interesting, as I have not taken a vacation without Joe, aside from many day trips with my sisters or kids. Joe has taken several "fishing trips" with the boys, including a productive trip to fish for sharks, crab and salmon with my cousin in Washington several years ago.

My life and home are buzzing along pretty well, with daily and weekly routines and my ability to delegate some of the household tasks to my husband and children. But every life and home can do with a lightening, a decluttering, and simplifying by dealing with less stuff. For today, I am going to reread the chapters I have read previously and begin the "Day 1" tasks which include decluttering and organizing my clothing closet and drawers and working on getting my office and desk streamlined. I hope to report back with progress later. Onward and always upward!!!!!

Counting the Days

It is time to get it together. I have a wonderfully long Summer Break coming soon. Usually I spend the first week or so just chilling out in recovery of the school year...not this time. I have no stress from which to recover. Well nothing other than the high work load, and that will end when my contract days are done. It has been a very good year. I've been blessed at work with great kids, great parents, and better yet, great friends to work with every day. I almost don't want it to end. I am losing a teacher from my team this year. She is moving on with her military family. So I will savor her company while she is still here. The school year ending is almost always bittersweet.

So on for, "How am I not going to let the summer pass without getting out of it all that I want?" First I must reflect on my past summer habits. Five years ago, I had a very stressful year of work. I was in a contract and had to endure a very tough year. It took me the last months of my contract and the first two weeks of summer to get a new contract in a much better work environment. I spent the rest of the summer on recovery. The last three summers I have kind of fell into the same pattern...and not properly planned for the summer. I did plan a family vacation and a few trips to the lake, but I did not get to any of my summer's agenda.

This year I am going to have a much bigger and broader plan. I am not going to plan every day down to the last minute of detail, but I am going to set goals for days and weeks. So where to begin? My plans are to sleep in from time to time, but I will also rise early to enjoy the coolness that only morning brings in the summer season. Early morning rising also usual means a more productive day for me, so if I have a day of tasks or somewhere to be, I will be up as soon as the sun hits the horizon.

I am going to read a lot this year. I have no babies or toddlers to care for minute by minute anymore, no lesson plans to create, time on my hands and a very long list of books I want to read. I have the Twilight series on the top my list. I have ordered the books, so will have my own copies to share with family, friends or students after I finish them myself. I also have to read the next Shopaholic books. Enjoyed the first one so much, I'm looking forward to reading the next books in the series. I will search for recommendations when I finish with those, but have considered reading the Harry Potter books...probably a too tall order for my summer, but something I am considering. What do you think?

During the first week I am going to work on closets. I have a friend that will be working on hers as well.It is always nice to have a buddy when working on projects. We have committed to a closet a day on the first week after school is out. I also have a Twitter friend that has agreed to work on intense decluttering with me once our break begins. I think getting all of that out of the way at the beginning (and I don't see it taking more than a week or so- you do believe me, right?), leaves me time to plan other outrageously fun activities for the summer. Last year we didn't get to the lake much because it rained what seemed to be every other day until August. We squeezed in a few lake trips, but did get rained on every time we went out. The running joke last year was that I got my workouts putting the cushions off the patio furniture every time it rained and then back on again as soon as the rain clouds passed. Who wants to sit on wet cushions, right?

I have yet to even begin to plan our "get away from it all" vacation. I usually have an idea by now where we are headed, and generally when we will go so Joe and any of the older boys that are interested can arrange their schedules for time off. This year we do have family that is planning to head this way, and I don't want to be out of town when they come so I am waiting to hear when they are headed here. As far as planning the actual trip, I can usually do that within just a week or two. I prefer to drive and see the sights since we have some time off. Or, I should more accurately say Joe does the driving. I am the navigator. We sometimes reserve a room before we leave home, other times we stop when and where we are done for the day. Every trip has its own unique memories, although our trips are frequent enough they start to run together in my mind. This is definitely a great thing. I love that my kids are getting so many great experiences, and I really enjoy the chance to travel so often.

So the countdown begins. Not because I need the break, but because it is coming nonetheless. I want to spend some time with family and friends, and to make our home a place where we can enjoy each others company. I want to be ready to make it a summer that at the end I will feel as if I lived it well.

Winding down

Summer vacation is finally here. I am working on slowing the energy level from this school year, so I can take a brief break before I start on next year's gear up for energy. Moving my classrooms before August is proving quite taxing, as having the people that need to be there actually there will probably prove near impossible. I have finished up my last contract day today, but will have to go in again tomorrow to pack up more and label what I can't move yet. I will have to go in again when Summer School is over to unpack, as we are not supposed to move completely until after Summer School is complete. I am working on organizing items in boxes and file drawers a much as possible as I pack. I am also working on purging as much as possible, but I think that I have already scaled down so much over the past three years, that I really don't have a lot of extra stuff.

We are also working on loading up the van for a trip to Oklahoma. The weather has been very wet here and there so I'm not sure how much lake action I can take with rain and mud in the picture. We are considering postponing until the weather is better. The older boys will be home to take care of the dogs so I am not sure how long we will be away.

The natives are restless

Be it Raymond, counting the seconds until school is out, or the 85 eleven and twelve-year-olds waiting to end classes for, unbeknown to them, the boring doldrums of summer vacation. "Do we have to work the last week of school? The last day? The last hour?" I am always amazed by the level of excitement for the school year to end, for myself and my kids. My Summer list of things to do is growing to a point where I am excited to get Summer going so I can get to my home/life agenda as opposed to school always taking a big part of my day/week and attention.