New School year...New resolutions...........

It dawned on me today, that the first day of school is a lot like "New Year's Eve". We wait with anticipation and a little dread. We think about what the future holds for the upcoming year, look over what our accomplishments have been and then moving on we draft our New Year's resolutions. Really they aren't that different. So, this year I drafted my back to school resolutions list.

10. I will remember to find my coffee cup at the end of every day. 

Since last year my coffee cups occasionally became science experiments in evolution randomly placed around the room. 

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9. I will not toss my hair up into a top not as soon as I get to school every day. Top knots are reserved for sumo wrestlers.

8. I will keep only one extra pair of shoes under my desk at a time. It shouldn't look like the clearance rack from Macy's under my desk. 

7. I will be able to see the top of my desk all week and not just on Mondays.... 

Most of it.  Well, at least my keyboard. I should be able to see my keyboard

6. I will only have one cup, or two, but definitely less than a pot of coffee a day. 

5. I will save my emergency chocolate stash for true emergencies. 

and remember the opening bell does not constitute an emergency nor do any other bells throughout the day.

4. I will keep my nails manicured each week. 

because I just took out a second mortgage to buy bunches of jamberry nail wraps.  

3. I will not apply my mascara in the parking lot at school. 

2. I will make time each week to work on my own art. I need this professionally and personally.

and

1. I will not sweat the small stuff.

Even though maintenance says that keeping all the small stuff is just clutter and hoarding.

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!

Back to School!! THANKFULLY!!!!

Yes, I said thankfully and back to school at the same time. YES, I am a teacher. So, why on earth would I be excited about back to school? I will tell you. It is more than just my awkward and weird love of the smell of new paper, new sharpies, fresh coffee, shiny waxed floors, having a real reason to be up at 5 am and I can't forget my new aprons.This summer has been CRAZY. A new-ish puppy along with my hubby and his partners starting a new business, ...well.....my routine is all out of whack and truth be told...I miss the creativity of all my kiddos. I have "Pinterested" till my eyes hurt, I have redesigned my curriculums,  I have reorganized my house-albeit not by choice(2 floods in June and July)-till I have no more organizational spots of genius left in me(or money left in my budget for totes and bins and Clorox), and I am ready for some normalcy.....and I AM really excited for some of the projects I have planned.

 My intro classes have almost all new lessons planned in pretty much every area, and my sculpture kids well, some of them actually started over the summer collecting their gear for the annual assemblage project which this year, involves a new twist. Printmaking has been revamped and the crafts kids will be pleasantly surprised this year. I am so excited to roll out the new stuff! AND I get to meet my new homeroom freshman class!!  I have so many ideas for their first week that I hope they will enjoy. I know I will, I mean what is not to love about mustaches, top hats and feather boas....a photo-booth, cup cakes, and  special invitations.

AND I get to do it all in a newly reorganized classroom-this time the reorganization was by choice. And I did make at least one classroom example to replace some of the ones that were destroyed. My sock doll Melton-who is a grilled cheese and spicy pickle aficionado and my rolling "lightening bug" finally was finished from my May workshop with Michael DeMeng.

Two weeks....that is all that is left of my summer, Two weeks that is all the time I have to "relax"..and two weeks...... is all I have left in my 30's. As crazy as this final summer of my thirties has been, I don't think I would have changed any of it........well, except for maybe the floods.