Welcome back summer!

Ah, it's nice to be home and have my first year of teaching behind me. Only hours ago I left my last conference of the year and a few days ago I packed up all of my stuff, put it in my car and moved it out of my school and back to my garage. For those of you who don't know, my position was eliminated at the high school I taught at this last year (and loved) but I was extremely blessed to secure a position at a fantastic middle school practically next door to my house within only a week and a half of being laid off. It does mean that all of my stuff had to come back home for awhile before it can be returned to school, however. :)

As anyone who has ever known a teacher, been a teacher, or lived with a teacher knows, teaching is not a neat 40 hour per week job. We don't put down our dry erase markers at 3:00 and go home to handle all of the regular home headaches that we all encounter in life. In fact, work rarely stays at school since we have our own "homework" which includes planning, writing tests, and, of course, creating (and grading) homework assignments. Add to this the fact that I am a Queen Procrastinator (and yes, they should be capitalized), and I never manage to find time to get all of the home stuff done that needs to get done.

Last summer, I was inspired by a friend of mine who challenged herself to accomplish 100 thing in 100 days. I only had about 45 days left before starting the school year and no childcare but I wrote myself a to-do list and joined the party! As I managed to fly through my list last summer with only a short time available, I saw how helpful the list was and how less stressful my year could be if I tried to fully utilize every summer in a similar fashion.

Don't get me wrong. I'm going to have fun this summer too! My list includes big projects that could never get done during the school year, little tasks that have fallen through the cracks, things for school to get me ahead for next fall, and fun things like taking my daughter to the pool, taking dance lessons with my husband, and going on dates with him! (Yes, that had to go on a list!)

Join me as I power through my list and see if this Queen Procrastinator can keep going for eight whole weeks and get it ALL done!