Hi Friends!
I have decided to try something new. I've never had a blog before. This was not a new years resolution, though it could have been. I just figured, well, why not? I've always loved writing. Last year my new years resolution that lasted a good month or so was to write a novel. I had this great idea for a fiction novel that takes place during the first lockdown of the pandemic. I started taking this online class through a website called coursera about how to start a novel. I got almost nowhere when I suddenly realized that I am a teacher who is currently teaching during a pandemic and my life is insanely stressful (more on that later) so when in the world did I actually think I would have time to write a novel?!?
I love my job. If there was like a category of person who was made to be a teacher, I think that I would be the image and description of that category. I love literally every aspect of my job except parents and accounting. Parents are... a lot. I don't mind some of them, but most of them are a little cray at times. I mean I get it, they are entrusting me with their little people and I am reshaping and remolding them all day long, five days a week for 10 (or 20 if I have them for two years) months straight. That's a lot of trust they are putting in me, I get it. But also chill out people. And when it comes to accounting, by this I mean field trip fees, school supply fees, fun lunch fees, basically anything that comes to school in a little ziplock baggy with no identifying information and looks exactly like the other 20 little ziplock baggies sitting on my desk for the exact same amount of money. I took an accounting class in High school. It was fine. I survived and I actually know a thing or two about excel which I would not learn while completing my education degree, but never did I think that this pile of coins in baggies would become my life. I mean, not right now, we aren't going anywhere right now. I refused to pack 23 children in masks on a school bus in the middle of January in Winnipeg, during the omicron wave of a pandemic, but like this will be my life again at some point soon. Maybe.
That was a ridiculously long rant that had nothing to do with what I was planning to start that paragraph off with, but good info to get out there right away, so bare with me. Anyway, I love my job, it is crazy every single day but I love the crazy. I'm told by pretty much everyone I talk to that I give hilarious interpretations of a day in the life in my classroom. I have a pretty wicked memory and ability to pay attention to detail in social situations, especially those that involve a bunch of 8 year olds who are doing very weird things. I look forward to sharing many of these stories with you.
When I am not pretending to have new years resolutions, swimming in a pile of ziplock baggies and quarters, or telling someone a hilarious story from a day in my life, I am usually reading. I loved reading as a kid-to-teen, but then I started going to university and that ruined things. First, my schedule was nuts. I was always working at least one part time (20+ hours per week) job, usually balancing 2 jobs, and going to school full time. I also had a lot going on in my family life that was a bit chaotic and took any last bit of space I had left after reading textbooks, rushing from one job to the next and trying to occasionally find time for friends. Reading was not a thing I did for about 8 years. Once I became a full time teacher (still working 2 part time jobs), I began reading kids books. Some of my favourites include: No David By David Shannon, Out of My Mind By Sharon Draper and Fenway and Hattie By Victoria Coe. While these are easy to read and can usually be blitzed in a few hours or a couple of days, they aren't the most intellectually stimulating for someone who has 3 university degrees. Once my partner managed to convince me that I did not need to work 80 hours a week at two part time jobs while teaching full time, I realized that sometimes I had a little bit of .... free time? I don't think I really understood what that was. It sounded like something people who are not teachers/university students/workaholics like me might somehow manage to create. And once I found that it did in fact exist for some people, I had to figure out what to do with it.
I remember the summer that I quit my last part time job. My last day was Canada Day, which coincidentally was also the day after my last day as a term teacher. I was heading into a summer where I had not only no work commitments, but also knew exactly which school, grade and classroom I was heading back to after my upcoming two month break. This was going to be fantastic. But also what was I going to do for 60 ish days?! Well I wandered through Chapters one day early on in that first week and saw an incredible sale: Buy 4 books get one free! Five books! That would get me through the whole summer! (spoiler alert, five books did not come even close to getting me through a whole summer. I went back a week later and the sale was still on so I bought 5 more. That got me half way.) I hadn't read a book for fun in at least a year! So I got right into it. This is when I discovered my favourite author, Cathy Glass (more about her in an upcoming post) and rediscovered my love of reading.
That summer I read 20 books. I thought this was an incredible accomplishment, and I mean it really was. That was probably more books than I had read for fun in the previous 10 years combined! Now that 20 seems tiny. In 2021 I read over 125 books. Yes, there was a pandemic going on so I really had very little social life to pull from my reading time, but it is also astronomical compared to where I was a few years ago. Last year I also began reviewing all books I read. This has been a bit of a challenge at times, but it does seem to be getting easier, and I feel like I'm ready to take the next jump and try reviewing on a blog!
So, if you decide to stick to this journey with me (which I hope you do!), sometimes you'll hear about a crazy art project that had me practically yelling "I'm sorry you got paint in your cut but no, it won't get infected and to be honest, I'm really I'm not surprised this happened, look at how much paint you got all over everything!", and other times you'll hear about the most recent advance copy book I've just had the privilege to read and review! I'm looking forward to this new thing I'm starting, let's hope it makes it to the end of 2022 (and beyond!).
