My First Office

So…….I moved from a three bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment and there were a lot of things (like a pink and orange giraffe) that I love but didn’t really have a place for.

Until now…..

Welcome to my first official office!

As you can see, it’s full of crap……especially the window sills to the hallway and classroom.

I love it! I have a space separate from the classroom to put stuff I like (such as the aforementioned giraffe) and work. As you can see from the second set, it’s kinda dark in there. I bought a little lamp and have a Scentsy in there so it’s dim, smells good, and cozy. I have my iPod playing in the background on low. Quite a little cave if I do say so myself.

Its okay if you don’t like it. It’s quite a hodgepodge of a room. Also, I want it known I scrubbed all those file cabinets and they still look like that. That’s why two of them are just covered with fabric and used as a table. Lol!

Thanks for reading! I hope all my teachers friends (that haven’t started back) are enjoying these last few days!

Cara’s Going-Away! Party

I have the best Beefer.  Of course, I already knew that but, just in case there was any doubt in your mind, I wanted you to know.

One of the hardest parts of the decision to move was the relationships I have here.  My mom and sister live here as well as the bulk of my friends including (and especially) Amy, the beefs.

Anyway, Amy, being the kind and party-throwing person that she is, decided early on that she wanted to throw me a party and she’s been planning for weeks.  She had a pinterest board especially for Party Food (check out her Party Food Board HERE) and planned the guest list full of all of our friends.

Here is her Candy Bar.  She went with a red and white theme because we THINK those are the colors at my new school.

Here is the whole spread.

Mini Crescent Dogs Recipe via tablespoon.com

Sausage Cheese Ball Recipe via tablespoon.comSugar cookies that spell Congrats Cara

Red Velvet Brownies with white chocolate buttercream frosting from Smells Like Home

Oreo Mini-Cheesecakes from Cargile Family Recipes (Definitely a fav)

Didn’t she do a fabulous job?  She loves to throw parties and she’s obviously good at it…..better than hermit me that’s for sure.

Thanks Amy for all of your cooking, planing, and arranging to make such a special send-off for me.  Thanks to all the guests who came to support.  Your kind words and moo-lah for the move were both greatly appreciated.  Lol!

Thanks for reading!

1st Week of Summer: Ch, ch, ch, changes…..

As my Mom has been saying, the dominos are falling into place.

I got a call Monday saying that District S (the new school) needed me to come sign what I thought was my contract and meet with the superintendent.  He likes to meet with all new hires.

So, my Mom, Caitlan, and I made the four hour trek down there and stayed with my uncle.

Well, I didn’t get to sign my contract because the board has to approve it first and the superintendent would not approve it to the board until I met with him.  So, instead, I signed a letter of intent instead and did paperwork.  I DID get to see my classroom though which is an entire BUILDING!

 

This area is the classroom portion.  Of course, it is messy right now since it’s summer.  Of course, I must say, MY classrooms from District C were left very clean but that’s just me and I don’t like to leave a mess.  Wow, that sounded snarky……didn’t mean it that way but this will be the third time I walked into a mess.

Like I said before, I have my own building which includes this classroom as well as my own bathroom, storage closet (that is enormous) and office.  This is new, I’ve never had an office before.

As you can see, there are windows that look out of the office into both the hallway (which goes from the entrance to the classroom with the bathroom, storage closet, and office entrances) and the classroom.  It will be great to have an office separate from the classroom.  I think I might get a mini fridge for my office.  🙂

Now, finding a place to live in a new place is a whole other story….

We set aside Wednesday to look for apartments.  I decided on an apartment rather than a house for safety reasons.  I don’t think I could get a house in a neighborhood I would feel safe in for the amount of money I’m willing (and able) to pay.  The only problem with an apartment rather than house is that I have a black horse…..oops, I mean dog who I love dearly but it a mess wherever she goes.  After weighing personal safety versus having my dog, I decided to rent an apartment for a year and reevaluate.  Luckily, my mother said she would take care of Coco during this time and we can make other arrangements as need be.

See how small it is??  I rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for the amount of rent that this sucker is going to cost.  That’s kinda depressing but I don’t want to move my stuff so downsizing it is.  The location is quite wonderful though.  It is a nice neighborhood and only 2 miles from a HOBBY LOBBY!  Also, it’s only a 7 miles (12-15 minutes….we drove it to see) from my new school.  The past two years I’ve driven 85 miles a day and it is exhausting so this will be a nice change.

Thursday, we came home…..It was a leisurely drive.  We stopped at Posados and ate lunch (YUM), Ikea to walk around a bit and then again at this little Czech bakery to get some sweet treats.

When I got home, it hit me again.  The excitement for a new job and new location was completely overshadowed by the overwhelming plans and decisions that are in the process and the changes that are being made.

Which brings us to today…..So far, I cleaned out my music cabinet and separated into piles for school, move, and sell.  I also cleaned out rubber stamps and put about half of them with the garage sale stuff…..which, if you’re a North Texas person and a garage-saler, my garage sale is going to be HUGE!!!!

Alrighty, then, thats the week in review.

If you have any moving tips, I’d really appreciate them.

 

 

 

Last Week of School and LOTS of information……

Well, it has been a week….

Part 1: Leaving my current job because of no money in the budget for fine arts only to be asked to apply for the same job I have because the wolf that everyone cried never showed up.

For being educators, we don’t really look at history when making decisions.  I haven’t been around as long as some of these other folks but I do know that educational finance has been an issue for a while.  Even in the olden days, I bet there were teachers who wished they had more money for supplies and manipulatives.  I’d be surprised if there wasn’t ever a concern with teacher pay back then too.

All that to say, concern over the budget, whether it be state, federal, or even local, is not a a new concern.  That said, I have felt very “jerked around” the past few months with the whole budget crisis in the district I worked for this year.  For the sake of ease of understanding, we’ll call in District C.

For new readers, I was called into a meeting about three months ago where I was told (along with everyone else who was “new” to the district) that I had the choice to either resign or be terminated at the next board meeting.  This was due to the proposed budget cuts made by the state.  I chose resignation over termination even though I’ve been told by doing so I was giving up my rights for unemployment.  Oh well, I’d rather not have a termination on my record so early in my career.

About two weeks ago, there was a posting via email for elementary music teachers……..wait… WHAT?  After all that, getting rid of all the elementary music teachers (which is what I teach if you didn’t catch that) and now you’re posting to hire back.  The catch of course is that everyone has to RE-apply and RE-interview for a position they technically already had……Ah….the broken system……

Well, Saturday, I got a text about scheduling an interview for MY OWN JOB.  I declined….BECAUSE

Part 2: Making a life-changing decision to move across the state away from my family and friends for my career.

I interviewed for an elementary music position in another District (District S for Blogging’s sake) and was offered the position.  It is for one school only (At District C, I taught at 2 schools which was EXHAUSTING), more money (YAY), less travel depending on where I find a place to live (I currently commute 90 miles a day), better benefits, and more respect……

More respect?  Why do I say more respect?

District S has not let a single employee go due to the proposed budget shortfall that caused District C to let me go.  District S has a healthy respect for fine arts and not only has fully funded music for elementary but also two art teachers and a full fine arts staff at the high school level.  District S is giving me my own building with technology that is usually reserved for the “classroom teachers.”

The only problem is……District S is about four hours away from my home, my family, and friendships that I cherish so much.  Although I’ve already accepted the job, I’ve spent several hours either in tears or regretting this decision.  It was not a decision made lightly and I believe God will bless my willingness to step out in faith and go where he leads me and with all my soul, I believe God led me to this decision and this place.  I don’t know what is in store for me but I have faith that it is better than what I could have planned for myself.

The hard part is going to be making this transition.  Thank goodness for technology that allows us to be in constant communication with those we’re far away from.

This week, I’m supposed to go down to District S and sign my contract.  While there, my mother and I are going to look at rental property.  My options are kinda limited since I have Coco and a one bedroom apartment would not be pleasant for a 54 lb horse…..I mean dog…..

Part 3: Why I haven’t been blogging: the old, the new, and scrappy.

This week I learned the last week of school is not really ideal for blogging…..mostly because I just don’t have time.  Since I’m leaving District C for good now, I had to move out of 2 (count them, 2) classrooms.  That means checking in everything in 2 classrooms, removing every staple and piece of tape in 2 classrooms, cleaning out everything I’ve ever brought in to 2 classrooms.  Most teachers struggle with getting their 1 classroom finished on time.

You may recall that I was asked to make a scrapbook for the retiring principal at one of my schools.  Well, that was due on Saturday and I finished the last of the 74 pages on Friday night.  Let me say, if that principal was NOT retiring, the decision to move would have been even harder because she is the best boss ever.  She is kind even when getting on to you….which she never got on to me because I’m a rockstar….she is graceful even when wearing a t-shirt and dancing to African drumming music…….I absolutely adore her….I want to be her someday.  When I retire, I want people to say the kind of things they’ve said about her this week because I’m not the only one who feels this way about her.

Finally, with all this moving, decision-making, and scrapping till I drop, I was EXHAUSTED.  We had to work on Saturday (it was a staff) day and, after I got home, I laid down and didn’t get up on Sunday morning when it was time to go to church.  After church and lunch with Beefer, I went home and took yet another nap.  This is the first time I even turned my computer on since Friday at school.

Part 4: Where do we go from here?

So, this summer may be touch and go for a while.  I really can’t decide on a move time until I find a place for Coco and I to live.  I’d like to aim for beginning of July (which will mean it’s hot as Hades) but we’ll just have to see.

I used to be hoarder (not the kind you see on tv, I just used to like the “stuff”) but recently, I’ve become a purger.  There is something so freeing about just getting rid of everything so I’m going to be having a MASSIVE estate sale (yes, I’m calling it an estate sale) and getting rid of everything that’s not crafty (and even then I’m going to dial down) or clothes that I still wear.  That may sound crazy to some of you but I really don’t have that nice of stuff because I’m cheap.  The stuff I do have thats even remotely nice is a hand-me-down from someone in my family.  My brother has even said “if you want to see what my house looked like 5 years ago, go to Cara’s.”  It’s true.

Blogging may be touch and go for the next couple months until I get settled.  I’d like to say that I’ll keep everyone updated on the process but I’m not making any promises.

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate all of the encouragement during this crazy job situation.