Spring Cleaning

When we are coming out of winter, I always get a sense of too much. I've been eating too much, wearing too much and my house is full of too much stuff! It all just "snow balls" during those hibernation months.

At the first sign of sun I shed coats and scarves, which in turn reminds me to shed pounds, and with the windows open and the sun streaming in, I take an extra look at all the STUFF everywhere in my house.

This year I was especially eager when it came to getting rid of the clutter because during our hibernation I read a life changing book. LIFE CHANGING BOOK Y'ALL! Have you seen it?

"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing"

I mean, the words "life-changing" are in the title! This is not your ordinary "organize your sock drawer" kind of book. It is more about why we have too much stuff and how we can change the way we think about letting things go. It really addressed my problem of "what if?" What if I need it? What if I lose 20 lbs and fit into it again? What if that style comes back? What if, What if, What if?!?!?

Let me officially highly recommend this book to you. Within a day of starting it 5 garbage bags of just clothing, of just mine, left my house. Another 2 bags of Wesley's old toys followed shortly after and three tubs of her old clothes also left our humble abode that week. That is a lot of clutter that is no longer in my way! And the book claims, once you try it you will never go back to your cluttery ways.....

And then, this weekend when the weather was finally nice enough to spend more than two minutes in my attic, it happened. ....Matt and I showed no mercy. I wish I could show you a before picture, but I was 1. too embarrassed and 2. the pics wouldn't do it justice, because all of the crap that lurked in every square inch of that space. What I do have is pictures of some of what left that day.

Boxes on boxes, bags on bags. It had to go. This does not include the trash we threw out, this is just the goodwill donation. Dude. It was cathartic. Will I need the elephant lamp we let go of? Possibly. Will I miss some of Wesley's tiny baby things? Most definitely. But were they giving me any joy in my attic, or improving my life on a day to day basis? Not at all.

This is the key. I thought shoving things away didn't hurt, saving something for a rainy day can't bother you, but it does. This is Marie's point. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE STUFF! It's about the mind set. If your life is packed physically, you feel it mentally. No one will ever see my clean, sparse attic or clean, drastically reduced closet of clothes.....but when I need something from the attic or the closet, I can now easily go find it and this frees me. You see, the stuff that clutters our houses, steals our time.

Your space shouldn't just be organized, it should be downsized. It's not about shoving it out of sight, it's about knowing where everything you own is. You can only do this when you own less, or at the very least only own what you love and what you need. With less things in our house, there is automatically less to clean up, it is just a positive, physical fact. It has made "cleaning up" very easy.

I feel like I could go on and on, but I won't. There is so much more to it and I have miles to go to be a true student of Marie's. But the small changes we've made so far have had such a positive effect, that I know I want to continue. In the meantime, every time I pick something up in my house I ask myself "Does that bring you joy?" "Do I need it?"and if so, "Does it have a specific place to go?" The answers have to be all yes. And it has made a big difference. 

Happy Purging! Happy Spring!

Somebody's Watching Me

Privacy is a hot topic these days. Especially the lack of it. It seems the world is getting smaller and more transparent by the second, which seems to be scary, but I'm not sure of a few things:
One, do I care. B. Did we do this to ourselves. And, finally what could I do if it did matter to me.

First, do I care. Well my short answer is no. So far "those people" buying/stealing my data haven't seemed to affect me. I don't feel exposed. I haven't been falsely accused of anything. And I have never been overly harassed. But, after some consideration and research, it turns out I kinda do mind. I mean, it is awkward to think someone out there has read all of my emails {although it must be super boring for them} And it isn't healthy to believe, or God forbid know, that nothing in your life is private. And if you pan out to the global view, real evil can take place when people hide in the shadows with secrets to tell. But......

....... didn't we do this to ourselves? Come on y'all, like for real, isn't it our fault that everyone knows everything about us. For heaven's sake I have blog! With my name in the title! I ain't shy. And, no one forced me to join facebook, or get a Kroger card. Since I willingly tell people where I go on vacation, I have to accept the government may know that I support the Florida Travel Bureau. And because I like saving money on gas purchases, someone out there knows I buy cuties, coconut water and sister schubert sausage wrap rolls every week {I know those things don't go together, judge away}.

So if all of this is so....what can we do if we do care. Well, I guess there are some common sense fixes. I could delete social media and any app that GPS tracks me. I could stop using bonus cards that track my purchases. And if you were really worried you could go up a level of security and "encrypt our firewall" {I only know what one word in that phrase means, you can guess which one} or get special cell phone plan that couldn't be monitored. But the truth is I'm not going to do any of those things. And one day I may regret that decision.

Do you think we will? Does this scare you? Or could you care less?

For more info, and for what got me thinking about all of this you can listen to this weeks TED talk radio hour here. It's called Keeping Secrets. And, although I'm sure this is assumed, it's a way more intelligent argument.

A Human Voice Underneath

Once there was a time when I would write all the funny, meaningful, and down right weird things that happened in my life. And then came social networking. Facebook, twitter and instagram replaced storytelling with constant status updates and filtered photos of our precious life and I used my time to look at those updates constantly. These are not inherently bad things. Social technology has made some feel more connected over the years, and I believe I will continue to use it, but I don't know if I feel more connected lately, or just more aware, and I don't think those things are equal.

As I look back {thanks timehop, yes I see the irony} and I read blog posts of wonderful memories about wonderful people I see how real stories, that require more than 140 characters, really connect me to my memories. So, even if this is a journal just for me, I'm back.

photo cred: Well Worn Co.

Look away, a post about the schools...

So with the upcoming merger and municipal schools vote and (blah blah blah) coming up, a lot of people have asked me how I feel. You people should know better. If I lose friends over this, well, it's been real.

Let's start with the obvious. Our city's children have so many more problems than the schools can address. So let me tell you why I think we are not doing what we should for these children - you know, the ones that we as teachers have signed up to serve.

1. Because of the rigorous, nationally mandated testing, teachers are having to teach so much material in so little time, they do not have time to focus on the "whole" child. Their jobs are literally on the line if these kids don't "pass the test." So heaven forbid you miss a math lesson to talk to a child one-on-one. And even if you wanted to, where are the other 25 troubled children while you do that?

2. We are not equipped emotionally (i.e. we burn out b/c of harsh conditions) to deal with these kids needs and meet them where they are. Every child has a story - EVERY. CHILD. But what do we do (can we do) with their story? Personally, I am not equipped to help every child in a tough spot.  But in the city schools you have a class of 30 kids, and every one needs you to be their mother, father, pastor, nurse and, oh yeah, teach them to read. And your heart aches for these babies. So we burn out.

So those are my obvious observations about the "failing" school system everyone is so terrified to join up with. And it's fair to be scared, by the way. I think fear is a valid emotion in all of this. But it doesn't mean we don't act.

Here are my reasons for continuing to teach in the public schools (and yes, send my baby girl to public schools next year).

I have a giant soapbox about public schools, because it is so obviously a vicious cycle - one that we have to be brave enough to break. Here's the deal - if all the "good" families pull their children out of the public schools, then all that is left are the children that have zero support, zero interest, and zero hope. 

This means that the schools and teachers feel like they are fighting a losing battle trying to educate these students, and often, they eventually burn out and give up (which I believe is happening in Memphis, to an extent). And as a parent, I get it - no one wants to let their baby be the guinea pig. It's scary. It is. 

But what if these kids were surrounded by other students that cared about school, or at least had a chance? They could see that there is more out there. There is a reason to care about school. And the teachers would have some support. The community is what fixes the schools. The people. No amount of money, given to the school board to buy computers, can fix a broken community. And make no mistake, Memphis is broken. I love it so,  I want so much more for it, but it is broken. And here's the kicker (been nice knowin' yah) - making more school systems only makes it worse.

By splintering off and dividing our assets, be them human or financial, I believe we are dooming these children. We are driving a fresh wedge between races and tax brackets. And I do not believe that is fair, nor is it what I am called for.

I think the decisions made should be based solely on the best interests of children, the ones who are innocent in all of this. Sure, the way that the merger came about was shady (at best). And there are some people involved in this initiative that were/are only looking out for themselves (not naming names). But I think the knee jerk, fear-based reaction to just build wall around your city and run away from helping all the children of Shelby County - all of them - is wrong.

There will be more school systems, and it probably won't ever be unified. I know this, and I wish them well - I really, really do. To be honest, I liked things the way they are. I like the two systems, and I like my job. But it's clear that things will not be the same in two years, and I just know I want to be were I'm called. 

And it isn't behind a wall.