Twenty Twelve

Just like many of you, I made some new year's resolutions... Okay, actually I fought the notion of New Year's resolutions because often my resolutions do not even make it to the month of February. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Anyway, after long consideration I decided that my resolutions were going to be simple... That's just it, my resolutions involve just living a simpler life.
2011 was a great year, but I am glad it is over!! I think I stretched myself a little too thin by overcommiting myself. I tried to manage my jewelry boutique, teach 3rd Grade, be a good house wife, help out the PTO with Box Top Coordination and Organize the scholastic section of UIL for our campus. WHEW!! I'm tired just thinking of it. Sadly, everything took a back burner to education and although I am committed to education my students, I think there has to be a balance.

This school year I was given the opportunity to teach language arts instead of math, which has alleviated a lot of pressure. So, with some of my education pressures alleviated, I needed to find a way to balance the rest of my life.


My goals are:

•Update bookwork for my business weekly, so that I do not fall into a dilema next tax season where I am scrambling to do it all at once.

•Spend Tuesday night's with my husband... No work! (as this is his night off from his college classes)

•Spend 10 minutes every night/evening writing in my weightloss journal... Even if it's just recording my water intake for the day, writing down my thoughts for the day, or even just copying an exercise routine or quote that I found. I just need to dedicate myself to give ME the time that I deserve!

•Make better use of school time... Keep my lesson planning far enough in advance that I do not have to spend weekends at school. (I have been GREAT at this so far).

•Keep my desk clean, so that I do not have so spend time there after school.

•Walk the dogs daily. (I have achilles tendonitis right now, so I can't do this... But as soon as I am healed, this is a goal. We live in an AWESOME neighborhood... I need to get out an enjoy it)

•Complete 2 small chores daily, so that the weekend is not dedicated to housekeeping.

•Take care of Rockin'Spade miscellaneous business 2 evenings a week... This will help make sure that I am not having to scramble when I have let the website get to far out of date, or when I have not managed Facebook page comments. It's just a good idea for business.


DOES anyone else have similar goals? Sometimes I feel like I am the only person who makes this so much more complicated than they need to be. I am so excited to just be SIMPLE and organized!! :)

Just start living, that's the next thing on my list...

Recently, I started doing this 31-Day Challenge on Facebook - where you have to post a photo with a theme for every day. Day 7 was supposed to be a picture of your most treasured item... My items were symbolic of my most important relationships.

On Facebook I posted that my wedding ring and The Bible were most important to me because they were symbolic of the fact that ultimately my relationship with God and my relationship with my husband is the most important thing.

Well, today I was cleaning and had a playlist going on my iPod. The song "Next Thing on My List" by Toby Keith came on... and the lyrics really got to me. I was busy cleaning because I did not spend much time over Thanksgiving working on that - and it was stressing me out. I had spent entirely too much time working on Rockin' Spade things and not enough time getting house work done and spending time with my husband, which is really what a break is all about.

It would be ideal to live like the lyrics: "Raise a little hell, laugh til it hurts, put an extra five in the plate at church, call my folks just to chat, it's time that I make time for that. Stay up late and oversleep, show (him) what he means to me. Catch up on all the things I've missed, just start living that's the next thing on my list."

I'm not saying that I want to let Rockin' Spade diminish - but I just need to keep my goals in check from time to time. Another line of the lyrics that I loved said "I won't break my back for a million bucks that I can't take to my grave, so why put off tomorrow what I can get done today... like go for a walk, say a little prayer....."

Just a fabulous song. It moved me a stirred some emotion and much needed re-prioritizing. Thank you, Toby Keith! haha

To clean or not to clean - that really is NOT the question!

This summer I've really been working on getting things cleaned up and organized. I am wanting a smooth teaching year, so I am working on lesson plans and getting materials ready - etc. Well, a lot of my friends are giving me a hard time because I am spending a lot of my summer break in my classroom... HOWEVER, I am so horribly un-functional with clutter. In fact, here is an example of what my classroom desk usually looks like:

Definitely not the poster for classroom perfection. In fact, I prefer to run like a well-oiled machine... and when my desk is like this I tend to run more like a jalopy that backfires. ha! I do prefer to have a much more clean desk - but without well-planned lessons it doesn't seem to work out that way. Here's my class when it is clean and ready to go :)

So, I don't get too offended when everyone gives me a hard time about where I'm spending some of my summer days... Because I figure I need the preparation to keep receiving messages like this - where "Mrs. Magers Rox" (: haha!