Saturday, March 4, 2017

{solsc} 4/31 #sol17 Celebrate


My favorite part of the week. Celebrations.

I've been celebrating my week for a long time, almost as long as I've written my blog.  It helps keep me positive and focused on the right things in my life. I keep track of them through the week on a post-it in my bullet journal. And Twitter. If something makes me smile during the school day, I often tweet it out.

Waiting for the bus

I've done quite a bit of tweeting this week (you know that if you follow me at @mrsday75). On Saturday, my Speech kids performed at district competition. They did great. We've sixteen events moving on to state next weekend. My favorite part of individual speech competition is giving my phone to the kids and telling them to take a selfie.  Then, as they perform and receive ratings, I can share out the results using our school hashtag. People follow along all day and congratulate the kids.

I turned in my Early Retirement papers this week. It still doesn't seem real---in my head I keep thinking, "Next year I'll..." and then remember, there won't be a next year in teaching or in speech (although I'll sub and volunteer with speech). Weird. But I'm looking forward to this new chapter.

Other good things this week:

  • I received copies of Passenger and Wayfarer from Alexandra Bracken this week. She had tweeted out she would send copies to classrooms if teachers tweeted her, so I did.  I have several kids who will love this series
  • Our girls basketball team played in the state tournament on Tuesday. They didn't win, but a smaller school from a few miles away did. They ended up runner-up. I loved how many of our kids went to their games and cheered them on. When you live in a small rural area, everyone is friends.
  • Last practices with my speech kids. These last two weeks of rehearsal time is precious to me. I just love hanging out with these guys.
  • A friend started a new food blog. This woman is a great cook and she decided to start a blog and share the recipes she trying. You can check her out at The Pinterest Foodie

Well, that's about it this week. Hope your week was wonderful!






12 comments:

  1. Whoa!!! Early retirement?? What. The. Heck.

    My father retired in 2000, and 17 years later, he's still enjoying doing the things he loves. His comment at the retirement party, "I'm going to catch up on the 30 years of reading I couldn't do!" I think he's held true to his word! :)

    Signing those papers is the cherry on top of an awesome week of athletics and fine arts at your school!

    Thank you for sharing these celebrations with us, Deb, and congratulations on your impending retirement!

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    1. Thanks, Darin. If not for the package, I'd stay. But in the political climate of Iowa right now, it seems best to go

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  2. So many celebrations and joys in your life. Thanks for sharing them with us. We have so many "little" things in our lives to celebrate and yet we overlook them. Thanks for the reminder.

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  3. Your week sounds amazing. Congrats to the kids. Have fun at state speech.
    I wish we had early retirement options; alas, Idaho has a huge teacher shortage, and our state and district no longer offer a buy-out. Since I've moved a few times, I have two more years until I reach the Rule of 90. I've already taught 36 years, counting this one. I'm tired, but I must stay at least one more year.

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  4. I love the spirit of this post, and may make my Saturday post one of highlights as well. Someone asked me last summer how long until I can retire and I just looked at them blankly. Then I realized that this is my 20th year, so although it's still a ways off, it might behoove me to find out a bit about the options and rules. I've gotta say, as much as I love teaching, retirement sounds like fun (health and finances permitting).

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  5. So many celebrations, and then retirement! Woah and wow!

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  6. Congratulations again for those speech kids. They will miss you, yet carry on after the great background you've given them, Deb. Glad you'll be helping them in the future, too! I'm glad it was a good week all around!

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  7. Fun to read your celebrations which almost all focused on your kids. Glad you're planning to sub and volunteer in Speech. I've loved my work at school with our after school book club. And it's nice having subs who know the ropes!

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  8. Deb, there is life after retirement. I can attest to that. I also was unsure about retirement from public education but am happy now in my unretirement days. You will feel the pleasure too. Enjoy your new chapter.

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  9. Sounds like a great week. I can imagine that even though your decision was made, turning in those retirement papers felt kind of shocking. I think about it, but I think I have at least a couple more years of teaching (unless a great package is offered sooner.)

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  10. The juxtaposition of being on a high with your speech team and the news of early retirement capture your true passion. You are leaving at a peak in your career. You are so inspiring!

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  11. Though you love teaching, you are going to really love retirement! There are so many things to do! It's like you imagined adulthood would be when you were a kid, before you knew that you didn't get to do what you wanted and stay up all night when you grew up!

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