Another Year Has Gone By

The holiday jingles are sounding on the radio and the crisp air is arriving. It's definitely that time of year where people love it or love to hate it. I can't quite put my finger on it but for some reason I want to be happy about the holidays but I dread it at the same time. Maybe it's because of my father and father-in-law's passing away over a year ago and my heart still aches for their loss, maybe it's bringing back the strong reminder of how tough holidays are with tight finances, or could it possibly be dreading work every day with the chance of having another encounter with a boss unlike any other boss I've ever had and the two week vacation can't come fast enough. Whatever the reason might be, I want to approach this holiday season happier than a year ago. I want to enjoy, to stop and smell the roses. So much happens in a year's time, reflecting on the past year, not much has changed for me.

There's a nudging feeling that something's missing in my life. I spend too much time invested in my work. With a demanding administrator, I want to please her by doing a good job but it's taking time away from my spouse and personal life. I've also found that I have no real hobbies (no, Facebook doesn't count). Work is my life. Growing up, reading was everything to me. Now, I dread starting a new book. Have I lost the passion for reading? I don't know. Maybe it's the thought that there's something else I need to be doing. I love my students but I need to do something I enjoy besides spending massive amounts of time preparing the mandatory things for my job (not mandatory by my choice). Cooking...there's no chance in finding a hobby in something I dread and will find any excuse in the book not to do. Dancing, I love it but it wouldn't work with my work schedule and most places charge too much. I've tried to think of many other possibilities such as board games/card game groups, hiking, biking, sports teams.....none of these things excite me. Is my life really that boring? Hopefully before the next year passes, I can pinpoint what's missing.

Christmas Day 2009

For much of this year, I dreaded Christmas. I just wanted to pretend that December 25th is the same as any other non-holiday day. That just can't always happen. The sound of Christmas music playing on the radio, holiday commercials advertising Christmas Cheer, and all other sounds that made me wonder if I could have such Cheer facing the first Christmas without my father alive. The Christmas when there should have been little puppies running around frolicly with Millie and Willy. These wishes are but only thoughtful dreams. However, even with a rough start to Christmas Day, it turned out pretty good considering the sad thoughts. Here's how Christmas Day began.....

Midnight arrives, the recent Harry Potter movie is being played on our TV. We wish each other pleasantries with "Merry Christmas" and sharing a Christmas kiss. Exhausted and worn out from the recent cold, Dereck helped move me from a slumber on the couch to our comfortable bed. A deep sleep arrives. 4AM: Whiny Willy whimpers to address his need to relief himself. In a daze, I walk downstairs to allow Willy outside. Then, I notice the sharp pain from my ear. This pain is all too familiar. An ear ache announcing there is an ear infection. "Great! Merry Christmas to myself with pain in my ear. What am I to do?" I think to myself. I trudge back to bed after Willy returns in hopes to return to sleep for now. The ache doesn't allow my body to relax into a sleep. Back downstairs I go to research on the Internet for an urgent care that's not only open at 4:30 in the morning but on Christmas Day too boot. I'm in luck. Found one only 15 minutes from the house. Double checked by calling the location to ensure they're open. By the time I returned back to the house around 5AM, I've received confirmation of an ear infection, a prescription for Antibiotics, and drove past 3 different pharmacies near my house only to find they're all closed. I wondered to myself, "How am I going to survive Christmas with the family over if I can't get my hands on medicine to help relief the pain?" I return home to research on the Internet. Thankfully, taking Ibuprofen took the edge of the ear ache. I cleaned the downstairs completely in preparation for guests. Eventually, I did get my prescription and survived the day on minimal sleep. I'm sure I developed an ear infection in my other ear during the early afternoon. "Oh what fun it is to..." be sick on Christmas Day.

All in all, we had a great afternoon with family members close by to celebrate the gift of giving. The big surprise: No one cried (Sorry Mom, I couldn't read your present quite yet, I wasn't ready to cry in front of Dereck's family and get them started. I wanted to wait till it was a more private setting). With the year drawing to an end, I reflect on how I've grown through this last year, what I want to improve on, and how life is always changing. I've learned, somewhat, how to adapt to what happens in life. No matter how hard it is to be happy, happiness brings joy to life. As long as I'm doing something that makes me happy, usually teaching or doing something fun with Dereck, I have joy in life. Just as the song says, "Joy to the World," the reason for living is through Christ our Savior. This reason keeps pushing me forward to a new moment, a new day, and a new year.

Spring Cleaning....make that summer projects and cleaning!

The joys of summer projects. The end result is nice meanwhile the transition to the end result is messy, sweaty work, and frustrating. Our most recent summer project has been moving all our classroom items upstairs into the guest room and the office. Then, we cleaned out the garage for the epoxy coating we painted on the garage floor. In order to do this, we had to bring everything that was in the garage inside to the kitchen, dining room, and living room. We sure had a lot of junk that was just sitting in our garage.

After the epoxy coating was dry enough to start moving items back into the garage, we've been sifting through the items to minimize what's going back into our garage. Next, we've pulled aside our junk that can be someone else's treasures and listed them on craigslist. The biggest project yet of sorting through our garage items is all the china Dereck received from his Grandmother when she passed away and the china I've received from my grandmother. Refering to Dereck's china alone, there's at least 32 sets of dinner plates, medium and small plates, bowls, tea cups, saucers, etc. Maybe this is enough for the Queen of England but we sure won't be having that big of a feast. I think 12 is more of a reasonable amount of sets to have. Anybody need china? We've got tons to spare and don't quite know what to do with it. Then there's the china I've received from my grandmother. We're lucky to find a place for a set of 6 china. I don't know what I'm going to do with the set from my grandma. If we put it back in the garage, it's just going to sit there. We don't have any place to show them off. Our house already has enough furniture. Any suggestions?

These pictures don't even show our house at the worst of organizing stage...at least all the school stuff and big garage items were moved out.

Well, Dereck and I, amongst the garage clean up, are getting ready for our road trip up to the Oregon coast for my family's reunion. Oh yeah, beach here I come. I don't care if the ocean is cold up there....it's the beach! A luxury when you live in Phoenix. I'm really excited about taking a road trip and winding up the coast enjoying the beauty. I'm thrilled about this adventure. We'll see what this adventure brings in the way of highlights and challenges, I'll be sure to blog about it.

Last Day Blues

It's hard to think that my first year of teaching is over with. Wow. I'm no longer a first year teacher. The students faces keep flashing in my memory. Great memories allow me to smile and be excited for their futures. I didn't realize I would have so many students clinging to me, crying, not wanting to go. Some of the other teachers even made fun of me crying. I couldn't help it. Once I saw my students crying, I bursted into tears. I guess I became attached to my students. Or maybe it's because I know about their homelifes and how it's unstable for some of them while school brought stability and structure to their lives every week. I know I'll see most of my students next year, thanks to the fact of Dereck teaching 4th grade at the school next door. It still is sad to realize the year has rolled to the last day.

Today, our school put on the first staff variety show. This is similar to a talent show only it's not all about talents. Our third grade team decided to be a "cheer squad." Needless to say, it gave our principal and staff the idea for us to open up next school year's assembly. I didn't realize our performance would be such a hit. Plus, I did a cartwheel on stage. You wouldn't believe (and me) how many students were fascinated with a teacher doing a cartwheel. My students even said that I proved I'm flexible (I'm really not but they think so) with the jumps and kicks we were doing.

I'm very proud of surviving the year and to still enjoy my job. I'm ready for another year with another group of students! Bring it on!

The dreaded heat has arrived....

Sweaty forehead, sweaty pits, frequent showers to smell and feel better, and outside temperatures peaking to the 100's have arrived. The other day, one of my students asked after making an observation when I raised my hands up, "Ms. Durocher, why do you have wet spots on your shirt?" A clever question....now where's the clever response? I have a hard time coming up with the quick humorous answers. Needless to say, there was a short Science discussion on sweating and its function. These kids are very blunt and that's not even the worst question I've been asked. A couple of times, I've been asked, "Where do babies come from?" Luckily even without preparing for a question like that, I had a quick reply, "That would be a good question for you to ask Mom and Dad."

It's fascinating and scary about the things these 3rd graders know. Almost 2 weeks ago we did a ladybug unit in writing and science. One day, we went out to our school's field and collected ladybugs for an afternoon observation. Brought them back to the classroom and I thought there wouldn't be any major problems. One slight factor. I told the groups they could get up to three ladybugs in their observation cup. What I should have told them was to get only 1 per cup. Well, it must have been mating season for the ladybugs because students were shouting out, "Ms. Durocher, our ladybugs are having sex!" The whole classroom heard it. I pushed through the gathering crowd of students and had to have a mini-discussion about not using that word. Frankly, I didn't knows what to say but a thought came to my mind. I told the other groups to return to their seats and I quietly shared with the group whose ladybugs were making quite the scene, how in nature this is called mating. I left it at that. Later on I reflected on my reactions and felt grateful for Heavenly Father giving me the thoughts to say and react how I did considering the tricky situation. Being a teacher is sometimes almost like parenting but possibly trickier as I have to careful put my thoughts into words in a way parents won't find it inappropriate. Whew! I sure was glad when the ladybugs were released. At the same time, my sudden nerves for the uncertainty of events became relaxed too.

A Trip to the Beach

Last weekend, Dereck and I had the wonderful chance to take a road trip to San Diego, California. It was a beautiful day at the beach. We drove in Friday night with Dereck's friend, Aaron and spent the night in Hotel Circle. The next day, we spent a gorgeous sunny day on the beach, board walk, and even went to the local park & swap. It was awesome to leave our worries and stresses of work back in Phoenix.

It was nice to be able to split the costs of gas with another person. The drive was even more entertaining with another person's humor besides Dereck's or my weird humor.

Although the trip wasn't very long, it was nice and relaxing. Dereck and I both felt rejuvenated after this trip.

Our date night with extras (aka students)

So it has been almost a month since my last post. Nothing majorly exciting happening in our lives. Of late, each Friday, Dereck and I have been trying to have a planned date nigh. A chance for us to get out of the house and purposely spending time together. If we didn't do this, our date would consist of watching a TV show together while I am grading paperwork or doing something work related.

Last Friday's date, let's just say it wasn't just us. We were both chaperons for a field trip. The 6-8th graders from Dereck's school got to attend the Rookie All Star basketball game. We both had a great time and even though we were chaperons, we still got to spend time together and have our groups sit near each other. It was a long night but we had a great time.