Does Your Furniture Tell Your Story?

Do you remember when I told you about my pretty new-old table, purchased here in Texas through Craigslist? I imagined all the elegant Christmas meals around it with my family and more. Well, I probably did not really imagine the "elegant" part because we are who we are and that is not a word that has ever been associated with us. (Can you see how I tried to convey the "elegance" by adding the blurred edges to my posted photo?) 

But, I honestly did not foresee that I would be getting down on the floor to wipe peanut butter (and other assorted food items) from underneath the table top. My almost 3 yr old grandson likes to ignore that little basket of napkins for his messy fingers. He prefers the quick and easy 'scrape it under the table' style to clean his hands. 

I don't remember my boys doing this, but now I wonder what may have been hidden underneath the dining table we sold so long ago. Yikes! Elegant we are not.

Do you recall my excited posts about buying this gorgeous desk? Soon after the purchase, thanks to craigslist once again, this beauty helped me write and publish a book of which I am very proud.  

I wondered if more books might be birthed on this desktop in years to come. 

 And once again I must say that I honestly never pictured the scene you see above happening on the rich dark wood. Play-doh, children's library books, paper plates being made into a million different things, glue guns and stickers everywhere! I had no clue that I would become a preschool teacher.

I was a WRITER! In all caps! Writing is all I wanted to talk, think and write about. The publication of my one little book solidified the identity that helped me accept my new life in a new state, away from everything I knew.

But my desk today reveals my true self...for now.

I am enjoying the way our furniture can be an expression of our lives. How each hunk of wood and glue can carry history within it. That's why I love old bits of furniture so much. Don't you love how a nice antique store can take you to another era completely?

It would be great to have the history of my desk and my dining table in front of me. Where have they lived? Who sat around them to eat and to create? How many families used them, messed them up and polished them clean again?

My dining table and my desk are a picture of my true life. It is messy, creative and so so unpredictable. I love that. And THAT is extremely unpredictable, right, my old friends?

I am living in Texas. My home is noisy and messy and full of life and family. I don't know what we are having for dinner tonight. There is a trike in my entryway hall and I just bought an outfit for a baby girl online yesterday!

This uber-planner is happy. Often confused yes, but mostly happy. My pretty furniture may be peanut butter and hot glue smeared, but it is happy...I can tell.

Susie

The Teacher's Restroom - A Place For Deep Breaths and Shallow Prayers

This morning during my second week of teaching preschool this year, I found myself in the teacher's bathroom taking a deep breath and whispering a shallow prayer.

  

All is going well, and I love my kids and the job. But it is exhausting, draining and challenging on a daily basis. My co-teacher and I have 18 four-year-old's who are adorable and ridiculously funny!  And as busy as  4-year-olds ought to be.

My bathroom quickie prayer often sounds like this, "Father, help! Help me relax, help me look into their eyes, help me let go of my agenda and be ready for what they need right now. Thanks! Love you."

  

Sometimes it is more like this, "God, HELP!" 

Shallow, but real. 

And maybe that kind of prayer is not so shallow after all. When I am grabbing my minutes of quiet in the middle of a noisy and active day, it is best if I steer my mind and thoughts toward God. If I do not think of asking for His help, I tend to be hard on myself or others and I berate myself and them for not being perfect.

  

When I send God my 911....SOS....Bat Signal, it brings my heart back to where it needs to be. Calling out to God invites Him into those deep breathes and makes them much more helpful and beneficial.

  

A deep breath is only as good as what you are inviting in with that breath. It is calming and centering and relaxing. But we can also turn right around and walk back into frustration and tension faster than we can snap that bathroom light off. Ask me how I know. 

Maybe I should make a pretty poster for the teacher's bathroom that reminds us to take a deep breath and say a shallow prayer.

  

Do you think this idea can apply to your day too? Your office breakroom, your car between clients, your bathroom while hiding from the kids?

  

We all walk around in a busy and noisy world, whether online or outside our homes. It is easy to keep carrying around the frustrations and grievances that we bump into all day. The bumps and bruises add up and we end our day stooped over with the weight of it all.

  

Do you think that ducking into a nearby bathroom, closet (well no, that could be embarrassing) or breakroom for a deep breath and a shallow prayer could make a difference? It sounds too simple really.

  

But sometimes simple works. 

Susie 

Just Wanted to Impress the Pinterest Moms

I am two days away from facing a room full of eighteen 4 year olds! Eighteen 4 year olds! Four is a delightful, chatty and busy age, they were my favorite age to work with years ago before my own kids arrived. And now, here I am again, teaching preschool!

This last week we had our Open House. My first time to meet the kids and THE PARENTS. I have decided that the real reason for Open House is so that after the high tension of a classroom full of student's multiple family members, the idea of just facing the kids sounds wonderful and easy.

So anyway, I wanted to surprise the kids (and impress the grown-ups) at Open House with "Magical Play-doh." You hide colored dough inside a ball of white dough so that it just looks like white play-doh. I made a cute sign that said it was magical and if their play-doh changed color it would mean they were going to have a great year in our class. 

As you can see I worked very hard on this little project and they looked so cute. Those young Pinterest mommies would be so impressed with the new teacher! 

With heart pounding and bags packed I kissed Hubby good-bye and headed off to the school for Open House night. I parked and grabbed my purse, cup and .......THE BAG! My truck cab is tiny, but I still sat there looking and looking, trying to figure out why my bag of school supplies was not in front of my eyes. 

Thankfully I live very close to the school so I raced my truck back to my street and there was my bag on its side in my driveway. I had set it down to unlock my door, got other stuff inside, then hopped up and drove away. Right OVER my bag! 

My sweet little play-doh balls were smashed. No longer snowy white but blueish white and no longer very magical at all. I drove back to the school upset and shaking and trying not to lose it completely. 

Came across these tonight as I cleaned out my school bag. Sad huh?

I managed to reshape them a bit but they did not impress anyone, but the kids still enjoyed squishing them into a pretty blue color. 

As evidence of my anxiety about Open House Night; I was more upset about my smashed play-doh balls then the fact that my iPad was also in that bag and it came so VERY close to being a crunched device. But it was fine, not a dent. My priorities  were seriously messed up. 

Last year was a crazy and challenging year as I worked with two year olds. I loved them and cherished some exuberant hugs in the hallway outside my classroom the other night from last years students. The 4 year old class is a whole new ballgame and I am excited, scared and thrilled to get started. 

My class has, get this... 13 girls and 5 boys. Pray for me, OK? 

I will keep you posted.