Are YOU waiting for Superman?

Yes, it's been a while...but at this time of year there is no time like the present than to pick back up with a story like this, and this my friends is exactly what I have been doing in my blogging absence - Happy Holidays! 

This past October my long-awaited wish had become a reality. After years of searching due to the turn in the economy I had been given a wonderful opportunity to teach in a first-grade classroom at Hopkins Elementary School.

Hopkins is a Title I school and the largest elementary school in its county with approximately 1800 students. I would become one of 16 first-grade teachers. I was up for the task, though beginning in the middle of the school year was a bit daunting. I gave it my all. I spent between $500-$1000 of my own money before I ever saw a paycheck, and not to mention the other teachers donating supplies from their own classrooms to help mine. They could not have been more helpful. If I needed a superman then I had indeed just found 15 of them. However, to no fault of theirs, or mine, it still was not enough. 

As luck would have it just two weeks ago I was getting a haircut from a friend of mine, K (for my own good deed, to donate it to Locks of Love) when she asked me how school was going. Naturally, I said it was going really well. Though as I watched her daughters, who happen to love art I did mention that at times I alter the homework I send home because not all of my students have crayons at home, or they cannot do cut and paste because there is not scissors or glue.

The next morning I received a text message from K asking how many students were in my class because her daughters were going to pool their money together to buy each student their own pack of crayons for Christmas. Before I knew it, K had sent out an email to several families asking if they wanted to get their children involved. By that afternoon there were over 13 families willing to participate. The kids went shopping with their parents for the supplies, or donated their own money, and then had a get together to put it all together for my students.

As we dismissed for the holiday break each of my students went home with their very own pencil box complete with their own pack of crayons, markers, scissors, glue, a ruler, and colored pencils. Plus, many other supplies such as paint sets, construction paper, ice cube trays (for sorting and pouring paint into), notebooks, and hundreds of dollars in gift cards have been donated to my classroom.

A result like this is beyond anything I ever could have imagined. Our story does not end here. It is just the beginning. It began as just a conversation between friends and has grown into so much more – it has grown into people helping people, and children helping children, if for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.

I’ll never forget the faces on my students as K entered my room with her hands full of gift bags, let alone when they were each handed their own. Never shall I forget the voices of excitement over items we so often take for granted. Yes it’s true, in some places and in some schools we may be waiting on a Superman. Yet, I’d like to think that one lives in each of us, and I am pretty certain there are many circling over my classroom. 

what's your motto?

For quite a while now I have been admiring all kind of these canvases all over blog world.

I had been wanting to create one but I didn't have a place to put it, not only because I do not have a home of my own (I feel like Virginia Woolf - longing for a room of my own!) but also because I do not yet have my own family to have "family rules" for. Then this past week I was setting up my classroom. I thought I would share one of of the projects I completed with you. These are my class rules, if you will, though I have titled it "Our Motto." I like to keep them simple, brief, easy to remember. Even though I am teaching 1st grade I don't think children need to be dumbed down. I expect them to act like people, and treat others like people. So my rules for my class are exactly what a day-to-day life motto should be. Don't you think the world would be a little better if we all followed these rules?

check out the old school, literally, paper and stickers in the background!

go see where I have linked this post:

revolution

some wonderful finds at the Norcross Art Festival yesterday from my friend Jenni Horne - the necklace (sorry for the bad picture) reads "love the way you make a living" and the bracelets say "take flight" and "enjoy the journey"

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while you may know that memorable minutes began as a side business - a side business out of need. It was a need for a creative outlet. It was also for ay type of employment. I was always cautiously and fully aware that it would not provide me what I needed it to - a home, insurance, ya know, a full living. However, in many ways for for a year and a half to two years it did provide me a life - a creative life. I couldn't be more grateful for it. I love where it has taken me. I often wish I was truly at a point where I could take off and see where this path would lead me full-time. But last week, reality hit, and in a good way. A principal called me for an interview. 

a necklace from Soup Studios in Athens, GA also found yesterday

I never discussed it too much on here, but I truly had kind of given up. After trying for over 2 years, in this economy, you reach that point. Then when I received the phone call I had a feeling. Well low and behold I got the teaching job! 1st grade here I come. I felt comfortable with the grade. I had experience with it. Now to set up my room - er, I mean trailer (which I think I will like because no one really bothers you out there)! 

another find yesterday from Delias Thompson, the ring is titled Revolution

I can't say I  kept my patience and my 'cool' all of the time. I shed my tears and I had my moments. But I do believe things work out for a reason. My new school is two miles from where I student taught and long-term subbed. Had I not done that I would not have a wonderful group of friends helping and supporting me that I do right now, who just also happen to spend some of our Friday afternoons right in the streets of Norcross, GA. I guess sometimes things really do come full circle. :) I'll still be doing my clocks too. Not to worry!

stay tuned for parts 1 and 2 of my classroom (the organization and the creativity). and Norcross is still going on today if you want to check it out. Tell Mattie's Social Circle (Jenni), Linwood Avenue (Tiffin), Joya Jewelry, Delias, Kim Quinn, and R Design (Rachel) I all said hi!

monday morning musings

...and now they have turned into Monday night musings as I sit here in a hotel room. Alone. Did I hear a faint "aww?" I hope not. I love a good hotel! I could be so content in a hotel room for days. I don't know what it is about it, but just being in one makes me feel as though I am on instant vacation. And this hotel, just a Marriott Courtyard is BRAND NEW. You should have seen me when I walked in. I was like a kid in a candy store. You might be thinking wasn't she just at the beach? Well yes, yes I was. I spent last week on vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina with family. 

This week is different. Even though the hotel helps break the mood a tad, the trip is far from vacation. This trip is for work - not my art, but as my dad would say, "real world." 

In case anyone has forgotten, I have a Master's Degree in education. I've worked with children forever. In fact, I was a Kindergarten assistant for a while. I left the school system to complete my degree. Though I found my way back in through substituting, never did I find my way into my own classroom. Shelves of labeled and organized books - by author and theme, mind you - have now taken up storage space in my parents basement for over a year and a half. 

I think sometimes a situation just becomes so stagnant that we forget how to see a way out. My oldest brother (yes, I have two - one lives in Atlanta, the oldest in Alaska) every time I would talk on the phone to him he would ask about the job search and I would say "there is literally nothing here!" And his response was always "it's time to move!" Just like that, those words could roll off his tongue. 

I guess they are easy to utter for someone who doesn't live within the contiguous United States. Both of my brothers have always been far more brave than I. Whether I tell them or not, I admire it greatly. I try to be like them. But the truth is, there are parts of them that I think I have learned to just accept that they have far greater capabilities. 

Yet, I guess there comes a time when we have to accept that sometimes things don't always turn out the way we plan. I thought when I came back to Atlanta from New York that would be it. Now who knows. I got in the car this morning and headed to Charleston, South Carolina. Why? I'm not entirely sure. The trip was fun though. Some very good friends of mine were headed here to visit family, so we did a little caravan and the 11 year-old rode with me. We had so much fun. The song lyrics above came on and I had forgotten how much I love the song until I was blaring it to tune out her Sponge Bob skit. We drove straight to the County School District office where I walked right in and handed the lady in HR a pile (resume, reference letters, transcripts, and tests scores). I couldn't believe I did that. I had on a skirt, but not a suit. I looked hellish after that drive, but she sat and talked with me and the last thing she said after "you need to just go call and talk to some principals" was "you just need an offer!" That's been the tricky part all along...so here's hoping. But at least I got out the map I guess. 

follow through

This is the start of something good, don't you agree? Ah, that's the first line of a Gavin DeGraw song that I love. It's titled, like this post, 'Follow Through.' Whenever you set your mind to start something, I'm pretty certain that follow through is the key if we have any desire at all of something to come from it. 

However, today is about endings. 

For the past five weeks I was part of an amazing e-course called Flying Lessons. Kelly Rae warned us it would be intense. She warned us it would be loaded with content and information. She did not disappoint. She left me so very inspired. 

In fact, I found myself searching, wondering what and when was the last time I had read words that made me feel like that. Aha! My 'Oprah' magazine. Then it all came rushing back. Her column - What I Know for Sure. It's my favorite part of the magazine. Back in college I even wrote a cover letter in the same format.  Aha! Writing - another passion. So that's what I did. I began writing. Only this wasn't exactly a What I Know for Sure so much as a What I Know I Don't Know - my take on how I have gotten here and where I am, in part thanks to Oprah and without a doubt to Kelly Rae Roberts and my fellow flyers. 

Wow, twenty-five years young! I say it that way because I always felt like The Oprah Show had been around as long as I have been alive. But I’m twenty-eight. So I guess I have three years on ‘Oprah.’ Still, what will be on the television every day at 4:00? I pride myself on my knowledge of the lineup: All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, and then The Oprah Show. In fact, The Oprah Show usually was a daily guarantee since I was almost always home from school by 4:00.

I grew up with Oprah, or maybe she grew with me. I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s a little bit of both. I did not always agree with her, and that’s okay. That is one thing I definitely know for sure. You don’t have to agree with everyone in life, but you can respectfully disagree. You treat people with respect, which was always demonstrated on The Oprah Show.

As the years went on, Oprah was still there with me at 4:00, as though nothing had changed. Thank goodness for that because things had changed. Fortunately, Oprah talked about accepting and embracing change something I greatly needed to learn how to do. As luck would have it, during my sophomore year of college (college in and of itself brought a lot of change) a friend gifted me with an ‘O Magazine’ subscription for my birthday. To this day, I still read it. Each month the magazine inspires me in a different way, and on a different level.

Sometimes we need that little nudge to turn up the volume on the voice inside our beings and allow us hear it saying, ‘You really can do this. Just go for it. If you fall on your face it’s okay, but at least you tried. You’ll never know unless you try. How will you achieve your dreams if you don’t even reach for them?’  That’s what Oprah began to do for me as I worked to complete my English degree from the University of Michigan.

As my senior year was coming to a close I had decided I wanted to work in book or magazine publishing in New York (a big jump for this Georgia Peach). Like any good student does, I had done my research. ‘The O Magazine’ is located in Manhattan, right where I had decided to go give it a try. You’ll never know unless you try. What would Oprah do? You’ve got to put yourself out there. Everyone starts somewhere. So I sent my resume and cover letter to ‘THE OPRAH MAGAZINE.’ ME. I sent it along with my portfolio! I mean, what was I thinking? I was thinking I don’t know for sure if this will work. I don’t know for sure if this will get me anywhere. I don’t know for sure if these materials will even get to anyone of any importance. I do know for sure, with absolute certainty that I have to try.

I didn’t get a job with ‘The Oprah Magazine.’ I didn’t even get an interview. Somewhere there’s a bigger plan. Keep going and don’t give up.  I did not give up though dueing those two months I wanted to a time or so. For two years I worked at Simon and Schuster and HarperCollins Publishers respectively. And yes, even as those daily changes came, The Oprah Show was still there at 4:00, only I watched her closer to 6:00 p.m off of Tivo with my roommates.

Oprah’s topics moved ahead with the times keeping her, and also the rest of us, ‘with it.’ My mother certainly has benefited from my watching of some makeover shows. I also know for sure that my (and maybe sometimes my dad’s) wallet has not benefited from my watching annually Oprah’s Favorite Things episodes. We may have had some great gifts and slept well in our Karen Neuburger pajamas (one of Oprah’s original favorites) but my debt grew. Maybe that was Oprah’s strategy all along (I am kidding, I know she wouldn’t really do that). But, I do know for sure I watched intently when Suze Orman told me to put all my credit cards out in front of me. Well, I stuck mine in my dresser drawer so that they aren’t even in my wallet. If they aren’t in my wallet then I know I can’t use them even if I wanted to. That’s for sure. Right, Oprah and Suze?

I can only hope so because I don’t know exactly when I will crawl out of my debt. In these times it’s hard to know. As I write this, which I have thoroughly enjoyed because writing has and always will be one of my true passions, I live back home in Atlanta. I left New York to become a teacher. I wanted a way to use my skills while being able to give back and help others. I don’t know why even sometimes the best intentions are not easy. Though I completed my Master’s Degree over a year ago, I have yet to have my own classroom. Georgia’s cutbacks and treatment of teachers has been unreal. I don’t know when I will work again. I feel like I don’t know anything. Despite interview after interview, with furloughs and budget cuts, I may have to take my career down a different path – only this time it’s a path unknown and as she enters her final season, Oprah will no longer be there at 4:00. I know nothing is for sure in this life and I don’t know what lies ahead, but I know I am the one who holds the power.

*Note: There's still a lot I know I don't know...I don't know when things will be easier. I don't know if the fear of having a creative business ever fully goes away. I don't know if I'll ever be completely ready. But I'm pretty sure that after endings like these it's gotta be a start of something good. Don't you agree?

s'more, please!

Okay so among my group of friends S'mores have kind of become an annual tradition. Some good friends of mine have a fire pit on their deck and a couple of years ago over Memorial Day Weekend we all took advantage of the long weekend at their house one Sunday night with a cookout and S'mores. It's fun to feel like kids again. Even this past year we got together that Monday during the day at my place. I don't have a fire pit, but I still made sure to have S'more supplies in case we felt the need to make them with the fire from the grill (consider that tip 1 if need be ;).

Then as the end of the school year was winding down I needed some educational but fun activities for my 3rd graders. What's better than homemade s'mores on a hot day?! Okay, I know, I know! I can't exactly have my own fire pit in the middle of the playground. Talk about being in bigger need of a job than I already am (I was just a long-term substitute). However, for these s'mores all you need is a clean pizza box (which the pizza place is happy to fork over). In fact, my parents had gone out for pizza and I called and asked them to bring me home an empty pizza box. I think my dad though I was going to ask for food. So an empty box, he thought I was nuts! But hey, it's all for the kids. So needless to say, into school I went with the box, a roll of aluminum foil, and all the wonderful ingredients - ya know, the usual, the 'mallows, the grahams, the chocolate (someone please tell me they get the movie The Sandlot reference, anyone?).

Now here's the educational part - ding, ding, ding, are you ready???

Q: How will  they cook?

A: The pizza box will be our oven.

Q: What kind of oven?

A: A solar oven!

Q: Hmmm. Well any idea how we can make this solar oven work better? I have some ALUMINUM foil here?

(desired) A: The foil can be our insulator/conductor.

I gave each student a piece of foil and a graham, mallow, and chocolate piece and allowed them to assemble theirs. They wrapped it up and I labeled the outside with a Sharpie for them. Then we took it outside to bake while we played at recess. Fortunately, Atlanta is warm enough for this to be successful and it was very yummy.

However, I am sure you want to know about the pictures I keep showing for the ones on a stick. You don't know a fire for those. And the only heat you need is enough to melt the chocolate candy melts to dip the marshmallows into.

So here's what you need:

lollipop sticks

sprinkles

candy melts (I used Wilton - I thought I was picking up Milk Chocolate, but I picked up a Dark Cocoa flavor and it made them very sweet said my diabetic mother who loves all things sweet, so consider that another tip)

marshmallows

graham crackers

a cookie sheet to let set on

wax paper (I lined my cookie sheet with this cause it is less clean up)

1. Crush the graham crackers

2. add sprinkles to the crushed graham mixture

3. put lollipop sticks in marshmallows so everything is ready

4. melt chocolate

5. dip marshmallows in chocolate

6. hold marshmallow stick over bowl with graham mixture and pour coating over mallow with hand until coated (this was easiest method for me, less choc. got in mixture this way).

7. set on cookie sheet

8. let cool/harden in fridge

9. ENJOY - thoroughly, easy peasy!

10. store in fridge if there are leftovers.

Oh and one last tip, since I then had an empty sprinkle jar, I stored what was left of the Graham cracker/sprinkle mixture in there instead of tossing it out. You never know how soon you might need to make more of these. They go fast. Plus, that mixture also makes one good ice cream topping!!!

This is my adaptation for this AWESOME idea I found here!

you gotta start somewhere

Why I have started at 5:45 this morning I am not so sure. I don't have children of my own. I don't have a dog to walk. I don't even have a job to get up and go to. I used to be a teacher. I stopped to finish my Masters Degree and now I can't seem to get back in. These are troubled times. In fact, if one more person says, "I thought there's always a need for teachers" or "I didn't realize they were cutting back on teachers as well," I may just lose my mind. Oh wait, some days I think I already have lost my mind.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like a teacher's paycheck is huge or something. I never expected to make millions. Yet, after having lived on my own for eight years, I also never expected to be back in the bedroom I grew-up in at my parents' house. And so we have the reason I may lose my mind.

So what keeps me sane? Easy. Bill Cosby (I mean, let's face it, throughout the whole series of that show, he wonders if his children will ever leave his house, but they just keep coming back home. haha). Well, I do love that show, but the truth is my craft. My craft is what gets me through the day (oh if my freshman year English professor could hear me now). Whenever I meet someone new and a friend of mine is around it somehow or other gets mentioned how creative I am. I have always wanted to be able to do something with it, but I knew that the whole Art Degree thing wasn't for me. I was what one would call "artsy" or "crafty." Creative, yes. Attention to detail, yes. Yet, somehow in the eyes of deemed "professionals" it was always lost. I took a 1-credit drawing class in college just for fun = my only 'C' out of Ann Arbor!

I honed the craft of writing in college. It's still a craft. Ask Stephen King (his book On Writing is wonderful). Again, that craft wasn't going to make me millions (unless I was the next Stephen King -- shoot, I'd settle for one book, a children's book maybe? I worked in publishing). Maybe I had gone about this all wrong. Maybe I was just doomed to be a starving artist after all. But, if that was going to be the case, I needed to come up with something good because I needed my life back.

Stay tuned for my first craft....