My Mother's House

We are currently in the process of packing up my mother's house and getting things ready so that we can put it on the market. For the most part, everything on the inside of the house has been packed up and moved. We painted the majority of what we need to paint today. We only have the floors, ceiling, and garage to do and then we'll be done. It's a bittersweet feeling. I don't want to sell my mom's house. Although I never wanted to be put in this position in the first place. Sharie and I drug our feet for a quite a while, and at one point I thought we were just doing lazy, but I really think we were just putting off having to deal with it. I will be happy to be done. It's emotional to be there every week going through her things and packing, and so I will be happy to be done with that. I know that when it does sell though, that it will be an incredibly hard day. When we were painting today, it almost felt like she was home. I think it's because it's spring. I think it had something to do with the way the light came through the windows. For whatever reason it reminded me of Mother's Day last year. I will miss my mother's house because all of it reminds me of my mother. It also holds nearly all of my high school memories and a large portion of my grown up memories as well. I know that I don't need a house to keep those memories alive, but it will still be hard to let go of. While I am thinking about them, I thought I would jot a few of them down.

*Sunday dinner's with my Grandpa.
*Stumbling through the halls with Sharlee on the day we coined "Big Shoes"
*Sitting up until all hours of the night on instant messenger with Rob. I remember hiding it from my mother:)
*Wendall and every memory associated with her from the first day we brought her home, to the day she stood up for the first time after she lost control of her hind legs, to the day she died, when my mom met me at work to tell me. She even told my manager I wouldn't be in that day. I know that's not a house memory, but I love my mom so much for that.
*Watching "In Her Shoes" with my mom, with each of us curled up on the couch.
*The day Ken and I told my mom we were getting married, I remember that I told her we had something to tell her and I was incredibly nervous (and looked incredibly nervous) and so she responded with "What? Are you pregnant?" Only my mom would ask that:)
*Planting the bushes with Brandon in the front yard.
*Croquet, every Mother's Day weekend.
*Christmas Eve. We used to spend the night there. We'd have snacks and margaritas and we'd always stay up later than my mother:)
*The Thanksgiving that I was highly emotional. I remember drawing myself a bath and then when I went to get into it, Brooke had stripped down to nothing and hopped in. I was already emotional and bratty. I remember I cried and Brooke felt to guilty that she crawled out of the tub and hid in the spare room.
*Helping my mom make stuffing two years ago.
*All of the kids birthday parties in her back yard.
*Ken falling asleep at her house the first Halloween that we were together.
*Even though I was married and had my own house, I went there once because I had a migraine while student teaching. My mom tucked me into her bed, gave me migraine medicine, and placed a cool wash cloth on my forehead. I still remember how it felt to have her sit down beside my on the bed, with her hand rested on my forehead; I remember the indention the bed made, and the cool feel of her fingers. It's sounds horrible, but I loved being sick at my mom's house.
*Wheeling my luggage down the driveway the day Sharlee and I decided to stay at a hotel for the night (randomly, I may add).
*Each of my birthdays. I will remember every haphazard looking cake that she made. They were never pretty, but I loved them. If anything I loved them because they were never pretty.
*Moving back home when I was 19.
*Crawling in bed with my mom after my Grandma passed away.
*The day a guy brought me roses for the first time:) I had no tact. I left him on the porch, meanwhile I tossed the roses in the sink. My mother came home to a sink full or roses:)

I have a lifetime of memories and I'd like to write them all down if I could. I think I'll have to end for tonight though.

I am SO bad at keeping this up to date!

Well..I can honestly say that not very many exciting things have happened since I last updated this:) Here's the short version of the last few months:

1) I had my last observation and I have a job next year! Woohoo! Well, possibly I am speaking too soon. There is a chance the district will decide to cut positions, at which point I am on the bottom of the totem pole, although I am really hoping that won't be true, and according to the school board, is at the bottom of their list. It does sound like we will be following suit with so many districts around the state and declaring a financial emergency. I love my school. I'd like to teach there for a long time. Although I do not want a cut in pay, I'll take one if it means I still have a job and that I get to stay at a school I love. I really do feel like I have found the right school for me. I'm attached to both the students and the staff and I feel blessed that it's such a positive environment. This year as been a hard one. I was very afraid I'd lose myself, and I think that teaching has really kept me grounded.

2) My students are in the midst of ISATS. This has been incredibly stressful! I had no idea that I would stress this much over ISATS, but I have. We just did our first round of them on Wednesday, and when I arrived at school, I really thought I was going to make myself sick to my stomach with nerves. My kids are doing well though and I'm proud of them. On whole, they are putting forth their best effort and that's all that I can really ask for. They have made a lot of growth. There were quite a few yesterday that went from basic to proficient and that was really neat to see. There were also quite a few that made me ache because the tried incredibly hard and worked really hard this year, but their growth wasn't accurately measured on the ISATs. I have another group testing tomorrow, and then we have a little over a week until we take the Language Usage test. I'll be happy when we're done and school can go back to normal.

3) We built an arbor and bought grapes! Well, Ken built an arbor:) We haven't planted the grapes yet, and we really won't have any this year, but I'm looking forward to having them in the future. We're hoping to try our hand at wine making:)

4) I finished "The Hunger Games" and it's sequel and they were amazing! I have yet to get really into a book since. They were phenomenal!

Hmmm...sadly, that's about it:) I usually have a funny story or two from school each day, but I'm drawing a blank today. I did actually send a student on a mission to find my stapler (that she borrowed from me during advisory) only to have her find it on the corner of my desk, buried under papers. That was after I sent out of my classroom to look for it. I laughed at myself when we found it, although I think I was possibly the only one that was amused:)