Never one to quit, I have spent the last several years bouncing from one position to the next as my school has changed things around. It left me no time for writing and no time to…yes, I am going to say it…stop and think.

Since Education Reform has clearly become a huge thing, that has very little room for an individual teacher to influence anything with any kind of significant impact, I’ve decided to take back my free time and get back to writing and taking time to stop and think. However, I’m expanding that to my list and the things I do when I need my brain to slow it’s roll, usually because I need time to breathe.

Therefore, “stop and think” has just opened up to a whole big messy mish mosh of things from my hobbies, things I’d like to do more of but can’t until this summer when I have some free time, things related to work, and my road trips and travels.

So welcome to my desk, yes it really is my desk, in my real living room. It’s where I sit and work on school curriculum and report cards, but also where I drop down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos on knitting, disappear into Pinterest when I’m trying to learn cool handwriting, or drown myself in Audible when I’ve been sucked into a good mystery while I’m relaxing. In spite of all of that, which I am well aware makes me sound slightly like an 18 year old on Instagram. I am very much a real person, with real thoughts and real things that I enjoy, or at least want to try, so that I give myself time away from work in order to stop and think.

Before I go I wanted to share the fresh clean page of my April calendar. It gets so messy it can be nearly illegible by the end of the month but there is something very satisfying about starting a new month and motivating yourself to keep your focus on something and make growth towards your goals.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go write some cards and then make a mess out of my calendar and see how many things I can add in to my days in April that will help me with my goal this month to expand my horizons.