Blessed

This month, my goal is to give a card a day.  I fell short today.  However, I received one of the best gifts...a Valentine's Day card from a dear friend.  It brought laughter, tears, and a reminder that I am truly loved by family, friends, and my Father.

This year, I am actually wearing a color besides black on Valentine's Day.

By the way, I'll be giving two cards tomorrow!

Hypocrite

I am a hypocrite.  I'll announce it now.  I hate whistling.  Hate it.  Hurts my ears.  It's annoying.  It's one of the first things I ask my class every year to not do.  Sorry...my classroom, my ears, my rules (for the most part).  :)

Today, as I'm teaching the most amazing lesson (okay, that's a bit of a stretch), I heard my phone in the background.  I kept talking and had the kids talking too and hoped they wouldn't hear it.  No such luck.  As they began looking for the sound, a student called out, "Hey, who's whistling?"

Yep, my phone's ring tone is a catchy little ditty that involves a little bit of whistling.

I played along and said, "I don't hear it."

And the ringing stopped.  Yay!

Then, one of my students figured it out..."It was your phone!"

Yep.

"It was whistling."

Yep.

"You don't like whistling."

Yep.

Got me kids.  Got me.  Ironic, isn't it?  We had a good laugh together!

New Month

Junk January was great!  I know there's more I could get rid of, but I made $45 from what I donated to a local resell shop.

February is all about showing my friends what they mean to me!  Excited to share why I value their friendship with them!

Junking away

Some of the junk that I have gotten rid of: junk in my trunk (I know, it's a stretch), a broken alarm clock, stuff at school that's not needed, plates and bowls and cups, old cans of soup that expired (how did that happen?), and my to-shred pile.

It's a great start, but I still have so much more that could go...

Junk away...

Junk January has started off with a bang!  I have managed to "get rid" of something every day this week!  It's been great!  I am applying this method to my house, car, and classroom.  Excited to keep purging!

What I threw away 

The before...

The after...

Items given to a local consignment shop

A project that had good intentions, but just ended up losing steam...recycled!

Went through paperwork and got rid of old bills and envelopes and papers.

Boxes that were recycled and taken out of the house after I assembled the furniture.

Get rid of Junk January

My monthly goal for January is to throw one piece of junk away a day.  It could be cleaning up a junk drawer or just getting rid of items I am not using.  Mostly it's about organizing, cleaning up, simplifying, and getting rid of what I do not need.

Today's junk I got rid of?  I am donating three blankets that I do not use.  I will check first with the shelters in our town and if they do not need them, off to Goodwill they go.

Final photo

It's only fitting that the final photo of my digital December is...

 one of my grandfather and me (or is it I...I think it's me).  He's 94 and lives in southern Indiana.  I love his laugh and his crinkly blue eyes!  It was wonderful to sit with him on Friday and Saturday and just hear about his thoughts on different topics.

It was a good December...I'm glad I documented it!  Hope you are too!