Conferences Shhhhmonferences

 Since I have gotten out of school for the summer I have been taking extra classes and going to conferences. The first conference I had was in Tunica at Harrah's Casino. I would take Suzy to Memaw on my way to the meetings and drive ALLLLLL the way to Tunica by MYSELF! It is amazing at what that hour and a half round trip did for me! It was so nice to ride in my car alone. I turned the radio up, rolled the windows down, and did a lot of reflecting. I realized the Monday morning of my commute that my life is better than I could have planned for it to be. I have worked my tail off to get the classroom that I have always dreamed of having, I have a great job, I have an amazing husband, the best Suzy in the whole wide world, and a group of friends I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I felt great all day. I think sometimes I sell myself a little short, and can be a little pessimistic when it comes to AMY. I am always criticizing things I do or the way I look, but on that Monday morning.... I was unstoppable. I took tons of notes and paid very close attention to what the speaker was saying.. The speaker at Monday's conference was a guy that goes by the name, "Hotep". While I was making my notes I heard him say, "First, I want you to write a T Chart. On the left side write the words assets and on the right side write the words liabilities. Then, fill the chart in using the people in your life that fit those descriptions". I thought the activity was just a "something to think about" activity. It wasn't. He truly wanted us to write it down. There were some people that I had to list on the liability side. That was a huge eye opener to me. It hurt my feelings, it broke my heart, and it made me wake up and smell the bacon. It is sad that some people that I thought would be in my life as an asset for an eternity have now moved toward the liability side of my T Chart. Although I did have a couple liabilities, I had a ton of assets. That made me extremely happy!! That activity is something that I think everyone should do. Putting the names on a piece of paper was extremely hard to do, but well worth it in the end. Do it, you'll be glad you did. It may hurt, but it is reality.

I am not the type to take pictures of myself, unless it is to send to a friend to make sure my outfit looks okay. On this morning, I took a picture of myself, so that I could save the memory of me having a "moment". A moment of being truly happy with no regrets. 

 One of my very favorite flowers are hydrangeas. I came home that afternoon to see that my ONE hydrangea bush had bloomed to be absolutely beautiful. It had three different color blooms on the bush. I thought it was incredible.

The next morning, I woke up and went for a run. I never get to run in the mornings unless I take Suzy to daycare and go immediately after dropping her off. It was a beautiful morning for a run. I left my house at 6:00. Kalon had spent the night with me, so I left her and Suzy napping. I took another picture of myself after that run to send to Laurie, because I was so pumped that I got to spend 40 minutes alone before getting ready for the daily grind! 

Kalon and I spent that morning sharing the bathroom and laughing hysterically about absolutely nothing. It is  amazing to have friends that will still act like they are 16 again. We giggled, talked about make up, fixed our hair, etc. I had to wake Suzy up that morning to go see Memaw.

While I was at the conference I got a text from Linda that said I was on the front page of The Democrat!!! I wrote a grant for my classroom through Lowe's Toolbox for Education. I won the grant and they gave my the money to get my dream classroom. We got enough money to buy all the appliances for my brand new "daily living classroom". Oh, I wish you could see how excited I was when I got that email that announced I had won! The Democrat did an awesome write up of the whole process. We are thrilled!! 

The third grade inclusion teacher, Daniel Hollowell, is helping with all the manly things to get everything installed. Valerie Burns is my assistant. She helps with everything! I couldn't do with it without them!! 

After all the seriousness of the conference, I had to come home and play with the little girl that makes me feel like such a kid!!