End of School 2025

Written on 5-23-25.

     I am back again, and my classroom is nearly ready for whomever the new Gifted teacher will be.  I only have to stack the tables and chairs and grab my pun calendar off the wall to check out of here.  Here comes summer!  

I have enjoyed this diversion.  It got me back into the schools to see what is really happening there, and I really liked working with my students.  It has been wonderful to earn some income this year, too, after Mom and Dad’s passing.  I asked Copilot if I should take the job back in December/January, and one of the best questions (with paraphrasing) it spit back at me was, “After it is over, will you have any regrets?”

The answer to that was...

a NO, and here I am.  It was challenging, and it fit my skill set.  I know I helped Jessica, the principal, and the kids from having a substitute that may not have been as caring, calm, or patient as I am.  I also came up with some fun and challenging activities, I thought.  I feel very satisfied as I sit here on the final day.

In other news, I had that small cyst safely removed from by left eyebrow, and Dr. Gaughan got rid of most of the milia between my eyes while that area was numbed up, too.  It looks and feels much better.  Look good, feel good, do well.

Guy and I recently finished Season 2 of Andor, and it was excellent.  It was the best of Star Wars from Disney, and it was marketed as more of an adult show.  Season 1 was very well done, but Season 2 took it to another level.  I looked forward to and enjoyed each episode.  Guy did, also.  Some YouTuber commented on how he had grown up with Star Wars, so Andor has matched that growth.  I agree.  It has been a while since I got excited about something from Star Wars, because most of what Disney did was (fill in your own bad word here).  Andor was excelled at character development, and although it felt slow at times, it was just taking its time to let us get to know these characters better.  Guy and I both agreed that it also felt like we were watching Star Wars history taking place.

When we go out to Virginia to celebrate ShyShay’s high school graduation, we might culminate watching Andor by watching Rogue One on his big screen.  The last episode brought us to just before the beginning of that movie just like Rogue One transitions into A New Hope.

The breakout prestentation in Santa Fe worked out okay.  I was disappointed to only have five attendees.  Okay, only four actually, because one of them was working the conference, and he was there to help if I needed anything.  Of course, I will put my positive spin on it.

It gave me great practice for presenting again, and I did fairly well.  I certainly practiced enough.  It was more of an intimate session, so I allowed for more discussions.  Jena, the principal from Central Primary in Bloomfield, came, so we were able to catch up a bit.  I first met her when I did my CORE coaching, and I did a full training with some of her ‘greener’ teachers who needed help with some unruly students.  She just got hired as the new principal at Koogler a few days ago, so that might result in another training.

I saw Melissa (last name) in Santa Fe, too, and we spoke for a bit.  I also met up with Max (not his real name) again.  We saw him and his wife Shelly (not her real name), who used to be the p.e. teacher at McCoy, on our way to meet our new grandson on the day he was born.  Melissa and Max are both administrators in Farmington now, so I handed them some brochures as well.  We’ll see if anything comes from it.     

I am really marketing Time to Teach intensely right now.  I am actively pursuing Aztec to see if they will have me do a training for all the new teachers next year.  I have e-mailed Phyllis about this, and we are looking at different price options to make that happen.

We had a very successful garage sale last weekend.  If Louis buys the last of our stuff, the Edgertons and Belinda and me will make around $300 each.  Talk about a win, win.  Get rid of stuff and make some money at the same time.  Cool.

Oh, Luther (not his real name) is a guy who stopped by this past week when I opened our garage after coming home.  We had all the leftovers still in there.  He wanted to buy some stuff, so I thought, “Why not?”  

However, he has put us off and hasn’t brought the money.  He says he is waiting to get paid from someone else in the neighborhood who owes him for landscaping.  He offered to do some work for us, and we agreed he would do one section near John and Ida’s for $200.  We will see if he ever brings the money…or does the work.

Okay, it is near 2:15 now, and I just heard the busses honking as they were pulling out of here for the final time, so I am going to go check out with Belinda.  Wow!  What a year.