Marni's World

Now it may sound simplistic, but there is something about getting organized that makes me feel more productive in general. I have been looking at files and thinking about future lesson plans for my students, making phone calls, setting up appointments, making to do lists and even crossing some items off that list.  Now, you might be asking, “She was able to get all of that from organizing a junk drawer?” I guess my answer is, "Well, yes!"  The junk drawer was the beginning of what has spiraled into a full-blown reorganization project for my whole life.

I should say that as if a whole life redo isn’t enough, I have another reason for spending the day organizing. My parents are coming for the holidays. They live out of state and will be staying for a week. I am excited to have them here. In terms of mess vs neatness, however, I often feel like my adult house looks far worse than my teenage bedroom ever did, and this makes their visit a little stressful. By spending the day organizing, I am making it far easier on myself to get some cleaning done over the weekend. It is nice to feel productive and it is also nice to live without clutter. I have assembled a bag of things to donate to charity, some other items I would like to sell, and I have even assembled a pile of things I can use in the classroom. I love getting organized. I love the way I feel right now.  I hope it lasts. Now that is the real trick.

I am thankful for my family and friends. I know this is a no-brainer, but I don’t tell them enough, so I will tell you all that I have a great family and I am extremely lucky. I also have an incredible support network in my friends, whom I love dearly. Now these might be obvious things to be thankful for but they are important. Before I can proceed, they needed to be acknowledged first.

The other things I am thankful for might be a little more obscure. For instance, I am very thankful that I am frugal. If you're frugal, it means you don't like to spend a lot of money. I like to think of being frugal as spending money wisely but others might think of it as being cheap. I have always been careful with my money ever since I was a teenager.

I am also very thankful for my education. I teach and I realize how valuable an education is and how lucky we are that education is so readily available in the United States. Now, I am not saying that we don’t have a lot of problems in our education system in this country. We do. But when I read about places in the world where kids are gathering on cold dirt floors doing math problems without a teacher (read Three Cups of Tea), then I realize how lucky we are to have access to education. I believe that one should always make the most of their opportunities. I am acknowledging how thankful I am for education as it is really the key to everything in life

Of all of the many things I have to be thankful for, these two seemed especially relevant this holiday season as I pay off my student loans. In doing so, I am constantly reminded what a wise investment I have made in myself and for that I am truly thankful.

Oh, Ebaby! members, I am sitting in front of my computer and I can barely type the words you see in front of you. Yesterday, I went to a class at the gym that nearly killed me. Now, I have taken this class before but it had been a while and so I figured after a month of hardly exercising that I could just breeze in, work out, and feel awesome again. Today, it hurts to even bend over and tie my shoes.

Now, I enjoy working out, but I was out of town recently and got out of my routine, which means I did not exercise at all. So yesterday, I forced myself to go to this class. I should have been more prepared for the intensity of the class, but alas, I was a little naïve about how out of shape I’d become.

The instructor is pretty interesting. She is tiny and fit and she makes you push yourself to do more. She would have made an excellent army drill sergeant. Basically I would have felt ashamed if I couldn't do all of the things she asked of us. In addition to this, most of the class was much older than I am so I really would have felt lame if I couldn't power through the exercises. Today, I am paying the price. I now realize that I cannot afford to go a month without exercising. As sore as I am in today, I plan on going back next week. We have a saying in the U.S. that goes, no pain, no gain. Let me tell you that the pain part is certainly true.