Planner

I'm in that weird in-between time of year for a teacher right now, finishing off one planner (yes, I still use a huge, spiral-bound, chunky planner that I write in with a utensil called a "ball-point pen" rather than my iPhone to keep my life organized) and starting a new one.

My life doesn't move in traditional, January-to-December years, but instead in August-to-June years, with a strange 12th month in the middle called "July," in which my eye develops a tick because there is so much to be done and school starts in just a few weeks. This year, teachers go back on August 7th, and the kids come back on August 11th. Yes, one day before Yours Truly of the LPB turns 36.

Anyway, I've got two massive, chunky, spiral-bound planners sitting on my desk, one with two weeks left of "be here, do this, oh, and that's a gym day [smiley face]" before I can lay into the new one...though I've already pulled it out and started putting dates in. Dates for the Beginning Ballroom Dance class I've signed up for in July, dates for the upcoming school year, birthdays, upcoming races, etc. etc.

I'm thoroughly enjoying being "between" right now. I have a massive head-start on the next school year; already, I've completed an arrangement of a song, picked a few more, and done almost half of my choir handbook for the fall semester. I've spent two mornings in my classroom, and I'm going to spend a good chunk of time there tomorrow, as well. I've been going through the uniform closet (actually a small room lined with cabinets) and weeding stuff out. I doubt I'll need that box full of neon-pink, leopard-print velour sleeveless tops...ever.

Tomorrow I need to clear some room on my very messy desk, and put my room back to rights a little. Knowing what I have in the choir room and uniform closet is half the battle. The next step is to do a complete inventory of choir uniforms (dresses, tuxedo components, choir robes and stoles, green tie/cummerbund combos). My choral library is almost completely inventoried--I worked on that throughout the year. The choir room is definitely becoming what I want it to be, slowly but surely.

I enjoy the process. This first year, I worked hard to make the program mine. Now it is, and I intend to keep planting seeds and watching them grow. It takes a lot of work, but it's work I enjoy. I've had a couple of kids help out so far, and it's fun to get to know them as we heave boxes around and laugh over my exclamations of, "What am I supposed to do with all this glitter?! I hate glitter!!" (I really, truly, hate glitter.) If you feed them, they will come, and it forges bonds between the kids. Plus, it lightens the workload for me.

There you have it. July will be busier than June has been--mostly, I've spent this month being as lazy as possible (I don't consider arranging music on Finale "work," it's super-easy and I can do it in my pajamas while sipping tea), just enjoying the quiet time. In a few weeks, I'll rev up again, and while I thrive on being busy, being needed in my job, getting stuff done...this month, I really just needed some Me Time.