The beginning of the end!

So! By now I know y'all know that I have uprooted my comfy and cozy life in Des Moines and moved it to no so comfy, very different, where I know no one, Southeast Iowa! Much of my family know it as home of Radar O'Reilly and I am sure that it will be the running joke for quite some time. Here I will be teaching 5th grade at one of the elementary schools.  It is definitely going to be a change of pace and will put me outside of my comfort zones for the days to come! 

I came down for a visit in early June and met my co-teacher and got the keys to the school and my room.  Since I moved, I have been spending A LOT of my time in the last two weeks going through file cabinets, book shelves, desks, and taking things off of the wall..and I am not done yet.  It's a very daunting task and I wonder how I am ever going to get everything done in the month* that I have before I start professional development and a few short days later fill the classroom with children. I am really still in disbelief or maybe denial that I am going to be in charge of 26, give or take a few, students.

***A MONTH?!?!?!  Insert a terrified emoji here!

Photo of my classroom the day I took it over in early June!

Photo of my classroom the day I took it over in early June!

What it looks like now that I've gotten my hands on it, early July.

What it looks like now that I've gotten my hands on it, early July.

I have one very small section to go through still but I am taking the day off and resting and will finish up next week! The custodians have gotten smart by putting large garbage bins and extra trash bags outside of my room for me...and have been so kind to take care of the many garbage piles I left them.  It has been a blessing to take over from a teacher that has retired because she left me ALL of her stuff for which I have been grateful for, but I have also found things from 1976...so it was time for much of it to go!

It was a rough start to finding a place to live in Ottumwa, but I ended up finding a literal diamond in the rough! It is peaceful and quiet and perfect for me.  I have dubbed myself the new "Snow White" because I've have multiple woodland creature sitings.  One of the first nights I was here there was an Owl just relaxing on the staircase.  I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! Thank goodness mom was here too prove it. The next day or two we saw a momma deer and baby doe.  Since then I have seen the deer again, woodpeckers, a fox, many different birds, and I am sure in time I will see more and more! Pictures are below of my place...please don't mid any mess that you may see...I am still working on getting "settled"!

My absolute favorite part of the house, kitchen! Massive and lots of counter space to aide and abet my love of cooking and baking.

The momma deer Mom and I saw one of the first nights I moved in.

Sunset from the porch

Counter space galore!

Dining area and window seat

Living room, still waiting for my furniture!

Entry to bedroom

Screened in porch, amaaaaazing!

 I hope to continue blogging through my first year of teaching and updating with pictures as my classroom starts to be put together in the coming weeks! Don't hold me to too much updating because it is going to be an insane and crazy first year!