Even though I get tired and have to rest a lot, I keep trying to go on, keep busy, stay active….but sometimes it is so hard…..
I am in the process of giving way my children’s library. I loved every book in it, I really did. It makes me sad. I kept some of my favorites…..sometimes it leaves this big empty hole.
My royal blue chair
I took the old metal cabinets and painted them too. They were done with one of those old fake staining kits. I couldn’t clean them anymore so I painted them. I also did the counters with one of those counter transformation kits. It’s didn’t turn out as nice as I had hoped. Since I did it the counter has yellowed in places and I should have sanded it more. But it looks ok. Then I painted the brick backslash.
I had to figure out what to do with the kitchen. It needed new flooring. So being on a major budget and being that I stick with “a coat of paint goes a long way” I went to the hardware store and bought floor paint. Then I had them mix paint to match the cabinets I painted. (the cabinets were old metal cabinets from the 50’s). The only thing I would do different is I would make the floor darker. I used a French vanilla and when I polyurethaned over it yellowed in spots. A darker color wouldn’t show the yellowing so much.
I had a pipe clogged and water would not come out of the tub faucet. To fix it the plumber has to cut a whole in the wall. This is beyond my fixing ability, but he put the pieces back as much as possible. One thing I learned when I bought this house, you can cover anything with wallpaper. I cannot even tell you what I found when I peeled the wallpaper the summer after Dad died. So I papered over it. When the budget is stable again it will get fixed right but until then the living room does not have a hole in the wall you can see. Lifelong learning. I am a teacher, always learning something
I started a photo site from shutterfly. I love Shutterfly. I spend money there, making books on photo books. I always have a coupon. If I don’t I go to The website ” retain me not” and find one. My life is zero spending and coupons coupons coupons. Even the heated outside cat house was bought with Kohls Cas! If you are interested are here my books and my photos. teacherwendysclassroom.shutterfly.com
I have been slowly getting rid of my teaching possessions. It’s hard. I used to decorate the school on a monthly basis, do all the family activities, be the parenting and drug free schools liaison and a zillion other things. So I had crafts and decorations stored all over. That, besides my students, is the thing I miss the most. Today for instance I watered plants……I can’t even water the plants without making a mess…..dirt, pots…..FLYING. With my brain injury came ataxia. I lose my balance, I do t know where my hands and feet are. We worked on this in physical therapy but it comes and goes.
The best way to work on projects with an injury is. Work and rest and work and rest and repeat until the project is done. Resting I have found out is important or I make silly mistakes. Napping is also important to renew energy. So when doing a project build that into a timeline. Saves a lot of discomfort and a lot of mistakes and the people around you are a lot happier.
I have been a teacher forever. Teachers never have much home time. That was a mistake I see I made a long time ago. Not having more of a life outside of work. The house has been neglected, the cleaning has been neglected and I have neglected myself. They say teacher have 10 weeks off every year. Well if you add teaching or working summer school, trying to cram everything in you have neglected for nine months of school and any classes you have to take to update your license and on top of that…..getting ready for the upcoming school year. That is an impossible schedule. Mine was impossible.
I guess now that I can look at my career In hind-sight, I wish I had put me and one of those important items in my life. Right now it’s looking kind of empty.
Oh well why cry over spilt milk, good question. Pick myself off brush myself off….and move on.
As I learn new things about what I can afford to do with the house, I will post that in my home classroom. Like I said, you always are learning something….
So my fiancé moved everything home to my garage and I started the long task of healing, being unemployed, having no money and feeling helpless.
Resale shopping and couponing. I am getting so good at these two things. Sometimes I find the weirdest items. I have no idea what they were once used for and I find lots of chairs to give a new life too.
With my work comp case settled. I have me my disability teachers pension and things settling a bit…..I realize part of me will always be a teacher. Heck I have 87 local, state and national teaching awards. I have the highest honor the county can give to a science and math teacher. I was good at what I did and I loved it but all things change. So as I go along bay stepping my way to a new life….I will post to my data i used from my classroom of the many things I created and wrote.
And I will post what as I go along about chairs, repurposed furniture and of course my rescued dogs and cats under “Home classroom” because while I may not have the same brain I did before…..I can still try new things and share the old things.
I guess I have chairs on the brain as the one thing I do love to do is read old chairs and make them into Upcycled furniture for fun!
So that’s is what I do, and now I have a lot of chairs but I also worked on reprinting the house. As I found out it didn’t matter how many doctors agreed I should not go back to teaching, my pension and everything else was wrapped up in my work comp injuries. So I went a whole year with no money coming in, living as frugally as possible, couponing all the time, and depending on others. Really a hard thing to do considering I was the caretaker in the family.
This chairs is made after one of my and my students favorite books ” Where’s My Mummy?”