Grace Under Fire

This school year, I decided to “spiff up” my speech room. I have never done a lot to it before, because I seem to get moved around quite a bit. But after two years of being in the same room, I was feeling pretty secure.  Our school building is pretty old, so my room definitely needed some TLC.

Last year I used some contac paper to give my desk a little makeover, so I used that to cover the paint-splashed baseboards. The lower panes of the windows had been badly painted a beige-putty color, so ugly! So, I covered that portion with bulletin board paper and used the space for an inspirational quote.

I put all of my therapy cards and pictures into bins and printed labels for them.  I even got myself a new chair ($25 at Treasures for Teachers) and assembled it myself.

Last weekend, I went to Ikea and purchased a cute polka-dotted rug for my new reading area.  Luckily,  I did not put the rug out yet because on Wednesday morning, when I arrived at school, this is what I found.

We had torrential rainfall overnight.  Here in Phoenix, there really is no place for the water to drain, so it swept in from the road over the sidewalk and under the door, into my room. The floor was covered in mud and pools of water. (Bad day to wear white pants).  Now, the room is being professionally cleaned, so I am evacuated for 2-3 weeks.  Certainly not the end of the world, but a little disappointing.  My friend, Junie, the school social worker is generously sharing her room with me, so therapy can go on.

The moral of the story?  I thought my first blog post was going to be photos of my newly organized speech room.  Sometimes, things don’t work out the way we plan.  The kids don’t mind, it’s all part of the adventure.  In the long run, the way that we treat them and how they feel when they are with us,  is what they  will remember.