My Custodian..... My HERO!

90% of School Staff don't know the custodian's name (I made that statistic up just now).... but seriously, does anyone have ANY idea how hard these people work??

The custodian at my school is "Irena," "Mrs. G." and "MY HERO!"

NOBODY on our staff works as hard as she does.... NOBODY.  While the school sits empty over the summer, while many of us are on holidays, sipping margaritas, hanging out at the lake, getting a tan..... and NOT working....... Irena is busting her butt (literally) to get the school in tip-top shape for the fall.

She is at the school at 6:30 every morning.

She carries a sweat towel... she needs it.

She moves the furniture in EVERY room... from one side of the room to the other... cleans, strips, waxes, shampoos.... and then moves EVERY piece of furniture to the other side of the room.... cleans, strips, waxes, shampoos... and then puts everything back into place as if she was never there.... she also dusts everything and washes the handprints from the previous year off of EVERYTHING!

She does the same thing in the hallways...

She also does the same thing in the gym.

Gyms are not small..... not sure if you have noticed.

Today she did the gym floors while the Air Conditioning was off in the school.  It was 31 degrees outside... and about 400 degrees inside (slight exaggeration).

WOW... I'm sweaty just thinking about that.

The bottom line:  The people that get the least recognition, the least respect and the least appreciation... deserve it the most.

Tomorrow... I'm going to take Irena a slurpee... and a timbit (well, maybe I'll think of a treat that is less geared to my three-year-old) and give her a big hug and the most sincere thank you she has ever received.  She deserves it. Speaking of things she deserves... how about an assistant?  I'll put in a good word for her.  ;)

:)

An Apology to the Earth

Dear Mother Earth, 

You have been so good to me.

I have been so bad to you.

I'm sorry.

XOXO

Love Melanie

Although I'm skeptical about this whole recycling thing (not that it's a good idea... but that it will make enough of an impact despite our selfishness), I know one thing FOR SURE... I have been a crappy earth daughter.  

This was me today......

I have been cleaning out my teaching resources.... and I am embarrassed to say that I took 2 rubbermaid bins FULL of paper to the recycle depot tonight.  There was more yesterday and more to come tomorrow. 

I have also taken 5 bins of donation items to the Post (the second hand store that I prefer to support).  I think that half of the books, toys, games, puppets, etc came from there in the first place.  Why did I ever think that I needed so much stuff?  Maybe I just have an addiction to Rubbermaid tubs... and I needed things to fill them with.  ;)

I know one thing for sure, that once I stop buying rubbermaid tubs, "Rubbermaid" will have to lay off AT LEAST one employee.  ;)  

Side Note about Rubbermaid:  A friend once had water in her basement and anything that was NOT in a Rubbermaid Brand bucket was ruined.  Another friend said the same thing about her things after a house fire.... everything that was in Rubbermaid brand buckets was safe from the smoke damage.  So, invest the extra money and store without worry.

My hands are dirty (well, not anymore), my feet are sore and my guilt-o-meter is going off.  I know what you're thinking.... "blah, blah, blah, get to the point"

THE POINT:  Teachers are OFTEN (I'm tempted to say always or usually) "collectors" of things... or, not-so-nicely-put: hoarders.  And not only does this cause problems in our classrooms and storage rooms, but it also poses a HUGE problem for the Environment.  We all think that we're doing the planet a favour by recycling.  But so many of us seem to forget the FIRST "R".... REDUCE.  If I had been less of a collector, I would not have all of that extra "stuff" that I am now getting rid of.  It's so wasteful.  And I'm disgusted with it.  

So, NEW TEACHERS.... TAKE NOTE.... STOP COLLECTING, STOP OVER-PHOTOCOPYING, STOP CONVINCING YOURSELF THAT YOU MIGHT NEED THAT SPECIAL SOMETHING ONE DAY.... you won't.... you can find it when you need it... you can do without it.  TRUST ME!

Let's be nicer to our planet... it's the only one we've got. ;)

* Disclaimer:  ALL of the images in today's post are "borrowed" from Google Images.... just incase the copyright police are lurking.  ;)