Just over a year ago, I got an email - totally out of the blue from the incomparable Mrs Deanna Jump. She invited me to join a team of incredible teacher bloggers over at Blog Hoppin'. What an honour! I still pinch myself and feel so lucky to get to be a part of such a quality collaborative blog.
You can join in on the Blog Hoppin' fun by linking up with our teacher week blog posts this week.
My invitation to join in with Deanna and the girls could very easily have never happened. Like so many other teachers traversing this online edu-blogosphere I let things get to me at times.
Overthink.
Feel 'out-of-the-loop'.
Wonder.
Deliberate.
And I have even been on the verge of giving it all away. Several times.
Which brings me to #1 of my 5 fun facts.
1. I never give up.
I've had this passage pinned on my noticeboard for the best part of a decade. Do I think of myself a winner? No, not really. But I want to be.
I keep working hard. I try to imagine the road ahead of me and I try to stick to it.
If I get sidetracked, I take a little detour and get right back to it. My road has been a long and hard one at times but I keep moving and I keep making progress.
I promise you, if you want something it will eventually be yours if you just keep doing your thing.
Make your pathway easier by being yourself - don't let things people say or the attitudes of others change your vision.
2. Birds
I just read Sheri's blog and found out that she is terrified of birds. Girl, I am right there with you.
These are two ceramic birds that my dad has glued to his veranda (not going to get into that one right now, that will take a whole other post to cover). This is about as close as I want to get. And these ones don't even move.
To make it even more interesting, I am OK with white birds, yellow birds, blue birds and most native Australian birds.
I can hardly type the word chicken. Or pigeon.
3. I love to draw
You may know that already. Here are my sketch books since 2012.
I used to sit and watch my dad draw and ask him to draw all sorts of things for me. It used to both fascinate and frustrate me that he never needed to sketch, he would just start drawing and get it perfect right away. Here is a page from my first grade homework. I had to draw things that started with 'p' - we worked on it together and he did the parrot and pelican for me.
4. Lake Life
I live near the biggest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere. I spent a lot of time on the lake as a child, as my dad loved boats of all sorts. So much so, that if I never go boating ever again, I think I would be just fine. How did I learn to sit and concentrate for hours at a time? Try spending a whole weekend on a 6-meter sailboat with only a small bag of quiet toys for entertainment!
They were wonderful days full of laughter, sunshine and saltwater. I would not trade them for the world. This photo is of the two men in my life - my husband and beautiful boy Sam.
5. I Teach in Australia
I am so fortunate to be able to teach in a part-time capacity. Our school department has a policy for teacher mothers to take part time leave from their permanent teaching position to care for their children, until the youngest is at school.
Our status, career development and permanency is to remain intact, we just take a number of days 'leave' away from it and another teacher is employed to cover the days you are at home. This is my yard (playground we call it) duty. The beach is nearby, so a gentle sea breeze carries across the yard most of the day. The playground is very peaceful and the children have an amazing amount of space to run and enjoy the sunshine. I felt at home immediately after arriving at this school and I treasure it.
Well there you have it, five fun facts about me. Please head over to Blog Hoppin to find more posts from teacher bloggers around the world. We would love you to share and link up as well. If you don't have a blog, you can share in Instagram, Facebook or Periscope and use the hashtag
#teacherweek15