If you haven’t guessed yet, I don’t do “fluff”. I don’t do purses or anything “extra” like that in life. I have three possessions (gym equipment aside) that are important to me. Two are little statues and one is the most perfect floaty raft for the pool. All three are busted up from the kids and I had to shrug off their damage because they are just possessions. They do not define who I am.
Other than these three items, there is no fluff in my life. If I can’t carry something in my two arms, it is too much. I have never been the mom that totes a bag full of toys and snacks everywhere my kids went. My thinking was, if they couldn’t keep themselves happy for an hour and needed a bag of ridiculous toys to keep them happy, I had some serious failures as a parent. My friends pack me lunches and snacks for competitions because they know I forget about that stuff and won’t carry it along. If I can’t buy food the day of a competition, I am sorta out of luck.
The last two years I have not had a classroom. It’s been tough running from place to place and whatever was important had to be carried in my arms. No bags, carts or whatever. Truthfully, I really liked it. It gave me permission to get rid of all the junk teachers hoard and I wasn’t tied down to one location. There are advantages to that. A week before school started this year I was offered a different position and I accepted. This is the third change in three years so it’s a little over the top, but I am loving it. I love being free from routine, clutter and expectations. There is freedom in choice.
With the new position came a classroom. Oh man, I threw all my stuff away two years ago since I didn’t have a classroom to store it in. I had five shelves in a small office and a desk in whatever room I was in for the period. Since it’s junior high, I figured I could toss up a couple pictures on the bulletin boards and call it good. We tend not to go over the top like elementary school. A stark white, empty room and a few pictures on the bulletin board sounded good to me. The kids’ laughter and personalities would fill the air in the room and it wouldn’t feel barren for long.
I asked on Facebook if any friends had any ideas for bulletin boards. Again, I figured I would toss a few things up and call it a day. Well, let me tell you I got the treat of a lifetime from Jessica of Iron Housewife. Jessica offered to do my bulletin boards for me. I accepted at the drop of a hat because I was already ten steps behind switching teaching positions at the last minute. After I gave Jessica what I thought MIGHT be a picture of the kind of bulletin boards I had, she was on it within a day. When she sent me this, I knew things were about to get serious. If you can’t tell, this is her wall and she had her ideas all laid out for my opinion. I didn’t really think I should get an opinion, as she was helping me out immensely.
She sent me some pictures of everything assembled on her wall and very specific instructions on assembling the borders and something about the scoring on them. That’s French to me, still not totally clear on that piece, but I knew I could figure it out. My boards were a bit smaller than what I told her, so I had to improvise a little bit. I hope she isn’t too disappointed with how I had to move a few things around and the fact that scoring on a border is like using a protractor; beyond my skill level. But regardless, HOW AWESOME IS THIS?
I mean like seriously, how amazing is this? Who thinks of having PLATES for a border? If you pay close attention, you will see that the sled is plate loadable! Jessica sent me a bag full of plates for the sled and the barbell in the first board. I mean really, this woman is VERY clever! Aside from the strong and motivating messages from these boards, I love the female deadlifter she made. Yeah, Jessica made ALL of those things on there. In just a couple of days. Holy wow! In my mind, I think it’s awesome that every kid who enters my classroom gets to see images of a female deadlifting big weights and when they are tired of listening to me and their eyes are wandering around the classroom, this is the message they see.
Jessica, your kindness cannot adequately be put into words, and I am forever grateful. These boards are the coolest thing I’ve had in my classroom in a long, long time. Please make sure you check out Jessica’s handy work on Facebook and show her some love for sharing her gifts and talents with the rest of the world. And in the end, sometimes “fluff” feels good and is necessary.