Mrs. Moore's Musings

What a week!  Have you ever had a week where NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING seems to work out exactly how you envisioned it?  Yep, me too!  Last week was the week to beat all weeks.  It started out Monday with a professional development opportunity that ended up not feeling very professional or very developing.  I left that session feeling defeated, belittled, and like my job was not the job that I love so very much.  Not a great day.  The pic I texted Justin when I was getting nervous... Justin and I are delighted to be able to put in a pool for our big summer project this year.  It is a pretty nice above ground pool.  If you know Justin, we (meaning he) did lots of research and got us a great deal on one from the internet.  We also conducted research to find reliable pool-installation people and finally after searching found one and made an appointment for them to arrive on Monday as well.  It rained Monday, so no pool guy....

It's Sunday.  The first summer Sunday.  I love summer!  This week was pretty monumental in my life in a quiet but significant way.  My husband and I accompanied our son to freshman orientation at the university of his choosing.  First of all, I feel really blessed that my son had choices when it came to his options for higher education.  Although he certainly wasn't a perfect student, he proved himself smart and capable and curious and was offered a few different scholarships from many schools in our state.  The fact that he had a true choice was very gratifying and a tiny bit scary for my husband and me.  Ultimately, he chose the university that is closest to our home.  That is NOT why he picked it.  My son does not have a major, nor does he have a clear cut path for his future at this point.  I can't imagine why--he turned 18 last week, shouldn't his road be clearly marked?  The reason he chose our local, yet kind of big uni...

Happy Father’s Day!  This morning when I woke up I had to finish wrapping a couple presents and I knew I wanted to write a quick post.  My only instructions last night were, “I want to sleep in, and I want the air conditioner to stay turned down.”  You see, I am fine with sleeping with the air down, but I truly don’t like air conditioning.  I need it and I appreciate it, but I am very sensitive to cold air.  I think it must be my advancing age.  So, I am sitting here, on this beautiful morning, bundled up, drinking coffee, looking at my camouflage and newsprint wrapped gifts, thinking about how much I cherish the men I know who are fathers. I have thought about this a lot because my relationship with fathers as a kid was not an easy one.  My parents divorced (it wasn’t very Hollywood amicable) and my sister and my mom and I made our way in the world.  It wasn’t different from most other people’s narratives, but it hurt nonetheless.  My m...

Happy Sunday.  It is 8:24 a.m. in my house.  I am sitting on my deck with a cup of coffee.  It is my second cup.  I got up around 6:30.  My plans today include folding laundry, grocery shopping, and hopefully a bike ride without too much rain.  My husband has been reviewing the river situation and I may find myself in my kayak this afternoon careening down some river that he has deemed, "probably pretty safe."  My son has left for work and my daughter has plans with some of her sweet friends this afternoon. But for this moment it is just me.  I always get up earlier than everyone else.  I am a morning person. I think it is because of the silence that I love the morning.  I wake up, grab my iPad and enjoy a few moments paging through Facebook and Instagram, looking at pictures and reading about things that people that I care about have done over the past day or so. Sometimes I look my online news sources, sometimes I get lost in Pintrest,...

Although I usually write my blog on Sunday morning, this week I decided to be a rebel and save my blog for this Thursday, June 5 th —the last day of school.  We are HOURS-MINUTES-SECONDS away from SUMMER BREAK.  I am using all caps because this elicits great joy and excitement from me!  I feel really good about the year I had.  I learned a lot!  I made some big mistakes; I had some surprising successes.  My family preserved and was strengthened through some tough, challenging stuff.  My son graduated high school and my daughter will become a freshman.  I have a lot to think about and reflect upon.  I really genuinely cherish reflection. As this year ends, it may sound crazy, but I have heard myself say to multiple people, “I am so excited about next year.”  I mean, I need summer.  I deserve summer.  I can’t wait for summer.  But, as I have poured over my student reflections and written some of my own, I am genuinely e...

Hooray!  It's Memorial Day weekend which means not only a three day weekend, but it means that as a teacher and a mom summer break is clearly within my grasp.  So far, this weekend has been pretty awesome.  I went to the state championship soccer game yesterday, where my team did not win but they played hard, and they left everything they had on the field.  It wasn't the ending I wanted, but it was the game both teams deserved.  Today I have plans to hop in my kayak with my husband and daughter and see what we can find.  I also hope to explore some new bike trails up in Bentonville before it is all said and done.  I am on a mission to catch up on this X-Men thing so I can see the new movie. I watched the first one last night and I was impressed.  Who knows, maybe we'll have a movie marathon tonight after throwing some burgers on the grill and get all caught up.  None of this is revolutionary or exciting, but I am going to love every minute!...

Front page of the paper this morning Yesterday was Graduation Day!  Graduation day is my favorite day of the year.  As I was standing in the tunnel with my students, I told my principal it was like our Superbowl. I was wrong.  It is like the ticker-tape parade after your most favorite team in the world has won.  The parade isn't just amazing for the team in the parade, but also for the fans that show up, dress up, and get the honor of celebrating with the team they have stood by through seasons of trials-successes and failures-laughter and tears.  Graduation day is my favorite day of the year. I have attended a lot of graduations--five as a high school teacher--and therefore I have heard plenty of commencement speeches.  I have favorites (Aaron Harris) and I have some that I wish were shorter (not gonna tell), but they mostly have a similar feel to them.  Welcome, funny joke about how boring commencement speakers are, story about life, and finall...