First Day card and the LESSON LEARNED

Wow, was that ever a blooper! If you are reading this, you missed the huge blooper that appeared about an hour ago! Woops! Honestly? I uploaded the picture and put a few "placeholders" to help manage my alignment. Then I scheduled the post for tonight and uploaded. I intended to write the blurb at work today - perhaps during lunch? - or definitely when I got home from work.

However, I got a call today at work that superseded my little blog. I eventually want to get into higher ed. That is the ultimate goal and why I went ahead and got the doctorate. It's a hard field to break into, though. I got the opportunity to adjunct at a local college for their teacher certification program last year. It was a wonderful experience, but I didn't get to go back this spring. A couple of weeks ago, I got a call for the department chair asking me to do a review for one of the certification tests they will be taking soon. I was to teach seven class sessions. Today, I got a phone call at lunch asking me if it would be possible to start tonight as the other teacher had to cancel out at the last minute. Well, yes! Could I really say no? The way it turned out, I get to add on this session rather than exchanging it for one of the other sessions (read: more money, more fun!). So I went straight from work to the college where I taught my class. I just got home. Big woops! Forgive me. :)

I mentioned in the blog hop that this card has a story. I love books. I own - literally - thousands of them. I have a SERIOUS problem with cutting them up. I just can't do it. I knew I needed book print for my "DSP" on the card, but I didn't know how to get it. [Background: This was my last project of the three to complete for the blog hop and it was 2 a.m. in the morning on the day the post was to go active. It was also a work day.] So I was scrambling around trying to find a book I would sacrifice. I finally found that I own an educational law textbook in both a fifth edition and a sixth edition. This would be perfect, right? I could cut up the fifth edition and not "lose" anything! Thank goodness for my retentiveness to want the latest edition! So I took the book downstairs and opened it up to the middle where there was a nice crowded page. And I sat there. I ran my fingers over the print. And I sat some more. I just couldn't do it.

I finally rationalized that there had to be some part of the book I could sacrifice. The index was my first thought, but that would look rather silly as a DSP, right? But...there was a preface, right? And the preface in the sixth edition would be the "preferred" one since it was most recent, right? I could cut up the preface. Quickly - before I could change my mind - I ripped out (ok, not so quickly - I didn't want to leave ragged edges in the binding of the spine) a page of the preface. Whew. The hardest part was over. I had done it (this is where the soundtrack to Rocky plays through your mind).

So I cut my paper and proceeded with my card. Only after I had photographed it (and it was 3 a.m. now with my alarm set to ring in 1 hour and 45 minutes) did I realize what I had put on my card that I plan to give to my eight year old daughter on her first day of third grade. Geez Louise.

LESSON LEARNED: If you "make" your own DSP out of recycled magazines or books, be sure to read the content before creating your masterpiece. (And be aware that the Supreme Court has ruled very specifically about sexual abuse and harassment in public schools and that current laws reflect those rulings within employment practices.) Have a wonderful day.