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Today, I went into my classroom with the sole purpose of staying for two hours, unpacking one of the closets, and getting my desk in order for the start of the new year. An attainable goal. Was I ever wrong...

First, when I unlocked the closet, one of the doors was stuck. I'm pulling like mad, thinking, "Gee, this door worked last year, it was actually broken on one of the hinges." I'm pulling, not budging. The door wasn't painted, so it wasn't sealed. Then, I notice a small piece of metal inside the door, at the lowest shelf. SOMEONE bolted the door shut...on the inside. Now, this cupboard had all my electronics in it, along with the basic junk that was on top of my desk that I didn't feel like dealing with at the end of the year and just crammed into the closet to deal with now. So, of course, the things I need to take out and put away are all behind the locked part. I commence pulling out tubs of books and science materials, free my computer, and figure I deserve a break.

Off I go to the teacher's lounge (Did I mention that my a/c unit is blowing only hot air, despite being set at 16C?) and proceed to play on the computer for an hour. Of course five minutes was school related (checking school email account), but the rest was looking at my usual sites. Then, I figured I should get something done, and went back in and got my desk in order and dug out the things I could easily reach from the cabinet. By now, I have a sore throat from the dust, in addition to black hands from all the dirt. At least I didn't find any rats or rats' nests in the cabinets (I feared this happening, we had rats in our rooms last year), only a few strange bugs (not insects, since they had far too many legs).

Feeling motivated, I decided to attack the other closet, since it didn't appear to have been bolted shut. Now, the other closet had all of my math materials in it...which I had my first graders put away. I vaguely recalled that the bins were precariously balanced, lids were not on tightly, and some things were shoved in at odd angles. Truly, did you expect much better for six and seven-year-olds? So, I closed my eyes and cautiously opened the doors, expecting an avalanche...and all was well inside! Mind you, things were going to fall if I was not careful with extracting the bins, but I did not have anything land on my head and knock me unconscious...and there was no rat's nest behind the bins on the floor (though there was a large crack/hole in the wall that I think might be the entry to one).

Of course, I have loads more to do to get my classroom prepared (since I did not put things away well), but by then my two hour limit had passed, and I figured it was best to go to lunch and not return to school. After all, I still have two more days this week to go in for two hours and get nothing significant done.