was I too hard on the beaver?

i am recently past the half-way point in summer vacation. poor, poor me, i know. but now the downhill slide back to school has begun. groan. this summer has be wonderful - relaxing, rejuvenating, and filled with giggles. the break has given me ample time to ponder and read, yet i have been very unmotivated to blog. of course, the news has not been without nerdy fun - such as this - scientists found what they believe to be the most massive star ever discovered. they estimate that when it was younger, it was 300 times the size of the sun, and remains 10 million times as bright.

it has been lovely having my californian sweethearts here for 2 months, though i have to fight the ipad for one's attention... saw the fam for a couple of weeks in early july. since returning, i have been taking on the challenge of my overfilled basement. with the possibility of moving next summer beginning to loom in my brain, the great purge has begun. i have been going thru boxes, file crates, gigantic plastic totes, and throwing away (recycling) as much as possible.

i have so many teacher materials that i no longer need. when i was finishing grad school, i really didn't think i would get a job at my school, so i bought ridiculous amounts of resources and photocopied EVERYTHING i *thought* i might "some day" use. i imagined working in some shitty district with no resources. turned out i got my dream job, and after teaching everything from Kindergarten thru middle school, i now know i never want to work with the little ones again, so i can get rid of all of the boxes of elementary school resources i have. a large stack of boxes has been set aside to give away and/or sell this fall at school, and perhaps on craigslist or some shit.

the thought of moving is so overwhelming to me on so many levels -- having to prepare and sell my townhouse, the home search wherever we go, the packing -- it all gives my stomach knots, so the basement project feels like something i can get done now. this way i don't have to focus on the bigger pains yet...