Welcome to The Freezer Closet!  This is my first post...and I think I spent more time debating template designs and backgrounds than I did actually cleaning my house, washing my dogs, and doing my laundry today.  Guess that's what happens when you are Type A like I am.

So what is this blog about, you ask?  I'm a teacher.  I'm a teacher with a lot of stuff to say, so why not?  My hope is that with the discussion started, then maybe others will be more willing to help our kids and help our very flawed education system.  It's not all crayons, Elmer's glue, and Bill Nye videos in our elementary schools.  Oh no, there is much more going on there.  And you, as a taxpayer, parent, teacher, student, or just an interested person deserves to know what's happening!  And with your help, we can bring change to the system.  I know I am one little teacher out of millions out there, but I just don't feel right keeping quiet about it and not doing anything.  All it takes is one person, right?

I am also obsessed with teaching ideas, Pinterest, decorating, my two adorable puppies, cooking, and fitness so I will of course, be posting other things on here besides just teaching topics.

What kind of name is The Freezer Closet anyway?  That's a good question.  It's weird, I know.  But there is this closet in the school that I work at dubbed as The Freezer Closet because of it's unbearable, frigid temperature in the winter.  When I heard the name, I honestly thought it was a freezer for our kitchen to store other food items, but no. I was wrong.  It actually stores everything us teachers could ever need as far as supplies.  It's like walking into a mini (and freezing) Office Depot.  Imagine every color of the rainbow of construction paper, every color imaginable of grading pens, binder clips, paper clips, pencils, crayons, chart paper, sticky notes, highlighters, and even border trims.......ahhhh yes, a teacher's dream.  And it's wonderful because it's provided to us on the school's budget, not out of my pocket.  So, in the back of our school, in a place that no one thinks to look twice at, is a tiny little cold closet filled with teacher fun.  And this blog is kind of the same thing.  In a giant world of blogs and ideas, mine is just a very tiny fragment, but hopefully not as cold.  There you have it.  The story of The Freezer Closet.

Who am I? Also a good question.  I am not sure of that answer, either.  Ha! Just kidding!  But here's what I know about who I am so far.  I live in Westminster, Colorado, a suburb just north of Denver.  I am single - nope no boyfriend, not married either...ugh.  I know, I know, I am going to be 30 soon and I am not even close to tying the knot or popping out a few kids (to the detriment of my mother who is so eager to become a grandma to real human children, not just puppies).  Why is such a wonderful, beautiful, smart, and funny woman like me still single, you ask?  Well, I am content in where I am in my life right now and I am very independent so it's hard for me sometimes to settle down.  And I am super picky.  And there aren't a lot of eligible bachelors out there these days, either....But more about that in a future post.  I have a lot to say about that.  Moving on.  I grew up in Colorado but decided to expand my horizons and move on out to the very humid state of Florida for college and attended the University of Florida (yes, with Tim Tebow.  No, we weren't friends.).  I earned my bachelors in Elementary Education there and my masters in Special Education there as well.  After I graduated from college, I moved to Jacksonville, FL and taught for Clay County School District for 4 years.  I taught both special education and general education.  Then Florida got way too hot and humid and I missed Colorado, so I moved back.  I got a job with Adams County School District 50 and boy, was that a shocker!! I never thought anything could be worse than Florida education but I was wrong.  Don't get me wrong, I love the school I work at and absolutely love the students but our state is MESSED UP! More on that later, too.  So when I am not typing up IEPs or writing reports or planning for my 9 special ed groups a day, there are other things I like to do....like running, trying to stick to P90x3, cooking vegetarian meals, reading, decorating my house, and playing with my baby puppies.  And I do have friends, too, that are super fun and always entertaining.

So that's me.  That's the blog introduction.  Hopefully you choose to plug in here and there and read.  Stay tuned for more!