Spokane's Levy, My Job

The school district I teach in faces a Levy Replacement in approximately 27 days. It is a mail-in ballot, due on Valentine's Day (how romantic), and if it passes, it will continue to fund 25% of our district's budget; an estimated $73 million bucks.

{Breathe}

We've been told all sorts of things in BEFORE HOURS meetings (we cannot talk about the levy during the school day; "we" being myself and fellow school employees). We've signed up to wave signs, write post cards, post signs in our yards, wear buttons on our fancy teacher-key lanyards (for some reason we CAN do this during the school day), post stickers/magnets on our cars, etc. Our superintendent (holla Dr. Stowell) visited each and every building in the district to stress the importance of this levy. This is quite the feat considering we are the second largest school district in the state of Washington at 30,000 students strong (that's bigger than WSU, people, but whatev's).

{Trust}

I work with an incredible group of people. People who show up everyday with a passion in their hearts to teach some of the toughest kiddos in the state. I'm not exaggerating. My students have some really difficult home-life situations, and I know how much this levy money helps them. If we lost this chunk of change, things would forever be different for these kids' school days. Things like transportation, school sports, and fine arts programs would pretty much go bye-bye. If you think about it - these three things are the lifeblood of these kids' school experience. Getting to school without worry, and then getting to enjoy singing or playing an instrument or shooting hoops are what these kids live for. It's what gets them out of bed in the morning. Hey, maybe along the way we educate them, too.

{Believe}

Things like a levy have the power to divide or unite. Build up or tear down. Strengthen or destroy. I'm obviously hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. You see, last year two neighboring (and much wealthier) school districts attempted to pass bonds, but failed. For all of you non-education-ese speakers out there, bonds build buildings, levies fund people and programs. This was devastating for those two districts. They were already busting at the seams and had high hopes of expanding, updating, and improving the four walls where kids learn and adults teach 180 days out of the year. My heart was broken for the staff and students of these two districts. I've heard horrendous rumors that up to 800 staff could potentially be cut if our levy fails, and I can't seem to push the past out of my head.

{Persevere}

For the next 27 days, I will be wearing a button, posting obnoxious things on my facebook, forcing my brother (who lives in the district) to display a yard sign, taping signs to my car windows, writing postcards, waving signs on busy street corners, and door-belling our school's neighbors. I will take a deep breath, trust the process, believe in my community, and persevere in my career no matter what happens.

Go to Yes for Spokane Schools for more information!

E-Mail Organization Tips

In checking my free, web-based (Yahoo!) e-mail this morning, I made some pretty amazing revelations...

{Revelation 1} I've had this free, web-based (Yahoo!) e-mail account since, oh, middle school!?!? (That's like 14 or 15 years ago, people!)

{Revelation 2} I have somehow been able to maintain this free, web-based (Yahoo!) e-mail account despite the constant threat of spam, junk mail, inbox overload, etc.

{Revelation 3} My husband (and probably many others), who also has a free, web-based (Gmail) e-mail account, has over 400 e-mails in his inbox. Most of it is junk, and it is so overwhelming to him, he has pretty much stopped using it.

Here are a few simple tips I've kept up with over the years in order to make my free, web-based e-mail account work for me.

{Tip 1} I check my e-mail often. I'm not going to say daily, but pretty frequently. I have a work-based e-mail, but I'm a teacher, so it has some pretty crazy filters on it. Not like I want to get racy e-mails or anything, but I can't even check my Yahoo! account at school (it is blocked), so I can only check it at home. Really the only thing that gets in the way of checking my e-mail daily is if I'm on vacation. Or...let's be honest, sometimes I just don't feel like it. However, checking your e-mail often will help to prevent inbox build-up!

{Tip 2} I create and use folders - lots of 'em! Whenever I have the rare occasion of seeing someone else's e-mail account (whether it be my husband's or a colleague's), I am shocked and appalled at the minimal use of folders. Come on, people! It's like your e-mail is just BEGGING to be organized! Folders are the internet gods' gift to un-organized people to get their rears in gear. When I read an e-mail, I always make the decision of whether or not I want to keep it or delete it. I only keep e-mails if they have sentimental value to me, or if I might need to look at them later. This will make sense in a moment when I give some examples of the types of folders I use. I delete a lot more than I keep. This is key! It's like getting rid of crap in your house...do you really need that sweater you used to wear in high school? Nope. Toss it. Same with your e-mail. Once you read it, yay! Great! Move on, and click on that little trash can. Anyway...here are the folders I have in my personal e-mail account:

• Blog (Stuff I e-mail myself regarding my blog, might include some pictures)
• Cheer (As a cheer coach at an all star cheer gym, I get weekly update e-mails from our gym owner, competition itineraries, etc.)
• Compass (A foreign exchange student program I almost taught English for last summer. It fell through, but we are going to try again in 2012.)
• Employment (From 2006 to 2010, I was in a perpetual state of looking for teaching jobs due to the fact that I was on one-year contracts for four years in a row. This is probably a folder I can now delete since I have a continuing contract - ThankYouJesus!)
• Family (Again sentimental e-mails...mostly from my grandma. It sounds silly to keep these, but they are nice to look back through from time to time.)
• Forwards (Another folder I can probably delete. Thankfully I don't receive too many forwards anymore - can anyone say annoying? - but there were a few that were keep-worthy.)
• Friends (Where I keep sentimental e-mails from girlfriends :o)
• Glamour Girl (A teen girls' ministry I was involved with. It is on hold for now, but I can easily look back if there's anything we need for the future.)
• Josh (My hubby. Sometime he sends me sweet e-mails. :o)
• Ooma (This is the service we use for our home's land line. It is entirely run through your wireless internet connection. They communicate with us solely through e-mail, so this is pretty important stuff!)
• Puppy (You never know when we, or someone we know, might want to get a new dog! We keep old breeder info. here.)
• Shopping (Anytime I buy something online and they send me those semi-annoying confirmation e-mails, I put 'em here.)
• Travel (With the many trips we plan with family and friends, a lot of ideas are thrown out there. This is where I deposit the on-going e-mail discussions.)
• Triumph (A high school leadership summer camp I work at. Lots of ideas e-mailed back and forth for planning.)
• Wedding (Even though I've been married for four years now, I just can't bring myself to delete this one. I've had friends and family members ask me various questions about my wedding, and I have actually referred back to this folder more than once!)
• Work (Self-explanatory! Anything teacher-related...)

{Tip 3} I use that "unsubscribe" link A LOT. It might take an extra 15 seconds out of your day, but if Staples is still sending you 10% off coupons, and you haven't been to that store in months - get rid it! This is something I have offered to do for my husband's e-mail account because random companies have completely infiltrated his inbox and taken over! It is always in the small print at the bottom of any .com's e-mail, and all you usually have to do is click, it'll take you to another website, and you say "ok" or exit out. Bam. Inbox instantly free'd up, I tell ya.

{Tip 4} I manage the stuff from companies I actually care about/shop at.{I'm not saying you can't have any type of shopping-related e-mail in your inbox, but I'm saying figure out how to use them. What I do is I only allow one e-mail from each company in my inbox at any one time. For example: Bath and Body Works sends me an email on the 1st of the month with a BOGO offer. Ten days later, I receive another B&BW e-mail with a 50% off offer. I delete the previous offer, and keep the most recent offer present in my inbox. That way, the most recent "deal" is always present for me to refer back to whenever I need some online retail therapy. Here are the companies I "allow" to be in my inbox: 

• Old Navy
• Bath & Body Works
• TOMS
• Better Homes & Gardens
• Victoria's Secret
• MyPublisher
• Alaska Airlines
• Banana Republic Factory Store
• Shutterfly

If keeping ONE of your favorite stores' e-mails in your inbox doesn't work for you because its too cluttered, I have a solution for that, too. I mainly only keep the ones that have special codes to use @ the check-out for free shipping, etc. However, I found a great website that you can search the store of your choice, and it will usually just give you the code. It is called Retail Me Not, and it is fabulous!

{Tip 5} If all else fails, delete your old account and start over. Even though I've never had to do this, this is the advice I would currently prescribe to my wonderful, loving, organizationally-challenged husband. (Love you, babe!) His account is so full of garbage that he really just needs a do-over. What better time for that than the New Year!

I'll do a future Teacher Tip Tuesday blog about my work e-mail account. This is a whole new ball game, folks! How do you manage your e-mail account(s)?

Bergman Christmas Cards 2011 Edition

Simply Jolly Christmas Card

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Colorful Joy Christmas Card

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Tree All Aglow Christmas Card

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I Love Guns & Coffee

This knock-off/parody of a sticker/t-shirt/coffee mug company basically epitomizes my marriage. Today was an example of that: it started with church and coffee (in my I Love Guns & Coffee traveling mug) and ended with target shooting in the woods with friends and both of our brothers. It was one of those rare days that filled up both mine and my husbands' love tanks. How often does that happen for the both of us? Not often enough. We kind of have to be creative to think of an outing (dare I say "date?") that truly fits both our interests.

You see - he is your ultimate man's man. He LOVES guns. Like loves, loves, loves, loves, loves exercising his 2nd Amendment rights. Since one of our first dates was going target shooting with a group of friends from college, I should have known guns would be a permanent fixture in our relationship. Eight years later, I am absolutely correct; however, sometimes this passion of his is semi-annoying. You see - you can't just be a casual fan of guns. You have to go all out. At least if your name is Josh Bergman, you do.

{This is Josh opening a Christmas present last year. It is something gun-related. I couldn't even tell you what it is, exactly. However, he is super-stoked in this pic!}

{This is him explaining to everyone what this gun accessory actually is. He is very happy here.} 

{pure joy}

When his gun collection grew from one handgun and one rifle (manageable) to a few more (like five more?) - plus some of his dad's and my brother's guns - I was like, "WHOA. Our house is not Cabela's." (Thank goodness.) I requested that we get a safe, and we did. This is probably one of the best requests I have ever made in the entirety of our relationship, in my husbands' opinion. If you could imagine the look on his face when I was the one that suggested we make this purchase: priceless. The safe now holds my husbands' firearms and all of our important life documents. It was certainly an investment, but one that I'm okay with because I can lay my head on my pillow at night knowing we don't have pistols laying around all over the house. Sheesh.

{A big, bad, mama-jama, not messin' around safe - except ours is black}

Which brings me to the second half of our relationship: ME! I am pretty much your ultimate girl's girl. I LOVE coffee. Like love, love, love, love, love exercising my teeth chattering, I-need-caffeine-now gene. (Thanks, Mom!) Anyway, I'm sure my coffee addiction gets semi-annoying to my husband sometimes ~ actually, I know it does. Obviously a latte doesn't equal the price of a new gun, but this is the trade-off we mutually agreed to enter into when we said "I do" four years ago.

{Me with coffee in the Bahamas on our cruise in 2010. I was soooo happy to finally find good coffee after six days at sea!}

I love my husband with all my heart - guns blazin' and all. I also know he loves me: coffee stains continuously plaguing my car's cup-holders, coffee tumblers and accessories that easily take up one entire cupboard in our kitchen, my typical request of, "Can we stop for coffee?" anytime we go anywhere to do anything, etc. He accepts that this is me, and I accept that the guns are a part of him. One of the sweetest things Josh has ever done for me was last year on my first day of school in a new district. He went to the effort of stopping at a local coffee stand and buying a 16 oz. iced non-fat hazelnut latte and bringing it to my new classroom to say hi. Such a sweetie. The best part was that he got my drink order correct without asking, which shows he pays attention and knows me.

Its these small gestures - buying coffee and going shooting - that have helped our marriage to last so far (and hopefully for many years to come)... This is why that goofy sticker = my marriage. If you can honestly say you love guns and coffee, then you honestly love my husband and me!