Teacher Qualities

1. Efficiency & Timeliness:
Now, I have been billed as a messy painter. Mainly because when I paint I reuse my painting clothes. A slather of various hued paints and primers coat this shirt and pants making them up for bid in a modern art museum. People seem to have a hard time understanding that myriad of paint decoupaging my clothing is not just from that day of painting. I also have a tendency to wipe up drips with my fingers and wipe this excess on my pants. Not only does this save you the hunt for a rag, it also allows you to never set down your paint brush. I will admit to painting quickly and a little sloppily at times. But in my defense, here is the dining room window before and after two coats (one more is still needed):


I have yet to paint the window shut, and except for a few streaks on the window glass, I have proven my expertise. One of my painting friends is the razer blade, as it can easily remove that slobber of paint off of the glass.

I will defend my messiness and quickness with calling it being efficient and timely. As a teacher, I did not have time to make sure each bulletin board display matched engineering quality of straightness and spacing. I did not have time to make each star on every paper graded a beautiful 5-pointed masterpiece. You learned to get things done quickly as your thirty minutes (25 after walking them there and back) of planning time dwindled into nothingness. So world, I am not messy, these are reused clothing. And world, I am not too quick, I am efficient. Afterall, my life now revolves around naps, and renovating a house on a one and a half hour to two hour time frame is not something to scoff at.

2. Resourcefulness
I blush to think of my secret tool chest for household projects. In our past house I removed wallpaper with a kitchen spatula. I have since purchased a scraper (which definitely did the job much better). I also bill this as a teacher quality. You use whatever you can find, whenever you need it. You don't have the luxury of time to search for the perfect tool for a job. You use a broken, tooth-dented pencil to scratch out a quick note to the paraprofessional. You quickly wipe your hand or sleeve across the chalkboard when all the erasers migrated to the opposite end of the tray. You learn to use what you have, not search for what you need. So in honor of resourcefulness, here are some of my favorite wallpaper removal tools (minus the spatula):

Yes, that is a spray bottle, scraper, vegetable/kitchen brush, and a butter knife. How else do you remove those stubborn paper scraps cemented behind the chair rail?

And to close, one final tip that captures both my efficiency and my resourcefulness. Instead of cleaning painting trays, brushes, and rollers after each use, simply put them in a plastic bag or cover them with plastic wrap until ready for the next coat of paint, like so: