Have you ever noticed that most teachers never throw anything away?

Retired or otherwise, it seems teachers can always think of a possible future use for everything. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say we’re pretty sure we might think of a possible future use for stuff, and when we do, we will be glad we saved it.But who would have thought that this would transfer to mosaic tiles and tiny pieces of cut glass?Before you start thinking, “I knew she was a little OCD but this is taking it too far”, allow me to explain. I realized awhile back that sometimes you need the ever so tiniest piece of glass and it’s easier if you already have some to chose from than having to cut them right then and there. This butterfly (from a post I haven’t written yet), was where I learned that to get the blue background behind the wording I would need some super tiny pieces. So if you look closely at the pink wooden box you will see that for the longest time, whenever I had extra little pieces of tiles and glass I would just toss them in. Then when I needed a certain color or shape, I would just dig through the box until I found what I wanted. Logical, right? As long as you’re careful not to get cut in the process. But here is another thing I think most teachers will agree on: we also have a lifelong compulsion to organize. We can only take a mess for so long before we have to organize our stuff. That doesn’t mean it will stay organized, “but hope springs eternal…”So I decided the other night that I really should organize my tiles and pieces of broken glass. This picture is actually from when I was almost done, and only the tiniest pieces remained in the box. I know some people (read: non-teachers) would probably just throw them all away and start a new collection. But if you go back and read “Keys, Part 1”, you will realize that not only is saving stuff a teacher thing, but it’s also in my genes. Which reminds me I never did write “Keys, Part 2″…And what teacher, retired or otherwise, doesn’t just love containers? To be truthful, part of me kind of can’t believe I didn’t throw away the tiny pieces you see in the glass bottle above. And the other part of me can’t believe I am actually sharing this with all of you. But hey, I guess we can just consider it a part of “truth in blogging”.As a side note, these are my favorite kind of tiles.All done! Isn’t this awesome? Foster looks a little puzzled. Mom, organized? (Just don’t go in the sewing room, okay?)Yay! The table is finally cleaned off. Oh, and if you’re wondering what those little wood things are in the background, that’s another post I haven’t written yet.They’re peg dolls! It was one of  projects “my girls” and I did together this summer. Suffice it to say we had a blast, and the photos are already cropped and ready to go.

Now  I just have to get motivated to write the post!