Queen Jen's Gems

 Let's go back in time for a minute. The year is 2020. Hearing that alone may bring up lots of different emotions. More specifically, think back to March 2020. I remember that month very clearly because I was teaching the Reading program at the middle school I'm at. I remember taking my students outside to enjoy a beautiful, sunny March day 🌞. I remember going to a staff meeting the next day that said school and work was going to look a lot different quickly, but the details were uncertain. I also remember my brother and I going to see the movie "I Still Believe" on a Sunday afternoon at a local movie theater. I remember seeing one of my Reading students and his dad at the movie the same day.  I remember my brother and I talking about how we enjoyed the movie 😊. We also discussed how we could relate to loss that was in the movie as we had just lost our Mom two months before in January. The very next day, that same movie theater we went to shut down ( unfortunately, ...

 Do you remember playing the game Tag growing up or perhaps you have played or seen it played recently? There are lots of twists to the game, but the general rule is one person is "It" and has to tag the other players in the game who are trying to run away from them. The other players are trying not to get caught by the person who is "It." To chase someone or something means to pursue in order to catch or catch up with. That's exactly what happens in the game of Tag 😊!! There are other games we can play that also involve something being chased. In life, we pursue different things as well. It may be people we chase, but it could also be goals, dreams, relationships, growth, status and likes. I read a Bible verse not long ago that stopped me in my tracks about what I should be pursuing. Looking at what we pursue will also have us looking at why we pursue what we do. It will have us looking at our motivation or the root of something. The Bible verse is in the book...

 Can you guess what today's topic is based on the title? It's something we should do constantly. It's something we should be doing in our rooms and physical spaces in particular. Have you guessed it yet? It's decluttering! To declutter means to remove unnecessary items from a room or area. Decluttering is something I'm constantly working on and something you probably are too! With being on my summer break currently, I have had more time to declutter spaces at home and I already see the difference 😊. Now, let me take you back a  minute to the middle of May/beginning of June when I decided to declutter the file cabinet in my classroom. I started by doing small sections at a time here and there after school. I had to decide what to toss and what to keep. I would get rid of papers I wasn't using or had multiple copies of and would only keep one of the copies. The papers I decided to keep were helpful, but the ones I tossed were not useful or outdated. By declutteri...