Brand New Pencils, Brand New Books, Lots of Teachers Pouty Looks...

I know that isn't exactly the saying, but with school starting 2 weeks earlier this year, there has been a good show of pouting. Of course I was not a part of this. Eager as I was to come back. Who wants to lay at the pool anyways? 


 It is that time of year again. Fresh boxes of crayons, bruises from running into newly placed furniture, and cob webs being wiped from the corners. Ahhh, the joys of back to school time. 


Since I moved from second grade to third this year, I am in a "new-to-me" room. I wish I had taken a picture of the before room, but when I walked in that first time... I can't say I was thinking about blogging as much as diggin' in. And I couldn't exactly see this room turning out that well, what with the mauve colored cabinets. Floral prints would have matched well, but it isn't the 80's nor am I in my 80's.


I digress. Here are some pictures of the finished product. And I must say, it turned out better than I thought.

The lovely craft posters came from a blog. They are adorable and very informative.

The best thing about this room is this black board. It is magnetic paint. Awesome functionality as a word wall.

The library station, much like last year.

Guided reading table. I invested in a shelf from IKEA (covered in zebra print because my baskets didn't match, I know... OCD much?)

This was a bulletin board with gross water stains. So I covered it in hot pink fabric. And the kiddos made "third grade backpacks" to display. They loved making them and they turned out great!

Computer area and supply drawers.

math manipulatives, semi-organized

The whole group area. Had some trouble thinking of colors to go with the mauve cabinets, but decided on pink and green. Kinda my new favorite combo right now. And animal prints as well. Now, I would never actually wear or decorate my house this way (no objections to others doing these things, but I'm not exactly an animal print kinda gal), but they are fun to decorate a classroom.

A work-in-progress calendar wall.

I'm sure there will be many changes and updates to come, but it has been kid-tested for 1 and 1/2 days and has come out on top. Now for the actual teaching part...

Do I have a baby?

Several months ago, I was eating lunch in the teacher's lounge and received a disturbing email. It was titled "What to expect in your 36th week of pregnancy". Why am I getting this??? Who sent this to me? Do I LOOK like I'm 36 weeks pregnant? This is curious. And yet funny. Someone will surely confess to this well played prank.


So we laughed about it.  A few days later, I received more email subscriptions about which car seat is best for baby and which stroller is best for mommy. Still no confession of any friends. 


This continues for a few weeks, then I begin getting things in the mail from Similac. Thanks for the deals, Similac, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. 


Then one of my favorite things I got in the mail: Information on the benefits of keeping my supposed baby's umbilical cord. If I could find the baby, maybe I would find the umbilical cord as well!

Another thing I received in the mail... a trial subscription to Baby magazine. Never mind that I did read one issue and learned some interesting information. Needed to know? Nope. 

Then the last and most hilariously awkward delivery. Actual baby formula. Similac is apparently VERY generous. Thanks for that. 

All to say, I am UBBER prepared for a baby. Good use of my summer time off...

Cookin' Up Somethin' Fun

I don't stalk on many blogs regularly, but there is one that I feel obligated to. She is witty and fun. She is creative and has great taste. She doesn't take life too seriously and gives things away constantly. What could be better than that??? Her name is Pioneer Woman. Well, her real name is Ree, but she lives on a ranch in Oklahoma. And she nicknames everyone. It's cute and endearing. 


Anywho, my roommate and I LOVE to make yummy recipes from her cookbooks. She has the prettiest, colorful cookbooks with very scrumptious foods. She cooks with butter. And I mean a LOT of butter. Not that I would ever judge on that account. So, here are some pictures of the amazing cinnamon rolls from her cook book. It is quite a process to cook them, but totally worth the work. And it make enough to serve about 20 people, so we always make friends with this as well.

Here is the dough growing with the yeast. 

Looks kinda gross, but trust me, it isn't. At all.

All those pans, that is what will earn us friends...

So we roll out half of the dough. Don't be scared of the knife, we just like to look serious about our cooking. Inside of that roll is tons of butter, sugar and cinnamon. YUM!

Here they are looking a little bit prettier.

After they have baked...

I can practically smell them now. 

And then smothered in the maple flavored icing. Delicious! 

HeRe It CoMeS!

I have waited and waited for more than a year for this big premiere. And finally, it is coming up in a little more than a week. And I JUST CAN'T STAND IT! If you don't know what I'm talking about you either A) haven't seen me in a while B) haven't talked to me in a while C) haven't had to listen to me sing the praises about this event.

THE HUNGER GAMES!

And then yesterday I went to Walmart. And this picture was staring me down saying, "Buy me, I hold lots of secrets."

I am such a sucker for a good magazine... every time. And I read it cover-to-cover. I need a new hobby. 

I will let you know how the movie event goes... if I can contain myself until then... 

Tie Skirts, for when you have some extra neck ties laying around...

Back in high school, which was far longer than I would like to remember, I had a bunch of ties. Not because I wear ties. And not because I raided my dad's closet. Because VBS was making snakes out of ties, and there were lots of extras. So, on my way to being a hoarder, I said I would take them off their hands with no plans for the ties yet. 

But I was also in a sewing class at school. Not because I didn't know how but because I wanted an excuse to create. It was magical. So I decided to cut the ties apart and make a skirt. I didn't have a pattern for this, just an idea. Which is why it is far from perfectionist work. It took a looooong time to finish since I had to rip open each tie, sew them all together, and then stitch the backs back up. But when I did finish, and got the nerve up to wear it, it was quite a reaction. I had sort of forgotten that the ties belonged to men at my home church. And that now I was wearing their ties. And they weren't expecting it. As you can imagine, I made quite a stir with people pointing out their own ties and and asking who the others belonged to. It was very amusing. 

I am in the process of making another one for a friend. She had half of the ties and here is a  picture of the process.

I have to say, a tie skirt goes with EVERYTHING. And yet doesn't really match anything. Just my style. 

GROOOOSSSS!

Our weather this past month has certainly had it's up and downs... One of the downs includes a good bit of rain. And I'm not so much opposed to rain (it makes some great napping background music), but I am opposed to what it leaves on our sidewalk. You might think I mean worms, which, yes indeed, are rather gross. But no, not worms. Snails. Lots and lots of snails. And I don't mean like 1 or 2 cute little snails, I mean like thousands!!! Okay, well maybe not thousands, but about 20. And if you've seen how relatively small our sidewalk is, you will know the percentage of surface area that was a sea of snails. 


So, that is gross enough to be the end of this post, but that is not the end of my rant. If you have ever heard me talk about the cicadas that attacked last year, then you will know my frustration with the snails. Well, no, snails don't actually attack like cicadas that land on your nose and then stick with their little sticky legs, but they do leave a little slime in their path. 


Also, possibly, when I come in at night and forget to turn the light on, and forget about the snail epidemic, I might *CRUNCH* through the snail shells as I walk down the sidewalk. It's just too hard to avoid. They are EVERYWHERE, as were the cicadas. Here is a a close-up of the before of what the snail on the bottom of my shoe would have looked like. 

Lucky for you, I don't have a picture of the after snail. But believe me when I say it was GROOOSSSS!

Bring back the worms... at least they don't make a CRUNCH...

It's a BOY!!!

I told myself that I would have a blogging goal. One post a month. Totally doable. But let's be honest, sometimes life isn't THAT interesting every month. However, I will still hold onto my goal (however unattainable). 


Let's start with the basics. In November, we had an addition to our family. My first and only little nephew decided to wait no longer. He came a few weeks earlier than expected, but then maybe that's a sign of his future personality: impatient? eager? likes to be early? Either way, we were STOKED to have another baby, and a boy to boot!

The picture on the top was a newborn picture and the second one was just sent recently... He is growing fast. And in my humble aunt opinion, he is adorable. Precious baby boy.