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Summer vacation is approaching (thank goodness), which means my mind is starting to swirl with ideas. Last summer it was the backyard, this summer it might be a little craft room update...that might not be so little. The words "make our own couch" and "standing work counter" have been said. And white...I am craving the perfect shade of white walls.
Can't wait to see what these ideas can turn into...
This month...
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
This project sat on my work table for just over a month, but now this year's tomato plants are officially labeled.
I used wood slats from the craft store, some of my one dollar "wood stain", a staz-on stamp pad and this cute set of alphabet stamps.
Now I can correctly identify the thousands of tomatoes I hope to harvest this summer.
I did a little blog updating over the weekend...a new navigation menu and sidebar images. Also, way down there on the sidebar is a link to subscribe to the blog feed. I had received several emails asking about one, and finally figured out how to get that started.
Just like my around my house, I really love when a little reorganizing project is done.
This weekend, Nora Griffin...
Took a calligraphy class. She will never be able to write her name as beautifully as it was on her class supply kit, but she enjoyed trying.
Made up New England turkey burgers, roasted red potatoes and zucchini gratin to have for dinner early this week since she no longer has time to cook on weeknights with a class from 3:45 until 7pm. Later this week we're having apricot chicken.
Did not get up early enough to see her husband run the Redlands half marathon for the third year in a row...which means she missed him coming in 2nd in his age group for his best finish ever!
Tried to get ahead on two week's of class planning since she managed to assign student's turning in 230 papers this week. Every single class is turning in a paper that needs to be graded and the eight week class is turning in two.
Someone did not plan that very well.
Late last week Mac was a nervous wreck trying out for cheer because he really, really wanted to earn a spot on the Varsity team for his junior year. When the results were hung up in the front of the school on Friday night I snapped this photo. And Sean captured this...
I will never, ever forget the seconds that he was running towards me. He smacked my head from running into me so fast. He was sobbing while saying, "I made Varsity" a few times over.
Could not be more proud of him.
As someone who has loved putting together teacher gifts for years, now that I am the teacher, I love putting together thank you gifts for those that help me. Last year for Administrative Professionals Day I just brought some cookies in. This year I gathered supplies and made some foot soak. I used this idea, but when I could not find lime essential oil (and only had a day to get this done in time) I went with Lemon, Sweet Orange and Clove...which are supposed to be renewing, brightening and comforting.
I gave it away at both schools I work at and, now that I am at the end of standing in a classroom for nine hours total today, I really wish I had some to use too.
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
So my blog was a casualty of Typepad being attacked over the last several days. After having this place for over nine years and posting at least five days a week for the last several years, it was very strange to not have it there.
Oh well, though, life goes on. There has been plenty of schoolwork to do (I've graded 200+ journals and tests over the last few days) and breaks from grading including a trip to Target for shampoo. Somehow all these rainbow party supplies jumped in my cart. I figured if my birthday was coming up soon, I better be prepared...or at least that's the excuse I came up with when I bought it.
We do not really drink coffee and I think pepper is spicy, so I don't have any. That meant my poor brother, sister, and brother-in-law had to get 7-11 coffee for Easter brunch and picked up some pepper for the make-your-own omelet bar. So much for being the hostess with the mostess. At least there were 120 stuffed Easter eggs for the hunt, coloring pages for the kid's table and tulips.
Instead of the same old Easter egg dye, we tried three kinds of watercolor supplies and cool whip with gel food coloring. We certainly did not end up with any masterpieces, but we sure had fun trying.
1. Pudding Mix and greek yogurt...would have never thought of that.
2. Getting out watercolor paint to decorate Easter eggs.
3. Love this set up...I asked for a record player for my birthday.
Turns out this week is no joke. I left at 8:30 Monday morning and got home at 10:30 from a cheer board meeting. On average I get 5-10 emails a day from students between both schools. Yesterday, I counted 32 , most of which had tasks associated with them and did not include multiple responses. Now today is the first teach nine hours of class in one day attempt. And a tenured professor, whom I have not met, will be in one class for this semester's teaching observation. Then I will have three stacks of papers and two stacks of tests to grade.
But the late nights had one benefit, I got to be outside at 12:30am and catch the lunar eclipse.
Okay, off to class again...
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
Sean and the dogs laying around for a few minutes while I wrote the menu and grocery list this weekend.
This upcoming week has loomed on the calendar for about a month and a half now.
First, it is cheer try-outs for Mac...who stresses out about doing his best. He has been talking non-stop about every aspect of this week, the requirements and his goals.
Also tomorrow I start teaching a fifth class for the semester, an eight week course at the community college. It will be three hours twice a week, which means on Monday I go straight from 9:30am until 7pm. Wednesday I will have a couple hour break between my two morning classes, but then I will teach two three hour classes in a row, 3:45pm until 10pm. This schedule goes for the next four weeks until my classes end at the state college, then I will have four more weeks of the semester at the community college. A month seemed possible at the time I said yes. Now that it's the night before, it's a little scary.
I guess I might stress out about doing my best too. I must have inherited it from Mac.
When I shared photos of the little baby shower lunch I hosted a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the original theme was sprinkles. Since scheduling it was a surprise I sent out one invitation to the guest of honor. I made a shaker box full of sprinkles and sent it off in the mail. My mom asked me about the card a few days later. She was curious if I had used sprinkles in it. I was puzzled (and likely snotty) when I said, "Yes, of course". Turns out they were pulverized by the time they arrived.
My mom kindly suggested, in the future, I write "please hand cancel" like she does on delicate mail. Lesson learned.
I mentioned on Tuesday that I am increasingly obsessed with this whole gardening situation. I decided to put together a binder to have a place to keep track of what we plant each year. I used divided page protectors to slip plant tags into and then have some notes we have from planning this year.
I figured if we can obsessively keep track of Thanksgiving turkey notes in a binder, a garden journal seemed perfectly normal.
If you want to put your own book together, here are PDFs for the cover and binder label Download Garden Journal Cover & Download Gardening Journal Label.
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
The flower purchasing may or may not be completely out of control at this point.
This was the poster hanging in our room at the Ace Hotel last week.
This weekend I worked, like I have worked every weekend for the last fifteen months. I work pretty much seven days a week. I often work at night right up until I go to bed.
I also have time to spend running errands, cooking dinner, cutting flowers from the backyard, reading blogs, crafting a little (very little lately), having lunch with a friend, or just sitting for a few minutes and having a cup of tea.
Aside from the fourteen hours I spend in front of a classroom each week, life has some pretty significant flexibility. Sometimes, when I am working on a Friday night, I wish I had a career that meant work could stay at work. Or maybe what I really wish is that I could be disciplined enough to keep a precise schedule that meant I did not have to accomplish stuff for work everyday.
Over the last few months I've often felt that I might have attention issues, since I jump from task to task. Before finishing one thing I have started three others, but I manage to finish all of them in no logical order whatsoever. I can't tell if I am a mess or if this is just my natural way of accomplishing what needs to be done.
Work and life might be totally blurred until further notice, but I am pretty darn grateful to have it all to mix together.
1. We try to eat the food Mac does not like when he's with his dad...which includes mushrooms. This cheesy stuffed mushroom dip needs to be made before he gets home.
2. This cheeseburger macaroni sounds like a good weeknight dinner option.
3. And I want a big salad with berries and feta.
We left at 10am on Tuesday and came back by 1pm Wednesday, since I had to teach and Sean was asked to be a guest speaker at another class tonight. We drove past the windmills. Lunch included one of my favorite potato salads (I have to figure out the recipe). We settled into the hotel for the afternoon, laid around and read magazines. We went to dinner. Then we lit the fire on the patio and had a beer. In the morning we got a big breakfast and drove back home. The day could not have been more relaxing. In fact, it kind of freaked us out, at first, not having anything we had to get done...if only we could freak out in that manner a little more often.
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
Today I printed out the weekly sheets for the next three months and switched out my planner for April. I filled up to do lists and dates on the calendar. I also dug into my flowery fabric stash to put together a few fabric paper clips to switch between since I use them to mark the weekly page I am currently on.
I figured since I was making some for me, I should make some for you too. I have three sets of three to share. Just leave a "pick me" if you would like one and I will email the randomly selected winners on Thursday.
