Just Make Stuff

Five favorite fonts...

With the start of September I decided I just had to have a slightly fall-ish banner around here, which means I was searching through my font list. 

one.two.three.four.five

And here are more favorite fonts.

This month...

Wisdom teeth removed, finishing summer school, wedding anniversary, lots of cheerleading stuff, Sean starting his school year three weeks earlier, syllabus writing and rewriting and editing and double-checking and rewriting, college workshops, after-school coaching, the beginning of a senior year, Sean's birthday this past weekend, and that's it for August.

Week one...

My new newly relocated office at school (including the chair I covered).

Um, this first week was no joke.

I worked everyday from 8am until 10pm. 

I typed, "Thank you so much for your interest. Unfortunately, the class is full", in what felt like one thousand emails.

I sweat my way through a classroom barely having air conditioning on a 95 degree day. Super attractive.

I checked my online class constantly...terrified that it wouldn't work. (minus a couple small glitches, it totally worked)

I couldn't find parking, despite getting to campus three hours before my class. I ended up having to pay to park despite already purchasing a $65 parking pass for the semester. State schools are just the best.

I had ants crawling all over my stuff in the community college classroom. Apparently they are all through the building. Awesome.

And yet I still really, really love my job.

Add this one...

We can add the senior year official leaving for school portrait to yesterday's collection of photos. This was the first time in high school that he wasn't off to an early morning cheer practice before performing in the welcome assembly...since they scheduled it for the second day of school this year. 

Mac's schedule includes culinary arts, digital photography, a life skills class and government.

I'm super jealous, I want to go to school with him to cook, take pictures, learn how to handle life and to discuss what the heck is going on with this presidential election stuff.

(Oh and I only started to tear up for a second...and Mac totally laughed at me)

Want to bet I'll cry?

I cannot imagine that tomorrow will be tear free as I take Mac's last first day of school photos for high school. I decided to further rip my heart out and dig through computer files to gather as many first day of school photos as I could. Where does time go???

And in continuing with my endless sappiness I also gathered these...laughing, jumping, yawning, rolling his eyes and always humoring his mom who has always insisted on taking dozens of photos.

And I am so glad I did. 

Back to School Snacks...

You know I love some teacher gift giving...especially the first day of school. I have transferred most of my teacher gift obsession into making something for my department's administrative assistants and my office mates. 

This year my brainstorming resulted in making a box of snacks. The gift was actually the boxes (which I have loved packing lunches in), but I thought it would be much more fun to give with snacks in them.

I got boxes (big and small), filled them with apple slices and caramel apple dip, carrots & cucumbers with dill dip. Then I got the card from here and edited it a bit.

I suppose it was a pretty random idea, but this ended up being my favorite first day of school gift so far.

Here we go...

It's officially all school all the time around here now. The semester starts today. Mac starts his senior year on Wednesday. Sean's already been in school for what feels like months even though it's two weeks. 

One of the many new school years tasks I finished up this weekend was to mail a little something to my niece in Iowa and my little sister in Oklahoma. I couldn't resist the patterns on these school supplies. 

Where was this stuff when I was in 4th grade? Can you imagine if I had grown up with washi tape? I would have covered my room, my locker, and anything else I could think of with it.

Week in the Life: Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Catching up on the last three days. After a day full of trainings and weeks filled with class planning, I spent late Friday morning using a gift card I had saved to get a massage and a facial...best idea I have ever had. Mac wandered around the mall while I was at the spa, so we met back up in time for lunch. We had a football barbecue to be at in the early evening. Cheerleaders were in charge of bringing drinks, plates and napkins. I held my breath hoping that families would bring enough (apathy can often run rampant in our group). I was so happy to see that I was wrong for worrying. After the barbecue we rushed to my nephew's first flag football game and went out to dinner with everyone afterwards. 

Cheer photos down at the beach at 7:45am. Farmers market afterwards for a little fruit and hummus (sun dried tomato/spinach & feta). Sean's car is a little too old (thankfully he fixed it this weekend). Speaking of old, we finally replaced the last rickety old chair at the kitchen table. I was sentimental about it...as I am about pretty much everything. Mac went with his dad's family for the night so Sean and I got slightly gussied up and went to dinner. I realized I haven't really worn shoes all summer...which means next week at work is probably going to feel awesome.

The fridge before and after. It was cleaned out and refilled with food prepped for the week. Sean and I watched an episode of Astronaut Wives. I put together gifts I'll share soon. I have my class planner ready just in time for the semester to start tomorrow. I spent pretty much the entire afternoon on last minute details (with iced coffee of course). Love when Paddington smushes himself right next to me.

So, that's it...another week in our life captured. This time it felt a little different, since I am a little more used to capturing random details throughout the week to keep up with my Project Life book, but this still contains way more little bits. Love that it's always a different week on the calendar and that the busy week before I start the school year is saved to look back on. Can't wait for the next round...

Week in the Life: Thursday

Holy heck there was a lot of school training today...eight hours between the two schools. And one more CASA training tonight. My chair at the state school is always super thoughtful and gets us all gift bags, This time they had a mug and white board markers. When I had an hour at home between the two schools it was iced coffee and sitting in bed answering student emails, "No, I'm sorry, you probably won't be able to add my class next week" over and over. After the last training for the day I decided that I needed breadsticks and alfredo sauce...an amazingly nutritious choice. And when I got home, as is the case on most days I'm at work, I put away all the bracelets I have scattered around on my dresser from putting together a color combo for the day.

Week in the Life: Wednesday

I got to have my favorite breakfast half a sourdough english muffin, "four" pieces of bacon which is two that I cut in half and a small cup of iced coffee. You know I have lots of school work to do when I find something to scrub down around the house...today it was the guest bathroom. I put together a greek salad to take to my cousins whose baby just had surgery. I had big calendars printed out again (like last year) to keep track of everything this fall. Here's the file if you need them too... Download End of 2016 Calendar I have them printed at Staples on 18x24 inch paper for $1.99 each. And between the treadmill, errands and a walk tonight with Sean I had a pretty active day.

Week in the Life: Tuesday

A little treadmill-ing before and after I dropped Mac off at cheer practice. Didn't wake up early enough to walk as much as I wanted before leaving at 8:45am...which is pathetic. Handled cheer tasks while Mac was at practice. Spent the rest of the day working on my fourth and final syllabus. I tried the self timer and learned that my posture is atrocious. The kitchen had a sink stuffed with dishes. Icepacks on my neck and shoulder after hours at the computer. Finishing the day at an evening training with Sean.

Week in the Life: Monday

Mac running out of the house after having to dash back in twice before leaving for registration. Senior year registration! Two hours of standing in lines later he was done and on his way to cheer practice. He hates the photo on his ID for some reason, but I think it's cute. I had pre-semester trainings to attend at the community college...thankfully they were good ones. Being up by school meant being able to grab a favorite turkey avocado sandwich to bring home for lunch. I had to be back at the community college for a late afternoon training too. We had a quick takeout dinner, walked the dogs a couple times around the block and I was off to a mini cheer camp meeting. Finally back home for a walk before being super lazy for the last couple hours of the day. I should have done some work...but oh well.

Increasingly obsessed...

I received my order of thirty or so printed Project Life pages last week. I have been consistently making pages, but hadn't had them printed since March. It made me so happy to slip these into page protectors and see how many details have been captured. 

Speaking of detail documentation, I am going to participate in Week in a Life for the fifth year in a row this week. Here's 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Randomness...

On Monday I sent Sean a photo of my sad lunch alone when he went back to work (although the sandwich was actually really good and I am obsessed with those maui onion chips). And this week there were dahlias on the kitchen table that Sean brought home after grocery shopping. 

It's the first weekend as we ease into the school year. And we'll probably spend a good chunk of it working on school stuff...but at least it'll be together, at home, in comfy clothes, with the air conditioner cranked.

Labeled...

There are just some ideas that you see and they immediately help you reach your "make sure life is cute and colorful" goal. Washi-taped tea lights was that kind of idea.

Several months ago now, I discovered another good, colorful idea here. Coloring in removable labels to use in my planner...in case I have to move something around. 

I have found it to be the most helpful for the fun stuff that we hope to do, like go to the movies or something. That way in case we can't get there (for instance we did not make it to the fair this week because Mac has had so much cheer practice) it's easy to move around to the future or easily take it off altogether.

I have a pack of them in two different sizes and would love to share a sheet of each, if you want to try them out. I can send them to three people...just leave a "pick me" and I'll email you next week.

Oatmeal scrub...

Although my right hand is back to normal now (thank goodness gracious), last month I learned the last step of healing is similar to a sunburn. Peeling. Yuck.

I tried to think of an exfoliant to help it along and figured a salt scrub or something equally harsh would not be a good choice. So I came up with something I will continue to use well beyond burn healing, since it worked well and was really soothing. 

I used my mini food processor to grind up some oatmeal and then mixed it with olive oil. All I had to do was lightly rub my hands together and rinse off the oatmeal. The olive oil stays behind and soaks in as a moisturizer. I kept a little container of the ground oatmeal and would mix a palmful with the oil each day. Even now that everything is healed, I have been mixing it up to use once or twice a week. Wanted to share the idea in case you need a gentle, but effective scrub.

Prep...

Last summer I prepped for a fall semester full of classes I had already taught. This summer I am prepping for a semester full of classes I have never really taught. It has been a drastic difference in the workload...thinking about it, it's the most work I've had so far.

I get my first Introduction to Women's Studies class...woohoo! One school changed Sociology of Women to a new title, Sociology of Gender, and tried to tell me it's actually the same class...based on the female focused topics I had before, I am going back to the drawing board.

As for Intro to Sociology...I have taught it eleven times now, but this time it will be an online class (so much more prep!) and I volunteered to move my on campus class to an after school class at a local high school. As someone who originally dreamed of teaching in a high school, I am super excited. 

I have been working every day for weeks and there is no end in sight. Thankfully I think it's pretty fun to come up with new ideas and organize what seems to be a million details.

Noted...

As of this morning, Sean is back at work with his school year starting this Wednesday. He loves the first day...I am usually melancholy about the carefree days of summer coming to an end. Especially this year when they are coming to an end almost three weeks earlier.

Yet in our five days of vacation (between me finishing summer school last Wednesday and him back at work today) we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on the 6th. We were just at home with Mac recovering from his wisdom teeth surgery, but Sean still made it a great day.

He raided my cardstock scraps and left me 16 notes around the house. And even had a 17th one as the clock struck midnight at the end of the day.

It was the simplest, sweetest thing...and has me missing him even more than usual today.

Last week...

For eighteen it was cake batter pancakes and scalloped tissue paper...nineteen was a marble cake with cream cheese icing, big painted numbers and ombrè paper mobiles. Mac appreciates the details, so it makes it extra fun to work on them.

This time last week we were putting all of this together for a little family birthday dinner for Mac...granted "little" still meant over twenty people.

The night before...

Tomorrow morning Mac is having oral surgery to have four impacted wisdom teeth removed...so tonight we had lots of pasta and spent a couple hours here.

Covered...

It's been on my to-do list forever and ever to cover up the ugly chair that the school placed in my office for students visiting my office hours. I finally brought it home to tackle before the school year starts. Today Sean helped me unscrew the seat and cover it with linen (it was the only fabric I had a big enough piece in...apparently all 150,000 other fabrics I have are in a 1/2 yard or less). I then took a favorite fabric I've been saving for something good and sewed a cover to slip over the top. It was a 45 minute project that took me almost three years to actually complete.