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Almost the end of a che-era...
Get it? Cheerleading + end of an era = che-era.
Good thing that's not super cheesy.
This was one of the last weekends that had lots of cheer team related stuff. The team hosted a mini cheer camp fundraiser and we hosted a showcase.
Now there are two more cheer competitions, one team dinner, one banquet, one booster meeting and a couple of board meetings left.
I can't wait until it's done and I never want it to end. I have loved it and not really loved it and have absolutely loved it. No matter what, after four years, I cannot begin to imagine our life without it.
This weekend I also happily grabbed those sparkly cheerleader charms for key chains I decided had to be made (for no reason other than cuteness) to hold the extra copies of the key for the storage container on campus. This means I gravitated towards an item with rhinestones.
I think my transition to liking sparkly stuff might be complete...four years later I'm a really a cheer mom.
Minuscule bedroom update
Our one bedroom wall is now a dark charcoal gray and I love it. I need to get a frame for the little painting and I need figure out something clever to put on the letter board...and then there are only about fifty more things to do before the longest redecoration project ever might be complete.
Fresh batch...
I first made a set of group work sticks for the fall 2014 semester. I have used them in almost every single class since. My students all know, walk into class and grab a stick.
I decided last year to make a set of forty that continuously got students into groups of five, instead of different sized groups like the first set. Now that I am teaching at the local high schools (through a program at the community college I work for) I have smaller class sizes.
I can always pull sticks out, and it's easy to quickly remove a couple colors worth. However, its a pain to shuffle through the pile trying to find a bunch of smiley face sticks or something because I was going to use symbols as a grouping mechanism that day.
So I made a set of thirty...which meant fresh new colors...and lots of painting and stamping.
I would have never guessed that popsicle sticks could be a key tool in teaching at the college level, but they have been for me.
All the scraps...
It's a little too easy to hoard even the teensy tiniest of crafting supplies like little scraps of fabric and paper because maybe you can tie them together into something cute.
In continuing with the letter of recommendation thank you gifting, one of my Women's Studies professors wrote letters for me and to thank her I got a couple of drawstring bags to hold her knitting projects (I picked this one and this one).
Make Stuff...
If I were to make a list right now of all the stuff I want to make right now it would include...a fresh stack of cards, a canvas idea I have for our bedroom wall, scrapbook pages (for the first time in almost forever) and more planner pages.
"Make Stuff is from an older Life Love Paper digital kit made for Studio Calico that I could not find a link to.
11.
This was my first blog banner...waaaaay back when. Patterned paper was just really becoming a thing in scrapbooking and I was obsessed with all the colors and patterns. This photo was a new pile I had just excitedly bought.
Eleven years ago today, I started this whole thing. I reminisced on the 10th year and in the past I have shared old blog banners (2013 & 2014), but this morning I went back to the beginning. Thank goodness I have always kept the files on my external hard drive compulsively organized.
I used to make blog banners out of craft supplies and scan them in.
Then I started figuring out all this digital stuff.
And then, six years into blogging, I finally came up with a name that wasn't just my initials.
I wonder, now that I am officially into a second decade of blogging, will I reach twenty years? Will I do this for the rest of my life? It's been a wonderful hobby, a place to share the tiniest, random detail to the biggest stuff in our lives. And that's something I don't really ever want to see end...
Recommendation thank yous...
I have written five letters of recommendation in the last month for students, so I know it can take a fair amount of time and effort. That is why I wanted to make sure I bought thank you gifts for the people who wrote them for me with all this job application business.
This was for one of my department chairs. I don't drink beer, but I really love to read descriptions and make a custom six-pack. Sean is the usual recipient of my beer choices (once it was my brother-in-law), so it was fun to put together a combination for someone new.
Then I had to decorate the box, right? Beer isn't as good unless there's patterned paper and stamps involved.
Valentine Dates...
"But you can't open them"
How's that for a Valentine's gift?
Sean and I have a tradition of making each other a gift so this year I planned six dates for us and made little cards for each. I gave him the little stack of envelopes and told him he could use them whenever he wanted.
I started each idea with "let's" so that's what I included on the tag to tie it all together. It's just a few things that one or the other of us has mentioned, but we never actually go do. Then I put together another couple simple ideas we could do instead of just watching Netflix...although we both actually love to do that too.
Oh and Sean made me a cute little blackboard. He wrote a sweet note on the back that included that he thinks of me every morning when he wakes up. When I said there is no chance he thinks of me in the morning (most of the time he's all happy getting up to go for a run) he totally proved me wrong.
He said every morning when he wakes up he thinks, "Don't wake Nora up".
Now that's true love.
Happy weekend...
Rosemary and lemon from our backyard...last week I simmered them together.
Mac is in Vegas with his dad's family for a four-day weekend, Sean has enough time to work on a couple little house projects during his three-day weekend. I have a holiday from one school on Monday, but not the other. So I guess I have a 2.5-day weekend. It's the first weekend in awhile though that I haven't had piles of work, so it feels like a million day weekend.
Those coupons get you...
Sean owns more pairs of shoes than I do. And his motto usually is, the more color, the better. My mom had gotten him a really cute pair of Vans for Christmas and passed along a coupon towards a next purchase. So Sean had little too much fun designing a custom shoe and then put that coupon to good use. You can't waste it, right?
A few weeks later, these show up on our doorstep and he was thrilled. He wore them to work the next day with a pastel plaid shirt that totally matched. Because so many things would match with neon rainbow shoes.
Take a break...
In the middle of job application stress I decided to try something a little different than my usual "what's happened on Instagram in the last thirty-five minutes?" break.
So instead I broke out the watercolors and listened to a podcast.
Best idea ever.
I'm back...
This was my desk at 8:18am. I was grading the the first stack of journal assignments from my Sociology of the Family class (just over 200 pages of work) and entering comments with every grade. I had "Meet the Press" on my iPad to listen to. And I had my phone nearby since I was tracking Sean who was running the Huntington Beach Half Marathon this morning.
As of this morning, I am back to regularly scheduled life. About a month ago now (where does time go?) I mentioned I wouldn't be around as much since I would be working on the stuff I was annoyingly vague about at the start of the year.
What I have been working on this whole time was job applications for a few full-time positions that are opening up locally. Two are actually at the community college I teach for (and graduated from). Over the last few weeks I have been writing and re-writing my curriculum vitae, covers letters and all the other bits & pieces.....pretty sure each one ended up with a dozen drafts.
I was hesitant to mention all of this since I didn't want to continuously share sad news if it doesn't work. However, by now I have managed to tell just about everyone I know...and it actually feels a lot better to hear them kindly say they are keeping their fingers crossed for me.
Now I am waiting to see if I get called for interviews and can break out my lucky skirt.
Sourdough Garlic Butter Croutons...
My love of croutons developed early on in my childhood. In fact there was one restaurant where my brother, sister and I would simply ask for a bowl of croutons and a side of ranch.
I pretty much could do the same thing as a full-grown adult.
Several years ago, when I learned how to make panzanella salad, it involved making your own croutons. It is so easy and so good and helps your house be scented like a buttery garlic toast factory.
Sourdough Garlic Butter Croutons
- 8-10 slices of sourdough bread (I like to slice a sourdough boule, but any bread would work)
- 6 tablespoons butter; melted
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut bread into half inch cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stove. Let cool slightly. Add sugar, onion powder, garlic powder and salt into the melted butter and mix well. Stir the olive oil to the butter mixture. Toss the bread cubes with the butter/oil mixture, coating each one well. Lay the bread cubes out in one even layer on a baking sheet. Cook the coated bread cubes for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven to stir and return to the oven for 3-5 more minutes, watching them closely to make sure they do not over bake.
Remove from oven and allow them to cool completely on the pan. Keep in mind if they are not completely dried and crunchy when they come out of the oven that they will continue to crisp up as they cool. I store the croutons in the fridge due to the butter and they keep up to a week.
Well Wishes...
Couldn't toss the scraps after making this year's planner dividers.
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared on Wednesdays.
