Can't catch UP!!

I haven't posted since the summer b/c I have not had any time!!!!! I look at this blog often and read friend's blogs but don't feel like I have time to update. This year has been crazy. I feel like each day goes by in a whirlwind. Then it's the end of the day and I spend another 2-3 hours getting things back in place and ready for the next day. I really don't know what it is about this year. My students are great! I have great kids and enjoy teaching them I just feel like I can't catch up. Anybody else in this boat? I'm about to go cut out some lamination.......

The rest of the pictures

Why is everyone else able to list a million pics and I can only list 5? I am computer illiterate.
The mirror over the dresser is coming down b/c I bought a better one at a second hand store. It has a gold frame which I am going to paint silver to go with the nighttable lamps (which used to be black but I painted those silver). I love to update old things.

May you live.....

May you live. in a beautiful bedroom. I feel that the bedroom should be a sanctuary. A place where you love to go and enjoy sleeping there. I am currently working on making the bedroom a sanctuary. It takes me a while b/c I am pretty picky about things and I have to find just the right stuff. It took me about 2 years to pick out a paint color and decide on a color scheme so here are some before and after pics of the bedroom. Painting is a lot of work!!

Creativity.....

The lunch magnets


This is the bench along with some baskets. Instead of book boxes, this year I am doing book baskets (found at $1 store on Tuesday). And the curtain is courtesy of Mary Lou
I love being creative using someone else's ideas. Most of the things I do creatively are for my job! I love to make things for work. And every year is fun and new for me so I usually like to start out the year with something a little different in my room. So, for now it is the new bench (see previous post) and I just made these cute little fun magnets. They are going to be used for lunch count in the mornings. For the past 5 years I have used small popsicle sticks. So, it was time for something new. In my room I don't personalize many things. I use a number system instead. That's why there are numbers on the magnets. My room colors this year are green, blue, and orange. The picture I am adding are of some of my classroom things and my new little lunch magnets. I am so proud!
And since I am feeling extra crafty these days....the first 4 people to post and comment on this blog post will get something crafty from me!!! ( I got this idea from someone else as well, all my creative ideas are borrowed/stolen/used) :)

DIY and Summer

I love both DIY projects and summer. DIY lends itself to the acheiver in me. I love finishing a project and saying "yep, I did that". One thing I finally did this summer was paint the bathroom. Not adding pics b/c it's just a plain green (same green as the bench in the pics). The other project was a bench for my classroom. I am intent on creating a classroom that is cozy and comfortable, especially creating places for comfy reading. So, I find an old, beat up toy chest/bench on the side of the road one day. I have Chet stop and I load it up in the car. I get it home and it sits in the garage for months waiting for some TLC. Picture it painted white, with blue showing through where the paint is chipped. The seating area is a velvet blue material that is dirty. It is in definite need of a clean up. So, over the weekend I started working on it and finally finished it yesterday. Check out the comfy bench. Feel free to stop by my classroom and have a sit and read a book. My newest favorite chapter book series is "My Weird School", #1 book titled Miss Daisy is Crazy! Kids love it!

DogSledding in Northern Minnesota

This blog is way late but I gotta get it out there. For spring break 09 we went to N. Minnesota, a little town called Ely (if there was a road that drove straight from "Ely-pronounced eee-ley", then we could have been in Canada in 15 minutes). We like to do things different so we decided to go dogsledding. We also enjoy going to cold places...for example we went to Chicago in 07 from Dec 25-Dec 30th, yes freezing but extremely fun. So a freezing wintry place for spring break would not be much of a stretch for us. We flew into Duluth then took a 5hr car trip north. We stopped at Lake Superior. It is by far "superior" to any lake I have ever seen. Check out the pics of me sitting on ginormous blocks of ice. That is lake superior.
We got to our little place and find out we would be staying in a small 2-story log cabin with all the amenities (minus a TV, radio, Computer, and phone signal), it was fantastic. No technology to distract us or take away from our time. From here I'm going to give you just a quick rundown or else this blog could go on for forever. The place employs a true french chef. Diner every night was fantastic, every meal included fabulous dessert (creme brulee, cream puffs, etc). We both gained 5 pounds on this trip. Each day we got our team of dogs and went sledding across the country, we sledded across several frozen lakes. Our guide took care of everything, including lunch that he cooked for us over a campfire 2 separate days. It was awesome. One day is snowed on us and it was gorgeous. The dogs were awesome and wonderfully sweet hard workers for pulling 2 grown adults across the country for 3 days. Everything was awesome. The town is so small that everything pretty much shuts down by 6pm. The company that does this is called Wintergreen. They have a pretty amazing story on how it all started. If you ever want to do something "different" you should try this. It truly is for ages 8-80!

Late Birthday Post

Okay now that it is summer vaca I have some time to post. First I will tell of my fun birthday that my FUN husband came up with. It was a western murder mystery birthday party. He got some western decor, asked guests to dress western, and even had the script ready for all the players. For dinner we had baked potatoes and chili, because that's what cowboys & cowgirls eat. After dinner the party began. Each person had a part to play in this western mystery. There were 7 rounds and at the end of each round you could ask questions of any character to see who you thought the murderer was. Before the 7th round we each wrote down who we thought the murderer was. We then went on and read the last of our scripts to find out the murderer. Only one person guessed correctly, way to go Lance. That dastardly Justin was the murderer. My sweet hubby got an ice cream cake from marble slab (our favorite ice cream store) for dessert. Good times were had by all. Check out the funny pics. Thanks to all who came!