By nature, I am not the most creative person.
People think that I am.
I am not.
This is why I LOVE Pinterest. I get so many ideas from this site. By ideas, I mean I pretty much copy everything I like. I have teachers ask where I came up with bulletin boards and decorations often. My answer is always Pinterest.
As with most teachers, I start planning for the next school year before summer has even hit. I like to have all my back to school bulletin boards figured out before I leave for summer so that is one less stress for me. I had everything done for all four boards. I was excited! I LOVED the board I found with all the students names. I am going to make a poster with the "In This Classroom" saying. I found one on Pinterest that I liked the wording up best. I even created the poster both in Pages as well as on a template from Staples. I was then going to find a website to print out all of my students' names in bubble letters for them to color in and have hanging for the first month or so. It may seem a little primary for a Middle School room, but the kids LOVE to color the first day. Plus it gets them back into the swing of things.
School starts in two weeks. I decided I should start working on it today. After Little Man went to sleep, the Hubs left for work, I turned off the tv and started to search. I have a couple of students who have less than common names. I was having a hard time finding all their names on the same website. I went to Pinterest to look at my original pin so I could find where this teacher got her names from.
It is gone.
I have no idea where the pin went and why it disappeared. I know I shouldn't be freaking now. I searched other ways to do it as well. The art teacher also told me she taught the students how to write their names in bubble letters when they were in second grade. There is that option as well. I really need to move on from this.
But I want to know where my pin is...
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
The Final Days of Summer
I am still trying to cross of ideas on my 101 Things To Do. It seems like crossing those things off my list is the only way that my blog is also getting updated. Whatever works, right?
Today I took the little man to The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana. It is a field trip that I took my students on a couple of years ago. I have wanted to return and enjoy it on my own for some time. Now that summer is almost over, I took the opportunity to get there. My mom had never been, so she came as well. It was a hot and humid day, but it is very peaceful and pretty to go see. If anyone is in the Midwest, it is a journey worth taking.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the shrine is because of the gift shop as well. They have some amazing things there. When I was there, I found this plaque.
I should have bought it, but I didn't have the money at the time. They didn't have it this time around. The only place I can find it is in St. Louis, MO, but that is a long drive from Chicago. I will eventually order it, but this weekend is going to be expensive since I am going to Irish Fest in Milwaukee. That is another event for another blog.
Today I took the little man to The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana. It is a field trip that I took my students on a couple of years ago. I have wanted to return and enjoy it on my own for some time. Now that summer is almost over, I took the opportunity to get there. My mom had never been, so she came as well. It was a hot and humid day, but it is very peaceful and pretty to go see. If anyone is in the Midwest, it is a journey worth taking.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the shrine is because of the gift shop as well. They have some amazing things there. When I was there, I found this plaque.
I should have bought it, but I didn't have the money at the time. They didn't have it this time around. The only place I can find it is in St. Louis, MO, but that is a long drive from Chicago. I will eventually order it, but this weekend is going to be expensive since I am going to Irish Fest in Milwaukee. That is another event for another blog.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Last Minute Summer Plans
So I can say that two more things are crossed off my list. One of the items I actually did, one is because it is no longer necessary.
My first thing I will tell you about is the dress. My husband's family gets VERY dressed up for weddings. I am talking gowns. My family wears cocktail style dresses. Every time I have gone to a wedding, I feel like a sore thumb. The hubs always tells me I look fine, but I feel out of place. It has been a thing with me that I will find a dress for one of these weddings. Recently, his cousin got engaged. I found out the wedding was going to be in October. I started the search for the dress immediately. I have an issue with buying clothes online. I would much rather try them on in the store than hope they work and have to deal with the hassle of going to the post office to return them in they don't. I went to a couple of store websites, but the dresses I liked were in the $300 range. I couldn't justify spending that. I knew that I would only wear this dress once. There was no need to spend that kind of money.
One day we were out shopping without the little one, so I decided I would try going to Ross. I ended up finding a dress I really liked there. It was only $40. I snatched that dress up right away. I wasn't 100% in love with it, but it was closer to the target than anything else I had seen. I decided I would still look around and know that I had that as a back up in case nothing else came through. At the very least, I would be able to wear it later for another wedding in any event.
My cousin and I went shopping at an outlet mall last week. It was an odd outlet mall in the respect that only half the stores treated it like an outlet. The other half just treated it like a store front. Dress Barn was the kind that it was just a store front. There was the dress I had coveted for months at a fraction of the cost. I am not sure if it is the brand or the material, but the dress I loved online was in front of me for only $60. The only problem was they did not have my size. Thankfully there is a dress barn right by my house. I went there this week and picked it up. It is the kind of dress that I should be able to wear to both sides of the family. It will fit in with the hubs side because it is long. It isn't too fancy, though, so I should be able to wear it to my side of the family as well. And, since we have five weddings in the next year and a half, it should get a workout!
My other task that I crossed of my list is getting Smitty groomed. I ended up not having to do that because we rehomed Smitty this week. The hubs allergies were getting out of control. He was taking his inhaler more often, and he needed to be out of the house more often to get away from the fur. I was vacuuming the house four to five days a week, and my vacuum was getting clogged every time. It was just becoming too much. Plus, I live in an 800 square foot house. He was way to big to have a baby as well. He was just a big puppy all the time, and sometimes he forgot how big he was and how little John was. I started to put the feelers out there, and eventually a new family came through.
They are friends of my sister. I could not ask for a better family for him. They have two older children who will play with him and love on him so much more than I could. He also has a new sister who is a big puppy as well. When we left, the two of them were running around playing tag. The new family kept giving me hugs as I was sobbing. It was hard, but I know this is the best thing for him. My house feels so much bigger now that he is gone. I don't know if I like it or not. I did friend the family on Facebook. They have posted pictures and texted me a couple of times. I am so glad it worked out the way it did. It really made a horrible situation that much easier.
My first thing I will tell you about is the dress. My husband's family gets VERY dressed up for weddings. I am talking gowns. My family wears cocktail style dresses. Every time I have gone to a wedding, I feel like a sore thumb. The hubs always tells me I look fine, but I feel out of place. It has been a thing with me that I will find a dress for one of these weddings. Recently, his cousin got engaged. I found out the wedding was going to be in October. I started the search for the dress immediately. I have an issue with buying clothes online. I would much rather try them on in the store than hope they work and have to deal with the hassle of going to the post office to return them in they don't. I went to a couple of store websites, but the dresses I liked were in the $300 range. I couldn't justify spending that. I knew that I would only wear this dress once. There was no need to spend that kind of money.
One day we were out shopping without the little one, so I decided I would try going to Ross. I ended up finding a dress I really liked there. It was only $40. I snatched that dress up right away. I wasn't 100% in love with it, but it was closer to the target than anything else I had seen. I decided I would still look around and know that I had that as a back up in case nothing else came through. At the very least, I would be able to wear it later for another wedding in any event.
My cousin and I went shopping at an outlet mall last week. It was an odd outlet mall in the respect that only half the stores treated it like an outlet. The other half just treated it like a store front. Dress Barn was the kind that it was just a store front. There was the dress I had coveted for months at a fraction of the cost. I am not sure if it is the brand or the material, but the dress I loved online was in front of me for only $60. The only problem was they did not have my size. Thankfully there is a dress barn right by my house. I went there this week and picked it up. It is the kind of dress that I should be able to wear to both sides of the family. It will fit in with the hubs side because it is long. It isn't too fancy, though, so I should be able to wear it to my side of the family as well. And, since we have five weddings in the next year and a half, it should get a workout!
My other task that I crossed of my list is getting Smitty groomed. I ended up not having to do that because we rehomed Smitty this week. The hubs allergies were getting out of control. He was taking his inhaler more often, and he needed to be out of the house more often to get away from the fur. I was vacuuming the house four to five days a week, and my vacuum was getting clogged every time. It was just becoming too much. Plus, I live in an 800 square foot house. He was way to big to have a baby as well. He was just a big puppy all the time, and sometimes he forgot how big he was and how little John was. I started to put the feelers out there, and eventually a new family came through.
They are friends of my sister. I could not ask for a better family for him. They have two older children who will play with him and love on him so much more than I could. He also has a new sister who is a big puppy as well. When we left, the two of them were running around playing tag. The new family kept giving me hugs as I was sobbing. It was hard, but I know this is the best thing for him. My house feels so much bigger now that he is gone. I don't know if I like it or not. I did friend the family on Facebook. They have posted pictures and texted me a couple of times. I am so glad it worked out the way it did. It really made a horrible situation that much easier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)