A Midsummer's (I wish) Post

Hey all!

It has been such a lovely summer...I have been relaxing and enjoying myself as much as I possibly can.  I am not ready to completely get back into the "school mindset" because I still have 16 days of summer vacation left (but who's counting?).

My first order of business for easing back into things was to prepare all of my media outlets for parents.  I heard that our teacher assignment letters were going out this week and was sure that as soon as that happened, parents that did not alread know me would be trying to check me out. 

So I did this...

Just a little hello for those "proactive" parents! LOL! 

You can see the post here.

I hope that I can get more parents to follow this year.  I think that part of my problem last year was that I lost motivation when I felt that nobody was looking.  We shall see.

My list is long friends......and I am a Master Procrastinator. Big time. 

Maybe you all will keep me on my toes this year?

Here are a couple of non-teaching fun things that I have been up to recently!

 I spent a week at Keuka Lake, one of the finger lakes in Central NY. Hubby's smile says it all.

 I photographed a lot! This was at Bully Hill Winery on Keuka Lake. If you have never had wines from the Finger Lakes region, do yourself a favor and do it. Now!

 I embarked on a "healthier lifestyle" journey in June.  It has had some positive results even though it has not quite yielded what I expected. I did get a Vegetti...along with the wine, you need this. Trust me. Plus I get the giggles when I say "Vegetti" for some reason.

 My daughter and I redid some chairs for our craft room.
Chairs - $0
Paint - $0
Fabric - $12 for both
Time laughing and crafting with teenaged daughter?
You guessed it.....Priceless!

 On our twice-yearly trip to Vermont we stopped (as we always do) into the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester VT. This place is awesome and a "must see" if you are a lover of any kind of book. This stone is outside on the sidewalk and made me laugh.  Here is the link:
Northshire Bookstore

 Looked at clouds like this all summer long...Mother Nature must have felt sorry for us after the horrible, cold, bitter winter we had. She blessed us with beautiful weather.

Speaking of the horrible winter, an ice dam caused my old front door to freeze shut so I got a new door and decided to throw caution to the wind and paint it bright yellow. My house is white with black shutters (yawn) so the old girl needed some happiness! Apparently it will bring "energy, positivity and joy to my front steps". Come on in!

I have a school-related project that I am doing tonight and will share with you all tomorrow! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Back on the wagon!

Wow...looking back at the blog made me realize what a HARD year I had.  It seems that I lost all hope in about November!!!! Ha!

Back on track!

Letter A done!

One book down!!
Head over to my personal blog to check out my first post on the A-Z Reading Challenge!

Reading A-Z Challenge

Click below and head over to my personal blog to read about my latest attempt to get more reading in!

Currently November

I am doing my very first Currently with Farley (Yes! my first! ) and was shocked to realize that it was actually November!  Where did October go????

Listening:  

I love Jennifer Nettles!  Her newest album is what is playing on my computer while I am typing this! If you love to sing along really loud in your car, you will NOT be disappointed! I linked the pic to Amazon if you want to check it out.

I also have been previewing Idina Menzel's holiday album but cannot get it yet….I just can't go there yet.

Loving:

This view. 

This chair.

This sunny day!

Thinking:

It really was a fun time…..

 10 different kinds of Candy Corn and other things that tasted like Candy Corn!  A huge hit!

Pretty, right?

Wanting:

Who doesn't want more weekend….?

Needing:

My husband's family has endured 2 great losses in their family since last Thanksgiving.  It is going to be very hard to go to Vermont for Thanksgiving this year and not feel the huge hole in that family.  I will need to collect some extra strength to support my hubby and my children. 

Reading:

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison.  I was a HUGE fan of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series and was sad when it was over.  Being a lover of series books, I picked this up in a bookstore and am plugging along.  It is not a bad story and I like the characters so I may go to book 2 when I am done.  Does anyone out there have any series that they would recommend????

Five for Friday

I am back in the saddle.  

Last year was a difficult one. 

I had a VERY needy class and a TON of stress.  

I needed every ounce of energy just to survive.  

I know that it sounds dramatic but that is exactly how I felt.  That being said…I am back!  Smaller class, less needs, renewed energy!  I figured that I would start with a 5 for Friday on an ACTUAL Friday!

#1

I work with lovely people.  This mini carrot muffin was at my door one morning this week.  I saved it for as long as I could….so yummy!

#2

I am loving having my lunch made for the week!  I have been using the recipes from Organize Yourself Skinny to make my week even less stressful. I have loved every one of them.  You have to be willing to eat the same thing every day but that is not a problem for me!

#3

I am trying to rejuvinate my love for Fall.  Lately I have been down on autumn due to the fact that winter follows it, but how can you not love the beauty of this pumpkin????

#4

This is my newest addiction.  I have loved to scrapbook all of my life.  I loved the cut and paste part but as I got older and had less time, Project Life came around.  As if it could not get ANY better, the Project Life App entered existence and I can now make scrapbook pages while I am waiting for the kids to finish up with after school practices.  Check out Project Life if you love archiving your memories!

#5

Hey! How about a bit from the classroom?  We have been working on learning about workstations this week.  This group is really catching on and is enjoying moving around to the different stations.

Listening Station

Helping each other with a word search.

Sight words at the magnetic letter center!

and more sight words….

…and even more sight words….

Christmas Posts!

I just uploaded a few posts over on my classroom blog….

Stop over and peek if you have a few!

Christmas Elf Stations

Christmas Jammie Buddy Reading

Christmas Jammie Day

Have a Merry!