Bits and Blurbs While the Family Snoozes
The season of change has taken up residence in my home. Not autumn, not back-to-school time, and not Uncle-Sam-is-moving-us-again, but rather the season of No-matter-how-long-I-wait-and-hold-on-to-these-clothes-I-will-probably-never-fit-into-them-again. Trying to soften the blow, Dear Daughter reminded me that living in Oz for the next few years won’t offer too many opportunities for me to wear my wool/blanket style skirts, gorgeous hand knit sweaters, or heavier-lined career dresses that worked so well in Alaska.
I ended up making Goodwill’s day yesterday and feel better that my clothes will no longer just take up room in multiple closets at home when they could be put to better use by those who need them. I’ve held on to my clothing treasures since finding out I was pregnant with the Toddler. Four years is a long time to live in denial over hip-spread, you know?
But I kept the sweaters. Just in case Mother Nature is friends with Murphy’s Law (I’ve heard she is).
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…and the HAIR. Texas was so hot and dry last year that a little hair mousse and a straightening iron kept the wavy/curly stuff neat and frizz-free. Here in HumidityLand, my hair has few options other than a french braid or being pulled up by a banana clip. If I were to cut it much shorter for some heat relief, I’d walk around looking like a poofy shrubbery most of the time (okay, a much larger poofy shrubbery than at present). To chemically straighten, or not to chemically straighten…THAT is the question. NI!
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I tried a “simple” sewing (and FREE) pattern yesterday in an attempt to make a stuffed Halloween Kitty. I love the creator’s kitties that are featured in the current Mary Englebreight’s Home Companion magazine. Mine, not so much. Apparently I’m better with a glue gun than a sewing machine.
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Dear Daughter wants to decorate the house for Halloween later today, rather than waiting until next weekend. I’ll finish up the Halloween banner, maybe make some smaller ones for the kids’ rooms, and review one of my posts from last year for inspiration. Thank goodness for blog-documenting!
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My aide has loaned me her copy of The Kite Runner. You KNOW you’re in a good place when you work with colleagues who share book recommendations with one another! One of my parents also brought me a book about teaching in Alaska (it’s on my desk at work, and I can’t remember the title off the top of my head)- double SCORE!
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Autumn Cleaning Bug
Not only am I a “spring cleaner,” but I’m a holiday cleaner, a we’re moving cleaner, an oh-what-the-heck-this-room-needs-freshening-up cleaner, and an autumn cleaner. With all of the rain we’ve had this past week in Oz (along with several days of slightly cooler weather), some of the leaves are starting to fade on the trees. Mums in vibrant orange, yellow and deep burgundy have arrived in stores and nurseries too, and some of my favorite magazines have hit the racks, full of photos, tips, and recipes for enjoying autumn’s glory.
Yesterday I went for a drive, found my favorite teacher supply store, stocked up on “kid drawn leaves” (not really kid drawn, but cute nonetheless), Mary Englebreit pumpkin border and die cut pumpkins, hunted through two Goodwill stores searching for the perfect mirror to refinish (I’m trying to teach myself how to refinish wood and want to learn on something not-so-dear to my heart before I start eyeing our furniture) to no avail, and found some new orange craft ribbon for autumn banners. When I got home, the autumn cleaning bug bit.
When we first arrived in July, we had to endure some minor fiascoes that put off our usual unpacking routine. Delays included sealing the garage, having the walls repainted, the gutters cleaned and repaired, our rental property inspected to document all omissions/misrepresentations made by our agent, the air conditioner repaired, all with our furniture sitting in the middle of each room keeping boxes and boxes of our belongings company. Unpacking and getting settled usually takes us three days. This time, it took longer than three weeks, with the making-our-house-a-home part additionally delayed by the fact that school was starting.
The big pieces of furniture have been situated for over a month now, and almost all of the boxes have been unpacked with their contents sorted. Though a few new necessary bathroom repairs have popped up, almost everything has found its new home. But something has felt not quite right in each room. Last night as I was vacuuming what could best be called our den (though it’s more my blog/crafting/reading hidey hole that our toddler loves to chuck toys through as he runs laps from the living room to the kitchen), the autumn cleaning bug told me “move the furniture. Move it a LOT.” Two hours later, my loveseat and ottoman, desk, and bookcase were relocated, the computer and its accessories plugged in to a new outlet, and the mantle over the fireplace was toned down a bit with the removal of some photos. Less is more apparently!
Today with my family’s indulgence, I’ll see what other areas could be improved upon (the downstairs den could certainly use some fine tuning before Dear Daughter invites friends over for sleepovers) and after dusting, vacuuming, and moving furniture, I think I’ll also put up some autumn decor. Leaves, pip berry garlands, possibly some twinkle lights…
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Before I clean, I’m baking a pull apart breakfast loaf for Dear Husband’s birthday breakfast. Here are some other recipes I’m looking forward to trying this fall:
~ Michelle at Scribbit shares a cream cheese brownie pie…
~ Digging through the recipe box at Hostess With the Mostess, I found a recipe for caramel nut popcorn…
~ Posy Gets Cosy shares an easy corn chowder…
~… and The Pioneer Woman Cooks creamy carrot soup!
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When do *you* get bitten to clean, rearrange, and decorate?
Happy Coffee Anniversary
My husband and I celebrate two anniversaries each year: our wedding anniversary, and our coffee anniversary.
The wedding anniversary is self explanatory. The coffee anniversary is the date my husband and I met face to face for the first time.
After a month of him trying to convince me to just meet him for coffee, we met at the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company in Fairbanks, Alaska. He bought me an Irish Cream Latte, and he had a Hazelnut Latte. He was all in leather (he rode his Harley, I drove my truck) and I was in pink. Nervous laughter, smiles, and plenty of getting-to-know-you questions later, we agreed to meet again for dinner once he returned from a trip to Anchorage, Alaska. Two days later, he was in Anchorage, and I was woken up by my friend Polly, telling me to turn on the television immediately. It was September 11, 2001.
We’ve celebrated our coffee anniversary ever since, though I’m not sure we’ll be able to go out this year due to our work schedules. Maybe he can join me during lunch or prep, armed with a skinny vanilla latte…perhaps we’ll have to sneak out of the house in the early evening to pick up a cup of decaf somewhere nearby instead.
Happy Anniversary, Dear Husband.
Boy, Happy 18th Birthday
…you’re technically an “adult” now.
You might be taller than I am, you might be a bit more spry on your feet, but remember: I have all of your baby photos. ALL of them.
I love you, and I’m proud of you.
Graduate this year.
Drive safely.
Vote.
Make good choices.
Help others.
Enjoy the little things and the big things.
Grow. Learn. Think. Dream.
Be yourself.
Or else I start scanning the OTHER photos and posting them to my blog.
Love,
Mom
Happiness is…
Finding an empty playground on a quiet Sunday morning:
… trying out the slides:
… **shoving** Sister down the slide when she isn’t expecting it…
…learning to swing:
…and giving Mommy heart attacks:
It was a good day!
GoodyBlog, Shop.com and Samsung, THANK YOU!
Look at this happy face:
At the beginning of the summer, GoodyBlog posted a terrific Father’s Day Giveaway, with one of the prizes being a fifty inch television and stereo surround sound system offered by Shop.com. I posted a comment entering the giveaway, but never expected to win. Fast forward two weeks later, and I received an email notifying me that I had won the prize for my husband! He did the happy dance, I did the happy dance, and then Shannon (GoodyBlog) and Sheila (Shop.com) figured out the logistics of holding the television and stereo surround system for us as we moved from Texas to Kansas.
My husband opened the boxes this weekend, and my goodness, talk about a kid in a candy store! He set up the Samsung Surround Sound System (the wireless speakers are way cool!) which also is a multiple disk dvd player with a station for my iPod, and placed the television (also from Samsung) in its place of honor in the living room:
The picture is sharp, the sound is phenomenal, and my husband…is now glued to the couch.
Never fear, dear Readers, the kids and I will shanghai the remote this evening so we can watch a family movie together with popcorn!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Goodyblog, Shop.com and Samsung!
Playing Catch Up!
…with a little bit of this and a little bit of that today~
A very happy birthday to my grandmother, my childrens’ “G.G.” I spoke to her today on the phone, and she mentioned she enjoyed a celebratory cappuccino during lunch. She hasn’t had a jolt of caffeine in years, so her afternoon was probably spent hanging out with this fellow:
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It has been a busy first week of school with students. A lot of joy, tons of enthusiasm, a bit of drama, much-appreciated reassurances, and a remarkable amount of support from parents, students, new colleagues and administrators. I knew I would *love* returning to teach in the land of Oz!
Reading the comments many of you have left and the e-mails you’ve sent to me about my classroom decor, teaching philosophy, and your unselfish sharing of ideas, links and resources has been the icing on the cupcake, truly. I’m looking forward to exploring your sites and updating my blogroll this weekend! Professional Learning Communities and Collegial Ties certainly can and DO exist worldwide now!
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~Poppytalk Handmade got my attention with School Days, a back-to-school and fashion market.
~ Now that I’m teaching in a school that utilizes Smart Boards in the classroom, the nostalgia of chalkboards has hit me… Poppytalk has been similarly affected!
~Frazzy Dazzles has me wishing we were neighbors, crafting friends, because she captured The Very Hungry Caterpillar perfectly for her daughter’s birthday!
~The family wants me to try Crispy Yogurt Chicken, thanks to The Pioneer Woman Cooks…
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Tomorrow is Purple Day in my classroom! Yes Mom, I’ll be wearing my purple cowboy boots- but the students will be enjoying several stories about Harold and his purple crayon:
Need…More…Coffee
I’m ever-so-resistantly moving back to my school schedule. In bed by nine(ish), up at five(ish), out the door by seven(ish), needing another cup of coffee by three(ish). Problem is, if I drink coffee at three, I’ll be exhausted but unable to get to sleep at nine.
My toddler has been *so* helpful keeping me on my school schedule over the past two weekends as well. He’s awake and rarin’ to go at five. Not five(ish), FIVE. Bouncing. Running. Yelling. Happy, smiling, exuberant. No coffee needed. Not a chance of sleeping in for me. I feel no guilt sending in the attack toddler to wake up Daddy and Sister at seven. NONE.
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My husband took me to Lydia’s last night for our anniversary dinner. Num, num, and MORE NUM! He enjoyed the bottomless pasta (the servers had a much prettier sounding name for it) and I indulged with a perfectly cooked salmon steak on a bed of Yukon Gold potatoes and (get ready to catch my mother as she faints) green beans! We had a piece of “Happy Anniversary” Tiramisu for dessert, and then attempted to burn off some calories walking through Barnes and Noble.
Finding the newest editions of Somerset’s Artful Blogging, Somerset Home, and Somerset Life in stock at B-and-N also helped burn off some of our delicious dinner: jumping up and down with glee is exercise, right?
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Yes, I’m heading back to my classroom today. I managed to avoid it yesterday, though I did take the kids on a bit of a drive to find another teacher store out of town, and visited Goodwill to find a reading chair. Two vests and three purses for the pretend center later, I found a sturdy yet comfortable chair. I’ll be so happy when my class finally has that “all pulled together” look, ready for students with bright, shining eyes.
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Speaking of bright, shining eyes, get comfy, and watch this video of Benjamin Zander, speaking about classical music and life, and think about checking the connection you have with your students when you meet them for the first week of school:
Our Very Happy Fifth
Our special day, August 2, 2003:
We were married by Chaplain Davies…
With our children:
…and thanks to friends and family, had an incredible day!
(Photos by Karen W-C.)
~Green Maintenance Monday~
We’ve stalled a bit indoors as I won’t be able to set up the toddler’s playroom or my craft area until my kindergarten materials, books, and decor are delivered to my new classroom later this week. Dear Husband checked the trees in our yard today instead, looking for branches that needed to be trimmed while the kids and I checked on the seeds that we planted for “filler-type” greenery and flowers for the remaining summer months.
The nasturtiums and pumpkins have sprouted, though I’m not sure if we’ll actually get any pumpkins grown in time for Halloween with such a late planting. The kids were inspired by the pumpkin photos at Chance Family Happenings:
Dear Husband trimmed back some branches that were obscuring traffic/street signs:
…and he discovered a few branches that the electric company will have to come out to cut and remove (see where the power line is?):
Later this afternoon I’ll re-pot some of my indoor plants into larger containers, anticipating what new greenery I can find to put into the newly emptied pots!
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Thanks for being green, Kermit:
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~SmittenKitchen shares a recipe for Sauteed Radishes (yes, radishes!), Sugar Snap Peas and Dill
~Paper-and-String is working on Christmas in July (check out her trees, reindeer, and puddings)
~Doug has “heavier” reading on his summer book list than I do, but I’m intrigued after reading his thoughts on Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine. NCLB is an issue that has ties that stretch much further than our classrooms, school district offices, states, even country.
~Dear Daughter enjoyed her birthday, but wanted a plain ol’ vanilla cake (with purple streaks swirled in) with strawberry icing. Guess I’ll have to wait for another celebration to try The Pioneer-Woman-Cooks’ Yogurt and Orange Marmalade Cake.
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Happy Monday!
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