Just all kinds of stuff...

Oh, goodness.

Craziness.

Guys, school starts in 3 days! Thursday. I mean, is that not crazy?

 

Yes, it is. It's crazy. I'll answer for you.

 

I'll say I'm ready. I guess I am. The room is done and ready for the kids. I'm definitely more prepared this year than last year because I actually know what third grade is like, now. That's a step in the right direction, right?

 

I'll be honest, though. I'm still nervous. I guess I'll always be nervous before a new school year starts, no matter how many new school years I've prepared for. I'm a worrier, what can I say?

 

In the meantime, I have about a million and one pictures on my phone that I want to share. Mostly of Finley. Because she's darn precious, ya'll.

 

 See?

 

 I had to go to the dermatologist last Friday in Franklin. And, I went to meet my mom for lunch at Merridee's. It's the BEST place to eat lunch in downtown Franklin. We always get the chicken salad sandwich, pasta salad and fruit tea - yum, yum!

 

 I was looking through the brochures that I had my kids last year make for my kids this year. They're basically just full of information about our class. And, I had forgotten about this little gem, ha! I promise I don't laugh at kids who say words wrong. Every time.

 

 This turkey spent about 15 minutes standing on her hind legs and growling at the kitchen. Because the ice dropped into the container in the freezer. Yeah. Fun times.

 

 And, her new favorite place to lay is on my keyboard. Maybe because it's warm? It's fine and dandy until she inevitably hits a button and messes up everything I'm doing on my computer. Not so cute then, I have to say.

 

No story with this one. I just like it :)

 In puppy jail...

 

 Have you been to Target lately? They have the BEST shoes right now! And, I couldn't decide which ones I liked best, so I just got them both. Yeah, I did.

 

This is our other new hangout. We LOVE to growl and bark at cars, bike riders, squirrels, children, leaves, air, grass, imaginary things...

 This weekend, we had a girl weekend at my grandma's. My great uncle was turning 80 years old. So, we had a little fun and made him a snack card!

 

  The next day, we went to the We Care. It's like a Goodwill. Only better! I got all these books for 13 dollars! I really like to buy books from my childhood to put in my library. I figure these kiddos get exposed to SpongeBob enough, they need some classics! Like, Full House books? Classics.

 

 Just swinging away in the country.

 

Ha! This pictures cracks me up.

I've been awful about posting house pictures. I have had a new hutch in my house for 4 months that I haven't even mentioned. I don't know what's gotten into me. But, I found this deer head/antler thingy at TJ Maxx and I fell in love! A little white spray paint did the trick and I'm excited to move it around from room to room. But, since school starts Thursday, I'll betcha' it'll stay put for a while :)

 

Welp, since I have inservice at 8 in the morning, I should go to bed. And, by bed, I mean scower the internet for more information about the Guidice's going to jail. Did you hear about that? CrAzY!

 

Toodles!

 

 

Beach Trip!

I've been in Destin this week on a girl's trip! It's been so much fun! We're leaving in the morning. Here are some pictures. And, we don't do bathing suit pictures so they are verrrry limited, ha! 

 

Before we left, I had to take the pup to my mom's. I'll just say it: she likes my mom ten times more than she'll ever like me. They are best buds! I'm a little worried that she's gonna be sad when I bring her back home tomorrow. But, I miss that little stinker a ton!

 

My view the whole way down to Florida :)

 

The first night, the sky was gorgeous! 

 

Sometimes, you just have to take a selfie when you're at the beach.

 

Dinner at Pompano Joe's, when I inadvertently got a salad that was quite possibly the biggest salad in the world.

 

Relaxing at the condo! 

 

Last night, The Bachelorette was on and it was pouring outside. So, we had a nail painting party! I'm currently obsessed with China Glaze nail polish. I just bought Flip Flop Fantasy and Pool Party and they are amazing! 

Tonight on the beach, we saw THREE weddings! Who knew Tuesday was the day everybody got married? 

We found a girl to take our picture. I'm just going to post them all because I like them :) But, they're pretty much all the same, ha!

It was such a fun trip!

Eta: I just got home and Finley didn't forget who I was! Yay! I don't know who was happier. Well, actually, I do. It was definitely me! So happy to get my girl back :)



Life Lately...

Lots going on. None of it important. Shall I make a list? Yeah. I'll make a list.

1. My newest obsession is Instagram. I know, that's not new. But it's new to me because I'm super lame. If you want to follow some random pictures of food, a spoiled rotten puppy and all my latest crafts and adventures, my account is lindrid. (Autocorrect just made me type that nine times: awesome!) I'd link it so all you have to do is click. But, who are we kidding? I have no idea how to do that.

2. So, as I've been on Instagram a bunch  lately (too much?) I have a few new favorite apps! Well, the first is not new. I've been using it  for a while. It's called Red Stamp. It's a way to make digital cards on your phone with your pictures. 

Look at all those choices! Here's a pic I made with the app:

The other app I've been using is A Beautiful  Mess. It's totally amazing! You can add fonts and borders to pictures and they're all super cute!

And, here's a sample:

Obviously, I try out all apps using my favorite little subject!

3. I've had the laziest Fourth of July weekend ever! I've been at my parents a few days because I can convince myself it's a mini vacation, ha! It's rained non-stop so fireworks plans were cancelled. We've been puppy sitting for my brother and my mom and I have done a little shopping and crafting. That's honestly it. It's been so relaxing! I'm happy to relax because I have lots of stuff planned next week and  a girl's beach trip Friday: can't even wait! Here are some pics from the weekend:

We made seven pom poms. Four for my classroom and three for a friend's. Super easy!

My mom made the Pioneer Woman's BBQ and it is seriously amazing! And it makes a ton. Highly recommend it!

I've decided this weekend that my dog is a thug. She may look sweet but she just terrorizes Hampy non-stop. She runs up to her and nips at her and will NOT back down, even when Hampy does it back. I have a terrorist puppy! At least she's a cute terrorist...

Hampy girl is pretty cute, too.

And, this needs no explanation. 

4. I spent another day at school last week and got a ton done. Other than helping a friend this week, I'm through going up there until at least the week of the 20th. And, we have inservice starting pretty close to then because school starts August 1st. I feel so much relief knowing it's mostly done. Now I can focus on some things I want to change this year academically and not have to worry about organizing and cleaning. Woo hoo! I'll do a seperate post with a bunch of pictures closer to the beginning of the year. But, here's a sneak peek for now...

5. I figured out a fun way to add backgrounds to my iPad and phone! This may be common knowledge, I don't know. But, if you go to Fabric.com, you can save images of any fabric you want to your device! And then, you can just go in and crop out the ruler on the bottom and save them as a wallpaper! 

Fun, huh? And the best part is that there are literally thousands to choose from!

Oh, also? If you need fabric, that site is awesome and very cheap! Who knew?

Okay, I think that's all. 

Have a good rest of the weekend!

Happy Fourth of July!

Somebody Stop Me!

No really.

 

I can NOT stop making stuff for my classroom! It's sooo fun and sooo addicting! This is not a new problem for me. I go through this every summer. One year, I made so much stuff that I lost the feeling in my right hand for two weeks. I'm not exaggerating.

 

I wish I was.

 

But, guys, this is me:

 

Can I get an amen??

 

But, honestly, I just enjoy making stuff. I took art all four years in high school and I think classroom crafting is my way of getting out all that art angst I have since I don't do it regularly anymore. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

 

This weekend, I went to Michaels. Big mistake. The canvases were 50% off. So, I got one. This wasn't just a frivolous purchase. I lost one of my favorite classroom pieces in the Great Floor Waxing of 2013.

 

 

RIP, painting. I will miss you. We had some good times.

 

So, anyways, I took the new canvas and painted it blue. Then, I made a sun with scrapbook paper, wrote the word shine on it and used a generous helping of Modge Podge to fancy it up. The inspiration came from a painting I had seen on Pinterest a long time ago.

 

 

And, waa-laa!

 

I mean, it's far from perfect. There's a giant bubble in the middle, ha. But, I like it. It serves it's purpose: it's colorful and fun. (It's also not that dark. I'm just obsessed with dark filters on Instagram...) I'll show you where it's new home is when school starts. I just know you're on pins and needles!

 

This project led to another one. I've been wanting to make a balloon wreath for two years and I just never got around to it. So, I bought a five dollar wreath at Walmart, about a million push pins and some balloons.

 

 

I'm in love.

 

I did take the pins out of the ribbon and hot glued that sucker on when I got it to school. I just have a very sketchy glue gun at home. It was a relatively quick and definitely easy craft. It was kind of therapeutic sticking all those pins in... it doesn't take much, folks.

 

Today, I went to the Parent Teacher Store. I have to say, every year, I buy less and less there. I just think all that mass-produced stuff is losing it's appeal to me. I did buy one border for my hallway bulletin board, some name tags for the desks and some clips to hang things from the ceilings.

 

Next, I went into Hobby Lobby. Or, as I like to call it, Heaven on Earth.

 

And, guess what?

 

Ribbon was 50% off!

 

 

I went a little crazy.

 

(To be fair, I already had two of them. But, yeah. Still crazy.)

 

I also got some chevron fabric to use in my room. I want to cover some of my bookcases and I needed something kind of simple.

 

 

When I got home, I put all that ribbon to good use. I have this one wall in my classroom that gives me trouble. Here it is:

 

 

The problem is the space between the two bulletin boards. It's just awkward because of the tv. I tried hanging anchor charts there and it didn't work well. Plus, those cords hanging down are obnoxious, but necessary. So, yeah. I wanted something colorful and useful to stay there permanently.

 

Well, I used some inspiration from about three different pins I saw on Pinterest and decided to make an academic vocabulary word wall for that space. I have a word wall. But, it gets really cluttered and I hate that the words are all mixed together.

 

Here's what I made:

 

 

I'm so excited to see how they look in that space! I pretty much had to hide my keys from myself to keep from driving up to school this afternoon and hanging them up, ha! I plan to make vocabulary cards on white index cards and even including the definitions on the cards. And the best part? Third graders can make them themselves! I love that the words will all be split up by subject instead of just jumbled up on one big wall. And, I'll still use the big word wall for our weekly vocabulary words we learn from the stories we read. Plus, I think it will make me be more conscious about vocabulary which is one of my goals this year. Win/win, friend.

 

This weekend, my mom's gonna' help me turn this:

 

 

into some fun pom-poms!

 

Seriously, somebody needs to stop me.