Monday Made It

Happy Monday y'all! Last week was a rough one for me & my Monday started out with excellent news with the announcement that I WON the 3-5 Bundle of Sunshine from the FL Teacher Blog Hop! I'm not sure if I was the only one to win it, but if I was, I was 1 out of almost 1,200 entries! 

I was so excited & I cannot wait to go through it all & see the what wonderful things I can share with my 4th graders.

First things first, Linking Up with First with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It 

 While I did make most of what you see in the photo, my focus for the week is the spotted curtain. At the end of our kitchen counter there is a built in "desk" of sorts. It's much too tall & really not functional for us as a work space. What we always need more of is storage options, so behind that curtain is a plastic drawer storage unit full of randoms, my Wok, & a 3 gallon drink canister. 

I purchased the fabric from Jo Ann's & it was an easy sewing project. Unfortunately, I fell in love with the fabric (it was freakin' $20 a yard) but at 50% & I only purchased 3/4 of a yard with some extra, I scarified the $8. 

I also apologized for the low quality photos, I had to downgrade back to an iPhone 4 because my iPhone 5 is a piece of you know what & will be slumming it for a few months. Personally, I wish I could rock one of these sweet things again; I would do it in a heartbeat.

Here's the link for the Chalkboard Frame

Here's the link for the Bulletin Board Frame

The second is a Made It for myself & sort of for someone else. I am making a good friend her wedding garter & I wanted to experiment & practice with one, so I made myself a headband!

I found the patterned fabric chiffon at Jo Ann's on sale & just loved it! The best thing about that flower is that it really is upside down. I was experimenting with a tutorial, but as I was making it I realized it looked better upside down, so I added the pearls to the center & think it looks great! Can't wait to finish the garter!

Cheers to a new week! 

It's my last week working at the Child Development Center & I'm ready to get fully into teacher mode very soon!

PS Does ANYONE out there know how to get rid of those little "pin it" buttons that show up on the right of my pictures? I seriously have tried everything I know to get rid of them & they are still around. I hate how they clutter & off set my screen. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE someone help a sister out!

5 for Friday (ehhh Saturday)

 I'm a little behind again for my 5 for Friday, so it's 5 for the day after Friday.

During the summer it rains almost every day in Florida (I say almost because it hasn't rained for two days & I'm doing a little sun dance)

The rain comes in big & usually lasts only a few hours, but it comes in fast & hard & then it's gone. It really puts a damper on outdoor activities, but when it's over it leaves a pretty amazing going away present:

Double rainbow & no filter used. The sky was on fire that evening.

My Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner came in the mail this week! In the past, I have had her Life Planner & Life Wedding Planner & loved them both. They were especially great for the 2012-2013 year when I was teaching, in grad school, & planning a wedding. I'm hoping I can use the TLP to its full potential this year. I love that it's personalized. I may have been "Mrs. Alexander" for a year now, but I still get a little smitten to be a Mrs. 

And I just loved the sand dollars, thought it would be perfect for Florida.

Like I mentioned in Made It Monday, I had my first HR meeting this week with the district. I didn't learn as much as I hoped, it was just an hour of pushing as much paperwork at us as possible, followed by ANOTHER round of fingerprinting (my 4th in a year--you'd think they would've found a way to simplify this, but I guess if I'm paying it doesn't matter) & another round of drug testing. The drug testing requirement is new to me, drug testing is not required in the midwest. 

Hopefully my results get processed quickly so I can finally get into my classroom and meet with my team. I'm getting anxious to want to get more figured out and get the piles of classroom things that are building up in my apartment out of here.

Today I needed some ME time. I'm bad about doing things for myself (like pedis or getting my hair done). Usually, those things come every few months (maybe even a year..) I have a hard time spending money on things like that.

Brandon, the hubs, got home from a 28 hour shift around 11:30 am & has been sleeping most of the day. Doctor's wife & still new Floridian has it's lonely times. Thankful for our new apartment location, I only had to walk downstairs to the nail salon to get my toes touched by OPI's Short Story.

 I had to dig for this last one, but in connection to #4, I've been feeling a little lonely these days & missing my Missouri friends & family a lot lately. I haven't seen a lot of friends since Christmas break & we've seen both sides of our family on & off for random/short visits since then. But I'm very excited because we have a few weddings coming up in the fall that we are able to go back & be apart of. One of Brandon's best friends (& our Best Man) is getting married Labor Day weekend in St. Louis (B is the best man for him) and we are both flying back for. Another one of Brandon's good friends is getting married two weeks later (B's a groomsmen) in Dallas--as of now I can't go, but I'm staying hopefully it'll work out. And finally, I am flying back to St. Louis in November for a sorority sister's wedding. Lots of friend & family time in the next few months & here's to more SW Rapid Rewards!

Cheers to a new week!

Monday Made It III & Classroom Library

Monday has snuck up on us once again, but in the summer, I tend to lose track of even what day it is.

But it's time for Monday Made it with 4th Grade Frolics! I actually almost finished my pillow project!

I got an email from JoAnn Fabric with their weekly specials and the pillow forms were all 50% off. I knew I wouldn't find a better deal than that, so I bought three 24 x 24 and used my teacher discount for a total of $24. 

Jo Ann Fabrics is definitely my favorite place to go for every craft project I have. Not only do they almost always have what I need, they accept any and all coupons: emails, app, newspaper, & one competitor coupon, plus my teacher discount!  

Here's all three together.

 I measured out black fleece for the back and I'm really happy with how they turned out. The reason I said I almost finished it is, I still need to seal the bottom of the pillows, I'm just not sure if I'm going to add buttons or a zipper.

 Tomorrow is my pre-employment meeting with HR. I'm really looking forward to it because I get all the details of my job, my schedules, and my finger printing and drug testing done. When I get those cleared, I can finally get into my classroom and meet with my team. Right now, I feel like I'm looking into a dark hole for what I'm going to get with my class and curriculum. 

The first dark hole is the reading levels of my students. Teaching kindergarten and second grade for the last four years, I have a small classroom library, mainly of picture books, and easy reads. I was thinking I would need to hit up garage sales to start expanding to higher level readers, mainly reading levels ranging from 2nd grade-5th grade. My friend, and former coworker, told me yesterday that my old school is getting rid of all their teacher's older books; varying all reading levels. I jumped at the chance to go "shopping" for my classroom and I hit the jack pot!

I filled an entire large Costco bag and a smaller bag full of books. I got several copies of Shiloh, Tuck Everlasting, American Girl series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Coming to America, plus tons more!

What are some other books/authors/series that your kids love? 

And on a random note, I signed up for my SECOND half marathon. I ran my first half ever last April in DC: the Nike Women's Half Marathon, and I really enjoyed the experience (I still hate running) but it was a bucket list for me and something great I accomplished. I didn't want for it to stop there, so I signed up for the Disney Princess Half here in Orlando next February. I'm very excited!

Thanks for stopping by my Monday Made It! Head over to 4th Grade Frolics to see the link up party!

Monday Made It II & Fantastic Finds Mashup

Here's to week number two of Monday Made It, linking up with 4th Grade Frolics! I did not get any projects finished from last week due to those holiday cocktails I predicted and I started back to work at the part time job I have had since September. 

But here is the almost finished product of my hall passes. I still need to attach hooks and necklaces to the pass.

My inspiration:

I can't get into my classroom until after my pre-employment meeting and fingerprinting results. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with what will need to be done to my classroom and I've only seen it once. But I am excited to get started and already have a rough draft plan of what "theme" I want to go with. I'm thinking black fabric for all the bulletin boards with bright neon colors for the boarders and accessories.

Below are some of my Pins from Pinterest, that I'm hoping will come together nicely in my room.

number one | number two | number three

number four | number five

I love quotes and printables. Here are a few of my favorites that I want to have in the room.

one | two | three | four | five |

Cheers to a more productive & happy week!