Monday, January 31, 2011

Digging into the Inspiration File

Here are some etsy items I've recently saved to my inspiration folder. I don't have all the links (shame on me), but they were all pretty early on in the "pillow" search... I'll see what I can do.

I've got the burlap and the canvas, I just need to figure out where to find a bag of buttons.








Maybe I posted these because it's Monday and I wished I was laying on a pillow all day... Ha! Happy nearly-Tuesday!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

End of January!

Well, another week has flown by and now it's nearly February. I didn't accomplish much this week as far as the house is concerned, but I've been pondering things, so that's somewhat productive. What have I been pondering?

1. Fabric to make dining room curtains. I love the fabric Joi uses in her dining room at Nuestra Vida Dulce for her no-sew curtains.
She got this Amy Butler fabric at www.fabric.com so I checked the site out. Since I want to get the Andalusia Rug from West Elm (or something similar, which I can't really find for any cheaper), I thought this fabric was too green. But I don't want yellow curtains and a yellow rug. What do you think about this combo?

  
So that's one thing I'm pondering.

2. Another thing I've been thinking about is the living room. I've got the "ok" from John to buy a credenza, order ceiling medallions for the walls, and order pillows. I am completely overwhelmed by Etsy's pillow collection, but would like to try to go out of my comfort zone and buy less matchy-matchy pillows. I would also like to cut out the sizes of the medallions to test them out on the walls before ordering - so that'll take a little time. As far as a credenza, craigslist is hit or miss. It looks like to get the mid-century Danish modern style I'd like to get, it'll run around $400. Which really isn't bad for an entertainment center made of solid wood. I don't want to paint it, so I'm in the market for a certain color, too. I'll keep you posted - this has been a long time coming!


3. And finally, I've been thinking about my mom's house. She's been trying to find a paint color forever, and nothing seems to look like the swatch when they bring it home. It's very odd. I've even sent her home with some of my neutral-colored tester bottles, to no avail. The Glidden "olivewood" that my house is almost entirely painted looks nothing in her house like it does in mine. They're going to be re-doing the kitchen soon, but they also want to update the house as a whole. They have beautiful dark-stained 6-panel doors, but they also have a dated wood baseboard throughout. So, we've been toying with the idea of going white. However, she doesn't want to paint the doors white. What do you think of the mixed finish look? According to the D&R nest board, opinions are mixed. Here are a few photos I snagged as examples:

A very clean look here, especially with the very subtle wall color. Makes the wood door pop.

Another great example of how it can work, especially with the right paint color.

First of all I love this door. But the look seems to blend really well.

This door is probably most similar to my parents' house. I would stay away from the darker wall color if they're trying to brighten it up.

As a teacher, I know that non-examples are really helpful. I am not a fan of the opposite - wood trim with white doors.
What are your thoughts on this look?

So we'll see where they go with their house. I would love to play Clean Sweep and get rid of some of the knick-knacks that they've accumulated over the years, but we'll see if I can twist mom's arm enough. :)

Anyway, I'm off to the Home Show at the T-Dome. Hopefully I can get some work done today and tomorrow around the house -- I've been working on my toilet paper roll art a la White Waxflower, so stay tuned!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

This weekend...

What do all of you out there have planned for the weekend? I plan on having a relaxing weekend, and didn't even bring any work home with me (although it never hurts to get ahead).
  • Last night John got home late from work and we went to Denny's for some late dinner. I did well by getting turkey bacon, eggs, toast, and oatmeal. Not the healthiest, but an improvement from what I'd normally get at a breakfast restaurant.
  • It's embarrassing to admit, but in our post-Dexter-depression John and I have gotten hooked on True Blood. I don't know how this has happened, because we hate the Twilight movies and all things vampire. I'm fairly certain it's because we both like to say "Sookie" in Bill's low Southern voice. In fact, there are whole montages dedicated to him uttering her name:





  • This morning John's friend Hal came over to help us in the last step of our wine-making. He brought over a fancy filtering system he has and did the final filter on our wine. It's going to rest in the bucket for a day, then we can start bottling tomorrow. He also gave us some "Zorks" (I'll pause for giggles), that are not exactly screw tops but not exactly corks. They are almost like a mix between what a gallon of milk has as a top mixed with a cork that you heat-seal onto the bottle. Like:

  • Shortly we'll be headed off to Ikea. I've made big headway with organizing the craft room, and I'd like to get a few wall organization items from the kitchen section of Ikea. We'll see if I can convince John to let me buy the 4x4 Expedit bookcase for the craft room... Not sure if I want to spend my money on that either. We'll see.
  • Tomorrow John has to go into work for a few hours, so I'll try to accomplish a few things. Then we're going bowling with a couple we are friends with from our college days. She lived on the same floor as me in the dorms, then we worked together at Arby's and at a restaurant and were really good friends in Bellingham. Her and her boyfriend recently moved down our way for school, so it's great to see them every now and then.
That's about it for us! I can't wait to post pictures of the craft room and of our labeled, finished Wine!

Happy Saturday!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Goodwill Finds

I went to Goodwill yesterday to see if I could find a small TV for my craft room. We only have 1 TV in our house and while we don't live for watching TV, it'd be kind of nice to be able to watch something different than John sometimes. I thought I could get a 13" for pretty cheap, but was so surprised when there weren't ANY TVs at the GW I went to. Crazy. I didn't feel too defeated, however, because I scored a few other great finds.

A dish for the entry table. Not sure if we'll use it for mail or for keys/wallet/pager. Cheap and versatile!

YoungHouseLove has a shell dish I love. This isn't exactly it, but pretty cute for a Goodwill find!

A nearly-new pair of glossy gray flats.

AND! Not from Goodwill, but my Tea finally arrived (yes, I bought 3 boxes of 16 bags just because I had that much faith). DEE-licious! Very exciting.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Finally, it's happened to me

right in front of my face... and I just can't hide it. Finally, I finished my craft table and put it in my craft room.

Okay, that last line didn't flow as well as that lovely early nineties hit.



But back to the matter at hand. We had a few nuts and bolts issues (really, it was a lack of both), but John helped me assemble my drafting-table-turned-craft-table upstairs in the craft room, which took lots of trips. It is huge and I absolutely love it. I think I will eventually paint the edges of the top white, but it's fine for now.

The drafting mat is still flattening, but it'll be in tip-top shape soon!
Much better than the brown-red stock color
Just a tidbit of the "during"
Look how huge it is!!

Now I just need my shelves and my racks... and  some other things. :) I am a happy clam right now.



Other things I'm excited about?

Just ordered 3 boxes of this - I had been drinking English Breakfast tea thinking that's the delicious stuff served in Chinese restaurants. It's good and all, but when I discovered that it's actually a blend of three types of tea, and is called Chinese Restaurant Tea, I just couldn't resist. Let's hope it lives up to my high expectations. I also plan on buying the silver teapots it's typically served in at Business Costco down the road (only $2.50!).

I also just received my new glasses and contacts. Apparently my prescription hasn't changed a whole lot (well, my glasses were a few prescriptions back), but I'm hoping my eyes don't get as dry in my new contacts. I don't want to take a picture of myself in them, but here they are:

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Product recommendation...

Ok, stay with me on this one. My sister got me one of these on a buy-one-get-one free deal and boy would I pay a lot more than free now that I know how great they are. What am I talking about?








 These things are great. As someone with long hair, I've always hated getting out of the shower and having wet hair on my back or getting my shirt wet. I also hate wearing a giant towel that limits my mobility as I try to get other things done. During the week I shower at night, and I admit that I've worn my turbie twist to bed.

It really works like they say, it's secure, it's small and light, and it's surprisingly absorbent. And, it's about $4 at Fred Meyer.

That is all for now. Hopefully I can finish my craft table this weekend and post that!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Let's talk sabotage



Ok, I haven't gone to the gym this week. I may have played a few rounds of Just Dance 2 by myself and lifted a few 3 pound weights, but I really need to kick it into gear. I also need to stop eating popcorn.

However, even if I don't lose weight (which is still the plan, don't get me wrong), I am still fairly confident that I can win our competition through sabotage. John's been working really long hours, which has really worked to my advantage. I ate a somewhat healthy breakfast-for-dinner of eggs and toast, but when John got home I made him 3 pancakes and eggs. mwa ha ha. Tonight we had a brick-oven pizza and I only ate a few and gave John all the rest, which he happily ate.

Don't judge me for our last 2 meals... least we got thin-crust pizza... it's a start.

So, that's how our challenge is going so far... Ha!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Introducing...






Can you tell I learned how to do rounded edges on Photoshop? I get so frustrated, because I see so many bloggers make all these cute little icons, and every picture they post is edited in a cute way and I just can't quite get it right... but I digress, this post is not about my photoshop insecurities.

It's about our fitness challenge! I'm posting this because it's just another thing that will (hopefully) hold me to this. John is doing a biggest loser competition at work, and I wanted to be a part of it. We decided to do a monthly weigh-in competition amongst ourselves at the same time.

Stakes are high, folks, so I gotta get my butt in gear.



For Month One (February), if John wins he would like to try skiing at Mission Ridge. I would like a professional massage. We each got to pick a not-outrageous not-food-related prize as motivation. The idea of having to do John's selection is quite a bit of motivation.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Maybe we will completely drop-off, or maybe we'll stick with it and get some results. I'm hoping that if I print a reminder to go up somewhere that we won't lose track (and John won't since he'll be in the work competition).

Not too much else to report. Last night I had a few coworkers over for dinner (which was delicious Tanya!) and hanging out. I've thankful to have met such nice people through work, and had a great time with them! Maybe some time I'll remember to take pictures one of these days!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Funny how...

.... as soon as school starts I have very little to share.

This first week back to school was actually not too bad. The kids (for the most part) were ready to jump back into things and now it feels like we've been there all along. Because we've had such a long break and are nearing the end of first semester, both the students and I shared some goals we have for the 2nd half of the year. My goals include:
  1. Providing more feedback to students (more individual check-ins) during math rather than waiting for them to have questions.
  2. Utilizing student jobs more to help make the classroom more autonomous. 
  3. Taking science notes in a more meaningful way. 
  4. Be more consistent with expectations (as always, I feel like I slip a bit through the year)
Nothing too big and life-changing, but just things to keep me on my toes. Honestly, I've been much more lax with these students because they are so good, and because I was burnt out from being so tough last year. I foresee my third year teaching being a successful one in terms of finding my groove and what works for me (it will also help that I will be teaching the same thing again).


So, I don't think I've mentioned yet, but I am getting very excited to go on my first big trip of the year. My partner teacher organizes a student trip for the 6th and 7th graders in the district to go to Washington D.C., and I get to go, too. It's all through a program called World Strides, and they organize the itinerary, flight, hotel, everything. They also provide night chaperones to watch the rooms overnight (which is the most tiring part!).We're going in April, and I really look forward to it.

Our second big trip is an Alaskan cruise that my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, and John and I are going to in August. It's my parent's 30th anniversary, my mom's 60th birthday, and our 2nd anniversary. None of us has ever been on a cruise, and we thought we'd try one out that we didn't have to fly to. While it isn't necessarily a "party cruise" for us twenty-somethings, I think it'll be more our speed. Looking at all the brochures and information online, we're getting pretty excited for it. Too bad we have to wait until August!


Alright, some friends are coming over tonight, so I better make things presentable around here.. :)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Classroom Additions

Look what the students brought in today:




6 Goldfish to be exact. Quite charming. We will be voting on names this week some time. As long as they don't die by then. Ha! I also figured out how to take some better pictures of things like aquariums. Since a fancy camera is not in our budget right now, I'm trying to take time to figure out my point-and-shoot camera a little better. Anyway, the kids are excited, and it does add something calming to the room.

I also got this:
Allow me to explain. Students had an extra credit opportunity - they could do many things, one of which was to make a model of one of the types of joints. This kid (who obviously had a lot of help from his dad) created an arm - hinge joint. Not totally accurately since the arm moved backwards 90 degrees, but I'm stoked to have this little piece of art in my classroom!

I love these kids.

Monday, January 3, 2011

urggghhh

I am not excited to call Sony tomorrow, but it needs to be done. My computer doesn't recognize my ipod, it hasn't been automatically updating since July (sad that I didn't notice this until now?), and it doesn't let me troubleshoot anything. I'm annoyed because my full itunes library is on my old desktop, and I don't want to go through the hassle of hooking it up and transferring the rest of my music until my laptop is fixed.

I was already on the phone with them to fix my wireless a few months ago. What a pain.

A bad representation of New Years

I took a few photos from New Years, but really only when we played Just Dance on our projector screen. I am just not in the habit of snapping photos, even though I had a beautiful buffet set up with labels, and a pretty good turn out, considering we weren't planning on having a party.

Also, I would like a new camera. Mine really isn't that bad, and in the spirit of minimalism, I really don't need one, but it'd be so much fun. Currently, the lid/cover for the battery and SD card doesn't snap all the way, and I figure if it just stops shutting altogether then I may be in the market. John doesn't have a camera, and mine is 8 megapixels, which is pathetic. Not even that old! Anyway, we'll see. I've got a little Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket that I could either spend on craft room shelving or a camera... decisions  decisions.

Wow, so anyway, back to new years. Here are a few silly pictures that are WAY unflattering.

Truly, they do not accurately represent my superior skills of following choreography and looking good while doing so. I blame it on the camera. I will not show you the picture where I'm resting my drink on my belly. Guh-ross.



 Too bad I don't have anything else to share!

Today, however, I did stop at Target to pick up an auxiliary cord (exciting, I know). However, I found some great deals on other things... Like:

On sale for $7.50. I know "mustard" isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. Once I wore a mustard sweater and got many compliments on it, so it stuck. Also, the reason I was looking at purses is because mine is taking over my life. It's TOO big and whatever size a purse is I will fill. This one is a crossbody and is very small. So.. hopefully I can keep this one clean. Tempted to get a black one, too... We'll see.
This was in that cheap section when you first walk in. It's a clothy "charging station" but it matches my classroom colors. So my plan is to put it by my computer for post-its and such. You can never have too many trays. And at $2.50, what a steal! There were other bins, too, but I couldn't think of a use..

Don't laugh, my car is such a boat that it barely fits into the garage without touching the 2 stairs to the house. So I may or may not have ran over them a few times. John was going to hang a tennis ball, but THIS was on clearance for 75% off, which = $2.50. I'm pretty stoked to set this up.


In other news, first day back went well. I wasn't dreading it like the past, so it was fun. My kids are cuties, and they build my self-esteem because they laugh at my dumb jokes. Ha! Anyway, happy Monday!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Back to life, back to reality

Well, a two-week vacation is coming to a close, and while I don't dread going back to school I dread finishing off my last few tasks that I've put off. My to-do list for tomorrow looks like this:

  • New seating charts (4 total)
  • Grade pre-alg tests
  • Grade course 2 tests
  • Course 2 slides
  • Thank-yous for Christmas gifts from students to hand out Monday
My original plan was to have January's slides done, but that didn't happen... oh well! I only finished the first week's slides for pre-algebra. It will be so much easier (assuming I get to stay) next year when I will only have to revise my slides...

I also re-realized that another decade is over, and I was thinking about how mine has gone. This was a huge decade for me, as far as decades go. I (get this), learned how to drive, had my first kiss, graduated high school, graduated college, met John,  got engaged and married, bought a house, started my career. Eeek! That's a lot of growing up I've done... cah-razy.

In other news, I really only mentioned one toy I got for Christmas - Photoshop Elements 9. Here are some other sweet treats I got - I feel overwhelmed with my husband's and family's generosity.

This is one of my favorite gifts - a sure sign that I'm getting older. This is a highly rated Black and Decker cordless hand vacuum, and boy does it come in handy! I keep in plugged in under the stairs and can pull it out to clean up the counters, vacuum the whole kitchen floor crumbs in the kitchen, clean up the couch, vacuum up all my stray hair from the bathroom. It's been so handy!! Along with that, my mom got me this from business Costco sort of as a joke, but I love it!

This dustpan, coupled with my industrial-size 2-foot dust mop, makes it so easy to sweep the downstairs! I don't even have to bend over anymore! Love it!

My sister got us this, which I am super excited about! No more writing out return labels! What a sweet idea!






John also got me these 2 books I had asked for - I plan on reading the "thanks" book to my students at the end of the school year. I get choked up reading it for some reason. So cute! (yes I know I teach 7th graders and don't have any children...)



An Awesome Book of Thanks! from Dallas Clayton on Vimeo.

 This guy is too cute.


John also got me some necklaces from J. Crew. But... I don't have pictures.

My parents showered us with gifts for some reason. My mom got carried away. They also wrap gifts they get themselves (I'm talkin' to mom from mom) and unwrap them in front of us and act surprised. It's very silly. They got John a shop vac (which was supposed to be from me... but...) and me a rolling office chair. And a signed baseball from Edgar Martinez (whom they met while having a fancy night in one of the suites at Safeco). And... other fun things I can't think of.

Also, our marshmallow gun fight tradition was a success. The boys definitely pick on me, but it's all in good fun. John hid the whole time, wuss. You'd be surprised how much a marshmallow can hurt!