Over and done!

We just finished the first week.....okay, 2 days with the kids and it was FABULOUS!My first day with the kids was the BEST first day I have ever had....almost too good, I keep waiting for the bomb to go off and I have to get everyone back together again! (My sister said it is the calm before the storm....cross your fingers for us that that is not true!) My students are WONDERFUL! I almost feel like my student teacher would be better someone else because this is not normal. I mean, not even talking to their neighbors! I am so excited for the year because these kids are going to be so awesome to work with and teach! Makes my job so much fun!

I love how my room is set up and how well the kids are doing with it! They are so good that they earned the letters for cupcakes that I baked last night and we enjoyed today....some were better than others as I found the butter for the second batch in the microwave this morning! No one even said a negative word about them! The kids were also great with their manners! That is HUGE!! Most kids know their manners but I find it very rare for a kid to use them with things like this. I am so impressed with them!

I got my e-ticket today for a short trip to Denver the school district is sending me to. The week of school and I am taking time off....what is with that?

And now for 3 days off. Nothing planned and that is how I like it! Just some rest and relaxing! I now I cannot complain about my easy summer but it was hard to get back into the swing of things and I am tired!

LoTsA pictures....

Yes, lotsa is a word meaning, lots of.... maybe not but I still like it. (And this from a teacher!) But that is what I have is lotsa pictures! Josh has been working so hard on his pond in the backyard and it looks great. Yesterday he hit up the clearance sales at Zamzoes and got these water plants. I think they look so nice!

For something creative, which I have not been doing very much lately....even with my fancy new Cricut. I have not even turned it on. These layouts were from last weekend and a little bit this weekend I did not get a chance to post them.....sad, huh?

I saw this on someone else's blog....I cannot remember who....but I cannot believe how many layouts that I need to get into albums! I am not having a contest on guessing how many, and I did not even count them, but that is out of control! I need to get some albums, but I just can't find one I like anymore....

And my sweet babies! I was gone most of yesterday running errands, getting my hair done, all that fun stuff and when I finally got home Lilli was glued to me! It must be rough! We have been watching the Olympics and I am sad that they are ending tonight! This was me laying on the couch and her resting. And Maggi waiting so patiently as I take my pictures outside this morning.

Back to work

Today was my first official day of work. It was not bad, but I am going to have a hard time not getting to sleep in anymore! I am excited to get the year started and work with these kids! My student teacher is working out great and I think she is going to have a great experience as well!

I came home today, after slaving at school for over 9 hours, to my carpets in the house cleaned.....yes, Josh did it all by himself....and a new Cricut!! My mom saw it on TV, ordered for me, and it was delivered today! Just in time for the weekend! As a package it came with tons of extra tools and gadgets so I will get lots of playing done! And then hopefully a good amount of creative fun!

Little things

It has been great having Josh home! I cannot believe that in less than one week he leaves again! I start school tomorrow though, so I will keep very busy! We went to Lori's house on Sunday night for dinner and that is were these pictures are from. Look at Maggi sound asleep in Josh's arms. She was so tired......from getting out of the yard and running over to the neighbors house! She came over to let us know that "the little guys" were crossing the street to see her and her dog! Monsters! And no, I do not mean the cute picture of the nieces and nephew. They are so sweet!

Nothing creative going on here. I did spend my lunch hours at Craft's Warehouse one day and the next at Paper Cottage so I have new fun stuff to work with! I just need the energy to do it! After 80+ hours of Math I am drained!

Anyways, I am off to enjoy my last day off. I think we are going to go to the fair in Boise tonight.

Oh.....we wen to the Sprint store yesterday and updates our plans and I will be able to text on the 4th of September so watch out!

Wii fun

Well Josh FINALLY got his WII! We have wanted one for a long time.....even before the wedding....and yesterday we decided that it was time. We went to Best Buy, Target, Fred Meyers, and then Wal-Mart. Everyone was out, we did not know that these were still that hot! But the kid working at Wal-Mart told us that they had 13 that would go on sale at 8am the next day, today which is Sunday. He then went on to tell us about the line that there would be because it was advertised and that if we wanted one that we should be there early......he even said "I would hope that if you were here BY 8 that you would still get one..."

To Josh that meant, "we need to be there before 7am"! We had went to the Caldwell Night Rodeo last night (GREAT time!) so we did not get to bed until almost 1am! The alarm went off at 7 and I kindly hit snooze....twice, until Josh realized what time it was and serious jumped out of bed. He was running all around trying to get ready, telling me to get ready.....pure madness! I asked if I could take a quick shower and you would have thought I told him I was going to kill his best friend. Anyways, the whole time we were getting ready he was talking about the fastest way to get there....the whole 5 miles that the trip is.....and decided on one that made no sense to me. The drive was WAY longer, but I was quiet. He pulled up outside the front door and told me to park the car. I did, getting the front, first spot because there really is no one in Wal-Mart at 8am on a Sunday. So I am guessing he ran to the electronics department, and when I got there he was standing there, by himself....no line, no other customers, and not even a worker! It was so dead in there that we had to get a worker over there to get it out for us! So much for the line! :)

Anyways I talked him out of getting all of the games today....maybe some other time.....and it is already up and running. I am not so good at it but he is good (of course) and has not stopped yet.

So here we are, Wii owners, and very sleepy!

Ending is in sight

I think my long creative spell is ending....I did get these two layouts finished and then fought with my computer for 4 1/2 hours trying to upload ONE layout to a website. I have a Masters degree in Technology and there was no way it was going to happen. I tried everything I could think of, even got my friend Tammy on the phone....who also has a Masters degree in Technology and we could not figure it out.....then by some odd way....and it truly makes NO sense I got it!

Don't worry Tammy, I will work on some pages for you this weekend! :)

LATE night

Last night was a LATE one for me. I started working at about 9ish and could not stop until after 2am! I love doing that stuff, but it is so sad that it is one of that last nights I can do that before school starts......and lets just say that I can NOT do that during school.....for the kids sake! :)

I found this blog with some pretty cool challenges. You can do them to win prizes, and I did that for a few, but I really liked some of the older challenges as well. I know my picture taking skills need some serious improvement, but again, you get the picture!

These are two pictures of our nephew, Curtis, that I just "found"and had to use last night! I loved the way it turned out and used one of my "new" favorite techniques.....painting the sides. And I have one of EVERY color of paint thanks to Michael's recent 2 for $1 sale! The challenge was to use orange and green.The challenge for this layout was to use circles.....sounds pretty easy. And I really had the majority of this stuff still on my table from a layout I did earlier in the week.

I got this challenge off of Lori Renn's blog. It was one of those feel good things to do. The challenge was to think about a time that your grass was not greener. I did that, but decided that that was not something that I wanted to use and so I wrote about NOW and how my grass is pretty darn green! I am a pretty lucky girl I think!

And then I have two layouts that I did for fun! I LOVE that picture of my Graci and was just playing with stuff and came up with this. I don't think she will mind! :) And one of our self portraits from our 1st anniversary. Again, I used the painting technique!

Josh gets to come home tonight! I am so excited! He was going to stay until Sunday but they do not need anyone for overtime.....works for me! He will get home LATE tonight/ tomorrow morning and I start class again tomorrow. We are going to hit up the Caldwell Night Rodeo because a good friend from high school is riding. He is sitting 7th in the nation right now and trying for a spot in the Finals in Vegas! Pretty exciting!

Randoms

So I am a complete dork.....and I know it! This is the shelf in my laundry room and I am loving it! I was at Target today to finish up my "back to school shopping" and happened to go down the clearance/bundle isle. And wouldn't you know it.....I had coupons for almost everything! I of course had to load up. I am a laundry freak and this is about the best I could get that shelf looking!

I have been talking about how I want to get more into stamping and in my blog stalking to find ideas I found this really neat contest. Katharina is waiting to get to her 100,000 hit and because of that she is having a wonderful RAK. And if I win she will host a give away on my blog! Make sure to check it out:

http://katharina1704.blogspot.com/

And of course I have to add a picture of my baby, Graci. She is seriously the funniest cat ever! Now, this proves that we cannot have kids for a long time.....who would love my animals this much?

Scrappy things

The ideas are flowing in my mind and I am LOVING it!

These are not the best pictures, but they get the point across. Of course they are of my babies....I have nothing else to scrap! No that is not true, but these were pictures that I was wanting to work with for a while! The "V" is for my desk at school. I thought it turned out pretty cute.....I love the stamped swirls....thank you for the set, Lori!

I am just diggin' lime green right now.

And another one of our engagement pictures. I know, I know.....work on the wedding pictures instead but I really like the engagement pictures! I will run out of them sometime soon! The beautiful BBQ grill in the background does not do the paper justice...but again you get the picture! :)

Bed hogs

We got this in the mail a while back. It is actually an ad for a decorative plate club. We did not get the plate, but saved the ad because it was too cute AND that is exactly how our bed is at night.....BUT with two of them! (Notice the picture on the wall) It was just the two of them and me in the king size bed last night and I was fighting for room. Lilli started to growl at me when I tried to move her.....she does that to Josh when he tries to get her to lay by him instead of me....and when I would move Maggi she would just go right back to her spot. I do not think that there are two dogs that are as spoiled! I am starting to get my creative flow back and I am loving it! It was a long week and the farthest thing from my mind was anything creative! I have done some sewing this morning and have started to scrap! I took a few pictures of my table runners.....they are a work in progress. That means I know they have lots of work still ahead, but I think they are just so neat and I am excited to see the out come! I have a neat idea for one of the walls in my bedroom so I have been going through all of my paper. I have a serious paper addiction so this is a LONG process.
Of course when I had my camera out I had to snap a few shots of the babies. How funny is that picture of Graci? She was yawning, but looks hilarious I think! I printed that one right away! And then there is my pretty Lilli girl!

Update: it is true! I can love any plant back to life! Take a look at the poor little plant that WAS almost dead! I just gave it some love from my green thumb and a little over a week later here it is! There are still some "sad" spots that I am working on, but it is almost there. And no, I am not giving it back to its owner......only because she said she does not want it. I might take it to school, but I do not need that room taken over by plants as well!

No thank you on summer break ending

Seriously....where did summer break go? The last I remember it was just starting and I was slowly working on get my classroom together, and the next thing I know....BAM! I only have 4 more official days off! Granted, I do have 4 weekend days in there too but I normally have them off so that does not count. I am so NOT ready to be back in a schedule with full days and all. Nope, not doing it.

This last week I had class from 8-4 in Boise M-F, so there is added drive time involved. It was some hard core Math stuff so I was totally wiped out when I got home. There was even one night I did not even turn on the computer.....and that from the girl who lives on the computer! I then have meetings Monday and Tuesday and then class again Th, F, M, Tu! Can you tell I want someone else to feel my pain....come on Tammy!

The one good thing about all of these classes I have to take is I have received 16 college credits for them. That means that I was a full time student for 1 semester AND a full time teacher.....plus morning school teacher AND after school teacher.......That is good for many reasons, including a move across the pay scale. I now sit at MA +15......makes it better for a few minutes.

Here is two pictures from my photo shoot with my Maggi. She always stays close to me. Especially when I am on the computer and the comfy bed is next to it. What a pretty girl she is!

Catching up

This is Graci...she thinks she is the queen of the house. My animals have taken over my life!

What a weekend! I spent Friday at school, preparing for the start.....seriously, how is it possible that it is starting so soon? But, I do feel so good about where my classroom is and really where I am in starting the year! That is a good feeling! My student teacher spend the majority of the time with us and she is going to be so awesome to work with this year.

I then had a few people over for margaritas on Friday night. Lots of fun, but no pictures! What is wrong with me? It was the unofficial "I have lived in Idaho for 1 year party".

Saturday I went into Boise with Lori and she took me downtown to the Saturday street market...not the official name but you get the picture.....it was so neat! There were so many incredible booths to look at. I did fall in love with a "Top Gun", yes the movie, bag. I didn't get it and I am kicking myself over it today. And no, I cannot go get it next week because she said she was just passing through......

Anyways, we had a great lunch out on the patio and then some more looking around. So many good things to look at. Of course I cannot remember the name of this store (I seriously need to start writing things down.....) but I found the most funky, creative, just the BEST table runners I have ever seen! They were about a million dollars and my husband would have killed me.......so I decided to try to make my own! I know, I am going CRAZY!

I have always wanted to get into that "quilting/sewing" thing, and I know you think I am crazy Tammy, but I am and going with it! We went to a fabric store.....insert name here when I remember........and they had their fabric for $3 a yard! Lori and I looked and picked 6 different ones that I think will look fabulous together. (And got one extra just because I liked it.....this is where the problem is going to be with this habit, that and the money! )

I am going to Wyoming to visit Josh this weekend so I am going to take it with me to work because he will be gone all day long working.....I am the best wife ever to drive down there. Whole other story I guess..... Anyways, I did start to cut and play with some of the fabric, but I am so excited.....and now everyone knows what they are getting for Christmas! :) I am making myself stay home and not go buy more fabric while it is on sale!

Anyways, I made this 6 x12 page at Lori's house after our outside playing and I think it will be so cute in my scrapping / now sewing area! I love that! I have to admit though, I stole the idea from Lori Renn. When she showed me her AMAZING room she had one in her room that I loved and so here you go!

I have a busy week with classes at BSU from 8-5 Monday through Friday. No idea how I am going to make it. I need to sleep in! :)