Giving Thanks

Sooooo, I was supposed to post some Thanksgiving ideas. I sort of forgot and then decided to put it off one day longer so I could take some pictures tomorrow of my class' Thanksgiving Feast.

Until then here is the excitement that's been happening in my life lately. We caught up with a couple of friends over some really good beer. We broke in our fire place. And, perhaps more excitingly, we fiiiiiinally got ourselves a dining room table. Yes, we've lived in our place for almost six months and have been eating on the couch. It feels good to have a table and chairs. It feels even more like a real home in here now. Speaking of real homes, I cannot WAIT to start decorating for Christmas. Yay!

This month I am thankful for:

Good beer.

Really good beer.

Beer Cheese Fries (what's left of them anyway).

Really alcoholic beer.

Husband making fire.

Oooooh, fire!

Yummy breakfasts.

Door wreaths.

Pretty, muted sunset colors.

Student turkey art. 

Bulletin boards.

Classroom decorations.

Classroom doors.

The Food Pyramid.

Thanksgiving crafts.

Cute calendars. 

Bulletin boards with spelling mistakes (it was my aide I swear!).

New tables!!!

Apple pies baking in the oven.

More new furniture (family of the table).

Rainy Day

Dear two readers,

Sorry about the spotty posting. It's been a loooooong week to say the least.

I think starting off the week with two half-days (for parent conferences) was a mistake. You see, the students get very excited for shorter school days for some reason. They remained very excited the whole week. The students also sensed the upcoming holiday which increased the excitement to a level where a simple statement of, "Today we're going to do some math!" provoked screams and what sounded like a rabid squirrels dying.

I'll post some Thanksgiving ideas tomorrow. Tonight, I'm having a cozy night in with my sweetie watching Conan on the DVR and snuggling by a roaring fire. I finally cooked him my "surprise" meal of pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and spicy Italian sausage. And beer. Mmmmmmm....beer.

Enjoy your evening everyone!

Psychic Newlyweds

The other day, I decided that I was going to surprise my hubby by going grocery shopping, cleaning the kitchen, and then cooking him a delicious dinner.

So I bolted home from work and tore over to Trader Joe's to pick up ingredients for a pasta dish he really likes.

I knew he wasn't going to get home for another hour so I unpacked the groceries and settled down on the couch to relax.

Minutes later, I heard the clanking of a key at the door and in walks my husband...with Trader Joe's bags.

"I'm going to cook you dinner tonight! I got really good stuff at the store."

"Um, guess where I just was..."

"Trader Joe's?"

"Yes!!! And you can't cook me dinner because I was going to cook you dinner and it was my idea first!"

Long story short, my husband had heard that there were Nurenberg-style sausages at Trader Joe's from his German coworker and was really excited about them (those were his favorite sausages when we 

were in Germany). I was really excited about them too and decided that I would cook him the sausages as a surprise dinner truce. 

The freakiest part about all this was that we picked up several of the same items at the store. These are items that we don't usually get like potatoes and spiced apple cider.

I just thought it was so sweet that we had the same idea on the same night. I didn't think I could love him any more than I did before we got married. Not only do I love him more every day, but I have somehow become psychically connected to him...Weird.

I'm still working on the mind reading though. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Parent Conferences- Part 2

I'm done! All the conferences went great. I'll post some tips for conferences tomorrow (ah, procrastination).

Right now I'm going to eat these

The secret ingredient is crack.

and cook my hubby some dinner.

Student quote of the day:

We're writing a story about a spider who has an adventure in a restaurant. I asked the students what the restaurant should be called. We decided it was a fancy restaurant so here was the suggestion from one of my students:

Student:"Che Grande."

Grande is pronounced like a grande burrito.

Me: "What does that mean? Is that French?"

Student: "Well, you know how they say 'che' a lot in French...I don't know what it means..."

Me: "I love it! Let's use it!" thinking, "It sounds like an upscale Mexican restaurant..."

How cute it that :)

Parent Conferences Part 1

First day of parent conferences...done!

I actually really like parent conferences. It's nice to put the names to faces that I haven't had a chance to do already this year. Tomorrow is another half day and another three hours of conferences. Fingers crossed tomorrow's go as well as today's did.

I am currently relaxing by the first fire made in our little apartment and eating ribs. I hope you're having an equally relaxing evening.

And now presenting... "One of my Students Pronouncing San Francisco":

"Fran Sanfrisco"

That was "One of my Students Pronouncing San Francisco"

Gotta love it :)

November Resolution- Living Green

Whew! Report cards are done for Quarter 1!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days two readers. It's been 'one of those weeks'.

I have to say, I always feel behind at this time of year, curriculum-wise. October/early November are very eventful at our school. We really go all out for Red Ribbon Week/Halloween/All Saints Day/Veteran's Day/etc.

Now comes the "HOLIDAY SEASON". I already see Christmas lights out and there are constant reminders in every store of the presents I have yet to purchase/make/wrap and the lessons I have to plan.

I do have some longer posts in the works including what I'm doing for Thanksgiving both at home and at school, some Advent ideas, and some information about wedding planning and honeymoon ideas. Also in the works are tours of both my classroom and my home with (hopefully) some helpful tips.

Until then I want to share one goal I've made for myself as I become a 'real adult'. I've been married for about four months now and am in my fourth year of teaching and sometimes I still wake up and feel like a fraud. I still feel very young and that I have a lot to learn about this world and the magnitude of all my responsibilities is sometimes overwhelming.

So I've been trying to make little goals to simplify and enrich my life little by little.

One goal I've been working on is living greener. I know it's trendy and hip and you can buy designer canvas bags with some smug saying on it for $100, but I really see how wasteful American culture can be.

There are so many ways to waste less and to live a little greener and I've compiled some ideas right here:

Laundry

Reusable Dryer Sheets

How cute are these reusable dryer sheets? I tend to get sensitive to artificial fragrance. These are right up my alley. I'd be interested in trying them out. You get a pack of three filled with organic lavender buds (I love lavender). 

Find them at greeneyed.com

Food Stuff

I'm a Trader Joe's fanatic. My favorite of their reusable bags is this red cloth one for about $3.00. I just need to remember to bring these in wherever I shop.

Instead of wasting plastic bags to carry produce, why not try these pretty reusable produce bags? These are cute. I would definitely have to remember to wash these quite often (just to be safe).

Find them at greeneyed.com

Or try these? Mmmmm... decisions, decisions.

Found on Etsy

Lunch Time

I'm so sick of spending money and wasting plastic baggies. I've seen a lot of cute options like the bento style lunch boxes below:

Okay, so if I had some extra free time every day, I would make adorable, imaginative lunches like these found over on the blog Another Lunch. The bento used is from Planetbox.

Via Another Lunch

Another good option is from Easy Lunch Boxes.

Another cute lunch via Another Lunch.

(Yes, these are technically geared toward children but I love them anyway!)

Another option is to use some cute fabric lunch bags with some reusable sandwich and snack bags. 

I like these two below:

Found on Etsy

I love robots! I don't care that it looks like the lunch bag of a 10 year old boy.

Found on Etsy

Inside, keep your food in reusable bags like these:

Find this one at greeneyed.com

This one was found on Etsy

And to hold a drink? I've been using a Sigg bottle for a couple years. It's great and all, but 1.) they are really hard to clean and 2.) Apparently the older ones have traces of BPA (I know!). So I'm trading my Sigg in for a new one.

I've also been looking at other options like these Klean Kanteens.

Klean Kanteen

Or take a look in REI for some other good options.

Cleaning Stuff

My favorite all purpose, non-toxic cleaner is, hands down, Simple Green. I love this stuff. It smells so good and doesn't cause my allergies to go crazy (again, I react very badly to a lot of harsh chemicals). I use Simple Green mostly in the kitchen and to clean my floors.

If you use a Swiffer, why not try a reusable cleaning pad like the one below. I don't have a Swiffer right now (I just have a regular mop) but I love this idea. There are lots of hand made options on Etsy.

Found on Etsy

Alternatives to Gift Wrap

One last idea as the HOLIDAY SEASON (say in an intense wresting announcer voice) approaches. Instead of wasting all that wrapping paper (it's pretty but it makes me cringe to see it wasted every year) why not try some pretty fabric? I'm going to try something like the ones below this year. You could even buy some cheap holiday fabric or some inexpensive wraps or scarves to serve the same purpose. I love the two wraps below:

From greeneyed.com

Well, I hope this gave you some ideas, two readers. I've only tried some of these out but hope to add a little at a time over the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Report Cards- Done!

Yay! Report cards are finished for this quarter. I really do have such a great group of kids. I always feeling bad being a grumpus around report card time.

Anyway, here's a little anecdote from today:

A student is sharing her crochet needles and yarn. Students raise their hands to share questions and comments. A question:

"What's ho-che?"

It was cute.

Monday + Report Cards + Lesson Plans Due + Darkness = Crappy

Blah! I have a headache right now. It's probably from dehydration. Or lack or sleep. Or stress. Probably all of them.

Yes, it's that time again. No, ladies, not that time of the month. Teachers? You know what I'm talking about right? REPORT CARD TIME! YAY!

So, I'm actually more caught up with my grading than I've ever been. I just always feel, every quarter, I could have done more. Done better. Been more prepared to fill the report cards out. But now, it is time. They must be done.

As I was sitting in my classroom this evening, getting some last minute grading in, I looked up and realized that it was pitch black outside. Oooooh, right, the time change. Of course I stayed up even later than my bed time last night and then decided to watch The Walking Dead with my hubby, so by the time I got into bed it was actually two hours past my bed time with the time change.

Sooooo, it's dark, I'm tired, I'm grumpy, I'm still not finished with my grading, and I realized all my body wants to do is crawl into bed and not get up until the report cards just go away.

I decided to skip my yoga class today, feeling tremendously guilty because I just wasted money I already paid, and just go home, dragging my work behind me.

Sometimes, I just need a hot shower, a good meal, and a snuggle with my sweetie to recharge. Then, it's back to work tonight.

I just have to keep the perspective that I'm almost done. I just wish I was done (damn you uber organized teachers!!!). Hopefully sleep can cure me of this terrible mood I've been in as well!

This is what I feel like right now.

Happy Friday

This was a looooooong week. The weather was so hot it just sucked all the energy out of me.

This weekend will be a much needed break (yay sleeping in!). I would just love to lounge around all weekend in one of these silky numbers:

I love this slinky little romper!

Sometimes I just get in a girly mood and imagine myself in an old Hollywood film in a glamorous silk slip, lounging around and drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage.

Then I realize that it's the end of the quarter and report cards go out next week. I'll just adjust my fantasy a little bit and add some report cards in there. Who says a teacher can't be glamorous?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Images via net-a-porter

Scenes from October

I know we're well into November now, but I wanted to wrap up my October memories. October is always a busy month for me, mainly because of the birthdays. My husband and I both have October birthdays four days apart. Both my parents and my brother also have October birthdays. Let's just say I ate a lot of cake last month.

Some things that happened in October:

Painting scarecrows with my students.

The never ending cycle of sharpening pencils.

I love the pictures they draw of me :)

I use this to pick out students' names.

Book Boxes

Read Alouds

ITBS standardized testing :(

Look how excited the kid on the cover is to take this thing.

Birthday beers

Pretzels

The hubby turned the big 3-0 this year.

Much cake was eaten.

My family's dog, Chloe.

I got to visit her at my parent's house.

My friend made me a Beagle cake for my birthday.

We made endive salad.

Then devoured the Beagle.

My sweetie seared some Ahi.

I got the urge to bake.

I made pumpkin muffins.

Outside my in-laws' house.

Happy Halloween!