week in the life: day five

i rocked the week in the life photos yesterday!  you know since it was friday it was do or die time for documenting a regular weekday.  i work well under pressure.  procrastinators untie!  i decided to take a pic at each stop i made during the school day.  first up was a pit stop at our friendly neighborhood gas station for mommy's happy drink.

dropped g off at school with 2 minutes to spare!  we saw the green side of the sign every day this week.  woot!

 then to my morning high school.  students aren't allowed in the building till 7:50.  this is the calm before the storm.

my little desk area in my little classroom.  it is little.  it was originally supposed to be an atv closet for the library next door, but the principal had it converted.  i love my little room.  it's cozy.

high school students still like to make notes for the teacher.  isn't that sweet?

since my room is an oversized closet, it wasn't equipped with an american flag for the morning pledge, so we improvised.

 our class rules.  i teach english as a second language.  i think #2 is funny.

then second block i go to an inclusion chemistry class.  i'm really enjoying it.  the chemistry teacher has a very dry sense of humor that slays me.  he's also a really good teacher in so many ways which i appreciate.  i really enjoy the mix of kids too.  it's a fun hour and a half.

made a pit stop on my lunch break.  rented "rum diaries" and "the descendants."  haven't watched either one yet.  i'll probably have to return them unwatched monday.  typical.  i just don't get around to watching flicks these days.  has anyone seen those anyway?  wondering if i should make a concerted effort to watch them?

also snagged a couple trns while there.  those i will read.  i'm a good reader.

and then i grabbed my lunch at subway.  eat fresh!  and $5 tuna combos on fridays!  and this sweet girl i taught for 4 years.  love her and always so fun to run into her.

 then i arrived at my afternoon high school.  they gave me a key so i can slip in the side door here.

the work week ended on a high note as the major finally decided to have a come to jesus with the rebel teens who insist on parking in faculty parking.  this sight made me freakishly happy as i've been having trouble finding a parking spot for the last couple months.

ended the day with a sleepover.  i thought it was so sweet that blake noticed all the different colors in the quilts.  i told him my grandmother made those.  cute boys.

week in the life: day four (and another peek!)

well.  perhaps i should title this post "slacker is my middle name."  i only have three "week in the life" photos to share today.  the rain clouds (i've been seeing some awesome cloud pics on instagram, but keep forgetting to take photos when the skies are blue here) . . .

a few drops after the rain.  and a lovely rain it was.  i love a good rain.  i kinda like this picture too.  artsy.  i've developed an addiction to instagram.  instagram wasn't letting me upload all evening and i was having seriously sad withdrawals.  finally i thought to do updates and restart my phone and now all is well.

and here is the clean laundry.  i never get the laundry put away.  i seem to be sharing all my bad habits this week.  i snapped this pic because it was on my list of things to document in "week in the life."  i refuse to snap a pic of the dirty dishes though.  i just can't air all my dirty laundry in public.

and here is probably the reason that i am a "week in the life" slacker and a housework slacker this week.  donkey kong is going strong!  layout #5 with the may kits!  woot!  at this rate i could be at 8 by gallery reveals monday night!  crazy!

p.s.  i'm the towhead on the left.  :)

week in the life: day three (and another peek!)

when i snapped this pic this morning g said, "why you takin pictures of random stuff all the sudden?"  ha.  he ain't seen nuthin yet.  i expect i will get snap happy any day now.  today wasn't the day, but something is better than nothing, right?  this, by the way, was my odometer reading before leaving for school.

and this was the reading this evening.  oy.  i teach at two high schools in the next county and g goes to school there as well.  every weekday it's drive to the far side to drop g off at school then back to the near side for my morning high school then back to the far side for my afternoon high school then sometimes, like today, back to the morning high school to pick up the playdate (maybe swing by jenni's in there) then home.  and the gas prices sure aren't pretty around here.  gotta take a pic of that too.

playdate in progress.  they're having some 100 year anniversary  of their "lego store."  they have active imaginations (no science messes today, woot!).  looks like we have a week long playdate.  yesterday, today, tomorrow, and a sleepover friday.  we're calling it "the week of blake."

while they played, i worked on this hot mess.  yes, it does look like mold.  i've been debating with myself all day if i think the moldy look is cool or fugly.  so far, cool is winning out.  the pic is of me (left) and my cousin a "few" years back.  :)

and here is another peek for you!  this one is mostly the may jbs mercantile antiquarian kit.  it's the best one jenni's ever put together.  seriously.  country living must have inspired her. 

week in the life: day two

i didn't do well at all with my photojournalism today.  i kept thinking i should take pictures and then not.  oh well.  i did say i was taking the low stress slacker approach, so there you go.  this is the only photo i took in the a.m. hours.  documenting my bad habit.  niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.  i should have taken a pic of the roll of toilet paper that fiorella pulled out of her backpack to blow her nose with.  that totally made me laugh and so reminded me of my childhood.  kleenex?  really?  what's that?

i also need to include our teacher convo during chemistry class.  me, carrie, and coach j had ourselves in stitches.  i'd tell you about it, but it's kinda gross and wouldn't be nearly so funny with my retelling.  i'll just summarize with the three things we learned today in chemistry class:

1. check for fire ants and chiggars prior to doing any serious business outdoors
2. aldi's  "two sticks" (aka slim jims) taste good
3. "duck dynasty" is the best show on television

i neglected to take a pic of our playdate as well, but fingers crossed he's coming back tomorrow.  i did snap a few of g and i jockeying for space at the dining room table.  you can see my antiquarian layout in progress there beneath his moth habitat.  i brought a couple shoe boxes home from school (donated by an english teacher).  g was BEYOND thrilled with them.  i swear he did a little happy dance.

here is the moth habitat he created.  the netting is from an orange bag, obviously.  no moths yet as it's been too freaking cold.  we're having crazy spring weather in the south i tell ya.

and here's a quick snap of our make-up work from yesterday's little day off.  math facts are currently the bane of my existence.  g is slow as molasses.  it's just his nature.  i need to send him that turtle card, lol.

week in the life: day one

anyone out there doing ali's "week in the life" . . . ???  i am!  i've got a cute amy tangerine daybook from may's jbs mercantile mini-album kit and it's perfect.  i wanted something where i could just journal and stick down pictures instead of going overboard like i usually do.  this works!  and shimelle (who's designing the may mini-album kit) has a fun selection of papers and stickers to go with it.  more easy!  yay!

here are today's pics.  i got my first instagrams printed.  they're so fun!  i love them!

first up, we took a sick day.  we probably didn't need to.  i'm thinking it's just allergies/sinuses.  it's fun to play hookie sometimes though.  g was so sweet.  he said he wanted to sit on the couch under the quilt with me and chichi and poopsie.  we rented hop and obliged him.  btw.  what's up with the cold weather?

g petting chichi in a sunbeam.  cats are such relaxing creatures to have around.

g posing with pepito.  gotta get both the kitties in the album.  they're a big part of our day to day lives.

g watching "how to grow your own bacteria cultures" on youtube.  he just told me i have to buy him chicken broth and agar on our next grocery trip.  i couldn't possibly make this stuff up.

while he was on youtube i was working on my mini.  fun times.

we also went to the library, walgreens, kroger, and the mapco today and i've saved all my receipts to put in the little envelope in the middle.  more tomorrow!  a week i can handle.  i think.  ;)

menu plan 17: tortillas con quesillo

i can feel myself growing bored with the menu planning and trying to eat healthy and all that low carb business.  in an attempt to at least keep up with the menu planning part, we'll go with a little carb loading this week.  no brown rice and brown pasta and brown tortillas.  give me the good stuff!  at least this week.  heh.

this is the honduran version of the grilled cheese sandwich.  in a word.  mmm.  in another word.  easy.  mmm and easy.  what more could you want?  just heat a thin layer of olive oil in a frying pan.  slide in a tortilla "sandwich" that consists of two tortillas with a thin slice of quesadillo (white soft salty cheese) between them.  fry, flip, and fry.  top with a couple tablespoons of spaghetti sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan.

this week's menu plan:

saturday - chinese take out

sunday - steak, corn on the cob, mango

monday - tortillas con quesilla, cucumber, strawberries

tuesday - salad topped with baked chicken

wednesday - spaghetti

thursday - fish soft tacos, salad, watermelon

friday - open

it's on like donkey kong!!!!!!!

we've got a fun new game going on the jbs mercantile message board!  it's on like donkey kong!  of course it involves stashbusting!  come join us!  i've got three points on the board already.  here are peeks since i'm working with my may jbs mercantile kits . . .

this one is for our monthly challenge.  for may we're doing may kit only plus vellum and/or confetti.  i'm kinda in love with the little vellum pocket i made.  i'll do a mini-tutorial for sure.  i did slip up and throw in a tiny bit of washi tape from shimelle's mini-album kit.  (yes! shimelle's designing the mini this month!  it's so cute!)

i believe i took something from every kit for this one, lol.  i spy vintage sheet music in the background (that would be antiquarian, of course).  a font from the main and a font from artisan.  the stamping is obviously this month's exclusive stamp.  and i believe that button came from the mini-album kit.  yep.  all four accounted for.

this one is mostly mini-album kit.  so cute.  more to come soon!  cuz it's on like donkey kong!  ;)

kitty cats' baby album . . .

g and i were talking one day and i realized that he'd never seen baby pictures of his kitties.  after all, they were born the year before he was.  i decided i wanted to make him a baby book  of his furry friends and dug out the negatives for their baby pictures and had them reprinted. 

the march antiquarian kit was the inspiration for creating (there is actually literally ONE left in stock).  this mini is made almost entirely from that kit with a few leftover bits added in from the other kits (mostly jenni's magpie release plus her new pockets, tags, stickers, and chipboard buttons). 

i scored the blue bingo card from the antiquarian kit and then reinforced the spine with washi tape.  i then layered all the vintage papers and taped some of those together with washi tape.  finally, i sewed all the papers together in the middle with a piece of cotton thread. 

it's a tiny sweet little book.  me and g love it.  the kitties like playing with all the loose strings.

inspiration . . .

source

since I can't seem to find the time to edit any more images and when i do have the time, i can't remember to edit more images, i will share some recent images from others who have inspired me . . .

mary beth burrell - are you on pinterest?  if you are, then you must follow this woman.  if you're not, then you should get on and then follow this woman.  i don't know mary beth personally, but i love her.  she makes me feel good every time i get on pinterest.  she pins lovliness.  the images she finds are always a sprinkling of happiness, delightfulness, and charm.  they are uplifting.  mary beth will make both your glad days and your sad days better.  i dare you to visit her pinboards and not leave with a smile on your face.

and oops!  i must run now!  hopefully i'll be back this afternoon with those edited images.  in the meantime, here's a discussion i've started about recent inspiration . . . what gives you the sudden urge to run home and scrapbook?

ms. pacman: going retro

here's the layout i created for my second round of ms. pacman.  it has such a retro old school scrappy vibe to me.  do you remember back in the day when we collected strano ribbon instead of washi tape?  and when heidi swapp alphas were all the rage?  (so excited that she's back with a vengeance! got my hot little hands on the instaframes color set today!).  gluestick and i used to put the ribbon tabs on everything.  don't forget to sew your button!  ha!  the banner brings it into modern times though, right?  but really.  this was great good fun to make.  i thoroughly enjoyed myself and it felt good.  :)