285/365 - Pictures, flowers, and a little fun...

I'm back. Whew! That week kicked my can. Between unforeseen issues, parent teacher conferences and just begin downright tired, blogging ranked low on my priority list. But it's a new week so here we are.

When I posted about our new bedding a few entries ago, I mentioned that I had bought an oil painting from a street vendor as we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower when Ken and I were in France. It's just sat around for a year and a half. I really liked it but wasn't sure what to do with it. We decided to take it and have it matted and framed to match our new bedding.

It's an 11x14 and hangs on our smallest wall. We had it done at Hobby Lobby. Can I just say they are VERY reasonably priced when it comes to framing. I had a lot of things framed professionally and I was shocked at how good their prices are.

We love it! It adds a little to the room and reminds me of that fun day in France.

My wonderful and amazing first grade team got me flowers last Monday. These flowers are a week old in this picture. They still look great. Thank you, ladies! You made my day!!

Sometimes I find unexpected joy in my job.

Today I have a student that smuggled one of these into her desk.

Yep. She has her dad's iPhone. She had been acting really weird today and acted like she was hiding something in her desk. So at recess, I peeked into her desk and sure enough, it was there. I laughed out loud, took it, called her mom (I would want to know if my 6 year old "borrowed" my phone) and mom came down to pick it up from the office. As mean as this sounds, I am loving watching my cute little first grader squirm because the iPhone is gone... and she's not sure how it disappeared or where it went. Ahhhh... life lessons. So much fun, especially when your six. By the way, if she produces tears over it I may come clean. We'll just see.

284/365 - Please Stand By...

Sorry for the little hiccup in my blogging world. Life happens, there's stuff to deal with, and sometimes things just have to take a backseat. And so it is with blogging...

My posts may be a little less frequent this week. It's parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday which means I'll be getting home late and completely exhausted. I'm at least smart enough to take Friday off of work as a personal day (don't have those sub plans written yet) but due to my new church calling (Primary Presidency) I agreed to a 10:00 meeting on my day off. Oh well. It's better than a 7:00 a.m. meeting on Sunday morning.

Let me get through this week, breathe, and come to my senses. I have a few things I want to post about... like my sewing classes. Fun, fun, fun!

283/365 - Movie Review & New Discovery...

Last night we went and saw the new movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Here's what we thought without giving any of the plot away...

It's about a young boy named Oskar and his quest to find the lock to a key he found in his deceased father's closet. Oskar's dad (Tom Hanks) was killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

Oskar is a bit of a genius with weird social skills. That's probably the best way to describe him. He uses his crazy analytical brain and a phone book to map out where the key's lock could be. This takes him on an amazing adventure where he meets people who have a direct effect on his life.

Here are our overall thoughts about the movie...

It's a must see!! 

(but seeing it once is enough for us)

It's really long in length.

(it was over 2 hours long)

There were times the movie seemed to drag.

(they could have shortened many of the scenes)

If you have any emotional connection to the September 11th attacks you may want to skip seeing it.

(it's a great movie but it might hit too close to home for some people) 

Ken and I just might start carrying around tambourines everywhere we go as we play the Oxymoron Game. You'll see...

We also made a great discovery tonight!

For those of you that live near Lehi, this place just opened up this week! We went there for dinner tonight. It was DELICIOUS!

I had a Oreo and cookie dough chocolate custard Concrete Mixer. HEAVEN!

Their burgers are really good (I tasted Ken's) and so are their chicken sandwiches. We had the deep fried cheese curds (hello! could you get anymore healthier than that?) and the frozen custard. I am in love! It was fun too because when we got there we discovered that the owner of the franchise is a father of one of my former students. I saw him working and thought oh how sad that Dave is working fast food. Yeah well... he's the owner so then I just felt dumb. Oh well.  So glad we have this delicious place to get a burger at. We highly recommend it! BTW... the service was amazing! They were pretty fast with the food, deliver it to your table, and the people working there are straight from Disneyland I tell you. They seriously act like Culver's is the happiest place on earth. 

We're giving it an A+.

282/365 - Tape on earrings...

This morning one of my students, Miss "E", came into the classroom wearing earrings. I have very few girls in my class with pierced ears so some of my students made comments about Miss "E's" new look. The closer I got looking at them the weirder they were.

I know it's impossible to really see in this picture that Miss "E" has taped on her earrings with scotch tape. No joke. Tape. She put a piece of clear tape over the post and stuck it to her ear.

I asked her about her earrings and she told me that they were a new kind of earring called "Tape On Earrings". She was pretty proud to be part of the "new trend" she had created. She even let me take a picture. And just in case you're wanting to invest in "Tape On Earrings", you should know that they don't stay on very well. The tape was not sticky and the earrings had fallen off within an hour. I'm pretty sure there won't be a patent pending on this invention.

281/365 - The new bedding...

So... we bought new bedding. I have to admit, I was a little sad to see my "pre-wedding" bedding go. I really love it and thought it was perfect. BUT... it was girly and we decided to get something that was more "us". But no to worry... the old bedding is going into the guest room. It's certainly an upgrade there.

Here's a photo of the old bedding...

and here's the new quilt and pillows!
(yes, that is a different bed skirt even though it looks similar)

This is what the top of our dresser used to look like...

and how one side looks now. I switched the wreath and wreath holder, candlesticks, re framed the picture and put it on a different easel.

This picture is dark but I replaced the silver and white lamp with this one.

I also added one to my nightstand.

We're going to make one more addition to the room. We bought this painting when we were at the Eiffel Tower for our honeymoon. It's in the process of being matted and framed. The mat is the same red that is in the quilt. It's going to look pretty bold but I think we'll like it.

So there you are! A little change at our house.

280/365 - I think we all are...

I have a few students like this. But you know what... I think we're all a little bit this way. I know I am, especially at work. My students can testify of it. So much to cover, so little time. Sometimes I feel like my conversation is all over the place and completely random! Oh well. Anyone else feel this way?

279/365 - Off the wagon...

Yep. I fell of of the blogging wagon for two days. Life got hectic. Ken's mom and sister were here from out of town and his sister stayed with us in our guest room. My long weekend simply wasn't long enough. There was too much house work and laundry. I had my sewing class. We now have 9:00 a.m. church - ewww... there wasn't enough time to sleep in. Ken and I got new church callings. You know... just a usual busy weekend. It was great to have Ken's family here with us though. So now I vow to be back on the blogging wagon.

278/365 - Can someone please explain this?

I was so glad I had my camera with me today while I was at the grocery store. I saw this little item - pig's feet. Ummm... I have so many questions! First of all, how much meat is on feet? (clever little rhyme, 'eh?) Secondly, the small print below the black part of the label says that the pig's feet are semi-boneless and packed in vinegar. Semi-boneless? What exactly does THAT mean?

I got online to see what crazy things you can make with pig's feet. I wish I were kidding but one recipe actually said to "thoroughly wash the pig's feet and shave any hairs off with a disposable razor". Ewww. That's where I quit reading. I am not shaving my dinner. No way.

Just in case you're wondering where one might find vinegar soaked semi-boneless pig's feet with bristly hair (razor not included), it's right under the Spam and next to One Whole Chicken in a can. Perfect location!

Bon Appetit!

277/365 - Where the Wild Things are...

There is only one word to describe my students today...

If you want to know where the Wild Things REALLY are, they're in my classroom. All 28 of them. No joke. I have no idea what was in the water today but my kids were absolutely nuts. I had a substitute yesterday (I was at a district meeting) and she sent me an email about how the day went. She told me things went fine but that my kids were overly squirrely and chatty. To be honest, it kind of surprised me. My kids are really good. Well when I got to my classroom this morning, I completely understood what she was talking about.

There was plenty of wild rumpus!

I have a pretty good headache right now. 

Here are a few things that added to my WILD and crazy day...

1. I had to plunge the faculty room toilet before I could use it. Really? Aren't we all adults here? Who goes into a locked faculty bathroom, uses it, leaves the toilet clogged and walks out? That was fun for me.

2. My kids wouldn't quit talking.

3. I had to have a class discussion about why girls cannot have crushes on other girls and why boys can't have crushes on other boys. Seriously people... not in my job description. 

4. I got to clean chewed up gum off of my carpet. Someone will die on Tuesday morning.

5. My kids wouldn't settle down.

6. I had a student come up to me and tell me she needed to use the bathroom really, really bad. I told her she would need to wait because someone else was already in the bathroom (one at a time, school rule). So she stood there and peed her pants. That was a blast to deal with.

7. I felt like I was teaching preschool/daycare all day!

8. Have I mentioned that my class wouldn't be quiet?

9. The phone in my classroom rang way too much. I truly feel like I didn't get a thing accomplished.

The good news is that it's a 3 day weekend. I am very much looking forward to this...

I'm pretty excited to put on my PJ's and lay low at home where no one constantly chirps "Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Adams" at me. I LOVE all of my students but wow... I am worn out!

276/365 - My old window...

Back in November I blogged about my friend Kim and I going to Gardner (oh, how I love that place) Village. If you want to read it, click HERE. Well, I bought an old window there with a little project in mind. I have no idea how much old windows sell for, but I paid just over $40.00 for mine. I've since found out that I got a pretty good deal on it.

It may just be a Utah "thing" but a lot of the boutiques and home decor stores around here sell old windows that have wreaths on them. I am a fan of that look but Ken isn't. I wanted one so I got a boxwood wreath at Target for about $40.00 and hung it with some ribbon I already had. I didn't do anything to the window except dust off the cobwebs. I really like the look of the cracked and chipped  paint. I think it turned out pretty well, although I'm not 100% sold on the bow. All in all I spent about $80.00 on it. If I'd bought it at a boutique it would have been a lot more.

As a compromise, we're going to hang it on the wall as you're headed down the stairs to the basement. That way it can be seen but isn't in a prominent place on a wall. I can live with that.

Right now it's just propped up on the ledge. I think it looks a lot better raised up about a foot or so but it's fine there until we get it hung up.

So there you are! 

One of my latest crafty projects!

 

275/365 - Technical Difficulties...

I am having such a difficult time with blogger tonight. I can't post a picture of make comments on other people's blogs. I'm not sure what the issue is but I'm calling it quits for the day.

274/365 - New Year's Eve...

Better late than never when it comes to posting. I guess. We laid pretty low for New Year's Eve this year. We just stayed home and had some friends come over. We served what may become a tradition at our house. Queso dip...

homemade rolls,

and chicken gnocchi soup with various other junk laying around the house. Same food as last year. As you can tell, we're party animals. (chirp, chirp... thanks crickets)

We visited, laughed until we cried and then welcomed in 2012. Ken picked up some of those streamers that you blow into.

Can you feel the excitement in the air. Yeah well, we were all pretty tired. This is Michelle. Evidently 9:00 p.m. is Michelle's bedtime.

 Michelle and Nuke (they're sisters, FYI) practicing their noise making skills. I've blogged about Nuke before. She is my very dear and best friend from high school. We had a huge falling out where we didn't speak. We reconnected after 15 years and have been getting together ever since. I love this girl!

 

 Tank wasn't sure what to think about any of it.

This picture is priceless! This is Ken watching his fireworks. He LOVES fireworks. Let me rephrase that... he loves lighting them on fire. Pure joy.

After dinner, laughs and fireworks, we came back inside and played games and laughed a lot more. I seriously thought at one point Nuke was going to throw up because she was laughing so hard. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time either. We also got to have dessert, courtesy of Nuke and Michelle (and Costco). Yum!

 And of course we rang it all in with a toast. Ken toasted to having 2012 be better than last year. Well said.

Michelle and Nuke stayed until 3:00 a.m. Yep. We were happier than clams they wanted to hang out with us. We had a great time!