June Currently

I am linking up with Farley to share June's currently!

Listening-to my cat purr as I brush him which is nice because he loves to be brushed.   Unlike my other cat who hates it and makes the worst sounds when I do brush her.

Loving-I am out of school for summer now and I am enjoying being able to take a nap.  

Thinking-I'm feeling pretty lazy today and I really need to do something on my to do list.

Wanting-I would love to go out and sit in the sun, but it is like 98 degrees here, almost too hot to sit out there without a pool to cool down in.

Needing-I really need to sit down and look at our budget for this month....I'm a little behind on that this month!

Summer loving-I want to get a lot of rest, finish some household projects and maybe go somewhere with the hubby for a few days to just get away.  

Please visit Oh Boy Fourth Grade to donate to the animals that have been affected by the recent floods in Wimberly.

Have a great day!

Change is Coming

Hey there! 

How many of you just love change?

I mean, I know I like to mix things up now and then, but...

Change is coming to my school this year. 

And lots of it!

I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me nervous.

While we have a lot of personnel changes happening across the district, I'll just tell you about my little K-2 building.

Our part-time Title I teacher resigned.

They decided to hire a full-time Title teacher which is fantastic because we are so short-handed in our building (remember we even teach our own specials).

Our first grade teacher decided she wanted to be the Title teacher.

That means today we are interviewing for a first grade teacher.

I am excited and nervous all at the same time.

Our school has such a great dynamic and atmosphere. 

Because there is only one teacher per grade level, we rely on each other a lot to collaborate and bounce around ideas. 

We have a lot of great prospects.

I'm praying we pick the perfect person for the job...and thinking of the following quote:

Have a great weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday - The Furnace

Hi there!

So glad you dropped by for today's bit of wisdom.

Not mine, of course. 

Take a look at this gem from Warren Wiersbe:

I actually read this quote last week as I studied grace--God's provision for every need. I had also read Kristi's wisdom post from last week and was thinking about the health issues she has battled this year. Then I started thinking about a struggle that I'm facing in my own life right now. 

And I realized...sometimes we feel like we're in the fiery furnace (find the Biblical story in Daniel 3)!

It may be health issues, personal tragedies, financial pressures, or relationship issues. I'm sure each of us could name a situation or area of our life where we have felt like we were in a battle (a furnace) and wondered when it will end.

I'm reminded of when Paul wrote about "a thorn" in his flesh. We don't know exactly what that "thorn" was, but we do know that Paul asked the Lord three times for it to be taken from him. He wanted relief from it, much like we do from our own battles.

Here is the Lord's response in II Corinthians 12:9: 

"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Paul then continues, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (vs. 9b-10)

When I remember and consider these words, my prayers from the "furnace" are quite different. And while I still pray for relief, I also pray for the grace to sustain me through it.

Have a grace-filled day!

Project Completed

Yay!  I finally finished one of the projects that I wanted to get done this summer.  We purchased a new comforter for our bed several months ago and our curtains didn't match it.  I looked at various curtains and also roman blinds.  After looking, I realized that roman blinds cost way too much for us and curtains aren't cheap either.  I found some diy on making your own roman blinds so I decided to give it a try.  I used the curtains that we had and started by using rit dye to dye them a color that would match our comforter.  This was scary in itself because I had never used dye before.  I was thrilled when it turned out the color that I wanted.  My husband even kept saying.....you bought these didn't you?  He didn't believe at first that they were actually our old curtains.  Now, I'm thinking of all the things that I want to dye....LOL!

I then purchased cheap vinyl blinds from Wal-Mart and got started.  Of course, they make it look easy and say it is fast and simple.   UMMMMMM......not for this not crafty person.   It took awhile but once I got the hang of it and got one done, the other 2 weren't so bad. I also had a great helper that was very helpful in making the blinds......NOT!!!   My cat thought he needed to come assist and  by assist I mean come and lay on the blinds and play with strings!

The finished result wasn't too bad and considering that each roman blind that I made cost me around $5 a piece, I was pretty happy about it!

I will say when I finished the 3 blinds, I was pretty tired and so was my helper as you can see below!

The following is the directions that I used to follow to make these blinds.  

Sorry that this has nothing to do with education, but this week is a pretty busy week for me and I decided that I'm taking a break from school stuff and will get back to it next week.  

Have a great day!

I Need a Vacation from Summer Vacation...

You laugh (or maybe throw rotten tomatoes if you're still in school)…but I'm so serious!

I have yet to have a completely "plan free" day since I finished up school. This week has been especially busy.

We have been working on my bathroom and laundry room remodel. We took an extra bedroom off the dining room and divided it into a small bathroom and laundry room.

This has been a long time coming…

Here's some before pictures:

This is my handsome husband. He worked for my father's stucco business for 10 years before following his passion for cars. He returned to school and became an automotive technician.

 Construction Experience + Auto Experience = Handy Husband

I really should have had pictures of the bare studs because that is how far we have come in the last two weeks!

Here's the before pics on tile day:

That "today" was for last Saturday when we tackled the tiling project. It POURED all day--which was fine--until we worked our way out the back door. I was in charge of cutting the tile and the saw was outside on our front porch. By the end of the day, I was walking from the back door to the front porch to make the cuts in shin deep water and drenched from all the rain. It seriously would have made an enjoyable "selfie" picture for you, but…no…just no.

Oh, and praise the Lord, we had enough tile. We literally came down to the last piece! Yikes! I was praying that I didn't mess up on those final cuts!

Here's the finished bathroom tile job:

Today we continue the work. Well, I should say my husband continues the work. He is installing the vanity and sink, toilet, and the ceiling treatment I wanted. I will share more pictures as we finish up and I begin decorating.

I'm so anxious for this remodel to be complete!

We have had a 2nd bathroom only once in our 19 years of marriage--and that was for 1 year while we lived in Phoenix and the kids were small. Now with two teenagers, that 2nd bathroom will be even more appreciated!

I also have never had a "finished" laundry room. Our other homes just had laundry closets and this one has always been unfinished, so I'm chomping at the bit to get in there and think about what will make the space the most useful.

The remodel, running around with the kids, and catching up on appointments that were put off during school have kept me busy.

I *think* I will get a little more down time this week…that is if I can get used to the idea of my kids driving to the school by themselves for basketball camp. Chaz now has a restricted license…still getting used to that idea. He won't be able to participate in camp (the knee injury), but his coach wanted him to come and help out.

I guess I do have one "school/teachery" thing to share.

If you have purchased our Robot pack in the past, you will want to redownload (either at TPT or TN). I updated the calendar included this morning to be July 2015-June 2016.

Have a great weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Something Beautiful

Welcome to this week's:

I will have to say that this year has been a very tough year for me.  I have battled some health issues and continue to battle them daily.  There were many days that I would pray and ask God-"Why me?" I will admit that many times I didn't understand why I was having to battle what I was battling and why God wasn't doing something for me for it when I prayed and continued to have faith.  This song became my song this year.  It says it all.  God has a plan for us even if it is something that we feel like we don't want to have in our lives.  He knows what he is doing and he will turn it into something beautiful in the end.  We may not always understand it at the time, but there is a reason for it. 

Have a great day!

Summer To Do List Begins

I am now officially on summer break!  I have to say that my first day off was Friday and I was lazy! I layed on the couch and watched movies for most of the day.  

Now comes the summer projects.  It seems like every summer I have so many things that I want to get done and I get overwhelmed and never end up getting them all done.  This summer, I decided to tackle my projects a little different and I believe it may help me to stay focused and not get so overwhelemed.  I started by making a list of everything that I would like to get done this summer.  My goal is to do at 1-2 things on that list each day and cross it off.  I have already started it and have been able to do it so far and the best part is I'm not overwhelmed!  For me, having the list is nice and seeing things get crossed off that list is also very helpful.  But, I think the best part about it for me is that I'm not going to get overwhelmed because I tend to start a lot of projects and spend all day on them.  This way I can go at a slower pace and not get so burned out with the projects......I hope.  :-)  

Have a great day!