Friday's Agenda

Lots to accomplish today.  And being that I slept in until 11:30.  But you know what?  I am on summer break now and am allowed!!   In all reality, once we have the kids for a month I won't be sleeping in like this, so I am going to enjoy it while I can.

My aunt is having a large family gathering with all my extended family to celebrate the Idahoans being in (only until Monday :( though)

• Grocery shopping and meal plan for the next two weeks.  And I am going to stick to it this time around!
• Pick out clothes for the girls to wear to the family party last night so when C gets back with them, they can shower and meet me over at my aunt's.
• Return some stuff to Kohl's (maybe.  I have not decided if I can part with it yet).
• Make orzo salad for party tonight
• Clean bathrooms

Back to Reality

Well...grad school is over. I now only have comprehensive exams to worry about, but those are on August 1. I am giving myself time to relax and enjoy life again, but there are many projects I want to complete over the summer. I am also looking forward to actually cooking and cleaning again! Life has been so insane since we moved in to the house that I have not had time to complete many of the things I want to!  We are also hoping to get our first time homebuyer's tax credit, and with that we want to purchase a new television and completely redo the bathroom upstairs.

Here is a list of projects I want to complete this summer!

1. Replace faucet in kitchen
2. Install baseboard in small bathroom
3. Tile laundry room
   
4. Replace baseboard in laundry room and paint woodwork in laundry room
5. Clean carpet in family room
6. Paint paneling in laundry room
7. Install track lighting in family room

Summer Dishes!

I have an addiction.

And it is to tableware.

I bought these melamine dishes and salad plates at Kohl's.  They were on sale.

I also bought the rattan chargers you see here.  Also on sale.

Did I mention they were on sale?  That makes it ok, right?

Now I must have a cookout with friends in order to use them!

Laundry Room

Our laundry room is nothing extraordinary. Our garage door goes in to it and it has a door leading to it from the family room. Here is a shot of our window (and yes, the cafe curtain is too low. In the process of trying to fix it, I brooke off the drill bit because it got stuck in a wall stud. Whoops. I am waiting for C to dig it out so I can put it in the correct spot.)

Anyway, before I painted it, it was a mauvey-pinky color.

Here is the before (the only one I have):

I painted it a nice sage green, the same color as the small bathroom that is off of it. Here is the after:

My lovely front-loading washer and dryer. We have four cabinets (the same that were in the kitchen...and big bathroom...and small bathroom...)

I don't know why, but it looks like an olive in this picture and it definitely is not. Here is a shot of the large, blank wall that I do not know what to do with. And the Ikea hooks that I bought. We want to buy a shoe bench to put under it. And unfortunately, the litterbox has to stay.

Here is the long wall again, but from the opposite way.
Notice the hideous drop ceiling and ugly light fixtures that need to be replaced. This is the garage entrance. It also has a full-sized closet.
My mom has a ton of 12x12 tile that I am going to use to tile the area. The linoleum is pulling up in the closet, is stained with paint and just yuck, so I can not wait until I can replace it. That is my project for August.

I don't know what else to do in that area. Any suggestions?

My mother-in-law rocks.

While my mother and father-in -law were cleaning my father-in-law's mother's basement (she is long passed, but his sisters live there still), they came across his aunt's silver tray and teapots.  My mother-in-law cleaning the crap out of them and tonight surprised them by giving them to me!  Check out how awesome they are!

I can not wait to have a tea party to use them!!

I woke up at noon today

Or 11:45 AM.

I had a tough time thinking of a title, so that I decided to go with that.  I have hardly slept the last few nights with C out of  town and just my overall jitteriness of still being in the new house all by myself.  I think it all just caught up with me and I woke up, took my BBT, then went back to sleep.  Whoops.

After I finally dragged my patoot out of bed, I ran to Home Depot to get the paint for the bathroom and came home and got to work.  I want it to be as put together as possible for when C gets home, because I am proud of myself.  I am going to have him put the cabinet handles back on though, since they are in a new spot and I don't want to mess it up.  I have a tendency to not measure anything and put numerous holes in walls, which pisses my husband off.  I also painted the girls' night stands from Ikea finally!

Still need to get:

Rug for in front of sink

Handtowels from Kohls

White bath/tub towels

Edited: Busy bee

Husbo is still out of town until Tuesday and I kept myself very busy all day.

Woke up much later than I wanted to and got right to work painting.

The vanity in the bathroom is done and the doors are almost finished. I also painted the girls' nightstands white, since I had it out anyways.

Tomorrow, I am headed to Trader Joe's with Rach to stock up on frozen mango, my numero uno summer treat. And since I am jumping back on the Weight Watchers wagon starting tomorrow, I want to have a stockpile. After lunch, my brother is coming over to mow the lawn (bless his heart) and then I have class at 5. Somewhere in there, I need to pick up the paint for the bathroom (a light blue) as well as a rug and some hand towels for the bathroom.

Katie from All Bower Power gave me some great ideas for the bathroom, and I finally decided to incorporate her ideas with some of my own. C hated the gorgeous Pottery Barn shower curtain and I am not sure I can bring myself to pay $69 for it. So, for now, I am going with just a white curtain. I did go with Katie's ideas to paint the cabinet white (which I wanted to do anyway) and the walls light blue, and I am going to attempt a beachy-type theme. I also love the idea if the apothecary jars on the counter. I plan on getting some of these towels from Kohl's in yellow stripe for the towel bar above the toilet.

Here is the shower curtain from Bed, Bath and Beyond. You can't tell, but it is a waffle-print:
And here are the towels from Kohls (sorry for the teeny picture):

Part of me wants to throw out the blue idea and paint the walls white because I am still sketchy on the blue and yellow together. BUT, I found a different shower curtain from Pottery Barn, and then it was taken off their website. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it magically reappears so I can order it.

Single gal

Well, kinda.

At least until Tuesday night.

Husbo is heading out of town tomorrow early for work and is not coming back until late Tuesday.  J and A are with their mother (although, it is quite possible they will end up back here, but we shall see how that unfolds).  I have the house to myself.  And I am not sure how I feel about it.

When we lived in the apartment, if C was not home, I would have to put in a movie or watch TV in order to fall asleep, which is what I used to have to do while single.  Now, in the house, the silence is even louder.  

The downside?  We currently do not have a television in our room.  Or cable.  What am I going to do?  No kids, no husbo...I am nervous even thinking about it.  Being in the new house by myself still gives me the willies.  

This is the number one reason I need a dog.

Anyway, I plan on keeping myself busy.  We are running a booth at our local rib cook-off to raise money for our Relay for Life team for the American Cancer Society and I am going to be there the majority of the afternoon tomorrow and Sunday.

I also want to start painting the vanity in our bathroom as well as repainting it.  My family from Idaho is coming in a week from tomorrow and my cousin and her family might be staying with us.  Must have the house perfect by then!!

There are some things going on with C's ex wife that I don't want to get in to right now, but if anything unravels, I will be sure to let you know.  It is not often I ask anyone to pray for me or my family, but in this case, pray that both girls are with us permanently by the time school rolls around in August.  Pray that they are safe and healthy and that we are able to give them both the type of childhood and home they deserve.

Learning to Garden

My mother does not have a green thumb. In fact, I am fairly certain my mother has a black thumb; she kills any plant that comes in to the house.

I have always wanted a garden. A place full of herbs and 'mater plants and all the delicious, fresh veggies I could want.

Didn't it just figure that the house we bought has a wooded area? And with wooded areas comes wildlife in the form of vegetation-destroying deer?? And that BOTH neighbors warned us not even bother planting anything? I refused to heed their warnings, and went ahead and plated anyway.

Here is a shot of some of the violas in my front yard:


Here is my pot of cilantro (which, unfortunately, went to seed on the two hot-ass days we had last week), parsley, mint and lavender. Not sure what the hell I am going to use the lavender for, but whatever.
This is the planter we got for a housewarming gift from my aunt and uncle. A large selection of herbs!
Here is my other pot, with dill, chives, rosemary, and basil. My basil is not doing so hot, and no matter where I move it, the pot does not get enough light. But, it is struggling through and the dill is doing amazing and the rosemary is not doing half-bad either!

Tomorrow I will post more pictures of the overall landscaping of our yard and the work we have done. I also planted a tomato plant in a pot (it was meant for a patio) and although it is growing, I have yet to see a 'mater.

When ya can't find clothes that fit

...buy placemats, napkins, and napkin rings.

For the Fourth of July.

Very patriotic, no?

Chocolate Cake with PB Frosting

I saw this cake on Amber's Delectable Delights and was inspired to make it.  Alas, I was missing a few ingredients so I took her decorating ideas and frosting but used Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake.  I made this for our housewarming party and it was a huge hit!!  I didn't even get a piece (neither did C but I promised I would make him an entire cake for himself).

Reese's Peanut Butter Cake

as inspired by Amber's Delectable Delights

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

2 C sugar

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour

3/4 C Hershey's Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 C milk

1/2 C vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C boiling water

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 9-inch round baking pans

-Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl

-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes

-Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin)

-Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean

-Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks

Peanut Butter Frosting:

from Ina Garten

**I doubled the recipe and made 2 batches, which was MORE than enough

1 C confectioner's sugar

1 C creamy peanut butter

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/3 C heavy cream

Place the confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.  Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

In between cake layers, I chopped up some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and put that on top of a thin layer of frosting before decorating.

Seriously...even though I did not get a piece, I was drooling as I was making it.

And please do not judge me for my styrofoam plate...bad for the environment and all, but we had a crapton of people over and I was not about to do dishes for 100 people.  Sorry.

She has arrived

Aunt Flo that is.

So, I am challenging myself to several things for the next month.

#!: Temp daily

#2: Hop back on the WW wagon and start tracking again.

Let me tell you...I am cranky and crampy and miserable today.

Don't Stop Believing

So the title of this post has really nothing to do with the actual post; I am watching the Tony awards and they just had a performance from the musical, "Rock of Ages" and this was the song they sang.  I saw Journey in concert with Husbo and our friends this past fall.  They were awesome.

J (stepdaughter #1) and I got into a huge screaming match.  Actually, I was yelling, she was crying.  Chuck said you could hear us down the street.  Awesome.  I was that mom for about five minutes.  And I was ready to kill her.  I can't even specifically tell you what she was doing; she was just doing everything to piss me off and push my buttons.  And she was very successful at it.

Another school year is coming to a close.  Another graduating class we are sending out in to the world and hope we did a damn good job.  Some of these kids have truly made an impact on my life and I will really miss them.  It has been a rough year for me, not having the connection of rehearsals and drama to them.  When you are  a coach or an advisor, you have a different relationship to those kids than you do your other students.  I was with them more than I was at home and saw them more than I saw my husband and kid.  It makes me sad that I missed their senior year...but now that our levy failed, it just makes it a little easier because drama won't even be around next year.

All in all, I am glad this year is over.  It was a rough one, and I am looking forward to just being a teacher next year, and having a life again.

And yes, this post was disjointed and random, but you know what?  It is my blog.

My rant

Lauren over at LiveLaughLove posted this great blog rant about being a teacher.  She discusses how people talk about how "unfair" it is that teachers get summers off.  And how it royally pisses her off (ok, maybe not in those words exactly) that people talk trash about our work schedules all the time.

I say, PREACH ON SISTA!!

I get really annoyed when people say teachers are underworked, overpaid and protected by ridiculous unions.  

Well, here is what I have to say about that.

I have not had a raise in two years.  We rolled our contract over because there is literally NO MONEY in our district to pay the teachers any more and if we would have changed ONE WORD contractually, we would have taken a huge pay cut.  We do get a "step" every year...which is less than $50 per paycheck.  Other than that, the only raises I have gotten were for my blocks of credit.  Blocks of credit that equal about $1200 a year.  Blocks of credit are 4 classes (12 credits).  ONE CLASS of THREE CREDITS is $1200 in my master's program.  

You do the math.

Let's not forget to mention that Ohio requires their teachers to have their master's degree.  And we are not compensated for it like the business world often does.

And how many other professionals have to attend to HOURS of grading during their time at home?

As for summer vacays, Lauren nailed it on the head.  My last three summers have been spent at class from June through the end of July.  At the beginning of August, I finally was able to sit down and plan my units for the year as well as get my room set up.  Before THAT I was working part-time to supplement my income, as many of my fellow teachers are.

In the past six years, I have been a friend and parent to some of the hundreds of teenagers that I educate.  I have had students confide in me, confess to me, cry to me, come out of the closet to me.  I have been a drama director and been so consumed with work that I practically forgot what my husband looked like.  I have laughed with them and shared my own trials and tribulations with them, in the hopes that something I say will make a difference.  Some of these kids have no one that cares about them.  I try and be that person.

It is about shaping young minds and trying to teach them not just about The Great Gatsby and the research process, but about life.  

So the next time you say it is unfair how much time off a teacher has, think long and hard about it.  Because I promise you, the grass is not always greener.

Summer Vacation Plans!

So, summer is just a few days away (1 day of teaching, 3 days of finals, and a half of a day for teachers!) and freedom will arrive.  My internship portfolio will have been submitted to my principal and all I will have left is to research for my final project for my contemporary issues for school leaders class (sounds thrilling, does it not?)

The girls will be with their mother for June and the beginning of July, so I will have LOTS of free time to finally get my house organized and all the other jazz I have been wanting to accomplish in our new abode.

In preparation for all this fun, I am making my summer to-do list.  I will post pictures of projects in-progress, befores and afters, so no need to fret!

Here goes nothin'!  And in no particular order...

1.  Organize hall closests

2.  Organize kitchen cabinets

3.  Line cabinet shelves with contact paper because the grippy stuff SUCKS

4.  Clean out/organize closet in yellow bedroom

5.  Get pregnant (God willing)

6.  Work out 4 times a week

7.  Recommit to Weight Watchers (as long as number 5 does not happen)

8.  Make two brand new recipes per week 

9.  Finish taking my Wilton classes

10. Finish our wedding scrapbook.  

I am going to add-on as I think of them...because I am sure more will come, especially around the house.