Stuff and Things 9/22

Have I mentioned that I love that this link up is back?  It gives me a purpose to at least blog once a week.

*Starting the school year has been rough.  I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon.  Right now, I'm just plain exhausted.

*I can't decide if I should be angry that Big Brother is doing a fall season, but it's exclusively on CBS All Access.  I'm a fan, but I'm NOT paying extra money just to get stressed out about finding time to watch another show.

*Tomorrow, two of my fellow September birthday friends and I are heading out for a birthday dinner and to a local high school football game.  My Alma Mater and the school in which I teach are playing each other!  There may or may not be a bet involved.  But luckily, it's pretty low stakes...loser has to display the score as their FB cover photo for the week and buy the winner a drink the next time we go out.

*It's cooled off here lately, and it was a welcome change.  While I don't like being cold, I find that it's WAY easier to add clothing to warm up than it is to take off clothing when you're too hot.  As an educator, there's a limit to how little clothing I'm allowed to be wearing.  HAHA

*If you haven't joined The Balanced Life Sisterhood with Robin yet, you totally should.  The September work out is tough but amazing!  I feel so great when I'm done with it.  And I love that most days, I only need to find 10 minutes (or less) to work out!

*Tune in on MONDAY to sign up for The 5th Annual Great Pumpkin Swap with Kristin and me!  I can't wait to see who joins us!

Stuff & Things: Currently...

So I totally stole this from Kristin's post on Tuesday.  I haven't been writing much.  I actually have some ideas on a list, but I haven't really been inspired.  I thought it would be a good time to let you all know that I'm still alive and well and to hook up with Kristin and Joey for Stuff & Things!

Reading... All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; I am also looking for a nonfiction novel to incorporate into my reading curriculum next year, so I am reading Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston.

Loving... pilates!  I signed up for the #30DayPilatesBody Challenge with Robin from The Balanced Life  I also joined the Balanced Life Sisterhood, and while the challenge doesn't start until March, I've gone through her beginner videos, and plan to do some others to get ready for the challenge.  If you'd like to join the challenge, click here!

Buying... Nothing at this exact moment, but DoTerra is having a BOGO sale this week.  I'm keeping an eye on the daily deals to possible stock up or try some new oils.   (I'm also LOVING these, by the way.)

Appreciating.... My students.  They are working in groups to finish activities for the book Hatchet.  I love listening to them work.  :)

Wondering... What to make for dinner tonight.  #storyofmylife

Eating... better.  I was really off track of healthier choices for a couple of weeks.  I just wasn't "feeling" it.  I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat.  So I did.  

Drinking... Water, as usual.  At school, I have a Brita bottle that filters my water, but at home, I have a glass water bottle and I've been adding DoTerra Lemon essential oil.  Yummy!  

I got this Ello glass water bottle on Amazon.  It's awesome!

Watching... Parenthood on Netflix.  So apparently, when I finished Season 5 on Netflix, I was under the impression that it was over.  BUT as it turns out, Season 6 was the final season and was recently released on Netflix.  I started season 1 while I was on the treadmill yesterday.  

Feeling... content.  For the moment.  I'm also excited.  While I was writing about what I'm watching, I also remember that Fuller House will be released on Netflix TOMORROW (Feb. 26th)!  It's freaking ridiculous how excited I am.  

Failing... at blogging.  As I've already said, I haven't been around much lately.

Succeeding... at starting to get and stay organized at home.  Scott and I had our house appraised last week.  Prior to the appraisal, I had a LOT of work to do to get the house cleaned and somewhat organized before allowing a stranger into our home.  Now that it's clean, I'm working to keep it that way.  I started following @cleanmama on Instagram.  She posts one cleaning task each day.  I'm off to a good start.

Keeping... up with work at work.  I'm ahead on my lesson plans and I'm done with a lot of other things.  Hence, the writing of this post.  I am about to have numerous tests and papers to grade over the rest of the week.  So I'm enjoying the breather while it lasts.

Planning... some time to get together with friends over the next month.

What's *currently* going on with you?

Stuff & Things: Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts:

1.  Water is a catch 22.  I get that we're supposed to drink a lot of water each day, and I mean, A LOT.  It's good for you, but seriously, having to pee 100 times a day is REALLY annoying.  And, of course, we all know that waiting too long to go is not good for you either.

2. Ok, this one is also about water.  Scott and I bought the variety pack of Propel powder packets the other day.  Since I have been trying to drink water with my lunch AND dinner AND throughout the day, I've been getting pretty tired of the lack of flavor in my life.  I really do like these things, and it's a nice way to change up the whole water thing without adding calories to my day.  And at least, there's a variety of these to keep that from getting boring.

3. My first day back to school is August 25th.  The kids come on August 27th.  Next week, I will have a series of school-related posts.  (One of them will be my classroom set-up!)

4. Have you heard of/tried Vinted.com?  It's a pretty cool website where you can sell your clothes and accessories.  The prices are similar to yard sale prices (at least MINE are).  Buyers pay the shipping, so once you sell something, you ship it off.  Once they get their item(s), you get paid.  You can also buy items from others, or you can swap things!  I did manage to sell a Thirty-One purse, wallet, & key chain.  And I've had lots of people mark my items as favorites.  I haven't had a ton of luck, though.

5. My parents' and their neighbors are having a yard sale this weekend.  I've been trying to purge all sort of things around here: clothes I'm not wearing (because they don't fit or I don't like them any more), appliances, and other items we're not using.  I have stuff on eBay, Amazon, Vinted, and a bunch of local yard sale groups on Facebook.  I just hope I can get rid of a lot on Saturday!  I'm tired of our house being cluttered!  I'm even going to set up a table with my Celebrating Home stuff.  I have items that aren't in our current catalog and aren't ones I want to keep that I can sell on the spot, and I also plan to try to get some leads on parties and fundraisers.

6. Finally, the above just reminded me.....Celebrating Home offers AMAZING fundraisers.  We have two that yield up to 50% profit for your organization!  You don't have to live near me for me to help you or your organization with a fundraiser.  I would simply have forms shipped to you.  There's also an online component, and once I receive all of your orders, everything will be shipped to the location you specify sorted for each seller.  It's SO easy!  If you need to raise money for ANYTHING: personal, trips, schools, sports, dance, gymnastics, day care, medical bills, charity....ETC (the possibilities are endless!), contact me, and I can share more information with you!

So what Stuff & Things are on your mind today?
 

Five for Friday!

1. I just finished teaching my only class for the day.  Students are being rewarded for earning their AR (Accelerated Reader) points, and so they're on computers, tablets, DS's and other electronics today.

I figured if they can do it, I can do it, too! ;)

2. I am still not ready for Christmas.  I have some gifts, but still have quite a few to get.  I always think I have so much time, and then...BOOM.  12 Days 'til Christmas.  How does that happen?

via

3. I had to cut back on Christmas gifts this year.  People seriously need to stop having babies! ;)  lol  I used to by something for my friends' kids, but it's just not possible any more!  There are so many, and then I feel bad for not buying gifts for Scott's friends' kids or kids of our mutual friends.  It's just not worth the guilt. 

Unfortunately, I just don't get to see many of them anyway.  I doubt they'll even notice that they're missing something from me.

4. I'm planning to make some Christmas cookies this weekend.  Here's what's on my list:

• Chocolate chip (my "specialty")
• Cut out cookies (a family recipe)
• Peanut Butter Blossoms (recipe coming to the blog on Tuesday!)
• No Bakes
• Citrus Sugar Cookies (These are a box mix from Tastefully Simple.)

That should probably be enough! :)

5. I decorated my Christmas tree last night.  I put the lights on on Sunday.  I've come to the conclusion that I need to buy my own ornaments.  I have all of the ornaments I made in school and a random assortment of ones purchased for me growing up.  Some of them I love, but I really hate my tree.  lol

I think I should've left the ornaments off.  I liked it better with out them:

Happy.....

...Labor Day!

Guess what else today is??

It's also my birthday.  We'll pretend that I'm not turning 31 today.

This picture is unrelated to my actual birthday, but it's a cute picture of me not being 31. :-p

Ok, we won't.  Because I'm about to share 31 random things about myself (in no sensible order) in honor of my 31st birthday.  They may be things that you already know, but there may be new information.  So here goes:

1. I am a TV junkie.  I can't help myself.  There's so much good stuff to watch out there.  I actually get stressed out during the school year because I don't have all the time in the world to sit around watching my shows.  I get behind and the DVR gets cluttered, and I just can't take the pressure.  BUT I simply can't cut any shows out of my life.

2. Speaking of which, USA network is having an NCIS marathon for my birthday Labor Day.  It's one of those shows that I can watch over and over and over and never get tired of.  I'm very happy about this.  It's the best birthday present they could give me.

 

3. I am constantly craving cookies, but we never seem to have any here in the house.  I'm also too lazy to make them.  This is probably a good thing.

 

4. I am taking the "Skirtember" challenge with Kristin from Kristin's kNook and Chantal from Scattered Seashells.

5. I still have and sleep with my baby blanket.  Blankie and I have clearly had a long relationship.  I don't plan to give it up any time soon.

6. I love singing.  Like, down to my very core.  When I don't know what to say or how to say something, when I'm in a bad mood, when I'm in a good mood, singing is just how I know how to be. 

7.  I posted my very first YouTube video.  It is a video of me singing.  It is not the best sample of what I can do, and my piano playing skills are only so-so.  I decided to grab my old music books from church and play through some songs.  These ones struck me in such a way that I was compelled to record and post.

 

8. My favorite colors are purple and pink.

 

9. I believe that chocolate and peanut butter are the best combination known to man....or woman, as the case may be.

 

10. I believe in God and am thankful for the unconditional love and forgiveness He offers.

 

11. I am excited for the My Harry Potter Fix link up I host with Kim at Latte & a Prayer and Tarole from One Haole Girl to start back up!  (Coming WEDNESDAY!)

 

12. I love reading.  My favorite genre is Historical Fiction (Philippa Gregory, anyone?), and apparently, I also like Teen Fantasy: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Insurgent....

 

13. I don't like the number 13.  I refuse to ever have the volume on my TV or car radio set to 13.  I am somewhat convinced that something bad will happen if I have it set there.

 

14. I think I need to Tweet more.

 

15. My cats Allie and Abbie are my babies.  :)

 

 

16. I am a procrastinator.  I don't mean to be.  It just happens.

 

17. I have one brother.  He's pretty cool...sometimes.  ;)

 

 

18. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.

 

19.  I think I have a friend curse.  Most of my friends from high school and college don't live near me any more.  It seems that every time I make a new friend, she lives no where near me and/or moves away.  lol

 

20.  Candy Crush and Gardens of Time are two of my favorite games on my iPad.

 

21. Teaching 6th grade is off to a decent start.  Once I start teaching actual content, I think I'm really going to love it.

 

22. The team I'm on with Celebrating Home started a layaway program.  Once a month until next August, 12 of us pay $40.  A winner is drawn each month.  The winner gets to order $400 worth of merchandise (with the remaining $80 to cover tax, shipping, & fees) PLUS the hostess benefits for the month.  I won for August, so I got 40% free instead of 20%.  (That was $160 free!)  Here's my haul:

 

 

 

23.  My husband's name is Scott.  I like him.  :)

 

     

24.  I currently have a love/hate relationship with Season 15 of Big Brother right now.  I love it, but some of the contests are really awful people.  I wish they weren't still there.

 

25. My cousins are like my brothers and sisters. 

 

26. Writing this list is harder and taking longer than I thought....

 

27. I actually cooked something new on Sunday.  I will share on the blog soon. 

 

28.  Thank God for Pinterest.

 

29.  I bought two pairs of boots from Target.com for less than $70!  I had to throw away some boots that were worn out.  I feel that I should have a high heeled pair and flat pair in black, brown, and gray.  Still working on the gray...

 

30. Last year, I turned 30.  I found it kind of devastating.

  

 

31.  31 isn't much better.  :-p

Random Monday Ramblings...

I will start by saying that I do have some blog post ideas, but none of them are ready to share.  I plan to write a post with before and after pictures of my classroom, but I'm not even close to finished with the after.  So that will be later.  I also want to show you this really fun way to tie a scarf.  This requires me to make and post a vlog.  Since I'm lucky that I even get dressed each day, I want to wait until I look especially nice for all of you.  AND I received my first prize package from Influenster.  I won two of the brand challenges from the VoxBox I got a few months ago.  This one was from Oasis+. 

So that's what's coming.

What other random things can I share with you.....?

-Scott and I really, really, really need to go grocery shopping. 

This adorable kitty (Allie) likes to watch me cook.  Every time I go to the kitchen, she hops up on the counter and meows at me!





-I am wondering why I have my busiest two weeks of the summer during the last two weeks of my summer.
-I spent way too much money at Maurice's in the last week.  I got some great new pieces.  I couldn't resist wearing one of my new dresses to church today.  Picture to follow in an upcoming style post. 
-Stay tuned tomorrow for Dinner Time Tuesday!  (And come link up! :) )

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