Do I Have Time for That?

I'm thinking about getting a Master's Degree in some sort of educational capacity.  I know that to permanently get out of the classroom I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get one.  I just don't know when to start and in what direction I need to go.  A friend of mine keeps telling me to get my ed leadership degree, but I have absolutely NO intentions of being any kind of administrator.  I am not cut out for that.  Besides, everyone and their mother want to be an AP/Principal.  I'm kinda leaning towards guidance because let's face it, I'm a fixer.  I just don't know if I have the fortitude to put in those long hours with no pay bump what-so-ever.  Right now, technically, I can work to my contract.  (I don't ever as I'm here early in the morning and usually stay late in the evening.)

I know you're probably wondering why the hell I got into teaching if I don't want to go back in to the classroom.  Well, in the few short years that I have been in education it has changed drastically.  Public school teachers are enemy number one these days.  Everything is blamed on us and we usually shoulder the majority of the burden of our respective districts.  Classroom teachers feel like circus performers having to jump through so many hoops that our state and local government place on us.  There is no authentic teaching going on these days, all we do is teach to a test, whether it be FCAT, EOC's, AP tests, etc.  Kids aren't learning English, Math or Science these days.  They are learning test taking strategies and how to guess correctly by process of elimination.  Those aren't necessarily bad things, but they definitely should not be the main focus in education.  Creativity has long gone out the window and we shove material down the throats of our students in an effort to cover all the standards that are going to be tested on the (insert test here).  Not to mention that these tests are given in April so now it's the teacher's responsibility to prepare 2 months worth of lessons that most students are going to blow off.  (School is over in June.)

I'm tired of being beat up in the classroom.  If little Johnny fails my class, it's because I'm a bad teacher, not because little Johnny never-comes-to-class-or-has-materials-when-he-does-so-he-tries-to-sleep-and-curses-me-out-when-I-wake-him-and-then-I-call-home-his mother-says-he's-my-problem-from-7-2-and-his-administrator-is-so-backed-up-that-he-suspends-him-because-that's-the-easiest-thing-to-do-with-the-limited-resources-we-have-available-and-it's-what-little-Johnny-wanted-anyway-because-he-doesn't-want-to-be-in-school-anyway.  *sigh*

Maybe I'll just go back to the corporate world.  At least I can leave work behind me when I clock out at night.

Letter Hooks

I found these wooden letters with hooks on them and thought they would be perfect in Kaitlyn's room...with a little help of course.

They started out like this:

And ended up like this:

I got the letters from Michael's in the dollar section.  Love me some dollar finds!  I took off the hooks first and spray painted them a deep plum color.  Then I painted the sides of the letters with a purple acrylic paint I had on hand from a mother's day project I did in May.  Then I traced the letters backwards on some scrapbook paper.  After I cut the letters out I modge podged the letters and put the paper letters on top.  I then coated the top of the letters with some more modge podge.  I liked them with just the paper but also thought they needed a little something more.  So I embellished them with some purple rick rack and some purple buttons.  I absolutely loved how they turned out and can't wait to put them up in Kaitlyn's room when it's all painted.

DIY Glass Pedestal Vases

So I have seen all these DIY pedestal vases all over the internet and decided to make some of my own.  I don't have any before shots but I got the candlesticks at a thrift shop 2/$1 and I got the vase part at the dollar store.  I just used E600 glue and set heavy books on them overnight.  These are really crappy pictures because I couldn't get the lighting right but I love them and they look great on my dining room table.



The Summer That Flew By!

Wow, I can't believe that summer is almost over.  This one really did fly by and yet I feel like we didn't even really do anything. 

We had my cousin's wedding in Indiana at the end of June and I feel like my whole month of June was consumed by getting ready for that trip.  I was at one store or another almost every day getting stuff for Kaitlyn's dress, getting an outfit for Tyler, getting stuff for me, etc.  It was a nice wedding and we had fun.  Kaitlyn was the CUTEST flower girl I have ever seen, but I may also be partial. 

While we were in Indiana for my cousin's wedding, we were also visiting Jerry's side of the family.  We stayed with his mom.  She has this cute town home in Indianapolis that is just perfect for her.  It's only a two bedroom so it was a tight squeeze for the 5 of us, but we made it work.  The kids and I slept in the guest room and Jerry slept in the loft area on a little pull out sleeper.  She has a little patio area that leads up to a shared outside space that the kids LOVED.  They were able to run around in the grass and had a ball.  It was cold, which surprised me because it was the end of June and I wasn't expecting it to be so cold.  Coming from Florida where we wear shorts on Thanksgiving and MAY break out a light sweater at Christmas, I was unprepared.  It was all fine though and my children didn't freeze to death.  I think my hot baby boy actually was comfortable for a change.

We were so glad to come home and I think I did a little too much veggin with the kids.  I usually get them to the park, library, mall playground, etc. as much as I can to wear them out, but I got really lazy.  Now school is about to start and I really don't have any time left to do all those things that I normally do.  I'm glad they will be going back to day care because they will get the stimulation that they need and haven't been getting from me.

I had to attend some training this week and left the kids with a babysitter so tomorrow I am going to make it up to my kiddies and take them to a new park that just got renovated.  I'm sure they'll have a blast and it will be great to get out of the house and have some fun with them.

Super Stoked

I am super stoked because I ordered a cricut expression today!  I cannot wait to get that little machine in my house and start cutting away!  I've seen a lot of project on the interwebs that I have been dying to do.  I'm super into home decor right now and I need to do it on the cheap since we have a lot to do to make this house our home.  I think I'm going to start out with card making or scrapbooking until I feel like an expert cricut user before I tackle stuff like vinyl.  I'm going to watching the mail like a hawk for the next week or so!

Happy Fourth

I started this wreath in February and finished it just in time to hang on my door for the fourth.

I love how it turned out and it makes me feel all patriotical :)  It's made with felt using the felt pomander technique that you can find all over the blogosphere these days.  Hope you have a safe and happy fourth!

Looky What I Made

I actually made this a long time ago, like before Easter, but haven't had the time, or motivation for posting it here.  I am quite proud of my work considering I have not an original creative bone in my body.  I cannot draw, sew, knit, or craft.  I want to start taking sewing lessons because I want to be able to make cute accent pillows and curtains and what not.  Since I'm taking the summer off I'll probably have time to squeeze in a class here and there...just need to find a babysitter first.  I know I'm not going to be making my family's wardrobe with my sewing skills, but I do want to be able to use a sewing machine to make some simple things.

I have been bitten by the crafting bug...watch out world!

 Yarn wreath

Close up of the felt flowers