Tackle-It Tuesdays!!! #7

5 Minutes for Mom hosts these wonderfully inspiring to get-up-and-do-it days.... go to their website for more inspirations!

Yes, I missed a few of these, but I did stay tackling!!!!
So think of this as a sort of progression of attacks that I just haven't shown you pictures yet...

Attack #1: my old and new classroom
Boy- did this take more out of me than I thought! Heavy file cabinets (5 to be exact), 2 tall metal cupboards chock filled with stuff, two teachers desks' of stuff, 3 medium bookcases full, 1 tall bookcase full of Teacher Editions, all the artwork on the walls, knick-knacks, posters, misc. furniture, stuff hanging from the ceiling, computer and printer...
I managed to stuff everything into the new room, but it is all spread out all over the room, and on the computer tables...waiting to be put away in the new room.
The new room came full of "Tech Lab" stuff, so that had to be moved somewhere before I could bring in some of my stuff! I still have many cabinets to go through and move stuff out of the room. Problem is where is it going to go? Hummmm...




Old empty room






Old empty room









Old empty room









New room
cupboards full of tech stuff. Needs to be removed and cleaned








Ditto...








My stuff out on desks waiting to be put into cupboards








Closer view of my stuff to be put away









Attack #2: Our Pool tiles
They have calcium (or whatever it is) buildup on them since 1988. Jeff and I took it upon on ourselves, since it would be a few thousand dollars to have it done professionally. Each time we went swimming with the kids, we'd grab our flat-ended screwdrivers and carefully chip the buildup off. Here are some pics:

Looking over the edge at water line...notice yucky brownish hard deposits

Click this to enlarge...half clean, half deposit-y


After we have scraped off the hardened gunk...
We are about half-way though the pool perimeter...

This will satisfy my Tackle-it-Tuesdays for at least a month!

Menu Plan Monday Sept. 8th

I have been absent for awhile, but I have stuck to my menu planning and LOVE doing it! Thanks to ORGJUNKIE.COM, I have had great fun making lots of recipes (we love Rachel Ray), and the kids have been great at pitching in! Join us Mondays for Menu Planning! You post what meals you have planned for the week, then go to Orgjunkie.com, and link up. There have been over 250 other people linked and you go and peruse what they are having-it is a great way to spice up what your menu!
My weekly join-in will be twice a month now, since my husband and I take turns cooking a week at a time.
PS- if you ever wanted to try one of my recipes, email me and Ill tell you how we liked it, how easy it was, etc... There has not been one recipe we haven't liked, but some we would "doctor up" differently.

Monday: Spaghetti alla Ceci p. 24 or Costco (depending if we need groceries)

Tuesday: Steak, Fried Onions and Potatoes p. 38 (changed slightly)
can't locate this on-line

Wednesday: Smokey Black Bean and Rice Stoup p. 64
ditto, so email me and Ill send you the recipe!

Thursday: Chicken with Scallion-Lime Sauce and Sweet Carrot Rice p. 68

Friday: Pasta in a Creamy Artichoke and Saffron Sauce p. 70
scroll down, way down, near the end of the article to find this recipe!
The Thai Chicken Pizza I made last week is there too! Very yummy!!!

This is the book I just love! All within 30 minutes and fairly easy!

Click here to order it from Amazon-
I think it is worth every penny!



Happy Cooking!!!

A welcome and much needed gift!

A while back I was visiting one of my favorite site, Ronda's Rants, and entered her current contest. I happened to win a really cute coffee mug from Life Is Good!
Well, it came last week and I've been so busy with school starting, I hadn't gotten a chance to open it, until this morning!
Here is my adorable package from Ronda!

I love the label..."A friend has sent you some good vibes!" How cool is that?

Ronda wrote: Have a good day!
Just looking at Joe Cool makes me smile!

The whole package includes a super cool mug, the story of how Life Is Good started, a Joe Cool sticker, and a tall glass of Lemonade mix!
All on recyclable materials! I love it!
Even the box was stuffed with recyclable materials! Gotta love it!

Ronda- you made me day! THANK YOU so much!!
The Joe Cool mug is going on my desk at school, to keep me smiling!
My coffee pot is already there! Can't wait to use it!

Go visit Ronda's Rants today and tell her hi!

Oh- more news I forgot to tell you!

I went back to brunette...again... (giggle)

















Yikes! No wonder I hate my bathroom lights!
But here you can see the highlights...











and the back....













Take 1 of "First Day of Second Grade"...

















Take 2....



















Take 3...pretty good, but they wanted their new backpacks in the picture, so.....

















Take 4....and....













Take 5. (whew) They wanted me to blog about their new backpacks so everyone could see how cool they were. Please, have pity on me and comment on them. They have been waiting patiently all week for me to post this! :)

Hello from "Busy-ville"!

Well, I made it through my first week back of school... lots to tell!

I teach middle school (grades 6-8) in a wonderful school with great people! I am the Exploratory teacher, which means it is an elective class. I choose topics and and bring them to the kids. I teach all three grades (mixed classes). I also teach Yearbook, and a Math Intervention class.
Period 1: Yearbook
Period 2: Exploratory
Period 3: Exploratory
Period 4: Lunch
Period 5: Exploratory
Period 6: Math Intervention
Period 7: Prep

In addition to all the new curriculum I have to come up with and plan, I also switched rooms from my old 'portable' to the "Tech Lab" room.
I spent a week of my vacation trying to move the plethora of "stuff" I have accumulated in my 13+ years of teaching. The week of school, I also worked everyday after school and moved stuff. Friday marked my last official load I had to move! Yippee!!
Here is my new classroom:















I went from no storage to TONS of storage! I laugh every time I go in my new room- there is so much room I cant even comprehend!
I'll go back and take pics of my old room so you can compare!








So we survived the first week! Quite a few glitches had to be fixed, but we worked through them and now I'm relaxing this weekend! YIPPEE!!!!

This was also my first summer I didn't teach summer school, so we had a chance to travel the months of June and July, and I did NOTHING with my kids all August except sleep late (and I mean LATE), watch cartoons and swim in our pool! We had a grand time!
I improved on my cooking preparing and meal making, got the kids excited about starting a garden (more to come later on that) and made life easier for my poor hubby who works outside every day in this 110+ heat with humidity! (Thanks Lylah!) It was MOST enjoyable!

Now I'm imagining that I will need to practice using my time efficiently to be able to keep up with blogging! I was so tired all week, that I couldn't muster up the energy to even turn on my poor computer, let alone update anything! LOL
I will try hard to keep up with it because I have really enjoyed making friends and I received such sweet emails about my absence!
I'm anxious to catch up on all of your blogs too!
Thanks for stopping on by and spending a few minutes with me!
Enjoy your weekend!

Hugs-

Beth Ann

Catch my Breath & Tackle-It Tuesday #6

*With school starting back up, I am busy toiling away the hours cleaning, rearranging and moving my old classroom into a new classroom.

*I will share pics with you later, but right now I just can't stop, or I will accidentally sit down and not get back up.

*Little...time...left.......must...clean.........kids-come-soon.....must...hurry.......

Menu Plan Monday Aug 26th (#2)

Come join in the fun of Menu Planning with 250 other gals and guys!
Click on Orgjunkie.com to see what everyone else is having for dinner!

Monday: Costco (which means pizza and grocery shopping)

Tuesday: Thai Chicken Pizza p. 142

Wednesday: Double-Dipped Buttermilk Chicken Fingers on Spinach Salad p. 178

Thursday: Calzones again! p. 118

Friday: Italian Tuna Casserole p. 110

Saturday: Mikey from Philly Cheese Steaks p. 120

Sunday: Everything Lo-Mein p. 114

I am cooking out of Rachel Rays cookbook-
And LOVE it~ so does my family!!!! That's worth it to me!

I need to go buy some pot(s)!

Haha- did I catch your attention?

Actually, we are in need of a pot or two for the backyard. We have plans to sink some beautiful fountain grasses in it, and place it by the pool.
We are in the very beginning stages of redoing the backyard to make it presentable. Let me paint you a picture.
First off, go to hell. No, no, I don't mean literally. I mean picture yourself in hell. What do you see?
Rocks, mounds of dirt on fire, stones, magma pools, screaming banshees.... well- you just described our backyard, minus the magma.
No SERIOUSLY!
(see pic above)
Last year my hubby turned off the water to it because we were going to take out the grass, and have it redone in concrete. We really have no place to put patio furniture, so we wanted to expand the area around the pool. So for two summers now, we have had Hell right here in our own backyard!

We have chosen to go 'green' in the backyard, like we did in the front yard, and xeriscape. That means use water wisely, and plant native plants where possible. Here is a great blog to see tons of pics about it!

So let's go to the local home improvement store, shall we? Hop in our dusty van and off we will go! Buckle up!

We're here already! Isn't it neat we live 4 minutes away?
Maybe afterwards we can hit Panda Express?!

Right when you walk in, you come across my favorite isle!
All the cute things you can decorate with! Let's check them out!

Wow- there sure is alot to check out! I cant believe Fall things are coming already!

Oh now this is cute! A glass encrusted starfish-love it!

Oh, now aren't these cute? I've got to have one!

Yup hon, that is the pot I was thinking of...
"What? We'll have pink tones in the rocks we'll be using? Oh, then that pot won't do."

Great job hon! I like that one too! Let's get two of them!

This is my 2nd favorite part of the store! Look at all the color!

If I am not mistaken, these are a tropical variety...bromeliads?

Look what's peeking out the top of these little cuties

These 'braids' always amaze me!

I like these too, so different

Oh orchids! (I've never been brave enough to buy one)

I just love all the color!

Cactus' needs gettin' used to, but can be quite stunning!

But I prefer something more like this.
I want to take you down one more isle before we go...

Ahhh...I could spend hours pouring over all these books!

Thanks for coming with is today!
I'll let you know when we work on the back, and invite you over for some ice tea and lunch!
Be careful- I might put you to work!

Vintage Thingies Thursdays #6

Well-grab an ice tea and sit a spell because I have a story for you....


...It all started this summer when I went to Indiana...and Aunt Bette told us girls (my sister Erin, my brother's girlfriend Lauren, and myself) to go down to the basement and go through her cupboards and pick out stuff we liked because she wanted to get rid of some things. (can you feel my heart beat faster?)
So we did, and it was chock full of pots, pans, vases, dish sets, picnic baskets, you know, the usual good stuff all aunt's have! We each made our "pile" downstairs.
A week later goes by and Voila! Here is the box from South Bend!

I gleefully opened it up and prayed the vases I put in there were in one piece. Then I discovered a few extra things.










(Now, I'm the one in my family that has Grandpa's dentures because no one wanted them and I couldn't let someone throw them out, besides they were in a cool box!...that is the type of person I am)
Anything my Aunt Bette had in her house, I surely didn't want it to get thrown out...those are precious memories for me because they were hers.
So, I open everything up and yes, everything was fine! I did come across this old coffee can that was not originally in 'my pile', so I wondered what was in it. I opened it up and there was something heavy inside a plastic bag. I unrolled the bag carefully and I was staring at all these little tiny cups! Who and how did they get in my pile?
Oh Aunt Bette must have come across these and added them into my pile! So I immediately called her to thank her for sending the big box of goodies and to thank her for these little cups! What were they and however did she know I would love them and they are right up my alley?!
To make a long story short, (I know- too late Beth Ann) she didn't put them in my pile, and dad packed everything. (Good Job Dad!) But, she did know what they were- salt cellars, and her mom used them on the table and she was glad I had them!

After calling Dad to thank him, and googling Salt Cellars, I laid them out to admire them. I gave them a good washing and they are very pretty! Come take a look- (click to enlarge photo)














So then I start researching and checking out eBay for salt cellars...HOLY COW!!!!! Well, it can become an addiction and I clearly had all the signs of it...
*staying up late on 'puter
*on 'puter all day long
*answering "Oh, Nothing" when hubby asked what I was doing
*credit card sitting non-nonchalantly by 'puter
*enough snacks and drinks besides me that I never had to leave my seat... you know.....

• So the blue ones are circa 1885-1895 from Brice Brothers
• Have cut glass ones, as opposed to pressed glass (pressed glass doesn't mean worthless by any means though)
• Spikey ones are English Hobnail circa 1920's (possible production copy from same era)
• Oval ones are circa 1910 from U.S. Glass

Now you know why I have listed the "5,000 Open Salts" book on my birthday wish list! :)

AND... to make this scene even better....I met this lady on eBay who lives up the street from me, and knows all about 'salts'! Can life get any better, I ask you???

Meet the Salt Lady~Lisa


"Say HI to everyone Lisa!"











Lisa spent a couple hours with me and helped me figure out what it was I had. She is a super nice and fantastic lady who is very knowledgeable in all kinds of salts!












Here is one book she used...this is the one on my birthday wish list (hint, hint)












I am so lucky to have made such a great friend!
Thank you again Lisa for taking time to meet me and help me with the salts!
(Her own collection....(gasping...) is incredible!)









So there you have it! My new collection is growing and I'll be posting more again about these adorable little things in the future!
Do you have any? Send me a picture and tell me who you got them from! I'd love to hear your story!