Currently

I am linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade today.  I've always wanted to join her Currently.  It has been a crazy busy beginning of the year and this Currently is an excuse to write a blog post, so here it is:

Listening to the TV.  My lovely husband, mentioned below, was watching TV and left it on after dinner--I just came in the living room to work, but I'm not actually watching the Colbert Report.  But they are talking about the people angry about other passengers leaning back their seats...I just have to say, COME ON! Like anyone is comfortable on a plane for hours?!  Be respectful!  Anyway...

Loving the fact that hubby is doing the cleaning up after dinner, even if I am left to watch TV I don't like.  :)  Thanks, babe!

Thinking that I have bunches of things to do.  So much so, I don't know where to start!  I have got to get it together!

Apparently my car of 5 years, needs some major repairs...I had coveted my Volvo XC90 for a LONG time, so when it was time to get a new vehicle, I could only afford a used one.  We traveled to Orange County from San Diego one night after work to get the color I wanted with low miles, only two years old, what a hassle that night was! But it was the car of my dreams and I LOVE it!  Now it needs very costly repairs that may exceed the value of the car...my husband suggests it may need to be replaced by something else...NOOOOO!  Let's hope this adventure ends well.

I need to get myself organized!  I've been at math adoption meetings for two days instead of my classroom and have plenty to do.  You should see my "office" at home, its a disaster!  I just don't want to tackle it.  And, see above "Thinking" section.  No explanation needed here.

Finally the three trips.  I have always wanted to visit Europe.  I'm not sure exactly where, but probably Paris or England.  Who knows, one day...   I have a photographer friend who took some gorgeous photos of Antelope Canyon in Utah.  This may be our next family trip:

 photo credit:  Pat Sanford

As for Riviera Maya, that one is IN THE WORKS!  Whoohoo!  only 29 days until my husband and I take this trip for our 20th anniversary-no kids!  We can't wait!  Don't worry our school district has a modified year round schedule.  October is the best time to take a vacation!  Too bad my older daughter has a different high school schedule, so no more fall family vacations.  

Well, that's my currently.  Hopefully that will launch me into regular blog posts from now on.  ;)

Five for Friday Linky

Oops, I fully intended to post this yesterday but time got away and so I'm doing it now, forgive me for my tardiness.

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.  Five random things from my (mostly) uneventful week:

This week started by taking my older daughter to camp.  It is a great week of fun and fellowship at church camp in our local mountains.  We pick her up tomorrow and send the younger one on Sunday.

I spent A LOT of time on the creation of my plan book.  That was an amazing undertaking and, frankly, I'm quite proud of myself!

So I did have an anxious day on Thursday.  The unthinkable happened!  I spilled water on my very expensive 4 month old iPhone!  You will not believe the craziness that led to the purchase of this unlocked iPhone, that in the end cost us about $800!  Then I had a spill, and got some message about an incompatible device and it is not even plugged in to anything!  I dried it off as best I could, threw it into bag of rice, and rushed it off to the emergency room Apple store.  There is a happy ending, although it did come into contact with water, there was not water in the phone and it works fine now--phew!

The family enjoyed a fun party in the park hosted by our orthodontist.  With two kids in braces we definitely deserve pay back patient appreciation and this guy is no slacker on the party scene!  There is plenty of pizza and drinks, wandering magicians, a variety of inflatable fun, a rock climbing wall, Schwann's ice cream, face painters, balloonists, and prizes!  What a day!

OK so this is a work in progress...I had an extremely tall pile of papers to file by the end of the year. And, trust me, there are plenty more piles!  Somehow I decided with the adoption of the Common Core to change the way I file!  I am going to transfer them to binders.  I started with Katie's post here and then decided binders would work better.  So I took the pile home and got this stack organized-not too bad now, right? I realize that there is no way I'll get the entire job done this summer, so I have good intentions to go get another stack from my classroom that is relevant to the beginning of the year, and then continue the rest throughout the year, as I go. Wish me luck!

I did it!

After about a week of work and some tutorial help from Teacher to the Core, The 3am Teacher, and this YouTube video by Tori from Tori's Teacher Tips, I have created my first "TPT Product"-although I have no plan to actually sell it on TPT--my very own Plan Book!  I actually completed it late last night but didn't post until today.  Since it was completed yesterday, I think it is worthy of a link up with Tara for Made it Monday.

 Here it is.  It fits me, my personality, and I'm going to use all of it!  I plan to have it printed in full color at Staples or Kinko's on thicker paper, not quite cardstock, and keep it in a 3-ring binder.  Unfortunately I have to wait until we return to school to add the finishing touches with my class info, and anything else I need from our new principal such as dates and things.  It includes over 40 unique pages of not only a plan book that fits my schedule (in four colors), a calendar, birthday chart, class list, parent information, a contact log, volunteer information, etc. I can't wait! And boy...did I learn a lot in the process!

Special thanks to:  

for digital papers

for frames

for clip art

Third Time's a Charm

Ok, so here we are, another summer full of exciting and new ideas for next year...anyone else get totally gung-ho and then fall short when school actually begins?  Well, I'm doing it again.  I have now finished my Master's program and am looking forward to putting all of my new learning to good use.

INCLUDING MY BLOG!!!

I originally started this blog two years ago, can you believe it!?  I started it thinking I would blog about all of the cool things I learned while in grad school.  Surprise, getting another degree is A LOT OF WORK and about three weeks into the school year, surprise again-I had a combo in which I needed to teach two complete sets of curriculum!  I had no idea how overwhelmed I would be!  There was no time for anything anymore--all I did was study and work, who were those people in my family, anyway?

Then, last year I thought I'd get it going again, after all I only had a semester left, right?  WRONG!  Now I have to write a totally in-depth paper (I never really liked how it turned out) and I had an extremely difficult class. One kiddo zapped all of my energy all year long so there was little left for the rest of my kiddos and, again, who are those people in my family?

Well, I'm here to give it another go!  I have set a goal to blog at least once a week! I've been off of school for a week now and I have a rather long "to-do" list--mostly cleaning up after a whirlwind of grad school and a lack of time for much else.

I think part of my discouragement has been lack of interest by others so I am thinking hooking up with some linkys will help to market myself more, and I am working on creating some things to share, but I am definitely looking for advice.  I'd be glad to hear constructive criticism (and positives, too) so please feel free to teach me to fly!  :)