I've had my stuff on sale for two days and today is the last day, but today is the best day!
Everything in my stores is 10% off, but if you add the code SUPER at check out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store you can get more!
There are some new items from this past week, and don't forget the freebies too!
You can also get the same items in my Teachers Notebook shop if you prefer to go there!
The sale ends today so don't waste time getting over there!
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So this year my One Little Word is Focus. I thought I'd share, on a pretty much monthly basis, how it's going this time around.
I set goals to focus on each month. These are things I've wanted to do or be for a while. The plan is that by focusing on one at a time, maybe I can actually make progress towards those things. ;) I chose one spiritual discipline and one habit type thing. For January my spiritual discipline was solitude and my habit was exercise.
So for exercise I have to admit, it took me until half way through the month to even get started. I was sorely unmotivated. What changed? My husband and I are now competing with each other for miles run. :) I won't say I have the habit down pat now, but we are continuing it and I will hopefully have it down soon.
I have to say I was surprised at how much it motivated me to have him on board. I'm normally a self-motivated person. In fact, I normally don't want other people involved in my goals at all. :) But this time it really helped me.
I think it also helped to realize there is not "a good time" for me to exercise. I need to look at my week ahead and plan accordingly. Sometimes it's at night, sometimes it's early, sometimes the middle of the day. It also helped to realize my limitations. I am too tired at night if I wait until my kids get to bed. But if I go at 7-ish, when my husband is dealing with them, I can use the last of my energy for the day on it and my dinner has settled enough.
So I've run 10 miles in Jan! I'd like to comfortably run a 5 k 3-4 times a week in 30 minutes by the end of the year. Right now I'm barely making it through 20 minutes and don't even have two miles down per run. But I'm already seeing changes in my body and how well it handles the runs, so I still think this goal is doable. I know it doesn't sound like I'm doing that much now, but remember that I just started halfway through the month. So that 10 miles is only 7 runs! I think that's good considering I couldn't make it a mile without speed walking part for at least a week!
I'm just hoping that I don't give up in the summer when it's really hot. I'd love suggestions from those of you who run for making that work. Where I live, it's 80 degrees at 5 am in the summer and I am so not motivated. Maybe I just need to suck it up.
By the way, excuse the bad handwriting in my journals. I'm lazy with my hand in my journals unless I'm making an artistic type page, and I do journal, not scrap, my One Little Word.
As for solitude, I've learned a lot. The very shortest, briefest recap: I have more solitude in my day that I realize when I look for it, it refreshes me, solitude as a spiritual discipline is being alone for the purpose of spiritual activitiy, it's best combined with another discipline.
As for February:
My spiritual discipline is praying and fasting. Just with this morning's study I've realized that, since it's techinically two separate disciplines, there's a lot of info to go through. But I can totally combine my newfound habit of developing useful moments of solitude with prayer and fasting. When I looked over my list for the rest of the year, I see many areas I will be combining with solitude. That feels good. I feel focused. It feels useful.
My habit is Home Care. I'm focusing on improving my everyday:
-routine
-cleaning (just the basics in an every day habitual way, like laundry, dishes, and a few minutes a day on a room)
-sticking to my schedule, not being lazy.
I'm keeping my home care habit light in description, because I am not going to let myself be lazy this month. I WILL do the things on my schedule, OR ELSE! I don't know what my punishment is, but I WILL do things! It's 28 days! Seriously, I can do it. I think I can, I think I can, ....
I'm not sure why that pic won't turn. It doesn't look that way in my photo library and the blog editor turns it, but it's just not saving that way. Hmmm.
Anyway, I'll update on One Little Word again at the end of February. Hoping to continue the exercise habit, have my homecare routine and such down, and have great experiences with praying and fasting.
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Don't be fooled by my late posting of this. I've had it done for a while, but I've neglected to take pictures and upload and blog them. :)
So far my organization for this project has worked out very well for me. Last week I couldn't make it into my office and I got a week behind for the first time. It was far easier than I thought it would be to remember what I needed to put in there because of my system. Whew!
Remember that for all my pictures on my posts you can click to make the image larger.
Here's week 1:
I thought it'd be hard to fill each layout, but decided it wasn't so hard after all if I remember that my goal here, and the whole reason I started this project, was to capture everyday stuff, not a billion special things. I've found the everyday to be special enough and that's what I really want to remember.
On the left side here I've got shots of the girls at a new gymnastics class. We'd had to change days after O's birthday to keep them in the same class. Same teacher but different day. Olivia was excited to be in the same class as Rae, she feels like such a big girl.
I also have pictures from a mall date with Rae, she's such a shopper. Antoher pocket holds a picture of the cover of my album from last year (where I did a layout a month). I was really focused on finishing it and I did! I also took a pic of my One Little Word journal, Focus, as I embark on that for a new year. I put my Week In Review on the right side of that picture.
The 24/7 embellishment card was something I made from my stash, which I'm trying to do a lot more of. I used bits of crumb cake card stock and the Comfort Cafe DSP. The brown scallop trim is from a really old Simply Scrappin' kit and the 24/7 is from (if I'm remembering correctly) a "side notes" set from a year or two ago.
For the "Focus" / Week in review card, the yellow patterned paper is more from the Comfort Cafe collection from Stampin' Up!. The lined paper is from my stash and was a scrap, I have no idea what it's from but I'm pretty sure it was a local scrapbook store. The stamp I used for the title along the top is from "Just Believe" which I believe it retired. I used soft suede ink for that and wrote out my journaling with a Midnight Muse Stamp N' Write marker on a little scrap piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that I layered over the stamp.
Please forgive the glare on the right side. I just couldn't seem to find an angle where it wouldn't show. Here I have pics of them "snow painting" and a pic of the final result. Josiah got a haircut and lost another 2 teeth. I also decided to put my title card on the right side of this layout. I'm not feeling tied to any one location for my title cards so you'll likely find them in lots of places as the year progresses.
For my son's smile with less teeth, I wrote directly on the photo in photoshop for my journaling, then had it printed that way. The tag tucked behind the photo had a joke from the tooth fairy on it and I kind of planned it sticking out a bit more than usual to make the end of the tag and the ribbon hanging from it part of the title card, visually speaking.
The title card uses a blue herringbone paper from the Comfort Cafe collection again, a die cut "1", a scrap of twill tape left over from a long time ago, as well as a piece of washi tape. I printed the "Week" on my computer on regular paper and sponged a little soft suede ink on it.
I'll be back this week with more of January. For now, if you would like any of these materials, you can get the ones that are still available here.
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I've always made up math games for my classroom. I think playing with the numbers helps students get more interested in practicing skills and also gives them a deeper understanding of each concept.
This game is a heart shaped card game that's played similar to "Go Fish" except players can steal each other's cards to make matches! So fun!
I love that I can make math games once and use them year after year! (If I laminate them or put them on cardstock)
Teacher and student directions are both included. It's meant for 3rd-6th grades.
Math skills practiced include:
mental addition of double digit numbers
mental subtraction of double digit numbers
basic multiplication
basic division
basic algebra (letter variable in simple equation)
exponents (to the second power)
square roots
Only $1.25! You can download the game from my Teachers Pay Teachers shop here or my Teachers Notebook shop here.
If you don't have an account at either of those places, they are free and easy to sign up for!
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Last year, my One Little Word was "Fearless". Learned a lot. Really. Here's my little journal at the end of the year:
There are quotes, song lyrics, sermon notes, Bible verses, journaling, etc...
You can read more about my how and why of Fearless at my January post last year here.
Just FYI- the one little word concept was developed by Ali Edwards. This is my 4th year doing it, but I don't do it in scrapbook form like her. I more or less use it to journal and narrow down one thing to help me/motivate me/make progress on during the year.
So this year is Focus:
My word from this year came from the desire I have to do certain things. Things that I've always wanted to do, and go in and out of doing, but don't stick to. Things like exercise, keep to a cleaning schedule, etc... I also wanted to focus on spiritual disciplines this year.
My thought was that if I focus on one habit and one discipline at a time, maybe I could make some great headway into these. I know I won't have things perfect at the end of the year, but I think this will help. Just want progress. I need to block out all the things clamouring for my focus, and pick one per month to make a habit out of (or in the case of the spiritual disciplines, learn more about and practice).
I made a schedule for the year and put it in the front of my journal. I reserve the right to change the order of any items at any time. ;)
So right now, in January, I'm studying the spiritual discipline of solitude, and focusing on the habit of exercising. On the solitude I'm learning a lot and practice has been valuable. On exercise, not so great.
For exercise I was doing well for a while last summer, but I used to run with my dog, who then died. I haven't kept up since then. My husband got me some pepper spray for my stocking at Christmas so I realy need to get back on it. This week, I swear. ;)
Also to note, some of my habits will overlap a bit. That's ok, it just gives me extra time and focus on those items. And those items tend to be more important too, hence the reason they have fingers in several categories. I'll explain these a bit more each month as I get to them.
Here's my plan for the year:
habits:
Janaury - exercise - just movement at least 6 days a week, even if it's a small thing. There are so many benefits to exercise, even if you are already skinny. It's worth it.
February- home care (house routine and cleaning routine)
March- schedule and sleep (they go hand in hand to me, and schedule will overlap a bit with Feb)
April- food (healthy and schedule (freezer cooking, etc...) overlaps a bit with March)
May- Scrapbooking a lay out a week - in addition to my Project Life I started this year. I enjoy scrapbooking and see a lot of emotional benefits to doing it and having pages for my family to look through. I want to give it some focus.
June- Playing with kids - really playing with them every day. I chose June for this because it's when school gets out, perfect.
July- Energy - getting it through sleep, food, etc... overlaps with other months
August- Enouraging family - I used to do this naturally, but I've struggled with it since I had PPD.
September- Work schedule/routine - I plan on doing some of this throughout the year, but in September my youngest will be in preschool for two half days a week. I want to work more then, but not while sacrificing all the things I've built with my family.
October- Showing love and patience- again, in and out of these for the past few years.
November- finishing unfinished house projects- not really a habit here, just want to do it. Maybe if I focus on it it'll get done. ;)
December - mental focus - I've had trouble concentrating since I've had kids. Hate it. Makes me feel like an air head. I'll be researching and working on building this back up. Although I'm sure that working on getting the right amount of sleep and healthy food will also help.
Spiritual Disciplines: (Note- this is not an exhaustive list of discplines. Once I knew I wanted to do this I researched a lot and decided on these for my personal growth)
January- solitude
February- prayer and fasting
March- worship
April- service/secrecy (not in a weird cult way, but in a serve without bringing attention to yourself kind of a way)
May- meditation
June- study
July- confession
August- frugality/simplicity/sabbath (I thought sabbath would fit well with simplicity)
September- submission
October- fellowship
November- silence
December- celebration
BTW- the quote inside the beginning of my journal is one I found on Pinterest and altered. It says (with my alterations):
One day you're going to wake up and notice that you should have tried. It was worth the fight.
These things I'm focusing on are all important to me, and I want to fight to incorporate them into my life. I don't want to wake up some day and think that I should have tried harder to make my life the way I wanted.
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Does a free iPad mini, Kindle fire HD or Nook HD sound good to you? Me too!
Teachers Notebook (one of the sites I sell my curriculum on) is giving away a free one! Click the picture below to enter!
Hurry on over and enter to win yours!
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I'm almost done with this album. I thinking I'll finish catching up on Monday when I have time again in my office. :)
For now, here's 2 pages:
Day 8:
The journaling reads "The kids and I made Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark for a small group Christmas party at our house. New recipe, new hit!"
I have a page later where I inventory what family favorites we made this year vs. new recipes we tried.
And day 9:
I tried a new wreath inspired by Pinterest this year. This is a pic of it. Simple layout, single photo.
I used a snowflake punch in the upper right corner and will need to work that into my day 10 page.
I used some retired Deck the Halls paper on both of these. I also used my Big Shot to cut the numbers from Cherry Cobbler.
I've got a back log of posts to type and share since I had a computer crash earlier. I'll be posting more soon!
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So I've had plans and prep going on for over a month now to organize a new way for the new year. I have to say, I'm a pretty organized person, but sometimes I need a better way to "keep it all in one place" or even just need to change it up.
I came across this site on Pinterest where this lady organized with a folder for each week of the year. I thought about it for a while and ended up loving the idea. Disclaimer - she uses it to organize her homeschooling. I don't homeschool. I'm using it to organize my life.
So I used this project as an excuse to get a new set of folders, went with recycled plain ones. I used the computer and printed labels for each week and put them on the folders. I figure if I want to reuse them next year, I can just put new labels over these ones.
I'm using these as a place to keep all my "stuff" for the week. I normally have a weekly recurring task list that I add non-recurring stuff each day to, and I use this to plan each day the night before. I keep it clipped with all the things I need for that week.
I also have a weekly menu with recipes from online, etc...clipped to that. Then I also binder clip that together with other things I need soon, My month long sheet for ideas I want to get to, etc...
With the folder system, I can still keep all these, but I can put stuff that I don't need for a week in the next week file and keep my papers more organized. I plan to take this folder with me everywhere. Shopping lists, sticky notes, etc...all go in here now.
I'm also keeping my project life planner pages and page layout sketch pages in here. It's all in one spot!
One thing I did that I'm not sure I'll use, I made daily dockets and put them in a page protector so I could use a dry erase or Vis a Vis marker to write on them and reuse.
I say I might not use these because I really like writing out my schedule each day on paper for some reason. I made one for each day of the week so that things that normally happen on that day don't need to be rewritten all the time. (for example, picking up Josiah from school early on Thursdays, etc....). Either way, they are there to use when I want to, and they're all on one page protector so I can move whichever one I'm using to the front. I tend to plan the next day at night before bed.
To make the page protector fit inside the folder without sticking out over the top all the time and annoying me, I snipped off the edge.
So that's my plan for this year, just keeping it all together, but using stuff I already have in place that's working well for me.
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So I tried this new recipe, Chai Spiced Fudge. Not being a fan of Chai tea, I wasn't expecting much, but the ingredients looked good. So my plan was to make a batch, taste it, and if it was good, give it away as gifts. That way I wouldn't eat it myself. Have one piece, give the rest away. Sounds good, right?
Sigh...now I must make another batch. It's so freakin' good. It's great. It's spicy in just the right way, and flavorful and creamy...
But I digress.... Here is how I packaged them:
I cut the fudge into small pieces and put them in a nugget tin I had on hand that I had lined with wax paper. Then I wrapped the tin in a large doily, tied on a scrap of Deck the Halls fabric, and did another tag with a glittered clothespin so people would know what they're digging into.
Here I slid the tin out a bit so you could see it without the wrapper covering it all up.
I love baking, and eating it, and therefore (by necessity) I love giving baked goods away. The cuter the packaging, the more special the gift feels to me.
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This year I have two preschool teachers and a second grade teacher to give gifts to. For my son's second grade teacher, I went above my normal teacher budget and got her a new, heavy duty use, electric pencil sharpener. I decided to do that because she really, really needed one, and because she's a decent teacher, so why not. I know she'll appreciate the practicality and it'll save her some classroom headaches.
As for the preschool teachers, I dolled up some of the same apple soap that I made for teachers last year in this post. Since my daughter is at a different preschool, those teachers haven't yet been recipients of the apple soap, and I had a few on hand. Win, win, right?!
I did package them differently this year. I put them inside brown paper bags that I stamped and made a cute tag for. I attached the tag with a glitter clothespin, au la Pinterest.
Here's a closer look at the tag:
The stamp set I used is Winter Post and is currently retired, but I love it and still use it a lot. I used some whishper white and very vanilla craft inks on the bag and crumb cake and always artichoke on both the bag and tag.
The paper I punched the tree with was leftover from a Christmas or two ago. I'm also using it in my December Daily album so I had scraps of it lying around. I think it was called Deck the Halls. I definitely know the scrap of fabric I used to tie the tag at the top is Deck the Halls and you can get it now in my online store for $0.99 for 3 fat quarters!!!
The glitter I used is champagne glass glitter and I just put it on with a two way glue pen. I probably should have let it dry longer.
Need the glitter or ink? Or that fabulous fabric on the cheap? You can get them in my online store! I also use those fabrics to wrap loaves of bread for gifts.
Stay tuned tomorrow for neighbor gifts, quick and adorable!
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