Holy Moley!

As I sit here and reflect on my two weeks of training, I'm contemplating if I'm really feeling ready.
Honestly, the answer is no.
Not because of my room, that's pretty much completely ready.
Boy, was that the easy part.

Lesson planning.
Where do I start?
We have a new superintendent, and he wants a specific lesson plan.
The problem is that it's very difference from what teachers have done in the past.
So when I ask for guidance, most of them are also in the dark on how to work it.

The problem:
DOLs.
Demonstrations of Learning.
Sounds easy enough.
Except he wants to see something like this:
"Given five math problems, the student will answer 3 out of 5 correctly."
He wants it super black and white.
But when you teach things like reading comprehension, that can be difficult.

So, I'm kind of... faking it.
I'm not following the format he wants, but I'm coming up with good, quick DOLs.
I'm hoping that will be good enough for my administration, but we'll see.

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In other news, my teaching team is so great.
I only have 15 kids in my homeroom and 17 kids in my second class (woo hoo!).
The whole school is super nice and supportive.
Despite the stress over lesson plans, I couldn't be happier!!

But I'm still not ready!
CRAZY NERVOUS!
Oh well.... ready or not, kids come on MONDAY!

MIA and Classroom Completion

Hey everyone!
I have been MIA from bloggy-land.
There's a reason for that.
Here is one of them:

Yep, he's still with us.
He sure found a pair of suckers to take him in, I'll tell you what.

I know. He's super cute.
And he's super sweet.
He has some separation anxiety, so he barks himself hoarse all day.
It breaks my heart.
But he is crazy happy to see us when we get home.


We really want to keep him, but we don't think we can.
He's still a little puppy who can't wait to go potty for longer than 7 hours.
And we have jobs that keep us away from home for 10 to 12 hours at a time.
This little one needs more time, attention, and walks than we are able to provide.


Fritz, my number one pup, couldn't care less that we are gone for those long stretches.
He's a total loner dog who just wants to be left alone under the couch.
He's pretty much the perfect dog for us, he's just like us in every way.

Anyways, we are still working to find Fry a home.
Any takers?

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Here is reason number 2:

Completed classroom, WA HOO!!!!
The wonderful hubby took four days off to help me put my room together.
Isn't he the best?!
I sure caught a good one!

Check it out:

Please please PLEASE excuse all the stuff on the right of this picture (orange chair, huge boards, shelf like thing, TV with table cloth...)! The custodians will remove it from my room next week, but I was impatient for pictures!

I had no where else to put my hanging buckets. This will work, haha.

View from behind my desk. Doesn't the paper put some life into that terrible desk?!

View from my projector. I'm in love with that rug, I think I might go buy another.

I still have to put title on all of my bulletin boards, but I want to laminate the letters.
So, I will have to scramble to do that next week.
I'm pleased with it, I love all the bright colors.
Especially all of the orange.  :)

I'm excited to start, but I have to be honest.
I'm super nervous about the first day of school.
I'm kind of freaking out.

So, I'm off for the night to rest up.
I have to be in training tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM.
Holy moly!

Good Samaritan Venting

Ok ya'll, remember how I said it was hot in my neck of the woods?
Like, seriously hot.
The temperature hasn't fallen below 100 in what feels like forever.
That includes at night!
Way too hot to leave any animal outside for an extended period of time.



Well, yesterday, I was sleeping in while the hubby took our pup, Fritz, for a walk.

My sweet boy!

Anyways, hubby comes in after the walk, calling for me to get out of bed because he needs help.
Naturally, I think the worst... like Fritz has fallen into a hole and broken his leg or something.
I rush into the front room to see hubby, Fritz and his waggly tail, and...
A puppy in hubby's arms.

We are calling him Phillip J. Fry, Fry for short.

I pose this question: how does this always happen to us?
Last year, we found two kittens under the pool deck.

Tiny little things, they were so sweet.

It took a few weeks, but we were able to find them a great home.

And this year, we find a puppy.
A puppy who is a healthy male and not neutered.
A puppy who is super sweet, but very very energetic.
A puppy who needs to go outside almost every two hours.

And I start work in one week.
Fabulous.

We have posted a sign on the notice board of our complex.
We are going to wait a week to see if anyone calls, then go from there.
He's sweet, but I don't think we will end up keeping him.
We'll probably foster him until we can find him a good home.
But right now is just not a great time for a puppy.

Sigh.
I got virtually no work done this weekend, as you can imagine.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful, productive/relaxing weekend!

Award and August Currently!

Y'all, let me tell you.
It's HOT in Texas.
Thank goodness for sweet tea, I don't know what I'd do without it!

In other news, I received another award!
Hooray!

Thank you to Carrie at The Common Core Classroom for my nomination!

I now have to share 7 random facts about me. Let's see...

1. I am a HUGE nerd. I'm sure this fact hasn't escaped many of you, with all of my nerdy references going on. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lord of the Rings, Firefly, many many video games, and I would probably die of happiness if J.K. Rowling announced another Harry Potter book (seriously, I'm a hardcore Harry Potter fan)! I embrace my nerdy-ness!

2. My husband and I met when I was 11 years old (he was 13). We "dated" for three years, then had a nasty fight and broke up. We didn't talk for six years, I was that mad at him. Then, when I turned 20 or so, we started talking again. Within two years, I was transferring to a college in Dallas so I could move in with him. Two years later, we were married! I think we were pretty much destined to be together!  

3. I really really really like Japanese animation. I have a huge anime collection (that I inhereted through my marriage... mwahahahaha!) and watch it all the time on Netflix. If I had the choice between live action TV and anime, I would probably choose anime. 

4. Orange is my favorite color. It was my wedding color, and it's going to play a huge part in my classroom. When I was little, I pretended to be Sailor Venus because she was the prettiest in her orange sailor suit! I love love looooooove orange!

5. I worry about everything because I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. I was diagnosed when I was a teenager and have learned to manage it without medication. I'm so proud of myself for that! 

6. I wanted to be a psychologist before getting into education. My actual degree a double major in Child Learning and Development and Psychology. I also decided to tack on a teaching certification because it sounded like fun. I instantly fell in love - I love to teach! I knew there would be no way I could go back to psychology research after having been inside a classroom.

7. I'm a total sucker for Disney movies. My perfect day off would be sitting in bed,watching classic Disney all day long. They remind me of my childhood and good times with my mom and grandparents (I'm also basically a kid trapped in a 20-soomething-year-old's body, hehe!)

Those are my random facts!
I must not be very interesting, I struggled to come up with them!

Here are my nominations (I'm short a 10 because blogger is not cooperating with me! I will add on when it is working!):

1. The Newbie Lou 
2. Mrs. Kelly's Class 
3. Slick tricks for Grade Six 
4. Time for 4th Grade
5. Teaching 4 Real 

Follow these rules to to claim your award:
1.  Thank who nominated you.
2.  Include a link back to who nominated you.
3.  Include the award image in your post.
4.  Give 7 random facts about yourself in your post.
5.  Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.
6.  When nominating, include a link back to their blog in your post.
7.  Let the bloggers you nominate know by leaving them a comment.

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Lastly, I'm linking up with Farley for her August Currently linky party!


Here is my August Currently:

Here's my cookie dough!

For those of you who are not as nerdy as I am, or have not memorized every line from every episode of every Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series, my room being "cookie dough" means that it's a work in progress. Here's the actual quote from Buffy:

"Because—OK, I'm cookie dough. I'm not done baking. I'm not finished becoming whoever the h___ it is I'm gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day I turn around and realize I'm ready. I'm cookies. And then, you know, if I want someone to eat— or enjoy warm, delicious cookie me, then... that's fine. That'll be then. When I'm done."

Clearly, she was talking about relationships. I'm talking about my classroom.
But hey, the it works!

-------------------

This is how my room looked when I walked into it for the very first time. Woah. This is from the door looking straight.

Remember this? This is from last week. 

TA DA! The small shelves are my class library books. The left shelf is fiction books and the right is nonfiction.
It's not as organized as I would like - I really wanted to use bins for everything. But those books were dusty and it was super hot, so this will work for awhile!

I swear, I was so relieved to have this finished! 
The blue bins on the shelves are where my leveled readers will go (once I've sorted them), and the blue bins on top are for various book recommendations. Labels will be put on them on August 24th, or the next time I am allowed in my room... whichever comes first!


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This is another view of how my room looked when I first walked in. This is from the door, looking left.

This is what was behind the butcher paper on the shelf. More stuff to tackle, woo hoo! 

Here it is now!!! This is my "desk". I'm going to get rid of my actual desk - a table works just fine for me so I can mean with small groups. I wish I had a kidney table, though! This isn't anywhere near what the finalized product will look like, but it's a lot better than the craziness I started with!

The hubs playing teacher!

What's that writing behind him? Oh, it's old information that was behind the tile board that was nailed to the chalkboard. From 2004. I decided to take the tile board down so I can replace it and make bulletin board sidings and got a good laugh when I saw this! 

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Last photo of when I first walked into my room. Yikes. This is from the door, looking toward the back left.

And here it is now! I still have tons of stuff to put away, but it's definitely brighter. AND the blinds are semi fixed, woo hoo! I am so in love with my bright orange board. :)

PS Here... Seriously, bulletin boards? I hate them! It is not easy to get all the paper and borders up so that it looks perfect!  I finally said that it looked good enough (from far away), but it drove me crazy!

Hehe, I just thought this one was cute. Silly hubby :)

-------------------

So there you have it, my cookie-dough, work-in-progress room!

The bad news?

They start to wax the floors in my hallway tomorrow.

That means I can't get back in until August 20-24. 

Which means August 24 for me, because I have a week of New Teacher Academy!

Argh!

But the hubs is going to take August 24 off and help me finish up my room.

He is a very handy guy to have around, we got so much accomplished already!

Whew, all better. 

So, I came home and put together several to-do lists. 

I also brought tons of stuff home with me to sort through. 

So I will keep myself plenty busy in the next week and a half crossing things off my list!

I just wish I didn't still have stuff I had to purchase. 

I'm seriously running on empty. :(

Oh well, it will pay off in the long run!

Has anyone else started working on their room yet? 

Excited Monday Made It!

Ok, I had a BIG day.
I called my school on the off chance that they would know when I could get into my room.
Guess what?!
They said I could go ahead and start working!
WOO HOO!

I was super excited.
I still am super excited.
I spent 3 hours there and only got through one shelf.
But y'all, let me tell you.
That shelf was FULL of stuff!

This is what it looked like when I started. I have multiple stacks of stuff around the room to sort through and store once I get the room arranged. I'm sure the custodians think I'm crazy considering how cluttered the room looks right now after just going through one shelf!

I'm putting a lot of it in my cabinet to store, "just in case".
But a lot of it is from 2002-2010, and I just can't picture myself using any of it.
Ohhh well.

So, even though it was only 3 hours, I'm beat.
Totally exhausted.
But I am having a glass (or two!) of wine to celebrate finally getting started!
It really feels real now, you know?

Tomorrow, I plan to go around 7:30-8:00am to get to work.
I need to sort all of the books into stacks, that's my goal for tomorrow.
If the amount of books in the library overwhelms me, I'm certain it will overwhelm the kids.
Once I have them sorted, I'll decide on which ones to keep out and which ones to store for book rotation.

My amazing hubby is taking two days off this week to help me in my room.
There are just some items, like my huge-solid wood-desk that I cannot move alone.
Isn't he the sweetest?

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Anyways, Monday Made-It time!

I honestly don't have a lot to show this Monday.
I spent a lot of time cleaning our apartment.

However, I present to you...
My binders!

The sides of each binder.

I'm still iffy on the scrapbook paper. I think it works with the covers I made, but I'm just not 100% confident. 

The inside and dividers of my teacher binder.

Ta-da!
Each binder is chalked full of form-y goodness, ready to be copied for documentation and planning!

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I made a form for parent-teacher conference notes that I would like to share with you all!
Click the photo below to download!

New Design and School Year Resolutions

My blog design is complete!
Well, mostly complete.
Complete enough to make public.

We are still working to tweak some things.
For instance, I feel the header looks a bit cut off, like it needs something to put the finishing touch.
But that will be an ongoing process!
I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful and talented husband. :)

In celebration, I'm going to post a freebie tomorrow during Monday Made It!
Be on the look out. :)

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Amanda at Teaching Madness is having a linky party!





Yeah!
Only, this is going to be a bit different for me.
It's going to be my "First School Year Resolutions".
Perfect!

1. Stress less. Holy cow, y'all, believe me when I say this: I am a stresser. To quote Galadriel, I stress over "things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass" (just a little Lord of the Rings for you there - I'm also a huge HUGE nerd!). I know it's going to be a stressful and whirlwind of a year, but I don't want to stress about things like getting my contract resigned in May when school hasn't even started yet (no lie, I started stressing about this the second I landed the position - I'm rather ridiculous)!  So, I want to stress less. I'm being realistic - I know that my stress wont disappear or anything, but I really want to work at taking it down a notch or two!

2. Stay organized. This appears to be one of everyone's resolutions, but I think it is such an important one! It really goes hand in hand with my #1 resolution. Organization = working smarter = less stress. See? This means getting grading done before coming home. I can do it!

3. Get healthy. It's been tough these last couple of years. We have been living essentially off one income, which doesn't leave a whole lot of money to devote to extra pricey things like healthy food. It's be lots of hamburger helper type meals here for too long! I've gained weight and feel miserable. Plus, how can I set a good example of healthy living for my kids if I'm not living it, myself? It ends this year! I will: eat healthier (this has to wait until September when I get my first paycheck!), move around more (jump rope, Pilates DVDs, 30 minute walks in the morning or evening that will eventually become jogs - fingers crossed), and again... STRESS LESS! When I stress like crazy, I eat like crazy... funny how all of my resolutions keep leading back to that one, huh?!

4. Stay two weeks ahead with my lesson plans. When I was student teaching, we always had to plan for two weeks out. It was amazing being able to say, "whew, the next two weeks are all planned out, now I can relax for a couple of days". When I say "relax", I of course mean: copy, grade, organize, write notes, teach, reteach, reteach AGAIN.... But it helped to have one less thing to worry about, even if it was only for a few days!

5. Get monthly/biweekly pedicures. This one is purely for selfish, "I really enjoy pedicures" reasons, but I can work it back into my first resolution. More me time = less stress, and I love me some pedicures!

A lot of these resolutions really sound more like personal goals, don't they? Hey, gotta take care of yourself to take care of anyone else, amIright?!

Be sure to hop over to Amanda's blog and link up!

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Before I go to Slumber Land (Little Nemo reference - I'm on a roll!), I just wanted to say how excited I am that my little blog has started to gain followers.
Seriously, you are all awesome!

I can't do any giveaways just yet (I just don't have the resources at the moment)...
But I'm going to try to put up freebies more frequently.
So it will kind of be like a give away, but one where everyone wins!
Huzzah!

Night, y'all!

My first blog award!

Hi everyone!
I'm so excited!
I got my first blog award:

Thank you to Nicole at The Craft of Teaching for the award!

Here are the rules:
1. Follow the person (people) who gave you the award. 

2. Link back to the person (people) who gave you the award. 

3. Pass the award to 10 new bloggers and let them know they have received the award.


I am passing the award along to:

1. a day in the life of Miss Kranz
2. Fabulous Fourth Grade
3. Fancy Free in Fourth 
4. Fierce in Fourth
5. Fourth and Ten
6. Heather's Heart
7. Shepard's Shining Stars
8. Teaching 4th
9. The School Potato 
10. Think Share Teach

I hope my nominations show on everyone's blogs - it seems like Blogger is acting a little strange this morning. Hmmmmm.

Have a great weekend!

First Day Jitters

Ashley over at Fierce in Fourth is doing a blog hop for First Day Jitters!

Squee!

I do plan to read the book on the first day of school and do some relating activities. 

But as soon as I read the book, I totally and completely bonded with it.

How perfect is it?

I'm a first year teacher, it's about a first year teacher... 

You get my drift. 

I mean, honestly, I'm already having nightmares at least three times a week about the first day.

I keep having dreams that I'm still "student teaching" and that my mentor teacher tells me I'm not cut out for teaching...

Or that the kids don't listen to me and throw things at me (my nightmare last night!)

It's freaking me OUT! 

But several wonderful teacher friends have told me that it's completely normal, and that they experience similar nightmares.

Whew, I'm normal after all!

Here are my first day jitters:

1. My room will not be ready. It doesn't seem like I'm going to have more than a day in my room to get it ready, and a day is just a hopeful estimate. I'm FREAKING OUT! I need at least 3 days to put up everything I have, but no one knows when the custodial crew will be finished with the floors. 
2. I won't know what's going on. I'm lucky to have a position in a wonderful school, but starting out my career at a time when a new principal and office manager are coming in is tough! Every time I call for information, they have me call back because they have to look for the answer. Then, when I call back, they don't have the answer. Totally understandable and not their fault one bit, but I'm a neurotic mess when it comes to the unknown!! So, I'm terrified that I'll start on the first day without knowing how to send work home, the school's homework policy, my schedule... little things that snowball into one giant mess of "OMG, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!"
3. That I won't be a great teacher. I know, more often than not, the first year is about "surviving". But I really want to impact my kids and help them learn to love learning. What if I'm one of those teachers who thinks they are amazing, but in reality is just plain terrible? I shudder when I think about it!

There are hundreds more, but those are my top three. Advice is welcome! 

I'm workin' on having the new layout done this weekend. 

Tsk tsk, procrastinating hubby!

Be on the lookout for it, I have a goooooooood feeling about this weekend! 

Continuing Classroom Craftivities

It's funny. Yesterday, when I started this post...
I had nothing to show.
Seriously.
My motivation was so low, I had done nothing else for my room.

Then I went shopping!
I bought SO much stuff.
Seriously. Tons.of.stuff.
But it's all worth it!

Anyways, picking up supplies and crafts definitely encouraged me to get working.
I'm too late for Monday Made it, I'm going to be number eleventy-billion (shh!) on the list.
But here is my Tuesday Catch-Up!

Supply Buckets 
I picked these blue baskets up at the Dollar Tree.
1 dollar baskets? Yes, please!
Then I just created a label and glued it on.
Easiest thing ever, right?!

I won't actually have these on tables.
I don't like having anything on tables.
I find kids have a tough time resisting the materials.
So, I'll probably have them on a table with my turn-in-baskets and book return.

They are filled with crayons, markers, scissors, glue, etc.
There is also a GIANT eraser in each basket!
Dollar Tree, ya'll. I'm telling you!


Objective Boards
I really want to try to post my objectives.
Over at Classroom DIY, there is a post about using picture frames to post objectives.
Sooooo, I went to IKEA for cheap frames.
They sat in my storage corner for about a month and a half.
I just couldn't find the right paper to put inside.
Well, that all came to an end yesterday!

Please forgive the carpet. It desperately needs to be vacuumed. Shh!
Isn't it great?
I love them.
I LOVE the paper.
L.O.V.E.!!

I even love to just look at it!


Table Numbers
I toyed around a lot with the idea of table numbers.
I was going to make paper puffs (poms?) and hang them down.
But, as my husband will tell you, I hate making paper poms.
I tried making them for our wedding and it left me miserable.

I finally decided on paper fans.
I found the perfect ones at Party City for about 2 dollars each.

Not bad, right?
I wanted orange ones, but people seem to have an aversion to orange decorations.
So I settled on blue and white.
I'll fix the lack of orange by hanging the white ones with orange ribbon.
I'll then hang the blue with white ribbon.

Ok, I also bought orange tissue paper to make a couple of poms.
What can I say, I need more orange in my room!

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So, there you have it!
I also made quick reference parent contact forms for the first day.
I'll print them on 4x6 note cards and then put them in a little notebook binder.
It's great because parents can quickly fill them out on the first day when they drop off.
It's going to make life easier.
I hope.

My binders are almost ready, so I'll probably do a post on those next week.

As for my blog, the hubs says my new design will be ready this week!
Squeeeeee!
Can't wait!

Now if I could only get into my room, things would be peachy.
But I don't think I'm going to have long to work on my room.
Maybe one day, if I'm lucky.

Sigh.
Oh well, I'm rolling with the punches and loving life! :D
Orientation tomorrow, can't wait!

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ADDITION!
I forgot - I passed my ESL test!
I'm going to be fully ESL certified come September. Woo hoo!

Test Anxiety and Monday Made It

Well, summer is slowly ticking away. 

It seems like I have something scheduled every week from here on out.

Next Wednesday, I have my district orientation.
Next Thursday, I have a surgical consult.
Next weekend, I'm going to Austin to visit my wonderful parents (miss ya'll!)

The following week is a calm one for catching up and "back-to-school night" with some of my besties. 

We deserve it. 

I'm also really hoping that I'll be able to get into my classroom. 

Then shortly after my birthday, I start my New Teacher Academy and school!
Eeeek!!

I have a couple dentist appointments in there somewhere, too. 

It's not busy, really, but it's more than I've done all summer!

It's Monday, so I'm linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

Let me just say, I heart Monday Made It. 

It really encourages me to be productive during the week!

A lot of what I worked on was on the computer (hopefully, the fruits of those efforts will be ready by next Monday!). 

I got tons accomplished regarding my 6 binders and classroom forms!

But, I made a couple things that I can show off:

Name Sign

Okay, I have seen so many cute name signs with wood letters. 

I really, really wanted to make one.

But letters are about 3 bucks a pop on top of paint and a background.

Sadly, I couldn't afford it. I'm seriously broke.

Like eating rice-and-beans-every-night broke. 

So, here was my solution!!

I used a cheap dollar store frame, scrapbook paper, and some fabric to make the flowers.

It may not be as nice as the wooden name signs, but it will definitely work for now! 

I think it turned out pretty nice!

Welcome Banner

I had inspiration for this project, but I cannot for the life of me find where it was!

I already have a Welcome sign that came in a bulletin board kit, but I really liked the vertical style that you could leave hanging outside your door all year.

After all, I want to welcome kids every day!

Here is the final product:

I used scrapbook paper and computer created letter circles for this project. 

Then I Mod Podged the letters onto the scrapbook circles.

I laminated the letters and used glue dots (I heart glue dots!) to attach them to the ribbon.

It was cheap, cheap, cheap!

That seems to be the goal this month, tee hee!

That's it for projects that I have finalized!

Next week, my goal is to have my binders put together. 

I also want my new, personalized blog layout to be up. 

My husband worked on it over the weekend.

Ya'll, it's beautiful! I can't wait for it to go live!

In other news...

ESL supplemental certification exam today at noon!

NERVOUS!! 

Please, keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Classroom Craftivities

Is it August yet?
No?
Dang.

Oh well! I'm trying my best to keep busy making things for my classroom.
It's difficult, though.
It's kind of like planning for something while you're locked inside of a closet without a single clue of what you actually will need.
Bummer, right?

But I'm staying positive about it and making whatever I can think of to make my first year easier on me!
The most helpful things I've made so far are my Classroom Procedures PowerPoint and planning the first two weeks.
Seriously, those two things relieved so much stress off of me.
Now all I have to do is tweak them as needed, I don't have to rush to get it all done in August.

I decided to link up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

I'm super late to the party and will probably be close to number 9000, but that's okay!

Here are the things I made:

Sorry We Missed You! sign
I was greatly inspired by Mrs. E over at The Sweet Life of Third Grade:

Seriously, I love love LOVE her sign! So, I basically recreated it with very small differences. 

Here is my version:

Close up:

I'm beyond thrilled with the way it turned out.
I'm also SUPER thankful for the wonderful idea from Mrs. E!


Supply Buckets
Next up are my buckets.
These are simple hanging buckets from IKEA that I spray painted to match my theme.
I made the labels for the front and stuck them on with glue dots.

Not as nice looking as I had hoped they would look, but they aren't too terrible looking.
There are 9 total for various supplies.
I think I'll use command strips to hang the rods.
Maybe..



That's it for this Monday that isn't paperwork and forms!
Next Monday I take my ESL certification test - eeeeeeek!
Wish me luck!!! <3