busy doesn't stop over the summer

It seems like the past 2 weeks have not only flown by, but they've been really busy. What else would you expect from me? Well it has been productive busy. We've got the countertops ordered, the sink is in the garage, the refridgerator is changed out, the wallpaper is completely off, the old stove is out, the walls are cleaned and ready for spackling holes and then a coat or two of primer, then paint. The new counters will still take another 2-3 weeks. Bummer, but new and finished will be worth the wait.

I've also been asked to edit the literacy standards for my school district. That has been a lot of work also. I'm working with 2 other colleagues, and they hopefully want them next week. I've been reading, editing, moving things to different order, and then I've said I would type and change the edits. The bad thing is my laptop is giving me fits. It had better not have a virus.

Last weekend I also went on a well deserved, scrapbook weekend. I should have finished a project that is about half finished (yes, the Oprah book,) but decided to start on the photo carousel project for my Baltic Capitals trip from last summer. This is really a "right up my alley" project with all the little doo-dads on it. I'm afraid that I'm actually going to run out of the different elements I want to use. I guess then a bit of shopping will be in order. A lot have been things I've been collecting and holding on to for years.

I also worked on a little spirit lifter for my aunt who had surgery for breast cancer. I have photos of that, but as I said, the laptop is having a temper tantrum.

It's been a flurry of activity here, but I've managed to maintain my Farmtown farm on Facebook. I guess since farming is in my blood, I'm doing pretty good. In one week, I'm almost to level 25. Do you play Farmtown on Facebook? If so, I'd love to see your farm. I'm saving coins to upgrade to the largest plot of land then I plan on doing some major decorating. There are so many great farms on there, I hope I can do my own farm justice.

I've also been reading need to update my book blog with all my newest titles.

Hope your weather is not as scorching as it is here. We went from 60's to 90's overnight. So many people were complaining about it not feeling like summer, well it does now and the air is running all the time. Hope it cools down just a tad.

Take care everyone and enjoy these lazy,hazy summertime days.

If I only had a hammock

I'd be hanging around in hammock heaven. Today's weather has been gorgeous! Absolutely perfection! Around 80, soft blowing breeze, sun most of the day, with some shade, and the best kind of hammock day you could ever imaging. I had to do just that, imagine. We used to have a hammock, that was until it shreadded to pieces. Rope does that you know, but today, I can remember the bliss of a snooze, a cold drink, and a good book while gently rocking back in forth under the shady trees.

Ahhhhhhhhhh to have a hammock again.

Do you geocache?

If you ever look down the sidebar of my blog, you may have seen this little icon. If you've looked closely lately, you might have noticed that the number of finds is on the increase.

Today we stopped, and finally found one that had been eluding us for about a month. Third time's a charm though, I found it and we didn't even have the GPS with us. It was the elusive nano cache. A nano is as small as a pill capsule. Probably about the size of an ordinary Tylenol caplet. Tonight we actually loaded up a few new caches into the GPS and found 3 of those microscopic nanos! 4 was our total finds tonight, but we found a travel bug too. Now it is our responsibility to get it moving to a new cache and closer to its goal of making it to Florida. It originated in Wisconsin. It has made it one state closer.

Anyway, if you have a portable GPS or even I think a blackberry or Iphone, I think there are now aps available to use that to geocache. Get out there and have fun. It's a treasure hunt. It's cheap, once you have your supplies.

6 and counting

6 scrapbook pages in less than a week??? Yes! Can you believe it??? I certainly can't. It is almost starting to sound like the title of a TLC television show. I haven't seriously scrapped since either spring or winter break. Probably more like winter break. I think over spring break I helped my girlfriend get ready with packages for her scrapbook weekend; of which I am going to be lucky enough to attend.

So I guess I'm trying to get my groove back, and 6 pages is quite a start. So here is another for your viewing pleasure.

plus one

Another simple page. If I keep up with Jacque Larsen's idea that no page should take over 1/2 hour, I could get a lot of pages done. She also suggests that using white or light backgrounds because it focuses on the photos. This one I just love. Could it be the adorable little animals or the handsome man in the photo with me?

two more

This is our church's softball team. They play in a christian softball league and my son has been playing for a couple years since finishing high school. Each August there is a tournament.


A quick page to document a wonderfully, peaceful koi pond at the Garfield Park Conservatory.

another page

This has been sitting on my hard drive for a while. I was looking through my layouts file and saw this title and thought, why don't I have a preview picture of it. That's because I only had the 3 images in it, I didn't have any paper or elements with it. I guess I was supposed to be waiting for the perfect paper. I got that perfect paper in a kit called Triple Dog Dare. The whole kit has been retired, but you can get Jacque Larsen's pieces at the lily pad

So 2 pages in 2 days, vacation is good!

look

I did a scrapbook page. Albeit I scraplifted a layout from a Creating Keepsakes magazine I borrowed from the library, but it's a done page.

THis was a scraplift of Meg Barker. I am certainly not in the mood to list the supplies I used, and don't know if I'm even going to post it anywhere else online.

But here it is.

Help Laura get her groove back

Now I know there are a few people who read my rants every once in awhile, just no one hardly ever posts replies. While that is saddening, I also have to remember I'm doing this for me and not the replies.

WELL THIS TIME I NEED YOUR REPLIES!! I need you to give me some ideas that will jumpstart my creativity. If you've been reading, I've had a difficult year. I feel at times if I've had the life sucked out of me. I really feel I've lost my creative juices. I know creativity is an ebb and flow; that sometimes you've got tons of creative ideas and not enough time to get them all out and other times you've got nothing. Well this is where I feel I've got nothing.

What really is worrying to me is that in about 15 days I'm going off to a scrapbook weekend. I have a couple of projects I need (want) to get finished but they're a bit lackluster or as I'm feeling right now..boring. I don't want to work on that darned Oprah's Favorite Things journal. I don't have the urge to finish the Miraval spa trip digital book. I don't even think that I can muster up the courage to work on the Europe cruise photo carousel.

I need to get my creativity back, I want to do arts and crafts. I want to something fun and creative. I just don't have any ideas where to start. Please, PLEASE, I'm begging any of you to give me some ideas that will jumpstart my creative juices again.

If something works, I'll be happy to start posting some photos of my creative endevors.

Vacation....ahhhhhhhhhhh. Finally!

Vacation started today at 10:00 am. I didn't go out with teachers to celebrate. I've been sick and just wanted to get home. Packing and closing up a room isn't too fun when you feel horrible. It just figures that the last week of school I get sick. What a way to start vacation; sick. I don't dare mention it to too many people because they'd start thinking H1N1.

So my last thought of the school year was this: I hope I never get a class this bad ever again. It makes me feel really sorry for the students who where kind and did everything I asked. They had to be the buffers between the naughty kids, the constant talkers, and the overall problems. Those are the students who just didn't get their fair share of attention; I feel. Those are the kids who will just plain succeed because they've got it together and get lots of support from their families.

Now I don't know if I mentioned the fact that the major behavior student has been gone for a month. He was suspended with his brother for a racial remark. Instead of coming back after the 1 days suspension, they never come back. About a week later, the mom is in the office to talk to the principal. Are her kids with her, no. She's there to dispute the suspension 1 week after it was done and over with. The whole week that she never sent her kids back. I asked her if the children were coming back and her response was, "the last 3 weeks aren't important." Ok, so that's when we post test students, collect textbooks, and put closure to the whole year. I also mentioned that was not the first racial remark from her son, and that she should be concerned with the language that was coming out of her children's mouths instead of worrying about the punishment for the other child who got called the racial name. She only felt that those racial remarks weren't coming from her house.

Well I have to say that the last 4 weeks without the "problem child" were a Godsend. The classroom was much more peaceful and those "good kids" got their attention.

Jump ahead to today. The mom is now worried about her children's report cards. Not about the fact they were truent for 20 days. Not that her children lost out on more learning, not that she owed me 2 textbooks (to the tune of about $120), she was worried about their trashed up and completely used folders and notebooks. She also wanted the report cards. Would you have wanted to see those report cards with 20 days of missing assignments? Well just imagine, at least the one I issued wasn't any good.

Well off of this rant. This student is gone and this year is over. Now I'm going to relax and enjoy my summer vacation. Hopefully I'll break out the camera and take a few photos to make this blog more fun to look at.