Something Tells Me...

...that my students and their parents ~*know*~ me:



A gift tin full of cookie-makings...



...and multiple batches of coffee, Starbucks goodies, Pampered Chef items, hot chocolate mix, sparkly ornaments, and my magic-teaching-vitamins: peanut m-n-m's. Also received (but the photos turned out blurry) nummy smelling candles and bath treats~

Yep, my Stars and their parents see *everything*!

Merry Christmas Super Stars and Super Star parents- thank you for making me feel so special!

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Need some holiday inspiration or just want to look at pretties that other bloggers have shared? Take a peek:

~ A Storybook Life shares the most beautiful cupcakes (could you ever really bite into these without feeling guilty?)...

~ The Pioneer Woman Cooks fruit and crumbled left over chocolate chip cookies- should there ever *be* left over cookies in my house (um, never), this is the recipe I would try. Those of you with better self control than me, give it a try and let me know how it turns out...

~ Check out Motley Mutton and the Gangly Goat's felt animal necklaces (VERY CUTE!) at Etsy...

~ Saucy's bake sale goodies at Bloggedy Blog Blog just might convince me to pull out the ol' parchment paper one more time this month...

~ Should you ever want a strawberries and cream colored Christmas, head over to Everyday Beauty's Pretty Little Christmas for ideas...

~ Heather Bailey shares a flower pinwheel pattern over at Hello My Name is Heather- check out the poinsettia!

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Tomorrow is my 39th birthday and I am THRILLED! Wonderful husband and kids- *check*. Terrific family and friends- *check*. Awesome students and colleagues- *check*. Roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food in our bellies- *check*. Hope, optimism, healthy bouts of laughter, with some quiet time for myself thrown in- *check*. Master's Degree... uh...

Guess it's time to start the New Year's Resolutions.

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~ A Little Blog of Art features art/illustrations by Emma Block- my favorites so far are her holiday watercolors featuring ice skaters (along with some cute banners and ornaments), which you can find here...

Pleased to Share

After a year of posting here, here, and here, I've been fortunate enough to have made some wonderful new colleagues, friends, and acquaintances through our shared commitment to teaching children. I'm apparently now showing up on more than a few blogrolls, and have started being contacted by other bloggers, educators, even sales-pitch-people, complimenting my blog and asking me to please visit theirs, share, or contribute.

I am grateful, in awe, blushing a bit, and thrilled to be expanding my network with other parents, teachers, child advocates, and those involved in public education.

I am also very pleased to share links and blogs I've been invited to peruse:

~OpenEducation.net has some incredible posts I am looking forward to catching up on, but their offering of videos as Inspiration for a New School Year was just the right pick-me-up that a lot of us need as we return to our classrooms. "Kindergarchy" is a phrase I'll enjoy reading up on at their site as well with their latest posting, Parenting Lessons at the Weekly Standard.

~NIEER, the National Institute for Early Education Research is now posting articles individually (rather than in a collection in one issue) that are accessible via their issue archive.

~Author and former teacher (not really, she still teaches and guides teachers through professional development!) Deb Renner Smith made me an instant subscriber to her blog after I read Parents Matter! First Days of School.

~Kathy at Teach-a-holic (what a great blog name!) has taken me right back to my subbing days, before I was hired to teach full time in my own classroom. The ins and outs of hiring, irregular paychecks, and the annual TB test can be found in her online blog/journal.

Check 'em all out!

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Blog Discoveries/Meeting Students Today

Multiple times. Plural. And while my blog-reading and blog-posting schedule will have to change a bit now that I'm back to work, I couldn't resist subscribing to the following:

Confections

Raggedy Old Annies

The Shabby Nest

A Fanciful Twist

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Once I finish reading through the latest Artful Blogging, I'm sure I'll have more blogs to recommend! I'll also be pruning and updating my blogroll before school starts on Monday.

This afternoon our students get to visit with us in our classrooms for a short time! Yay! I'll be taking their photos so I can make their center tags this weekend (having them for two days before school starts will also help me learn their names quickly), and getting contact/email/parent teacher conference schedules taken care of with their "special grown ups." I'll set out a coloring page for those students who want to take their desks and chairs for a test drive, and will be making quick observations and mental notes like the ones I mentioned here.

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Crayons! Thanks Sesame Street!

Bits, Blurbs, and Counting to the Number Four

* We opened, emptied and broke down 20+ more boxes downstairs yesterday. Now there are piles of books, equipment, baskets and more books all over the place, effectively replacing the stacks of boxes. Messy, messy, messy, but still a sign of progress.

* Dear Husband will have an office this year. It might not be the largest place to hang his work hat, but he'll be able to take some of his military decor with him to spruce things up a bit. Once I'm able to get into my classroom, all of my classroom materials, decor, and books will be out of our house as well. It will be interesting to see how the whole home decor thing works out afterward. No Army influences, no kindergarten themes- just who we are outside of the workplace with our family.


* I've found my seat cushions and Somerset Magazines. They were in boxes marked "Baskets" and "Outdoor Storage." The seat cushions were used in our dining room year 'round, and the magazines were in my creative cubby space. Neither were used near baskets or outdoor storage. The box marked "Baskets" plural had only one basket in it. I know. I'm a nitpick.

* Amanda at GoodyBlog got my toddler's attention this morning when she posted this:


Happy Tuesday!

More Blogs

Big surprise, I've found some more wonderful blogs!

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~Joy has a charming blog, really! Cupids' Charm has had most of my attention this weekend, since I love china, even broken bits of it, and ADORE jewelry made with porcelain treasures... Go here to see the most beautiful spring bunny charm bracelet- I've happily subscribed so I can get all of Joy's latest news, thoughts, and photos of her treasured creations!

~With categories such as "Beautiful Books," " Cultured as a Pearl," "Gaze Upon This," "Hooray for Holidays," "Something Sparkly" and "The Universe is My Catalog," how could anyone ignore ToMama's Dwell on These Things? Yes, I know, I know... I know YOU know that she had me as soon as she used the word "sparkly..."

~While the textile lover in me lives vicariously through other spinners, weavers and knitters (Rosie, Mom...), I have no intention of picking up a set of knitting needles or making room for a loom. That leaves me to lurk at blogs such as Spincerely Yours, though I'll admit, I am green with envy over Tamara's gorgeous new "Wild Cherry" washer and dryer!

Serene Saturday, Creative Space

Here was my morning view from the couch, coffee in hand:



Sunlight pouring in, temperature not-too-hot, quiet in the neighborhood. After finishing off my first mug of liquid morning energy, I poured another and moved to the computer to check email and read blogs. Pearl, at A Storybook Life, posted "Creative Spaces- Nurturing Our Need to Create" (part one) and I was instantly rescued from the other blog entries regarding dilemmas in public education and teaching that had scrolled ahead before hers. After expressing her belief that we are each born with an innate sense of creativity, Pearl went on to share photos and descriptions of some of her friends' creative nooks and crannies, encouraging readers to "finally give yourself a little place to nurture the creativity inside of you!" Go, look, and be inspired!

Unlike her friends, I don't have a work/craft room or full-fledged work shop, rather, I truly have a "nook." One small area between the kitchen and laundry room, large enough for a desk and medium size bookcase. To sew, scrap, or make one of my wreaths, I have to spread my materials out along our large kitchen island countertop or across our dining room table. But for my reading, email communication, blogging, researching, photo printing, and organizing of craft materials and inspiration, my nook is just the right size. The only thing I'm missing are inspiration pinboards, something I hope to make for my own "creative space" in our next home (we relocate this summer). Until then, my Inspiration Binders will have to do, one for home decor, holidays and craft inspirations, and the other for kindergarten and teaching materials.

Here is the nook- I've taken several photos because it's such a tight space and difficult to see in one shot:



My desk, chair, and bookcase are tucked in, out of traffic's way (the door you see is the one to the laundry room), with enough wall space for my favorite artwork, photos, etc.



My killer whale art above my computer was made for me by my friend Karen (her family also introduced me to Bunnies by the Bay) while my Russian lacquer platter was purchased off of QVC years ago. Yes, yes, that is an "old" eMac, but guess what? It has everything I need at this point in time, except the ability to save space!



Anyone know how to get my webcam to work on Yahoo Messenger for Mac? Nothing, nothing, and more of nothing, despite my best efforts (and questions to Yahoo Groups), though the webcam will work on MacCam or something like that. I do cross stitch every now and again, so two of my samplers are framed and hanging on the right of the wall. And see those plastic drawer cubbies under the desk? They're full of glue sticks/adhesives, ribbons, paper cutters, hot glue guns, etc.



This is the bookcase next to my desk, full of books, construction/craft/printing papers, my binders-in-progress, and drawers of correspondence note cards. The red bag? It's an accordion file case, full of stickers, special papers, and other crafting embellishments, a Christmas gift from my grandmother.

On top of the bookcase are some of my favorite photos...wedding, me and my husband on our Harley, and our friends, Bill, Polly, and Shannon:



Nope, no piles of fabric in this house, darn it! Just a little to-do pile, stacked on top of storage drawers.

Finally, a plain white door just wouldn't do for my space:



There's the valentine wreath I made, the pretty pinkness of it seemed perfect for spring, along with block prints made from wood block carvings by my friend Sue. Yep, she did them all, the perfect Alaska images for this Alaskan girl!

I have no idea where we'll be living when we return to Oz this summer... on post? Off? Three bedrooms or four? How many family rooms, and what's the size of them? Will I have a creative corner, a creative nook, a study, or a closet?

I'm dreamin' BIG!

Show and Share Thursday: Vera Bradley...an Addiction

Hello, my name is Michaele, and I'm an addict. A Vera Bradley Addict.



What's surprising is that I wasn't aware of the extent of my addiction until today, as I went through the hutch in our dining room to find Easter-ish or Spring-ish place mats or tablecloths for this weekend.







I kept pulling out set after set of VB place mats and realized that there were still *more* sets packed away with the Christmas decor! In fact, the photos I'm sharing today don't include my VB tablecloths, napkins, table runners, purses/handbags, or clothing items... and the sets shown above aren't ALL, since I'm using several sets in our barrister bookcases and throughout the living room and kitchen for spring accents:







I'm guessing my love of Vera Bradley table decor is linked to my love for quilts- each of these place mats are quilted with a coordinating fabric on the back. I'm always on the look-out for retired patterns and colors on Ebay, Petit Point, Black Walnut, and Maison Blue especially:



What's not to love? They're machine washable, patterned enough to hide a small stain here or there, and instantly dress up a table or other surface beautifully. With a toddler and busy family, EASE and FUNCTIONALITY are essentials in our home, but in case you were wondering, no, I simply cannot resist PRETTINESS.

No, no, I'm NOT a Vera Bradley salesperson or store representative- though I wish I were if it would get me a discount on the new line of RUGS available online! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

If you'd like something a bit more romantic, "foofy" even for table decor, try April Cornell, another favorite of mine!

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Easter/Spring Projects:

~Kelli at There's No Place Like Home has made some beautiful egg-shaped pocket cards and walks you through, step by step...

~ Lisa at Celebrate Creativity in All its Forms shows us how to decorate a new vase, just in time for those spring bouquets, though I think I'll use her techniques and advice on a few storage containers I've been saving up lately for my desk...

~ Terry at Bent Objects expresses some Easter humor with a chocolate bunny, some raisins and Raisinets, a nice change from the deluge of Peep dioramas that many others have produced this year...

~ Laura Rebecca's Kitchen tells us how to make perfect hard boiled eggs (still on my to-do list for today!)

~ Angry Chicken shares a recipe for birds' nests (edible!) that kindergarten teachers, their students and families are sure to enjoy!

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Recent Blog Discoveries:

ModernJune

Tammy Gilley Studios

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I forgot to mention that while I was playing with Scrabble tiles and tongue-twisters the other day, I also made a Scrabble rack to go with my Easter decor in the epergne:



Happy Spring!

Mommy Blog Carnival

Check out the latest edition of the Mommy Blog Carnival hosted by The So Called Me- I contributed this month and am eager to read many of the other posts that were submitted!



(Magnet from Ephemera)