Brain

It hurts right now. I am in a down again. Which was pretty quick after the last one. I cannot discern if it is because of the cyclic nature of this junk or if it is the seasonal malarky. I cannot decide if medication will help with this or if it will just be nothing again.

Just waiting.

Sleepy

My blog has been asleep for quite some time now. I've just been really neglecting it, haven't I?

I have really been putting my all into vlogging. But I am having technical issues. I cleared up one just to find another. It is rather disheartening. I am nearly 20 days behind. I am really having fun vlogging - even though my day-to-day is boring and repetitive.

Every time I open blogger to write, I am so concise and it all sounds so compact and facebook-y or tweet-y.

Apparently October this year is Craftober just like last year! I have only made one mum this year so far. I already made Ivy's Halloween costume - a purple princess dress. And I've been making other little things. I've started knitting again because I'm teaching the kids. So I'm making myself another scarf and a bunny for Ivy. I am making a couple of Christmas ornaments this year. I'm considering making Christmas cards (an Ivy hand-print thing). Other crafts going on that are work related - I painted a shirt and altered another shirt for a spirit week. And the students and I will be reconstructing and tie-dyeing shirts. I guess that this is the time of year that I feel most crafty.

Until later!

What? Huh??

I know this isn't going to be the best post ever. Allergies are in full force and I feel like crap.

Work... I'm finding that I am enjoying teaching middle schoolers. Except for one class. They have a huge sense of entitlement. They're my worst attitudes and they automatically hate me because I'm the new teacher. I don't care that they don't like me. They just aren't open to the idea of a new teacher being awesome, if not better than the previous.

And flipping the classroom videos? Loving it. I don't have to lecture and take two days to do it either. And the kids like it too.

One thing we are doing is working on confidence and self-esteem. So I'm having some students write about themselves. "How I See Me." Then, I'm having the students stand in front of the white board and the class is writing positives about each person. I take a picture of the student and they'll put it in a project and they reflect on it.

I told the kids a personal story and their faces just dropped. This was no longer a funny game activity. It was a serious moral booster. It made a connection. Then they all wanted to do the board activity with me. I wasn't searching for compliments because I'm over all that. I know me. I'm awesome. But this whole activity clicked with them.

Proud moment!

Moving on...

H&M opened in a local mall recently. I decided to take a peek. And I think I officially love that store. I picked up a pencil skirt and a very pretty dress that actually fits without my having to alter it. That's always a difficult thing to find. So I got them both. And the total was really inexpensive!

I think that's all I want to write about. No, not really but I cannot remember what else I thought of! Hate!

I HATE you, Home Depot!

Talking about flipping my classroom... I wanted to get 6 whiteboard panels. The people who came up with this concept recommend having them cut. Okay. Go to the lumber store, have them cut a whole sheet down. Cheap! Fifteen dollars as opposed to ten dollars per each precut sheet. You do the math: $15 or $60?

So I went to Home Depot. Against my better judgement, because I thought "Nah, forget it, yo homes to Bel-air!" Uh, Lowe's. I considered going to Lowe's first. That's my point. I walked through Home Depot and found no one working in the lumber section. Surprise. I grabbed a cart and picked out my own white board. I looked for someone who may have shown up to their station... nope. So then I found the nearest person who then walked to find someone. Dude disappeared. Five minutes later, I hear a "ma'am!" from the front of the store/aisle... that guy I asked for help just decided to yell "someone's coming, it'll be just a minute!" at me from across the store.

I was standing there for a good 10 or 15 minutes waiting. So I facebooked, checked my email, checked twitter... then I decided to place a call. To Lowe's. And not quite so quietly either.

Customer service: How can I help you?
Me: Uh, yeah, so I'm over across the street at Home Depot and need some whiteboard cut. If I come over there now, will someone do that for me real quick?
CS: Of course. We've got like three guys back there.
Me: Mkay, be there in 5.

All the while this obvious call is being placed, no less than TEN workers walk past me and don't even stop to help me or anything. And I am giving them gigantic WTF looks too. Tools. So I went over to Lowe's and I was in and out of there in 10 minutes. It only took the guy about 5 minutes to get my board cut.

I really want to say so much more. Mostly profane stuff. But I just need to get back to work.

Flip the What? What the flip??

Okay. I mentioned this is a recent post but I want to talk about it again. Mostly because I'm excited and nervous about it.

The school district is pushing technology and 'strategic design' and I'm just gonna run with it like a pair of scissors. E-portfolios for the students and flipping the classroom. Since I really like vlogging, and I attended a 'flipping' workshop, I thought "YES! I can do this!"

Flipping a classroom is like vlogging a lesson, the students watch it before the enriching activity and we get to the fun stuff without having to really have an in class lecture. Because they are just so fun, right? And I have THREE of these bad-mamma-jammas done already! Two I won't be able to use until spring because that's how my schedule is going to work out. And the third is just an intro thing for the students and parents.

I have a ton of ideas! Demos for cooking and food labs. Egg baby demo. Clothing illustrations. Color scheme illustrations. House tours. All kinds of fashion stuff. Holy pajoly! Do I want to share the links here? Guh, I don't know! Of course, it will be on a completely separate 'Tube channel.

I'm getting nervous about going back to work with the kiddos tomorrow. Middle-schoolers! And a faster schedule! Eek! I just don't know what to expect. I know I'm going to forget so much stuff.

Pinterest Evidence - Part 1

How I have applied more of Pinterest to my life.

I was putting away laundry. I tend to avoid this because I am lazy and my dresser is getting full. There are pins for life organization or 'whod've thoughts!' Here is one such case. Tshirts that I cannot part with (some I do wear) and have no where else to put them. Instead of stacking them vertically, stack them horizontally. The stack at the bottom of this picture wouldn't have fit in this drawer had I not stacked them like this. I still have room to add to this.

I don't know if I saw this on pinterest or not. It may have been something similar. I finally just got around to doing it. This top photo is how I use to store my flat iron. Out of the reach of Ivy's delicate fingers. Job done, but annoying. So then I decided to get a metal/mesh magazine bin and hung it in my closet. I've also put my hair dryer in the bin and I'm going to put my curling iron in it too. No dangling cords, still out of Ivy's reach, no wire hangers. NO WIRE HAAAAAANGERRRRRRRRRRSSSS!

Here's that calm down bottle...

 

And a discovery bottle...

And an honest to goodness pit stain remover. Remember that guy on Pete and Pete? I really was sceptical but decided the mix was free and the brush was inexpensive.

Before:

And the after. One part dawn dishwashing soap, two parts hydrogen peroxide and a sprinkling of baking soda. Pour, scrub, let sit, launder as normal. And voila! The after picture looks off color, but the shirt was back to normal. Seriously! Even used it on a couple color shirts. No harm done.

Ready for the end

As much as I love summer, it is time for it to end. I am so very ready for fall. I really love all of the seasons. Each have their own positives and negatives... But fall is my favorite season.

Back to school time - school supplies, school clothes... I always loved shopping for school. Oddly, high school football season only for pep rallies and Tx homecoming mums.

The weather - cloudy, sometimes drizzly, and cooler. The crisp smoky smell in the air.

Fall festivals and fairs. And the food, petting zoos, and games.

The decorations and holidays. I am very partial to halloween and thanksgiving.

And the rest of this will be quite random.
I'm anxious about going back to work (with the kids) in 3 days. I don't know how these middle-schoolers are. It's almost like starting for the very first time all over again.

I'm changing some things up in my classroom. I'm "flipping" it. Meaning lectures, lessons and learning are done on the YouTube and homework is done in class. This should save me (and the kids) some time. I already have two videos done that need editing. Oh my! I swear. The district is pushing for technology and something called strategic design. And they block YouTube. I know there are other video hosting websites. But damn.

So there is this new coworker. He and I grew up in the same city. Graduated from the same high school. And lived in the same city (like where I lived two years ago). And now we teach at the same school. It's so odd.

And I think this is where I stop. I could've sworn I had more, but I don't.

Stats... For muh bloggg

I don't know what the heck is up or how it's even happening. There are a lot of hits (because I like to know about my audience) from a lot of strange places. Some, I expect. I do link round-ups and I have my blog connected to facebook and other social media.

But some, how is my link even there?

And then, kerplewie! My link shows up on an *ahem* adult social media thingamabob. I had no idea what it was by the name and I clicked the link. BAD BAD BAD STUPID IDEA. I hope mal/spyware doesn't pop up on the computer. I just saw big giant uh... parts and shut that down.

So I looked at my settings. And I fixed what I think what happened. I just hope my blog is legit-searchable now.

Foooooood!!!

Today is my husband's 33rd birthday. (Happy birthday babe! I love you!) I know! We are so young! Today he gets his choice of meals. I made him sausage and rolls for breakfast so far. I got our babysitter to watch Ivy on Saturday. We went to a dinner movie theater to see The Campaign. I choose not to watch Will Farrel movies because a lot of the time it is gross humor. This one wasn't that bad though. Highly recommend? No.

I made myself some fruit and granola yogurt. Thank you Pinterest for reminding me to freeze my berries when I did. They still taste good, whereas the ones I would buy now don't.




















I had some yummy vegetarian nachos the other night. There are egg whites, black beans, corn, seasonings, cheese abd hot sauce on them. Pretty tasty!




















I was going to do a Menu Plan Monday, but I'm out of sorts. Hooray? Thought not.

Today was my first day back to work. Granted, it is only inservice. No students yet for a week and a half. Phew! But I just re-emotioned the crap from May.

New to campus teachers had orientation today and the quote from the principal today was... "You are Top Gun. Everyone I spoke to proved that to me. And there were five times the amount of people in this room (about 20), if not more, lined up to get these jobs." Oh, except for you Lena. You were handed to us. I feel like a hand-me-down. I'm grateful for my job. I could've, you know, just been fired with a Good Luck Loser letter. But I feel like I didn't prove my worth. I didn't fight for my job.

And then I replayed all the parts of the situation in May and went ahead and cried again.
A fine romance, indeed.

FaceTweet?

Am I treating my blog like a facebook status or tweet box? I dunno.

Have you heard about the Rory Gilmore Book List? There are about 250 books that Rory read and/or mentioned on the show.

Challenge accepted.

I feel like I have lost touch with actual books. I got a Kindle as an early christmas present. And while I really love the gadget, I have to admit that I really miss touching books. Turning pages. Smelling the paper. Hearing the spine crack - oh how I wish mine would... But I cannot justify purchasing books. To the library I must get! But I read so darn slow. Oh well.

The?

It looks like I'm not going to be doing any 'real' vlogging for a little while. The only thing that I think I'll be able to manage is iphone vlogging and that'd have to be unedited stuff. Eww. For some reason, my editing program keeps crashing. I'm going to try something else and see if there is just too much going on in what I'm doing because it's huge. But I've done other rather large videos and had no problem. GAH!

Fill in the Blank Friday

We took Ivy to Fossil Rim again yesterday. One last summer hurrah just before we go back to work.  I'll be editing all the video clips and photos I took for a vlog tonight. I might do a quick Outfit Of The Day and announce a Giveaway on YouTube.

Since I missed it yesterday, here is a Fill in the Blank Friday on a Saturday. Just the normal version - as my last one was videoed and tubed.

1.  The age I will be on my upcoming birthday is 33 in '13. I just had my 32nd birthday a month ago.

2.   The best birthday present ever would be   a personal stylist because I really don't know fashion and I need help. I'd also like a ton of money. I'm happy but I would still like to own a house, pay off my college loans... Real life. 

3.  My favorite birthday to date was   My 28th. I was pregnant and had a nice group of friends join me for dinner. 

4. Birthdays make me feel   Old and awkward. 'Nough said. 

5. The worst birthday I ever had was   My 29th. It was my first birthday as a new mommy and it was spent away from my daughter. It was for work.

6. When I was born  my name was supposed to be Sam as in 'what in Sam Hill?!' Quite the comedian, my mom. My last name was Hill. Anyway, my dad vetoed that and mom named me Lena.

7.  So far my favorite age has been   27 -  I learned so much about myself that year.

I hope you have a thrilling weekend!

Going to Grandmas

I received a small suitcase in the 80's as a child for christmas. The original decal had worn off (with some assistance, of course) so the suitcase was light blue.

It went with me to pretty much every overnight stay at Aunt Carol's or one of my cousins'. It even went with me to camp one year. I even brought it on my(our) honeymoon. After we moved away from family, I used that case for our visits. The thing got used! When Ivy was born, guess what... I passed that little case down to her.

I'd kept it until last year. Until a cat pee'd in it. Couldn't get that stench out. So I had to toss it. I'm still upset because I was attached to that case. And I see the exact same one (the photo above) on Etsy being sold for $36.00. They're listing it as from the 60's. Which is ridiculous because it's from the 80's. There's no way in hell I'd pay that plus shipping.

I've been on the lookout for another like this. And I had a close call. We were donating at Goodwill and the lady right in front of us had a red one. I tried to snag it but the workers wouldn't let it go.

Sadface.

Menu Plan Monday

It has been a strange few weeks. And we have been eating out every day it seems. The opportunity arises that we can eat at our favorite restaurants when we don't have Ivy. So we take advantage of that. I know, shame on us.

I've discovered something new to eat. I decided to try Chobani yogurt and it's so good with granola. But I mainly got it so I can do poached pears for breakfast with honey yogurt. It is pretty healthy too!

Speaking of food, I've made the decision to eat less meat. I am basically just going to eat eggs, dairy and fish. Why am I going semi-veg? I do this every once in a while. Hoping to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in my diet. Meat is expensive. How it's manufactured. How the animals are treated. But I just dug through my freezer and found so much meat, I will need to clear that out (read: we need to eat all this meat) before I make good on my word to eat less meat. I've never been rich so I just don't feel right throwing it all out. It has gotten ridiculous... we have all this food but we end up picking something up or eating out. WHY?!

Sunday - Leftovers - I don't know what they were.
Monday - Fish Tacos
Tuesday - Fondu
Wednesday - Yoyo
Thursday - Nachos or some crock pot chicken thing.
Friday - Salad
Saturday - Out for Ryans bday. Possibly lunch. If so, skillet grilled chicken and steamed broccoli for me.

For more awesome menus, check out Menu Plan Monday. That's where I'm about to head for some new ideas!

VLOG: $20 Make Up Challenge

Wow, for a while there I was writing something every day! Well, I was visiting family and had a bit of time on my hands, and a lot to say apparently. This week, I traveled back home (alone) because I had a conference for work that had me attending meetings and workshops all day for three days in Dallas. I've been before. Love the conference. Just... ugh. And I have been so tired!

Maybe you remember the post I wrote about makeup purchases (lookit!) . I finally filmed the $20 makeup challenge and just now posted it online.

Yup, I did cheat and didn't include the tools in the purchase. I didn't know. And I've seen people whine about people "cheating" and doing a challenge with all elf products. So what?

Anyway, enjoy.

Shhhhh

All isquiet in the house d'LenaBena. She has either been sleeping or busy working. Take your pick. Next week will be back to normal next week. Look forward to posting as normal (what is that?) and at least one vlog.

Fill in the Blank Friday

Regarding one of my previous posts (basically, things vlog about)... I did a video response to the Fill in the Blank Friday at TheLittleThingsWeDo.



You answer the writing prompts that are (der) fill in the blank! Lauren had started this but took a hiatus. I think I only did one right before she took a break. But she is back!

This weeks Fill In The Blank Friday is:
I am:
I have always:
I hope to:
I can:
I dream of:
The way to my heart is:
I am passionate about:

Please check out her website! It's really cute and I love her linkup.
Do you know of any other link roundups? I love those things. Should I do Menu Plan Mondays as a vlog?

PS: I talk about 100 Goals... It is it's own page above!

Vlogaholic

What is that face I'm making!! EEp!

Oh my gosh I am so into the whole YouTubeeeeee. Hi You, Tube. Let's be friends.

Oh, okay. Back to reality? Maybe. I'm a bit tired so I'm a bit weird. I'm finding myself subscribing to a lot of Tubers. Not the potato, people. Nor The Potato People. And I have an idea for a vlog. I was going to just write it up but I'm thinking of, yes, vlogging it.

Fwump!

I think I heard your head falling to the floor. Get up! This is seriously interesting!

So, I shall present these in a numbered list form.

1. Vlogging a Friday response link-up thingamajig. It's called Fill In the Blank Friday from the little things we do. She has a set of questions that have blanks in them and you *gasp* fill those blanks in. I've done one here on the blog before but right after that, she stopped. Life happens, yahnno? Anyway, she's bringing it back and I'm crossing my fingers because I want to vlog that.
2. The Friday Five. Same concept as above except The Friday Five is a series of 5 themed questions. People used to do these a long time ago. Aherm, I mean, I used to do them a long time ago. Again, they seem to be on a hiatus. I don't know if I want to travel back in time to their older questions. Like Pumbaa says, "keep your behind in your past."
3. Who I'm subscribed to you the Tube and why. I don't know. Who the heck are YOU stalkingfollowing? Why are they so speshul?!
4. I was thinking of an open box (where I open a box that I order and you get to see what I bought) from Ulta.
5. How about a coffee talk? About books?
6. I'm going to a conference next week. Want to see a clip reel? Oooooo I think that'd be interesting.

What do you think?

And I decided to go ahead and edit the first $20 challenge. I was able to just cut out and speed up the unnecessary bits. I really just wanted to get that one taken care of. I did "cheat" though, but I didn't know what the rules were. Tools are supposed to be part of the purchase. And maybe include tax? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll do it again. I know that I would probably have to cheat again because of my stupid sensitive skin. But shhhhhhhh! I won't tell if you won't!

Vlogggg!! Accent Tag

Okay, I know vlogging equates talking on video. However, this vlog is more of an analysis of accents. Specifically, my accent. You start off pronouncing a list of words and then you answer questions. I guess it's poking fun at one's way of speaking.

Yes, this video is a bit older. It has been sitting on the computer for a few months. I was going to scrap it and re-shoot this but I thought man, forget it. Yo, home to Bel-air!



Please, pretty please, click through to my channel to find the list of words and questions and do this tag!

Ivy the Photographer

Ivy knows how to work our phones. I have quite a few of her original portraits. The majority are stored on my laptop. So here are a few that I have on my phone.