Coming back to the blog world soon...
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August Already?

Wow! I knew July would go by fast, but not that fast! I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently.

Plus I have a sneak peak at my new classroom. It's 90% done! It's been a lot of work but I love my room, y'all! It makes me even more excited to get this school year started!

First up, here's the Currently

Listening: I love the sound of storms rolling in. I only get nervous if there is a lot of wind.
Loving: My husband is the best! I sent him out for clothespins, magnets and cardstock, and he came back with two out of the three plus a chocolate shake I didn't even have to ask for. After 12 years, he knows me so well! Maybe I wasn't so clear when I said clothes pins, because this is what he brought back

Haha! Oh well, the milkshake made up for the itty bitty clothespins. Maybe pinterest will have an idea for what I can do with them! (Speaking of pinterest, you can see my latest pinterest project in the background-I just need some magnets to finish it)

Thinking: I officially report back to school on Monday so tomorrow is my last day of summer. If the weather cooperates, I will be laid out by my moms pool while the kids splash and play. Hopefully my mind won't be full of thoughts of what I need to do before Open House Monday night or the first half day of school on Wednesday. I just want to relax in the sun with the kids! Plan B-Take my last nap of summer if the weather doesn't cooperate :)

Wanting: Seriously, Wal-Mart! No magnets?  And where is my heating pad!!!

Needing: Housekeeper that is willing to clean my house after it has been neglected for over a week. Must be able to sort, wash and fold laundry for five people without laundry backing up for little no pay. Anyone interested, please email me! Thanks!

B2S: I love my dress that I bought for back to school so I must have the perfect pair of shoes to go with it!
And what girl doesn't love a mani/pedi? Especially after painting, tiling the counter top, organizing, and decorating a classroom. And I need my eyebrows waxed. I seriously feel like I have two fuzzy caterpillars planted where my eyebrows use to be.

I've been busy working in my classroom for the last week and a half. My kids love playing in my classroom while I'm working in there. I bring snacks, drinks, and even a movie one day last week. Watching The Lion King on the projector screen was a huge hit! My favorite spot in the room has become my Reading Center. I used my Ikea leaves to create a cozy little corner for the kids. It's not completely finished yet, but here's a sneak peak

 

And here's my almost finished pinterest inspired project. How did ever survive without blogs and pinterest?

Stay tuned for more classroom pictures. I warned my principal before she saw it that I made some major changes but that I only did what I thought was in the best interest of the room. I was nervous, but she loved it! I can't wait to show it to all of you!

Sophia

DIYs with a freebie!

How can it be July already? What happened to June? I've been too busy to keep up with my own self lately but I wanted to share with you what projects I have completed. (This post has lots of pictures and a freebie!)

First up, is my book boxes. Remember these from my Ikea trip? Well they got a make-over!

I needed them to be more colorful without being too busy, so I spray painted them to match the colors in my room. The colors I used are Berry Frost, Exotic Sea, Everglade Glen and I finished with a sealer. I picked up all of these from Lowes. To paint the boxes, I laid them flat on a sheet like in the pic below and sprayed one side at a time, then flipped it over when it was dry and sprayed the other side.

You can see from this picture that I wasn't all the way finished when I took this. I was chased away from this project by a bunch of bees! I guess they thought my boxes were big, bright flowers. Once I finished with the spray painting all that was left to do was fold the boxes together which was very easy. My six year old helped me with all the folding :)

Fold... 

Fold...

Tuck.

 then repeat 24 more times and you end up with...

All that I have left to do now is add some labels. Aside from the bees and 95+ degree weather, it was a fun project!

Between the boxes and my the next project my family took a week long trip to see my BFF Rebecca in Virginia. We taught together for a few years and our kids are the same age so we bonded instantly when we met and I love her like a sister! Here we are at the beach!

We even had a fun girls night with shopping, dinner, and Magic Mike!

When I came home, I tackled my latest pinterest project. I was inspired by this pin from Mrs. Rojas over at Create Teach Share. She has great tutorial and a you can download her labels (wish I would have found her labels before I spent so much time making my own).

Here's my box! I spray painted it with the Berry Frost that I used on the book boxes. Then I printed the labels, cut them out, and stuck them on with some double sided tape. Very quick and easy! Now I'm fighting the urge to run to the store and buy supplies to fill up each drawer! -->Side note-our stores already have the back to school aisles all filled up!

 

If you want to use my labels, click the picture to get them. The labels are typed on the background, so there's no need for cardstock or colored paper.

I hope you can use this! If you have any questions about either of these projects, feel free to ask!
Click here to see what everyone else is making :)

Sophia

Winner!!! (a little late, I'll explain below)

The winner of the planner from April over @ A Modern Teacher is .... Amber!
Congrats, Amber! I hope you enjoy it and get a lot of use from it. Thank you, April for giving away the planner!

***Note: I originally wrote the above post last Sunday, but realized today that I never hit "Publish". At least I emailed Amber the planner before I announced the winner :P I'm sorry everyone! I was caught up in printing and binding my own copy of the planner that night.***

I've been super busy this week trying to get some summer purging done around the house so I won't feel guilty when I spend the weekend spray painting (classroom project!) I'm crossing my fingers that it turns out okay in this humidity. Speaking of humidity, I cut about 8 inches of hair off yesterday due to the pile of frizz that had taken over my head. TN humidity is awful and the bad news is that it only gets worse. :(
Who else fights humidity all summer? It has to be worse further south...

Meanwhile, my last blog post had 447 views in less than a week. That about blew my socks off when I saw that! And I'm over 75 followers! WOW! I love my followers and all of your comments! I get so excited when my email chimes telling me I have a new email on my gmail account!

*****Sorry for the rambling- my ADD has kicked into high gear tonight! LOL! I promise to have a more organized post next time :)
 Have a great Friday!

Sophia

Binder Freebie!

 My DIBELS binder is now a freebie! You can get your 8 page sample of the Binder cover and Dividers here. (when you click the link, the preview will not show up because the file is too large, but it will still download)

 If you can use this freebie, leave a comment or consider becoming a follower so you don't miss future freebies!
You can grab other great freebies from great bloggers by clicking here

Have a great Friday, everyone!