Monday Made It...Monday Meet Me...Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My!

It's Monday Made It time, it's Monday Made It time...

I'm kinda dancin' around doin' a conga line thing...except

I'm dancin' by myself...sigh.

Are you picturin' it?

Wish you were here to join in...Pismo Beach is

beautiful and I'm typin' this while the waves are crashin' below,

the seagulls are chirpin', the whales are squirtin' water in the air,

and the seals are barkin'.

So peaceful!

I'm linkin' up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for 

one of my most favorite linkys...Monday Made It!

 I love a good deal.  

It makes me feel like I've won an award when I find such a thing.

I found a pack of small 4 x 4 canvases at Tuesday Morning

for $8.99 this past week.  

There were 9 canvases in the pack, so 

that worked out to about a $1 a canvas.

I have one very thin strip of wall in my class that is bare-naked.
I need to put some clothes aka canvases, on that wall.

I decided that I would make the word

"Rockstars" 

to hang on this space.

I painted each canvas black, then printed out

some letters usin' KG's "Love Ya Like a Sister" font.

I then used the letters as a guide to cut out scrapbook paper

letters.  After this step, I used Mod Podge to paint over each

letter on the canvas.  I used two coats.

I think they are really colorful and will

look great up on the wall.
You can tell me the truth if you don't think so.
I can take it.

It's hard to see them on the black canvas, but up close

they are very bright!

I even considered connectin' them to a ribbon, but I'll wait

until I get back to school to see what that will look like.

I had a bunch of fabric left over from my 

Fabric Display Plates that 

I wrote about a few Mondays ago...here.

I bought some Marble Accents and magnets that were on 

sale to make D-I-Y Fabric Magnets.

This took a little bit of time, but was extremely easy.

I'm really good at easy projects.

I just popped on the finale of Game of Thrones that I had missed.

By the time the episode was finished, so was I with this craft.

Place some Mod Podge on the bottom of a flat marble/rock

and then place glue side onto fabric. 

Paint another layer on the bottom of the fabric and let it dry.

Cut along the edge of the marble/rock with scissors.

Hot glue some magnets on the bottom.

Easy-peasy!

I bought a magnetic, black whiteboard at Michael's for 40% off with a coupon.

Since my mom was with me, I made her bust out her smartphone to 

also get a coupon to purchase a black tabletop easel.

I am usin' the board, easel, and fabric magnets for a display board of

pictures of my Nitty Rose.

On Wednesday, my parents' friends will host a memorial dinner

in honor of my lovin' grandmother and serve a great deal of her favorite foods.  

I wanted to share some special times that she had when she 

visited my parents in California each year. 

I also wrote on a piece of construction paper with some chalk and placed it in a frame.

This will be surrounded by pictures of Nitty enjoyin' food.

She LOVED hamburgers and hot dogs!

I'm also linkin' up with The Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Me-Week 5

The more I fill out these random facts about myself, the more I realize how

incredibly weird I am.

It's a good thing some of y'all still love me anyways!

This is my friend Kelly from A View into My Classroom.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know that

I got to meet Kelly in REAL-LIFE on Saturday.

She came with her sweet husband and little girls to 

my hotel in Pismo Beach to swim while we chit-chatted with one another.

Before we knew it, two hours had passed.

Our conversation just flowed and it seemed like we had

been friends forever and ever!

I'm so glad we were both able to be at the same place, at the same time!

I will definitely be seein' Kelly again some day.

She can't get rid of me that easily!

I hope you go and show Kelly some love and follow her.

She's extremely creative and innovative!

Also, my friend Christy from 

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

has reached a huge milestone of 1,000 followers.

To celebrate, she is havin' a giveaway.

Christy also has her super fun linky 

"Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My" goin' on.

I linked up my whole post that I wrote here 

for Saturday Snapshots because I ate A LOT of yummy

food last week.

I hope you will join Christy and check out her giveaway.

Happy Monday, friends!

Saturday Snapshots...Spark Student Motivation...Lovin' It & Over It

Happy Saturday, from Pismo Beach, California.

Still on the linky train...

I'm linkin' up for Saturday Snapshots with my bestie Miss Nelson

from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera.

 Day 10 Cali...We headed to Oakland to watch the Boston Red Sox play
the Oakland Athletics.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox didn't win, but we still had
a fabulous time.  I've been lucky enough to visit many baseball parks growin' up.
I think my count is up to ten.
We took a shuttle from the hotel to the park and back.
Less hassle for the most part...except people were rude pushin' to get on the shuttle.

Day 10 Cali continued...We had dinner at a restaurant named Francesco's

that has been in business for 45 years.  Our waitress, Lisa, has been

workin' there for 39 years.  Talk about dedication!

The food was scrumptious. 

I of course had Chicken Piccata because I love capers!

We had to check out grapes there too.

Yep...they were drinkable.

Day 11 Cali...We went back to the ball park for some more baseball.

This time, the Red Sox WON!  

We left early though to catch the shuttle to break down on the crowds.

We listened to the end of the game on ride home.

Day 12 Cali...I took my first trip to Trader Joe's.  

O-M-G...I am in LOVE with the Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels.

If you haven't tried these, get you some!

On the way to pick up dad from golf we watched the deer 

walkin' around the course. 

We also saw wild turkey babies, 

but didn't get a chance to photograph them.

We ate dinner at a place called Baja Cantina in Carmel Valley.

Wonderful atmosphere.

I had Prawn Scampi and everyone else had ribs and garlic fries.

Day 13 Cali...We ran some errands...one bein' to Grocery Outlet 

to pick up these Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti.  

They are individually packed and only 100 calories.

If you see these...pick them up!

Mom made a fabulous pork loin, broccolini, and slaw for dinner.

YUM!

Day 14 Cali...Ran some more errands to my favorites...

Costco and Whole Foods.

I seriously wish we had these where I live.

We did some readin' and relaxin' at Tehama and then

met some friends for a delicious dinner

at Cafe Rustica in Carmel Valley in the Village.

Day 15 Cali...I didn't leave the house...not once.

Do I feel guilty?  NOPE!

I spent time workin' on my Monday Made Its, readin' and 

gettin' ready for THIS....

Want to check out my first five days in Cali?

Read here.  

Want to check out days 6-9 in Cali?

Read here.

I'm also linkin' this up with Christy from 

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road for 

her "Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My" linky 

because I gobbled up a lot of yummy food this past week.

I'm also linkin' up with my sweet BBB Joanne from 

Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student

Motivation Saturdays.

Firstly...Joanne, I hope you had a FABULOUS birthday this week!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Nextly, my bestie ACH sent this to me and I was thinkin' this would

be a fabulous thing to spark some motivation in students.

I haven't tried it, but I definitely will be.

It was too good not to share with you...my other besties.

Become a Scholastic Kid News Reporter

(click on the link to find out more info)

Applications will no longer be accepted after September 26, 2014

My super funny friend Ali from Teaching Powered by Caffeine

is back with Lovin' It & Over It.

Relaxin'.

Enough said.

I needed this.

BIG TIME!

I'm on vacation, so I don't really have anything that I'm over right now,

except for maybe my belly flip-floppin' every time we 

are on a curvy road.  I'm not really a great back seat driver

as it is, but put me somewhere that is not flat and straight like Florida, 

and I get a little queasy.  

Nothin' a lil' air-condition' in the face can't fix.

Happy Saturday, friends!

Technology Thursday...Throwback Thursday...Positive Thinking Thursday

It's Thursday, so there is a lot goin' on in the bloggy world.

I'm linkin' up with Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday,

The Teacher's Desk 6 for Throwback Thursday,

I'm throwin' this back to last August...right before school started.

Today I am linkin' up again for "Tune into Technology Linky: QR Codes" 

with Kristin at iTeach 1:1 as well as 

Alyin and Amanda at Learning to the Core.  

I'm super duper sad this is the last one of the summer. 

 I have LOVED readin' how everyone else uses technology 

in their real lives and in the classroom.

                                      

Let me start off by sayin' I came to school today

 because the cleaner dude is at my house

 (don't judge...I'm highly allergic to dust...plus, it's so worth the money!) 

 When I walked in, I saw the dreaded "spot".  

The place that appears about twice a year on the carpet 

between mine and my bestie's room.  

"THE AIR CONDITION' LEAK"!  UGH...I thought

 I would be super smart and leave up my bookshelves with books on them. 

 You know, less work for the Fall return...I'm dumb.  

Enough about that.  Let's get to the good stuff: QR codes.  

I've dabbled a little in makin' my own,

 but sometimes I prefer buyin' other people's QR task card packets on TpT. 

 I figure it saves me time and I'm supportin' someone else. 

The kids really do enjoy them or maybe it's just that they like 

to get ahold of my cell phone to use the app.  

I also love findin' QR codes when I'm out and about. 

 It's like a little scavenger hunt.

Two years ago, my district outfitted all of the classrooms with

 new technology with the help of the community, 

votin' for a half cent sales tax increase. 

 YAHOO!  I love me some technology!  

The district decided that they would like to video tape 

some of the teachers & students usin' the new technology.  

The first two videos have NOTHING to do with QR codes, 

BUT the district made QR codes for these videos and put them on posters 

all around the community for people to see.  

Pretty neat to just walk up to a poster, scan it, and BOOM

 you're watchin' a video of a classroom sayin' "Thank You".  

The last video DOES have to do with QR codes and 

shows how the students are usin' them in a third grade classroom.

Video one: Me and my sweet little rockstars that I taught for THREE years. 

I sure do miss them. 

They were sponges when it came to introducin' somethin' new with tech. 

***I posted this when I didn't have a lot of followers.  

Now I actually have people read my blog.

If you ever wondered what I look and sound like...now is your chance.

I give you permission to laugh because I think I sound so WEIRD!***

Video two: My bestie with her group of kids that she will be startin' her third year

with these babies. It's been fun watchin' them grow and learn as digital citizens. 

Video three: My other podmate and bestie usin' technology and QR Codes. 

It was Pajama Day that day...please excuse some of the outfits.

                                          This is the product from the above video.                                            

                                      

Last year, my Video three bestie also started out the year 

with the students writin' their "All About Me", drawin' a self-portrait, 

and addin' a QR code.  

I think I will also start out my first week with this activity.

Overall, I WILL be makin' more of an effort for my students 

to be makin' QR codes this year. I have a techie GENIUS in my class 

that writes code for a hobby. 

I can pretty much guarantee that he will help me teach everyone else 

how to make QR codes or I can ask my pod besties. 

If I was really smart, I would've made the videos into QR codes! Haha

Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for Positive Thinking Thursday.

Source
This was sent to me courtesy of my bestie, ACH.

My positive thinkin' is...
everyone should have a buddy that they
send Pinterest pins to.
When I say send Pinterest pins...I mean you should flood
their inbox with "So and so has sent you a pin on Pinterest".
You should send so many that all they will see in their email
are these notifications.
My besties and I often do this late at night to one another.
When I wake up in the mornin', I'm instantly smilin'
because they've packed enough humorous pins in my inbox
to at least make me a happy mornin' person for five minutes.
If they are really funny it might be ten.
Just depends on which side of the bed I've woken up on.
Everyone needs a lil' laughter...don't ya think?
If you don't have a bestie to send funny pins to,
you can send them to me!

I'll leave you with another positive thought...

My mama is cookin' THREE pounds of bacon right now for 

us to take on our trip this weekend!!!

I'm flippin' out...my belly is growlin' for this

and I'm pretty sure my eyeballs just popped out of my head!

Don't know how much I love BACON?

Read here!

Happy Thursday, friends! 

Wordless Wednesday...What I'm Wearing Wednesday

Happy middle of the week friends.

Today I'm doin' two link-ups.

The first one is Wordless Wednesday with Miss DeCarbo

from Sugar and Spice.

Okay...time to be honest...

Did you play M.A.S.H. when you were little and a Ferrari

was your dream car that you would end up with?

Admit it!

I'll know if you're lyin'...I will.

No, this is not mine, but I sure do wish it was!!

I'm also linkin' up with Jessica from Ideas by Jivey for

What I'm Wearin' Wednesday.

Nicole Marciano Infinity Scarf from

Tuesday Morning for $9.99

Tiffany & Co. Necklace and Pendant-Atlas Collection

I'm just goin' to put it out there that I thought my friend A 

from The Babbling Box was nuts when she was wearin' scarves in late

spring in Texas.  Now I owe her an apology since I'm in 

California in late June wearin' a scarf.

I'm sorry, A...I hope you forgive me and still love me.

O.P.I. Strawberry Margarita nail polish with pink glitter

sprinkled on top of wet nail polish.  

Black Reef Flip Flops-Ginger

So sparkly...the pic doesn't do it justice.

Super fun!

Spring Cardigan with pockets from Jane.com for $7.99

Black Maxi Dress from Target

Black and White Striped Sanuk Sidewalk Surfers

Dear Jivey, I found a full length mirror in the clubhouse bathroom.

I was so scared someone was goin' to walk in there and 

catch me takin' a picture of myself.

I would've been so embarrassed!

Haha!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Tried it Tuesday...Two for Tuesday

Did you know that out of all the linkys, I have been most loyal to 

Tried it Tuesday?

Do you think it's because I have some major love for Holly at 

Fourth Grade Flipper?

I think so!

Tried it Awesomeness #1: Updated Blog Design

So...what do you think about the new blog design?

I am in LOVE!

Erika at Honey Bunch Blog Design is a SAINT...I'm serious!

She is SO patient and truly takes her time creatin'

EXACTLY what you want.

I truly don't know how she does it, but I couldn't be

more ecstatic with what she has created.

I really wanted to try somethin' new and brighter for my space. 

She completely captured my personality while

still keeping some of my elements from my original

blog design, which I love.

If you are considerin' tryin' an update, head over to 

Erika and tell her Alison sent you!

You will love her!

Tried it Awesomeness #2: Hog's Breath Inn-Carmel, California

This wasn't a new experience for me.

In fact...I've eaten at Hog's Breath a TON!

The atmosphere cannot be beat.  

It's quaint and invitin'.  

You feel like you are in a little hidden world and want to stay

there forever...enjoyin' the surroundin's, the drinks, the food...

the whole shebang!

It is owned by our dear friends, Kaiser and Claudia.

They also own many restaurants that 

you should check out if you are in CA.

Kaiser Grille-Palm Springs

Chop House-Palm Springs

Jackalope Ranch-Indio

Grind Brgr Bar-Palm Springs

Kaiser Grille-Palm Desert

Here's what I had....Dirty Harry

(yes...after Clint Eastwood)

DIRTY HARRY

cut of prime sirloin, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus,

mushrooms, whole grain mustard sauce 

It was sooooooo DEE-LICIOUS!

I'm so glad I tried this!

Y'all...I would've licked the plate if I wasn't 

with all these snazzy people!

My parents seriously have the best friends in the world.

They are so fun to be with!

Aren't they cute?

I also picked up another Hog's Breath Inn long-sleeved t-shirt.

It's a tradition for me.  

Tried it Awesomeness #3: Homemade Hummus

Who is absolutely crackin' up at all this time 

I have been spendin' in the kitchen?

Maybe it's because my mama has every appliance,

spice, ingredient, etc. known to mankind in her pantry?

Maybe it's because she has enough counter space for 

me to spread out?

Maybe it's because it's summer and I'm tryin' to expand 

my horizons?

Who knows, but eventually it will stop...right?

Please say, "Yes!"

I have made hummus before with the help of Jerm...okay...

quit yellin' at your computer...I'll tell the truth...

Jerm actually made it and I watched.

I thought I would be brave and try it on my own because I was cravin' it.

How hard could it be right?

I can open cans and dump in beans and garlic.  

I can sprinkle spices and drizzle olive oil, but 

I cannot...I repeat...CANNOT work a 

food processor without gettin' stuff EVERYWHERE.

There was probably more hummus on me than in the bowl.

You know what though?

I don't care.

It was GOOD!

I'm just gonna go ahead and link up again with Christy from

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road for 

Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My! because well...

this post was dedicated to food again and I know Christy

will be proud I made food because she is awesome like that!

I'm also linkin' up with The Teaching Tribune for Two for Tuesday

where the idea is to put two products on sale for 50% off for Tuesday.

#1: Rockin' Behavior Beads

This is my most wishlisted item and very popular!

They are on sale for $2.

#2: Red, White, and Blue...my teachers says I have to mulitply by more than TWO!

This is my newest item and it's super cute. 

If you missed it yesterday on Monday Made It, you can 

grab this on sale for $1.13.

 

Also, my sweet friend Mandy from The 4th Grade Journey 

has a giveaway goin' on.  

Head over and check it out!

Happy Tuesday, friends!