Monday Made It..."Eating, Drinking, and Linking...Oh My"

Monday, Monday, Monday!

I'm so very happy because this is the first time 

I've gotten to link up this summer with 

Tara from 4th Grade Frolics

for Monday Made It.

I seriously do NOT like to miss linkin' up with sweet Tara.

I get so excited each month when it's time for MMI...so imagine

how giddy I am for it to be back weekly!

In fact...I stalk check back frequently to see if

she has updated on Sunday nights because I don't

always trust Bloglovin' to let me know in an adequate amount of
time whether or not she has a new post up!

Control issues much?

I'm not even goin' to lie when I say I like to be in the Top 11
(11 is my favorite number) of linker uppers.
It's a game that I'm really good at and 

feel super accomplished if I get in one of those spots.

Again...I may have some issues I need to work through.

My first "made it" is actually something that was made FOR me.  

Does that still count as a "made it"?  I hope so!

My friend Kristen from Chalk & Apples (as well as Teaching Trio) 

made a new custom TpT Store Button & Banner 

to help spruce up my TpT store.

Kristen had me fill out a questionairre of my preferences

and then tailored my button and banner to exactly what I wanted.

Should I be worried that Kristen read my mind?

I'm kiddin'!

Check out my bright button and banner.

I think they scream, "Ali...Ali...Ali!"

You heard it too...right?

You should check out what Kristen is offerin' and let her customize

a new button and banner for you!

I'm pretty sure I'm goin' to shock all of my 

regular readers when I say...

"I made...

....

.....

...

food.

I MADE FOOD!"

I know...suprised the heck out of me too.

I HAD to because I also wanted to link 

up with my sweet buddy Christy from 

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

for 

"Eating, Drinking and Linking! Oh my!"

I took pictures because I knew you guys

wouldn't believe me otherwise.

If you're new here...I don't cook...or bake...

or do anything that involves the kitchen...

besides eatin'...of course.

I'm super good at eatin'...a lot.

If any of you spill the beans to Jerm that I was

actually in the kitchen, I will be SO mad.

I can't ruin my damsel in distress...in the kitchen...cover.

*Jerm, I don't know if you read my blog or not...

if you do...this message will self-destruct and you 

won't be able to prove it other than the fact

that this will be on the interwebs forever.

Either way...your argument is invalid.

*Tuna salad with Endive leaves.

*Peppers with Ranch dressin'.

*Tomatoes out of my mama's garden.

This didn't require any electric or gas appliances.

There was no threat of me burnin' anything...especially myself.

Aren't you proud?

I made a plate.

Actually...I bought a glass plate and a

"fat quarter" (yes, that's what it is called) 

piece of fabric.

I slapped some Mod Podge on the bottom of the plate,

set the fabric on it, and painted some more Mod Podge on the bottom of the fabric.

Let it dry and voila...a bright new display plate/charger thing-y.

This seriously was so easy that I can't wait to make more.

Yesterday we went to lunch at a friend's and I made this 

round one for her.

This round glass plate was found at Walmart for $1.

The square one above was from Beverly's Fabric for $3.50, but it

was originally from Pier 1.

Fabric was $2.99 a fat quarter...also at Beverly's Fabric.

I looked for glass plates at Dollar Tree around here, but 

did not find any.

I feel like I need to say it again...this was EASY!

If I can do it...you can too!

I made my very own Giveaway button thingamajig.

Again...suprisin' myself left and right.

This has been floatin' around the bloggy world

the past few days, so you may have already seen it.

I think it's cute though and I'm proud of myself

for goin' out of my comfort zone and 

tryin' to make something new.

If you haven't entered...you should probably splish-splash your

way into the Rafflecopter before it closes.

Who knows...it could be YOU winnin' the 

$50 Amazon Gift Card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Monday, friends!

New buttons...yippee!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Erika from 

Honey Bunch Blog Design for addin'

my Pinterest and Instagram buttons.

This makes me happy!

It reminded me to take a moment and be thankful 

for all of the lil' pieces my blog design has 

that represent me.

The butterly...my favorite symbol.

The rose...for my last name.

The music notes and stars for my rockstars and theme.

The colors...that match my classroom. 

The hearts...because I've got a lot of love to give

and to receive around here.
Thank you also to my friends and readers.
I've grown so much from our friendships...
and laughed...a lot.
You ROCK!

Here we go...

Yay, I'm up and runnin', o-fficially!  Thank you, thank you, thank you goes out to Misty and Erika at Honey Bunch Blog Design.  You have made me one happy blogger girl!
I have so many things swimmin' around in my head that I want to write about, and only a few more hours until Starbucks closes (my personal hotspot on my phone is hit or miss while I'm here in Georgia). When I walked into Starbucks tonight, I didn't know how to feel when they asked, "Do you want your regular two shots?" 1)Should I feel special they remember me? or  2) Do I have a serious Starbucks problem?  I should probably go with the latter.  I'm makin' a promise right now that when I get back home to Florida, I will never yell at my router again for takin' more than 2 seconds to load somethin'.
I've been busy gettin' my Teachers Pay Teachers store goin', launchin' a Facebook page, and signin' up for Bloglovin'; I'd LOVE for you to follow all three, pretty please.  Also, be sure to join this site on the right hand side where it says "Join this Site: Google Friend Connect".  The more the merrier!  I truly appreciate the feedback.
Even more excitin' news, today I got approved for a project on DonorsChoose.org that I wrote in hopes of earnin' an iPad mini for the students in my class.  One sweet family and an anonymous donor have already helped me raise $200 for the project.  Woohoo!  The really neat part is, DonorsChoose will MATCH every donation dollar for dollar for the first 7 days.  Anybody that chooses to donate MUST put in the code: INSPIRE for it to match the donation.  At this time, I only have $363 to go.  I hope a "donor fairy" comes along and helps us out! If you haven't taken the plunge and attempted to write your own project, you are missin' out for sure.  It is super easy and you only have to wait a few days for DonorsChoose to approve your project before it goes "live".   I had it on my "to-do-list" for ages and now I'm sorry that I didn't do it sooner.
Now only if I could write a project for more time in a day...that, my friends, would be terrific!

 

I can hardly contain my excitement...

I have been stressin' just a little about a blog design, but things are lookin' up!  There are so many wonderful designs and creations out there and my eyeballs were circlin' inside my head browsin' all the choices, but I will not look any further because I have found the "perfect" design just for ME.  I contacted  The Honey Bunch Blog Design and within minutes...maybe even seconds, Misty emailed me and is already workin' on the design to fit my personality and blog.  I am so very excited and I just had to share.  
In other news, I have set up a Facebook page: Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'.   I hope you come by and "like" my page.  It's rainin', rainin', rainin' today...so I'm sure you can guess where I've been hidin'.