Thursday travels and a giveaway...

I started typin' this while I was up in the sky.

How cool is technology?!

I had to do somethin' to keep my mind busy 

since I have left my parents after spendin' 

a glorious month with them.

I'm sad.

Guess what is makin' me happy though...

My sweet friend Cassie Lea

(yes, we have the same middle name)

is havin' a 100 follower giveaway

over at her blog, Funky in Fourth!

I LOVE this girl...A LOT.

So...I bet you want to know what's goin' on with this giveaway.

You can check out the flyers below.

She's got some really awesome prizes that I REALLY want, 

so you better get over to her blog and beat me to them. 

I promise if I win I won't rub it in anyone's face...

well, maybe I might have my toes crossed while

making this promise to you.

XO

Be sure to head to Funky in Fourth to enter to win.

Happy Thursday, friends!
I'm home safely.

I'll be sleepin' all day...so I'll catch up to you this weekend...

at some point.

Two for Tuesday....YAY...a BRAND NEW item!

I'm just lovin' The Teaching Tribune's Weekly link-ups.

I especially love Two for Tuesday.

I have gotten so many phenomenal deals the past 6 weeks

from all of you terrific TpT creators.  

Thank you!

For today I have two items in my own TpT store that are 50% off.

#1: Fact Families-Behavior Beads

These are BRAND NEW.

These can be used for Addition/Subtraction or

Multiplication/Division Fact Families.

These will help motivate students to learn their facts

and will give them somethin' to look forward to when

they know they will be gettin' an ice cream

sundae party at the end.

This is on sale for $2.50.

Want to know more about Behavior Beads?

Click here and here.

#2: Math Vocabulary Word Wall Words & Definition Cards

This packet has 80 words and definition cards.

This is on sale for $1.50.

Happy Tuesday, friends

Monday Made It....a lot of grapes had to be tested for this...

I am linkin' up with the wonderful Tara from 4th Grade Frolics 

for her marvelous Monday Made It linky.

I'm also linkin' up with Christy from Teaching Tales Along the 

Yellow Brick Road for her yummy Eating, Drinking and Linking...Oh My!
I also had lots of yummy food this past week that I wrote about here.

I'm pretty sure this will be the last time you 

see me writin' about makin' food this summer.

I am headin' home on Wednesday night from my vacation.

He's probably not gonna like it, but it

will be time for Jerm to take back over the task of 

makin' sure I get fed.

If not...I could always live off this stuff...

This is so easy an Ali can make it.

Taco Dip: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread one package of cream cheese on the bottom of a glass pie dish.

Pour one cup of salsa on top of the cream cheese.

Sprinkle any type of shredded cheese you like on top of the the salsa 

and cover thoroughly.

I like to use the blended shredded cheeses.

Heat for 15-20 minutes and it's ready to serve.

Spinach Dip: Dump in all the ingredients listed on the back of a

Knorr's vegetable dip packet for Spinach Dip.

1 cup mayo, 1 carton of 8 oz. sour cream, 1 package of frozen

spinach that is thawed and drained, and the Knorr packet.

Mix it up and put it in the fridge overnight.

I made this for Nitty's memorial...read here.

It was one of her favorites.

It's really hard to work on crafts when you are 3,000 miles away

from your crafty stuff, but you know what....you just make small stuff 

with whatever you've got handy...no biggie!

I happened to have scrapbook paper left over from last week's MMI here.

These are goin' to look really cute on my whiteboard at school.

I bought the little cardboard butterflies and stars for $1 each at Beverly's Fabric.

I also bought some stick on magnets for the back.

I used the shapes as a guide to cut out the colorful butterflies and stars

on the left over scrapbook paper.

I used craft glue to glue the paper on top and 

peeled off the magnet and stuck it on the back.

This will match my Rockstar sign.

*Disclaimer: 

A lot of grapes had to be tested for the next three crafts.

BUT, I did not test all of them on my own.

These corks were saved over a long period of time

 for me to use for craftiness.

It's all about the recyclin'...okay?

Just like that time when I made Christmas trees out of corks.

Of course I had to pick out my favorite corks because those bottles at 

one point in time had my dad's grapes in them. 

Now our bellies have those grapes in them.

I took the little screw eyes that I got in the jewelry section of the craft store

and put them in the bottom of the corks.

Then I twisted them on my dad's key ring.

This seriously took less than one minute.

My favorite kind of craft.

See it attached to his keys at the top?

They are restin' on that cool plate I made here.

Wine corks continued...

I used the left over screw eyes for this craft also.

I put a screw eye into the top and bottom of two corks on the end.

The ones in the middle got one screw eye on the bottom only.

I used the hot glue gun and glued the corks to one another.

I threaded a ribbon I had into the top and tied it into a knot because

I don't know how to tie bows.

This was super easy too other than the corks took a little bit

to stick to one another with the hot glue.

The hot glue of course had no problem stickin' to my fingers.

Go figure!

If I were goin' to make this again, I would glue the corks onto

a ruler also to help it stay sturdy.

You'll see what I'm talkin' about on the next cork craft.

I would like to make one to hold necklaces, but I would

use hooks at the bottom instead of the screw eyes.

That's right...the corks are continued again..

I threaded some ribbon into hole on the top of a yard stick.  

I hot glued corks onto the yard stick and this time...not on my fingers.

After it dried...I hung the corky yard stick on the wall 

and pinned some pictures up.

Another quick and easy craft.

Oh...I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with.

Happy Monday, friends.

Saturday Snapshots....my vacation continues...

Hello, Saturday.

I've had another busy week this week and have taken lots 

of snapshots so I could link up with my 

bestie Miss Nelson from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera!

for Saturday Snapshots.

Want to see the beginnin' of my vacation?

Read here (Days 1-5), here (Days 6-9) and here (Day 10-15).

Day 16 Cali...we drove over to Pismo Beach.

We stayed in the same exact hotel that I used to stay in when 

I was younger.

Seriously...this is the view from the room.

Sea Crest OceanFront Hotel in Pismo Beach.

Day 17 Cali...these are the stairs that I posted on Instagram.

What goes down...must go up...

or somethin' like that.

UGH...we had take a break...clearly I am out of shape

because I was out of breath goin' back up there.

Check out these cool lil' caves.  

Day 17 Cali continued...we had such a relaxin' day sittin' around

outside...by the pool durin' the day and by the fire pits at night.

They had about four different fire pits around the property.

Of course I had to test them all out to figure out

which was my favorite.

Day 17 Cali continued...Overall, Day 17 was my amazingness 

(Did you like that I used your word, Chelsea?)

Day 17 was also the day that I got to meet Kelly in real-life.

Read here to find out more about our fun time!

Day 18 Cali...we stuck around the hotel all day and then 

headed to F.McLintock's.

I remember fond memories from my childhood

of this restaurant.

One of the things I remember most was the waiter pourin' water

from high up over the table...into your glass.

This brave child let the waiter pour water into his glass...

blindfolded.   

My steak was YUM!

Day 19 Cali...Drove home from Pismo, hit 600 followers on Bloglovin'(WooHOO),

ate a healthy lunch and found some popcorn stickers at Dollar Tree...score!

Day 20 Cali...didn't really leave the house.  

Did find a random bottle of grapes hangin' out in the hallway.

Day 21 Cali...Nitty's memorial day.

Check out the Flipagram at the bottom for a slide show of the memorial.

A great big thank you to George and Pris for hostin' the dinner

at their house. It was a beautiful event and lots of people

that adored Nitty were able to make it.
We handed out dish cloths that she had crocheted.

Everyone loved them.

Day 22 Cali...a day filled with laziness and not leavin' the house.

I did celebrate my One Year Blogiversary and stayed in my 

pajamas until 7 p.m.

Read here to find out about that.

Day 23 Cali...had lunch at Tehama with mom and Pris.

There were deer all over the course yesterday...just hangin' out.

Check out the little baby with her mama.

Happy 4th of July.

Day 23 Cali continued...had dinner with the 'rents and their sweet friends.

We ate at Corkscrew Cafe in Carmel Valley.

We started outside in the cute garden seatin' area, but it was too chilly.

The food was delicious and the company was even better!

Day 23 Cali continued...They served the table with warm

bread, creamy goat cheese (no...I didn't eat that, Jivey), and 

roasted garlic to spread on the bread.

Mom and I split a yummy Pear salad with melted Gorgonzola cheese

and had a Meyer's Lemon pizza with prosciutto, arugula,

mozzarella and Parmesan.

This was place had the coolest atmosphere. 

I couldn't stop snappin' shots.

Day 23 Cali continued...went to Patria in Salinas to make 

reservations for dinner tonight and to check on some grapes.

The most important part of my week was this...turn your volume up.

Happy Saturday, friends!

Exactly one year ago today...I started writin' on this blog

Exactly one year ago today...I started writin' on this blog.

Happy ONE YEAR Blogiversary to me.
Are you singin'?
Should I blow out some candles?
Do I need to make a wish?

One year ago...I had no idea what I was gettin' myself into.

I didn't know that I would make friends with people around the world.

I didn't know that I would grow tremendously as a teacher.

I didn't know that I would learn so much.

I didn't know that my brain would be non-stop thinkin'.

I didn't know people would actually read what I wrote.

I didn't know that I was funny...okay well maybe that's an 

exaggeration...I've always known I was funny.

Yes, I'm braggin'...

I'm goin' to link up with Angela from The Teacher's Desk 6 for
Throwback Thursday, Nick from
Sweet Rhyme-Pure Reason for Back to the Archive and
The Teaching Tribune for Throwback Thursday.

 

Anyways...I'm goin' to throw it back to my very first post...

You can read it here.

Readin' that first post was bittersweet for me...
as I typed that, I was sittin' in my Nitty's livin' room
and now as I type this...I am sittin' in my parents livin'
room after returnin' from her memorial dinner.
It was beautiful...pictures to come on Saturday.
Oh...how much my life has changed in one year.
At the end of the day...I'm truly blessed and I'm thankful.
150 posts later(Yes...it's 150 today too!)
Again....150 posts later,
I know Nitty would be proud of me.
I'm proud of me.

Y'all know how much I love linky parties.
That's my jam.
So...I thought it only appropriate that I do
some reflectin' and think about some
tips and tricks that I wish I I would've known
on my first day of bloggin'.
I'm linkin' up with Teaching Trio
for Technology Thursday since bloggin' is technology.

I'd like to say THANK YOU to
Jessica at Ideas by Jivey for her Techy Tips and
Megan from I Teach. What's Your Superpower? for her
Blog, Baby, Blog series.
These posts have been the best help with Technology
and hopefully, their suggestions will have the same impact on you.
If you don't follow them...you should.

I'm nowhere as tech savvy as these two ladies, but I do have
a couple of tips that might be worth your while.

Even if it takes you a week...reply.
There's a reason you're bloggin'...you've got somethin' to say.
Am I right?
You want to be heard.
You want someone to read what you have written.
If you don't reply...you aren't makin' connections and
basically...you are tellin' the person that took their precious
time to read your blog and comment...
that they aren't important enough for you to take your time
to read what they have written and reply.
That's rude.
Don't be rude.
Be courteous.
Reply.
Most bloggers like to reply via email.
If you reply to someone's comment on your own blog...
not through email, but on your actual blog,
there's a chance people are not goin' to come back to your
blog to see your comment.
That's just the way it goes.
Which leads into the next tip...

This is a tricky one.
Some of you probably have no idea that you are even
considered a no-reply blogger and that's okay, but
now's the time to fix that.
Read here and here.
It will make more sense.

Want to know the fastest way to lose followers?
Only postin' about items you have in your store.
It's true.
If I follow a blog that ONLY writes about their products
on TpT, TN, or Educents....BOOM....I'm clickin'
UNFOLLOW.
Sorry...I'm not sorry.

This is the one that just about sends me over the edge.
I read a lot of blogs and I like to reply to what I'm readin'.
See above.
It takes me twice as long to go through blogs when I'm
sittin' fightin' with my keyboard over whether or not
I've typed the capthca phrase, word verification, no robot thing...
whatever it is...appropriately.
Sometimes it's itty-bitty numbers that I can barely see
and other times it's make-believe words with squiggly letters.
I gave up tryin' to reply on my phone or ipad.
Please for my sanity, fix this.
This will help you here.
I bet by followin' the instructions you will
be helpin' to lower many peoples' blood pressure.
Consider it a Random Act of Kindness.

Everyone that I have ever come into contact with in the bloggy world
is super helpful.  Don't be afraid to ask for help if you don't know somethin'.
Need help?  I'm here for you, buddy.
Here's my email: butterflialisun@gmail.com
I don't know everything and I won't ever pretend to, BUT...
I can guarantee if you ask me a question and I don't know the answer,
I will do everything in my power to find someone who does.
I have some super smart bloggy friends.

I hope that some of these Tips & Tricks are helpful to you.
I'm seriously glad I was able to reflect...one year later.
With that bein' said...
I'm goin' to also link up with my sweet friend
Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for
Positive Thinking Thursday.

Source

Happy Thursday, friends!
Make sure if you eat a piece of cake to celebrate
my blogiversary...that you eat a bite or two for me too!