Whew! I'm back from camp in one piece and I'm exhausted. I'm seriously fighting the urge to nap right now so I can sleep tonight so I thought I better countdown the top 5 things about my week and link up with Lauren over at From My Grey Desk.

Here goes!


1. As much as whine about camp, it really is gorgeous.
2. Even though I was probably whining about how cold it was while taking this pic at camp, I'm glad I was able to wear my new crocheted head band my grandma made me.
3. A space heater may be the best invention. EVER.
4. A pedicure is just what a gal needs after spending a week in the woods wearing every piece of cold weather gear imaginable.
5. The Christmas tree is up and looks FANTASTIC! I just love staring at it.

How was your week? Anything super special? I hope you were far warmer than I was!

I'm currently sitting in a cabin in the middle of the woods in Potosi, Missouri right now with 110 sixth graders and have been since Monday.

And I'll be here til Friday.

So I haven't been able to keep up with my daily posts but while here I've thought about all the things I'm thankful for:

1. 6th grade camp is only once a year.
2. Under Armor because it is freaking cold.
3. Space heaters because it is freaking cold.
4. Thermal socks because it is freaking cold.
5. Wi-Fi.

Noticing a trend there? There is nothing like home however it is particularly beautiful this week despite the frigid temperatures.

I don't know why I call him "daddy weasel", he certainly doesn't have any qualities of a weasel, but that has always been the nickname that stuck over the years. I'm thankful that I have had such a strong man in my life growing up. My dad showed me what it is to work hard to get things that I want. He taught me how to drive and to fish (my dad wanted a boy so badly but instead had three girls, so all 3 of us have some tomboy-ish qualities).  Plus, my dad has a great sense of humor that has rubbed off on me over the years.

I spent Friday preparing the house for holiday decorations. Putting up the Christmas tree in our rather small house requires furniture to be moved and I always like to dust real well before putting everything out. It was such a happy day, just bouncing around the house with the Christmas music playing.

While I'm not Buddy the Elf, I am thankful that the holiday season is one of excitement and cheerfulness. And I'm glad that I get spend extra time with my family.

It's Friday and I'm ready to countdown all the things that rocked about this week.

1. Two day work week. NICE!

2. Enjoying a foggy, Wednesday morning to kick off my vacation. It was REAL hard to get off the couch all morning.


3. I've successfully posted almost every single day this month...that's a first!

4. Putting up the Christmas tree today, super pumped to kick of the holiday decorating season.

5. I decided to have my first ever giveaway!


There's a really good chance you could be the winner of these adorable, handmade with love boot toppers.

What was great about your week? Did you eat too much on turkey day? Do any Black Friday shopping? I am totally planning on snagging some Cyber Monday deals.

If you're in the mood, go check out the High Five for Friday link party at From My Grey Desk.

I'm a little nervous but I've been wanting to host a giveaway for quite sometime now.

I mean what is more fun than giving away fun stuff?

Winning fun stuff. That's what.

So that is why you should enter my first evah giveaway and make it a wild success!

Just what am I giving away today? A pair of oh-so-cute boot toppers in black or dark grey (not pictured), winner's choice.

The pictures really don't do them any justice since I waited until 11pm to try and to take photos, which by the way photographing your legs on your own is really kind of hard.


If you would like to enter, just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck! 

I'm ready for a day of eating and spending time with my family. I'm thankful that we get time off work to spend with those we love. Enjoy your day and happy thanksgiving!

I spent the whole day by myself, all alone at my house. This isn't a normal occurrence but the boyfriend had to work from 6am - 4pm, then went straight to the gym, so he didn't get home til about 6ish.

Leaving me all by my lonesome for the entire day.

I am thankful that I am the type of person who is absolutely fine spending time on my own. I can definitely entertain myself. For example, I practiced curling my hair using a tutorial from The Small Things Blog and practiced highlighting and contouring my face using a tutorial from Maskcara.
Side note: Do any of you highlight and contour? Any tips you can give me? I can't quite tell if I'm making a difference in the way I look. I kind of think my nose looks slightly narrower but I might be imagining it. Now if only there were a makeup fix for my lazy left eye...

Spent a little time browsing FB and entering every damn Silhouette Cameo/Portrait giveaway on the blogs I follow...I want to win one soooo bad!

I also made my Christmas budget and created a "manfriend" board on Pinterest for gift ideas for Chris.

I'm really trying to stick to my budget this year. Absolutely no gifts on credit which I've previously done because I've bought some big ticket items and utilized the 0% financing deals to pay them off same as cash. I am just not interested in making another payment on something...so cash it is!

I got out of the house for a little while to run to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up a gift off my cousin's registry...I figured it would be too crazy to do it Friday or Saturday. Then I got home in time to make a delicious Swiss Chicken dinner.

Even though I am ok with spending the day on my own I am more thankful that I share my life and home with Chris. Eventually I think I would go stir crazy if I was by myself all the time!

What about you? Do you like being alone or do you prefer to be around people? What's your favorite thing to do when you're all by yourself? I sometimes will YouTube Zumba videos and have a mini dance party in the living room...living on the edge I tell ya!

Guess who's weekend started today?

This girl's...HOLLAAAA!

Three days off is just what the doctor ordered. I'm so excited to eat myself into a food coma, put up Christmas decorations, get crafty, workout, and celebrate my cousin's wedding. All before packing up and heading to camp on Monday. I'm pretty sure that spending five days in the great outdoors with 100 6th graders is not part of the doctor's orders but at least I get a couple days of work to mentally prepare.

What is on your holiday vacation agenda?

My sisters, Emily and Lindsey are two of the funniest people in the world. I'm so thankful my family has a good sense of humor. We often can laugh for hours just saying silly quotes from movies. Oft quoted movies when we're around each other: Mrs. Doubtfire, ("Hot jambalaya!" and "It was a run by fruiting!") Emperor's New Groove ("Llama face!"), just about anything with Rob Schneider in it, Road Trip, and countless others.(Yes, we have fantastic taste in movies).




When we were younger we were like any normal set of siblings, squabbling over clothes, arguing who got to use the computer next (ohmygod, the days of only having one computer...now we practically carry one everywhere we go with our phones) we really weren't super close.

We all had our own things - me, the family dork who loves school and following the rules. Emily is the exact opposite of me, drop dead gorgeous, athletic, and stubborn as all get out. Lindsey is a mixture of the two of us. I always say she got all the good qualities in the family, smart, athletic, pretty, and funny.

 And I still don't think we are the type of sisters who are BFF but we definitely love one another and are growing closer everyday. It took growing up and moving out of the same house for us to begin appreciating the unique qualities of each other.

Through all the laughs and the tears, I'm so thankful that I've grown up with these two knuckleheads.

Oh my stars! I've been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award! Thanks to Karli at hello darlin'
for thinking of me and little slice of the blogosphere.

The Liebster Award is awarded by bloggers, for bloggers. It spotlights new or up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. It's a great way to find new and noteworthy blogs.

The Rules:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
5. No tag backs.

11 random facts about me:

1. I won a "Most Adorable Baby" contest in 1986.
2. I never boil my hotdogs, I only cook them in the microwave.
3. I secretly wish I could play any musical instrument, especially the steel guitar.
4. My friends call me Ravine after a silly night out in college.
5. I hate lettuce.
6. I have a birthmark shaped like Australia.
7. I like to think I have a very vivid long term memory, I can recall exact moments from very early on in childhood - like down to what I was wearing and exact things that were said. However my short term memory is the exact opposite.
8. My left arm is noticeably shorter than my right because I have rheumatoid arthritis.
9. Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda.
10. I've never broken a bone.

Questions from Karli:


Questions for Nominees:

1. Favorite Thanksgiving food?
2. Best gift you ever received?
3. Favorite scent?
4. If you had to change jobs tomorrow, what would you decide to do?
5. What's your porn star name? (Middle name + street you grew up on)
6. If you had to give up your cell phone or the internet, which one would you choose?
7. Go to the mall or online shop?
8. Favorite song to sing karoke?
9. Why do you like blogging?
10. Are you scared of anything?
11. One blog you visit everyday?

My nominees: Most of you I stalk every Friday on High Five for Friday link party or have found through other teaching blogs.

Brittney - Brittney's Orr-dinary Life

Amy - Motherhood Imperfected

Ashlie - Nonsense

Megan - Oh Happy Day

Elaina Ann - The Classy Teacher  

Kati - Incorporating Color

Erin - Life as a Losey 

Sally - Splash of Wine

Andrea - Spray Paint and a Staple Gun

Sarah Grace - Gracefully Made 

 



 



     

Even as I typed the title of this post I was like, "Really Sara? You're thankful for the gym? Seriously?"

But really I am thankful that I have the will to want to go to the gym even when I feel my worst. I ultimately know that I will feel better once I get out the door.



More and more I realize how working out has to be a part of my life these days and probably will need to be for the rest of my life. While my ultimately goal is not to see any particular number on the scale, it is just to simply feel good and have my clothes fit.

This year more than I ever, I am so thankful for Fridays. I can't believe how much I look forward to them. The love affair probably started right around the time I found Lauren at From My Grey Desk's weekly link party appropriately called High Five for Friday. It's hard not to associate Friday with great things.

High Five for this Friday because:

1. Two more school days until Thanksgiving Break.
2. Staying up late with the boyfriend watching a tribute to Eddie Murphy. We could quote "Coming to America" for days!

"A-ha"

 3. Made my Christmas list  on Pinterest.


4. I spent more time crocheting with my Grandma this week and let's just say my boot toppers got WAY cuter with the help of a seasoned crochet veteran.

#chickenlegs

5. Recalling one of my favorite Christmas memories. I'm still laughing.

Go check out High Five for Friday and have a great weekend!

I saw this Clorox contest over at Tatertots & Jello and instantly started cracking up as I remembered one of the messiest Christmases my family has ever had.


Every Christmas Eve my mom and dad make this awesome buffet of appetizers and invite my grandma, aunt, and cousins over. About 5 years ago my mom bought a chocolate fountain to add to the spread, along with all sorts of great things to dip in it - marshmallows, strawberries, the works.

After preparing the entire buffet which covered our entire kitchen peninsula, dressed in our Christmas finest, it was time to get out the chocolate fountain.

I don't know how many chocolate fountains you've been around but the way they work is you pour melted chocolate into the base of the fountain, it gets sucked in through an opening that brings it up the inside of the fountain and out to the top where it cascades majestically down in all of its chocolate-y glory.

The key to a successful chocolate fountain is to make sure all the chocolate poured into the fountain is completely melted.

My dad failed to read this part of the directions.

He poured in partially melted chocolate chips. Immediately the fountain went to work sucking the chocolate in through the opening and out through the top. It didn't exactly pour over very smoothly, it was kind of gloppy but with a little bit more chocolate it would work perfectly.

Picture my dad shoving chocolate into the opening when all of a sudden a partially melted chocolate chip got sucked into the opening.

At that very moment, everything went into slow motion. The chocolate chip got wedged inside the motor that carried the chocolate up through the fountain. The top part of the fountain started rocking back and forth (a key detail I have forgotten to mention is that the fountain is in 2 parts, the base and the actual 3 tier fountain just set onto the middle of the base).

Within about 3 seconds the top section of the fountain lifted off of the base, spinning into the air, splattering chocolate over everything in a 10 foot radius.

Did I mention my parents have an open concept living space? The kitchen peninsula divides the kitchen from the living room. So when the chocolate splattered it went all over the buffet of appetizers, my whole family who was standing around spectating the new chocolate fountain, our Christmas tree, the walls, the carpet, everything.

Our first instinct was to scream because what else do you do when chocolate is flying everywhere? After my dad threw himself on top of the fountain and yanked the plug from the wall we all just kind of stood there...staring at one another.

I looked over my mom, who in a panic fled to the adjacent dining room to take cover from the flying chocolate, and started to chuckle.

I mean this was funny.

For a brief moment, my mom wanted to laugh with me. She tried to smile but she had just spent 6 hours preparing a feast for 15 people and it was now covered in chocolate. The tears started to fall.

It couldn't get much worse.

Bing bong!

The doorbell rang no sooner than the chocolate had landed. My aunt and cousins were at the door ready to celebrate. Imagine trying to tell your guests that they couldn't come in because we were trying to contain a chocolate explosion.

Thankfully they joined in and helped us clean up. After we calmed down and saw how absolutely hilarious this all was, it didn't take long for us to get on with the merrymaking.


To this day we still find small, stray pieces of hardened chocolate on our artificial Christmas tree.

It's stories like these that make me love my family and I'm so thankful for that darn chocolate fountain.

I just don't know where I would be without my mother.

Today was one of those days where an hour long conversation just wasn't long enough. She is always there to comfort me when I'm worked up about something or laugh about silly things. I sometimes miss living at home so much but living on my own has made us closer.

I'm so thankful to have the greatest mom ever. She has taught me so much and continues to teach me every single day. Even though I sometimes resist the fact that I am so much like her, I secretly love that.

Ah, I'm a day late but luckily I can be doubly thankful today :)

Last night I froze my buns off because my furnace was blowing out cold air. No bueno.

And it also just happened to be one of the coldest night in St. Louis so far this season. My favorite.

So with a quick click of the mouse I reported a claim to my home warranty company and they were at my door at 7:30am this morning. I am so thankful that I have a home warranty because neither Chris or I are very handy when it comes to things not working. Even when it is something as simple as your damn fan being on. Somehow our fan got turned on and was blowing out the cold air and we just assumed something was broken after pressing every button on the thermostat. So while I am thankful I have my home warranty, I am not thankful for paying $100 for someone else to come press a button to "fix" it.

Ah, we live and learn.

I'm lucky to work with people I really like. Everyday is a hoot! (Haha, our team name is the owls, get it? Hoot?) Whether it's sharing pictures of their kids or laughing over something silly one of our students said, I'm glad to go to work everyday, even though I've been counting down to thanksgiving break since oh, about September. I'm thankful that I get to do a job that I love with people who feel the same. They push me to be a better teacher even when I'm unsure of myself. And not just my team but so many people I work with at my school are amazing. I'm proud to tell people where I work.

Some days I literally just want to do absolutely nothing but convert oxygen into carbon dioxide. I don't want to plan anything, go anywhere, I really don't even want to move. I am thankful that I am able to have those days every once in awhile. That I can unplug, veg out in front of the tv or with the iPad and de-stress.

Today was one of those days. Chris and I ate McDonalds and watched all 10, hour long parts of the miniseries, "The Pacific". Nothing says "do nothing" like fast food and 10 hours of war drama.

I loved every second.

I started blogging about three years ago because a few friends were doing it. I always felt kind of silly because for the longest time I was writing to absolutely no one. But over the years I've started to share more and gained a few more readers. This year I've wrote more than ever, mostly sharing what Chris and I are up to or whatever crafty thing I've tried to create. I'm so thankful that I have this space to chronicle and share my life. I really do push myself to post take at least once a week so I can be able to look back every once in awhile. Also, I'm real thankful to those of you who read and comment back. I get so excited when someone takes the time out of their day to share with me. Is it weird when I talk about others' blogs I read I always refer to them as friends? It's hard not to think that way even though I've not met any one of them.

1. Target has some seriously cute Christmas decorations out. I'm finding it hard to resist, but I did and left only with this pic of Christmas cheer.

2. I voted and I'm happy about it.

3. The Thanksgiving flag is flying proudly - who's ready for Thanksgiving break? Only 11 more days....squeeee!

4. I finally made a house management binder. As much as I love things being online/accessible from anywhere I was always writing things out regarding bills, our calendar, grocery list, and other house stuff so I finally put it all together in one pretty place. I feel like a huge nerd when I roll into the grocery store with it but I love the organization it provides.

5. I broke out my mad crochet skills and whipped up some boot toppers. I'm literally having to restrain myself from making them in every color imaginable.

How was your week? Are you already in the Christmas spirit or are you more bah, humbug? I'm ready for the marathons of Elf and A Christmas Vacation to start up! Have a good weekend!

This week I offered extra credit to my students to watched the election results but instead of breaking out the paper map to keep track of the electoral votes I turned to social media. Over 30 of my students live tweeted or instagrammed results. All. Night. Long. Even after I signed off and went to bed. The next day at school, the students were so excited to continue the conversations we were having online. It is times like this where I love how technology has impacted education. Although my activity wasn't without some hiccups, there was some very inappropriate language used not by my students but their friends which made me nervous but I just kept reporting everything to Instagram so it would disappear.

I'm so thankful that I can use not just social media but so many awesome technology tools in my classroom to help my students learn and explore the world.

Oh Christopher. I don't know what I would do without him. I'm so thankful I have him in my life, to laugh with, to cry with, (ok I'm the one that cries at everything) and to just be silly with. From our endless inside jokes to our sometimes ridiculous arguments, I love that he loves me for me.

I love voting. It makes me excited to help decide who will lead our country and to take part in a system that was developed over 200 years ago. I'm thankful that all women have the right to vote today.

This election is going to be a nail biter. Here's hoping to another four years #Obama.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how crazy it is that I have my own home. I'm so thankful that I have a place to share with Chris, to start our own traditions, and to make all ours. Sometimes this house can be quite a challenge but it is one I'm glad to "deal" with anytime.

I'm not the richest lady but I'm thankful that I am able to buy what I need and sometimes the things I want. While I often feel like I'm pinching pennies and worrying over how much I don't make on my teacher salary - I have more than enough.

I've grown up only having one grandparent on both my mom and dad's side of the family. My mom's mom, Grandma Bonnie to me, has always been a special lady in my life. I lived with her for six years and in that time she taught me so much and I know her lessons have helped shape me in to the woman I am today.

A little bit about Grandma. Grandma is the crafty one in our family - she used to make our clothes, hair bows, and dolls when were little. As time went on she learned to quilt and create other home furnishings - I currently have two quilts and my living room curtains were sewn by Grandma. Almost all of my Christmas ornaments were hand crafted by her as well as two of my "teacher" bags (which seriously look like Vera Bradley, they're that good). She is also one of the best cooks around and an amazing gardener. I'm pretty sure she is good at everything.



I love my grandma and I'm so thankful she is in my life.

As much as I hate taking medicine, I pretty much depend on it these days. Between the arthritis, psoriasis, and this week's bout of sinusitis - I sure am thankful there is something out there that can make me feel just a tiny bit better even on my worst days (when I'm probably cursing because it isn't working miracles).