Today is the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. I have been reading a few news reports about the new 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero (which I think is stunning, btw) and the "where are they now?" type stories from those who survived. An article in People about the children who never met their fathers because they died that day had me in tears. It is just unbelievable to think that 10 years has already passed.

I can remember that Tuesday so vividly. I was a junior in high school sitting in Mrs. Ohlms morality class when another teacher walked in and told us to turn on the tv because the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. It wasn't soon after that we saw the second plane crash and then the towers fall altogether about an hour later. That day passed so slowly.

And now I am in a different position, teaching about this day to students who were one year old at the time. Some know more about the day than others but it was definitely interesting to explain what happened. Soon, I will be teaching children who weren't even born in 2001. But no matter how far we get away from September 11, 2001, it is important to keep teaching about it and remembering those who died.

We will never forget.

Today, in an act that is very much unlike myself, I opened the door to a solicitor and listened to what he had to say. Normally, I don't even answer the door but I was caught off guard and really did it without thinking. It was raining so I invited the man to step inside onto the doormat.

He was wearing a name badge and shirt that read Platinum Protection and it also had the GE logo on it. He preceded to tell me that he is offering a free home security system if I was willing to be part of their marketing group. I would have to display a home security sign in my front yard (similar to ADT or Brinks signs that I see) and I would receive installation of a $1600 security system for not one cent.


This sounded amazing and we sat down to talk further. I made it very clear that I was not interested in making any decisions today, I probably said that exact statement 5 times to which the man replied, "My job is just to take you through the paperwork." As the conversation went on, it turns on that you still have to pay $49.99 plus tax per month for monitoring on the system and you had to make a commitment for 39 months. Not so free at all. Red flags started flying from there on.

The contract he was presenting all had very different terms and he kept scratching things out with "discounted" terms, etc. After about a half hour I literally had to spell out for him that I would not be agreeing to any type of installation or services with this company until I did further research and also talked to the man of the house. I asked if he would come back at a later date and he explained that he had a quota to meet and it is only on the table today. He definitely used some strong arm tactics to try and close the deal, for instance he asked me multiple times to call Chris or text him to talk things over, reminding me that this was  only available today, and saying that I could cancel within three days even after the system had been installed. He even made some "qualifying" phone calls, verifying that I would qualify for this great promotion. When I asked about when installation could possibly take place he made a 30 second phone call after which he told me the technicians could be here to install within 30 minutes. By this time, I knew that this was too fishy.

This guy wasn't very personable either, very dry, and while he was able to make this deal sound very good I wasn't about to commit to anything. After very clearly explaining that again, I will not commit to anything and said that we are done and it was time for him to go this guy started stalling...BIG TIME, putting his papers away one at a time, asking to use the bathroom, putting on his shoes (it was raining, so they were off) as S L O W as possible, and asking for me to refill his water bottle. By the end I thoroughly had the heebie jeebies. I am pretty sure I hit him with the door as he left.

I am glad I followed my gut because a quick Google search returned a plethora of complaints and horror stories about this company, all detailing the same sales tactics that I experienced today, unfortunately many people weren't as skeptical as I was and were left with faulty alarm systems, 5 year contracts, and the inability to get out of those contracts. I'm still a little nervous about the whole situation because the sales rep filled out a contract as we spoke today with my name and address, etc and I really wish I would have asked to shred it so that I know for sure that he couldn't fraudulently sign my name to anything or have my information. I just hate that this guy made me feel silly in my own home.

Lesson learned. Do not entertain the idea of any door to door sales. If I want something I will seek out the services of companies I have thoroughly researched and contacted to come into my home.

And I will go back to dive rolling onto the floor when the door bell rings to avoid further situations completely. :)
 

As I sat down to write a new post, this part from Office Space popped in my head. While I don't think I have a case of the Mondays, I definitely am already ready for this week to be ov-ah!

The house is currently without air and we have been since Friday. A call was put in to the home warranty company but no one can come out until tomorrow. I'm hoping it just needs some freon and we can call it a day. How I wish I majored in heating and cooling or some other house friendly profession. Unfortunately nothing around here needs teaching...

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I am exhausted from the first day of school but I wanted to post some pictures on my classroom. It turned out way cuter than anticipated and I think it is mostly because of the freshly painted walls. It is true what they say, a coat of paint can really transform a space.

The view from my desk.

Yes, a wall covered in carpet. Jealous?

Yeah, yeah, yeah...the projection "screen" isn't centered. It is only temporary. My SMART Board will hopefully be in this school year. I used my Cricut to cut "Capable, Curious, Confident" out of vinyl...part of my district vision.

Martha poms!

We are the Owls this year so I made a tree that students will add leaves to throughout the year when they do something outstanding.

My Cricut is awesome!

My friend blogged about her favorite things this summer so I thought I would do it too. Here they are in no particular order:

My go-to cup, the Tervis Tumbler.  It doesn't sweat and keeps my drink cold (or hot) for hours. Do you know how great it is to leave my cup on my desk and not see one ounce of condensation? Oh the things that make me happy! I even brought it to the pool in 100 degree weather and I still had ice after 3 hours of lounging.
The Thirty-One Organizing Utility Tote. I recently purchased this tote from a fundraiser at school. I love the bright colors and that I got it personalized with my first initial. When I first got it I was disappointed at how small it looked, but once I started filling it I was surprised...this baby holds a ton. I was able to get my laptop, a 2 inch binder, 2 textbooks, my Tervis Tumbler, keys, and purse all inside. I am going to use it as my teacher bag this year, hopefully I can keep it nice and white.



I finally cut the cord between myself and my flash drive thanks to Dropbox.

I discovered Dropbox from our tech. integration specialist at school after complaining about losing my umpteenth flash drive.... I signed up and haven't looked back since. After downloading the program you get 2 GB for free for any personal files. It also automatically syncs to the web for immediate backup....no more lost files. And when you get someone else to sign up they reward you with more space, up to 8GB. There is also the ability to share files and folders with anyone. It has been awesome for use at school, I have my whole team on a shared folder as well as my department.

Get your own Dropbox and help me earn more space too..it's win-win!

So what have you been loving lately?

Two weeks ago I said I was painting the kitchen.

I painted.

Judging by how long it has taken me to post about painting the kitchen should be an indicator as to how it turned out. Not awful but not exactly thrilled either.

I love the color. It turned out exactly how I pictured, almost better than the sample that I painted on the wall the week before. It clearly looks yellow in the pic, but in person it took on the "grellow" tint I was wanting after seeing the Petersik's kitchen over at YHL. I was super excited to unveil my handy work to the boyfriend but unfortunately his reaction was a tad underwhelming. ("Can you ever just be whelmed? I think you can in Europe.")

His exact reaction was, "That's bright." as he passed through. He was less than thrilled which in turn made me doubt the new color choice, because overall I want him to like the space we live in as much as I do. Funny, how when I was choosing the color he kept saying, "I don't care, it doesn't matter." And as soon as I get some paint on the wall, here come the opinions.

Anywho, what is really bugging me is that maroon tile. It just doesn't go with the new yellowy walls. The plan was to paint the tile border white. So after applying two coats of high adhesion primer, I slapped on some white bathroom and kitchen enamel paint.


As you can see, it is way whiter and brighter than the rest of the kitchen tile which in turn makes the other tile look dingy. Also, I don't like that the grout lines disappear. After looking at it for a day I scrubbed it all off with a Magic Eraser. (The box is serious about not using in areas with latex paint, I barely scrubbed the painted area and all 5 layers of paint - 2 primer and 3 coats of enamel came right off).

Take 2.

After cleaning and priming the same spot under the window sill, I tried black enamel paint.


Pros: Grout lines remain in tact. Color contrasts nicely with the other white tile.

Cons: Way more labor intensive. I had to use painter's tape on the bottom and top of the tile AND I had to mind the grout lines. If I go this route it would probably take days to precisely paint each tile. I just don't know if I am up for that.

So as of right now, my kitchen is painted but the tile remains as you see in the picture above...sigh.

There was one really great thing about this paint project...the Premium XL Tight Spots paintbrush. If I could marry an inanimate object this would be it...talk about a game changer. The YHL'ers had mentioned it before and I meant to pick one up when we moved and painted every room in the house but never got around to it. My bloggie friend, Katie, mentioned it again on my Facebook page when she saw I was painting. I am so glad I made trip to Sherwin Williams. I didn't even have to use tape on my ceiling because this thing was so amazeballs. If you plan on painting anything, this brush is a must!

So back to the issue at hand...what should I do? Choose a new paint color that could complement the maroon tile or just leave it be?