Busy bee

Things have been busy lately. Three more weeks in the school year (thank God), more drywall going up, preparing myself for my new job, finding a house/dogsitter for our trip to the beach, etc, etc.

Anyway. I found this amazing shop on Etsy called Elephannie that sells very inexpensive decorative vinyl wall decals (including the cute one up top). I guess this is the big trend right now. I particularly love those at this shop because you can pick the color, the designs are lovely and they are inexpensive. I am thinking I might get that birdy to put up in my kitchen. And maybe something for the downstairs bathroom...

Bummer

Got an email today saying that since I'm overseas, they would need to add a £25 courier fee to my order for the window film (see below) and that I could either email my card info or call. I am kind of irritated since it says on the website that overseas shipping will be calculated during checkout and I am not comfortable emailing my card info and don't know if I can call internationally on my cell phone so I am just cancelling the order all together. Bummer. I guess I'll just have to keep looking...

Baby steps

I just ordered adhesive window film in the pattern shown above from Brume, a British company I found via Decor8. I am really excited, in part because this is the first online purchase I have made from an overseas company. Also, I am excited because it is a nice little treat with the extra tax money I just received before the rest of my money this month goes to more drywall (also exciting, not so glamorous). This decal will be going on the lower half of the kitchen window to provide some privacy since it faces my neighbor's kitchen window about 8 feet away. There is currently a ratty curtain there, so this will be significantly better - much more clean and sleek.

This kid says the darndest things...

Today one of the first grade teachers (the one who took over my class when I was switched to math and science) was out so there was coverage in her room all day (other teachers rotating through for 45 minute periods). There's a boy in the class who is very bright but has a lot of trouble controlling his behavior particularly when his routine is disturbed so I took him out of class to spend the last 2.5 hours of the school day with me to prevent any further problems (typical behaviors include running around the room in circles, spinning around with his arms out, crouching on his chair and rocking back and forth, hitting other kids, talking nonstop, tantrums, and so on). He is quite the talker so I thought I'd record some choice ramblings for your entertainment. Please keep in mind that most of these statements were unsolicited and not a part of any previous conversation - more like random outbursts of hilarity. Enjoy:

"The reason [my cousin is] older than me is because first my brother was born, then my cousin, then me."

"And another way I like to get some puzzles together is I find all the parts that are gray... I mean, silver... whatever color this is."

"Did you know how I color so well on coloring book pages? First I trace the lines then I color! But my brother did it first."

"Oh yeah, and my cousin has got really big cheeks."

"My cat only caught one mouse. My mom asked if it was one of my toys and I looked at it and jumped right back on the bed."

"My brother's name is J-. He's got a big head."

Before & After: Upstairs Hall Closet

I have been home sick the last two days but have been incredibly bored leading to some projects around the house. Essentially, my routine has been Eat, Sleep, Project, Sleep a lot, Eat, Sleep. All that rest seems to be helping because I am indeed feeling better and will be back at work with the children tomorrow. Anyway, my project today was the upstairs hall closet, which has been something of a black hole:

(Please excuse the wonky angle but it is, after all, in the hallway, and thus hard to photograph nicely.)
As you can kind of see, I had tried to use those hanging shelf things to organize it, but they were just not cutting it. Additionally, random crap had piled up everywhere, including garbage bags of stuff that were thrown in the bottom.

After a quick trip in my newly inspected and emission-tested car to the nearby Linens-n-Things and a lot less work than I was anticipating, it now looks like this:

A marked improvement, if I do say so myself. Next up, the back patio.

How cool is this little guy?

I'm on a bathroom kick at the moment - not sure why, since they aren't the top priority on the renovation schedule...

More books?

Yes, I ordered more books. However, they are both practical books to have around (more than one reading) AND I got them with my virtual credit at Powell's from all those books I sent in to them! Yay!

Beautiful...

(from Domino)

I just found out that I will be graduating from my MSEd program "with distinction!" I am pretty excited!

(This picture turned up when I did a Google Images search for "UPenn Graduation." Hm.)

Corner store magic

I just went to the corner store across the street from my school for a snack and came bag with two bags of these for two of my teacher friends:

Why yes, those are "Homegirls" potato chips. Why yes, they do say "It's all that" on the front. There are so many more hilarious things about these chips that I could point out (the sweet outfits), but I will limit myself to the writing on the back with all sorts of useful advice for homegirls, including (but not limited to) "NO RING... NO THING!"

PS: One of the lunchroom ladies informed me that they also make other versions, including a male one, but that I probably hadn't seen them before because "they only sell them in the hood."