30 Things You May Not Know About Me

I'm 30 today! And looking forward to a very relaxed day for a change! Anywho, as is tradition, here are 30 Things You May Not Know About Me:

1. Unless it's chocolate or smothered in ice cream, I don't like pie!

2. I got my first cell phone when I was almost 24 and my first laptop about a year later!

3. I got a 32 on my ACT. I'm not stupid! But sometimes people act like I am and it bugs me! Condescending people are the worst!

4. I cry when I am angry or embarrassed or PMSing, but not very often when I'm sad. When I'm sad I just get really quiet and aloof.

5. I used to be SO INTIMIDATED by children with special needs. I am SO GLAD I have this job now and have learned that I do have what it takes; it's an empowering feeling when you connect with a kid and know what they need even when they can't express it themselves! I could write a whole series of posts on how this job and these kids have changed my life...maybe another day...but for now, moving on!

6. I hate running...but I also really wanna do a 5K. And run the whole thing.

7. I've done some pretty cool stuff in my life...like help build car interiors, record an original song in a recording studio, and most recently seen Brian Regan live. I forget sometimes, in my righteous and not-so-righteous desires to do and see and be more, that I have led a life many people would envy.

8. I am CONSTANTLY switching out words for each other. Or even words that don't go together at all. Like just today: "Let's go wash your hair" (I meant hands; "At least they speak a different country!" (I meant language.) and, from earlier this week, "Those tweeting sounds are for the deaf." (I meant blind.) My brain gets ahead of my mouth and sometimes words get switched. But if you know what I mean, don't make a big deal about it, please. Or I will start correcting you and bringing up your weaknesses all the time!

9. Sometimes I just get in a mood where I want to punch someone in the face. Not any particular someone, just the act of punching a face (which I have NEVER DONE, by the way! :)

10. There was a point in my life where I was known as "the Construction Paper Queen," because I could freehand just about anything with some scissors, construction paper, and a glue stick, no matter how many layers there were.

11. I seriously have the worst memory, if not of the whole world then at least out of my family. It's to the point that when any sibling starts off a "Remember when...?" story either I or they will say "No, probably not," before try can continue!

12. I hated reading until my senior year of high school. Now I can't get enough of it!

13. Crafty trends I finally gave into: hardware and chevrons. Trends I may NEVER get into: owls, mustaches, chunky jewelry. Birds are on the fence.

14. I hate being late, and both our families are ALWAYS running behind. :) 

15. I'm boycotting baby showers 'til further notice (basically til a REALLY good friend gets pregnant, I can't keep up with ward stuff anymore!).

16. I want to be 150 pounds by my next birthday. It's possible, right?

17. I love jicama with lime juice and chili...my new fave snack!

18. I have a weird hair, yes, just one, growing out of my arm that is darker and thicker and longer than the others. Same thing on my neck. 

19. The best gift I got was from Paul--30 weeks of random acts of kindness (for others, once a week). So excited!

20. I don't get the allure of bubble baths. Or walks, just to walk. 

21. A few of my favorite things: giraffes and penguins, chocolate chip cookies, peacock feathers, Thai food, newly sharpened pencils, guitar music, the smell of books...

22. I am 21% complete on my weight loss goals for the year! I'm 0% far along on my writing goals, though.

23. When someone starts talking about car stuff, phone stuff, or computer stuff, I hear the voice from Peanuts adults (wa wawa wa wa...). True story.

24. I don't like green smoothies. Or most other smoothies, for that matter. I try to enjoy it because it can be healthy, but...

25. The word "crusty" gives me the willies.

26. I keep two small notebooks in my purse to record writing and personal inspiration, and somehow they both have Eiffel Towers on them. Guess I can't escape my youth that easily!

27. I've only had two pedicures, but they have both hurt! I must either have weird feet or just get bad people to do it.

28. I am tired all the time. And I don't even have kids yet! And tired Celeste = weepy Celeste. I have to sleep before making big decisions or working out conflicts or it just doesn't happen.

29. I love the style of the 20s, the music  of the 50s, and the technology of digiscrapping today. 

30. I pick my nails all through church. I think that's why they are so brittle!

Well, not that exciting. But that's me, all the same! Maybe next year I'll switch gears a little and make it more a "top 30 events of being 30..." :)

Weight Watchers, Week 5

Well, I lost 3 pounds, but I don't know how! I finished off my cake, ate out twice...still, I guess Spring Cleaning did me good. No new recipes to report, but stay tuned! Next week I'll have a few for you. :) Over and out!

Date Night--Props!

Do you remember Whose Line? Do you remember the bit "Props" where they each were given some random prop and they had to come up with as many ideas for use as they could? Well, that's pretty much what we did last night. On a whim. With this:

Yup, a travel pillow. And we had a grand old time, and it didn't take up much time at all. (Some of our answers included a toilet seat, giant phone, nose ring, every facial/body hair you can imagine, an elephant trunk, a giant's bangle, football shoulder pads, Geordi's viser, bunny ears, the front half of a puppy, etc...)

This is a quick, fun game to play with kids, too--and it encourages creativity! Grab a weirdly-shaped-something in your own house and play, with your spouse or whole family. And enjoy the giggles, because there will be plenty! :)

 

My Spring Break

It was the perfect blend of productivity and laziness. I would, say, fold laundry for an hour, then read a few of my new children's books. Then I'd get dishes done and trash taken out, then I'd read some more. I stayed up much later than I ever thought I could, then still managed to get up early enough to cross a few more things off my spring cleaning list (and get a few more books read) before 6:00 hit and I lost all motivation. Evenings were spent watching TV and movies with my hubby, snuggling with my puppies, eating leftovers (and cake, and candy...yeah, it is hard to be on a strict diet when you're home all day long, especially if it is also birthday week!), and playing games. Not as fancy as a vacation, but I'd say it was still a pretty great break. I am definitely longing for summer now!

Here are some of the things I accomplished:

*Working on a LOT of school stuff for next year, including book labeling, classroom management stuff, job applications, etc.

*Cleaning out and sweeping, mopping, and reorganizing the pantry, laundry area & closet, and coat closet.

*Getting on top of laundry again!

*Cleaning out the fridge/freezer

*Reading well over a dozen chapter books of varying levels...

*Rearranging my bookshelves and DVD shelf, as well as our three junk drawers.

*Getting new phones!

 

*The usual stuff--bathrooms, dishes, trash, bedrooms, floors, etc...

*Seeing Brian Regan!!! With some family and friends!

Things I still didn't quite get to:

*Working on my NoVeL!!! :(

*Cleaning out the shed...it was supposed to be warmer than it was!

*Cleaning out storage closets in guest room...I'll admit, I just chose reading over it. Maybe next week. :)

*Crocheting and sewing (or setting up the sewing machine, for that matter.)

*Practicing my flute, for music stuff coming up soon!

*Tracking. That's what it's called when you keep track if your food and points on Weight Watchers. I didn't do this much this week, mostly because of late night can't sleep cake binges. It'll be better now that I don't have that stuff in the house!

Here's to another work week...only 2 1/2 months left 'til summer break!

Happy St. Pat's!

My mantle, which is really a few pictures, a cup, some hats and leis and sunglasses, etc. :)

Me, happy to be a day away from finishing my 3rd decade of life!

Don't eat Pete! From here: 

http://www.ishareprintables.com/pink-polka-dot-creations-8

 

 

 

Weight watchers week 4

Well, I had more than a few slip ups this week. Partially thanks to my secret buddy at work who gave me all of this (and then some!):

This, along with another bag of cookies and a box of candy...my undoing! So I sort of gave up this week, and indulged myself early in some birthday cake while I was at it:

Sooooooo good. But between all that and not really being in the mood to cook much, I gained back 2 pounds. 

Moving on!

This week, which is already halfway over, has gone pretty well even with eating out and finishing off the cake so far. So I feel better about it. :) Fruits and veggies as snacks are what is keeping me sane right now! That and SPRING BREAK!!!

No recipes to share this week since we ate leftovers and frozen meals, sorry! I'll try doing better this week for all of you. :)

 

 

St. Patty's Day Digi Freebies :)

I always get a little stuck on St. Patty's Day decor.  I don't want a whole mess of rainbows or pots of gold, and half the crafts out there are for children--and almost all the other  half LOOK like children made them.  :)  Finding sophisticated and yet fun decor is just hard sometimes.

Here's an 8 x 10 freebie (the one you download is blank, ready for you to just insert your own pics and print off!).  Paint a cheap frame green and sparkly, scatter some gold coins around the base, and you'll be set!  I saw this idea via Pinterest and knew instantly I wanted a digital version to change out over the years, and even though they have a template for Photoshop I can't really figure out how to use it on Paint.NET...so I made my own.  :)  (Special thanks to Tam from Sew Dang Cute Crafts for the idea and template, even if I didn't use it...and to Trina from Delicious Scraps for the free Lucky Me kit I mostly used for the projects...mostly... :)

(Download HERE)

 

And, to go with, it, a little 5 x 7 jpg for you to record 5 things that made you "lucky" each day.  :)  Just print it off, put it into a cute 5x7 frame with glass, and use a dry erase marker to write and wipe off your gratitude lists each day!  :) 

(Download HERE)

Hope you like them!  More ideas to come...I hope.  I've got a few Dollar Tree items just waiting for someone to be creative enough to use up. :)  I love St. Patty's Day, always have, because it's the day before my BIRTHDAY.  So I always feel lucky.  :)

Happy Scrapping Decorating Celebrating!

The Coolest Library App Ever!

So. In anticipation of hopefully having a classroom of my own next year, I've been giving some serious thought to how I want the little things to run. One thing of particular concern is my library, especially not knowing what levels I need to stock up on or really figuring out how I want it to all run...

...until now!

BookRetriever is an AWESOME app that lets you scan in all your books, create a class list, and allow students to check in and out books. If your book doesn't have a barcode to scan, you can generate one right from the app! It's super user friendly, even for kids. I could easily see us eventually doing something like this around the house, too!  Anywho, I'll walk you through the basics, in case a cheap app isn't appealing enough for you...and then tell you what I don't like about it.

Here is what the home screen looks like. Clean icons and simple labels. Love it already!

When you click on "Add Book," you can choose to scan barcode, search by title or ISBN, or input manually. Here's the manual part. Note the many different ways you can record the level a book!

You can see your library and all the books you have. Handy. You can also check here to see what books are checked out, etc.

If you click on students, you can add people here. Obviously I don't have a classroom yet, so I used a few family/friend names to see how it all worked. You can add new people just by clicking the + and you can even add in parent and contact info!

If you click on a student's name, this screen shows up. Notice how there's a chance to see what books that student has out, as well!

When you go to check out a book, this is what comes up. You literally just scan your book and scroll down to your name and click on it. Voila! Finished!

This is the screen that comes up when you want to make a barcode label for your books. I have been surprised how many of my books, especially the classics, don't have barcodes! This is easier, I think, than having kids search for titles each time.

Pretty sweet, huh? I'm in love. Did I mention it is ONE DOLLAR? Cause I'm pretty sure it was. :) The only real drawbacks are that it occasionally crashes and you have to restart it (especially when building your digital library), and the limited database. Only about 1/3 of my books actually scanned, so manually inputting each book (not to mention I haven't even looked up levels yet) is time consuming in the beginning. Also, the editing option is limited to how many copies you have (so if an author is unlisted you can't just list it, etc.). Hopefully these are things they will fix soon. But it's still VERY worth it.

My classroom librarian will have more to do than just tidying up the books occasionally--they'll get to create labels, check in on how many students have books that are almost or over due, and get to hound everyone for me! All at, literally, the push of a button! Wahoo! 

I love this day and age.
 
 
 
 
 
 

GoodWill Goodies

The lines were long this morning...but oh so worth it!

I got there a couple hours after it opened, so I didn't find the usual clothing scores...aside from an awesome dress that is just perfect (pic later of it actually on me) and a tie for Paul. So, naturally, I headed to the book section.

THE BOOK SECTION!

I don't usually have the patience to look through every stinking book they have, but with having my own classroom a very real possibility next year and the lines not getting any smaller, I decided to give it a whirl. And I'm so glad I did! 23 books, 21 of them various children's books, for a mere $7.35. Gotta love that!

The books include 3 Judy Moody books, a boxcar children, some Disney I Spy books, a few nonfiction books about rainforests and the Pony Express, a very boy book (Knights of the Kitchen Table) by John Scieszka, some Winnie the pooh books, etc...plus Trumpet of the Swan and Summer of the Swans, two books I remember loving as a kid. :) And 2nd copies of The Legend of the Bluebonnet (DePaola is a fave of mine even now) and The Paper Bag Princess. Lots of goodies to add to the collection! I also got young reader novels of HighSchool  Musical 1 and 3 and a ballet book for Katherine, the girl I am a para for. I will most definitely be checking their kids books out every month from now on! You can't really beat $0.35 a pop!

 

 

 

Weight Watchers, Week 3

Hello!  Another week down, and it wasn't all that bad, even with a dozen cookies from a secret buddy at work, a splurge on a Kit Kat Bar, and eating out once!  I hit my first goal, my 5% goal (passed it, actually, for a total of 12 pounds so far), and am now working towards a new 10% weight loss goal.  :)  This is just through changing my diet, not my exercising routines (yet)! 

I don't really notice or feel a difference in my own body yet, though.  I haven't lost a pants size or anything, and I feel like my gut is as big as ever...so I'm not quite sure where these points are melting away from!  And I have to admit, some days I feel super deprived and other days I feel like I'm shoving food begrudgingly in my mouth at the end of the day to use up all my points.  I'm rarely hungry anymore, and smaller meals are the norm now, but I am ALWAYS MUNCHY.  So my new goal for this week, in addition to walking with a coworker after school AND doing 1/2 hour of yoga in the mornings, is to chop up veggies and have whole fruits handy for when I'm getting the munchies, instead of wasting the points on low-calorie chocolate brownies, peanut butter, and the like.  :)  This will save those points for much-needed lean proteins, and more CARBS!  (Not that I'm not eating them now, but sometimes I don't so I can sneak in a brownie later...no bueno!)  Also, no more chopping fruits up for fruit salad--I tend to eat WAY MORE than I need to if it's in a salad form, which is eating into our budget.  So whole fruits, one at a time, will be better for our wallet AND my waistline.

Although, my hubby got a HUGE promotion at work this week so I WILL be eating out tonight...and there WILL also be Cold Stone involved.  :)  Thank goodness for those activity points I'll be racking up!

Anywho, here are some of the meals that have kept me satisfied this week, as always, with recipes to come (linked in the captions):

Easy Egg White Omelette (my new favorite breakfast!) WW 2+ Points

Raspberry-Dijon Glazed Ham (WW 5+ Points)

Grilled Cuban Chicken with Black Bean and Mango Salsa (WW 7+ Points)

Herb-Roasted Pork Tenderloin (WW 3+ Points)

Lemon Chicken & Broccoli with Penne (WW 6+ Points)

Enjoy!