All Manner of Pressing Issues

So I did a little more work in my classroom on Friday. I’m not finished yet but am getting closer. 3 of my days this week are consumed with all day meetings, but hopefully the other two days I can get into my classroom and wrap up the loose ends on the decorating and organizing. I am ready to hit the ground running with planning and back to school paper work.

I realize the yellow bulletin board paper combined with the yellow shelf is a little overkill. I’ll change the paper in October, so surely we can live with it for a few weeks!

I’m excited about the computer table set up. I thought that turned out nicely. The table cloth has owls on it–our school mascot.

Please ignore the clutter around the sink (I’m working on it) and focus on the cute little rug. I found it at Target for $1! Its lifespan may be 2 weeks, but I thought it was too cute to pass up.

I posted all of my calendar math materials on the whiteboard but am thinking that I am going to do calendar on our SMART board this year. If I decide to do that, I’ll try to post the SMART board lesson here so others can use it.

I really love the arrangement of my classroom this year. I think it’s my favorite of all my years of teaching.

I’m hoping my class size is 20 because that’s how many students I have room for at the tables. I know I’ll have more than 20, so I need to quit hoping and just make room for another table. Not sure how that’s going to work but I’ll make it happen.

I’m putting myself and Olivia through back to work boot camp. I’m back into my house cleaning and menu planning/cooking routine. Luckily, I kept a workout schedule throughout the summer that I can maintain during the school year, so nothing new there. However, Olivia is adjusting to evening instead of morning walks. I’ve gotten a few dirty looks from her in the mornings, but otherwise she’s been adjusting beautifully.

I have a meeting tomorrow, but look forward to working in my classroom Wednesday!

My cooking endeavor was neither a total failure or a total success. The chicken was delicious, the artichokes weren’t quite right and the cake was downright disgusting. I read each recipe several times before I even made my shopping list and read the recipes through again before I started cooking. I have no idea where I went wrong on the artichokes unless I didn’t cook them long enough or maybe didn’t cut enough leaves off. The cake was more like the texture of a brownie and the icing was off. I must admit I left the salt out of the cake by accident, but followed the icing recipe exactly. Not sure what happened there. I had a fun time in the kitchen and I suppose that’s what matters most. I didn’t even go to the grocery store until 6pm, so the lesson learned here is to not attack 3 new recipes at 7pm.

I didn’t get a picture of the cake. It’s in the trash can. I deemed it inedible but my husband choked down one slice. Bless his heart.

Today I spent some time working at school. This is only the second time in starting six years of teaching that I have not had to move my classroom. I cannot believe how easy the beginning of the year set up is when I’m not having to sort through another teacher’s “treasures” and make room for my own. I am not finished yet, but I made progress today! Didn’t take me anytime!

Here is the “before”:

And here is evidence of the progress I made:

It felt so good to be back in my classroom today. I enjoyed arranging and decorating and thinking about all the little people who will be spending their first grade year in our classroom. First grade is such fun and I am enjoying making our classroom a special place for my students! Oh, and in a few days I will have a SMART board where that brown board is in front of our carpet area  (above the red stool)!!

This is the little area I am most excited about. I’m not quite finished with it yet, but hopefully will be by tomorrow or Monday. I will put plants on top of the L shaped bookshelf on the right which houses the books for our classroom library. The bookshelf on the left will have a curtain over the front. This is where I meticulously file the books I pull to use for lessons and read alouds. The books are filed in plastic bins. It’s a convenient system that works well for me. I should post about it someday. The children’s chair that is in front of the desk will be moved out of the way of the desk so that a student could use the desk as a workspace while another student reads.  I use the Daily 5 method for my literacy block, so students work independently all over the classroom throughout the morning.

There is a lot I can’t do at school until I get my class list. So, until then I’ll put paper and border on my bulletin boards, get my calendar set up and work on putting curtains on all of my open bookshelves. I keep things on the shelves labeled and very organized, but it still doesn’t look good, so I’m putting up curtains. That’s on tomorrow’s agenda.

My mind is in full-fledged “back to school” mode. The fall is one of my favorite times of year. Bring on those sweet little enthusiastic first graders!!

Tonight we will (hopefully) have supremes de volaille a l’escossaise, artichauts braised a la provencale and reine de Saba for dessert….
Chicken breasts with diced aromatic vegetables and cream, artichokes braised with wine, garlic and herbs and chocolate and almond cake or dessert

When I woke up this morning and checked the weather, the wind chill was 0 degrees. I was trying to stave off Olivia until I had finished my pilates and until the temperature increased by at least 10 degrees. But really is there a difference between 0 and 10 degrees? Bbbrrr! I got my pilates finished, but it’s still very cold outside! I think the last time I checked it was 11 degrees.

So, I decided to make Chicken and Rice soup today. It was a first for me and it turned out really good! It hit me while I was using the last of my Riceland rice that I forgot to buy more while I was in AR for Christmas. I’ll have to see if they sell it here. I didn’t add the yellow food coloring the recipe calls for just because I didn’t have any. The recipe is really straight forward. I’ll definitely make this again!

The first time I tried this recipe was several years ago one Thanksgiving when I came home from college. When I was in college, I lived in a dorm, so while I was in school, I’d run across recipes and try them when I went home. However, my roommate will tell you I also did a fair amount of cooking in the dorm! ha. That was for you, MP.

This time when I made these cookies they were much better. I think last time I used dried cranberries instead of fresh cranberries and that makes a huge difference. Cutting the fresh cranberries in half also makes a difference.

Enough commentary. The cookies are de-lish and you can whip up a batch in a flash!

I am at home sick today with a cold (self-diagnosed). It’s been coming on since Wednesday and I haven’t had time to be sick, so I’ve ignored it. I guess now I have time to admit I’m sick. Richard went to Target this morning and bought me medicine, cough drops, Kleenex and Chicken Noodle Soup. He is hereby awarded Husband of the Year. I’m hoping to feel better very soon (as in in a few hours). I realize that would take a miracle, but I’m hopeful.

I want to try these recipes:

Sausage Balls

Pumpkin Bread

Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Pancakes

Game Day Dip

I also want to go to Michael’s (we don’t have a Hobby Lobby here). I need to buy some DMC thread for a club one of my teacher friends and I are hosting at school Monday. We’re hosting a Friendship Bracelet club. I have been thinking about making those potholders with the loops with my students. I want to check into getting some kits for that. I think that would be fun!

I’ve been wanting to knit lately, but don’t have a good project going at the moment. I have lots of yarn just waiting to be transformed into something fabulous, but I just have not started anything.

Hope this cold will magically disappear so I can do all of the fun things I want to do!

Never in a million years would I have thought I would have ever attempted homemade chicken noodle soup. Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup is homemade, right? It tastes homemade, looks homemade, smells homemade, so it must BE homemade. WRONG. I have the All Recipes app. on my iPhone and the recipe spinner brought up a Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. After reading the recipe and the reviews, I thought, “Why not?”

I will never, ever go back to Campbell’s. It will do in a pinch, I suppose, but this soup recipe is de-lish and is truly “super easy”.  I used almost all of the suggestions the first reviewer mentioned–with the exception of the mushrooms (I love mushrooms, but Richard does not). This recipe makes a lot and I wish I had frozen some of it because I wound up having to throw some out. Live and learn.

I hope the people around your table enjoy this!