Oops, I thrifted again.

(I'm not sure I can really call the Peddler's Mall a "thrift store" -- in some ways it is...but it's also an antique store/vendor mall, too -- but for the sake of today's title, we're going to pretend it is indeed a thrift store.)  :)

So I had to get out of the house today.  Mike had some grad school work to do, and sometimes I have this annoying habit of interrupting.  So I drove to the Peddler's Mall.  I was on a mission of sorts -- to find an older-style coffee pot (and belated Mother's Day gift) for my mom.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found some other things.

The chair is part of today's finds.  I'm happy about the old dymo label maker -- in it's original box for a whole dollar.  But seriously, that camera!!!  I saw it hanging on a wall...I couldn't even see the front until I picked it up.  I've been looking for one like this for a little while now...I just assumed I would have to find it on ebay if I really wanted one.  On top of that, the price was right, too. 

(Oh, and we really do know how to paint walls, despite what this photo above might say.  That's primer.  Painting happens sometime after school is over.)

Here are the finds that didn't come home with me: 

(All I can say is it's a very good thing I don't have kids, because I don't think I would have had the will-power to resist this child-sized retro table and chairs.)

And now it's bedtime.  I have to get ready for the last week of school.  Yay!

This weekend, I...

• Painted my nails a shiny yellow
• Bought two pairs of running shorts
• Attended a cookout.
• Went thrifting. And found stuff.
• Drank coffee from my regular mug...not the travel mug.
• Slept in on Saturday
• Went to church and Sunday School.
• Went sleeveless.

And I still have the day off tomorrow!

The newest addition to my collection

Mike and I went into town to do some thrifting this morning. We found one really great store, and I picked this up for a mere $5:



And Mike found a set of these tables for the firepit:



And I didn't think Cynthiana had any good thrift stores. (Actually, after next weekend it won't...this is it's last weekend in business.)

Friday Fill-Ins, a senior prank, and fun mail

This week's Friday Fill-In:

1. Sandwiches -- the best food to take on a picnic.
2. Summer break cannot come soon enough.
3. I'm always out of town when Old Navy has $1 flip flops.
4. To love someone is a lifetime thing.
5. I would love to go back to Athens, OH for a long hike.
6. When I crave food, it's usually salty.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to not making dinner, tomorrow my plans include buying running shorts and Sunday, I want to enjoy the fact that I don't have to go to work the following day!

Today was senior prank day at school.  Not that it's an officially declared day...you kind of find out about it once you get there.  Thankfully, the class of 2010 went easy on us -- one hallway filled with balloons.  My friend Carolyn snapped this pic before the students got there.  I have to admit that it was kind of pretty!  Not so pretty was the "yay-it's-Friday-and-there-are-balloons-it's-a-party" attitude amongst the underclassmen.  (Btw -- my favorite senior prank was the year they released three chickens in the front lobby.)

And I want to share some very special fun mail I received recently.  Amy emailed me not too long ago to tell me she had something that made her think of me.  How perfect is that label at the top?  :)  I love them!  Thank you so much for thinking of me Amy! 

And that's all for now!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  And I really hope you get three days of it.  :)

A solar cookout

Today we had a "solar cookout" in engineering class.  S'mores and bagel pizzas -- the only two foods I could think of that wouldn't give my students food poisoning if they didn't cook very well.  It turned out pretty well...not the most efficient form of cooking, but that was to be expected.  It took about 90 minutes to get a s'more with a slightly crispy outside.  But I think they had fun. 

The students learned about solar energy.  In exchange, I learned that teenage boy eating habits are bizarre. There were some leftovers when we came back to class -- half a bag of marshmallows, some mozzarella cheese, graham crackers, and half a jar of pizza sauce.  I told them they were welcome to eat leftovers, but offered to throw away the pizza sauce and cheese (I don't have a refrigerator in my room).  They informed me that I didn't need to.  And one of them proceeded to eat a marshmallow dipped in pizza sauce.  And another put cheese on his graham cracker.  And I felt it was best not to ask questions when I realized there was no sign of food when the bell rang. 

Oooh, and I get to judge a cupcake contest for one of the cooking classes tomorrow. I got a sneak peek today, and the entries are so clever!  I hope I can remember to take photos to share.

The wheels on the bus...

First of all, let me say this:  Only six school days left!!!

I'm very lucky -- thanks to a wonderful laptop grant progam in our distrcit that I'm so happy to be part of, I got to attend a tech conference in Louisville.  It was decent, as far as conferences go.  I went to an awesome session on Creative Commons licensing.  I could have listened to the speaker for at least another hour.  She had tons of info on the subject, and I'm very certain I'm going to make sure my students understand what it is next year.

The only drawback today?  I spent almost 5 hours of my day on the bus:

I was so tired of sitting by the time I got home.  At the same time, I was very tired from sitting, so I wasn't very productive with my evening.  It's weird...as much as I might complain sometimes about my job, most of the time I'd rather be in the classroom. 

The weather has been amazing this week.  I even wore a skirt to work.  Complete with heels.  Yes, I wore them for the entire work day.  Minus the walk down to the parking lot.  (Side note -- I paid a whopping $6 for them at Target last year!)

Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you that there is big news coming up at TAAFOMFT!  Be sure to check out our next challenge...we'll be a teensy bit late, but it will be so worth it, I promise! 

Sloppy Chicken Sandwiches

As promised!  Please keep in mind that this isn't the healthiest of meals. But it's yummy.  :)

• 1 can of cream of chicken soup (trust me, when you see the next ingredient, you'll want to go with the reduced-fat version)
• about 1/2 bag of Ruffles potato chips
• 1 large can (or 2 small cans) of chicken

Mix them all together, and cook in a skillet for a few minutes until mixture thickens.  Heat and lightly grease a separate skillet, and fry the mixture into patties (this will make about 4-5 patties.  Serve on a bun or hoagie roll (we're big fans of fresh tomato and spinach). 

I wish I had a pic to share.  Think of something that looks kind of like a hashbrown on a bun with lettuce and tomato.  :)

Maybe we should pretend Saturday never happened...

I'm just gonna say it: we went away for the weekend, and I have never been happier to be home, away from drama and poor decision-making. Saturday was crap. 

I think I cope through lists.  LOL.  So here's Sunday and Monday in a nutshell, as they were much better than Saturday:

• I found a cute scallop-edged bowl for $1.
• My brother and I have had great discussions about...what else?...LOST! 
• I have discovered the joys of Greek yogurt.
• I took photos of things that weren't peonies.  :)
• I worked on an amigurumi crochet project.

• Mike is grading papers and listening to the classical station. 
• I am developing some nice, toned arms.  Why won't the rest of me follow suit?  :)
• Registration for the 10K I'm planning to run starts next week.  (That was one of my 2010 goals.)
• Still no soda.  Just thought you'd like to know.  
• I watched the cute tiny bunny this evening.  So cute.  So tiny.

Season finale 2010 trend

Not too long ago, I introduced my brother to the "Dear Sister" SNL Digital Short.  It mocks this classic scene from the season 2 finale of The OC.  The basic premise is that when a character gets shot, the scene goes into slow motion, and Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" plays.

Flash forward to Friday morning...I wake up to find that my brother has posted this to my Facebook wall:

Here's the conversation that followed.  Enjoy.  :)

Unfortunatly, I can't embed the "Dear Sister" Gossip Girl spoof...but you can find it here.

My Little Peonies

I just wanted to share my peonies that bloomed this week.  Since the hydrangea isn't close to blooming, I think the peony is a perfect substitute until then. :) 

Almost forgot -- Friday Fill-Ins

1. Taking a great photo when I didn't plan to never fails to make me smile.
2. I'm looking forward to the end of the school year.  Ten school days remaining.
3. Silence is what I'm listening to right now.
4. Potato salad must have not mayo in it!
5. A chocolate biscotti was the best thing I ate today.
6. Today was one of those weird days where there were too many students out for field trips. 
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to celebratory pizza (congrats to our friend Jed on his first high school teaching position), tomorrow my plans include finding new hipstamatic subjects, and Sunday, I want to do something...I always struggle with this blank because I don't plan that far into my weekend!

 Also, Sarah is having an awesome Imaginisce giveaway on her blog that you should check out!  :)

A pre-Friday list. Just because.

• It's amazing the difference a 50-minute planning period makes in my day.  Wednesday was a great day, and was desperately needed.
• I should find a new bedspread...our current one is shedding.
• I have a nagging headache.  Several of my students had headaches today.  Weather.  :P
• My husband is amazing for mowing the yard and the trail this week. 
• There are daisies in our backyard...yay!

• I'm falling behind on blog reading...again.  Ugh.  I really didn't want to do that.
• I'm really excited about the solar ovens we're making in engineering class...I promised the class that I would make a  pizza box oven over the weekend.
• Note to self: Must buy chrome duct tape before school tomorrow.  Engineering seniors will be sad if I don't.
• Wearing heels all day and then going for a run later (not in heels...I'm not that crazy)...probably not the best of ideas.  At least I didn't notice anything until after I was finished running.
• Tomorrow.  Jeans day.  Bliss.
• Tomorrow.  400 kids out for field trips.  Possible bliss.  Possible aggravation from those left behind.
• Someday soon I will share with you Mike's recipe for sloppy chicken sandwiches.  He used to make them at the cafe he worked at in high school.  It's pretty fantastic.

Have a happy Friday!

Mike has the computer tonight...

And it doesn't look as though he's going to be finished with it anytime soon, so I suppose I'll blog from my phone tonight. It was a good day -- testing is over, and my schedule is normal again! That's a huge relief. On top of that, I got to meet my friend Sarah's new baby boy. He's a sweetheart. I also exercised and took lots of hipstamatic pics. I think I'm going to have a photography display at the Art Walk this year...what do you think?

I'd love to hear how your day is going!

I voted.

So, today was supposed to be a day that I would get to sleep in, vote, do some relaxing.  And it was.  Minus the sleeping and relaxing part.  Turns out, because of the two flood days we missed, staff had to report to work today.  Although, I have to admit that a day at work with no students isn't that bad, it still could have been much more relaxing and sleep-in-ish.  :)

I learned something last night. Some useful advice if you ever plan on running for office.  (1) When campaigning door-to-door, do not honk your car horn in someone's driveway and expect them to come to you.  (2) When you finally do manage to get to my door, don't start quizzing me about all the surrounding addresses that you haven't visited yet.  I do not like being reduced to a checkmark on a list.  Also, it just makes you seem like you're lost, and not necessarily someone I would vote for.  (3) Oh, and it's always a good idea to talk about what you plan to do, and you should be the one to bring this up.  House numbers do not equal platform.  

I learned all this from one candidate last night. 

I actually did some scrapping tonight.  I made this sketch based on the 5.13 Sketchy Thursdays challenge.  I used some pics froma recent game night...btw I really like the way these hipstamatic prints turn out.  They're so pretty when they're printed glossy.

And I made a couple more just for the fun of it.  This one is about the bike trail that Mike bulit.  I love the photos of him riding. 

I made this one a few weeks ago, but am just getting around to posting it now.  I am so into these pretty spring colors.  I hope it's a trend that sticks around for a little while...you know, like, through Spring.  Maybe into summer.  Pretty please?  :)

And if you need a reason why I heart Lola so much, I looked down from my scrapping tonight to see this:

Yep.  Gotta love a cat that curls up at your scrap table for a nap. 

Scenes from an antique mall

Over the weekend, Mike and I visited my family.  While we were there, we went to a couple of local antique malls.  Not the Peddler's Mall, but definitely just as good.  So of course I had to take lots of pics of cute things.  :)

(Shhh...this is my birthday gift. Don't tell me about it.)

And I'm off to sleep.  Because I am scheduled to work tomorrow.  But, being Election Day, there won't be any kids.  Just curriculum.  Fun fun.