It's That Time of Year

It's time. 

Today starts my official first day back,and by official I mean paid and have to show up. 

We all know I've been in there almost every day for the last two weeks!
This year is bringing about a ton of changes for me, but I'm really excited.
First I became the K inclusion classroom teacher,
Then I moved rooms,
Next I became team leader.
If that wasn't enough my entire team from the past two years was broken up,
So it's me, 3 new to K teachers, and a para.
Plus those 8 ESE students and 10 "typically developing" students.
Whew, that's a lot.
Of course, leave it to me to decide to change up lots of stuff this year!
It's going to be a major learning and growing experience, but I'm excited for the challenge. 

To start the year off right I made some cute beginning of year gifts.

Everyone on my team is getting one of these today as first day pick me up.

Everyone got a cute patterned composition book, post-its, sharpie, and highlighter.
Not shown, Dove dark chocolate.
What teacher gift is complete without chocolate?


I love how the gift tag came out. I saw the wording somewhere on pinterest.

I just started working on my student's gifts for Open House.

I printed it on bright paper to match my theme.
I'll punch holes on top and bottom and slip a pencil in.
Click the picture to download this freebie!

 

Iced Coffee Recipe

I love coffee.

It's something I drink daily. 

Despite the heat of Florida I typically stick with regular coffee for quite awhile. 

However, as soon as school ends it's time for iced coffee.

I've been using The Pioneer Women's recipe for years now and love it!

It's perfect for summer and I love not having to make coffee every morning. 

She makes a huge batch, but I only do about half. 

Ingredients:

8oz Ground Coffee

1 Gallon Water

Bowl

Strainer

Paper towels or Cheese Cloth

1. Dump a bag of ground coffee into a bowl. I typically use 8oz.

2. Add a gallon of cold water, mixing to make sure all the grounds touch water. 

3. Cover and allow to sit at least 8 hours. I normally leave it overnight. 

4. Use a fine mesh strainer with paper towels or cheese cloth inside to catch the granules. Place over pitcher or other bowl.

5. Slowly pour coffee mixture into the strainer. 

6. Refrigerate until chilled, I normally wait till the next morning. 

7. Serve with ice and whatever you typically put in your coffee!

 

Pinterest Fails

This past week in our bible study we talked a lot about how women are the heart of the home. 

One thing we discussed was how easy it is to let household chores slide. 

With free time this summer I decided to try and get better at this. 

On pinterest, I found some great ideas for daily chore schedules. 

I love to check things off so this seemed right up my ally. 

After combining a few different ones I finally made one that I think will work well for us. 

 I found the graphic online, I honestly don't remember where, then added all the words.

So this week I've tried to do a really good deep clean.

Hopefully after this week I'll be able to only need a short time each day. 

I turned to pinterest to find some simple homemade cleaning supplies. 

First, I tried this oven cleaner. 

 Here are the before and after pictures. 

I followed the directions and then ended up scrubbing and scrubbing and there's still only a small difference!

Anyone have a better homemade cleaner?

Then, I tired this idea for the microwave. 

It didn't need to much of a cleaning, but I figured less work is always better.

Nothing "easily" wiped away. I still had to work to clean it out. 

Clearly I'm 0/2 on new pinterest cleaning tips this week. 

At least the house is looking good!

High Five for Friday!

1. This week was what I deemed my first official week of summer. 

No obligations, no travel, no anything!

2. My women's bible study is off to a good start. 

We're reading through The Power of a Praying Wife.

It has already lead to some great discussions and a new mindset on how to truly pray for your spouse.

3. We finalized vacation plans finally. 

I always feel so much better once everything is finalized. 

4. I spent a good chunk of my day on Pinterest this week and came away feeling super productive.

Pinning = Productivity?

For real, I found some great things for my classroom for next year!

I can't wait to start making some of the projects I've found.

5. I successfully made ribs in the crockpot this week. 

I've always been nervous to try them, but they were on sale this week so I decided now was my best bet.  

Ready for some more butterbeer!

Not too much going on around here, but I'm okay with that!

Peasant Bread

I found this bread, where else but pinterest. 

Of all the bread's I've tried this one is not only the easiest, but my favorite. 

I've made it multiple times since finding it in December.

The original recipe makes two loaves. 

I typically only make one at a time so the ingredients and directions below are what I do. 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup lukewarm water

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon active-dry yeast

1 tablespoon butter. 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix flour and salt. 

2. In a smaller mixing bowl, dissolve sugar into the water. 

Sprinkle yeast on top and allow to sit for a few minutes till foamy. This ensures that the yeast is active.

Stir it up and mix it in with the dry ingredients.

 This is what your dough should look like. 

3. Cover with a tea towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1.5 - 2 hours, until the dough has doubled.

4. Using the butter, grease an over safe bowl. I use a 2L pyrex bowl. 

Using two forks, scrape the dough out of the bowl making sure to flip the dough in on itself. 

Place the dough in the grease bowl. 

Allow to rise for 30 minutes. It should be about to the top of the bowl.

In the greased bowl before rising.

5. Pre-heat oven to 425F.

Once the dough has risen, bake for 10 minutes. 

Reduce the heat to 375F and allow to cook for 22-25 more minutes.

Remove from over and turn out onto cooling rack. 

The bread should fall right out!

 Finished bread!

A Little Bit of Nothing

Ever since I got sick it seems as if I've done nothing.

I still can't completely kick this sickness so this is my life.

 Factor in the fact that Daylight Savings always seems to mess me up for a week and you have one lazy person. 

Work has even furthered to help my laziness because we started swim last week. 

While it's slightly stressful with the change in schedule it takes up most of the day. 

I get to school, have my kids for 10 minutes and they go to specials. 

They come back, we do reading and they go to lunch. 

We leave for the pool and by the time we come back there's just enough time for math and snack.

It's been pretty nice to have relaxed time before Spring Break.

Plus, I don't have anything really to work on, so I come home right away and hang out on the couch.

Hopefully I will get better soon, but for now I'm thankful I'm able to take it easy while still being at work.

Probably the most "exciting" thing that's happened recently is that Kyle and I finally finished Friends!

Not only did he enjoy it, but he even thought the finale was sad. 

I might be a little too excited that he now understands me when I quote friends.

2 Ingredient Fudge

I don't think it's a surprise that I like simple recipes. 

This is the easiest fudge recipe ever and it still tastes just like fudge!

Last year a friend of mine made a strawberry fudge and said she found the recipe on Pinterest,

so of course I had to try!

Original Recipe

I'm not a fan of strawberry, but the recipe said you can mix and match with any flavors. 

It's so simple, 

take any flavor chocolate chips(12oz) and any flavor icing(12oz).

 

I chose semi-sweet chips and cream cheese icing. 

Make sure the icing isn't whipped.   

Dump them both into a bowl and microwave for 30 second intervals.

Stirring until smooth.

Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and allow to sit till hardened.
  This is my favorite combination because it tastes exactly like regular fudge. 

Linking up with Melissa, Amber, and Sarah

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Kyle's Christmas Countdown

The longer we've been together it seems the harder it gets for me to shop for Kyle.

Oddly enough, the opposite seems true on his end.

This year I really had no idea what to get Kyle, plus he's bought himself some bigger things he wanted recently.

I had already decided to do a few little things (although I don't know what exactly), but I wanted to do something else as well. 

I was reading Rachel's post about her and her husband's Christmas countdown and thought it was such a cute idea. 

I was just having trouble thinking of what all to add to it. 

Later that same day I came across this pin from the Dating Diva's.

Both ideas focused on doing a countdown with things you could do with/for your spouse.

I didn't have a good spot, so it's squished onto my picture hanger. You can see the numbers ready to go!

 I decided to combine both ideas to make mine. 

I came up with ideas based on the five love languages.

1. Acts of Service- things I can do for Kyle. I included physical touch in this category such as a foot massage. 

2. Quality Time- things to go do together. Not all of these are Christmas related, but it's a great way to make sure we get in some of those activities.

3. Words of Affirmation- Some days are just notes about what I love or am thankful for or about him.

4. Gifts- most things in this category are small treats or desserts we don't normally have. 

Each category is typed in its own font and they are spread out so we don't have two things in the same category back to back. 

I printed it out on cardstock and then printed a simple green border with the date on the other side.

Now we just have to wait for December!
 

Kyle doesn't seem too thrilled yet, but he has no idea what the cards contain. All I've told him was that starting December 1st he gets to flip the card every morning to see what that day has. Hopefully it'll end up being something exciting for him!

Linking up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been wanting to try my hand at homemade laundry detergent for awhile.

There was a point a while back where I fell completely in love with the Duggar Family. Thank you Netflix instant streaming! In one of the episodes they make laundry detergent for their family and I thought, "well I could surely try that." 

Of course, I never got around to it. 

I kept pinning pins on pinterest of all these different recipes.

But I didn't want to make a huge batch. 

I had nowhere to store it and what if I didn't like it.

This past week for some reason it seems as if everyone is making their own laundry detergent. 

I keep finding tutorials everywhere.

Since I was almost out of detergent I decided that now was the time to do it. 

I came across this pin that had a smaller recipe amount than the ones I had previously seen.

You need four ingredients
1/2 cup Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 a bar of soap
1 gallon of water

Grate half a bar of soap into a large pot.
I used Dove, but I've heard any kind will work.

Add half a gallon of water and cook on medium until all the soap has dissolved.

Once all the soap has dissolved, add the borax and super washing soda and bring to a boil.

It will expand a lot and start to coagulate a bit.
Take off the heat and add the other half gallon of water.
Mix together.

I allowed mine to cool and coagulate a bit more before I poured it into the gallon jug.

Let sit for 24 hours before use.

Use 1/2 a cup in your laundry. It is extremly low sudsing, so don't worry.
It is also safe for HE washers, which is what I have.

I spent under $6 for all the materials and still have enough to make 3 more batches.
The two powders will last a really long time.

One thing I have heard is that it doesn't get out stains quite as well so make sure you're pre-treating.
It does however make your whites brighter.

No more crazy expensive containers of laundry detergent for me!

Linking up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber

Copycat Wendy's Frosty

Kyle and I love getting ice cream.

In fact, we've even joked that we need to start an ice cream fund to support our habit. 

I was thrilled when we got our ice cream maker. 

I was certain that I would use it all the time.

While I love homemade ice cream, it's actually decently expensive to make. 

When I found this simple recipe for frosty's I decided to try it!

It's only three ingredients.

1/2 gallon of chocolate milk

1 can condensed milk

8oz cool whip

Blend together 1/2 the chocolate milk, the cool whip, and the condensed milk. 
Pour into the ice cream maker and add chocolate milk to the fill line.
Mine didn't even take half the chocolate milk.


Follow the ice cream maker's directions and enjoy!

Linking up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber!

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies!

Now that I'm working I don't have much time for crafts, but I still try to squeeze in some new recipes!

This past weekend I found a super easy pumpkin cookie recipe.

I absolutely love all things pumpkin and can't believe I made it so far through October without making something yet!

As soon as I saw the recipe I went out and bought the things to make them that day!

The ingredients!
Seriously one box of Spice Cake and one can of pumpkin!
Pre-heat oven to 350

Mix the two together until combined.

Drop on sprayed cookie sheet (I put mine on parchment paper) and place in oven.

Bake about 15 minutes. They are a very cakey cookie, so don't expect them to get hard!

Allow to cool and ice if desired!
I used Cream Cheese frosting.

We may or may not have eaten half of these in one day....

Linking Up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber