Day 2

Day 2: I am thankful for all of the sweet, crazy, fun and loving family members that I am blessed with. Each one of them holds a special place in my heart.  Even though I don't get to see some of them as often as I would like, the times we do get together are special! Love you all!

30 Days of Being Thankful

It's now November and I saw that a couple of people on Facebook were going to post each day something that they're thankful for.  I thought this was a neat idea, but decided to do it on the blog.  There are SOOO many things to be thankful for that it should be easy coming up with 30. So here goes!

#1: I am so incredibly thankful for my sweet husband.  He means more than the world to me. Like Easton Corbin says, "Lovin' you is fun!"

Pumpkin Carving

Happy early Halloween!  Last year after Halloween I bought a pumpkin carving kit for like 40 cents, holla for Target clearance!  I can't even tell you the last time that I carved a pumpkin, so I decided it was about time.  While we were at HEB yesterday we picked up a pretty cheap pumpkin.  After looking through the pattern choices the carving book gave us, of course we picked one of the hardest ones to do.  The little details were harder than I thought!  We even saved the seeds to roast and ended up roasting them just a bit much and they were just gross.  But we had fun carving it! Maybe this will be the start to a carving tradition!

Daniel at work

Starting to cut, excuse our hamper in the background. It was also laundry day. 

The finished product!

Things I've Learned As a Sub

This school year has started off a bit different for me.  Not having my own classroom has been such a weird experience.  Being a substitute teacher is a whole different ballgame from being a regular teacher. It's definitely been an eye opener for many different reasons. Some of these things I wish that I had thought more of when I had my own classroom, and hopefully will get to put them to use in the near future.

1. Going into a school you've never set foot in is just weird.

2.  Some schools I have felt like no one but the people at the front desk even saw me there. When partnering with another teacher, I've had the other teacher not even bother to introduce themselves. I sure hope that I always did this!

3.  Kids are surprised when I tell them that I have been a REAL teacher before.

4.  I've been in some schools that I don't ever wish to work at.

5.  I've also been in a few schools that I would definitely work at if the opportunity came up. (This is one advantage to subbing at different schools.)

6.  Some teachers leave super detailed plans, and some barely leave any.  Again, I hope that I was always very detailed. It's frustrating when you aren't sure what to do.

7.  When I say super detailed plans I mean SUPER. Most teachers leave decent plans, but will say things like it's time for specials, but won't say where they go.

All of this to say that if and when I get to return to having my own class, I'm going to be sure to be extra friendly to subs around me and remember the little details when leaving plans.

More Bathroom Updates!

Now that we've finished the bathroom closet, we set out to tackle the bathroom sinks and cabinets.  The old sinks were plastic. I mean who puts a plastic sink in a house?!  We made one big Lowe's trip and got new sinks, a new faucet for our bathroom and all the other odds and ends. Last weekend Daniel's parents were here and Daniel and his dad spent a while working on putting tile in the bathroom closet and the new sinks and all.  I worked on painting the cabinets and doors a couple of days.  The hall bathroom had the original wood finish cabinets and ours had been previously painted white, but were in need of a new coat. I had found the knobs and drawer handles on clearance at Target for a steal and saved them for this project. Last night Daniel put the new hinges and hardware on and hung the doors back up.  I am so loving it! It looks so much nicer than before!

The old plastic sink and our old faucet

The hall bathroom, the faucet here was still nice so we reused it.

Our bathroom with lovely new faucet!

Bathroom Closet Makeover

Now that we're done with painting both of the bathrooms, it's on to the cabinets.  Our master bath doesn't have a closet or anything in it, so this hall bath closet is it.  I didn't get a shot of the cabinet doors on, Daniel was too fast at taking them off!  We had three cabinet doors and one of those laundry slots you dump your clothes into.  The laundry slot was really a big waste of space.  Whoever put this cabinet in had built it ahead of time and slid it into the wall space.  Well when Daniel took out all of the cabinets we gained a few inches of extra space on the sides and back. Space we needed!  

We decided to put in the adjustable metal shelving so we could change the shelves up if we ever wanted to.  Daniel worked hard to put in the bi-fold door and trim and today we finally got everything together. Sometime in the near future Daniel is going to tile the floor since the cabinet base had covered the concrete underneath, and he'll have to give the door a coat of paint.  But so far we're loving it!

Before (the cabinet doors looked just like the ones under the sink)

All the wood is gone!

Daniel had to screw these pieces into the studs to hold the rails for our shelves

Ta-da! Organized and everything fits so much better! And there's even one more shelf up top that my camera couldn't see!

The finished look!

The 4th, Blue Bell and More Painting

Hope you had a great 4th of July holiday!  We had fun celebrating my Paw Paw's 82nd birthday and the 4th. (His birthday is on the 3rd)  It's just not the same without going to see the big ol' Centerville parade! 

Daniel and Mom

Paw Paw the birthday boy

For our July date we went to the Blue Bell factory in Brenham.  Daniel had been a couple of times before, but I had never been and was dying to go.  It was neat to see the factory and of course the sample of ice cream at the end is great too!  We also went and ate at a 50's style diner in Brenham and had a great hamburger.

Paint, paint and more paint!  After our fun day we went to work painting our bathroom.  We used the same color as the other bathroom.  I just finished the trim today and it looks so much better with bright trim!

Before (with a cute guy in the shower)

Finally done!