Is the End in Sight???

As another school year winds down our state mandated testing is in full swing. This means countless hours of watching kids sit on front of a computer screen while they show the world what they know. Unfortunately I am rarely in my classroom except to drop things off in between testing sessions because a.) I'm testing in another location, b.) my room is being used for testing, or c.) I am in my room but I am testing. Today it was option c and I had to look at this mess. All. Day. Long. 

Here's to two more weeks of school!

Week (and a little more) In Review

Ah, Memorial Day. The unofficial start of summer. While it is warming up, it is no where close to what I would consider summer here at Wilted Acres. To me, summer is 85+ degrees with a bit of humidity to keep it real. And while I love the current high 70s to low 80s we are having, it feels more like late spring than summer.

In my last post I shared that I didn't have to report to work because of a "flood day." Initially I had planned to go into work. However, I decided I that my work bag contained more than enough paperwork to occupy my day. I tried to get some pictures of the flooding, but was not as successful as I thought I might be. Anyway, below is a nearby creek. You can see the brown water just past the trees in the foreground. Tough to see how high the water was, but I can assure you it was worthy of a flood day...

Below is the rain gauge from my garden. We had nearly 2 inches of rain in a 24 hour time span at my house. But other nearby areas reported more than 3 inches of rain in that same period of time!!!

After a three day weekend I was back at work bright and early this past Monday, ready to conquer the week. It's a good thing I had some extra time because the week ended up being crazier than usual.

On Thursday, I defended my dissertation proposal. What this means is that I am now ready to begin the next step in my research once I make the required changes to my proposal. These changes will be due to my committee members mid-June. Once those changes are made and approved, I will move on to the Institutional Review Board of the University. Pending their approval I can begin working with the necessary agencies I need to work with in order to complete my research.

Prior to my proposal defense, I took this picture of the room where I was about to present.

After successfully defending my proposal I celebrated with a vanilla chai latte from Starbucks and took a quick pic.

When I got home the Hubs and I decided a little family celebration was in order so we headed into town to a favorite local restaurant with Babycakes. After a delicious meal of drunken salmon, crab dip, fresh garden salad, loaded baked potato, spring veggies (I had PLENTY of leftovers!) and a glass of chardonnay from a local winery, we headed back home so we could get Babycakes to bed. She was super clingy that night and I thought she was just exhausted from a big day so we wanted to get her home. Not to mention that I had been up until 1 that morning finishing my presentation. So I was ready for bed myself.

But before we left for home I took a couple of pictures near where we parked. I can not tell you how beautiful it is in the Valley at this time of year. Because many of you are scattered across the country, I wanted to share some of the local beauty:

I have no idea what these little flowers are but they are beautiful!  It's hard to tell, but they are a light pink color.

These flower baskets are throughout the town. This one is on the bridge that runs over a small stream in town.

The aforementioned stream...

This is an antiques shop but I just love the little side yard!

After we got home, Babycakes and I crawled into bed for some cuddles and I thought she felt a little warm but she wasn't running a temperature. She fell asleep shortly after cuddles began and I didn't have the heart to move her into her bed so I just enjoyed the closeness and did a little reading to unwind.  By 10:00 she was running a fever and awake about every 45 minutes.  It was a LONG night for everyone. The next day she went to the pediatrician and was diagnosed with tonsillitis. A round of antibiotics and she was back to her shenanigans.  Like this selfie...

That's all for now readers! I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and take some time to remember those who have gone before to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Fire and Flood

No work for me today! Our school division is closed due to flooding throughout the county. Babycakes is sleeping in, the Hubs is off to get a haircut and I am enjoying my morning coffee and the Today show. I am watching the news out of Southern California (my home state) and the irony of the situation is not lost on me.While I am home due to an overabundance of rain, Californians are desperate for a brief shower to get a leg up on the fires. My thoughts and prayers are with those impacted in any way by the horrible devastation. I am thankful today that my basement is flooded and my family is safe.

Despite being off for flooding, I plan on going into work to get caught up on some paperwork. I have a love/hate relationship with the month of May. I love the green trees, blooming flowers, warm air, and the light at the end of the school year tunnel. I don't like the impact all the greening can have on my allergies, the crazy behavior of the kids (hard to believe that middle school kids could get any crazier than they already are but trust me-it's possible!), state mandated testing, and the ridiculous amount of paperwork that must be completed. Alas, it must all be finished so I will head in for a couple of hours today in an effort to tackled the mound of paperwork that awaits.

Since I drive the bridge that spans the river I'll see if I can get some pictures to post of the local flooding. I hope this Friday is kind to you all!

April Showers Bring... an Overdue Blog Post!

So, I just looked and saw that the last time I posted to my blog was February (early February at that!). I had grand plans to write 4 posts in March but it just didn't happen.  Babycakes ended up very, very, sick.

She started with an outer ear infection. (Pediatrician trip #1)Then she ended up with a double middle ear infection and an infection in her trachea (which spiked her temp to 105 one night). (trip #2) When she didn't improve after a couple of days I took her back to her pediatrician where she was then diagnosed with bronchitis(trip #3). He got her on the right medicines and she is back to her wild self. :-)
So between being a mommy, a wife, a teacher, and a student I haven't had much time to blog. And to be quite honest, I haven't made it a priority. I need to change that because blogging brings me joy and it's an outlet for me to share little snippets of my life.
In my last post I shared what a tough winter we've had - like much of the U.S. It's finally starting to look and feel more like spring around here (despite the sleet that was falling when I arrived home from work this evening). I am ready for warmer weather and flip flops as well as the annual trip to get a "real" pedicure!
Anywho, here are some pictures of what's been going on at Wilted Acres...

Babycakes enjoying the Winter Wonderland

Babycakes and the Hubs

Babycakes and Mommy!

After months of winter and snow, we finally saw signs of spring...

In March, the Hubs took me to a WONDERFUL restaurant about an hour from Wilted Acres.

It was a real date -  we dressed up and everything!

Babycakes is getting so big.  I'm loving this age and her personality! I'm trying to treasure every minute because it's all going by so quickly!

I hope everyone is enjoying the early signs of Spring!  I'll try and post an organizing or cooking blog soon!

XOXO,

Nena

This Knit Wit's Organized!

     Winter is in full force around Wilted Acres! Lots of snow, ice and below average temps have made this one of the hardest winters I can recall in many, many years.  While I'm sure my students and I will be in school until the 4th of July, I am enjoying the winter weather and snow days.  It's the perfect time for me to dig into knitting projects!

Snowy Sunrise

     Despite being completely overwhelmed by things I need to do, I have to have time to indulge in creative pursuits for my own sanity. I learned to knit when I was about 16 from my great grandmother. I knew how to cast on and knit but that was it.  I lost interest and never finished a project.
     Then, shortly after marrying the Hubs, I went to a yarn shop in Richmond, Virginia while he attended a conference for work. I bought a GREAT book called Stitch 'N Bitch that you can find here, some bamboo needles and purple wool yarn for a scarf. After countless scarves and a blanket for my niece I was ready to leave the world of squares and rectangles behind for new endeavors. So I took a class at my local yarn store and learned to knit socks.
     In order to contain my growing knitting supplies I devised a portable system so I can take my sock knitting anywhere I want.  I found this little bag by Modella a couple of years ago at Target. I was using it as a means of housing emergency supplies for Babycakes to keep in the van. Unfortunately, I found that I needed it when I was not in the van. So I put another plan in place for her supplies leaving this beauty open for possibilities.  I love Damask patterns wanted to find a new use for it because it's so pretty.
   

     It sat on my dresser for about a week when genius struck. I could use it to haul around my current sock project! So I tested it out and everything fit perfectly!

I was able to fit my sock pattern in the bottom, two skeins of sock yarn, current project, and my little bag of knitting necessities.  I tried to show how it looked as I unpacked it...

My little pouch of knitting necessities. :-)

     I decided to lay out what I put in my necessities pouch.  Starting at the top is my purple leather pouch. It a little bigger than 7 inches long and it's about 3 inches high. My awesome stepmom got it for me when she travelled to South America for work.  I have two pairs of embroidery scissors. One I bought at Hobby Lobby and the other I believe came from Wal-Mart. I used to keep a pair in the drawer by my nightstand but Babycakes frequently gets in that drawer so I had to give them a new home. The blue and red things are stitch counters that slide on my needles. I bought them after Christmas at Hobby Lobby.  I have small point protectors for my sock needles, sock needles, and a small case for tapestry needles to weave in my ends. All of these were purchased at my local yarn shop. The crochet hook is for dropped stitches and I think that came from Wal-Mart. The small measuring tape was a free gift from CrossStitcher Magazine several years ago and the remaining point protectors came from a variety of places that I don't recall.  Michaels maybe?

Anyway, that's a quick look at my knitting organization. 

    And because I haven't posted any recent pictures of Babycakes I wanted to throw a couple in here. She and Daddy became quite accustomed to watching football on Sunday. I'm not sure who will miss it more - her or daddy!

Then last weekend, she and daddy "played" checkers at an event held by our church. 

  

(Sorry she's so blurry, but this kid rarely sits still!)

Even Cleo is enjoying the winter weather!

I hope Mother Nature is being kind to you all and you are enjoying the gifts she seems to continually provide.  Stay warm and I'll see you soon!

                                    Nena

How Can It Be 2014???

Hello Readers!

I seriously have to be the worst. blogger. ever.  I think regularly about all of the fabulous posts I am going to write but never seem to have the time to sit down and do it. I had two weeks off for Christmas (TWO WEEKS!!!) and I write nothing here.  I apologize dear readers. I truly do.  I hope that things will settle down soon so that I can get back to my writing.

A lot has happened here at Wilted Acres and, unfortunately, a lot of it is not good.  On December 8th my beautiful cousin, Annette, was sitting in church with her husband and had a brain aneurysm. The doctors were unable to operate and she passed away the next day. She was only 42 years old. She was an organ donor so her life lives on through others but it was a terrible blow for my family.

Two weeks to the day her dad, my uncle, had a heart attack and died. His heart apparently couldn't take the stress of losing his beautiful girl. It's been devastating.

On Christmas Day, the Hubs lost a fraternity brother in Afghanistan. He was out running with his bomb sniffing dog when he was shot in the back and killed. His memorial service was Monday evening and the Hubs was able to go with several of his other fraternity brothers and pay respects to his brother, friend, and hero.

New Year's Day I had another uncle (same side of the family) who ended up having a heart attack.  Fortunately he was able to have a stint put in and he will be okay. But after the stress of our other losses we were all on edge.

With all of this stress I haven't been sleeping and am so tired. I should be doing a million other things right now, but wanted to connect with you all and let you know I haven't forgotten you.

I have lots of Christmas pictures to share, a recipe for an AMAZING frittata that I think you'll like, and some cute dividers I was able to put together with some leftover scrapbook paper.

Hopefully I will be back to "normal" soon.  Until then I hope the new year is kind to you all!

Keeping It Together

I've had people ask me how I get it all done.  The honest answer is, I don't.  I have more to do than time to get it done. For example, my house still has pumpkins from Halloween on the front porch but since they are currently covered in snow they look just fine beside the inflatable Santa the Hubs put up.

In my defense, I have been working on managing my time a little better with this:

Meet Big Bertha. "She" is the Franklin Covey planner I picked up for less than $20 when the Office Max went out of business in our local shopping area. Originally I had an ARC Planner from Staples, but it was just too big (the pages were 8 1/2 x 11) and I needed a change.  

Because I have become somewhat obsessed with planners here recently - following blogs dedicated to Filofaxes, watching YouTube channels - (it's really quite pathetic on my part) I thought I would share what I have done with mine. If this isn't your thing you won't offend me if you stop reading and find something better to do with your time. :-)

This is the first page of my planner. Some stickie notes and family photos to helps me remember what's important in life. The "meat" of the planner is tough. (no pun intended) I have struggled with finding the right inserts to make it workable for me.
Here are the ones I'm using (and L.O.V.E.) right now:

They are from DIYFish on Etsy and you can find them through her blog here. I actually found them through Carie over at Dispatches From the Frat House. She did a great video on YouTube that really explained how to use them.  Here's the problem: I have to download them, print them, cut them apart, and hole punch them. As much as I love them, I don't have that kind of time these days.  Nor do I have the time (or energy) to locate someone who can do it for me. {sigh}
And truth be told, I don't really need an entire page for one day. I also like having my "To Do" list clipped in the rings because I'm more likely to look at it. So at the end of December I'll be moving on to another type of insert. Not because I don't love these but because of the labor required for me to put into them.

Big Bertha came with these inserts that were undated:

At first I thought I would like them. But as time went on I realized I need the days horizontally instead of vertically. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought this set from DayTimer:

Better, but I still don't like them.  See the blue column down the middle? It's supposed to be for time slots. I like having the lines to write on, but hate how it's broken up into columns. It did, however, come with these monthly inserts that I really like so it wasn't a total bust.

 Prior to each month there is a full page for writing down goals/plans/to-do's for that month.  Not sure how or if I'll use it, but we'll see how it plays out.

I really like this month on two pages.  It has lines for me to write (I tend to write uphill) and a column on the right for me to make notes.  For example, our personal property taxes are due in June so I was able to make notes in both May and June to remind myself to budget for that expense. 

I apologize that this is blurry but I'm too busy lazy to take another picture of it. This is for the end of the month. It's a spot for writing notes and memos. I think this will be good for recording the cute stuff Babycakes does throughout the month so that I can go back and put it in her scrapbook or baby book. That's my intention anyway.

This past week, I found some inserts called the Mom Planner refill (DayTimer again) that I think might work. They run from July through June so I was able to get them half-price and if I hate them I only have to deal with them until the end of June. I ordered them earlier this week so I expect their arrival in the mail any day now.  I'm hoping these will be "the ones."

I will tell you, I tried using Google calendar from my phone and laptop but it just didn't do it for me.  I have to physically write it down to remember it. Even with the reminders I still felt like I didn't know what was going in half the time.  I also tried Cozi but, again, didn't feel like I had a real grasp of what I needed to do.  I finally accepted that I'm a paper planner kinda gal. Sine that realization I feel like I am more organized (with my time anyway), I know what's coming up, and when who will be where. That's not to say I don't still overlook or forget things from time to time, but it happens a lot less than it used to happen!

So tell me, how do you stay organized?