A Green Dress With Pretty Sleeves

I made a pretty green dress from Simplicity 3622.  I used jersey knit fabric.  The dress was challenging, partly because the sleeves had 6 elastic casings between them.  Here are some pictures of how it went.

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How to Make a Chicken and Rice Casserole

Here’s how I made a chicken and rice casserole.

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Creating a Spiral for Anecdotal Notes

Teachers love to write notes about student progress, behavior, parent communication, etc.  Keeping track of them so that you can refer to them on a later date can be difficult.  Sure, you can write on a sheet of paper on a clipboard and later put it into a binder, but then you have two locations [...]

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My Very Messy Home Office and The FlyLady’s Help

Sweet Husband’s words:  “Your office is no longer messy, Honey.  I can hear an echo.”
The first half of July, I collected items for my classroom.  To be specific, I nested.  What did I do with everything?  Well, I put everything in several piles in my home office.  It got to the point where I couldn’t [...]

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Holding off on jogging (for a few days…)

Why is it that I can’t do daily jogs for a week without getting injured?  Arghhhh!!!!
Last fall, I tried jogging daily (or every few days) for a week, but I had to stop due to a back injury.  I admit that I tried to go too far and too fast, but I’ve changed my ways!  [...]

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Sewing Saturday – July 26: Hey, Hey It’s a Serger!

I recently bought a serger.  I’m so glad that I did!  I want to say a special thanks to Amber and Raphaelle, who patiently taught me everything there is to know about sergers, so that I could make an informed decision.  (Click on each picture to see a bigger image.)
For more crafty ideas, see Sew [...]

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Crazy and Hungry

It’s 2:30 and I’m starting to get that crazy, hungry feeling.  You know, where you growl at everyone and contemplate dinner, but you don’t even want to put forth the effort to prepare that.  Plus, you know you need to eat a snack, but you can’t decide or put forth the effort to get out [...]

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Three Days of Jogging

I’ve jogged 3 days in a row now.  It’s been about a mile each day at a 14:30 pace.  I know that’s slow, but I’m a slow jogger.  At least I’ve done some exercising.
In regards to healthy eating, I’ve been doing well until just after lunch.  Once 1 PM hits, I’m done for.  I get [...]

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Toning Down the Jogging

I admit that I have times where I am super-dedicated to exercise and nutrition, while at other times I’m quite lazy and in love with chocolate.  Right now, I’m trying to get out of the chocolate faze, but it’s difficult.  Just last night, I finished off too many chocolate chip cookies at once and had [...]

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Good Deal on Chairs

Last year, I purchased 2 dorm chairs from JoAnn’s (turquoise chair on right of picture) for my classroom.  Not only did they survive the entire year, but the kids loved them.  We used the chairs for the classroom library, read alouds, centers, and even at students’ desks.  What’s great is that they’re big enough to [...]

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Teachers Can Do Nesting, Too!

Recently, I found myself hanging around Half Price Books, The Dollar Store, Big Lots, and the teacher store.  In fact, I found myself stopping at every Half Price inside and outside of town.  I was armed with a typed list of books and their costs on Amazon, as well as another list of materials (plastic [...]

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Jogging with the Pirates of Penzance

I jogged 2 miles again this morning.  I made sure that I got on the treadmill as soon as I woke up, so that I wouldn’t have any excuses later in the day (already showered, just ate, etc.).  I listened to Pirates of Penzance, which was the right speed for the pace that I was [...]

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