Wordless Wednesday

1st Day of School 2012

                                                                Thomas 7th Grade          Tyler Pre-K 

#BagItFoward 2012

I was so excited to be able to be a part of Elmer's #BagItFoward campaign this year.   When I found out I was chosen to donate some quality school supplies to a teacher or student of my choice, I knew exactly the person.  
I have a friend Dora who is a Special Education teacher in our middle school.   She has a classroom of about 15 kids (6th-8th grade) who mostly have behavior issues and can't be main streamed all day.   Her job is a tough one.   The students in her class not only have behavioral issues and learning disabilities, some of them don't have good home environment.  Dora is GREAT with them, she loves them all like a teacher, mom, big sister and an aunt would and should.
I emailed Dora to let her know I was donating supplies to her, she was so overwhelmed and grateful.  I asked her to make a "wish list" and sent her the link to the Elmer's website so she could get some ideas.  She said she really needed things so she and the kids could work on projects together.    She loved the Painter's Paint Pens (and so do I), glue sticks and glitter glue.  The rest was up to me... yay!

I went to Walmart to check out what I could get.

Glue, Glue and more Glue....  Perfect for any and all kinds of projects.   

 On Dora's "wish list" was glitter glue, Painter's paint pens and stencils so her and her students could do projects together.    The swirl glitter glue is so cute, but I think we all know what my favorite Elmer's product is.... the Painter's Paint Pens!  love, love, love, love, love...

  Here's Dora (Mrs. Carr to her students) with her basket of goodies.   We delivered it right to her classroom while she was getting it all ready for the 1st day of school.   If you want to read and see more photos from this shopping trip, you can check out my Google+ story.

Now, I have to tell you a few more things about Elmer's new App called "Elmer's 1st Day of School" 

For every photo uploaded, Elmer’s will donate one product to The Kids in Need Foundation

(KINF) up to 200,000 products.  When I uploaded my photo of my son and grandson on their 1st day of school this was the number of donations to date.    I'm sure it's way more then that by now!  

I urge you to go download the app and upload your photos!  It's an awesome and easy way to give to kids in need.    

Here's a list of links that you just HAVE to go check so you can see for yourself 

 how awesome Elmer's is! 

• BagItForward.org http://bagitforward.org/
• Elmer’s on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Elmers
• Elmer’s on Twitter http://twitter.com/elmers
• Bag It Forward on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/cbsocially/bag-it-forward/

• 1st Day App download http://the1stday.com/walmart

Happy 1st Day of School Everyone! 

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and and Elmer’s.  #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric”

Wordless Wednesday

The Unexpected Lunch Date 

  

The only time I go out to lunch is with my girlfriends.  But today I got to "lunch" with my oldest son Nicholas.   It was really nice to just spend some one on one time with him.   He is an amazing, smart, funny (hate to say it) young man.  

What's Your Decorating Style?

I get email newsletters from Better Homes and Garden almost every day it seems.  I save them until I actually have the time to read them and click on all the links that interest me.  

Well, today was the day I was able to check out a few.  I saw a link for "what's your decorating style?" and figured what the heck.   

I really do like most decorating styles, except super modern.  I'm just not a fan of it.  

I was curious to see what this quiz would say my style was and the answer .... Cottage.
I do love Cottage Style, but I'm not sure I could live with it.  It's a lot of white if you ask me, and I'm just too much of a slob to be hanging out on a white couch (slipcovered or not)
I did wonder if that's because I chose hydrangea as a flower you would find on my coffee table, or that I chose the slipcovered chair?  I didn't really hate any of the options it gave as answers, So I went back and did the quiz again.  
The 2nd time it said my style was..... Polished Casual
That sounds more like my true style. Although,  I don't think that if you walked into my house right now you would call it "polished" anything!

What is your Decorating Style?  Do you know?  Do you want to know?
You can take the quiz yourself, as many times as you want til you get the answer you like best! LOL

 

Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

 My son Thomas and niece Abby in San Juan

I got back from an 8 day family vacation on Tuesday and I'm still not back into the swing of things just yet.

My father decided he wanted take the whole family on a trip before the kids get too much bigger. We had an awesome time on a Carnival Cruise Ship that left from New York, stopped in San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Grand Turk.
It was the first time my husband, sons and myself have been on a cruise. Which was part of the reason why my dad chose that type of vacation.
I knew it was going to be different.  Of course in normal "Tina-Fashion" I freaked out and was very anxious about being trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean for that long.   I also knew I wasn't going to be able to use my phone or bring a laptop and the thought of being "out of the loop" was just as terrifying. 
I have to say, being unplugged wasn't that bad.   I missed talking to a few friends who I talk to every single day, but other then that, the withdrawls just weren't there.  Shocking, I know!    
I'm glad my kids got to have that experience and see places they've never seen before.  Although going on a cruise with a group of 12 people isn't very relaxing.  It's hard to keep track of everyone all the time.
Don't get me wrong, it was great and we had a lot of fun and sun!   I'm just more of a beach house girl, Chris likes to fish, Tom loves to play in the sand and Nick loves the ocean waves.   Next year for sure! 

I'm happy to be home. I do miss Lenardo, he made my bed everyday, then turned back my sheets and left a towel animal every night.   I miss Watson and the other waiters at dinner.  They were all so nice and cute with their foreign accents.

 
Now it's back to my reality of laundry, cooking, cleaning and getting this blog back on track for BlogHer!
(which is in exactly 2 weeks)  Holy Cow, that's scarey!

Have you ever been on a cruise?  I would love to know what your thoughts are on the whole experience.

Working Weight Watchers... Again

Yup... started Weight Watchers again!  It's got to be my 5th or 6th time going back. 

It' so hard, it sucks.  I just have to keep in mind that it sucks worse to feel the way I do about myself then to have to give up eating what ever I want, when ever I want.   

Of course leaving for an 8 day family cruise on July 9th and having to see hundreds of other women at BlogHer in August might have something to do with my decision to start up again.   But hey, whatever works right?

I really need to work on tracking my food.  I'm horrible at it.  I usually write down breakfast, sometimes lunch but by the time dinner comes around I can't be bothered.   For me night time is the hardest, it's when I tend to snack the most.   So, I'm sure that could be why I don't like to track.  It's some sort of mental game I play with myself.  
The other thing I'm horrible at is exercising.  O.M.G. it's the worst!  Doesn't housework and shopping count?  I am not a fan of sweating for any reason!   I wish stress could burn calories, I would weigh about 95lbs.     

I could really use some good / low point snack ideas.  So if you are on the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus program and have ideas to share, I would love to hear from you.

Making Fabric and Cork Mousepads

Original Pin from ModernDayMoms.com

It's a good ol' Pinterest inspired project again.  I love me my Pinterest!

I've had this pinned on my DIY Inspiration board for a while now.  I really pinned because I liked the shape of it.  I actually don't even use a mousepad.

Today I'm going to lunch with my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday.   I always like to bring them a little something when we get together.  It's just what I do.
I knew they would love these mousepads and I knew they would be easy to make quickly!

I had everything already except the fabric, so I ran to Walmart to grab some.

Mousepad Prep

First I cut the cork into my shape using an X-Acto knife.  Then cut the fabric to the same shape just a little smaller (shrunk the template I used for the cork on my printer)  I used adhesive spray to glue the fabric to cork.   That's it, DONE!  It's as easy as that!