Are you serious!?!?!?

 Do you remember what was supposed to take place this morning?  Yes, my interview.  But I wouldn't really call it an interview.  It was more of a "Oh hi Stephanie!  I remember you now." (some chatter about my work history)  The Principal calls and interrupts our talk...next thing you know, I'm filling out some preliminary paperwork.

Yes, I said paperwork!  I am going to be teaching 6th grade math this fall!!!!  I am beyond stoked to be teaching, muchless be teaching a subject I enjoy and feel confident in.  Now I just need to start getting details on training, my classroom, teaching materials and lesson planning.  I have one huge weight off my shoulders, but new ones being added on.  I will take the new weights thankfully. :)

Super Easy Recipe!!

I was sharing my nominations with those I chose, and came across Going Nutty's post regarding a recipe she was making and super easy it was.  So I thought, why not post one of my most easiest recipes EVER.  When I say easy, I mean a 3 year old could put this whole thing together and it's nearly impossible to mess up.

Things you need?

1.  Bottle of BBQ sauce  (I prefer Sweet Baby Rays or something with honey BBQ)
2.  Crock pot and crock pot liners
3.  Tyson Pork Shoulder (2 lbs will feed roughly 8 people)

Place the crock pot liner in the crock pot, open the package of the pork shoulder.  If you need to trim any fats, now would be the time.  Place in the crock pot as a whole.  Pour the whole bottle of BBQ sauce on and around the pork.  Place the lid on.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.  Once it's done, take two forks and shred away.

These make great sandwiches on buns or bread, or you can do tacos and use all the yummy stuff you put on tacos...especially avocados.

Enjoy!!

Fabulous Finds Friday

Before I talk about my finds I have to thank Ms. Nichole over at The Craft of Teaching for nominating me for my very first award!  I am so excited!  I hope all these wonderful things taking place mean that greater things are one their way!

Here are the rules:
1.  Follow  the person who gave you the award.
2.  Link back to the person who gave you the award.
3.  Pass the award to 10 new bloggers and let them know they have received the award.

So the lucky ones getting this award are.... (drum roll please)
1.  Learning in Wonderland
2.  Teaching my Friends
3.  Beyond the Grades
4.  Going Nutty!
5.  Mrs. Will's Kindergarten
6.  Bunting, Books and Brainbridge
7.  Giggles Galore 
8.  Joy of Kindergarten
9.  The Inspired Apple
10.  First Grade Owls

Make sure you stop on by their blogs and check them out!

Now on to those fabulous finds of mine from the wonderful land of....TARGET!  I actually owe these finds to my sister who was browsing in the $1 area and passed the word along to my mom.  So thoughtful of her.  <3

 For some reason, this won't turn the right way despite being edited and saved the proper way.  Anyways, it's a dry erase board for a whole dollar that has handwriting lines.  My mom bought me 8 which would be perfect for a teacher group or center if I teach younger grades.  I'm currently going to use it with the twins I tutor to work on word work and handwriting.

 I love these wire trash baskets!  My first grade mentor teacher has the larger ones that are sold at Bed Bath and Beyond for the college students, and she places them in the center of the tables when students are doing projects that create a lot of trash.  Saves the room from being completely littered and from students getting "lost" on their way to and from the trash.  Price: $2.50

 These are essential for any classroom organization for art supplies!  I haven't bought them yet since I don't know what I will be teaching, but they are on my wish list if I get a primary grade level.  Price: $2.50

 And last but not least, this find is actually from Wal-Mart.  I snuck away from the Mr. to wander down the school supplies claiming I wouldn't buy anything....which I had planned not to, until I found this.  I just HAD to have it!  Absolutely adorable.  It was a whopping $0.97!!

Well that is all I have for now!  I should probably get to bed so the Mr. doesn't get mad at me.  I have lots of household things to do tomorrow AFTER I get my beauty rest of sleeping until noon.  :)  hehe

PS.  I still could use some advice for coming up with questions for the interview on Monday!  Please help!

Talk about ups and downs..

This is a bit of a long one, so settle in with your fav drink and read up.  Yesterday was one of the most frustrating afternoons I have had in a long time.  The Mr. and I had scheduled to drive out to his parents for dinner since we haven't spent much time with them lately.  Had I known taking his car was going to lead to a whole chain of events we would have taken my car.

About ten minutes into the drive his AC started blowing hot air.  So we automatically start discussing what we think went wrong (he works on cars for a living) and how much it might cost us.  We roll down the windows and continue on our journey.  Until the Mr. makes an exclamation and immediately pulls over on the left side of a very busy freeway.  Apparently the engine was overheating and he noticed his temperature gauge on the dash.  I really don't like being on the side of a highway...much less the left side and during somewhat rush hour traffic. After contacting his parents, I got out of the car with our dog and stood on the other side of the cables in the median, just in case.  We were there for a good 15-20 minutes before someone one the opposite flow of traffic pulled over to check on us.  Thankfully, this man went and made a U-turn and pulled us off the freeway with a chain he had in the back of his van.  I am ever so appreciative of him!!

Long story short, it was the thermostat that was the whole issue.  It closed up and kept the coolant from flushing through the engine block and it over heated...he took it out, hooked up the hose and we finished our drive to his parents.  His dad went to Auto Zone and got the new thermostat and he got it all fixed.  So thankful I have a man who knows what he is doing, and can fix things like this.  That's a good reason as to why I love him!

Ok, so enough of the downer news of last nights events, on to the good stuff!!!  I don't know if I have said what I am doing this summer and what all I have been doing to start my teaching career, so here it goes!

I am currently working a summer camp with kids going into the 3rd through 6th grades.  We do 2-3 field trips a week, have weekly themes and do activities based on those themes.  This is in the midst of searching for a full-time teaching position for the 2012-2013 school year.  So far I have interviewed for a K/3rd position at one campus, 5th grade, Kindergarten, another intermediate position (4th/5th), and a sub position with the district I student taught in.  I have heard from all but the Kindergarten and sub interviews that I had two weeks ago.

The one I had really hoped for was the 5th grade position.  I felt comfortable during my interview and even met with the assistant superintendent two days later...so it was heartbreaking to be told I was a top candidate, but that it had been offered to someone else.

Well about a month later, who do a I get a phone call and e-mail from?  That same district!!  The principal contacted me because they just had a 6th grade math position open up and she wants me to be considered for it!  I was jumping up and down!  My kids thought I had jumped off the deep end.  :)  My kids are so supportive of my search that they are always asking me if I heard back from the districts or gotten a job yet.  It warms my heart that they check on me.  So the Principal has me meeting with the Asst. Super again to refresh her memory of me and so I can *hopefully* make another good impression on her.  I meet with her Monday morning, so another "fingers crossed" weekend!!

Now that I have written a novel I have questions for all you veteran teachers...considering I've met with the Asst. Super once and have pretty good general knowledge of the district and what they offer teachers, what questions should I have ready to ask her??  Any advice would be lovely!!

Have a fantastic night.  Olympics 2012 starts tomorrow!!

TPT Sale!!

As we all know, I am still working my way into my teaching career, blogging, and selling things via TPT.  However, I joined in on my first linky party on 4th Grade Frolics and I had almost 30 page views!  I know, the little things in life, but it's so exciting to get some traffic on my little corner of cyberspace.

So, in celebration of this, I've done a small sale on my Owl Binder Covers and my Birthday Certificates.  :)

Well, that's all I've got!

PS. Please become a follower!!!  I would really love that.

Checking things off my to-do list!

I absolutely love going to my scrap-booking/crafting retreats!  I was so successful at checking things off my list that I am glad I got to go. So you remember my checklist right?  Well, I will show it to you again just in case...

Or at least I thought that was my to-do list.  My mom had me bring my shirts I don't wear that will eventually be a part of my second t-shirt quilt.

So I got my future quilt's shirts prepped (in other words, trimmed, and stabilizer ironed on), my name outlined on my first quilt, the pillowcase made, both curtain panels sewn by me, behavior chart made, and some scrapbooking done.  I didn't make my box top container because I couldn't find a container, and I didn't really feel like getting out the tiles to make coasters.

I haven't taken any pictures of my scrapbook pages I made yet, but I do have pictures of my behavior chart!  I have seen this behavioral system all over the other blogs and of course, Pinterest.  I found one another teacher made using her cricut.  You can find it here.  So my thoughts, I own a Cricut....why don't I make my own??  So I did!

I used patterned paper instead of solid cardstock because I like the excitement it brings and how cute it looks!  It's hard to tell, but each block has it's own pattern.  I absolutely adore how this turned out.  It took a lot longer than I had planned to make, but it sure turned out cute!

When my quilt gets the backing I will definitely post a picture of it!  My mother has been working on it off and on for a few years, and until she caved in to going to these retreats.  My parents are in the middle of remodeling the house, so she doesn't get very much time to do her personal things.

On a different note, I sold a second item on TPT!!!!  Woot!  Making progress.

Well, the man is home so looks like I need to make some food.  Good night!

PS. Don't try blogging while watching the season finale of Cake Boss... *tear city*

Craftin' Time!

I am so excited that I am still away at one o'clock in the morning.  I'm not a nerd at all when it comes to crafts....but at least I think I have everything ready to go, for the crafting part at least.  My mom is supposed to come over to the apartment to load up at 8:30am and I still don't have my suitcase packed.  Who needs a change of clothes and toiletries when you got a cricut, a sewing machine, and long list of crafts to complete in about four days?

Can you tell I am a list person?  I love having the pleasure of checking things off as I complete them, it makes me feel like I accomplished something.  Especially because I actually have planned to get more done at this retreat than I had originally planned.  I was only going to do the coasters and complete my scrapbook.  My family and I went to Cali last July and I started the scrapbook in October at the following retreat.  I have worked on it two full retreats and a 12 hour crop day.  I'm ready to have it done so I can work on my school, dance and previous family vacations scrapbooks.   My mom isn't a "crafty" person, so scrapbooking those childhood memories are my job.

I guess I better head to bed since I can't exactly pack clothes with my man passed out in bed.  :/

Good night!

Interesting Day

Today was a good day.  Tutored the twins today that are going into first grade.  We worked on high frequency words, handwriting, and coming up with words with me giving them a beginning letter.  All in all, it was a good session, with the exception that they were super cranky sleepy.  

I also saw the Peter Pan musical today at DSM with my mom.  I was actually really surprised at how many kiddos were there with their parents and grandparents.  It was super cute and the kids had a great time.

However, I got this really odd email today from the Teacher Job Network saying that a district had hired me and that there was a link to deactivate my application....ummm, the district listed hasn't even contacted me regarding a screening interview, much less getting hired.  So I'm a bit confused about the whole thing.  Looks like I'll be calling the HR department to see if it was a mistake or if there is something I need to be informed on.  haha.

Well, I've got some things I want to create for my TPT store.  

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Fingers Crossed!

As I go through this whole interview and waiting process, my mind keeps spinning with all these ideas that I could use within any grade level classroom.  I have lists of things that my mentor teachers did that I absolutely loved and want to implement within my future classroom.

One thing I really loved was having book boxes for each student to house their current reads, reader's response notebooks, and post-it notes for quick thoughts.  So I found cardboard book boxes that are 4-inches wide, come in a 6-pack, and in an assortment of colors.  Instead of putting names on them, I figured I would make labels that have numbers and students would know their corresponding numbers.

I made them so that they could print on Avery labels (6874) so that they will already have adhesive on them.

Next post I will share the substitute binder that I've been making to get me prepared for any absences I could have over the school year.

**fingers crossed for my latest interview for a Kindergarten position!!**