So here's the deal...

I am incredibly excited about life right now.  Here are my reasons why:

1. Ben will be an Arizona resident in approximately 23 days.
2. It hasn't rained in forever and well in the 'boro it constantly rained.  I love the weather... so far.
3. It's really easy to get tan here.
4. I had roast beef for dinner, and I'm pretty sure it's the meat of the gods.
5. It's almost the weekend. (Is it just me or did this week fly by?)
6. My kids are working on vocabulary books for the novel we are reading, Bunnicula, and one of the words is hideous.  Their drawings are the best.
7. I think I'm going to bake a cake this weekend... or better yet, cup cakes!
8. I haven't killed all of the plants Nina bought me. (Miles murdered the cilantro.)
9. Netflix has been giving me top notch suggestions to fill my nights with.
10. I organized a bit more of my classroom.  I'm so excited to have it completely done for next year. I'm still finding random junk EVERYWHERE!

I think it is safe to say that my furry men always have me excited about life.  The particular one featured may need to go on a diet soon.  I am having a hard time determining if it's belly fluff or belly fat. Either way he's cute!

What's got you happy about life lately?
- Liz

So much to do, so little time

Is such a mess of different things.  If I'm not planning for school, I'm at a soccer game.  If I'm not at a soccer game I'm at volleyball.  If I'm not at volleyball I'm at soccer practice.

This is the way life should be. So filled with tons of different things, that you don't have time to even document it, no matter how badly you want to.  This weekend is already shaping up to be a busy one filled with sunshine and the river or lake.  I may start hating it soon, but this Arizona weather right now, is pretty alright.

Is your spring filled to the brim with activities as well?

- Liz

Life lately...

Has been so busy, I haven't even been able to take any really super artistic shots with my iPhone.  It's sad, because obviously I'm no good at documenting my life, but it's also kind of exciting because I have a life to document!

My weekend thus far has consisted of:
Leaky water heater, which led to brand new water heater and a huge fan in my room all day.  Oh and half of my closet hanging out on my bed. This was basically my whole Friday night.
Shopping trip to Primm, which led to a very happy wallet, because the clothes there were ugly.
Shopping trip to Target, which led to a not so happy wallet, because come on, it's Target.

On the agenda for the rest of the night we have:
Watch a lot of Netflix.
Plan Ben's move to Arizona, since I know that's the only way it will be done.
Laundry.
Finish preparing for the week.
Try not to fall asleep at 9:30 again, because that isn't cool when you're 23 and it's the weekend.

Have you been busy this spring or is it just me?

Today, we are...

1. Eating delicious peach cobbler.  Recipe here. Definitely try it, incredibly yummy!

2. Cuddling with Blu Bird

3. Playing with Miles in the window and curtains

4. Making mini succulents!

Lots of fun packed into this Sunday.  Our plans for later are even more exciting, including making potato chips!  What kind of fun do you fit into your Sunday? 

- Lizzie

Once upon a time...

I felt like I had no more time for fun and it was incredibly sad.  It's Saturday, and I spent the majority of the day sitting at Einsteins.  Definitely not my ideal Saturday but at least I was getting paid.  Speaking of... guess who got a raise! I'm finally getting a little bit more than minimum wage.  I will be so happy when I get into the big girl world and have a real career rather than a part time job.  December can't come soon enough! 

I don't think it's necessarily the big girl job that I'm after (even though I can't wait to have my own classroom), it's more so the lack of multiple obligations.  Working at Einsteins isn't awful, but having to fit it around my school schedule is awful.  I will be so happy when I can go to school and get paid for it!  

I feel like this week has been extremely long, which I'm not complaining about at all!  With one week left of summer, I want every second to be filled with entertainment and fun.  We've obviously been getting into a little DIY fun, but we've also managed to fit in some less strenuous fun as well.  Last night we watched our Netflix movie - One Day, while pigging out on some Dominos Pizza!  The movie was a fabulous chick flick.  Of course I had to force the gentleman to watch it, but I think in the end he enjoyed it as well! The pizza was absolutely delicious, and since they're running the special where any pizza is half off, it was just the right price.  

Speaking of right price, let's talk about my new obsession with free samples.  They are completely the right price!  About a month ago, I saw a free sample for kitten food, so I applied to get one.  This week I got it in the mail.  I'm one of those people, that really loves getting things in the mail.  So of course, I was excited! So now,  I am hunting down every free sample possible - because they're free and because it means I'll get mail!

As I'm typing this up, I'm pretty ashamed to say I barely have any pictures from this week.  Which definitely means that I've been busy.  I'll do my very best this upcoming week to document my life better.  Just so you'll have a little bit more of something to view than my super cool non slip shoes at Einsteins!

Oh and always a treat... a picture of Monster Mash Miles, sleeping on the bed.  So handsome. 

Those are the only pictures from the past few days... how sad.  

We just made a peach cobbler so I will be sure to have more delicious pictures tomorrow!

- Lizzie

  

Busy busy

Haven't posted too much lately. It's all due to my lovely schedule. This week was originally going to be a week of laziness, sleeping in and lounging all day... That was the plan at least until Einsteins needed workers and the Phonathon (second job) needed help with interviews.

So pretty much everyday this week I've been working at Einsteins and then going to the Phonathon... Ok not everyday just two, but either way it hasn't been fun. I know it's good though, considering I'm getting paid for all of it and it's getting me used to a hectic schedule which will no doubt start up on the 20th.

In my bits of free time, when I'm not taking cat naps I've been working on a few projects. Obviously the entertainment center, but I'm also entering Forever21's flashpack contest where you DIY a backpack. I'm really enjoying working on it and in my opinion it looks really good :)

Here are some pictures of both the entertainment center, with paint, and the backpack, which I'm not sure if it's done or not yet.

Next week is another hectic one, I'm just hoping I'll be able to keep this all up when student teaching starts!

Coming to you from the wonderful world of Einsteins
- Lizzie

Workaholic

Here I sit, in Einsteins, about to fall asleep.  School doesn't start back till the 20th (about two weeks from now), so campus is completely dead. I can't even say for sure why we are really open this week even, I'm sure it's costing the company money to have us all be here. We have no customers.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. I am more than happy to sit around for money, it just seems a bit silly.  Oh well, guess I'll continue to waste time playing sudoku and crosswords....

Mondays seem to be project days

So yesterday, after work, the gentleman and I on our drive home spotted a lot of furniture next to a dumpster of the apartment complex next to us. Well, growing up we did a lot of dumpster diving, for broom handles, furniture, anything of use. My mom always says that one man's junk can be another man's treasure. So of course, I made him pull over so I could determine whether or not anything was of value. We were in luck, there were some bar stools. We don't need any bar stools, but we had been planning to make a side table and a table for our plants, so the extra wood wouldn't hurt. We ripped off the disgusting seat cushions and threw three of the stools in the car. Once home, we got to work planning out what we were going to make. After much talk (and I mean a lot of talking) we finally decided on a set up that would be perfect for our plants with storage for extra potting soil and pots.

The kittens were a great help throughout the project!

Just a few...

Of my favorite things about yesterday:

Miles hanging out with me on the couch. 

A new small piece of artwork. 

Blu enjoying the cat hammock! 

Rearranging my bedroom

Much larger and rhino shaped artwork!

And the kittens enjoying the new window space. 

What did you enjoy about your day?

-Lizzie

a rainy day calls for some thrifting!

Truthfully, when we woke up it wasn't raining, nor did it look like it was going to rain.  However we still decided to head off to Savannah, because honestly we were very bored of Statesboro.  In just 40 minutes we found ourselves at the Savannah ReStore.  I'm sad to say it was not as amazing as the Statesboro ReStore.

Statesboro ReStore!

While I haven't been to the new location yet, our ReStore has a lot more of the things I'm interested in - cups, glasses, plates, pictures, etc.  If you are in need of a sink, the Savannah ReStore is definitely the place to go!   After a bit of a disappointment there, we headed to our favorite Goodwill in the area.  While not technically in Savannah, it's on Whitemarsh Island (I think that's the name) and has tons of treasures.  The Goodwill in downtown Savannah is far too picked over for us, so we normally skip over it.  I have put myself on a budget lately... I'm not allowed to buy things that are over $5 at thrift stores, unless there happens to be some magical piece of furniture!  Anyways I stuck to my budget and only bought one thing (shocking!) 

sinfully delicious

^ That is how I would have to describe the cake the gentleman and I made this afternoon.  A banana pound cake that was oh so delicious we had to have two slices a piece.

a rainy Thursday

Taking a look at my previous post, it's pretty easy to tell that it was a pretty lazy Thursday.  I woke up this morning, not feeling too hot which put me in a bit of our sour mood.  All I wanted to do was lay in bed and eat saltwater taffy (Who knew it was so delicious? We certainly had no idea!) While that's what I wanted to do, I decided it might be better to venture to Walmart and pick up some medicine.  So off we went.  Back at home with medicine I finally started feeling a bit better and realized that it was almost 1 and I hadn't done anything substantial all day.  Thus began my yarn tree.   Typing that, I realize I need to come up with a better name, because honestly that sounds so silly and stupid.  I'll work on that more later though.

“Sometimes I do smart things. Sometimes I do dumb things. Most of the time I don't do anything.” ― Gorilla Rising Hintz

We're having one of those days here.

so that's fifth grade...

Well, I had my first day of school!

It was pretty awesome.  Got to school around 7:00, which in order to do so meant I had to leave my house at about 6:45.  That is the best part about this semester, no more long drives out to who knows where!  The school where I am placed, is fabulous and all of the teachers are energetic and just fun.  It was a really different experience being there on the first day of school rather than just showing up a few weeks into the semester.  I was able to be there for all of the introductions and structure oriented aspects of teaching - rules, expectations, conduct codes, etc. I think this is definitely going to give me an advantage when I do start going everyday.  Speaking of that, I had somewhat planned to just start going already daily, but my teacher basically told me to enjoy summer while I could.  While I will enjoy this time off, I really can't wait to get started student teaching now.  I'm tired of being bored during the day.  Student teaching will give me more that enough stuff to do without a doubt.  All I can say is that I hope the rest of the school year goes just as smoothly as today!

Did you start school today?

- Lizzie

First day of school nerves!

So I start 5th grade tomorrow... Ok well I start teaching 5th grade tomorrow, to-may-toe, to-mah-to.  The nerves are all the same.  What if the popular kids don't like me? What if the principal thinks I'm a trouble maker? and so on and so forth.

Me!

Honestly I'm not too terribly nervous for the first day of school, I'm sure it will be hectic and fun.  What I am nervous about is student teaching and my time management skills.  This semester I'll be at my school from 7 am till 3 pm every day.  That's a 40 hour job that I'm not getting paid for! While I would love to just do student teaching, there are two furry mouths that I have to feed, rent to pay, and sometimes I like to eat.  Which is why I work at the lovely Einsteins.  I may also have a secondary job if they feel like working with my schedule, but I won't know that until later tonight.  All I do know is that I am going to have to stay so organized with my lessons and work or else I won't be graduating in December.

Other than being a bit scared of what is to come this semester, I am super excited to meet all of my students and get back into the swing of teaching.  Once I finish up browsing the good ol' interwebz and eat a delicious dinner, I plan on packing my bag, my lunchbox, and getting all of pens and pencils in order.  I have to be prepared for the first day, I mean I am the teacher!!

Any tips on how to cure first day of school nerves?

- Elizabeth

Monday, Monday...

Well I definitely didn't expect to be writing another blog today, but I just finished a project and had to write about it... Yeah it's that exciting.  Before I get to that let me just say that I had the worst experience at Chick Fil-A today.  I'm pretty sure we waited in line for approximately 25 minutes... ridiculous.

That's not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy my free chicken sandwich (love coupons) or side salad.   Now this is definitely not me supporting Chick Fil-A and their ideals... it is simply me supporting my own love for delicious chicken.  However I can now say that I won't be visiting that establishment for quite some time, at least not until they hire a more competent staff.  

Now onto the super exciting stuff!  

So a long, long time ago (maybe three months) I began to make one of those hoola hoop rugs.  Well let me tell you those things are not nearly as easy as they might appear.  Talk about time consuming.  I ended up making it about half of the size I really wanted to make.  So now what was I to do with this teeny tiny rug... well I had no idea so I just left it on the floor for a while.  It was a pleasant surprise to see that the kitten babies loved it.  They would sit on it at any time possible.  I then came up with the brilliant idea of making it into a cat hammock! The gentleman and I attached some strings and had it looking somewhat like a hammock.  However since the we were both moving soon, we decided to wait to hang it up.  So we got to the new apartments and it was time to hang it up! 

Except we decided to just hang it under the coffee table.  Which worked pretty well.  The cats loved it and we knew they were safe on it, considering it was pretty much touching the ground.  However I longed to have a true cat hammock, hanging from the ceiling.  So today we hung it up. Let's just say it didn't work as well hanging from the ceiling as it did from under the table.

Our once strong and sturdy hoola hoop was bending and breaking at every possible point.  It was awful and I feared for Miles' life the entire time he was in there.  I mean yes it worked and it might have stayed together, but I couldn't trust it with my babies' lives.  So off to Walmart we went to find a sturdier hoola hoop.  We were a little surprised with ourselves when we left the store with not another hoola hoop but a picture frame... minus the glass.  I got right to work tearing apart the old contraption and adding some support to the new picture frame.  

Using strips from and old t-shirt made
great and bouncy support for the hammock. 

Once the support was attached, I wrapped the hammock section/rug around the frame.  

After wrapping the hammock section around the frame we secured it with a few pieces of hemp.  Once secure, we added the hanging strips and hung it up.  It is awesome and Miles definitely loves it. So much so that Blu has not even had a chance to see it yet.  

Everyone here is very pleased with the new and improved cat hammock.  However I am beginning to wonder, are we those crazy cat people? 

- Elizabeth

Lazy weekend

So here's how my weekend started. A delicious Saturday breakfast of fried egg, homemade bread, turkey bacon and fresh fruit.  It was delicious and a fabulous start to the weekend.  By the way this was all done before 9 am.  We were very impressed by how early our day started.  In fact, by noon, be had completed all of our errands and were kind of bored.

Now, when I say errands, many people may think of grocery shopping or things of that nature.  Well, our errands consist of visiting the local thrift stores, garage sales, and lastly visiting the kittens at Petco.  It's pretty much the best kind of day for us.  I was actually able to pick up some awesome things at the thrift stores and yard sales.

Please disregard the washer and dryer to the left and the mini pantry we have and focus on the pretty new tray and cross-stitch under the clock.  I believe I paid a total of 2 dollars for both of them.  Here's a better look at each of them individually. 

How precious is this? 

I'm pretty much in love with all vintage and floral items so this tray is right up my alley.

I left with a few other goodies as well, a bright blue bunt pan, a small stain glass cardinal, a trivet, and a small print of a cardinal.  The gentleman is from St. Louis, so it is imperative that we incorporate a few cardinals into our decor. Both are now hanging above our bed with some of our other bird prints.  The gentleman picked up a drafting triangle for the total of 25 cents, which he is very pleased with.  Overall it was a fabulous Saturday.  Our Sunday was very similar, however we actually bought some brand new things!  We picked up a copy of Children of the Mind, the next book in the Ender series.  My favorite purchase of the day is definitely my new dress.  

Cannot wait to wear this!!!

While I may have bought the dress new, I certainly didn't pay full price.  This beautiful dress was a total of $10! I absolutely love the sale section.  It was definitely a wonderful weekend and I am sad to say it is over.   I'm down to my last two days of summer and of course the weather is gloomy.  I'm hoping that the gentleman and I will be able to have a bit of fun today despite the weather.

How's the weather where you are?

- Elizabeth

Quite the interesting day

As you may have noticed earlier, not much was done at work today.  It was our last day before we close for the "summer", which is just one week.  I believe there were a total of 8 of us there, and well nothing was done all day.  We had the rare customers, which of course we served, but primarily our time was spent in the lobby where we watched videos and played games on our phones.  Oh and for a time we had a bit of fun all around the store...
Yes, for a time, we planked around the store.  It was quite enjoyable.  However, being as small as I am, it was most often my job to get into the most difficult plank situations. Honestly I can't say I had planked prior to day, but I guess there's a first for everything.

Something else that was introduced to me was the Chicken Chow Down video.  I highly suggest you all go and watch this video as it will be very enlightening, especially while the debate with Chick Fil-A is happening.

 It was definitely an enjoyable last day of work, even if it was a nine hour shift.

So that was pretty much my morning/mid afternoon.  From there I took a little cat nap, went to Goodwill (my favorite place in Statesboro, and went to the grocery store.  The gentleman cooked up a delicious dinner and now we're watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics and wondering what the hell is going on.  Don't get me wrong but this is just a bit strange of ceremony.  A friend of mine said "It's like a flash mob gone terribly wrong."  I can't say I disagree at all.  We're going to continue watching, but definitely hoping that it will get a tab bit more normal.

Other than all of that, I am very happy it is the weekend and I have some time to sleep in, relax, and see the new Batman!!! I've heard great things and cannot wait for date night on Sunday.

Hope you all also had an interesting day!

- Elizabeth

Working girl

So it's almost 8 here at Einsteins and we've been open for an hour. How many customers have we had, you ask, well a total of zero. So this is what we're doing, sitting in the lobby on our phones- watching videos on YouTube or playing games. Hard life.

You can just call me Suzy Homemaker

Lately my work schedule has been 8-2 or 7-1, so today is a rare day that I'm scheduled to work 1- close.  And let me tell you I am taking full advantage of this relaxing time.  The gentleman is at work so it's just me and the kitten babies.  So far we've baked a loaf of bread, done the laundry (most of it anyways), and washed all of the leftover dishes.  I've been in a very "bakey" mood the past couple of days and it really makes me feel like I should have been born in the 50's!

The gentleman and I have been making smoothies every morning... the green monster actually! (It's good!) The recipe requires bananas, so we obviously stocked up on bananas, not realizing we were going to run out of yogurt and not be able to make smoothies for a few days.  Thus we had a massive pile of brown bananas yesterday.  Now, the only logical thing you can do with brown bananas is bake banana bread! To me, this is one of the easiest things to bake, other than box cakes of course! My sister gave me a recipe a few years ago and I've been a banana bread baking fiend since.

Ingredients:
3-4 smushed/mashed bananas

No chocolate or strawberries this time, but still oh so delicious!

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 C melted butter
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Mix the butter into the bananas
2. Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla
3. Sprinkle in baking soda and salt
4. Mix in flour
5. Put into a buttered pan and cook for one hour at 350

Sometimes I get a little bit crazy and add chocolate chips or strawberries, sometimes both!

I also always stock up on the easy muffin mixes, you know, the ones where all you have to add is milk or water.  We had a couple people over last night, so we also whipped up some mini blueberry muffins.

They're very yummy, and since they are so small, I don't feel quite so bad when I have two... or three!

My last baking adventure, was as I talked about earlier, my loaf of bread.  However now I'm not so sure you can really call it a loaf... perhaps more of a ball? I'll let you decide.

I got a fabulous recipe from Simply So Good for what she calls crusty bread.  It is also an incredibly easy bread to bake and only required four ingredients: flour, salt, water, and yeast! It's definitely my kind of recipe.  However if you are planning on making this bread, keep in mind that the dough has to rise for 12-18 hours!

We made the dough last night and set it aside until this morning when I got out our dutch oven and made a delicious loaf/ball of bread!

Very pleased with all of my baking adventures! I think my subconscious knew that starting next week I would have zero time for baking or anything exciting really.  Here's to hoping I can fit in a little bit more fun!


- Suzy Homemaker