My Week

I'm so thankful it is finally the weekend! I went to an "Aspiring Principals" workshop today.... It was interesting. It confirmed my desire to NOT ever be a principal. ha! I just do not think I am cut out for that job. My feelings would be continuously hurt, and I think I would be a micromanager. That is definitely not a good thing for a principal to be. So, that's that.

Something that was really neat about the conference today was I got to meet my alma mater's new elementary principal for next year. I gave her the inside info on the town she is about to move to. I love meeting new people! It's so much fun to hear their stories, and know their visions for the future. However, I think people get tired of me being in their group because I have a hard time focusing on the assignments. I would much rather visit and be social.

In our Financial Peace class tonight, we learned about saving for retirement. It was so over my head. All I know is if Dave Ramsey would just contact me personally, we could be millionaires by the time we retire. I am patiently awaiting his call....Surely I am at the top of his priority list.... Surely....

I have a new home improvement project that I want to do. My school district is giving us an end-of-year bonus. I'm hoping it will buy the materials needed for a new shower in our master bath. I won't even step in the shower now. It is for real gross. I mean, it was gross when we moved in. My mother-in-law cleaned it pretty well though. However, Bran has just made it more nasty because he won't clean it! So, I'm just going to replace it with the help of some friends, and of course, my dad and maybe my brother. It's definitely time!

Have you tried these??

If not, go get some. They are sooooo good! I seriously work with the best people. Our focus teacher knows my love for these coconut m&m's. And she should because she is the one that got me addicted! On Thursday morning, a BOX of 24 packages of this chocolaty goodness was awaiting me on my desk. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.......... perfection. I asked the "Coconut Fairy" how much I owed her. Her response, "The Coconut Fairy never requires payment. Simply share with those you love." She really is one of the sweetest people I know. If you live close to me and would like to try some, just come find me! I have a lot to share!

the perfect teacher gift from a teacher's point of view

I love Show Us Your Life from Kelly's blog. This week's topic: teacher gifts! I have taught fourth grade for two years now. I have been blessed with amazing kids and all of their creative and thoughtful gifts. I have been thinking about what the perfect gift from a student would be.... and then I remembered what one of my student's mom told me.

I was standing with my after school kids waiting for their parents to pick them up. One of my fellow colleagues started talking to me about her son who is in my room. He is such a sweetie! She said he was talking to her one night about me. He said I was his favorite teacher (awwww....). He went on to say how he really liked how Mrs. Motley taught him the things he really needed to know. And Mrs. Motley seems to really like being a teacher. And how Mrs. Motley was strict, but not mean. And how he liked Mrs. Motley's "classroom management". haha! All of this coming from a 10 year old boy. I love it!! So the perfect teacher gift in my eyes would be having a student write down all of those things that he/she appreciates. I'm not talking about the normal pictures, drawings, and the papers with "I LOVE YOU" written all over it that teachers get on a daily basis (although those are sweet too). I'm talking about a thoughtful, from the heart, letter. I would treasure that; especially on those days that aren't exactly the best.

Of course, a massage would be nice too! HA!

FINISHED!

I had no idea how much work these countertops were going to be! I have spent almost a week on them. Unfortuntely the paint bled through the tape and onto the wall. I had to run to Lowes after school today to get some more of our wall color. We bought our green color at Wal-Mart, but I thought Lowes could create the same color while I was there getting the other paint. WRONG! I spent $10 on the wrong stinkin' paint color! It made me so mad! After I painted, I had to go back into town to get the right color at Wal-Mart. All is well now.... Here are the pictures. I am incredibly pleased with the result. They look soooo much better!

In other news, our testing is OVER! Woohoo! I am so proud of my kiddos. They worked extremely hard. Tomorrow we are having a fun day. We are going to get some beach towels and lay under a shade tree with our library books tomorrow afternoon. They were pretty excited about it. We're going to play Uno as well, and, of course, there will be food involved. They deserve a nice reward!

Phase Two

Wow. I'm pretty stinkin' impressed with myself. haha And, surprisingly, Bran is too! Here are our "new" countertops after phase two. They're still not completed.... That step is coming tonight!

Almost there. This was about 11:30 last night. Note to self: It's never a good idea to stay up past midnight on a school night, especially during Benchmark week!

I didn't do so good on the backsplash. The corners were sooooo hard to paint.

I think they look better in person than in pictures. But you get the idea! I think it looks WAY better than our old countertops! It gives our kitchen a more updated look. I am curious to see how they will hold up to normal use... It should last us until we get all our debt paid off and can save some money to get new countertops. I was not expecting to paint from 7:30pm - 12:00am. It took forever. However, patience is a virtue, and I think it paid off. Tonight, I will apply the two coats of sealer. Tomorrow, I will be able to take the tape off. In a couple of weeks, I can put my stuff back on top. I'm SO glad the hard part is over!

Countertops - Phase One

So in an effort to save some money, yet have a pretty home, I am painting our nasty, fake "butchertop" countertops. My dad bought me the Giani Countertop Paint kit, and today I finally had the time to try it out! I was incredibly NERVOUS at first. This is not exactly my forte!

I didn't exactly dress up for the occasion. haha

Step One: Clear off the countertops.

Step Two: Clean them VERY well.

Step Three: Remove any gross caulk.

(Which means I have to repaint the wall now.... grrrrr....)

Step Four: Re-caulk (after going to Lowe's and trying to figure out the dumb caulking gun which resulted in a call to my dad.)

Step Whatever: Tape

AND NOW - I'm ready to go!!!

My heart was racing.

No turning back now.

Half-way there.

Finished with Phase One!!!

Yikes! Tomorrow, I'll make it look like granite. Well, that's the plan anyways.

I'm Back!

Oh. My. Goodness.

This has been such a crazy couple of weeks. The week after Spring Break, we had five performances of our church's Easter production. Of course we had to be there because Bran has the main role! Here are some pictures my momma snapped:

Bran always does such an amazing job. I am so incredibly proud of him!

My parents came down on Saturday night to watch the performance. They brought both Bran and I Easter baskets. I hope my mom still makes me a basket when I am old and have my own kids. haha She put lots of candy in mine with some YellowBox flip-flops. I was so excited! I didn't even ask for them! Pretty sure I wore them to school the next day! They also brought down some paint for my countertops.... That's a completely different post though! I am sooooo excited to try it out!

Say a prayer for me and my class. We have our state testing coming up next week. All of us are ready to get it over with! I hope they blow it out of the water!! I know they can. They are a smart group of kids. Hopefully I haven't let them down as their teacher.

I'm off to bible study. I feel like I could write a whole book about what we've been up too! I've missed you blog!