 When roaming the isles of Home Depot, I found that you can buy sheets of chalkboard in the lumber section. This set my brain to work and I instantly thought it would be perfect for the backyard fence! We bought one sheet for about $10 and headed home. The sheet fit perfectly between the braces for the fence and we installed it with a few all-weather screws. Voila! In less than 5 minutes we had an outdoor chalkboard for the kids! Super easy, cheap and awesome!
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Picking this blog back-up with renewed vigor inspired me to also begin writing again. When I was a kid I was always writing stories and it continued to college, where I wrote for the campus newspaper. Since then I've been busy with lesson planning, kids and life and haven't written much. So, I've submitted several articles to various sites and two have been accepted so far! One was just published on bluntMoms and the other has been published on The Good Mother Project. It is a very rewarding feeling to have had two articles accepted in one month and I hope the trend continues. If not, I'll be posting more articles here. Writing is very cathartic for me and whether they are published on bigger sites or not, I will still enjoy the process. You can check out my two articles titled: "Mean Girls: High School Isn't the End" and "Mother-in-Law: Not Always a Nemesis". Enjoy!
This past weekend my husband went on a camping trip with a bunch of friends and the kids stayed with their grandparents. This meant that I had an ENTIRE weekend all to myself. I can't remember the last time I was alone for that long and it was glorious! I was not only able to complete several projects that I've been dying to get to but, I also had plenty of time to veg out in front of the t.v., hang with a girlfriend and even hit the mall! The first project I tackled, after cleaning up a bit, was to put labels on my son's closet drawers and my daughters play area storage. I've had them created for awhile but just hadn't had the time to cut and apply them. Now, it is easy to find and put away his clothes and easy to clean up her toys. Plus it looks adorable! I used my silhouette machine to create and cut them. I've included the cut files below!
I also used my silhouette cameo to create some decorative vinyl decals for my bathroom and vanity. I made "get naked" for my glass shower door and "be awesome" for my vanity mirror. In addition to creating the vinyl decals I upgraded my vanity light to make it easier to apply my makeup in the mornings. Before I was using a lamp that cast odd shadows. I'm pretty excited about how bright it is now except I can see all of my facial flaws so that's a bit depressing.
Sounds like enough right? Nope! I also made two pregnancy t-shirt decals and applied them AND created a decorative banner to place above Arthurs bed. I'm fixing his room up with a dinosaur theme so his knight themed mobile and king arthur wall decal had to go. I've also ordered him dinosaur bedding and hung two poster sized photographs of the amazingly fun images from the book "What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night: A very messy adventure". So, it's still a work in progress until the bedding arrives and I can change the curtains. I'll post about it when it's all finished so, ignore his mismatched crib bedding for now.
My final projects were to do a little gardening. Now that the weather is nice we'll be spending most of our afternoons outside and I needed some color to freshen up the somewhat dreary backyard. I always enjoy planting herbs and chose sage, cilantro and basil. I also purchased some bright turquoise pots for only $1.50 at Home Depot that are self-watering to plant them in. I planted some bright red flowers (I can't remember their name.) in a pedestal pot for my front porch as well as Lilly's flower garden. And also planted a purple flower in her garden since it's her favorite color. Her garden already had mint, lemon balm and strawberries that came back from last year so it looks nice and lively now. Finally, I purchased a new door mat for our front porch to brighten the space. Our old one had become faded and drab.
It was so nice to have time alone. Of course I missed my husband and kids but, it was very cathartic to have only myself to answer to. Plus, finishing all of those projects will give me the ability to be more present with everyone since I don't have nearly as many things that I want to get done. Although, I'm sure I'll find some. I'm the kind of person who gets bored easily and is always looking for something fun and exciting to do or make. In fact, I didn't finish everything I wanted to get done. I still plan on painting a new piece of art for my staircase. My goal is to create something that looks like the picture below. I guess that will have to wait until next time! But, when I get around to it I'll share it with you!  I'm finally ready to let you in on a secret I've been keeping since Valentine's Day! Can you figure it out?  That's right! We're expecting number three! I represent as a Spanish teacher and made the announcement en Español. It was really funny watching people analyze the photo for understanding and then seeing their realization and excited face. I even used it with my classes to make the announcement and prefaced it by saying they were going to analyze a photo for meaning. We're really excited and can't wait!
Just in case you're curious, I used my favorite text on photo app, Phonto, to create the image with text. Then I ran it through a filter and voila! |
meet rachelRachel is a mother of three, elementary Spanish teacher and part-time blogger who loves crafting, creating fun and engaging activities for her children and students and hanging with her friends and family. She blogs about what she's doing and her interests at any given time which vary. She's a little OCD and always looking for her next project. Her husband calls it, "focusing her crazy", but she just calls it fun. Archives
June 2023
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