St. Patrick's Day- The Bulls Style

Friday night we stumbled into some free tickets to the Chicago Bulls.
We had never been to an NBA game, so we said, "Why not?"
My sis, Dan, and Marcus and I headed downtown Friday night not knowing what to expect with these free tickets.
They came with parking--- right in front of United Center (for free) and it turns out the seats were Club Seating in the lower deck. Pretty cool!!

So, even though I don't really care much about the Bulls, it was still a fun experience.

I must say, my favorite part was the entertainment between quarters and then also the mascot, who I mostly watched the whole time. :)

(This was pretty cool!!)

This Bull was hilarious.

A Stroll through the Woods

This morning I got up nice and early (I don't know why, I was just awake) and got ready for work.
I left the house by 7:00! (Maybe for some of you that is not super early, but I thought it was).
Last night's thunderstorms left behind a beautiful fog.
Spring is awakening every part of nature.
On my way to work, I drive through several forest preserves and this morning I saw a Bluejay, a Cardinal, a deer, and several other beautiful things.
I stopped and took some pictures for you all to enjoy. :)

Spring is in the air!

Today's weather was just gorgeous!
Everything was muddy, sloppy, and melty.
I didn't care!

I took my new camera (now complete with memory card) and Marcus and I went on a little spring nature walk to try out some of the settings on our new gadget.

It's got a lot of fun aspects to it, yet it is still just a point-and-shoot.
The techy geek in me loves the touch screen.
For those of you who care, you can check it out here.

Well, without further ado, here are some pics I took today with it, completely unedited.
It just takes pictures this cool by itself!! :)

Look at the little mallards in that pic!

More little mallards...

...and back again to Home Sweet Home.

I hope this camera lasts me for many memories...

Missing In Action

Where have I been!??
In the words of Dr. Lutzer, "Well, I'm glad you asked."

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to show you all my new camera!!!
And it is finally here!!
BUT, I'm still waiting for the memory card so I can take more than one picture at a time!

Let me just say that it is SERIOUSLY AMAZING.
I am completely pleased as punch with my purchase.
(Students: Can you find the alliteration in the above sentence?)

But...alas...until that memory cards comes (fingers crossed that it shows up today!), you all just have to wait too. :)

They say it best

Sometimes third graders can really phrase things better than adults.
From now until the end of the school year, I'm going to try to put some quotes from my students on the blog more frequently.

These eight and nine year olds are often inspiring me and also cracking me up.
It's time for me to spread the love!

Today the kids were asked to write in their journals about who their best friend is and what qualities make someone a good friend. One particular student responded this way:

Me too, darlin', me too. ;)

Craft Day

While the guys watched hockey...

 My sister and I made crafts!
She brought over an origami kit and we tried our hand at the ancient art.

We made swans:

and then Samuri Hats:

and then turned the hats into fish...complete with googly eyes!

Next came the turtles:

We thought our pet turtle would like some friends. He was not interested.

And then came the real fun stuff!
Flower pins/hairclips.
We attempted to follow a tutorial on making fabric flowers, but we floundered a bit.
We glued a pin and a hairclip on the back to make them versatile.
Here is the result:

(sorry for the photo quality- I'm getting a new camera soon!)

Oh, and how could I forget the lovely origami pinwheels we made, which Brittney recommended I put in the "garden" on our windowsill.

Thanks for a fun day, Britt! Let's do it again sometime. :)

eBay Bliss

I love eBay.Maybe you didn't know this about me.

I've been an eBay fanatic since early high school.

I have had 253 positive transactions on the amazing auction site!

Recently (as in the past few years) eBay has not had such great deals...

It has become more of a place to buy things at full price and then pay shipping on top of that, instead of just going to the store and getting what you want/need.

However, once in awhile you can still find a gem...

especially if something is spelling wrong or called the wrong name. :)

Way back over winter break, Marcus and I took a gander through the Gurnee Antique Mall up in...well...obviously, Gurnee. It was full of overpriced lovely items.

My favorite was this old vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster mixer...in (of all colors!) turquoise - my favorite!!! I am slowly but surely working on collecting all things vintage and white-and-turquoise for our kitchen at the house.

This mixer was something I had to have.

But, with a $125 pricetag, it was something to which my dearest (and oh, so wise) hubby said, "You can save up for it."

So, darn it, that's exactly what I did! I pinched my pennies and saved my dollars and as of Friday, February 19, I had $110 saved up. (My dad taught me the little tip that antique stores will always take 10% off items over $50, so I didn't worry about saving the whole $125). 

Knowing there was a risk that two months later my little old mixer would have been sold,  we traversed up to Gurnee anyway. It was our belated Valentine's getaway. 

Indeed, it had been sold.

However, I got these darling napkin gems, which I can't wait to put on our dining room table at the house.

Aren't they cute!?

But, wait, there's more!

I came home and did a little eBay-licious research.

I found the Mixmaster on eBay...with all the parts (the Gurnee one was missing one of the two bowls) and it WORKS (I didn't know if the Gurnee one worked) AND because its official Sunbeam color is "aqua blue' and this one was titled "Turquoise"....no suspecting vintage collecting eBay-er had stumbled upon it! (The others listed on eBay were quite pricey and all being bid on rapid-fast).

But don't you worry. I was the only bidder on this dandy and it only cost me $45. (Well, plus the $20 shipping, but still, I had saved up $110, so we were in good shape.)

(sorry the picture is blurry- i took it straight from eBay)

Now if it would only come in the mail!

I'm so excited!

Second Annual Valentine's Party

My sister hosted her second annual Valentine's Party last week.
It was so fun!
I didn't many good pics, but here's a few I wanted to share...

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!
(my hubby and I have yet to formally celebrate)

We even had homemade parting gifts!!!

It's all worth it

After the Valentine's Party at school, while the kids were waiting for dismissal, I looked over at the board where they play Snowman (hangman) every day for a few minutes before their bus is called over the speaker.

We had such a fun party and it just tickled me to see the phrase they were guessing, one letter at a time.

How cute is he?!

I know I say it over and over, but I will say it again:
I LOVE these kids.
They are one of my greatest joys in life.

Love

Does your teacher love YOU this much?

Yeah, that's what I thought. :)