Best School Christmas Recipe Ever

Here's the recipe for what I call a crazy few weeks:

17 excited homeroom students
8 hours at school a day
14 reading students
4 Santa sightings in the hallway
586,756,385 Christmas lights filling the hallways at school
78 Christmas trees in the school building, somewhere
230 parties of some sort or another
4-5 craft projects or Christmas coloring sheets of some kind, average per child
6 major tests to give- 2 math, 1 reading, 1 language, 1 writing assessment, and 1 DIBELs
1 week left to go
1 stressed-out, data-maxed, stretched and worn thin teacher

Mix it all together with the love and cheer of the holidays, and what do you get? One great big holiday season with a side of classroom management and loving discipline.

Best of luck to those with children- I hope you all make it this last week! Merry Christmas!

Deck the Halls...

Okay. I love wrapping presents. I am extremely particular, so I love the crisp corners and tight folds. I'm crazy, okay, but it gets better. I have wrapped gifts I bought, gifts my mother-in-law needed help wrapping, and even gifts that were being given to me. Yes. I have. Chris put them in boxes and I wrapped them. But this year, I have taken it a little too far.

Holiday Market came and went, and we did good knocking out a lot of gifts there. But it wasn't that accomplishment that I love, but the wrapping paper I got. I adore it. I have always wanted matching and coordinating paper under my tree. This year I did just that.

Let me take it one step further. All of my shopping is done, with the exception of Chris' stocking. All of the gifts are wrapped and under the tree. I put the tulle on them today. But my favorite part? There are no tags. No names, just gifts. And how do I know what is in each one?



Drumroll please...


They are color-coded. Yes, I have them wrapped according to families and where each gift is to go. To make it even better, the tulle on the top separates the colors.


Call me crazy, call me a dork, but my color-coded, gift-wrapping, finished-for-the-season self is finished.


Merry Christmas!

Winter Sale

For those of you that don't know, I sell Southern Living at Home products. I just wanted to let you know about our winter sale we are now starting. We have some GREAT items at GREAT prices! To get any of these awesome deals, all you have to do is purchase one item at regular price for at least $29.95. I'm not normally one to advertise, but just wanted you all to have a chance to get some wonderful Christmas presents and deals.

Click here to see the sale items and prices.

Click here to see our online catalog. Go to Our Products and View Online Catalog.


Let me know if you are interested! I can check to make sure the items you want are still available.

Merry Christmas and Happy Shopping!

Leslie!!!

Here's to you, Leslie Adams!


Please click on collage to enlarge and truly enjoy the hilariousness of these hidden treasures!

In honor of your 26th birthday, we have taken it back to the basics: memories from our first years together...

Those of you that have never had the privilege and honor of living with, traveling with, cooking and dorm-room "cleaning" with, and laughing with Leslie are missing out. It all started 6 years ago when we ventured blindly into an arranged living situation. Can you see anyone surviving a year in a 10x16 room? Add two great suitmates, tons of ladybugs and a rubber chicken and it certainly was worth the while!

Hope these bring you as many laughs as they did me!

Problem Solved

So I mustered up enough courage to tell my kids. After morning announcements, I got their attention. All eyes were on me.

I took a deep breath and quickly stated:

"The hermit crab died yesterday. You know his cage has been gone for a few days. He wasn't feeling well and got old and passed away. Mr. Holley and I buried him this morning, so we will no longer have a pet."

All eyes were still on me. So I said, "Get back to work."

Little Boy in front of me shrugged his shoulders and returned to his morning work.

Then it happened. One hand raised in the air. I gulped, took a breath, and called on him.

"So, what is the pet person going to do now?"

That was it. He just wanted to know what his classroom job was, now that there was no pet. Problem solvied, crisis averted. And we're moving on.

Oh yeah, "buried" meant that we put him in the zip-lock bag with the sand from his cage so I couldn't see him as he was carried to the trash can outside.

How do you tell children...

... that the class pet has died?

I don't really know what emotion I am feeling right now, whether it be sad or what. I feel bad, but feel like laughing at the ordeal from the last few days at the same time. I know- real sensitive there, Taryn.

Name: Brownie (originally Bat Crab until he moved)
Type: Hermit Crab
Age: at least a year, who knows exactly

History: A boy in my class brought two hermit crabs last year, Rainbow and Bat Crab. They didn't want them anymore, but also wanted to share them since he knew we didn't have a pet. We openly welcomed them into our room.

Over the summer, Rainbow molted (shed his skin) and then could not recover and died a few days later. I did what I thought needed- put him in a ziploc bag, said a few quiet thoughts, and threw him in the trash can. Sensitive again. (I couldn't bury him- Rush would dig him up and eat him!)

This year, I returned to school with only one crab. Lo and behold, the younger brother of the one that gave us the crabs is now in my class. A brief explanation and the family understood.

Which brings me to current day...

Tuesday I got to school and was by my desk when I noticed something odd. Brownie was out of his shell, just laying there belly-up. His legs were moving. I turned him over and he moved, but not ever toward a shell. A brief search of the ocean-themed rooms at school uncovered a few larger shells that he could possibly move into. Since he was out of his shell, this would cause commotion in my class, so he spent the day next door. A few hours and secretary's research later, he still hadn't done anything. We put him in the dark closet for some peace and quiet through the night.

Wednesday I returned and promptly checked. I found him belly-up again, one little claw just waving at me. I turned him over and left him alone. Later on that day, I found him sitting on the edge of a shell, but not in it. That's how I left him last night.

This morning I immediately looked in on him again. He didn't move when I tapped the cage. When I poked him, he moved ever so slowly. I left him again until after lunch. When I checked again, he didn't move. At all. Upon examination this afternoon, we decided he was dead. And he's starting to stink.

I put him back in the closet, and am now stuck with this dilema. What do I do? Do I chunk him and tell them kids I gave him away because they weren't taking care of him? Do I tell them that he got old or sick and died? Do we have a funeral and burial tomorrow? I don't know! It's a $5 hermit crab that came with a free cage. My kids never paid him attention since he never came out. It wasn't until today that one of them noticed he was gone!

This is why I don't have class pets. I don't have to deal with this! But I can't leave my kids hanging either. Any ideas? And quick too- he won't make it over the weekend before my whole room stinks!

Fall Saturdays

Unlike my born-and-bread husband, I was not raised in the football loving deep south. I have come to enjoy football as long as I pick one thing to focus on during the season. This is why I like Saturdays in the fall... Alabama football and my BF- Andre Smith. Not to mention going to games with Chris... Roll Tide!