Cinderella Shoes

Cinderella was re-released from the Disney Vault this year and with it DSW shoes has released the Cinderella Line of shoes.  Growing up, Cinderella was my favorite story!  My poor mother had the book memorized she had to read it to me so much.  Of course, I had to order a pair!  I went and checked out the different styles and just fell in love with this style. If you click the link you can see the other styles.

Even though, they came in Cindy blue, I chose black because I wear more black than Cindy blue....Aren't they pretty??? Bert is checking them out....

They came in this pretty box......

 With this envelope and a letter inside...the letter says:

Once upon a time

a girl dreamed of going to the ball.

The fairy tale begins with a wish, a dream

and an exquisite pair of glass slippers.

Put these on. See what happens.

Your fairy tale awaits......

 Inside the shoe is a Cinderella's carriage...

any Cinderella shoe must have a blue diamond on the bottom!!

I feel like a princess when I wear these!!!!!

Summer Ball update lost MoJo

This is last weeks progress of Summer Ball.  It is moving right along however, I haven't even worked on it this week.  For some reason, I have just been avoiding this project.  I don't know why, but I am not happy to work on it.  I have been battling some minor depression so I think this may play a part of it.   This school year has been hectic.  So far this year we have had:
2 students die ( one was my favorite little ducklings)
2 teachers attacked (both are ok)
1 student hit by a bus who is in neurological ICU but making progress

Needless to say it has been stressful.  Plus,  I sprained my ankle and after it was almost healed, I re-sprained it.   So I haven't been able to exercise for a month and have gained back all the weight I have lost.  So I haven't been in the best place right now.   I did work on and finish a RR piece which I will post later.

today was the first day I did a minor workout and my ankle felt ok.  I wore the small brace on it and it felt OK.   Hopefully, I can start losing weight again.  I think I am going to work on my A Wintry Heirloom my HAED project.  Maybe I can finish the tree I have been working on for a while.

Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener

Since I teach Math, I am always looking for a pencil sharpener that works.   I have bought countless automatic ones that just die after a month or two.  I have had the wall sharpener replaced at least 4 times a year.  My High School students are rough on them as you can tell.  I found this pencil sharpener on pinterest that said it was the best for the classroom.   I was like Yeah Right, but I went to the Classroom Friendly Website to find out more about it.  The designer is an elementary teacher who was fed up with sharpeners and designed one that worked.  I was really leary of buying something from someone who has a start up business....just how I am.  There was an offer to try it for free and then blog about my results so hey, I am a school teacher so I decided to see if I could get a sample to review.   I got one....

THIS IS THE BEST SHARPENER IN THE WORLD!!!! Not kidding!!!  I LOVE IT!!!!  My students are amazed at how sharp their pencils get and how easy it is to use.  It is held to the desk by a C-clamp which means you can move it as you change rooms.  The students squeeze the black knobs together and it pulls out where they can put their pencil in.  It grasps their pencil so they don't even have to hold it.  The pencil holder will gradually close as the pencil sharpens,  You then have to grasp the black knobs  to have the pencil release.

There is one thing I don't like and haven't figured out how to fix.  It is such a small detail,  I told you that the sharpener was held to the desk with a c-clamp?  Well, mine keeps coming off and we have to put it back on again.  Nothing major, the kids have made a game to see who can sharpen their pencil without popping off the clamp.

I highly recommend this sharpener!!!!!   I am thinking of buying one for my secret pal at work...they are always complaining about their sharpener.

Cinderella's Castle is FINISHED!!!!!!

I am so happy to finish a UFO!!!!!!   I just love this design!!!! Every time I look at it I just smile!!!  This is my 5th UFO finish this year!!!!  This is a retired design that I actually received off 123stitch's weekly wishlist.    The person that send it had actually finished about 1/4 of the design so instead of starting it over I just decided to start stitching where she left off....I mean..Why waste a good stitched piece.  I did check it to make sure there were no errors and all was well!!!!!

I needed a little bit of pixiedust this week after everything we went through at school.  See the previous post because it was heartbreaking.   On Friday,  I took the day off to rest after everything that happened.  Mark and I spent the rainy day watching the entire season of Revenge on Netflix.   We got all caught up and ready to start the new season.   I have been stitching on my HAED- A Wintery Heirloom because I need to finish a tree....If you have been reading for a while then you know I HATE stitching the trees on this design because it is nothing but confetti stitches.  UGH!!!!  I will post an update of it after I finish the tree....I hate this tree.  Just so you know!!!!

My diet hasn't been that great since all that has been going on.  I have lost 4.4 lbs!!!!!   I had an Idea to try on the dream pair of pants and take a picture.  I dug them out, put them on and they only came up to Mid-Thigh....I decided not to take that picture!  You have no need to see my fat or my underwear!  HEE HEE....Going to put on the pants once a month....hoping they will fit sometime!!

Death of a student

This has been the most horrible week in a teachers life.  I went to school on Thursday of last week all happy and ready to work.   One of my students stopped me to let me know I had to go to another teachers room because she was crying over a student.  I ran to her room to find out that one of my guys who I have taught for the last 3 years passed away the night before.  We do not know anything and won't for a while.  

I had to call in all of my students who were his friends and break the news to them.   Over 20 kids sat in stunned silence for over an hour.  I had to take a couple of boys out of the room so they could cry on my shoulder because they don't cry in front of friends.   My students were so upset.  I had several who stayed in the classroom we designated as the grief room for 2 days.  I had to make them go to class on Monday because they had to get back into the routine.

On Tuesday, I gave a class on etiquette for the visitation and funeral.  I wanted my kids to know what to expect.  The school was wonderful.  They provided a bus for us to take over 50 kids to the funeral.  Visitation was HARD!!!    Saying goodbye to him was horrible.   Luckily, Mark went with me and it was a good thing.  He had to hold me up at one point because I just couldn't stand.  I am going to miss this young man so much.  He was just a tender hearted  guy who befriended everyone!!!

The funeral was terrible but our kids did amazing!!!  They came in and was very respectful of the service.  They helped each other out by rubbing a crying classmates shoulder or pulling them close so the could cry on their shoulder.  I couldn't listen to the funeral because I was too focused on my kids.  I had to move around a bit to pull some of them close.

When we got back to the school,  I kept 12 kids with me and we just blew bubbles, drew, and listened to our IPODS.  

I am so tired,  I haven't had a chance to breathe yet.  I am taking the day off work tomorrow because I am just emotionally exhausted.

Struggling with weight!

I have to keep this in my mind at all times!!!!!  I am someone who as a child, teenager or in my twenties never had to worry about my weight.  It was never an issue.  I was always a perfect size 4.  Then I aged into my thirties, met Mark and all of sudden I started going up in size.  At first I wasn't too concerned, as long as I stayed in the single digits of clothing I was ok.  Well...I moved to size 10 and that broke me.  I tried losing weight last year but whenever I started....something happened.  I think my first hurdle was Strep throat, that turned into bronchitis which lasted for over 3 weeks.  I got out of the routine, tried to start but then school got frustrating. Let's face it.  I have an excuse for why I don't diet.  One of the main reasons...I like food especially anything Fried or cooked in butter!!!!  I  told myself as long as I don't get to 140 life will be ok...I stayed around 138 for a long while.   Last Sunday, I stepped on the scale and I weighed in at 149.1.  Yep..0.09 before I reached 150!!!!!  I cried!  

I knew something was up because well..I can't fit into any of my pants.  That isn't true.  I have one pair of capris that fit without me having to squeeze my belly in or lay on the bed.   I have one pair of capris and one pair of jeans that if I lay on the bed, I can fit into them.  I do worry the button will pop off though.  

I am dieting again!  This time I found an app for my Ipad called Lose it.    I like it because I can also log into the website to list my food and exercise for that day.  The best thing...if you exercise, it lets you eat more food!!!!!  YUM!!!  I don't feel like I am starving.  I can honestly say that this week, I haven't eaten all of my calories.   My plan is too lose 1 lb a week.  As you can see from the picture above, that is alot!  So by May of 2013, I will hopefully be at my goal weight.  How will I know if I am there??  By one pair of jeans.  I have kept the pair of jeans that I wore on my first date with Mark.   I can't even get them up past my knees now...but once I can put them on and zip them with no problem.  I will reach my goal!!!

I am using my Biggest Loser Wii game for exercise.  I try to work out at least 4 days a week plus my weigh in day.  What happens this week when I was working out? I twisted my ankle...but I bought a brace and not letting it get me down!!!!  I am also climbing the stairs at work and parking farther away so I have to walk.  Another thing I am doing is trying to eat more whole foods, not pre-packaged meals.   I do love to eat out though...

I would love any tips or suggestions you may have on weight loss. What has helped you??? Any good recipes????  

Summer Ball, Mushrooms, Floss and Gibbs

As you can tell by the title this is going to be a LONG post.

I finished page 3 of my Summer Ball project!!!!   I am now over the 50% mark on this piece!!!!  Just Love it!!!!

In case you don't know, my husband is a fresh mushroom vendor for Wal-mart.  He works for a mushroom company based out of PA.  Every once in a while, he will get samples in to take to Wal-mart.  Usually we just get enough to take to them and usually an extra pack for ourselves.   This time someone was feeling generous.  Mark thought he was getting like 9 packages....we got 40 instead!!!!  I have coming out my ears. We gave away alot of them to friends, coworkers and family.   I still had 8 packages left ( I used one pack to try out this mushroom soup recipe below) to do something with so I searched the web for a Homemade Cream Of Mushroom soup recipe.  

Soup recipe for one batch

one pint bag = one can

I made the sample batch and loved how it turned out.  The recipe above does NOT have any seasoning in it.   The only salt it has is the butter used to cook it. This is just like a cream of mushroom thickening agent for your meals.  Once you use it, add seasonings to what ever you are cooking.....it will be awesome!  What I like best about it, is that it is just made up of 5 ingredients and no preservatives!!!!!!!   I had 80 bags and wound up the 4 left over...so right now I have 76 bags (cans) of Cream of Mushroom soup in my freezer.  I used a measuring cup to measure a can size which is 10.5 oz.    If you try this, remember this has no seasoning so you will want to add some.

Can you guess what Gibbs ate this week???  Gibbs and Brigen destroyed 3 paper bags.  They just love them!!!

Check out this receipt from JoAnns!!!!!  I went there on Saturday so I could take advantage of the DMC 4 for a $1.00 sale.  I was able to find 314 skeins of floss.  It was $83 before my teacher discount. That brought it too $72.   I actually saved $56 due to the sale!!!!  The sales lady had to ring each one individually and she told me this was the longest receipt she has ever seen!!!!! 

 Here is what a pile of 314 skeins looks like.....Anyone want to help me sort it??????