dear summer, please hurry!

multiple absurd things happened in my classroom this week. sometimes i wish i had a video recording... not so much to watch myself teach (ick!) but to have some record of the absolutely out-of-control behavior that takes place. here are a few snippets:

1. i gave glow bracelets to 3 kids as a reward for good behavior. one set it on his desk and 2 minutes later said, "mrs. alberts, somebody took my bracelet." i gave him another, walked my class outside, and soon noticed another student wearing the bracelet. he HAD NOT received one. he blatantly stole it and then stupidly wore it on his freaking wrist. when i confronted him he said, "oh, i just found this." (!!!!!!!!! WHAT?! are you kidding me right now?!?!?!?!? !!!!!!!)

2. a boy said, "you're just mean," when i told him he lost a point on his spelling test due to repeated talking during the test.

3. a girl utterly refused to complete a math problem. she put her head down and ignored the fact that i told her she'd get lunch detention. then later in the day she yelled repeatedly, "i have to peeeeeeeeeeee. i'm going to pee myself" while laughing hysterically.

4. three girls stayed in the bathroom for over 8 minutes today. i scolded them severely and threatened consequences if it ever happened again. THEN i caught them passing a note about how they'd been so loud in the bathroom that another teacher came in and took down their names to give to the principal. seriously, ladies, you're all 10 years old. give me a break.

5. recently a parent threw an absolute fit about her daughter getting a 78 in social studies due to not completing a project. b/c of extenuating circumstances not compelling enough to outline here, her daughter got a chance to make up the grade with a different project. to avoid any more nonsense, i gave the girl almost a month to complete a super easy assignment. she turned it in yesterday right after i overheard her telling another girl, "i did it all last night". (holy cow make me want to spit in your face, why don't you?)

seriously, is it june 10th yet? i kinda don't want to see most of these faces again for a very very long time.

spring vacation 2011

spring break was not nearly long enough. plus the weather was utterly awful. howeverrrrrrr, i did have some quality time with some quality friends. i spent a lot of hours traveling & even more hours talking and laughing and catching up. (didn't take nearly as many photos as i wanted. darn)
NYC stores can be soooooo wacky!
ann-chan & i were finally reunited!
(katz's deli was where harry met sally. who knew?!)

buffalo has beautiful botanical gardens...

i hung out with my 3 favorite curly haired friends:

& fan made me an awesome print using collodium...

oh spring dresses,,,,

oh vey, spring dresses torture my soul. i wandered into a store called "brooklyn industries" with ann yesterday and fell in love with two darling dresses.

if i had 59 dollars to spend (since that's the sale price), i'd buy this one:
and if i won the lottery and had 99 dollars to spend on one dress, i'd buy this one:

[i may or may not have spent part of the train ride home brainstorming if there are any special occasions coming up that i could use as an excuse to ask for this dress. my half birthday maybe? ;)]

change? not so much

i just tried red for my blog background for less than 24 hours.

just can't do it. i'm a gray kind of girl.

next up: DIY crayon roll

today i'm dragging my friend liz to joann fabrics. (she doesn't know it yet, because i only mentioned the idea of going to the mall. but the fabric store is soooooo close. and i have a 50% off coupon.)

here's what i'm looking to make next:
so my goal at joanns is to find some darling fabric. i plan to make these for all my little kid friendlies this spring/summer.

2:30 am conversation

me: you ok, babe?
J: what? yeah. i just woke up all sweaty.
me: wanna move to the guest bed?
J: no. my alarm is set.
me: well, i can set my phone and bring it in there w/ us.
J: well, ok.

(we grabbed our pillows, walked down the hall 10 steps, and crashed in our nicely made-up guest bed. this morning we woke up and J said to me, "that blanket is a lot cooler than ours!")

follow up: braided bracelets

spring break officially started at 3pm on friday & my sore throat became the worst it had been all week. J. and i got all gussied up to go to the prom, but i came home at 9pm and went to bed. we both slept terribly & woke up before 7, then stocked up on decongestant, nasal spray, and hydrogen peroxide at CVS. we went back to sleep for most of the morning & i ended up canceling my trip to baltimore to visit mandy. the day was cold and it poured rain, so i was miserable.

we both woke up today feeling significantly better, plus it's SUNNY outside (always good for my spirits!). i've spent a little time making bracelets using that tutorial i posted last week...

my husband the hoarder went through his t-shirt drawer and generously donated a few oldies to my project pile. the colors are basic, but still great.

colorful giveaway

goodness. the blog world is full of amazing things. such as this giveaway!

can't even handle how fun this stuff is!

waiting & waiting some more

i spent 2 hours waiting at the dr's office today. only to have her tell me i dont have strep and she can't give me anything specific for a sore throat (even though i said my pain was a 9! sorry, brian regan!). so i came home grumpy. and discovered you can't freeze asparagus and have it taste delicious afterwards. and i made too much food for dinner & my husband felt bad for not wanting to eat it all. and my throat hurt to eat it. wahhh.

i hope this week FLIES by because i am itching (seriously itching!) for spring break. which starts friday at 3:15pm. at which point i will curl my hair & put on make-up because i'm going to the PROM with my studly husband.

after that i have lots of random adventures planned. specifically, seeing these girls:

(ok just ann&mandy. but still.)

and i'll spend time with these buds:


(in other news, i just found this curtain tutorial and now i'm on the hunt for more vintage sheets that i can use as valances & closet curtains in our office!)

gift idea!

wow, yet another creative idea from this cute blog.

sew a doily onto a onesie for a baby shower gift. sweet!

old t-shirt bracelets

i'm gonna make some of these:

the tutorial makes it look pretty darn easy, so i think that's a project for spring break. which happens to start next friday. WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

friday, food, feeling sick

[my cute cousin eating dessert at our wedding. random, but darling.]

holy cow. what a whirlwind week! i'm coming down w/ something (again!) and J. is writing his final for grad school so we're spending a quiet night at home. my throat is seriously on FIRE. yet my eyes/stomach are stilllllllllll convinced recipe-searching is a great idea.

here are three things i stumbled upon tonight:

chicken parm. in the crock pot. yum yum yum. trying it SOON.

and this food site. i'm overwhelmed and i haven't even used it yet.

make your own play-dough. sounds/looks fun.

(on a very positive note, my last two days at school were some of the best all year. yay yay yay. words can't explain how marvelous that feels!)

groupon! groupon!

so remember how we got that awesome deal on chocolate downtown a few weeks ago?

well i just got a great deal on ethiopian food downtown. via groupon. i get 10 free bucks to spend when someone joins through my link.

sign up. sign up.

[in other news, today my student asked if i was pregnant. i immediately decided never to wear that dress again. ha!]

cool bracelet!

i'm gonna make one of these. they totally remind me of using gimp at camp as a kid!

bedroom makeover: stage 2

one more thing to help me beat the saturday-without-husband blues: finishing my embroidery hoop project...i bought the three fabrics on the left last weekend for about 4 dollars total. the hoops were ordered from joanns & i paid 5 extra bucks to have them shipped instead of going to the store. the bottom right fabric is left over from the pillows i made a few weeks ago.

the wall looked funny w/ just four hoops, but i didn't have any other remnants so i hunted all over the house to find something else. here's what i considered cutting up:
(my messenger bag from japan. i woulda been sad to lose that...)
(yes! that is my wedding dress. crazy thought, i know.)

finally i remembered i'd recently made these cutoffs out of my expensive gap khakis that i accidentally bleached while cleaning the toilet. they don't really look good as shorts so i just chopped up one leg and put the scrap into the fifth hoop.*i'm so excited about the improvement to our bedroom decor. i hope J. likes it, too!*

pity-party pooper

i knew it was bound to happen, but i didn't think it would be so soon.

i'm mad at track&field and i'm jealous of my husband's runners. they get to spend ALL day and most of tonight with him. my kind, hilarious, smart, handsome love is hanging out with high schoolers from now until 10pm. and i'm jealous. and i miss him. already.
last spring i was mad at track, too, because it meant we hardly got to see each other. this year i LIVE with him & we just spent all last evening relaxing and having fun together. our time is a lot more consistent now that we're married. so i expected this season to be a little easier for me.

well it's not. i'm bored & lonely and starting my own mini pity party. and tears are in my eyes as i type.

SO to combat these silly feelings, i'm going to pray a lot. and finish my bedroom valances (which he won't care about when he comes home late tonight, but at least i will feel accomplished). and go for a long run to prep for the 5K i'm running next saturday. and browse recipes online so i have something fun to cook next week. and hang out with my friends for dinner tonight. and pray some more.