Sunday 29 September 2013

Project Life: Week 39

Hi everyone :)

I had planned on writing this blog post at Krystal’s place today since I was headed there for the weekend but things didn’t work out quite how we planned. 

Last Sunday I bought Toby a new bed… and it’s great!  He’s starting off each night on his own bed but the little bugger keeps sneaking up onto my bed during the night. 

On Saturday morning I got woken up at 3am by a very unhappy puppy (are they still considered a puppy when they’re 2?)  He was whimpering and obviously in pain but I couldn’t see anything wrong.  Neither of us got any more sleep and he was pretty upset. 

We finally got into the vet at 11.30 by which time I could see that his back leg was getting quite swollen.  Turns out he’s torn a ligament and he’s now on ‘bed rest’ (Yeah Right!) along with a course of anti-inflammatory tablets and painkillers.

We’ve had a very quiet weekend at home and he’s doing a lot of sleeping (although there’s nothing unusual about that). 

Anyway, here’s the overview of my week:Full_1

Of course it was the last week of Term 3 this week and boy did we pack a lot into the week.  We had several projects to complete, Field Days on Tuesday and the Year 6 orientation visit to Kaitao Intermediate on Monday.

It’s always exciting for the Year 6 kids to see where they might be going the next year… but it’s also when some of them get a bit worried about moving on.  As usual, I had a good look around their art room and picked up a few ideas that I might be able to use.

On Tuesday we were supposed to be participating at Field Days which is when all the local primary schools get together to play winter sports.  Unfortunately it was cancelled as the weather was due to get really bad around lunch time.  We decided to have our own mini Field Days at our school and the kids loved it.  We gave them their sports uniforms and did prize giving at the end just to make it as real as possible and I think the kids really appreciated the effort we went to for them.

Here’s a close up of the first part of my week:Left_1

The weather did in fact turn nasty around lunchtime on Tuesday and the boys were really keen to get out the blocks we use for maths which was fine by me.   They made all sorts of things and had a great time!

We spent most of the afternoon working on our environment posters and the kids did a pretty good job of working in teams to get things completed.  Meanwhile, I spent rather a lot of time sharpening colouring pencils so they could use them!

When I got home from school the other day there were two more parcels for me from Fishpond and I have to say that I’ve been very impressed with their service.  All my books have now arrived and I’m thrilled with my purchases!

Here’s a look at the second part of my week:Right_1

Te Kaka (he was the one who represented Room 4 in our Masterchef competition last term) baked and iced us a cake for the last day of school and it was terrific!  It had a jelly frosting that was pink, gooey and delicious!

We spent the morning watching a DVD as half my class were out being tested for their Intermediate applications and class placements for next year.  While they were busy doing that, I got busy mounting all the artwork we’ve been finishing… including all the artwork I did with Room 1.

We ended the day with a game of flags on the field and the afternoon was really lovely and warm.  It actually was a great way to end the term.

You already know what I’ve been up to this weekend with His Royal Highness but I will tell you that he’s wary of ‘crunchy’ food at the moment.  He hasn’t quite figured out that he only got ‘puppy meat’ this morning because he needed to take his tablets LOL

I hope you’ve all had a fab weekend xx

p.s. I’ll be away at the Scrapbook Dreams October Retreat next weekend so I probably won’t get Project Life updated until Monday.

Friday 27 September 2013

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

It’s definitely a ‘Feel Good’ day for me as by 3pm this afternoon the school holidays will begin!  I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family, doing creative projects and of course the Scrapbook Dreams October Retreat!

Today’s post starts off with a little trip down ‘memory lane’.  During my childhood I used to write letters to Nana (my great grandmother) and she kept EVERY one of them!  Mum showed them all to me and it was like having a little documentation of my life as a kid… what I experienced, what I thought and also what my handwriting looked like growing up.

Here’s a letter that I wrote when I was quite young… notice the use of ‘b’ and ‘d’… love it!

Week 39 - Nana's letter copy

Dear Nana,

How are you?  I am well.  In spring the blossoms are being pink and white.  The Sinton’s are having new baby lambs and Daddy is getting cows in with how bady calves.  Our hosue is nearly finished.  It is being painteb and when we went to the zoo

Love from Shelley

Clearly I rubbed out what happened when we went to the zoo… I’d love to know what I was going to say!

Spring has definitely arrived around our house and although we don’t have any ‘bady calves’ we do have blossoms that ‘are being pink and white’ so here’s my layout dedicated to spring blossoms:

week 39 - spring blossoms copy

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday xx

Sunday 22 September 2013

Project Life: Week 38

Hi everyone :)

At the moment my lounge is filled with the sounds of ‘chomping’… that would be Toby chomping on his new bone!  He’s a content wee man and he’ll be quite busy there for the next couple of hours!  Meanwhile here’s the overview of my week:Full_1

I’ve had several late nights at work this week getting everything done and Monday night was just the first of many.  By the time Carey and I had finished what we needed to do it was already after six so we headed down to KFC to pick up takeaways before heading back to her place.  Carey’s husband and son hadn’t long been home from the gym so it was good timing for all of us and made for a nice end to the day.

I’ve got a young man in my class who literally will do NOTHING all day… it’s so frustrating!!  He’s not worried about being talked to by management, has no problem going to the ‘Think Zone’ at lunchtime and it’s been difficult finding what we could do until I had a meeting with two RTLB’s (Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour) on Tuesday.  It turns out that he really loves going on the computer and so now he’s doing his work to ‘earn’ minutes on there.  It’s actually making a huge difference!

Here’s a closer look at the beginning of my week:Left_1

In spite of the fact that Toby has a lovely (well it USED to be lovely) sheepskin bed his favourite place to curl up for a nap lately is right behind me with his head resting on my knees.  Actually, it’s quite nice for me too because he creates lots of heat and keeps my legs warm LOL

I’ve been doing lots of reading lately… both professionally and personally and my brain has certainly been working overtime!

Our school is really lucky… not only do we get the ‘Fruit in Schools’ delivery we also get milk from Fonterra delivered as well.  The only downside is that the kids just don’t seem to be getting though the fruit as easily as before and by Friday there were lots of left over oranges.  Mikayla and I both enjoy oranges so they haven’t gone to waste.

Here’s a close up of the rest of my week… in fact… all of these photos are from this weekend!  In spite of the fact that I take my camera every where with me I just didn’t have a lot of photos for this week but the weekend was pretty cool!Right_1

Tomorrow it’s Loreen’s birthday so on Saturday morning I went over to Papamoa and took her out for morning tea.  We decided to go to a cafe that’s attached to a garden centre and the cakes were totally delicious!!

That was followed by a quick stop at Merric since I’d seen something online that I wanted to try on and it was even nicer in real life than it was on their website.

More shopping followed… this time for some specific scrapbooking things I was hoping to get.  I’ve already opened the Tim Holtz trees and working on a project with them!

The first three books I ordered through Fishpond have arrived and they’re really hilarious… the kids are going to love them!

Months and months ago Tim Holtz offered his first online class but I decided not to do it (can’t remember exactly why now)… anyway he’s started offering his Creative Chemistry 102 class and it’s got things in it that I REALLY want to learn about… only thing is that the 101 class is a pre-requisite so now I’m doing the first class.  I have to admit that it’s pretty darn cool!

This afternoon Mikayla and I took Toby down to ‘his’ supermarket to get his nails trimmed but his ‘girlfriend’ doesn’t work there anymore and the other lady that does nails has Sunday off so we’ve got to go back another time.  Meanwhile, His Royal Highness (yes, that’s definitely the sound of sarcasm you’re hearing!) decided that he would have a treat regardless of getting his nails done or not.  It would seem that I’m a real softie after all because he’s currently fully occupied with his new bone!

So that’s been my week.  This time next week the school holidays will have started and quite frankly, I can’t wait!!! 

I hope you all have a great week xx

Saturday 21 September 2013

52 Lists: Weeks 22, 23 and 24

Hi everyone :)

This morning I felt inspired to do some list making.  Since Moorea Seal has decided not to continue with this project I’ve come up with my own lists and I’ve actually got a list of list ideas LOL

Week 22 – List your favourite art supplies

This list was super simple to create because I love all sorts of art supplies and I’ve got baskets and baskets of goodies to prove it!  I actually made this list several weeks ago and since then I’d certainly add Gelatos to the list!Week 22 copy

Week 23: List your favourite childhood TV shows

The other day I got chatting with a friend about TV shows in the ‘good old days’ and I thought it would make a good list for this project.  If you’re a child of the 70’s you’ll probably recognise heaps of them!Week 23 copy

Week 24: List the things you loved as a child

Once again, the idea for this list came after chatting with a friend about childhood memories.  I grew up on a dairy farm and had a wonderful childhood filled with friends and family.  Looking back on it I probably do have rose coloured glasses but that’s the joy of childhood memories isn’t it?Week 24 copy

I thought I’d better explain about ‘the platform Dad built for us’… it sounds a bit weird when I tell other people about it but after a quick explanation they get it LOL

Mum used to play tennis when we were little and one time she was away at a tennis tournament and Dad decided to build us a tree house to play in.

We went with Dad and ‘helped’ him… passing nails and hammers and pieces of wood… although he’s told me that we really weren’t any help at all!

Anyway, he got the platform base finished and it was the perfect height and size for us to play on… but he never actually finished making the rest of the house.

It worked out for the best though because I can remember that platform being:

  • a stage to perform on
  • a base for the cowboys (my boy cousins) to shoot the indians (me and my sisters)
  • the hideout for robbers (my boy cousins again) to get away from the cops (me and my sisters)
  • a lookout for the pirate ship
  • the venue for many teddy tea parties

And while we were playing on our ‘platform’ Mum could see us across the paddock from the kitchen window.  Lots of happy memories.

Have a great weekend everyone xx

Friday 20 September 2013

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

It’s Friday again!  These weeks seem to be rolling around faster and faster… although I have to admit that today I’d rather just go back to bed and read my book.  It probably doesn’t help that it’s raining again and the idea of curling up with a good book is really appealing right now.

Most of you know how much I like vintage things so it was an easy choice for this week:week 38 - books copy

The internet really is a wonderful place to find images to use in artwork!

Wishing you all a wonderful Friday xx

Sunday 15 September 2013

Project Life: Week 37

Hi everyone :)

Spring is in the air here in Rotorua… and the tree outside my backdoor has got some stunning blossoms on it!  Today is one of life’s ‘feel good’ days when things look really hopeful… and that’s always a good thing!

Here’s an overview of my week:Full_1

This term Glenn and I have been doing a bit of class swapping.  He’s really good at sport while I would prefer spending the afternoon doing art so on alternate Monday afternoons we’ve been swapping classes.  My class are enjoying playing a variety of games outside and Glenn’s class have been doing some paintings… it’s a win win situation for everyone.

I’ve been learning lots lately too through my class reading programme.  The Detectives group have been reading all about ‘The Great Deer Debate’ and we’ve had some interesting conversations about it.  The Doctors group have been learning all about ‘Severe Weather’ which has been cool considering where learning about the environment this term. 

Here’s a close up of the start of my week:Left_1

Each year there are educational positions advertised in the NZ Education Gazette and last week one caught my eye but to be honest I didn’t think I had much chance of getting it.  However it’s stayed in the back of my mind and this week I decided to follow my own motto for 2013:

I’ve gotten to that age where my brain has gone from ‘you probably shouldn’t do that’… to… ‘what the hell, see what happens!’

So I’m taking a ‘leap of faith’ and putting myself forward for the position.  As my current Principal said to me on Thursday, “The only guarantee is that you won’t get the position if you don’t apply for it.”  Meanwhile I’ve got an application and CV to prepare before applications close in a couple of weeks.

Dad sends me ‘funny’ emails occasionally and I have to admit that I really loved his latest offering.  That dog saying his prayers is too cute for words. LOL

Here’s a close up of the second part of my week:Right_1

On Thursday we had our school photos taken and it POURED with rain!  Quite a few of the senior girls had spent a lot of time doing their hair before school on Thursday but by the time we got from our classrooms to the hall several of them were experiencing a frizzy hairdo!  Hopefully the photos won’t be too bad!!

Yesterday I met Mikayla down at the supermarket and we got all the groceries done.  I’ve noticed that we seem to be buying less but it’s actually costing more… the price of food has certainly gone up in the last few years!

Carey texted me yesterday to invite me to breakfast this morning at Third Place along with Chris from school.  It was a totally stunning morning with great views out over the lake and Ohinemutu was a hive of activity.  I even impressed myself by straying from my ‘usual’ eggs benedict and ordered ‘Fungi on Toast’… super delicious!

This weekend I also completed a new art journal page.  I actually did start off taking step by step photos but quite honestly it wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it too!  The more I did the worse it seemed to get… and it certainly didn’t look like the image I had in my head so by lunchtime yesterday I had abandoned it.  This morning when I got up I took another look at it and got totally inspired to go down a different road and I ended up with a page for my journal that I absolutely love:

art journal page_1 copy

There are so many layers to the background… texture paste, stamping, paint, ink, glimmer mist, more ink, more glimmer mist… and that’s before adding any of the embellishments on!  Some of the cogs are cut from grungepaper and some are from chipboard.  The flowers are ones I’ve had in my stash for absolutely ages and the metal pieces are some that were left over from another project I did last year.

Here’s the finished page in my art journal:IMG_0031_1 copy

I’ve got two more pages to go and then I’ll have finished off the first set of signatures in my journal.  It’s certainly going to end up being really FAT by the time I’m done with it!

So there you have it… another week in my life.  We’ve only got two weeks of school left before the end of the third term and I’ve got loads to get organised so best I be getting on with it.

I hope you all have a great week xx

Friday 13 September 2013

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

Well it’s the end of yet another week… and this week we’ve had RAIN!  Poor Toby is over it completely!  Yesterday he snuggled onto the bed as small as he could trying to hide… but it’s a bit difficult to hide 32kg of dog LOL  Mikayla got home before me last night and he was most thankful to be back inside a warm, dry house.

Yesterday was actually REALLY wet… the rain was pouring down… and it was also the annual photo day at school.  Lots of the senior girls turned up with their hair straightened and they’d obviously spent ages in front of the mirror but by the time they got from their classrooms to the school their hair was wet and starting to frizz… it wouldn’t be so bad except that I know as a parent those photos stay around for a LONG time!

So here’s my layout dedicated to rain… and staying dry:week 37 - umbrellas copy

Wishing you all a great Friday  xx

Sunday 8 September 2013

Project Life: Week 36

Hi everyone :)

Isn’t it amazing how some days you can achieve so much and other days you get absolutely NOTHING done!  Having one of those days today… but I have finished my Project Life pages so that’s a good thing!

Here’s an overview of my week:Full_1

We’ve got new neighbours living beside us and they recently got a dog.  I’m not sure how old the dog is but it’s about Toby’s size and he’s desperate to make friends with it… all from the safety of his own backyard of course!

I’ve also been working hard on the layouts for the classes I’m teaching at the retreat which is a mere four weeks away!  So far so good and I’ve been taking sneak peek photos to share.

It was Johnny’s birthday on Monday and he was super excited about it all.  On Wednesday Julie-Ann came in to work with him and she brought him a gingerbread man which has thought was totally awesome… he even got the gingerbread man to ‘help’ him with his maths!

Here’s a close up of the start of my week:Left_1

We’ve been doing some really good writing in Room 4 and the kids are finding it challenging but they love it.  We’ve been writing descriptions about the Big Bad Wolf and Evelyn did such a good job that I sent her off to show Mr Barker (the Principal) and she was thrilled to bits when she got a written comment and a sticker in her book :)

Toby’s been playing at being a ‘hunter’.  The other day he was sniffing and sniffing at the back of the fireplace and trying desperately to tell me that ‘something’ was back there… and he was right!  Yes we’ve caught another furry little fiend in the trap.  It suddenly dawned on me the other day that we’ve only have mice arrive since Brandy moved to Krystal’s house… darn it!

The other day I popped into the supermarket for a ‘few things’ (as you do) and I ended up with some spring daffodils and two new vases in my trolley.  I love those plain glass bottle type vases… there’s something so simple and clean about them.

Here’s a better look at the second half of the week:Right_1

Friday turned out to be a busy day… I bought my books from Fishpond and then it was off to school.  Later in the afternoon I spotted Nina and Barb walking along the road and ran to get my camera.  Nina made Barb walk up and down the road in front of me so that we could get the photos we both needed for Project Life!

On Saturday morning I headed over to Mum’s and just as I was leaving my driveway the mail man went past.  Turns out he had a wee parcel for me filled with goodies from Esther.  I didn’t actually open it until I got to Mum’s but there was tons of neat things inside… it’s going to be so much fun to use.  Thanks Esther xx

After doing a few things around Mum’s house we went out for lunch.  The Columbus Cafe was awesome and we ended up sharing a couple of meals which meant that neither of us had to cook dinner last night LOL

In the afternoon we sat and made an art doll tag each and I think Mum’s pretty hooked on them now.  I left her with some stamped dolls and heaps of stamped clothes so she can make as many as she likes now.

So that’s been my week.  The third load of washing has just finished which signals that it’s time to head off to the laundrette and get it all dried.

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend xx

Friday 6 September 2013

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

This weeks Feel Good Friday is inspired by what we’re doing for writing in our classroom.  Amazingly (or not so amazing if you know children these days) there are very few kids in my class that actually know the traditional fairy tales.  I can remember Mum reading all of them to us when we were little girls and Little Red Riding Hood was one of my favourites!

I’ve been talking to my kids about Little Red Riding Hood and we’ve been looking at the characters in the story to write character descriptions.  We’ve been discussing the ‘villain’ in the story aka The Big Bad Wolf and it’s really inspired my kids to write!

They love the wolf… they love that he’s ‘sneaky and clever’… they love that he’s got so many descriptions that they can elaborate on… and they love all the new vocabulary they are using like ‘evil’ and ‘stalking’ and ‘shadowy’… typical kids!

So here’s what I’ve come up with for this weeks layout:week 36 - wolves copy

After work yesterday, Chris and I were discussing how great books are for promoting our language programmes at school.  Her class have been reading Roald Dahl’s BFG and they’ve made gorgeous dream jars and the boys in particular are really getting into writing narratives!

As we were talking the ideas started flowing… which totally proves the theory that two heads are better than one!  We started discussing looking at the story from the ‘other side’ and after a little bit of internet searching I found a series of books that I just had to get!

2013-01-10 14.58

I ordered all four books through Fishpond along with this one as well:

5

Super impressed with their prices!  All five books (including shipping) for $46.39 (NZ dollars)

They’re going to be delivered somewhere between Sept 16 – Oct 2… I’m hoping that it’s closer to the 16th so that I’ll have them before the end of the term.

I can see my boys loving the ‘villain’ ending up being the good guy… it will probably blow their minds!

Have a great Friday everyone xx

Tuesday 3 September 2013

One Little Word: August

Hi everyone :)

Well August is well and truly over and it’s time to update you on my One Little Word project for the month of August.

At the moment I’m snuggled up in a blanket with a BIG box of tissues beside me… it seems that this head cold is a bit worse than I thought and it’s knocked me flat.  Thankfully I got this project all done before the head cold got me!

August-title-for-blog

Here’s what Ali asked us to do this month:

The first thing I want to say to you this month is that I’m not advocating that you do anything illegal.

Does that capture your attention?

This month you’re invited to take your word out into the world. By this I mean you’re invited to write it or create it somewhere (again, nothing illegal) and take a photograph.

I have to admit that the prompt didn’t do much for me… I was hoping for something a bit more ‘gutsy’!  In the end I got my kids at school to help me out with this and they totally loved it!  We did it on a day when I had all 26 of my kids at school so everyone participated and they proved themselves to be very creative!

Here’s page 1:

page 1 copy_1

We started off with all my kids making the letters with their bodies.  The grass was a little damp and it wasn’t exactly warm but they did an amazing job!

That afternoon we have 15 minutes to spare before the end of the day so the kids were allowed to make the word ‘Choices’ any way they liked.  We just had two rules:

  1. They couldn’t leave the classroom
  2. They had to pack up after themselves before the bell went

I’m telling you… these guys LOVE a challenge!  They used bingo cards, maths beans, link cubes, counters, colouring pencils, chess pieces, jigsaw pieces, you name it they used it! … even our kiwifruit got used!

Here’s page 2:

page 2 copy_1

You should have seen the team work that came out of these kids!  Honestly, I think the 15 minute time limit really worked for them!

Of course we’ve got 14 computers in our classroom as well so even they got used!

Here’s the final page:

page 3 copy_1

My kids did me proud!  Thanks Room 4, you really are the best xx 

p.s. I’ll be back at school tomorrow so be good for the reliever!!

Sunday 1 September 2013

Project Life: Week 35

Hi everyone and welcome to another instalment in my Project Life project.  As usual there has been lots happening around here.  Here’s the overview of my week:Full_1

Mum has been busy painting and embellishing one of Richard’s old work boots and it’s looking pretty spectacular now!  I totally love the little tractor she’s added to it… and even more so because it’s a mini replica of the actual style of tractor Richard used in his farming days.

Last week Mikayla was sure she saw a mouse running out from behind the lounge curtain… it turns out that she’s REALLY afraid of mice… she certainly proved that she can squeal at the top of her lungs LOL

When we did the groceries on Monday night we bought a pair of mouse traps, came home and baited them with peanut butter and left them overnight.  In the morning the traps were still empty but when I got home on Tuesday we’d caught a mouse!  I reset the trap and by 9pm we had our second mouse… both caught in the laundry.  Since then we’ve had no more so maybe our ‘mouse in the house’ problem has been solved already!

Here’s a closer look at the start of the week:Left_1

I’ve been trying to figure out how to do my August instalment of the One Little Word project… and the prompt wasn’t really helping me very much but when I talked about it with my kids they came up with some great ideas… including using their bodies to make the word ‘choices’ for me.  It’s hard to see in the photo but they did a really awesome job!

Barb has been a friend, work colleague and fellow scrapper for a long time… and she’s worth her weight in gold in the classroom.  This week she’s been helping one of my reading groups learn all about hedgehogs and I caught her going over the book during a quiet moment in class… I’ll probably owe her morning tea when she see’s I’ve blogged about it!

We also un-moulded our hypertufa pots on Wednesday… and I’m happy to report that they are all still intact!  The kids were really pleased with how they turned out and we invited Room 9 over to see what we had made.  They’re making theirs this week and it was good for them to be able to get some ideas from my kids… plus I was able to listen in on the kids sharing their knowledge and find out just who had really learnt something during the making of our pots.

Here’s the second half of my week:Right_1

On Thursday night I went out to John and Wendy’s place for dinner.  While John and I were working on the computer Wendy cooked us up a sumptuous meal of Beef Wellington, mushrooms, salad and condiments… and then she followed it up with a delicious dessert… a bread and butter pudding made with croissants and chocolate!

Yesterday one of my sisters celebrated her 40th birthday and my nephew was keen to get in on the ‘breakfast in bed’ action!  Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast… if I’d been there I would have been tempted to join them myself!

As you know I’ve been getting into my art doll stamping and I had a really productive day on Saturday.  It was so nice to sit and do something creative… especially since I seem to have contracted a rather horrible head cold since Friday.

Mikayla gave Toby a bath yesterday and he loved it… he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying himself in the photo but he really does love having a nice warm bath!  He obviously finds it tiring though because last night he snuggled down under the duvet on the sofa and had a lovely long nap.

So that’s been my week… lots of school… lots of creating yesterday… and lots of the everyday stuff that makes up my life.

Of course today is also Father’s Day and I want to wish my Dad a very happy Father’s Day from me :)

Dad copy

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead xx