Monday, January 16, 2017

The Fall

Wow.... I haven't posted in forever.  It seems like social media has become overwhelming and has taken over and overpowered the blog world.  I remember how exciting it was when I first started blogging and before that when I first discovered blogs!!!  That seems like forever ago now.

Does anyone else feel like technology is actually getting in the way of life?  Things were so much simpler when my phone was connected to the wall.  But, I was also like 20 years or more younger and didn't have all these adulting responsibilities.  It seems like being an adult has gotten in the way of being me.  


When she is quiet there is a reason. She is sorting through all the chaos in her head...and all the madness in her heart.:

So what does that mean?  It just means that I spend so much time and energy having a job and keeping afloat in the world that that is all I end up doing.  Just doing enough to get by.  Does anyone else feel that way?  My new year's resolution was to continue improving my life.  I'm trying to count calories and lose some weight and declutter my entire house and thus my life.  

I joined a 90 day declutter challenge and it's going to easily be a year long journey for me.  I just can't balance a serious declutter of a room along with work and daily chores.  I am getting better at buying things I don't need and at getting rid of things I don't use.  Sometimes I still fight that inner battle and fear of "what if".  As a child we didn't have much and so I have this embedded fear of what if I lose my job or something happens and I don't have the extra money and I need something but can't afford it and have to go without it when I had it, but got rid of it?  Kinda sounds like I might need some therapy.  Which I considered, but for right now I am self learning.

Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened.  I posted about losing my Granny in 2013.  In 2015, my dad passed away three weeks after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.  That was a difficult experience that I am not yet ready to write about.  It involved opening, ripping open, a lot of old wounds and facing a lot of new wounds being made.  By the middle of June, I was lost, battled, bruised, strengthened, built up, stronger, weaker, lost and found.  


Keep Your Head Up. God Gives His Hardest Battles To His Strongest Soldiers. If you're interested in starting your own blog, check out http://www.StartABlog123.com.:

As I faced the returning school year I felt an uneasiness that I had never before felt about returning to my school and my job.  I wasn't ready.  I didn't want to go.  I didn't want to go back.  I loved my kids and my coworkers, but this anxiety eating in my stomach was slamming up against me like nothing I had ever experienced before.  I had no way to explain it and couldn't understand it.  I just prayed.  A lot.


Maybe my path was meant to help me learn to fight out instead of just always fighting through. To say, this is not for me and I choose peace and freedom instead of constant battle. And it took courage but I let go. I finally let something go that was not meant for me. I refuse to be ashamed of that.:

Wednesday evening, the night before teachers were to return to work from the summer, I got a text from an old friend.  We had taught together when I first started for five years before our school was closed and we got spread throughout the district.  We also had gotten our Master's Degrees in Educational Psychology with our Gifted and Talented licensing courses together.  I never did the reflection piece to get the license because I had never planned to leave my special education position in the foreseeable future.  Do you know what that text said?  

The text said, "Amy, there's a third grade excel (what we call high ability in the district) opening here and you need to take it.  I already have the principal (a friend who I had also taught with my first five years) talked into it."  I cried.  I text the principal who confirmed there was an opening, but wouldn't tell me more until I talked to my new current principal, and then I cried some more.  I was having dinner with my principal that had just moved to another district the previous year and my third grade cohorts from my current school where I was the resource teacher.  My former principal wasn't giving me a real answer lol, I think it was possibly because my friend who was the other resource teacher there had left at the end of the year and me leaving would mean an all new special education resource teacher staff.  My third grade friends told me to go though.  They said take it, this is what you were meant to do.  I did.  I took it.  I cried so hard and I was so scared that I felt sick, but I took it.


Long Jump Quotes. QuotesGram:

When I took that job, I was found.  I landed on the fresh page of a new chapter.  I found a new home that had meaning and purpose to me.  I was doing what I had set out to do as a teacher.  I was teaching in a gifted and talented classroom.  Just like my first grade teacher who had made me want to be a teacher.  And the best part was, I was under a principal who believed in me from the first day of my teaching career eleven years earlier.  Someone who had been my friend and given me words of encouragement and comfort when I was beaten down those first several years.  

This post all stems from watching the "A Year in the Life" of the Gilmore Girls series reboot.  Seriously.  I related a lot to what they were going through.  I think there's a time in all of our lives where we feel completely lost.  Maybe a few times.  Last time I felt that way it was short lived and didn't rock me to the core quite like this time did.  But I understood how it felt.  I have planned all my life.  I have known what I want and tried to go for it.  At that point though the world and chewed me up and spit me out and I had stood back up and had no idea where to go next.  I just knew I had to go somewhere because I wasn't done.  I was destined for more.  And even if I had been beaten down I was invincible because I had risen again and I always will as long as I am meant to.  When you fall to your knees, or flat on your face, just remember, the only thing to do after falling is to rise back up again.


segoviaamil:  “Warrior” written by Segovia Amil Instagram.com/segoviaamil segoviaamilpoetry.com:

Love to you all.
Amy

Monday, July 14, 2014

Cat Litter Container = Pet Food Storage

I own four pets.  FOUR.  When I first moved out on my own I had a dog, two cats, a turtle, and a hamster.  It was INSANE.  Of the current FOUR, only one of them did I set out to own.  The others found me instead.  Anyway, I ramble.  

So... you know those nice EXPENSIVE pet food containers?  Yeah, me too.  They look so nice... with their air tightness, wheels, and nice lid... and so much more pet proof and visually appealing than those big pet food bags.

Well, with two cats I buy the BIG cat litter containers... and I used the old ones to hold the cat poopies... Then I thought... WAIT!  This is a waste!  These could be....DRUM ROLL.... PET FOOD CONTAINERS!!!!



So, I put these babies in the bath tub and washed them out with some dish soap and hot water, then dried them.  You could probably spray paint them if the yellow showing REALLY bothers you, but I was going with it.  I just used some good ol' duct tape :).  


OBVIOUSLY, it needed a little more than the red and white stripes that match my red and white kitchen... 
Sooooo I broke out the silhouette and made myself a Pomeranian and a Cat.  



They are super awesome.  The dog food all fits in, but the cat food always has a couple days worth leftover in the bag.  I can deal with that, it's easy to roll up and hide an almost empty bag!


Sunday, July 13, 2014

A little rebranding...

I'm baaaack!

After being in a funk I decided to redo the blog to match my shop name.  It's more meaningful to me than the title Obsessive Creative Disorder was.  Also, I craft, but I don't do it nearly as often as I used to and I don't take pictures like I used to either.  I still want to blog and share things, but my life has changed and my blog needs to reflect that.  I felt bad calling this a craft blog and then posting about other stuff.

More importantly, I've always thought it would be cool to write a book or keep a binder of all those things they don't tell you that you need to know as an adult... or a single girl who moves out on her own.  So I'm thinking my blog will take more of a turn in that direction.  Even my Pinterest page has a board called "Things My Future Daughter Needs to Know."  As I told my best friend... no one tells you when you buy a house that weedeating sucks or that trees are going to grow in your freaking gutters and you have to climb up on a ladder and clean them out!


So, I hope you will stick with me along this journey.  It's sure to provide entertainment.  And I promise to still post some crafty pics... and to post more often.  I got called out on the fact that I haven't posted since December lol.

Much love to all of you!  Bear with me as I make changes!


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The DOA Diaries

I've thought about this for a while, but just this week I haven't been able to get the idea out of my mind.  I am a daughter of an alcoholic (DOA).  I believe it has had a huge impact on the person I am today and the challenges I have dealt with in my life.  Lots of bloggers have had confessions of sorts about their "secrets" or  "truths" and this is mine.  I am writing so that others will know they aren't alone and so that I can get it out and document where I have come from.  It's something that effected my entire family and in which my father was not completely to blame.  And so I am going to start the DOA Diaries.  A biweekly/monthly series- whichever I can fit in with life as a teacher!  It will cover dark topics and won't be all that cheerful, but it's reality and what so many other people are going through in silence and shame and fear.

Let's start with the poem that got my brain turning and started this whole idea.

FOOD. MUSIC. MEMORY.

She says: Cupcakes. Brownies. Pies. She says:
Remember this. Bread. Stew. Sauce. She says:
All that time. She says: singing. All I taught
you. She says: Crayon. Alligator. Boy Scouts.
She says: Baseball. Soccer. Track. She says:
I was there. Remember?

I say: Shouting. Silence. Shouting. I say:
Remember this. Scotch. Vodka. Kahlua. I say:
Cupcake. Meatloaf. Sauce. I say: Singing. All
you would not tell me. I say: Crayon. Dancing.
Guitar. I say: Belt. Hairbrush. Hand. I say:
I was there. Remember?

Susan Marie Scavo

Susan Marie Scavo is a Certified Archetypal Therapist and Teacher of Teacher of Archetypal dreamwork. To hear her read several of her poems visithttp://www.northofeden.com/videos/susan-marie-scavo-reads-poetry

Take from the blog: http://barbarashoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/poetry-friday-food-music-memory.html

Adult Children of Alcoholics
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/504543964474549939/

Here's my version, inspired by the above poem.

She says: Christmas.  Dinner.  Sunday breakfasts.
She says: Remember.  Fishing.  Long drives.  Mushroom hunting.
She says: Our baby girl.
She says: Plaid shirts.  School programs.  All I did for you.
She says: Playdoh.  Movies.  Candy.
She says: Volleyball.  Your first job.  Cars.
She says: I was there.  Remember?

I say: Yelling.  Hitting.  Crying.
I say: Alcohol.  Pot.  Beer.
I say: Fishing.  Mushroom hunting.  Feeding ducks.
I say: The baby you always wanted.  The life you forced us to live.
I say: Drawings.  Art.  Stories.
I say: Tears.  Hyperventilating.  Begging.
I say: I was there.  Do YOU remember?




Sunday, August 18, 2013

My Classroom AKA My Second Home


My computer area.... those three letters are the wall are from my friend who was my Secret Santa one year at our previous school.  All were written in poem form and incorporated clipart of my favorite things.  They also gave much needed encouragement.

Close up of my teacher randomness.  The pink box holds a four year old chocolate Easter bunny... too cute to eat!


My teacher resources and attempt at organization.


Front of my desk with my remade wood box!  The red line on the floor is duct tape marking off the do not pass area for students. 

My view of my desk.

 Framed crayon letter K from my bestie Sarah.  Basket at the bottom holds my clipboards, basket on top holds "quiet animals" which I used to pass out to my quiet students when I pulled groups.

Turn in tub and carpet squares on part of a shelf I bought from Menards for $9.97!!!!

 My classroom- desks set up in 3s (I don't have a class, I'm a special education resource teacher.  The most students I have at one time are 20-30 for Success for 30 minutes, but with the back table and the desks and a few carpet squares all are happy!)  That is the rest of the green shelf!  I use it for my Smartboard projector because the kids kept moving the cart and the table it was on last year.... this thing totally stays in place.


Doors labeled with paper cut with my Silhouette.

Cubbies for student work.  Baskets on top holding materials for reading groups my assistant and I have during intervention time, and whisper phones.

Reading area.  Green line indicates that students may go in this area.

I love this!  It's a spinning book rack I got from a friend.  It holds all my leveled book sets!

Well- that's the best I've got of my room at a glance for the time being!  I didn't want to overload with photos!  That brown wood cabinet is actually full of drawers that I have labeled and organized with materials!  It's a hot commodity.  As is my semi circle table in the back of the room that I brought from my previous school. :)



Thursday, August 15, 2013

There's a Giveaway Goin' ONNNNN!!!!

Hey ya'll.  I'm advertising this month with Maria @ Agape Love Designs!   I'm a little late on this because live has been CRAY ZAY lately, but there's a kinda super awesome giveaway going on over there! 

Winner takes ALL, and here is what YOU could win:

~ $50 Shop Credit to Snappy Design Signs
~ $15 Shop Credit to any 1 of Agape Love Design's Current Sponsor's Shops
~  Custom Poppy Headband
Felt bow hair clip in choice of red, yellow, goldenrod, teal, light pink, maroon, or gray
~ Avon Mega Effects Mascara
~ Personalized wire name bracelet with choice of charms.

This giveaway is open to Residents of the US and Canada Only.  Apologies to all whom this excludes.


Head on over to Agape Love Designs to enter!

Facebook Linky Party!!!!



Hey everybody!  Welcome to my little random place in this world on Obsessive Creative Disorder!  In addition to this blog I have an etsy shop titled "A Place in This World".  It is full of little hair pretties and handmade jewelry and brooches.  I am adding more felt bow clips to the shop shortly!  In the meantime feel free to message me if you are interested in them for $2 a pop.  I just started back to work teaching after summer break so excuse the absence and randomness for the time being.  My blog follows all of my crafting randomness and my adventures as a 30 year old trying to figure things out and tame my three ring pet circus! Thanks for stopping by!  Leave a comment with your page, shop or blog so I can follow you too!







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Saturday, August 3, 2013

Sneak Peek of my Classroom- FINALLY

So we started school this week.... I cannot even begin to count the number of bruises just above my knees from running into student desks LOL.  Here is a peek of my classroom... only two pics... then my phone died!
These are my classroom rules in my insect themed class (idea was found on Pinterest!):

These are reading comprehension skills posters with matching beanie babies!  Also found on Pinterest and purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers!
(The wood treasure chest I purchased unfinished at Joann's with a 40% off coupon and stained and sealed myself... it now holds prizes for my kiddos)


I also had this box that a friend gave me last year when she was moving on to another school.  It was too plain for me and needed a makeover!

Before starting I noticed a BUNNY in my back yard (teacher ADD).

 I decided to paint it red and put chalkboard paint on the back that will face the classroom and on the drawers!

 I also decided it needed a ladybug to complete the theme...
I took it to school and absolutely love it!  I have drawers labeled with what is inside and wrote my name on the back!

This is Charlie between coats of paint drying lol.

I promise to post more pics next week!  It was the first week back and things were INSANE!

Ballerina Doll for my Niece

So my little niece Emma loves all things pink, princesses, ballerinas, and crazy lol.  For her fourth birthday, I asked her what she wanted and she told me, "A ballerina and a car that goes backwards and forwards."  I took care of the ballerina part for her :).

(This is a typical self selected outfit which I would totally wear at 30 if it came in my size.)

I was originally going to make the doll form as well... but then I found a muslin doll form at JoAnn's that was ready for personalization so I snatched it up!  (I didn't take a picture and can't find it on their website).  The doll unfortunately had wires inside of it's arms and legs for posing so I performed a minor surgery and extracted all wires!

Back view:
To make the hair I wrapped fleece around the head, secured with a hair tie, and sewed around the hair line.  I then covered the hairband with a coordinating piece of elastic that matched the straps of the top I created.  After I secured the hair, I just took my scissors and cut long strips out of the fleece left over (I also trimmed off some excess so that it had an even end.)

To make the top I just wrapped fleece around the body to determine the size and then stitched the back.  I did end up cutting down a little under the arms.  I also added on the straps.  Everything is stretchy and four year old friendly since I eventually plan to make her more clothes.  The tutu was made using pinterest tutorials for a normal sized tutu- it took about an hour to make!  ACK!   The face is hand painted with fabric paint.  And the necklace is made of glow in the dark beads, but can be taken off and worn as a bracelet.

I couldn't figure out how to make shoes... Emma then requested "shews" so we are using these socks!

I spent $3.99 on these.... they wouldn't transfer for ANYTHING.  Thus why I had to hand paint.

Emma LOVES her doll.  She takes her everywhere.  It really only took me 2 hours start to finish and I am so happy with the end result!



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