Wonderful Words

Sorry for not making good on my necklace posts... I've been hit with some sort of stomach bug. :( I just came across this quote though and really loved it, it's one of the hardest things for me to do in life. I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and I obsess thoroughly over minute details and decisions in my life. I strive for perfection and always want to wait until that perfect moment, or put things off until I can try to do everything all at once so that I feel like I completed something instead of allowing myself to be human and just do things as they need done instead of putting it off and stressing myself out, and lastly learning to find confidence in myself and not need others to tell me how well I am doing or give me their approval. I was awesome in school because I got grades and feedback about how I was doing and it was just there to follow, now in life I constantly worry about how well I am doing because no one gives you grades in real life. There are no grades for how well you do your job (teaching), how clean you keep your house, how well kept your yard looks, or how kind you are to others. Life doesn't give you the feedback and objectiveness of grades. Even in my medicated state I still worry and obsess on a smaller scale. I'm a straight A honor student living in a world that has stopped grading my performance and it makes me question myself and continues to hinder me from gaining the self confidence I so badly need and have never had. Now that I've given that little rant... here you go:

Begin where you are.

Don't wait for the right moment

or the easy moment.

If it needs to get done,

do it.

where you are.

be better now.

change your life now.

waiting for an assurance of success will only stop you.

begin where you are.

OH NO! I've lost my camera!

(My little weed eater... I chopped these down with clipper things and he laid down and started eating them!)


Holy cow... it's gone.

I can't find it anywhere!

My camera has disappeared! I'm so sad because I've made tons of awesome crafts :(.

Guess I'll have to use my cell... even though I've gone over my messaging/data package! (Oops!)

I'm so excited about my crafting... I can't wait to share! :)

LoVe YoU ALL!

Life...

(got this in an email once a long time ago... still cracks me up)

So... I really have done a few crafts over the last couple months. I've made necklaces, fabric posey pins, felt flower brooches, a mod podged table, a painting, and others I'm sure I'm missing. I just don't seem to have the patience to upload pictures and post them. That's a new goal of mine starting this week, I want to post at least one craft or creative post per week. So, my classroom is all packed and waiting to be moved to the school I've been reassigned to (80 boxes). I got a violation letter from the city for having weeds or grass in excess of 12 inches tall (I killed the weed eater, had no money for a replacement, was packing at school 9+ hours a day for the last 10 days, and it's rained like you wouldn't believe). I proceeded to take care of those much overgrown weeds last night, then tried to finish up today since the letter I received Friday had today as the deadline... and managed to drop a large cement block on my toe. OUCH!- which doesn't even begin to cover it. Possibly broken, won't be spending the money to find out since there is nothing that can be done for it. At any rate, I'm basically a broke 27 year old again for the time being except for a small allowance I have to get a few things at a craft store in the next few days. Then my summer goal will be to learn to be okay with not spending money and spending more time tending to things at home. That means lots of yard work and tons of inside work. I've lived in this house for just over two years now and I've neglected the homemaking duties for far too long. Can't wait to post pics of a clean and decorated house! Wish me luck... I'll need it!

Little Irritated

Okay... I'm a little irritated here... maybe more than a little. Why are there random comments being left on my blog that look like they are written in hieroglyphics? Then when I click to check out the user who left them, it's a blog full of the same hieroglyphics. I try to delete the comments, but they don't go away. It's frustrating me. So... I have now turned on comment approval in order to try to prevent more of these comments from posting.

BTW... it's summer break!

Right now that means I have to pack up my entire classroom for the district to move to my new school because they closed our current school due to budget cuts :(. I am so sad to be separated from my school family and students, but I won't go into that right now because I've cried enough today!

A parent came in today and volunteered to help me... she was in shock at how much I had... that's kinda what happens when you are a resource teacher for ALL grade levels!

Hope to be back posting soon!

LOVE!

I'm out of commission for day three... and it just keeps getting worse!

Resolution

Alright... get ready.... because I'm going to be posting more often!

The reason I don't post that often is because I'm lazy when it comes to uploading pics. I'm also lazy when it comes to emptying my memory card... so when I go to upload there's like 300 pics to go through to get to what I want. So today I'm going to go burn everything to a cd, empty my memory card, and get goin' here.

I have so much to show you!

1. I've repainted an aquarium stand and created my own background for the tank
2. Learned to make rolled fabric rosettes
3. Made an adorable button headband
4. A few chalkboard trays
5. And I'm in the process of cleaning my craft room... you will die when you see the before pictures- it gives a whole new meaning to unorganized

Anyway, I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting... like all of the necklaces I've made, but I'll be posting soon. I'll also be buying envelopes and needed packaging to send out those giveaway items and FINALLY my pay it forward items as well! I'll email you when they are shipped (either Monday or Tuesday).

LOVE!

VICTORY IS MINE!

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?

I DID IT!!!!


I FIXED THE BATH TUB FAUCETS! I EXCHANGED THE OTHER PART, REALIZED THE GUY PROBABLY DIDN'T HAVE IT SEALED ALL THE WAY WHEN HE PUT ON THE SHUT OFF PIECE AND FIXED IT BY MYSELF!!!!

NO MAN!

NO PLUMBER!

JUST ME!

26 (27 IN ONE WEEK) YEAR OLD ME!!!

WITH THE MORAL SUPPORT OF A VERY ENTHUSIASTIC POM...



LOVE!

Saga Continues

Okay, so I started out with hot water running in a stream as if someone had not turned it off in the tub like this...
And drove downtown to the plumbing supply store and paid $60 for two new faucet gut pieces (the receipt says ceramic cartridge... basically it's everything that screws into the pipe in the wall and is covered by the handle). Mom said, "Get both Amy, otherwise you'll end up needing the other one before you know it." So, I did and spent the $60. Came home all excited, put the new parts on (with Charlie the pomeranian/puparoo in the tub with me), turned the water back on...




and now....




drum roll please....
WE HAVE A TRICKLE RUNNING OF COLD WATER INSTEAD OF HOT!

If I was a mermaid this wouldn't bother me as I would live underwater and most likely wouldn't have issues with air leaks ya know?


Anyway, saga continues- mom is going to go back downtown to the plumbing store and exchange the cold piece for a new one. My reasoning is that if the hot water is now fixed with the new part... then the cold water part must be defective. Right? Uh... sure... just go along with it here. I'll let you know what happens next...

Until then....
I'm Soggy with a Chance of Dog Paws

The Joys of Home Owning...

Alright, here's a little rant...

Have I been crafting? Yes... tons... you wouldn't believe all the projects I haven't posted on! Why haven't I posted? Because uploading pics is a pain with my camera and it's sucking batteries dry like you wouldn't believe! Also, life gets in the way.

Secondly- giveaway? right? Yeah, well it sorta stinks because all of the post offices around here are open school hours... and I'm a teacher. Therefore, my lovely giveaway winners, you will be receiving your prizes next week when my break starts and I am free to ship and craft freely! (I will be including an apology goody as well for each of you- not that I've decided what that is yet!)

Thirdly, the meaning of this post, I have lived in my old little house for two years now. It was built in 1957 and is just under 1,000 sq. feet. It has a big yard and it makes me happy to come home to (though it could be much much more organized- side note to be added to break to do list for next week). Anyway, there were plumbing problems when I was in the process of buying the house and the realtor's repair guy fixed the copper pipes and that was a total Jerry Springer show drama, but we got it resolved and i bought my house.

Now... for two years I've had a drip... drip... drip... in the tub. I tried to find people to help me fix it, but no takers. SO! I got this awesome book...


And in it's awesomeness it told me how to repair a leaky faucet, that over this weekend decided to go from dripping to running water....

Except the hardware stores don't carry what I need!

So I put it back together...

HAHA! The water wouldn't shut off in the tub! Then when I got it rearranged again when I shut it off it made a terrible screeching sound in the pipes!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!So I turned off the main water supply! :(

Then I called in today and have been up since 6 making sub plans for my kiddos, pm sub plans for my assistant, and calling every plumbing supply complany possible.

I FOUND ONE! It's in the middle of downtown and about 30-40 minutes away, but they think they probably have the parts I need! So... I'm going to go to my mom's to shower, then drive myself to this place and see if I can get some home repairs done.

BTW... all of my repair time was spent sitting in the tub with my pet pom drinking the dripping water... I tried to get my mom to take a pic for my blog, but when she went to leave the room my pom took off with my wrench and my mom had to retrieve it instead! :(

(all pics found through google image search)

Update

My mom got released from the hospital Saturday (January 23rd) after undergoing a double heart bypass that Tuesday. She is home and doing very well recovery wise. She's struggling with following doctor's orders on limitations and dieting, but we continue to try to support her in that. She's only 52 so it's very scary to think of someone having all of this happen at that age. Thank you for prayers and thoughts. They really helped.

Also, I'm still trying to get back in the swing of things and deal with life that has continued to go on as my mom was hospitalized. I hope to get some pictures of the crafts I've done the last few months posted and get to work on some other new projects. I'm hoping to make my own planner- but first of all clean up the crap room! (Then I'll call it the craft room again)

Much Love!
Amy

Prayers Needed

Okay fellow blogging friends... I took my mom to the hospital Saturday night at midnight with chest pains. I made her take an aspirin before I let her get in the car. The pain went away and everything came back clear so that hospital sent her home at 4:30am to take aspirin and scheduled a stress test.

My aunt calls me at 10 yesterday morning to tell me my mom is still having chest pains. I call and my mom doesn't want to go to the hospital, just wants more aspirin. I take her aspirin and tell her if its still bad in half an hour I'm taking her to another hospital with a heart center. I take her in around 1 by the time we get there. They find elevated heart enzymes which is a sign of a heart problem (this all came out of the blue and totally unexpected)...

My mom calls me this morning and says they are taking her in in five minutes for a heart cauterization. We get there and the heart doctor tells us she has an 80% blockage in one of the arteries to her heart. She has to have bypass surgery tomorrow at 6:15am and is totally losing it over fear about the surgery and fear over having to be off work and not being able to pay bills.

We need your prayers. I'll keep updates on here and may open an etsy shop shortly to try to sell paintings and crafts to help with any bills I can.

Much love to all of you and yours,
Amy

~New Years To Do~

I've spent my two weeks vacation from school reading my Google Reader blog subscriptions, crafting Christmas gifts, but MOST importantly- spending LOTS and LOTS of time with some great friends that I couldn't live without. Now I look to school starting back Monday with a panic. I have so much to do that isn't done! My camera also threw a fit and wasn't working, so I have it going again (thanks to some hot pink Duct tape) and will have pics to post soon of my crafty projects and flea market finds. My poor puppy Charlie got neutered on Thursday and is running around with a cone on his head. Not that it is effecting him at all- he's still driving everyone insane. Long story short- here's my to do list!

Crafts:
1. finish last touches on Pay It Forward gifts and ship them out!
2. post pics on here of crafts
3. organize the craft stuff

MOST IMPORTANTLY...
My cleaning to do list (I picked up a book called The One-Minute Organizer Plain and Simple by Donna Smallin, it is a quick and easy read of simple tips)
Here's my list of things to have cleaned and organized by my birthday (March 17th):

1. clear pile from corner of kitchen
2. pantry
3. craft table in kitchen
4. counter
5. laptop work counter
6. drawers in paper file
7. kitchen shelf
8. entertainment center
9. hall closet
10. craft room floor (boxes)
11. craft room desk
12. craft closet
13. spare bedroom
14. bedroom closet
15. bedroom shelf
16. end of bed pile
17. dresser drawers
18. dresser top

So- I've taken the first step, made a list of what needs to be done and broken it down into simple things, and giving myself a deadline. My next step is to spend 15 or more minutes a day cleaning. My plan is to buy some of those super cute reusable shopping bags and hang one in each room on a door knob or hook. I'll use each bag to hold things that don't belong in that room so that I can just take the bag and put things in their rightful place after I have finished the above list. Good luck all! Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Amy

Back and on Break!

Ahhhh! How I love being on break and being able to ACTUALLY read all of my google reader blogs. The tree is FINALLY up and decorated- as of last night at 10pm (No lights this year tho because Charlie is still a cord chewer- he's still only 4 months old tho so he should grow out of it)! Now I have to get to crafting my Christmas gifts!


Also, for my pay it forward gals, your gifts will be coming shortly! They may not arrive til the first week of January, but I have my supplies for my new (and awesomely awesome) idea that I know each of you will love!


Lastly, I've found myself getting mad at my blog choices because so many people have pics of these immaculately clean houses! Well- mine isn't! My craft room is currently called the crap room- because that's where all the craft crap has landed and hasn't been organized. So during my two week break, I plan for before and after pictures of my cleaning. There will also be some shelf installing in the closets or some major crap storage boxes bought. I PROMISE to show you where I've hidden all my junk because I always look at those pictures and scream, "WHERE'S THE CRAP? WHERE'S THE CLUTTER?" Not that I love crap and clutter, just that life happens.

So, I had an amazing week of Secret Santa gifts at school with fun poems and a touching letter on Thursday- for the reveal of my Secret Santa as the gym teacher on Friday. He was the best Secret Santa ever- he raised my spirits, made me smile, and touched my heart and soul. He still says we need to debrief to ensure that I understand the full meaning of everything in the letter- I think I've got it. So, I'm off now to craft some presents and wrap everything- can't wait to see more of you all!



Lots of LoVe,
Amy + 6 critters (Reggie, Buddy, Tink, Charlie, Squirt and Poppy)

Still Here...

I'm still here! Just been incredibly busy at school/work and with my puppy. Haven't had time lately to go to the flea market or blog :(. My Google Reader count of new blog posts is a glaring 182. As a Special Education teacher I'm finding myself even more busy with new changes to how we write IEPs and being compliant. It's stressful, so I find myself coming home to curl up on the couch with my furballs and take a nap or just watch some tv so that I can unwind for the next day.
Sarah over at Love, Love, Love and I managed to do some awesome shopping and hanging out last weekend. We are both trying to make the majority of our Christmas gifts handmade. We also just signed up for a booth at my school's Holiday Bazaar in December! We can't wait to sell some of our crafty things! It's so exciting. I'm so thankful for being able to spend so much time with Sarah to hang out and shop and just spend time together. Every time we get together we pick up right where we left off. She's an awesome friend to have :). Thank God for those friends now when I'm stressing out!
Now it's off to bed so I can get to school by 7:15 to meet with my fifth grade teachers!

P.S. I'm still working on those Pay It Forward gifts!!!!

Love,
Amy Jean and her six little critters =^. .^=

ExCiTeMeNt

Are you EXCITED? I'm EXCITED! I'm going to have some major blogging going on here soon. Since the start of three week break from school (which I am working 8:25-noon for the first two weeks of) I have been busy, busy, busy already! I have redone a chair and it's seat, made my brother paint an aquarium stand for me- still a project in the works because it's too plain, went treasure hunting at the flea market and landed some MAJOR finds, and CANNOT wait to share with all of you! YAY! So EXCITED! AND I decorated the outside of my house for fall/Halloween! YAAAYYYY!!!

AND I forgot! I am going to make my own aquarium background... because I really despise the generic fish/ocean/floral backgrounds... if I have to have this huge thing in my house it is going to add to my decor and show my style! :D

THANK GOD FOR YEAR ROUND SCHOOLS!

Okay! So, as of tomorrow at 3:45pm... I will be FREE!!! We are starting our first three week break of the year! I'll be teaching intersession for three and a half hours a day for the first two weeks, but I'm still super excited! It means time to finish cleaning my house that I moved into over a year ago, finishing up the yard sale, sending things to Good Will, and lots of crafting! So tomorrow I'm coming home to make enchiladas and then looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. After some much needed catch up sleep I'm off to the craft store for red and white flowers, fabric to redo an old chair, decorative nail heads, and whatever else grabs my eye! Enjoy the fall! It's going to be awesome.

You Know You Have OCD When...

For the benefit of my own entertainment... you know you have OCD (the Obsessive Compulsive clinical kind) when...

1. you leave the flea market with the overwhelming need to find the nearest sink and wash your hands
2. you have to edit all of your blog posts to make sure the font is the same and unbold the ones you accidentally bolded
3. you stop and line up all the candles perfectly straight on your entertainment center
4. you refold and rotate the wash clothes because they didn't match the rest of the others folds
5. you have to get a different dress off the rack because the one you had picked up had a stitching of white thread that should have been gray

We won't even go into my nightly rituals that will start here in about five minutes, but these are my top five for the day.