{the things i failed to learn in school}

there is a sense of irony in this post...

let me begin with saying i love my job.  i love the people i work with, i love the kiddos who are in my building!  i'm even loving the lesson plans and whole class speech activities i get to do with my kids in a week!

i don't love ARC (admissions and release committee... it's fine... i had to look it up) meetings and writing IEP's (individual education plans... i knew that one!).  i am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  it's ironic that on one of the days that i feel most overwhelmed, i also get my official teaching certificate that says i'm certified to work with little people (or big people if i so desired) and teach them all they need to know about speech and language.

where was my class in graduate school on scheduling?  how about writing IEP's?  what about conducting a meeting? i had a great education at eku-  i can tell you so much about the brain and the vocal cords, and how to work on articulation and language.  i can throw out really impressive sounding words.  i can even say i've watched laryngeal surgeries and known what was going on.  sadly, most of that is null and void when it comes to paperwork.

bring on the ktip. bring on the iep's. bring on the arc meetings.  bring on more abbreviations!!!!

{mornings}

i never thought i would say this, but i think i'm a morning person.  before you jump to the old jokes, let me explain a bit.

mornings are so peaceful.  they're cool, they're pretty, they're God's way of refreshing us and reminding us 'today is a new day... you get to start over'.

waking up early is not a new thing to me.  in undergrad and the first year of grad school, i woke up early to go hang out with some hilarious middle schoolers and play games before school.  then i got semi- grown up and had to wake up early to go to the va and drive to an elementary school and hang out with some equally funny kids for my internships.  now i'm more grown up with a real job and real kids that are my own individual speech kids.  strangely, i don't hate waking up at 5:30.  i mean, i relish in the weekends where i get to sleep in (today i woke up at 6:40 thinking i was late, remembered it was saturday and slept again til 9:30!!!!), but my drive to winchester is pretty- i drive past horse farms and fields full of mist while the sun starts it's ascent across the sky.  i also know i'm on my way to see precious little faces full of wonder and soaking up information like a sponge.  even without seeing kids, i can start the collection of my future best seller about the things kids say (my current favorite is a little boy who came in crying (as most do their first day), and an hour in was laughing and told me 'i don't need to cry no more!  school is fun and daddy will be proud of me!')

on the weekends, i like my mornings for a different reason.  i get time.  time to wake up slowly, time to sit in my favorite spot in my house- my tiny 4 foot by 12 foot little back porch.  my mom and dad got me a little table and chairs, i have my basil plant, and i can read and journal, drink some coffee, and watch life go by under the shade of a huge oak tree.  it's my reminder that life is good.  God refreshes.  mornings are beautiful.

{decor so far}

life is busy!  the real world has started and to be honest, it's kind of tiring.  not exhausting, but waking up at 5:30 isn't a cake walk.  needless to say, not much decorating has happened.  i'm thrilled to say cleaning yes!  decorating, ehhh.

i'm super excited about a few things though.  i really want to slowly add nice artwork that is distinctly kentucky or ohio.  i have loved living in both places- both are home, so i like the idea of celebrating places i've been.

i recently became obsessed with cricket press.  they're this really cool print shop based out of lexington and they do some really awesome work.

as you can see, no frames yet, but one poster is from the morris book shop, which is a super cool place, and the other is the lexington farmers market which is one of my absolute favorite things in lexington.  i can't wait to get them hung up on display!

cute organizer (burlap!) from hobby lobby

i've got the whole world in my little apartment

finally, i got to do some fun crafting

just in time for football season!

there's a little look into what i've been trying to do with my place... i'm excited to slowly make this place more 'me' and more of a home :)  come visit!

{hippie living}

deep down (or not so deep down... i'll let you make that call), i'm a hippie.  i love my beat up burlap shoes, my mama and i are going to make burlap curtains, and although i can't go fully to natural cleaning products (there's something about scrubbing bubbles and not scrubbing that's fabulous), i do love the method cleaning (especially the pink grapefruit... a friend of mine bought this and i was helping her clean and holy cow.  it smells so good i actually want to clean so my house smells like it!)

ok, target/method rant over.

i officially used the last of my homemade detergent from a year ago, and i think it's safe to say i won't be going back.  i remade the detergent i made almost exactly a year ago (recipe here), but this time, i wanted a little more scent (it really doesn't smell like anything), so i added some of those washing crystals

i really like the tropical scent

detergent is now perfect: mostly natural (so the crystals probably aren't super natural, but hey... i like the scent), CHEAAAAAAAP (like pennies cheap... for real people... no detergent in a year and the ingredients were like $10), and now it smells so good.

*as a side note, if you're making this, and using my old recipe- i used a hand mixer to mix everything after 24 hours, and it's much more like regular detergent- less gloopy!

i'm also taking advantage of the nice weather and drying things on my drying rack outside (enter the hippie jokes!)

as for dishwashing detergent, i'm sticking to the store bought stuff... mine was a fail- it left a lot of residue and didn't really clean like i wanted it to, but go make the dish detergent- it's worth it!

{pinterest and real life}

heard of pinterest?  stupid question, i know...

well here's the thing.  i really want to at least pretend that i can attempt most of the things i pin.  there really are some great ideas out there!

moving into a nice house, i have known i want to work harder on keeping it clean.  sugar creek was hard.  we could have scrubbed that place every day, and it still would have looked skanky.  this new place is different- the carpet is clean, the tiles are still white, the walls aren't a conglomeration of 18 shades of white.

earlier, i shared a cleaning schedule, and moving in a week before i start the new job, i've wanted to be really good about establishing a routine.  i've actually really enjoyed cleaning for the first time ever... it's nice to start nice, then keep it nice.

today was mopping day, so it proved the perfect time to try out my new swiffer!  ok, well it's actually an old swiffer, and that's actually the fun part.  i crocheted a reusable swiffer cloth (found here) and refilled an old container which was actually kind of hard... pinterest made it sound easy, but apparently mine was not appreciating being pried apart.

like i said, mine didn't really look like the pattern (i'm not the best at following directions... oops!), but it did get the job done!  and i like that i can just throw it in the wash and not use the expensive wipes.

thanks pinterest!  any other fun pinterest finds?  i tend to only note pinterest fails...

{i have a new home!}

sugar creek is no more

we have left the ghetto

i really love my new place.  it's perfect for what i need right now- it's mine and it feels like home.

i had some great help moving- they got everything moved out and moved into the new place in about 2 hours.  thanks!!!!  pictures will be coming soon of gray hawk, but i need some more time to decorate :)

i'm on the second level which is great- i feel very safe and it's quiet.  i also have a cute little back porch, and even though it's right off alumni, there's a nice big tree that keeps things a little more private and quiet.  i feel very settled already, which is unusual for me.  it usually takes me a while to unpack and set up, but everything came together really quickly!  for once in my life, i feel like everything has a place (i don't even have things hidden in closets or anything!).

now i'm just getting excited about decorating.  i have some ideas in my head, but i know it needs a while to just come together.  i really want to have lexington artwork in my place.  nicer stuff than college housing decorations.  i'm excited about the prospect of finding little gems and slowly making this place even more 'my own'.

come visit!  i have a sofa bed and it's ready for people to stay on it :)

it feels good to be home.