Repurposed

My hubby has been repurposing wood pallets by creating rustic furniture with them. This was an idea we saw on Pinterest, which we are BOTH addicted to, by the way. Anyhow, he has created shelves, end tables, coffee tables, sofa tables and even a faux fence using old pallets.

This coffee table that is located on our back patio is my absolute favorite piece. He put the table on large castors, so it is also really easy to move - which is a double bonus :)

I just love that he is repurposing something that would otherwise be discarded. Really does put value to the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Twenty Twelve

Just like many of you, I made some new year's resolutions... Okay, actually I fought the notion of New Year's resolutions because often my resolutions do not even make it to the month of February. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Anyway, after long consideration I decided that my resolutions were going to be simple... That's just it, my resolutions involve just living a simpler life.
2011 was a great year, but I am glad it is over!! I think I stretched myself a little too thin by overcommiting myself. I tried to manage my jewelry boutique, teach 3rd Grade, be a good house wife, help out the PTO with Box Top Coordination and Organize the scholastic section of UIL for our campus. WHEW!! I'm tired just thinking of it. Sadly, everything took a back burner to education and although I am committed to education my students, I think there has to be a balance.

This school year I was given the opportunity to teach language arts instead of math, which has alleviated a lot of pressure. So, with some of my education pressures alleviated, I needed to find a way to balance the rest of my life.


My goals are:

•Update bookwork for my business weekly, so that I do not fall into a dilema next tax season where I am scrambling to do it all at once.

•Spend Tuesday night's with my husband... No work! (as this is his night off from his college classes)

•Spend 10 minutes every night/evening writing in my weightloss journal... Even if it's just recording my water intake for the day, writing down my thoughts for the day, or even just copying an exercise routine or quote that I found. I just need to dedicate myself to give ME the time that I deserve!

•Make better use of school time... Keep my lesson planning far enough in advance that I do not have to spend weekends at school. (I have been GREAT at this so far).

•Keep my desk clean, so that I do not have so spend time there after school.

•Walk the dogs daily. (I have achilles tendonitis right now, so I can't do this... But as soon as I am healed, this is a goal. We live in an AWESOME neighborhood... I need to get out an enjoy it)

•Complete 2 small chores daily, so that the weekend is not dedicated to housekeeping.

•Take care of Rockin'Spade miscellaneous business 2 evenings a week... This will help make sure that I am not having to scramble when I have let the website get to far out of date, or when I have not managed Facebook page comments. It's just a good idea for business.


DOES anyone else have similar goals? Sometimes I feel like I am the only person who makes this so much more complicated than they need to be. I am so excited to just be SIMPLE and organized!! :)

Playin' on Pinterest

Recently, I read an article that said you should market your small business on Pinterest. Well, tonight I took action on that and posted my first Pins :) Just a couple samples of some jewelry we have available on our website.

I was ecstatic that someone repinned one of the necklaces right away. Yay!! The internet never ceases to amaze me. Here goes another new adventure to keep me busy.

Again, ROCKIN' and rollin' through this wonderful, hectic, awfully beautiful life :)

LET'S EAT GRANDMA!

This year I am teaching Langugage Arts to 3rd Grade students. Ideally, this would be my dream job since I love writing, I love teaching and I especially love not being responsible for a TAKS (now STAAR) test.

It has been an educational eye opener to teach language. With math, the information is so concrete - you either get it or you don't... and if you don't, perhaps you will understand this method, which brings you to the same answer anyhow. With Language Arts, it's much more strict. Commas go where they are supposed to, and ending punctuation is very important.

Recently on Pinterest I saw an image that said LET'S EAT GRANDMA! Then directly underneath this, it said LET'S EAT, GRANDMA! Boy, what a difference one comma can make :) Sharing a meal with Grandma versus sharing Grandma as a meal.

As I have not been the most diligent blogger, mainly because I am not ever sure what I want to talk about... I decided I can at least entertain the masses with some of the hysterics that happen in 3rd Grade, Room 8.

Last week we were working on an assignment involving characterization. I did this with my high school sophomores during student teaching, but I decided I would adapt it to fit the needs of 3rd Grade writing. Anyhow, the assignment specifically stated that students needed to write out a plot that included a climax and and ending involving a fictional character.

One of my precious 3rd Graders brings her paper to me. This particular student is an excellent writer over all, but occasionally she gets in a hurry. She had completed the assignment with success, but when I read the ending, I was a bit alarmed... It said: "So the boy's step-dad died in a car wreck and his mom got a disease and also died. The boy had to go live with his Grandma and they got married."

I asked her, "Wait a second, he married his GRANDMA?"

Instantly, I thought of LET'S EAT GRANDMA!! I nearly laughed hysterically, because I just happened to know this student's Grandma, and I knew that she must've been thinking of someone else and just wrote it down. Definitely a lesson in proofreading learned there.

The Joys of 3rd Grade :)

WWJD?

Here's an uplifting way to start off 2012 - as you can clearly see I am not a very disciplined blogger.

I was very humbled by a story that my husband told me last night. He has night classes in nearby Del Rio, TX (which is our biggest neighboring town), and sometimes I will ask him to do a little grocery shopping on his way home. Last night was one of those times.

As we're standing in the kitchen he casually says, "I spent a little more at Wal-Mart than we discussed." Naturally, my negativity gets the best of me and I am thinking GREAT! Just what we need more tools to junk up our garage or more parts for the boat that we rarely use. Something told me I needed to be open minded and listen to what he had to say.

My husband told me a tale about how Wal-Mart had been very crowded and how he stood in the checkout line for quite some time. He said a Military man was in line ahead of him and was havin trouble checking out. The man was encouraged to use the in-store bank's ATM machine and John noticed that his cart was filled with little girl's' Valentine items, etc. As the cashier rang up John's cart, John continued to observe the man who was taking several cards from his wallet, trying to use them in the machine and then checking the paper slips as they came out. John noticed the man step aside to make a phone call, which John assumed was to his wife.

John asked the cashier if he could pay for the man's items. John then took the cart and receipt over to the man who was still on the phone. John extended his hand out to the man, shook his hand and said "Thank you for serving our country." The man was very thankful and John just walked away.

As John told me this story, chills ran down my spine. I could not help but think about how many times I am offered with the opportunity to selflessly do a random act of kindness and I choose not to.

I was completely inspired by my husband. After 10 years of marriage, this man never ceases to amaze me. I feel truly blessed that such an extraordinary person has come into my life. Of course I would love to try to live by following the What would Jesus Do? motto... But at this point, I would be an incredible individual if I could just ask myself, What Would John Do?

EPIC Fail!!!

Okay, so my 31-Day Facebook Challenge has been an EPIC Fail. I got all the way to Day 16 and I fumbled because the picture I want to use is not scanned onto my computer. Since I didn't have time to scan, I just stopped doing it. Instead of skipping to the next day until I could get the picture scanned, I just stopped.

This was funny to me because I was recently having a discussion with Lauren about how I am not very good with lists. I told her the reason I don't write to-do lists anymore is because my OCD kicks into high gear and I start freaking out until I can get things done and totally crossed off my list. A list to me means it must be done before I can move on to something else.

Well, I apparently applied this logic to the list of photos we were supposed to post. Rather thank skipping one to make more progress, I just stopped. What an EPIC Fail.

...although I will say, this was a great opportunity to reflect on how I handle things.
LIFE's LESSONS... Gotta love 'em!

Just start living, that's the next thing on my list...

Recently, I started doing this 31-Day Challenge on Facebook - where you have to post a photo with a theme for every day. Day 7 was supposed to be a picture of your most treasured item... My items were symbolic of my most important relationships.

On Facebook I posted that my wedding ring and The Bible were most important to me because they were symbolic of the fact that ultimately my relationship with God and my relationship with my husband is the most important thing.

Well, today I was cleaning and had a playlist going on my iPod. The song "Next Thing on My List" by Toby Keith came on... and the lyrics really got to me. I was busy cleaning because I did not spend much time over Thanksgiving working on that - and it was stressing me out. I had spent entirely too much time working on Rockin' Spade things and not enough time getting house work done and spending time with my husband, which is really what a break is all about.

It would be ideal to live like the lyrics: "Raise a little hell, laugh til it hurts, put an extra five in the plate at church, call my folks just to chat, it's time that I make time for that. Stay up late and oversleep, show (him) what he means to me. Catch up on all the things I've missed, just start living that's the next thing on my list."

I'm not saying that I want to let Rockin' Spade diminish - but I just need to keep my goals in check from time to time. Another line of the lyrics that I loved said "I won't break my back for a million bucks that I can't take to my grave, so why put off tomorrow what I can get done today... like go for a walk, say a little prayer....."

Just a fabulous song. It moved me a stirred some emotion and much needed re-prioritizing. Thank you, Toby Keith! haha