A Chair For My Mother

I am lucky to have a mom who still enjoys handmade items from me even at my age.

 

I sooooo love this about her. 

 

Besides, I get my craftiness from her, so the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 

 

I saw a chair makeover on a local site, and knew my mom would love a similar look.

 

My booth mate had the perfect chair.

 

She painted it "cloud" blue from our line of handmade chalk-like paint and removed the seat.

 

Love, Love, Love~

 

 

I distressed and waxed it to add a little more "shabbiness."

 

 

 I made a quick trip to the local Michael's Arts and Crafts store and purchased a precut letter "M" and a burlap bow. (Don't forget your coupon.)

I attached the materials to the back of the chair.

 

 

I added a beautiful fern from Home Depot in the "seat" part of the chair frame.

 

 

I tried it out on my porch for a couple of days before giving it to my mom.

 

My mom had the perfect spot on her patio. (My mom has a knack for decorating, that unfortunately, I didn't get.)

 

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Thanks for stopping by~

The Gift of Mommyhood

I love being a mom.  Now, I'll be the first to say that thus far  it hasn't been a  walk in the park.  It is the most challenging role I've ever been in.  There have been ups, and many down, down, downs. There have been mountains and valleys. But through it all, I wouldn't trade the role of being a mom for anything.  Being a mom has taught me about life, love, patience, happiness, sadness, sacrifice, laughter, and total commitment.  It has brought many tears, laughs, nights of cuddles, and zillions of "I love yous."

I never planned to be a mom.  It wasn't in my 5 year or 10 year plan. My career is very demanding. Long hours at school. Being escorted out of the school by the custodian night after night. Busy weekends creating plans, grading papers, and all that comes with being an educator in the classroom.  When would I have time to care for another being?  But God had other plans.  Sometimes the best things in life aren't planned.

My son came into my life on the first day of fall over14 years ago.  Nothing about his entrance to this world to me was easy.  After 22 long hours of hard back labor with no anesthesia, along with the help of a set of blue forceps, a suction cup contraption,  three nurses, and the doctor on call whom to this day had to be Conway Twitty, my baby boy was born.  A beautiful, perfect 7 lb 13 oz miracle.

At that moment, everything in my life changed. I had another life in which I was responsible for.  Someone else to feed. Someone else to nurture. Someone who needed love, and to be cared for.  My saving grace. Little did I know that many times this new little life would be my sanity, by detour to some of life's challenges, and the rays in my sunshine.

Sid's first steps, first tooth, first bike without training wheels, first haircut, first t-ball game, first day of kindergarten, first day of middle school, and his first day of high school (in 3 months)- we've been there together. We've struggled together through a diagnosis of ADHD, learning disabilities, divorce, hypoglycemia, and  the relocation from the only place we've ever known to a place we hardly knew to start a new life.   It's been just he and I through thick and thin.

There are  days when I say, "Yes, I truly know why some animals eat their young."  And there are days that I hug him and don't want to let him go. Because he's my little boy. I cherish the hand drawn mommy from kindergarten, the hand print t-shirt from first grade, the Roses are Red poem from second grade, and all the handmade cards from the remainder of his elementary years.

Sid and I are beginning a new chapter in our lives. However, one thing will always remain.  I will always be his mommy and he will always be my Snuggle bunny.

  

Mother's Day, A Freebie, And Shabby Chic

I'm always a day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes. I know holidays are coming, however by the time I get around to planning and completing a related activity with my students, it's too late. So I file it away until next year.  Sadly, for some activities, next year hasn't come yet.   Trying to find a "just right" place within my lesson plans as well as meet the weekly expectations on the district's pacing guide make it difficult many times to integrate seasonal fun ideas.  (Insert sad face here.)

Friday was an Early Release day for year round schools in our county.  The kids had no specials for the day, like music, art, media, P.E. or technology, so I crossed my fingers hoping I would not see my AP walk in with her laptop to do her final observation of the year. I closed my door and pulled out the construction paper. My kids lit up with excitement. "A Craft project," they yelled.  I led the class in creating a TLC Iris Art Project. (See this link for another TLC project we have done.)  You can't have Mother's Day without flowers, so I thought I could easily fit this into the math curriculum of congruent shapes and figures and combining shapes as well as create a unique flower for our moms.  Well all I can say is ~ they are unique.  Here's a few samples of the finished product.

Our mommies are just going to love them~

As educators, we celebrate the small things.  Many times, if it wasn't for the small things, there would be no big things.  So with that in mind-

 Woo-Hoo! I have reached 25 followers. That deserves a FREEBIE.  

So for ONE WEEK~ 7 DAYS~ Monster Mania will be a FREEBIE.  However, after this time the games  will be $1.00 in my TpT store.  Either way, it's a great deal. This is such a fun math game of creating equations with three numbers.  For younger students, like second graders, I would encourage a calculator but definitely not necessary.  Click below for the download.

Monster Math

A shout out to Casey for walking me through the steps to creating a layered preview screen and for listening to me vent after the Staff Development on Friday. She had interim reports to complete, but she listened to me ramble for at least 20 minutes.  Thanks~

On a simple note, I wanted to share two pics of one of my favorite "shops" in an Antique Marketplace.  In this Marketplace, one can rent a space to sell various items.    I've debated on whether or not to rent a space in this cute Marketplace to sell my wares. However, that decision is still up in the air.  I'll keep you posted, but enjoy  "The Shabby Chic" spot.