Election Time . . .

Ok, so my oldest daughter, a freshman in high school, decided to run for student government. She was originally going to run for Vice President of the freshman class, but once she realized she would be running against several of her friends, decided to switch to class representative.

They only had several days to campaign and so we ran to the store to buy some poster boards. While there, we saw these black pencils and got an idea -

We thought we could put tags on them and she could pass out to the freshmen in her classes. I mean seriously, who doesn't want the World's Best Pencil"?

So we came home and I grabbed my Avery Address Labels and ran them through the printer. We kept it simple and since her school colors are green, white and black, we (naturally) used a green font.

I then started wrapping the labels around the pencils. They looked great. We were excited and knew they would be a hit. Then, we noticed they started to unwrap, no matter how hard we pressed/rubbed/sat on them! So I grabbed some Scotch tape and taped up those bad boys. You couldn't notice the tape and it held everything in place. Problem solved!

I am not sure if it was my pencils or Caitlin's previous student government experience and outgoing personality that won the election, but she was chosen to represent her classmates. Mission accomplished! Should be a fun and busy year.

Now I am off to put together some scalloped potatoes for dinner tonight, but that's for another post!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

School is back in!! Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaawwwww!

This is my youngest, on her first day of Kindergarten back in 2007. She seems so little now.

Here she is today, 1st day of school 2012, as the big kid on campus. She sure knows how to match her safety patrol belt too!!

Here is my oldest on her first day of high school. She would never in a million years let me take a photo of her at school so I let that dream go when she started middle school. I was looking for a photo of her on her first day of Kindergarten and I don't have one on my computer or in a photo album. I know the photo exists so I imagine it is sitting in a box in my hall closet. Guess I will add that to my TO DO list! But for now, time for Oprah and Bon-Bons. What? What do you mean Oprah is not on anymore? Dang! Guess I have no excuse for frivolity and down time so now I will have to file all of this -

I'll be happy to share my someday/future success on my filing but that will be for a much, much later post!

Simple Filing Cabinet Makeover . . .

Ok, so I had this bright green filing cabinet. Actually it's an antique. This filing cabinet has been with me since I was at least in high school when I had the coolest Lifesaver-themed bedroom E.V.E.R.(many, many, many moons ago!). It has gone to college with me, on to my single life, moved into my first house with my hubby and now rests in our 2nd home.

This is what my bedding used to look like - cool eh??
Notice how the filing cabinet matches nicely?

I don't want to get rid of it. It's actually quite useful and holds all our important paperwork but I didn't want it to continue sticking out like a sore thumb in our multi-desk-office-that-is-not-quite-done-nor-may-it-ever-be! So I woke up last Saturday and decided I needed to be productive. I wanted to get the office done before school starts so I was Mission Mommy - what my girls call me when I get on a roll. I headed to the garage to look at my paint choices and decided to paint the cabinet the same color of the walls so it would just blend in. Then I wanted to use some fabric for the front of the drawers - it would be brilliant (finger tips tapping together while evil laugh is heard)!

I wanted to get a super good coat of primer on it so I added a second coat. The problem is waiting for each coat to dry so being in a productive mode, I folded clothes AND watched the Olympics at the same time - talented, right? Primer dried, time to move on to the paint. When I opened the paint can, I realized I was low on paint and had to run and get more (not on my original plan but a girls gots to do what a girls gots to do)! While I was there, I did discover this bad boy paint brush and bought one for my future painting needs!

Isn't this cool? It's bendy and also allows you to screw in a handle to the bottom of it
for higher paint jobs! I got mine for $18 at my local Dyco.

Back to subject, and to my first coat of paint. Obviously I left the front non-painted since I was going to cover it with fabric. I am so smart!

Then I pulled out the fabric that I have had for several months and have never used (unfortunately that is typical of me!).

Love this!

And this is where I encountered another problem. My drawer pulls are the indented kind with no screws to hold them in place so I can't remove/replace them so I must go around them. Well, my fabric is almost like a burlap and you can pull the strands so cutting a hole in the middle for the handle just didn't work. On to Plan B.

I was going to paint it like the rest of the cabinet when my oldest daughter suggested painting the drawer fronts chalkboard - brilliant!

Just a few touch-ups and then wait for it to dry. Once done, we slid it back into place, next to my daughter's desk and ta-da!

We are moving the printer to a small table (that doesn't currently exist!) but now is resting comfortable on the shredder I bought a couple of years ago and is still in the box - oh vay!

I think the cabinet looks great and fits the bill perfectly. Time to finish this office with school starting in just over one week, but that is for another post!!

The Sounds of Silence . . .

Ok, I live in Florida and this year, August 22nd brings "the most wonderful time of the year" - back to school and back to the car line!! My girls both started school this morning. My oldest is starting 8th grade and is so excited about being BWOC (big woman on campus)! My youngest is in 4th grade and has 2 teachers (one for math and science, one for reading and English) which will be a big adjustment for her. School for our oldest (Caitlin) used to start at 7:20 but changed this year to 9:30. Many parents protested the time change and appealed to the School Board time after time, but to no avail. In our house, we all feel a little bit guilty because we are a family of sleepers and are all happy to have that extra time to sleep-in in the morning!! Now mama likes her sleep but I was wide awake at 6:00 a.m., so what did I do with my time you ask, I played like Martha Freakin' Stewart! I made a breakfast casserole (if you want a great recipe, go to my Pinterest site, under Looks Delish, it's the Amish Breakfast Casserole and is a family fave! Those Amish sure can whip up a mean casserole!) with fresh cut fruit and milk and OJ. Now don't be fooled by this. There will come a day (probably sooner than later) when we are running out of the house late, throwing stale goldfish in a plastic cup and grabbing a "past it's prime" banana but today was one of those perfect mornings. Everyone got up when asked the first time. Big sis helped 'lil sis straighten her hair. Backpacks were filled with new school supplies and sitting by their new desks last night. Fantastic lunches were packed last night topped off by a napkin note from all the other members of the family. It's a little dream world and if we can continue like this for the next 2 days, I will be totally amazed! Both girls were so excited about going to school and looked great!

Caitlin ready for the first day of 8th grade.

Olivia can't wait for school to start and has a new feather hair accessory!

Now my daughter's elementary school is the best! It's small, only 350 students, it's old, been there since 1925, and I just love it! Every year, we have taken a picture of the girls in front of the school sign. It's tradition and the girls know better than to argue with me! Just smile for the birdie and it will be over before you know it!

First day of school 2006.

First day of school 2007.

So I am currently sitting on my sofa with a large Coke Zero (I am not a coffee drinker but still love me some caffeine!) and hear nothing but silence. This summer has been packed for us, dance rehearsals and dance recital, week-long vacation to South Beach and then to Curacao for some R&R, Eckerd College Watersports camp, Warren Willis camp, Tampa Bay Watch camp, visits with cousins, grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, making a quilt, sleepovers with friends, meeting Selena Gomez and attending her concert, 4th of July party, heading to the beach with family to watch the last Space Shuttle launch, Back-to-School party with a live band in our backyard, completely redoing two rooms, celebrating several birthdays, attending Rays games, getting a new hamster and 5 days later realizing that hamster now is a family of 10. No wonder I am so tired!

My entire family loves the seasons as much as I do, so they convinced me to start decorating for Fall (it didn't take a lot of begging!). It usually takes me about 2-3 days to pull it all together (I started yesterday) so as I look out and see "Fall" sitting on every surface in my house (Martha would now be cringing), I realize it is time to get off the couch, grab another Coke Zero, light my Autumn Yankee Candle and pull this house back together. Maybe if I can clean off the breakfast dishes from this morning (I knew there was a reason I didn't usually cook in the mornings!), I can bake some cookies for when the girls come home from school (back to Martha smiling at me)! But that will be for another post!