Hi!

I just turned my laptop on for the first time in 2 weeks!  I've definitely been busy - both enjoying summer vacation (walking, beaching, playing), and prepping for our move!  We're moving in 20 days, and are living in a sea of boxes.  I've never moved with a baby before, so this has already been an interesting experience.  I've learned to pack like a crazy person when my little guy naps.  The first couple days I was packing around him - which, as it turned out, was impossible.  He was either underfoot the whole time (saying "up, up, up!") or he was unpacking everything I packed.  I got NOTHING done!  So now I pack while he naps.  Currently I'm going through all our closets and throwing a bunch of things away - and putting other things aside for our yard sale!  I haven't had a yard sale since I was a little kid, and I've certainly never had my own, so I'm excited!  Hopefully people will come and buy up all the things we don't need any more.  I'd be so happy if it all went to a new home instead of in the trash.  

I'm a VERY organized person at school - I know where everything is, and so would you if you were to come to my classroom, because everything is labeled, everything has a home, and there's no clutter.  My house however... I TRY to keep it clean and organized, but it's hard!  I'm sure many of you can relate.  Forget the fact that I have a baby - by the time I get home at night, I'm either too tired, or have other things to do - so the organizing and cleaning gets pushed off.  But moving is forcing me to organize and declutter - and I'm so so happy to do so!  Today I tackled the linen closet.  Or at least, it's supposed to be a linen closet.  As I discovered - it's turned more into a closet we throw our junk in instead.  I think I found 2 sheets in the entire closet!  But now it's an empty closet, all packed up and ready to make a move!

I hope to check back in soon - there are so many Linkys I want to do, and I've got a running list of TpT things I want to work on too... somehow I hope to find time to fit it all in!  I'm also participating in my very first SLANT box!  I'm so excited about this!  I'll blog about that process too as I get to know more about it.  :)

Money Saving Friday? Is that a thing?

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and, until last year, I always worked full time in the summer.  Last year, with a 4 month old, we decided I wouldn’t work.  And I had an incredible summer, but to be honest – I had a 4 month old! A 4 month old doesn’t really do much…  and because he couldn’t walk or crawl anywhere, he was very portable.  I took him everywhere.  The beach, the pool, the mall, out to eat… but THIS summer, I have a 1.5 year old.  Things are a bit different now!  We don’t go as many places because he’s so active – going to the beach or pool is no longer a “sit and get a tan while the baby sleeps in the shade” event.  It’s a “chase my baby around and make sure he doesn’t fall in the water” event.   But I wouldn’t trade it for anything, and I’m so blessed to have this time with him.  Over the next 3 months, I'm sure we'll perfect our beach and pool routine.  :)

As I said in my bucket list, I’m the teacher who tries not to think about school during vacation, but does anyway.  I can’t help it.  I like planning, organizing, and creating.  While my little guy will be a fun, and welcome distraction, I know I’ll also spend time thinking about school.  As my husband would gladly tell you- when I’m thinking about school, I usually, inevitably, end up spending money.  Fabric, borders, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, BOOKS, materials for Pinterest projects I see... you know the list goes on and on.  I try to be good at looking at sales and being smart about what I spend, but it’s inevitable that I’ll buy a bunch of things.  Being a teacher can be expensive!

This summer though, I have a plan to both get what I need, and make my husband happy.  Last year, I saw an ad for this secret shopper app called Mobee.  I dismissed it a bunch of times, and might have even marked it as spam at one point.  But then I got curious and looked it up – turns out it’s legit and pretty easy to work.  If you’re not familiar with it, you should check it out. 

It’s pretty easy to use – while doing normal things (getting coffee at Dunkins or Starbucks, ordering pizza, shopping at CVS or Target), you answer a few questions and take a couple pictures to earn points.  After you earn enough points, you cash them in for gift cards to places like Amazon and Target – and here’s why I’m blogging about this – I was such a smarty-pants this spring, and cashed in for a bunch of Target gift cards, that I’m saving for this summer.  That way, I can buy what I need/want for my classroom, and when my husband asks about it, I can tell him that it was free.  Because it was!  I've hooked my entire family on the app, and now we're all competitive with each other about who can earn points fastest.  Between our #FitBit competitions and our #Mobee competitions, our families get quite competitive!  J

What do you do to help keep school costs down? 

I won’t spam my own blog up with ads, but if you end up downloading Mobee, I can give you a code that gets us both bonus points…  :)  

Workin' It Wednesday - Summer Fitness Goals

This morning I stumbled upon Surfin' Through Second Grade's Linky party and knew I had to link up.  If you've been reading my blog, you know I'm all about my FitBit this year.  I'm so obsessed with it, it's sucking my iPhone battery dry ALL THE TIME - because I hook the FitBit under my shirt, and since it wouldn't be too lady like to be looking at it all the time, I instead am constantly turning on my bluetooth so that my phone will link up to update my steps... but it's worth it because it's SO motivating.  So here are my goals!

1.  Increase my daily steps to 15,000 - I've already set that goal on my FitBit, but now it's time to #StepItUp and meet that goal every day!  Today I'm 1,000 steps short, and my husband is working late - so I'll have to walk laps around my house since the baby is upstairs sleeping.  But I'm going to get those steps!  (Exciting side note: I've been "running" a bit during my walks - VERY short distances, but each day I try to do a bit longer.  I do the "run x amount of telephone poles" running plan...)

2.  Eat better.  I don't always eat that well, and I know myself well enough to know that I can't do a "diet".  I have been very successful in the past with making simple, small changes - things that are practically unnoticeable - changing white bread for wheat, adding spinach and tomatoes to my scrambled eggs instead of cheese... things like that where I still feel like I'm eating, but am making smarter choices.

3.  REST.  I think it's just as important to work on your mental fitness and health as it is to work on physical fitness and health.  So after all my walking, I also want to make sure I rest and turn off my brain for a little... :)

#StepItUp

Hi!  It’s SUMMER!  Or practically.  My little ones were dismissed for vacation yesterday, and I have a few days left of meetings and packing to do – but really, without kids… I feel like I’m on vacation already!

I’ve been blogging about my FitBit a bunch lately, and now that it’s summer, I’m really going to focus on trying to stay healthy and active.  I’ve never been a runner (always wanted to be, but just am not) and thinking about going to the gym makes me want to cry… so this winter I decided to start out just with walking.  I know I’ve said it before, but I found that I do almost 10,000 steps a day without really trying at school – so I made my daily goal higher.  I’ve decided, now that it’s summer, to set it at 15,000 a day.  So far I’ve been pretty motivated – but it’s only been ONE day!  I do like how the FitBit can connect with other users, and sends me an email of who’s in the lead.  Looking at that list DEFINITLEY encourages me to #StepItUp!  Last night I got home and had only done 8,000 steps… so after putting my little guy to sleep (which took over an hour and is a WHOLE other story) I put on my sneakers and hit the road.  By the time it got dark out, I’d only hit 13,000 steps – but that’s better than nothing!

This spring a bunch of my friends were doing the #100happydays thing on facebook.  The school year is so busy, I knew I couldn’t keep up.  BUT, we have about 100 days of summer vacation, so the other day I started my #100happydays thinking I’d be able to focus better.  Yesterdays #100happydays was being able to take a walk by myself!  J

I’m going to keep track of my activities with #StepItUp to try to challenge myself every day!  If you’re interested in joining me, follow my Instagram button above to hop over to Instagram, follow me, and use #StepItUp!  We can motivate each other!

New Blog and June Currently!

Hi!  Before I get into my currently, I just need to thank Courtney at Blogs Fit For a Queen AGAIN for my awesome new blog!  I feel so fancy with it - like I'm a real blogger now!  I seriously skewed the statistics for my page the day she loaded it, because I kept checking it all night long - just to see how fancy and professional it looked!  If you're ever looking for someone to help you make your blog look professional, DEFINITELY check her out!

Ok, on to my currently!  I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her Linky Party again.  I completely missed the May Currently... I don't know how that happened, but I'm jumping back on the party in June!

Listening: somehow, despite it being 2 months later, I'm STILL listening to the Red Sox play in the background.  I love doing work while listening to the game.  :)
Loving: we have 2 days of school left.  I can't believe it.  This year went very fast.
Thinking: we woke up early this morning with the intentions of doing some spring cleaning.  So far, all we've done is play trucks with our little guy.  But hopefully we'll get moving on that soon...
Wanting: speaking of the little guy - he's got a wicked cold.  So we haven't slept much lately.  I could use a nap.
Needing: but instead I'm hoping to take a walk.  Gotta keep those FitBit steps up - especially now that I've linked up with some of my friends.  That competition is FIERCE!
Summer Bucket List: similar to the other days post: we're moving, I'd like to do some non-school related reading (actually read the book, instead of just carry it around all the time like I do during the school year), and spend as much time at the beach and pool as possible!

That's it for me today!  Now I'm off to get cleaning... or to play with some more trucks.  :)