Manic Monday Comparing Madness Freebie

February is almost over! Only a few more days to link up for my first ever linky party and have a chance to win a $10 Starbucks gift card! Click on the picture below to link up!

With March right around the corner it means only one thing in my household: March Madness! We are a basketball family who loves a good competition and this is the best one of the year. I am not gonna lie, I tend to always lose by a long-shot but it is still so much fun!

I knew I just had to make a freebie this week. I have been slacking and freebies always keep me on track. March Madness seemed like the perfect inspiration! Here's a quick little freebie I whipped up for you all to practice comparing numbers and celebrate March Madness in the classroom. Enjoy!

I'm linking up for the always fabulous Manic Monday hosted by Classroom Freebies.

Sorry for being MIA...

So I have been very MIA in the blogging world. I have been sick, sick, sickity, sick, sick. It seems to have all hit me at once: strep throat, nasty cold, sinus infection, and stomach bug. Could I have hated my immune system for this curse? Of course! But I am not going to. My immune system has been there for me and this one time occurrence is not going to let me down. I should hopefully be back in action more regularly in the blogosphere. I am not going to make a 100% guarantee to post as much as I was but I am going to make more of an effort to post at least twice a week. I think I can do that to get back in the swing of things! Have you all been sick a lot more than usual this year? That seems to be the case for most people! Here's to a healthy rest of the year!

Tell Me Something Good Linky + Kindness Week Challenge

I survived Nemo! Who would have ever thought a little fish could pack such a punch! Here's a few pics from the storm: 

1: The woods could not have looked more picturesque in the snow!

2: The cars just covered in snow!

3: Cleaning out the snow by the truckload.

4: The 2 feet of snow up to the mailboxes!

5: Snow clinging to the garage door creating a pretty pattern.

After this blizzard, it couldn't be more perfect timing for Jennifer's linky party!

I'm just gonna get right down to business! 

Something Good At Home: We finally have power back! We lost power on Thursday and got it back today. However, it's not just power we lost, we also had no water. We had a fireplace though so we had heat. We were so thankful. After Hurricane Sandy and now Blizzard Nemo, I have had enough power outages for a lifetime! Let's hope it doesn't go out any time again soon!

Something Good At School: With the blizzard, I had a five day weekend this week and next weekend it's another four day weekend. I'm completely fine with that!

In other words, I hear it is random acts of kindness week. Did you all know about this? I am so excited! I love how this year has really been focused on kindness towards others. I found a suggested schedule for some simple RAK's to do this week on the RAK website.

Monday, Feb 11—Smile at 10 strangers.

Tuesday, Feb 12—Buy something for the person in the line behind you.

Wednesday, Feb 13—Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while.

Thursday, Feb 14—Bring a treat to a neighbor or your co-workers.

Friday, Feb 15—Donate your time or money to a local charity.

Saturday, Feb 16—Cook a healthy meal.

Sunday, Feb 17—Let someone go in front of you in line.

I plan on doing these things. However, I want to extend this a little further. I want to really celebrate hitting 350 followers in a big way. The last time I did a giveaway, I was at 250 followers. I have 100 new followers now. In honor of those 100 new followers, I am going to do 100 RAK's this week. I will be back at the end of the week with a listing of the 100 acts that I did this week. I hope you will take the challenge and do some RAK's this week! You don't have to do 100, just 1 will make a difference. Come back here and leave a comment on this blog post with one act of kindness you did and at the end of the week. I'd love to see what kindness was in the air this week!  

To start it all off, I'd love to do some random acts of kindness for a few of my followers. I'm sure you have seen it around the blogs before. I want to do the Pay It Forward challenge this week. The rules are simple: 

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. If you are one of the first three to make a comment, you are a winner! And you then agree to post this challenge on your own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

I'm very excited to participate in this challenge! I love getting crafty and being able to pay it forward at the same time is fantastic! These are the first 3 acts of kindness to kick off the week! What are you waiting for? Go forward and RAK! In the words of Ellen DeGeneres, let's "kick it in the kindness". =)

Monday Made It - February

Another Monday Made It has rolled around and I didn't get half as much accomplished as I would have liked. These months seem to go by faster and faster! I long for the days of summer when I can get crafting all I want! 

Here's what I've been up to the past month!

Made It #1: Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips! Yum!

I love Stacy's Pita Chips but I was buying them like crazy and they can get expensive! I saw a recipe (where else but Pinterest) and they were super quick and easy to make! Love! 

 

Made It #2: Painting With Light Photography Project

I had so much fun working with friends to make these flashlight art photography projects. It was so much fun! There are plenty of tutorials out there to do this yourself. I highly recommend trying it! 

Made It #3: Snowman Meringue Cookies

These little guys were so much fun to make! I loved their little faces and they were so delicious to boot! 

 

Made It #4: Valentine Game Freebie

(Click on picture to download freebie)

I was inspired by a Dollar Store and Dollar Spot find when making this game. It's a fun one! 

"Made" It #5: My First Ever Hosted Linky Party

(Click on image to link up!)

I just love linky parties! It was about time I hosted my own! This one is open all month! I can't wait to learn about you from A-Z! I'm looking forward to hosting more linky parties in the future!

"Made" It #6: My custom blog design! 

I had a custom blog design created by the lovely Christi of Designs by Christi. She listened to everything that I wanted and made it come to life. It was amazing how perfect it suits me! If you are in need of a blog design, hurry on over! She is the greatest! 

Head on over to link up with Heather at 4th Grade Frolics for more of the fun! 

 

Last Minute Winter Freebie

I really had no intentions of linking up for Manic Monday. The Superbowl just wore me out. You know shopping on TPT, painting my nails, eating a ton of food, watching commercials, stalking blogs, pinning on Pinterest. Tough life! Then 11:30pm rolled around and I started feeling guilty. I didn't want to let you all down without a freebie so I ramped up a giveaway winner prize and made it available as a freebie for you all. Enjoy! 

Linking up for Manic Monday by Classroom Freebies

And while you're here, won't you link up for my first ever hosted linky? I'm sure you will have lots of fun too! 

A-Z Of Teacher Me {My 1st Ever Linky)

I love any good linky party! It's a great chance to meet new bloggers and learn a thing or two in the process. I thought it would be so much fun to host my first ever linky party and get to know you all at the same time.

I saw a post on A-Z of Me by a few bloggers recently and I loved the idea of it! However, I thought I would change it up a bit for the teacher bloggers. Everything on the list relates to teaching in some way. I hope you have fun linking up! 

Border/Background by The 3am Teacher

Font by The Polished Teacher

Hosted by: 

Simple Linky Rules: 

1. Add the A-Z of Teacher Me image linking back to this post.

2. Add my blog button linking back to my blog.

3. Follow Farley's rule of 3 to share the love. 

(Comment on the 2 linked up before and the 1 after)

4. Share as little or as much as you like!

5. Have fun and meet new friends!

Here's an A-Z list you can copy and paste:

A: App

B: Book Character

C: Clip Art

D: Dollar Spot Find

E: Essential To Start Day

F: Font

G: Game

H: Holiday

I: Ice Cream

J: Jewelry Piece

K: Kid-ism

L: Location To Travel

M: Management Technique

N: Nail Polish

O: Open House Idea

P: Pinterest Find

Q: Quote

R: Read-Aloud

S: School Supply

T: TPT/TN Product

U: Un-Official Hobby

V: Video Brain Break

W: Way To Spend A Day Off

X: X-tra Special Blogs You ♥

Y: Yummy Dessert

Z: Zoo Animal

Without further ado...

Here are my teacher favorites! 

A: App: iFontmaker! I am obsessed with making fonts! Click on the page at the top of my blog to download all my free fonts in one place!

B: Book Character: Junie B. Jones! Without hesitation! Loved her since I was a child!

C: Clip Art:

D: Dollar Spot Find: Umm is that a question? Everything I have ever found I love! Currently, I love the heart dice everyone is raving about!

E: Essential To Start Day: A shower. I cannot fully function without one.

F: Font: 

My favorite font that I ever made is

It is perfect for Chinese New Year and just so unique.

My favorite font of another blogger is 

by Nicole at Rowdy in Room 300

G: Game: I love going on an Alphabet Scavenger hunt around the classroom.

H: Holiday: Christmas! I am always so happy when Christmas is in the air. Did you know there is a town called Santa Claus, Indiana where Christmas is celebrated every day of the year? I think I need to move there!

I: Ice Cream: Mint marble fudge with extra hot fudge. Chocolate-yum!

J: Jewelry Piece: I don't personally wear jewelry but I enjoy making necklaces, and rings myself!

K: Kid-ism: While reading a book about owls...

Me: "Are you a night owl?"

Student: "No, but sometimes I snore like an owl...honk-hoooooot, honk-hoooooot"

L: Location To Travel: I love the mountains of Maine. It's beautiful there!

M: Management Technique: Whole brain teaching! It's such a powerful resource!

N: Nail Polish: I have so much nail polish it's so hard to pick a favorite!

If I had to choose, I really love Milani Nail Laquer 3D holographic fx.

It's amazing how beautiful this nail polish looks in the light.

O: Open House Idea: I did this in elementary school and it was a hit! 

Yearn to Learn has a great post filled with many more Open House ideas! 

P: Pinterest Find: I love Pinterest! You can find me here. I am in love with this adorable anchor chart by Amy from Step Into 2nd Grade. I know the boys especially will love it!

Q: Quote: Love this Etsy sign! 

R: Read-Aloud: This is a tough one! There are so many amazing books to read aloud! However, I think reading Skippyjon Jones is so much fun to read to children. They get a kick out of the accent! 

S: School Supply: The beautiful smelling box of new pointy Crayola crayons.

T: TPT/TN Product: Is it even fair to pick on this Superbowl sale weekend? Aren't everyone's carts filled to the brim? However, I just love these reward coupons! They are perfect! 

U: Un-Official Hobby: Pinterest crafting. I made at least one craft a week during the summer. How would I survive without Pinterest!

V: Video Brain Break: Any Just Dance for Kids video.

W: Way To Spend A Day Off: Relaxing in my PJ's is like Heaven!

X: X-tra Special Blogs You ♥: Is there a blog that I don't like? I follow so many it's hard to narrow it down! Here are a few I especially love! 

 

Y: Yummy Dessert: Angel food cake. I could eat an entire cake in one sitting. It is just so light and fluffy and delicious!

Z: Zoo Animal: When I was little it was a flamingo but now it's a monkey.

I had so much fun with this! I hope you have just as much fun too! I will pick 1 random winner from the people who link up to win a $10 Starbucks gift card. Hurry and link up today! Enjoy! 

Currently February Say What???

A whole month down in 2013 already! How did that happen? Where did the time go? It seems like it was just Christmas! It may be the fact that I randomly found hidden Christmas decorations around the kitchen today. Like my sweet Gingerbread stuffed animal chef hiding under the cupboards.

February is the shortest month but it is jam packed! Kicking off February right, it's time for another edition of Farley's currently!

Listening: American Idol has been a long time favorite. I love singing competition shows! I am not a fan of auditions but I watch anyways. Any favorites yet? I love the guy who got the speech impediment after having his tonsils out but sings like an angel!
Loving: All 3,000 of my teaching files have finally been organized into files by subject/theme. It took months but it makes me feel so much better and I can actually find everything! Love it!
Thinking: Back in school and waking up early, I need to adjust my sleeping habits and go to bed early. It's just so hard with all the great tv shows on late at night and no DVR anymore!
Wanting: It was such a tease having 60 degree weather this week. Back in the low 20's is not making me a happy camper walking around campus at night!
Needing: This is a necessity! My battery lasts at most 2 hours and needs to be charged constantly. The only problem is that I need at least 2 weeks to send it out to be fixed. I can't survive without my laptop for 2 weeks! Think of all the great freebies I'd miss!
Pet peeves: Chipped nail polish, 'nuff said! It's the worse! And tv commercials are getting on my nerves. Watching everything on the DVR for over a month and then going back to watching The Bachelor with 2 hours of commercials isn't making me one happy camper.

Hope you all have a "sweet" month! Hurry on over and see what everyone else is doing this month!