Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

We are in the middle of the Great Flood of 2010. I'm going to go out and take a few pictures of the river and get Jerry to take me out to dinner. The poor guy has been in the basement for two days now, and every once in a while I check on him and he says he's all set, so I go back to my computer and TV. I'm glad cleaning cellars is a "boy" job!
Actually it's not really so bad for us because we just have some water in our basement and we (I mean he) had to pump it out and use a wet vac. We always keep most of our junk off the floor so it's just a matter of cleaning up the water.
There are people all over the state that are in much worse situations. I've seen some pictures of cars covered with water and houses and businesses with 2-3 feet of water in them!
But, I'm sure he's getting tired because it stopped raining about 8 hours ago and the water is still coming in! Maybe I'll take a shift and let him get some rest.

I'll finish this post later...

I'm baaaack...

Here's a link to some pictures I just took of the Blackstone River. One of my favorite restaurants is conveniently located right near this section of the river, so I did get to go out to dinner!

And finally, here's another LO I did of our weekend in Maine a couple of weeks ago. For this LO I used a new kit from Bubblescrap Designs called Basket Surprise and I think it is supposed to be released tomorrow at MLAS. AND tomorrow is Thrify Thursday, so there will probably be some great sales going on!
I have a few more LO's to post, so check back again in a couple of days. I'm off to man the pumps.

It's was a nice restful weekend. I got some scrapping done and Jerry did everything else. What's not to love about that! He is working on being "the best husband in the world" and I for one am not complaining. I think his 30 years of husband training are finally paying off.
One of the LO's I did was for a journaling prompt at My Life and Scrap. I had to write about a life altering event. And for those of you who know me, you know I could have written about one of my medical issues, or the birth of my children or granchildren (especially the first born in each of these categories) hahaha.....but I chose to write about attending and graduating from college.
I am really enjoying these prompts and at the end of the year, I'll have a book....All About Me.
For this LO I used Bubblescrap Designs Spring Cake.

Here's another LO from our trip to Florida in February. I am running out of pictures again, and will have to hunt through my stash of old ones, or maybe I'll have to take another trip!
For this LO I used a new kit by RebeccaPSP called Melancholic Bliss.

And here's another LO with the same kit. These are some pictures I took of my Godson McKale last weekend when we went to Maine to visit my sister and her family. McKale had a blast playing in the yard all day Saturday and it was soooo fun to watch him.
I have a few more LO's to post, so I'm sure I will blog again in a few days...for now I have to check on when my dinner will be ready...

I Finally Have Some New LO's

I don't know why I haven't had time to blog. I can't really think of anything that is keeping me that busy. I worked late a couple of days last week, but I haven't been exercising and Jerry's been doing most of the cooking and cleaning, so I really have no excuse. I think I am becoming a VERY lazy old lady!

I have a few LO's to post, but I have to wait for the kits release date. I guess that will force me to blog a few more times this week.

I did these LO's with pictures that I "stole" from Katie's facebook page and a new kit from Rucola Designs called Rabbits and Chickens. It is due to be released really soon (maybe tomorrow). So be sure to stop in the shop at MLAS and check out this kit and all of her others.



I found this template freebie at the MLAS shop. Kate is going to take some time off from designing to spend more time with her family, so you might want to get some of her great templates before they are gone.

Today I Am Counting My Blessings

No matter how tired I am, or how crappy I think my week is going to be, it's never as bad as I thought is would be and it's always worse for some of my co-workers. So this week I'm trying to keep a good attitude, be a supportive friend and count my blessings.
We are in the middle of a commisioner's visit (inspection) at school, but the kids have been handling it well and have been mostly cooperative. I know this is going to cost me lots of money at the end of the week, because I feel like they all deserve some treats as thanks for their good behavior. But...believe me, even in high school some cookies or donuts will buy me some good behavior for a couple of weeks. So it will be well worth it to have snack-time on Friday just to say thanks to the kids.
This week I worked on a couple more Christmas LO's and this one makes me laugh, even though it wasn't really that funny at the time. I used Bubblescrap Designs newest kit called Oh The Boys and it is available now at MLAS.

And this one makes me laugh too. But only because my grandkids are so cute and this is was such a fun day. One more month and I get to visit them and I can't wait!
For this LO I used another one of Bubblescrap Designs kit called Cheerful Holiday.

The new challenges are up at MLAS and the template challenge is my favorite. You should give it a try and here's the link to the free template and the challenge.

Rainy Saturday

It's a crappy rainy day, so my goal is to get caught up on my scrapping and school work and clearing off my DVR list. So I'm pretty sure at the end of the weekend I will be well rested and ready for another crazy week of school.
I signed up to do a few days a week of homework club, we're being visited (inspected) by the state department of education, and we have parent conference night. So it will be a long and exhausting week at Woonsocket High School.

I'm posting a few new LO's that I worked on in the past week. This first one is from our vacation in Florida in February. I used a new kit from Rucola Designs called Adventura Mejicana. It is due to be released on March 15 at MLAS. It's full of really bright colors and fun elements and I loved working with it!

I used the same kit for these next two LO's, but I also used a template from Dogs Day Designs. Every week at MLAS Carolyn releases a free template and suggests a theme for the P52 photo challenge. This is actually from week 5 so I guess I'm a little behind schedule. But, I'm trying to get caught up and I'm just kind of doing the weeks in random order as the pictures opportunities present themselves. These are some pictures I took last weekend when we had great weather! I'm really happy that we took advantage of the day because this weekend is going to be a complete wash-out.

For these next two LO's I used a new kit from Bubblescrap Designs called Oh the Boys. This kit is due to be released on March 16 at My Life and Scrap and Scrapbook Bytes.

Here's the template for week 9 of project 52. As I write this, it is still free, but after the week it will be $1.00 and there will be a freebie for week 10. So check in each week and try the challenge. I think it will make a great photo-journal in the end!

My Head is Spinning

My head is spinning...work is crazy. It's not the kids so much as all the other BS. Every day there is a new initiative, a meeting, or someone who wants to change something. I just want to go in and teach....but all this nonsense keeps taking me away from my classroom and interrupting the flow of teaching and it's making me cranky. (well maybe just crankier than usual)
I am getting really tired of all of it!
I come home and try to lose myself in my scrapping and I have a bunch of new LO's, but I can only post this one for now. In a few days I will have some some LO's with new kits from Rucola Designs and Bubblescrap Designs. They are both due to be released on the 15th, so I will post my LO's then. They both have such great kits and I have a lot of fun working with them.
For now here's one LO I did for the color inspiration challenge at MLAS. The challenge was to use only the colors black, white and yellow. This LO is bright and colorful, but I will never forget how scared Jerry looked when he came down from his parasail! This is a new kit from Bubblescrap Designs and Dogs Day Designs called Yellow Inspiration.

So check back in a few days for a few more LO's.

I Will Not Give Up

I dug in my heels and worked my butt off this week. I think I'm one of those people who will not believe it can't be done. So.... I will not give up on my kids and no matter how limited their abilities are, I will figure out a way to teach them some algebra.
I will try to rally those who can, to teach those who can't, and we will be a team. I had a couple of bad days and a couple of good days, so to me, it was a good week.

Today I had to explain to a class of 15 and 16 year olds that chickens did not give birth to baby chicks and that the eggs they sell in the grocery store are really unfertilized chicken eggs, that if fertilized would have "hatched" into chicks. They looked at me in disbelief and wondered how the eggs could possibly ever get fertilized. That was a conversation I refused to have and I told them to google it and tell me about it tomorrow. These city kids have a really narrow realm of experiences and every day I am surprised by what they have never heard of.

Here are my latest LO's. This one I did with a kit from Bubblescrap Design's called Spring Cake. I love these pictures of my beautiful daughter and nieces. They are growing up so fast, and it was so nice to see them together at Christmas all grown up and chatting about their lives.

Here's one of my grandaughters Julianna and Cadence. Jules had her hair crimped and she looked so cute. She really is a great big sister, and Cadence is lucky to have her to look up to. For this LO I used Bubblescrap Designs kit called Take My Breath Away .

I participated in a photo swap challenge at MLAS.
I sent a picture of my mom to Vicki and she made this LO for me. I really love the way it came out. It reminds me of what a great time I had hanging out with my mom in Florida. She really had a lot of fun and I enjoyed watching her.

Vicki sent me a picture of her cat Rex and this is what I did with a kit from Rucola Designs called Fresh & Wet. It was fun to make a LO for someone else and kinda different for me to scrap a picture of a cat.

Here's a QP from My Life and Scrap. You can get it here.

Do you Know What Really Sucks???

Do you know what really sucks???
Going to work everyday and working so hard that you are physically and emotionally exhausted from 30 kids sucking every ounce of your energy away. And then coming home to watch the news and find out that it really wasn't good enough.
It doesn't matter to the rest of the world or the media, that the kids you are trying to teach are so needy that sometimes your head is spinning from the amount of attention that each of them individually requires (even though there are 30 of them staring at you at all times)
Why is it my fault that some of them stayed up all night playing video games, so they are asleep and drooling on their desks?
Why is is my fault that they have missed more than 5 out of the 16 days since the semester started and now they don't understand what is going on in class?
Why is it my fault that they haven't ever really passed a math class, but somehow now that they are in high school, I have to get them ready to pass a high-stakes test?
The list is loooooooonger than this, but I think you get the idea.
SO....this has not been a great couple of weeks in the Lapierre household.
Thank God I have scrapping as an escape from work.

This weeks Project 52 journaling challenge at MLAS was to write about the person who has had the most influence on my life. A lot of people wrote about parents, grandparents or teachers etc... But the more I thought about it, the more I just had to write about Jerry again. When I do the math and realize that I have been married for 30 out of almost 50 years of life....then who else could I say has had the "most" influence on me. So here he is again, the subject of my admiration and undying love.
For this LO I used the new kit from the designers at MLAS called Totally Devoted.

And here are a couple of LO's from pictures that I "lifted" off of my sister Laurie's facebook page. They are both of her daughter Willa at her father/daughter dance. I just think she is one of the prettiest little girls I have ever seen. For these two LO's I used the other new February Mega Kit called And Many More.

Here's another freebie QP from the shop at MLAS. There are some great new kits in the store and a lot of new challenges to get you in a scrapping mood.