MORE Breaking News...

Ladies... and possibly gentlemen that read my posts - highly doubtful unless it is JJ or my father... Hi Dad - I have a breaking news announcement. Okay, not as big as our little bambino due in 7 monthsish... but big.


Those of you that are near and dear to my heart know that I absolutely love Ree Drummond, A.K.A The Pioneer Woman. My sweet sister bought me her cook book last year SIGNED for Christmas, and I read her blog daily. In fact, if you ask my husband, he would heartily make fun of me for it. 

He doesn't complain when I make her chili, desserts, and other tasty treats. Hmm...

Anyway, here is my (her) news. I live vicariously through her blog. 

SHE IS THROWING DOWN WITH BOBBY FLAY. Even better - she is throwing down Thanksgiving - style. So, friends, I don't have to be a holiday skipper while watching my favorite lady! It is on next Wednesday on the Food Network. You can read about her big announcement here. I am sure she tells the story WAY better than I ever could. 

There is her sneak peek. I am just so happy.

Happy (early) Thanksgiving Throwdown, y'all!

Is it too soon to be looking at this?

I am one of those people that gets very annoyed with Holiday Skippers. 


Holiday-Skipper: (Proper Noun); one who skips over very important holidays (i.e. Halloween and Thanksgiving) just to get to Christmas


In fact, I have mixed feelings about Christmas decor being out at Hobby Lobby before Halloween. In some ways I am way excited. In other ways I think - WHAT are you doing? We have two great holidays before that! 


Nevertheless, the giant amounts of Christmas decor and buying tickets to Christmas events has made me begin to slowly search myself. I am determined... I will NOT be a holiday skipper.


But, just this once... I looked at ways to create a fun tree by making a lot of it yourself! 


HGTV had ideas for just this. Look below at these homemade ornaments. 

Don't you just love it? And I know I have way too many clothes I don't wear that I could use... after Thanksgiving. :) 

The directions are here.

Enjoy! :)

I have some great news.

Well Readers,


I have been MIA. I am so sorry. It turns out that my TWS took a little (LOT) bit more time than I had imagined. The good news: the worst is over. The other good news: I PASSED. I made an A on it. I am so very happy!! See ya, TWS... Never again. So now, I get to enjoy teaching my new fifth graders and re-learning all of their math problems that I pretend to know A LOT about. I am questioning whether I am, truly, smarter than a fifth grader. Not that easy. But I am a great actress. :) But, as fabulous as that all sounds.. that is NOT my good news. 


THE BEST NEWS: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!! What a blessing from God! I am more and more in awe of his grace and love every single day, even when things don't go the way I planned. Well, this pregnancy wasn't exactly planned, however I am feeling so excited and blessed and even more in awe of God! Babies are amazing, and to think I have a precious baby growing inside of me is the best feeling in the world. 


So, readers, I will blogging more often and about fashion and fun things still. However, some days, the size of the boot I will be featuring might change. Example below. 

Good Grief, Charlie Brown

Hello sweet readers. 


I don't know how many of you out there are like me, but if you are, you will enjoy this post.


I don't discriminate on holidays. Sure, I love Christmas above them all. However, when it comes to holidays, I think they should all be celebrated. In fact, tomorrow is Columbus Day. Did you know that? And, although I never celebrate it, I think we should all get off of work. Considering that my opinion does not matter in the federal, state, or even local, government; I have decided to celebrate with my temporary first graders. To me, all holidays are there to be celebrated. 


But, I have not posted to write about Columbus Day. Today, I am going to talk about Halloween. Are we too old to dress up? My thoughts are no. It is just so much fun deciding what to be for Halloween. Here is my problem. I am one of those people that always thinks my costume ideas are absolutely wonderful. When the big day comes, I realize that they are not. I'll give you an example.


One year in high school, my best friends and I decided we would be nuns. Oh, we thought we were so hilarious. We went and spent who knows how much money on the costumes and wore them to school the next day. When I got there, my head itched the entire today. Not only that, but I felt bald all day. Real nuns are much classier, have more poise, and are much more dainty than I. And, after looking back at the pictures, an outfit to accentuate the teenage pimples on my face was not the best idea. Fail. But I still love my friends to this day. 


One of my favorite things about Halloween is seeing all of the awesome movies that come on. Hocus Pocus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, etc., etc., etc. Another, is seeing pumpkins on porches of people all over town. 


DISCLAIMER: I do not like seeing pumpkins smashed in the streets. Teenagers for years have been doing this, and I have decided that I think teens are unoriginal. Every holiday, there is something else that they believe is "funny" that they do, and we all expect it. Teenagers, stay out of trouble. Carve a pumpkin like the rest of us and leave mine on my front porch for once. Thank you. (Do I sound old? Too bad.) 


Here are some cute/funny/amazing pumpkin designs I have seen thus far. Enjoy. 

In case you cannot tell, this entire house is covered in pumpkins. If this doesn't creep you out...

I love it.

Artsy pumpkins.

If you smashed these pumpkins in front of my house, you would be sorry.

Happy Halloween! 

Oc-toe-bur

Oh my sweet first graders. The title of this post is how some believed October was spelled. I love innocent spelling mistakes. 


When asked what season it was, our class was in a whirlwind debate on whether it was fall or autumn. I tried to explain that, yes, there are two names for the season we are in... but for some of them - THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It is then that I discovered that kids rarely grow out of the developmental stage of asking "why" constantly. And you know what? I don't know why. I don't know where the word autumn came from. But, just for you, and my why-asking students... here it is. 


Autumn is a French-related word that means, of course, the changing into the fall season. It replaced the word "harvest" for the season because harvest was a term used for more agricultural times. As cities began to develop, the word harvest lost its meaning and we started to use autumn. BAM. You can thank me later if you, yourself, never grew out of the "why" stage and wanted to know where autumn came from. 


In honor of autumn, here is a section on cute boots. Currently, boots have been on my "autumn" wish list. Eat your heart out. For those of you that can, purchase. For those of you like me, slobber.

Alexander McQueen was absolutely innovative. These shoes are no different.

Guiseppe Zanotti leopard mid-calf boots -- no, not practical. But in the world of lusting over expensive boots, throw practical out of the window. This is not a "practical little black dress post." 

I think in order to have your own taste in clothes, you must own one item that people may hate/love. There is no in between. I, for one, LOVE these Tory Burch oxford wedges. You, for one, may hate them. That is fine.

Love these Tory Burch military ankle boots. Even though military style is in, I still like my military boot to be feminine. These are perfect. 

And I threw in a sparkly Marc Jacobs bag that is a beauty. 

All of this seen at Neiman Marcus.

Side Note: God has truly blessed me with wonderful family and friends. Life is so great. But even if it doesn't seem that way, it still is. I have a God who loves me no matter what. And get this! He doesn't even care if I ever own Tory Burch boots. Have a blessed day. 

"The Lord Made It, Therefore I Eat" Sunday

Okay, so today I decided that, this week, I will make something that is good for you, but looks bad. In other words, I am going to trick myself into thinking I am eating SO BAD and my brain thinks I am consciously indulging... but I am not. 


I have been in the holiday spirit lately, so in honor of pumpkin spice latte season... I now pronounce to you...

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

SEASON

Disregard the Ohio State napkin... It was at Tasty Kitchen from the Pioneer Woman. 

Speaking of college football.... 

I still love my Longhorn husband. So far, he still loves me. But I was so proud.

Anyway, the recipe is on Tasty Kitchen. Try it out and trick your own brain!

Head Pressure.

Sorry I have failed at blogging the last few days... My cookie baking (TWS) has been taking over my life. I won't bore you with that... but I will bore (or entertain, depending on your preferences) you with a quick story. It is similar to a previous story I wrote about cats....


The students had just finished some math worksheets for the day and I was reading to them to give them a break. It is Johnny Appleseed week (YES, he was REAL), and we read a book about making apple pie. I tried not to slobber on the book. And I am particular about my apple pie. I prefer mushier apples... if the texture is wrong --- I am out. But the illustrations in this book made me not even care and pretend to be an apple pie fan... here are a few examples...

Perfect in every way... The apples even look mushy. Great presentation! 

Clever, right? Clever, but not appetizing... unless you are in to eating technology.

Appetizing, right? SO CREEPY!!!!!!!! THE EARS ---- the sugar glaze on the crust looks like ear wax! 

Happy Thanksgiving, hope I didn't ruin pie time...

You'll thank me later when you DON'T gain 5 pounds from sweets. And if you have trouble, just log on to my blog and give yourself a view of this puppy. I guarantee you I am pie-free for MONTHS because of this picture. You're welcome, thighs. 

Anyway, back to my story... oops.

So after reading the book, we are discussing things we can make out of apple pie. After much distress at keeping them focused, they finally enjoyed the topic. Apple pie, apple jelly, apple donut?? (whatever), apple cider, etc. 

And then it happened. There is always one in the class that cannot stand not to make a comment. The fact that he's too cute for words makes up from his constant hand raising... But here is what happened.

"Yes Billy?" (name changed for privacy reasons)

"Well, there is something my mom makes with crust and sugar and cinnamon... and the apples are almost soupy."

"Billy, that's probably apple cobbler."

"No it's not."

"YES... it is."

"No, I wouldn't eat a cobbler... that's part of a turkey..."

"Billy... are you talking about gobble, gobble? Nevermind." 

"Because of this conversation, Mrs. Clem, I have a lot head pressure. I think the blood is rushing to my head." 

"Billy.... just go splash your face with water."

What I really wanted to say - You are a liar, Billy.

You might think this is the end... BUT IT IS NOT.

Sure enough... 7 hands shoot up after Billy leaves for the bathroom.

.....

"My head hurts every night after I eat."

"I need to splash my face because of the pressure."

"My homework makes blood rush to my face." 

"My head keeps going, hot-cold, hot-cold."

ALL FIRST GRADERS ARE HYPOCHONDRIACS. AND COPIERS. 

AND CUTIE PATOOTIES.

ENJOY your week and I will talk to you tomorrow. Unless my baking gets in the way.