School's Out! Scream and Shout!

Wooooo Hoooooo!

Friday was my last day of school!  

C'mon!  Sing it with me!

No more pencils, no more books,

No more teacher's dirty looks......

School's out for summer!

I am so excited!  It has been a year full of wonderful progress in my students, but it has been tough at the end because one of my Teacher Bee partners has to leave our school due to declining enrollment.  I am going to miss her so much.  (Don't worry - she does still have a job, just at another school. And she's not that far away so we can meet for lunch or coffee.)

It has also been a very hectic end of the year.  I have not had time to post much (there hasn't been much to post about either) and I have not had time to visit with all of you.  I miss that very much.  

But........I have some plans for this summer!

I'll start of with this.........

 Ahhhh.......the bliss of a lovely cafe mocha........

 in my very own special cup.......

designed and made by me!  

Have you ever been to one of those do it yourself ceramics shops?  My cousin and I went with our kids and I made this a few years ago.  I've had it at school, but I rarely drink coffee at school so I brought it home to enjoy!  

As I sit here and start to make my list of all the things I want to accomplish this summer, I'm thinking it just does not feel like summer - at all!

Here's why.....

It's raining!  In June!  In California!  It rained all day Saturday and we had thunder and lightning last night and it poured!

I know - cry me a river baby - all you midwesterners and east coasters and southerners are saying.  You've had it much rougher than us with the weather.  But in my defense, I'm just saying it doesn't feel like summer - it feels like spring.  And I do love that we haven't had to run the air conditioner hardly at all this year!  But I'm sure we will hit that 100 degree mark soon - and then I really will have something to cry (or sweat) about.

I have been hitting up estate sales and thrift stores for my little etsy shop.  Wanna' see some of my latest finds?

 I'll be putting these treasures up on etsy soon.  

If you're interested, I'm running a 10% off School's Out coupon.  

While at an estate sale this past weekend I stumbled upon these great pillows!  My wicker chairs in the living room have needed a more substantial look - 

as you can see here.  Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy (pillows that is)!

And now look!  

Doncha' just love 'em?

There were four of these pillows and through a series of events, I ended up getting them for free (not on purpose, but they ended up letting me have them).  Aren't they fabulous?  This estate sale was phenomenal!  So many wonderful treasures and this was on the second day (when everything was 1/2 off)!  You guys would have loved it!  It was like wallowing in vintage heaven!  I could have spent tons of money there, but I resisted.

Okay - on to the list of things I hope to get done this summer.

(Luckily all of Baby Bee's dance classes and swim practices are in the evening so I'll have whole entire days to get things done!  Yeah!)

1.  Paint living room. 

Currently all the walls are a Laura Ashley yellow, but I want to go a little more neutral.  I'm leaning towards the top color, even though it looks a little dark in the picture.  I think the lower one won't be enough contrast with my ultra white trim.

2.  Figure out a way to smooth out the stucco walls in our dining room.

It isn't pretty, is it?  You see our dining room/sunroom was added on to the house and 2 of the walls are exterior stucco and the other two walls are cinderblock. (We bought it this way - we didn't add the room.)  I saw a technique using joint compound to smooth the texture that I might try, but I'm open to suggestions.  Please share if you have any!  

3.  Do not get sick or have emergency surgery in the second half of July. (I'm praying for that one!)

In July 2009, right after we returned from our 13 States in 15 Days trip, I had to have emergency surgery on a strangulated abdominal hernia.  YUCK!   In July 2010 I got a horrible virus - fever for days, lost about 16 pounds, and very lethargic - and the doctors thought I might have lymphoma.  I ended up being just fine but for the past two years I have lost a good portion of my summer!  I really don't want that to happen this year.

4.  Read these books (and more I hope) and repaint the back of the library bookshelves.  I want to paint them a soft blue or aqua.

(hard to see the dark green in this picture, but you can go here to see what they look like)

5.  Paint the banquette in our kitchen nook.  I've had this custom built piece for about 5 years and I have never painted it!  I was so excited to get it that I immediately started using it and never painted it!  (Don't tell my Uncle Dump Truck that I haven't painted it yet - he built it for me and he would be very disappointed.)

Sorry!  No pictures of my shame!  I can't bear to show you.  

(Ahhh....not really.....I'm just too comfy sitting on my couch writing this and I forgot to take pictures and I'm not going to get up to take more pics.)

6.  Organize my hall closet, my entry closet, and my garage cupboards!

Now I would be too embarrassed to show you these horrors!  

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list - I am always overly ambitious.  I'm not very good at estimating the time involved in getting these projects done, especially once I get started on the first half of #4.  

But - maybe since I'm sharing with you guys what I plan to do - I'll get more of it done this summer!

So here's to a wonderful summer - full of promise and opportunity!

What are your plans for the summer?

I promise to make lots of iced lattes for you (and me) and to visit with you all.  And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by a visit or just a quick hello.  I always love to hear from you too!