Growing up I was known to all friends and family as 'Kim'...then I moved to college.

I went through a 'reinvetion' stage.

18.

Searching to 'find myself'.

You know the whole bit.

I decided I would start going by Kimberly. I was 8 hours away from home, no one here knew me as anyone other than what I introduced myself as...this was going to be easy.

WRONG.

People still call me Kim even though I've not once introduced myself that way in the past 10 years.

I guess those two extra syllables on the end just tires a tongue out??

Not too sure.

But I digress.

I met a girlfriend of mine a few years ago at church named Abby.

Just Abby.

I would crack up listening to her introduce herself to others..it went a little like this:

...

Hi, I'm Abby.

Oh, hi Abby...that's short for...??

Nothing. It's just Abby.

...

A short conversation would follow about how her birth certificate really says Abby.

Not Abigail.

Not Abileen.

Not Abianything else.

Funny how people can't seem to fathom the thought.

Anyway, I would always laugh because I could totally relate.

She is just Abby and I'm never just Kim.

So, I wanted to post my latest lil creation today and as I was thinking about this post, I thought...why not just a freebie.

So there ya go friends.

Long story short.

{not that you really even needed the story}

It's just a freebie today.

Click to download. Let me know what you think! :)

Feel free to pin!

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Thanks for all the love ya'll!

Don't be sad if you didn't win...

All 4 of my classroom theme packs are on sale until tomorrow @ midnight!

Click here to visit my store.

Happy Shopping!!

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Hey there pretty people!

I've been a super busy girl with our big move coming up and sometimes I just have to escape from all the brown boxes, tape and bubble wrap {shhh, don't tell Mr. Hubs}!

I've had numerous requests for custom classroom theme packets lately which has been a fun distraction from all the packing...packing...and more packing. {BLECK!}

By the way, who doesn't love bubble wrap-  I mean, seriously...it's fun to pop. It defeats the purpose, I know. I still like sneaking in a lil twist, though. Can you blame me?

I digress.

So here are the products of my latest distraction...

 

What do you think?!? You can click on each picture to see what's included on TpT.

Each packet is about 100 pages of fun classroom decor!

Leave me a some comment love and one lucky winner will get a copy for free {your choice} before I go to bed tonight! Make sure you put your email in your comment so I can contact you. No more than one comment per person- just to keep it fair :) You understand.

Mr. Hubs is filling in all our wall's numerous nail holes as we speak  I type ...but I hear glass clanking noises coming from the bedroom...never a good sign. I should go investigate.

peace.

Edited To Add: Giveaway is closed.
Winner: Gladys from Teaching in High Heels! :)

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So, before I dive right in, I want to say thank you for all the sweet comments about the craziness of my life last week. I {heart} my bloggy friends!

..........

Retail therapy does wonders for a girl's soul but I'm sure some of ya'll already knew that. It's okay, I won't tell. ;) My stress relief session began at Dollar Tree where I picked up new baskets for my library makeover.

{source}

Their basket colors will match my owl theme perfectly next year so I was a happy girl!

My next stop was JoAnn's. I was on the hunt for the perfect bulletin board fabric.

I've been using fabric for the past few years on my boards and it's a MILLION times better than your regular paper.

For one- just check out your options! Hello, color!

So what are the benefits of fabric?

Well, not only do you have a gazillion color/pattern choices, but the fabric stretches really easily to remove all bubbles and wrinkles. No more droopy paper or having to layer it because the paper isn't wide enough...then you're looking at that layout line. {BLAH} For the perfectionists like me out there, this is what sold me on the idea! I also love the fact that it doesn't fade!! You can leave something up for a month, take it down, and not have to change the paper because you can see the outline of the last project. Talk about a time saver!

The past 2 years I've used bright solid colored fabrics but now that I'm planning to change my theme for next year I figured a trip to the fabric store was simply a must.

The cute owls were in plenty on the shelves. Just a little too busy for my taste.

I knew I wanted something that would compliment my owl theme without causing so much noise on the board that would take away from the work posted.

 I kept moving and found these possibilities...

 Here's my top choices...

I love these babies because they match my color scheme and add a little texture without causing too much distraction in pattern.

In the end, I left empty handed.

I couldn't decide.

Maybe once I move into my new room and begin unpacking, I'll have a better feel for the fabric I need. I want it to look like it fits into the room, not like I bought something and need to make it fit.

Do you use fabric too? Do you love it?

If you've never tried fabric before- you should give it a shot!

I know that I'll never go back.

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It's been a tough week peeps.

Don't get me wrong, I {heart} summer but it didn't get started the way I had dreamt in my head.

This blog is my outlet, so if you're reading in hopes of straight happy teacher talk- well, today's post isn't quite up your alley...sorry to disappoint.

........

It all started with the big move {at school}. I'm super pumped about looping up with my munchkins, but not super pumped about the new room. It's practically on the other side of the earth...okay, so maybe that's a little exaggerated. It's far. Really far. I hardly get cell reception.

I kid.

A little.

I knew I'd have to put my tennies on to tackle this move- which was totally fine- I was up for the workout...until...I walked into the new room.

No A/C.

In Florida.

90 degrees + humidity.

killmenow.

Oh, but wait...it gets better. The teacher's room I'm moving into has had a substitute for the past couple months because the teacher was out on maternity leave. Subs don't get paid for post planning...so you could only imagine what I walked into.

I'll spare you all the dirty details.

Let's just say it was bad.

bags of chips in the filing cabinet

food on the floor

papers still inside desks

BAD

8 trash bags and 1.5 days later I finally got the room to a point where the custodial staff could come in and clean the floors. Don't even get me started on the amount of organizing I still need to do.

All the math manipulatives are in one giant tub...mixed.

not fun.

I will be one busy teacher come pre-planning that's for sure!

Moving on...

Summer school started this week.

I thought I was teaching reading to 18 sweet little kindergartners.

Let's just say that I'm officially declaring to NEVER teach Kinder.

Who knew getting through 3 full workshop rotations could be so difficult. And, seriously...why can't these little humans enjoy a listening center without screaming at each other?? Don't even get me started on the computer stations. Who's brilliant idea was it to have 5 year olds type in a 10 digit ID and password just to log on?!?

Did I mention that I'm excited to be looping to 2nd?!? LOL

Meanwhile, back on the home front...

Our 1 year wedding anniversary is in 4 days. The weather here in sunny Florida hasn't been all that sunny lately so our my dream vacay to Sanibel Island this weekend has been cancelled. Mr. Hubs is perfectly fine with that...he's not a fan of the beach {gasp} He could do without the sand, the sun, the salt. I, on the other hand, am sad... I need a day at the beach something awful ya'll. My poor legs need sun and my brain needs a break. We've decided to do a day trip sometime after the move.

Yes, the move.

I said it.

We're moving homes too.

In 14 days.

Lord, give me strength.

As of yesterday, we hadn't found a place. Talk about stress for this control freak organization addict. We thought we had a townhouse secured earlier this week, but then found out that Mr. Hubs had serious mistakes on his credit report. Someone out there is not very nice and used his SSN...to buy multiple houses..and then not pay the mortgage...on any of them. You could imagine what that looks like on paper. YIKES!

Today's Public Service Announcement:

CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT REGULARLY!!

:)

So, after much disappointment, a few restless nights and lots of conversations with God, everything came full circle today.

Mr. Hubs got everything cleared up. The credit bureaus were very helpful. They put a rush on everything once he explained the situation. Mr. Hubs was a trooper. Spending hours on the phone is so not his thing! I'm just happy it's all good in the hood.

We got back in contact with the realtor for the townhouse, who told us they already had a new applicant.

Total bummer.

I was pretty smitten with that home.

As far as I was concerned, it was ours. Just paperwork and the keys.

Not that simple, I suppose.

...so...

I set up a few other rebound viewings for today, trying to push past the break up.

I had it bad ya'll. Like... already decorating the living room in my mind, bad.

What's a brokenhearted girl supposed to do...well, shop of course?!? I spent hours in Joann's and Dollar Tree {where else} trying to give a lil therapy to my stressed soul.

It helped.

Then, I got the news that the other applicant for our townhouse fell through and the realtor had done some research on our credit problem, knew it was a mistake, and was willing to move forward with us!! My heart skipped a beat...or two!

PRAISE THE LORD!

{not, PTL...this calls for a full spellng ya'll}

We can rest easy tonight knowing we have a place to put all these boxes that I've packed brought home...not to mention the goodies I bought today on my bulletin board and library makeover retail therapy trip. {That's a post for another day!}

Guess I have some packing to do and I couldn't be more excited!

WOOP! WOOP!

p.s. go check your credit report! seriously.

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On my to-do list today was  a trip to the doctor's office.

While waiting for that little knock on the door, I found myself staring at this little sweetie on the wall.

Ya know you're a font addict when you look at a quote and before you even read it, you begin mentally taking attendance of the fonts used! HA!  

How many can you name?

No cheating!! ;)

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Craziest thing happened... I throw a 200 follower giveaway, and I hit 300!!

Maybe I should throw giveaways more often ;)

Congratulations to Kimberly Collatos! She's one lucky lady today...I mean, who doesn't love shopping for free?!?

Thanks to everyone for participating and a HUGE thank you to the other wonderful bloggers that helped make this such a great giveaway!

I'd stick around to share about all the fun I've had moving classrooms

...but...

Today was my last day of post planning.

I have a date with the pool.

I'm sure you can relate.

peace.

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BIG NEWS blogger peeps... I hit 200 followers this week!!

How cool is that?? {so excited}

This calls for some fun!

I have a few fab blogger friends helping to make this party a real celebration!

Here's all the giveaway goodies:

 Awesome right?!?
Winners will be announced on Monday, June 11th!
Best of luck ya'll!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Hey friends!

I have some exciting news and then I have MORE exciting news... so which do you want first?

Okay, we'll start with the exciting news first! Laura from Tattling to the Teacher is having a great big giveaway in honor of her new blog design {which is pretty stinkin' cute, BTW} and I'm giving away one item of your choice to ther lucky winner... but that's not all! You can find 7 other prizes on her blog as well! Click here!

Now for the MORE exciting news {for me, anyway}...I hit 200 followers last night! I was like a little kid...my hubby can verify. I kept refreshing the page every 5 30 minutes or so...198....199...201! I may or may not have squealed. out loud.

So, a HUGE thank you goes out to everyone for your support and kind words! I've never been more inspired to teach, create and learn from each of you!

But a thank you is not enough, I MUST have a giveaway right?!? 

Totally.

This calls for a paaarrrtay! Blogger style!

Check back later this week!

For now though, go enter to win over at Tattling to the Teacher! 

GO- GO-GO!

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Linking up with Farley today!

Here's my June Currently:

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My trash can has been gettin' some serious action this past week. There's something about moving classrooms that can really make a teacher evaluate the value of packing it up and hauling it across campus. I am laser focused on a fresh, clean and organized new start for next year and with that comes a 'lil evaluation and reflection. Ultimately, I've sacrificed many of my "first year loves" to the trash can gods... all in the name of a fresh start! 

One thing that has ALWAYS made my skin crawl is a messy writing center. Is it just me? All the broken crayons, dull pencils and random marker lids...OH! The horror!
All those materials need an organized home and every year I've tried to improve my tactics to rein in the madness.

My first year I used these:

This idea was the product of a first year teacher on a budget...they served their purpose, but I wasn't thrilled with them. I wanted a cuteness factor. So...
last year I upgraded to these Dollar Tree finds:

They worked better because they only used vertical space, which was great... but I could see all the broken crayons and random marker lids and I just can't handle that. At the end of last year, I decided that I was on the hunt for a false sense of organization. An "out of sight, out of mind" approach.
So this year I opted for these... minus the cereal {of course}:
*They are plastic and come in a set of 4 at Target*

Before you say anything- yes, I know they are clear. I have a solution for that! :)
One of the sweet teachers on my team stopped by my room at the beginning of this year and said, "Oh, those are cute, you're gonna use 'em for your desk?" I'll never forget the hesitation in her voice when I explained the hope for my writing center. I'll admit, I wasn't sure it was going to work either- those clasps look like they could prove to be tricky... but I was certainly on a mission to try.

I cut out scrapbook paper to fit each height, made a label and sent it through the laminating machine {that was the key to durability!!}

I laid each page into the canisters and put a couple pieces of good 'ol scotch tape on the edges to hold it in place and that was it! Now, because the canister is round and the paper's edge is straight, you do have to kinda play with it. I left a 1-2 inch gap in the back in order for my paper to lay nicely. I'm sure there is a way to cut it so it lays all the way around. I just made sure the gap was in the back.

Here's the finished product... 10 months later!!

The different heights work perfectly for the different writing utensils! The kiddos figured out the clasps in the first week of school and it was smooth sailing from there!
I can't believe how well the canisters held up! My class exceeds my expectations in the area of destruction. Not even kidding- every inch of my rooms is covered in child grime this time of year. Surprisingly, these held up really, really well...the crayons, markers and pencils? Well, notsomuch. You know how that goes!

I'm so happy that there's no more distracting mess staring at me on a daily basis! I'll definitely be using these again next year and the best part is I can switch out the paper to match my color theme!
 If you want a cleaner work space, but aren’t sure about tackling this DIY, there are options at places like Shutterfly to create customizable pencil holders or a desk organizer.

Sorry trash can gods, I wouldn't be delivering these to your throne any time soon.

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