The Bachelorette!

Ok, I have to admit that before the last season of The Bachelor, I had never seen a single episode of The Bachelor OR The Bachelorette.  I thought it was silly that all of my friends were addicts.  Sadly, I'm now an addict, too! 

I wasn't super excited about Ashley being the bachelorette but I think she's cute so far.  I'm just waiting for it to get further into the season and see if she is as insecure as she was on The Bachelor.  Maybe not since she won't have any competition?

So who does everyone like so far?  Here is my top pick:

I like William so far!  We live in the same city so I'm glad he seems somewhat normal so far.  I know his job isn't up to par with some of the other contestants but I think he seems down to earth (not to mention cute)!

Who does every not like?!  I hate Bentley.  Not only did Ashley have dirt on Bentley before the show even started, but his daughter's name.  Cozy.  Seriously?  He seems like a neck-less hippy to me.  Not to mention he seems a little cocky.  YUCK!

Animals :)

These little dudes have been hanging out behind our neighborhood.  I usually am not a fan of the Canada Geese but these little white goslings are so precious!  I don't know why they're white, I've only seen yellow goslings before!  Any ideas?  Either way, they live near my neighborhood so I see them all the time!

I'm a birdwatcher.  I know it seems boring to some people and it's typically a hobby for the elderly but I think it's so fun to attract new birds to our yard.  Plus I love sitting on the patio hearing the birds chirp!  Here are some of our recent friends who stopped by (please ignore our beautiful backdrop of industrial buildings):

Husband and Wife Goldfinches :)

Rose Breasted Grosbeak - 1st siting!

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

 This may be hard to believe but in the 6 years we have lived at this house, we have NEVER seen a squirrel in our neighborhood.  We have no mature trees so I wasn't sure if they would ever come.  I saw this little guy last week, he has only stopped by twice (that I know of), but he's already getting into trouble!

Eating some leftover seed, thanks for helping clean up!

Guilty!  Luckily he couldn't figure out how to get to our feeders....

Can you spot the squirrel?  LOL

We also have tons of bunnies this year.  There are some living in our lily garden (luckily they aren't eating the lilies) and we also have a bunny den in another garden near our patio.  This is one of the bunnies from our lily garden:

So What Wednesday!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Dew of Life After I "Dew" to say So What If....

• I choose the lowest calorie option on MyFitnessPal since there always seems to be 100 entries for the same food....why not!?
• I had a flat of snapdragons from my mother-in-law that sat in my garden unplanted for a week.  I planted them today. :)
• I kind of want to move JUST so I can have neighbor friends.  Seriously, people are hermits around here and I hate it! :(
• I have quite a few to-do lists and often things are repeated.  (One at school, one on my nightstand, one on my phone, one in the kitchen....it's ridiculous.)
• I have a bajillion nicknames for my dogs and they respond to every single one of them!
• I feel guilty not buying stuff when I get a 30% off at Kohl's.  
• I set my [1st] alarm 45 minutes before I really need to get up.  I know it's bad for my sleep and I know it drives my husband crazy.  I'm just overly worried I won't wake up one day!

Head on over to her blog and link up!

Summer Reading?

I'm sad that I'm not participating in Tail Wagging Tuesday this week.  Unfortunately, all of my videos are on my desktop and the internet hasn't been working on it for ages....I guess I need a new network card.  Obviously I also need to upload some of my videos to YouTube!  

Can anyone else not wait to see the movie Bridesmaids?  I think it looks hilarious!  I was also excited to see Something Borrowed.  I was hoping to read the book first, but when my friend Mandy invited me to see it this week, I couldn't pass up her offer!  The movie was super cute.  Thanks for the invite, Mandy...I had fun on our date!  The movie was not something I would buy or watch again, but it was a fun, cute chick flick.  I really loved John Krasinski in the movie even though he didn't play a huge role.

I haven't been reading as much as I like to, but I've read a few good books lately:

The Help was SO good!  I can't wait to see the movie when it comes out in August.  I usually don't care for historical fiction, but this really wasn't historical at all.  It seems very realistic, yet hard to believe at the same time.  Unbearable Lightness is a great memoir.  I love Ellen and she had her wife on the show to promote her book so I had to read it.  Does anyone have any suggestions for summer reading?

P.S. I bought a new dress for one of my best friend's baby showers!  I am so excited to help Lindsey welcome Foster Everett into this world!!  Now that the weather has been warming up in Ohio (finally), I am totally ready for some summer clothes!  How cute is this dress for $17?!  I sent this picture to my good friend Kelli to see if it was a yes or no.  She immediately called me to say she had bought the same dress 2 days ago....ha!  Great minds think alike :)

Teachers Love Free Stuff!

This year, our school family lost a former employee.  While she had been out of school for over a year because of her illness, it looked like things were turning around for the better.  She left us unexpectedly after an unfortunate brain aneurysm.  Her husband, daughters, and family have been very gracious and strong through this difficult time.  Recently, her husband contacted our school and said that he had gathered all of Cherryl's teaching materials and would love for teachers to stop by and see what we might be able to use in our own classroom.  As a first year teacher, I am still working on gathering books, supplies, storage, materials, etc.  I was hesitant to stop by since I had never met Cherryl but one of my co-workers talked me into it.  I'm so glad I went.  Memories of Cherryl were shared and I was able to meet her great family.  I also picked up a load of things for my classroom (for free!).  I hope to some day be half as inspiring as Cherryl.  Here is a quick pic of some of her things that will now be used in my next classroom:

Thank you to Cherryl's family for allowing her memory to be carried on with fellow educators.

Updates!

I know I've been an awful blogger lately, so sorry!!  Last week a lot of co-workers (including myself) found out that we won't have a contract for next school year.  Our district said that it's possible jobs will "become available" over the summer, but we should definitely look into other districts.  I'm trying to not stress since it's something that I can't control.  I'm also trying to stay positive!  At least I'm able to apply to any other jobs, right?  Now I'm just waiting anxiously for jobs to post!  I'm very thankful to have an amazing principal who is really pulling for me.  He already has called two other districts in our area to get my name out there.  So thankful for him!


As far as my health issues, I haven't really gotten any answers but my blood pressure is back to normal with some new medication I'm taking!  As much as I don't like taking pills, it's nice to know that one (low-dose) pill a day can control my hypertension!  I got an ultrasound of my kidneys ($$$$) and also an echocardiogram (ultrasound of my heart).  The kidney scan was normal (yay!), but I don't have the results of the echo yet....thinking positive thoughts.  No news is good news, right?!


Other than that, no news around here.  We have 3 weeks of school left and I have a feeling they're going to go quickly!  It will be a bittersweet end to my first year since I may be saying goodbye to my students and co-workers for good. 

Tail Wagging Tuesday!

Thanks to CMae, I am coming out of hiding.  Sorry I've been a little MIA lately, my district's levy failed last week and we've been going through some stressful times......cuts to staff, transfers, etc.  Never fun.  So far I haven't gotten any calls so I'm trying to keep my hopes up!


Now onto Tail Wagging Tuesday hosted by the beautiful CMae at Live What You Love!  This week's topic is TREATS!




I'm sure this is the case for most of you, but in our house the "t-word" has to spelled out unless we want the pups to go NUTTY!  We keep some of their treats in a metal treat canister and they can hear the sound of that being opened (or accidentally being bumped) from anywhere in our house!  Here are some of their favs:

This is food but we use it as treats (shhh,don't tell!).  They are huge kibbles meant to clean their teeth. 

Since I didn't feature any pics of the pups in this week's post, here are a few freebies!

We got another food ball since Chip doesn't share well!

New hobby: birdwatching :)

P.S. Is anyone else having issues with the blogger dashboard?!  None of my blogs I follow are showing up and it's driving me crazy!  I want to blog-stalk and I can't :( :( :(

Teacher Appreciation and Tail Wagging Tuesday!

Has anyone received any special gifts or appreciation this week?  Our school PTO provided a breakfast for the staff Monday morning and they are also providing a lunch Thursday afternoon....so sweet!  We have a total female staff in our building besides the phys ed teacher and our principal.  Our principal decided to give us some "pampering" this week and left some Bath & Body Works soaps and lotions in our restrooms along with super soft TP and hand towels!  It's the little things in life, right?  :)  I also got this sweet chocolate rose from one of my students.

Now onto Tail Wagging Tuesday, hosted by the lovely CMae!  Click the picture below to head over and link up.  This week's topic is 'The Look' Your Pet Gives You.




Chip and Dixie have many looks, but the most common is the head tilt.  They give me this look when I say "outside", "potty", "walk", "ride", etc....basically anything exciting!

Dixie also has a sleepy "Cuddle with me, mommy because I'm not moving" look (the side-eye):

Here is Chip's guilty look (ears back).  In this picture he was guilty of not sharing the food ball with his sis....he's still learning how to share.:)

I also have to include this awesome gift my sister got for me.  As most of you know, I'm Emily and my husband is Nick.  Turns out, there is an Emily and Nick running for student government on her campus!  She picked up this free t-shirt for me and I love it, too funny!  Sorry for the backwards mirror shot...it says "Vote Nick and Emily"!

I'm feeling anxious because my district has a levy on the ballot today.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone gets out and votes YES, but I won't find out until later tonight.  Cross your fingers for me so there are more jobs (or at least no cuts) for next year!