"Free" Curtains for my French Door!

I almost hate to tell you about my curtains for my french door. Why? Cause they were free. Well, they weren't really free, but basically free.

 

You see here is my tip.. I figure I learned this from my mom... but anytime brown, denim or a really basic fabric is on sale cheap, I buy it. All of it. This means at times I have had 20 yards of khaki canvas, or 10 yards of denim or... well you get the picture.  Anyway, I have had this brown cotton/poly blend fabric for years. I bought it for $1 or $1.50 a yard at Walmart and have stored it in a plastic tub all of this time.

 

So, last week, after finishing my tree with the brown print fabric and noticing that I had a good bit of leftover, I set it on my curtain rod and was pleasantly surprised. I had planned on a light curtain, but the dark was a great contrast to the paint and tied into the tile on the kitchen counter. So, I dug through my stash of fabric and found this brown that looked nice with the print.

 

And there you have it. I divided the fabric into two pieces, sewed the brown and the print together and hemmed all four sides and clipped it onto rings that I had purchased years ago.. clearance again... I consider curtain rod/clips a basic that can be purchased at anytime...and hung my curtains.

 

Nope they aren't perfect. But I didn't spend a single dollar on them and it took all of 30 minutes. I call that a win!

And that's one more project down!

My Target Field Trip Grant!!!

Back in the fall I heard about the Target Field Trip Grant and being one that is always looking for an extra dollar to spend on my students, I wrote for it. I was thrilled when I heard that I was selected!! The grant covered all the expenses to take up to 50 of my students to the Fort Worth museums for the day!

 

So after months of anticipation, Friday was the day! We ended up only having 40 people as there was a pep rally and tests and such and some students just couldn't get away. But those of us that went, had a great time!

 

And it was truly a great feeling to be able to tell parents and students that they didn't have to bring a penny for this trip! The grant even covered a snack!

 

Our first stop was The Modern. We were divided into 4 groups and shown around. Each group saw different works of art. I like that, but wish we had had time for the students to go around after the tour and tell their friends about the pieces that they saw. But that's okay, I'd rather leave them wanting more than be bored!

 

 

 

After we finished at The Modern, we loaded up back on the bus and had a snack and drove the block or so to the Amon Carter Museum. Here they are waiting to go into the museum for our tour.

  

I love the Amon Carter Museum, but an hour just isn't long enough for a tour here when the education specialists want to engage the students in conversations about the pieces! I think I was the only one out of the 40 of us to have ever been to the Amon Carter and we didn't even see some of the best pieces. The students were a little frustrated too. It's hard to engage in thoughtful conversation about something you have never seen before. But the experience for them was wonderful and each and every student left talking about the museum and the pieces. 

 

I love this picture!! Sorry museum people, my kids were not sophisticated enough to "get" some of the questions!! But Louise Nevelson is one of my favorite artists, so I was thrilled for my kids to see it in person!

And here they are just being the cool kids that they are!



 

After the museums we loaded back up and had a late lunch at Golden Corral. Thanks Fort Worth Golden Corral for making it work! They lowered the price for us so that the per diem covered the meal! Awesome!!

 

After the kids stuffed themselves we headed back home.

 

It was a great day.

 

I have to say, I love GRANTS! And I love that Target offers a field trip grant! It was a truly memorable day and so very good for my kids.

How can she grow up so fast?

The end of the year 7th grade dance was last night. The theme was "Night at the Oscars." Maddie looked incredible.

 

I love this picture! Maddie is laughing and beautiful while Doug is in the background scowling.

 

 Maddie with her friend who just happens to live next door!

 

 And yes, I wanted in a picture too.

This girl makes my heart skip a beat.

Maddie's End of the Year Dance Showcase

Tonight was Maddie's end of the year dance showcase for school. I was a little leery.. 16 dances in 1 hour. no way. In my experience, dance recitals last forever!

 

But nope, it was in and out in an hour and the 150 girls in the showcase did AWESOME! I was so proud to have a child in SISD dance class. I am very aware that we are super lucky to have dance every day for FREE!! Yippee..

 

This year has been phenomenal for Maddie. I was so scared about Junior High and the locker room and team sports. I remember very, very clearly how HORRIBLE it was for me. I didn't want my daughter to face that! How thankful I am that Maddie doesn't have these experiences! She has dance!! She gets her PE credit, has learned dance technique and has gained so much flexibility. I truly consider dance to be a gift!

 

Here are a few pictures from tonight. The pictures aren't great. They are taken in the gym.

 

 

 Look at this real smile!

I don't know that you can get the joy that Maddie radiated from the pictures. She was having FUN and you could tell it. She was also REALLY GOOD!! It was the first time that I saw her participate in a school activity that was physical where she was on-level or better than her peers! That was really big for our family. Tears! As my dad said, you could see that she was enjoying herself and that she didn't seem in pain! Given that Maddie suffers from joint pain almost on a daily basis, this was tear worthy!

Tonight's showcase pretty much sums up Maddie's 7th grade year. There have been struggles and hard work, but she has excelled, found new strength and her joy has been evident to all who see her!

2012 vs 2013

Mother's Day 2012.



 

Mother's Day 2013

 

The 2012 picture isn't a great picture to begin with as it is a from a photo taken with my phone. But I must say, I like the 2013 me much better.

 

It says a lot that I didn't even blog these pictures last year.

 

I'm a work in progress, as we all are, but I am just more aware of it right now than I was this time last year.