As you know, I’m currently teaching kindergarten in Virginia.

Here’s what you might not know: I’m part of the DonorsChoose.org teacher community, and we post projects for the resources that would make the biggest difference in our classrooms. If DonorsChoose.org teachers collectively get 5,000 people to give to classroom projects, $100,000 in additional funding will be released.

Please help! Visit http://www.donorschoose.org/wt-sp/362916/Hooker and support any classroom project. Please also re-post this link to spread the word.

Thanks in advance for your help in supporting the DonorsChoose.org teacher community!

Thank you!
Emily

After much soul searching, I'm joining the many.... the many who take a moment and step back to examine their lives and said, wow, I spend entirely too much time on the computer.

I haven't posted for three whole weeks, and in that time I have tried to remove myself from blogging almost completely- no reading or writing. Honestly, it's been very freeing. I've been doing soo much art journaling, more real reading, and I know that as the school year begins, I need to be focused.

I also have really been thinking about this whole concept of paper and whether or not it's real if it isn't written down to be found someday by our grandchildren. I adore the idea of my journals being read by my ancestors.... I just don't know if the blournal will do it for me anymore.

Now, I can't quit completely, I'm going to continue to post little smidgens of thought and sound on the "inspiration board" which you can follow in any of your readers, but as far as regular diatribes on life and learning, I'm going to be putting it to paper.....

Not mine- LOL, just a smidge of a teaser there.

Sean and I have been married for almost 7 years and any time I get a hint of an upset stomach, everyone within shouting distance screams, "Maybe you're pregnant!??!?!?" We're not. *grin* Not yet people, give us another couple years to ourselves.... babies will come, promise. Maybe when I'm 30. Just two more birthdays. Then we'll talk more seriously.

However, my friends have been bitten by that little baby bug, lots of them are preggers. It's kind of crazy how all of a sudden, they have to get pregnant. They swear it will happen to us, but so far, we're ok being DINK's. (Dual Income No Kids for you people who aren't married to someone in the financial world- I wouldn't have had ANY idea- grin. )

Today's most important one though is my Meghann, my closest friend from high school, the main one I keep up with, my maid of honor, my dear, my heart - the one who has been ready to have babies since we were in high school. While kids all around us were getting pregnant, Meghann is probably the only one who could have handled it, and of course, we were waiting until we got married. Well Meghann has since gotten married, and her eggo is preggo. Today they find out if it's a boy or a girl and I just can't wait. My vote is boy, her Mom's vote is girl, you should see the running tally on facebook from last night~ hilarious. Either way, Meghann will be the most amazing mother that that child could have ever had. To my Meghann, who now belongs to a whole other set of people.

An American Institute for Cancer Research report claims that a 50g serving of processed meat a day (about what you'd get from a hot dog) can increase your risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent. This is thought to be because of nitrites -- preservatives used in processed and cured meats that, when broken down in the digestion process, might be carcinogenic. But that hasn't been confirmed yet. Colorectal cancer kills approximately 50,000 people every year in the U.S.

Because of this, Cancer Project president Neil Barnard has filed a lawsuit against several big processed meat producers, including Oscar Mayer and Hebrew National, demanding their products come with warning labels stating that hot dogs increase the risk of cancer, in the same way cigarettes carry warning labels about lung cancer, emphysema and so on.

"Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer," said Neal Barnard, president of the Cancer Project and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University medical school in Washington, D.C. "Companies that sell hot dogs are well aware of the danger, and their customers deserve the same information."

The defendants in the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, include Nathan's Famous Inc., Oscar Mayer owner Kraft Foods Inc., Sara Lee Corp., Marathon Enterprises Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc., which owns Hebrew National.

Perfectly reasonable or a little extreme? Either way you go, I guess it's just another reason I'll stick with my smart dogs...

After a lovely weekend together, Sean and I woke up around two this morning to a horrid thunder storm with some crazy intense lightning. (This picture is not from our storm)

It meant two things that made my Monday. My early morning Monday was made nicer because Sean snuggled up, knowing that the thunder would be freaking me out. Secondly, now my day-time plans are a little more free because I don't have to water all the plants and flowers!

What's making your Monday? Let me know and then link back to Cheryl at Twinfatuation to let her know too!

If you ask me, us curly girls are the best girls.... & I'm not biased at all!



Kristen Sara over at While We're Waiting just did a giveaway that I was so sad not to win. In it, she had some Curly Girl items, and curious, I headed on over to their site to check it out. I have fallen in LOVE> Their stuff is outstanding and I am infatuated.



So imagine my utter delight when Kristen Sara announced that she was doing another giveaway- a specifically Curly Girl contest! These prints are fantastic and their quotes are outstanding. Here are just a couple of my favorites:

Two days and counting.... and then I can make all the inspired goodness that I've been flagging all summer long! The question is where do I start? You tell me, what would you do? This morning's quicklinks are the various projects that I've starred so far this summer in my google reader as "when Summer School is over." Well it's almost over....


* Spruce up Your Swimsuit- Love Maegan shows us how to take an old suit that you don't wear anymore and cut it up to add ruffles to a new or current suit.

* Wall art with an old Window Frame- I love this one- using wallpaper to make a fabulous wall hanging. We use to have all these old windows- great for anyone who has recently had their windows replaced....

*Kristen Sara's Grandmother's Strawberry Freezer Jam- My mom and sisters and I used to make strawberry freezer jam when I was a little girl too, so this recipe stuck out to me like crazy. This might be the first thing I tackle, before the strawberries are out of the stores!

*Matchbook Summer Notes- These sweet downloads from Shabby Chic Crafts have been sitting in my "crafty" desktop folder for weeks now... I'm itching to do something with them.

*Wine Cork Trivet- I have been saving wine corks for God knows how long- in hopes to find the perfect project. Here it is! Something easy, simple and useful! Those folks at Crafty Nesters have done it again!


And now I throw you the gauntlet- have you got any great project ideas? For the kitchen? For the Home? For my craft table? (aka my living room floor.) I'm ready to get moving in t-minues 48 hours.....