Back to School Sale Season 2013 WEEK 1

Good Sunday Morning to you all!

Today is the start of my Back to School weekly sale searches. If you are not familiar with my madness, I go through all of the major ads that would sell back to school supplies. I select what I feel are the best deals of the week and put them here for you to get. It's as simple as that! This year I want to ask my readers to make recommendations of what they want to see (furniture, storage, USB flash drives, etc.) I can then go off of those recommendations and look up what the best prices are. I guess we are ready to start so lets go!

Tip of the week: As my mom and dad tells me "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". The same rule applies to shopping this week. Don't buy everything you see this week because chances are that most of the deals I post will come along again or it may be cheaper!

Office Max
10 cents for 8pk yellow pencils (limit 3)
25 cents for Office Max brand 4pk glue sticks (limit 3)
1 cent spiral notebook (couldn't locate the limit BUT you have to have a $5 minimum purchase)
NOTE: I asked the manager at my local Office Max and was told teachers could double the limit as long as you have your school ID. (example: limit 3, teachers can get 6)

Office Depot
25 cents for filler paper (limit 3)
$9.99 Scandisk 16GB USB cruzer

Michaels
Buy 2 get 1 free on ENTIRE stock of teacher classroom decor and storage
NOTE: Teachers get a 15% discount with your teacher ID.
NOTE: Make sure to download the Michael's APP on your smartphone, you can get electronic coupons you can use. This week there is a 25% off your entire purchase including sale items. (You cannot double your discount with the coupon though.)

Staples
25 cents for white glue (limit 2)
25 cents for RoseArt 24pk crayons (limit 2)




Target
$10 3 bin plastic storage organizer
$15 mini tower fan (for those of you who may need a fan in your room)
Buy 1 get 1 for $1 8GB ScanDisk USB cruzer (The intital is $10)

Wal-Mart

17 cents for spiral notebooks
92 cents for value 1" binder
50 cents for Crayola 24pk crayons
97 cents for Crayola 10pk markers or 12pk colored pencils
50 cents for Elmers white glue
NOTE: I LOVE this store! They price match almost anything! Here is the link to their website to see exactly how you can get the better prices from other stores. Ad Match Guarantee
NOTE: These prices will not change and will stay this way throughout Back to school season. This is from the years I have tracked them. :)

STEAL OF THE WEEK: With technology being pushed into classrooms, the uprising need to have storage for all of those crazy cool lessons you teachers design, the best deal is Target's USB. This way you have ways of organizing your files for a subject or school year, or by anything you can think of. I have at least 6 USB sticks because of the years I have accumulated lessons. They always seem to come in handy.

I guess I have given you some motivation to start thinking about school. I am loving vacation still and am not ready to go shopping yet but I may pick up a few flash drives this week. Happy shopping and I will see you with new deals next week!

Clarissa

Summertime and my life isn't so easy!

I am in summer mode which means I have lots of time to think. When I think, I get I trouble. Since Ben and I are not going anywhere this summer, we have decided to make some improvements to the house. Our big project this summer is put laminate wood flooring in our hallway and home office/craft room. Well I had to move all the stuff out which gave me inspiration to redo my craft room for the third time. Of course I want new furniture, new ways to organize all thanks to Pinterest. Ben isn't so happy about this but I am certain if he trusts me. He will love it. 

Thanks to my good friends Amy and Rik for helping me out by taking all that junk out and getting the old carpet out. 

I did already finish a project which was to make curtains for my kitchen/ dining room area. Here it is: 

Ben isn't fond of the fabric but I think it adds color to the boring yellow wall.

So now onto the list for my summer projects;

1. Redo craft room

2. Create a new classroom (big project) that will be my next entry.

3. Fabric crayon holders

4. Deep clean the house

5. Work with a landscaper to design a new backyard with jacuzzi! This is Ben's vision but I will do all of the decision making. 

I think I have enough to keep me busy. I may be crazy but I love doing things like this in summer!

Crazy by the heat,

Clarissa

I'm still alive......barely!

Hello World! 

I have resurfaced once again after a whirlwind of a year! Summer is rapidly approaching and I have been going non-stop with Grad school. It's this time of the year where I start to reflect on the blessings that have occurred and the upcoming events that will change my life. 

1. Graduate school- It has taken me a three semesters and a summer to complete all of my classes! I can officially say I have only my internship left which I will complete in the upcoming school year with an awesome principal! It has been a crazy but fun ride. I have learned a great deal about myself as a leader and I have grown in a great way. I can only imagine what my internship will look like and how I will develop more as a leader. I AM EXCITED! I would not be here without my family and friends support. Thank you for keeping me on my toes and bugging me about getting my papers done. I am dedicated but sometimes I needed that extra nudge. :)

2. Kindergarten- This is a change. After contemplating where I want my career to take me and how I want to grow as a teacher, I have decided to change schools within my district and become a Hendrick's Hawk. This decision comes with many positives and I am excited for what is in store for me next fall. I will be doing my internship with the principal who hired me in the district. I will also be working with a smaller team who have great ideas on where to take kids and to evolve with the Common Core. We have already been bonding and working closely. I know I have made the right decision BUT I will miss my Bulldogs terribly! I have nothing but admiration for the school I call home and I only hope to keep in close contact with all of the friends I have made. 


3. Parents- This is another change. My parents who have lived in the same house for 43 years have decided to make a change of their own............move to Tucson! This has been a change in the making for the past several months and I am super excited that they will be in the same city as me. I have my aunt and uncle to thank for taking the time and patience to help them look for a place. I will say it is only 2 miles away from my house. Yeah..........I am happy about that but they are under the impression I will not stay in my home forever. LOL! I will miss my childhood home but I can only imagine what joy they will have decorating a new house. It has already been an adventure. They will be making the big move at the end of May. Best wishes that the move goes smoothly.

4. Friends- ALL of my friends are a true blessing! I am so happy that I have a group of friends that I can rely on to talk to, hang out with, and just know they are friends. I would not know what to do with myself if I didn't have friends. Speaking of friends....they also help me make my Kindergarten scrapbooks. LOL!

5. Husband- He has not changed and he knows he is my blessing. He is Ben. He is 30! (That's about all that has changed, his age!) He supports every decision I make. He accepts my faults (my Coach addiction). He runs my errands (drops off my Grad school work when he is available). He takes care of the dog (NOT.... j/k). He is Ben and he will always be my husband and best friend. 


Well I guess that is all for tonight.....I hope to update this blog at least once more before chaos erupts (aka end of the school year). Otherwise, I will post more this summer! I can see the light at the end of the school year tunnel! Happy reading!

Clarissa

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Two words say it all "Merry Christmas"! I have been truly blessed with many things this year. For one, I was given the honor of being named a Rodel Exemplary Teacher finalist out of 6 teachers in Pima County. I have been with a loving a caring man, my husband Ben for 12 years. He is my rock and I don't know what I would do without him. We are both blessed with loving and supportive families. We are expecting a baby niece quite soon if not by the end of January. It is amazing to watch a child grow and turn into a wonderful human being. I absolutely love our nephew Maddex! He is now 2 and he isn't terrible at all. He is a sweet and curious little guy and he is in love with our dog "Snuggles". It's the little things in life that are important and I cherish every moment we have with our loved ones. I wish you all Merry Christmas and hope you are enjoying this joyous day with your loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

I am the luckiest person ever!

Happy Sunday everyone! I am finally on a well deserved 3 day vacation! I will be spending the weekend with my wonderful husband and loving parents at our family cabin in northern Arizona. I love Labor day and spend this week teaching my students the importance of understanding holidays and their meanings instead of it being "just a day off". I feel like life has caught up with me and now I am barely treading water. I spent 12 hours at work prepping my room, cleaning my room, and just trying to organize it. You wouldn't think that 3 weeks of school would disorganize someone but it happened to me. I had to organize it Friday otherwise I would have never gotten it done. I brought home my dog and work on yet again more stuff and do the laundry in preparation for our trip. Well I walked into the house and this is what I saw....

BEN WAS CLEANING THE HOUSE ON A FRIDAY EVENING! This is not unusual to see him cleaning but it was just Friday and we were getting ready to leave and he knows how much I love to come home to a clean house. He not only cleaned but earlier in the day he graciously came down to my school to be "Rocket Man". We as a grade level did the mentos and diet coke experiment. He dropped the mentos into the bottle, wore a lab coat and a got a little messy. Needless to say he also inherited 102 excited and happy Kindergartners. LOL! My kids were in love with him. Ben is fascinated by how curious and young my kiddos are. Let's just say my class will be treated to his "P" shaped pancakes in a few weeks. THEY LOVE THAT!That is why I named my entry today "LUCKIEST PERSON EVER!" I truly am blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is understanding of my life and personality. LOL!

We are in my birthplace this weekend in beautiful Prescott, AZ! Ben decided to take advantage of the cooler 70 degree weather and take his bike out on a ride this morning. I drove him to his starting point and here are a few pics I snapped when he started his "adventure".

Here he is getting ready to ride. I drove him to the base of our cabin since there wasn't a "bike path" and I was being overly cautious. LOL!

He's all ready. I had to snap a "last shot" just in case it was his actual last shot. LOL!

Bye Ben! Have fun! See you at Starbucks!

My definition of "breakfast of champions"! My dad's homemade menudo! YUM!

So I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing weekend! I know I am.

Bye!
Clarissa

Itchy itchy itchy hives!!!

Good Evening Everyone!

I am pretty much done with back-to-school sales now since they are very few left. I know Office Depot has 5 cent pencil cap erasers  but nothing too exciting. So yesterday was fun! I had my friends over to craft. The plan was to eat lunch and then make pocket chair covers BUT I got as far as cutting the fabric. So they are still not done but I guess I have over Labor Day holiday to do them. As we were crafting, I started feeling itchy behind my ears. I scratched for a while and then it started to spread as if I were getting a rash. Well soon enough, it spread all over my body! I had full on hives. I thought of everything I ate and nothing was out of the ordinary. The only explanation I can give is maybe the yard work I did on Wednesday caused me to have small hives on my legs where I touched the plants. Only thing is that I am EXTREMELY itchy. I took Benadryl and all it did was knock me out! We went out to dinner and had a wonderful time. I wasn't itchy and slept throughout the night. This morning I woke up and yet again I was covered in hives. I couldn't even think straight because I was concentrating on the itching. LOL! I finally decided to go to Urgent Care. I am now on 3 different prescriptions! We still don't know what caused this but it's no fun. As I type, I just discovered a hive on my lower lip and boy does it hurt! Enough of me telling you about my problem.....I have a few more pictures from our remodel.

We have a bonus room now! We used to have 3 bedroom 2 bathrooms but now we have a third bathroom. (It isn't very pleasant and I don't have to use it but it's pretty funny) Just take a look.....

Our third bathroom! NOT!

Our massive trash can. We have thrown all kinds of junk in here. Can't wait til it's gone!

I cut this piece of fabric. That's all I did before I got hives.

Here is a picture of my Aunt Susan and I at her Birthday Party weekend in Scottsdale. I love you Susan!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!

My pictures were a mash of a little bit of everything. Sorry! I am now off to take my medications and grade my homework folders before I go to sleep. Have a great evening! Have a wonderful Monday!

Clarissa

And so it begins........WOOHOO!!!!

Good Evening Everyone!

Well the time has come for our contractor  to start the work on our master bathroom! It has been a process and I am finally excited to see some destruction! I got home and it really wasn't that bad. I was expecting a huge mess with lots of dust. My first impression was that I was impressed but the longer I sit in our master bedroom the more dust I see and my eyes are watering. The dust is so much I am not sure I want to run our fan as we usually do. LOL! All in all, we are going to start the tile work and get the shower and tub installed soon. After that we replace the toilet and paint. The last is to install the vanities and mirrors. It will be another 6-8 weeks until we have our bathroom back but I am very excited. Here are some pictures of what I have so far.....enjoy!

Ben has to brush his hand across my dresser and this is the amount of dust we have and are breathing in as we speak. LOL!

Another dresser with a even amount of dust.

The ugly wallpaper is gone! The shower is gone and the old tub. They are currently in the garage but it's awaiting new plumbing.

This is what started the WHOLE remodel. We had water that leaked into the walls and softened the wood. Now we are getting a whole new bathroom.

This is another part which needs fixing since it looks like it has rotted.

Me in the "tub"! I am so excited it's finally getting done! We only have been planning this for 1 1/2 years!

So that's it! What has happened so far. I had made arrangements with my dear friends who were nice enough to let my pampered pooch stay at their house for the day. Tomorrow Snuggles will have to go back since they are going to start fixing the walls and maybe install tile. I think the funniest thing that Snuggles did was not want to leave our friends house because she is spoiled there. It was a little embarrassing pulling her leash and her resisting me. Oh grilled cheesus! I hope she has fun tomorrow. I am just happy it's Friday. This year I feel like I am falling behind on things but I try my best to keep myself on my toes. Oh well! Goodnight all! Happy Friday!