Bargains, Books, and Bold Creations

It's FRIDAY! You know what that means. Of course, another linky party with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

I am going to start off with some celebrations that I would love to share with you! As most of you probably know or will come to find out, this is only my 7th blog post and I am VERY new to this whole blogging thing. I have come a long way already and I have learned so much. I still have so much to learn and I probably stalk a lot of you searching for answers or to see how something is done. That's not creepy…right?! I have done a fair amount of googling to find answers and almost every time I am comforted because as I search my question in Google, someone has usually already asked it. Been there done that right? Well hey, you have to start somewhere right? Speaking of starting somewhere…..

This week I created my first product for Teachers Pay Teachers. It literally took me all day to finish. Part of the reason was because I was figuring out my newly downloaded Office for Mac. I am fairly familiar with Powerpoint, however, not on a Mac, and not such a new version. I am also such a perfectionist that it takes me twice as long to do something as someone else! I won't go too much into detail about the product, but I will show you the cover page!

Didn't it turn out just adorable?! OMGOODNESS. If you only knew how long that took me. I will say that doing the credits page was actually quite frightening to me because I wanted to make sure that I gave everyone credit for each thing I used and each person has a different TOU. I hope I did this correctly and that I don't end up in jail somehow because of a copyright infringement of some sort. Eek.  You can find this FREEBIE in my TpT store: Click here to view my newest free product.  Maybe you can show my store some love because last time I checked I had a whopping 0 followers. Like I mentioned before, I will be doing a mini feature of this product on my Monday Made It linky post so I won't talk too much about it now!

It's also beginning to be that time of the year again when all of the school supplies and teacher things are put out. It's so bittersweet because we all know what's about to happen…but I won't mention that either! However, it's sweet too because it is such great stuff. You know you are truly a teacher when you get excited, twiddle your thumbs, and feel your heart beat racing because you are excited to see all of the cute classroom things. You always can spot the teachers in those aisles! I was so excited about my haul this week at Target Dollar Spot. Look at all this neat stuff! I got 5 dry erase pockets with an option for interchanging sheets, printables, sight words, you name it. SO VERSATILE. and guess what. only $1 EACH! Talk about a steal! You also see pictured 2 pocket charts that can also be used for many things. I also got birthday bookmarks, birthday stickers, name plates/sentence strips, alphabet bingo, and a super cute flag banner border for bulletin boards! In the last picture is also something I was very excited about. What you see pictured looks like a full sized board, however, these are thin dry erase word strips and each pack contained 4. I purchased a whole class set to do word study lessons as a group or to place in a center. I was excited about all of this great stuff, and I was even more excited that each thing was only ONE DOLLAR! *Cue a happy dance*

I have started a new journey in a book this week. So far I am very intrigued. 

I was inspired to read this after I saw the trailer in the movie theater. This gives me motivation to finish it before the movie comes out! I'm only a few chapters in but what I also like about this is that is is a series:)

This stuff saved my life! Okay, maybe not literally, but I feel like it did! We have been having problems with small spiders under our couches and in the bathrooms. I don't care how small the spider is, a spider is a spider okay?! TERRIFYING. It all started in the Fall when for some odd reason, Texas decided that it wanted it's turn to be freezing cold! Well, the little, tiny sugar ants did not like that and found their way up our pipes and into our bathrooms and into our house. Well what eats those little buggers but SPIDERS. So after finally getting rid of our ant problem and it becoming warmer outside, low and behold, we still have tiny little spiders that like to bring rollie polies from outside to lay dead under our couches. YUCK. Well of course stumbling upon Pinterest and looking for natural remedies instead of those scary bottles of pest control which say they cause cancer…I found the solution! Peppermint oil! I'm sure there is a more elaborate ratio of how much water: peppermint oil mixture to use online, however, I used my nose and my eyes to figure out a mixture. I bought a small spray bottle and put in probably a teaspoon of peppermint oil into it first. Then, I added a little bit of water at a time and sniffed it to make sure it was still really potent. After shaking it up just a tad, I went to town spraying every inch of the bottoms of my furniture. I also took a paper towel and spread it over my baseboards. The smell of peppermint was very strong, but it also smelled so fresh and clean. The best part of all, it has been 2-3 weeks and I have yet to see a spider or any rollie pollies.

Chicken Broccoli Almond Casserole

This is what's for dinner tonight! Super excited and it's a fan favorite of my husband. It's super simple to make.  This is not my photo credit, I pulled it off of the internet!

Ingredients:

* 3-4 Chicken breasts 

*1 bag frozen broccoli

*Veganaise (similar to mayonnaise but healthier)

*Chopped raw Almonds

*Butter (1/2 stick)

*All purpose Seasoning

*Salt

*Pepper

First, bake your chicken and cut it up into chunks. Spread it around in a baking pan and add your frozen broccoli, mixing it to be even. Use a spoon and plop Veganaise around the pan (enough to where the chicken and broccoli is covered) Use one 1/2 stick of butter and cut it up to even disperse around the pan. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top so they are making up the top layer. Sprinkle your seasoning on top and place it in the oven. I usually let it cook for 40-45 Minutes, depending upon how soft or crunchy you like things. You can also check to see if it is done earlier than that by just eyeballing it. 

Make sure to check out what else people have done this past week back at the linky!