Preparing for School!

So many great things have been falling into place (ALMOST everything!!!).

First of all I already started my new job as a Para!!! 3 weeks early! It came as a surprise when I heard they needed me to help with summer school. Now that I am beginning to get my hands dirty coming to my old job in the afternoon is just a DRAG!

The 1st day I played it safe with my wardrobe. Simple flats and slacks, a nice soft colored blouse with a black cardigan (cause lord knows I'm always FREEZING), and a pretty statement necklace that wasn't too over the top.

It was so much fun and a challenge to be working with these little ones that are needing more help. I'm already learning so much about what to do. Right now it's all about repetition, repeating their words. Some of them are sorting words by their first letters, others by long and short vowels. We are learning reading and listening skills and how to write simple sentences. Breakfast and motorcycle are NOT a fun words for 1st graders! :P It was really a great first 3 days!

In my spare time I'm working fairly adamantly on cleaning up my spare room to become mostly specifically a study. I will still have my sewing machine and a table to keep my potted plants over winter and all my crafts in there, but they are being put neatly away for the time being, keeping the space clean for studying. So far I am realizing how much of a child I still am, and it's time to get rid of some things and move on.

TAH-DAH!

This is the worst corner! (The white table is where the plants will go, and you can see my ridiculous cedar chest I'd like to get rid of hiding under it, purposely.) It might not look like much, especially on an iPhone :S , but I'm starting to see a light!

So far I've gotten a lot of DIY projects done quick and cheap! I was so thrilled when I found some ugly floral chiffon I had picked up at the thrift store. I think I had plans to make a pillow out of it. WHAT was I thinking! So when i saw them my eyes grew, I knew I wanted to make them into curtains! I have been struggling to find what I want in my price range, and since I live in an apartment this works great for me because someday when I move I will know how many curtains are in the living room and can buy the ones I really want then. I never thought curtains would be such a big deal! Lucky for me these had two of the three colors I'm always using! (Yellow, Aqua, and Coral)

These give a great 60's vibe. Love 'em. And there was enough to do a panel for the study. So here is my new favorite corner in my apt now. XD

The next things I spruced up are my old chair and a black desk lamp. I stumbled upon an adorable new desklamp and THE perfect shade of aqua/turquoise/teal/ whatever in a SPRAY paint. I was thrilled to see wally world carry a bigger variety of colors.

I'm all about the words of affirmation lately too. I need to find something about deidcation, perserverance, hard work et.c to remind myself that all these dreams require some effort! ;) This one from Modcloth would match great! I've got some ideas brewing for where the one picture currently is...

Next I need to get some new cheap-o shelves from walmart. I'm planning on putting a tall one for a printer and school stuff next to the desk and a short one on the other wall to stow away my craft stuff.

(you can see in the pics above kind of what I mean by next to the desk, the other will go on the other side of the yellow chair and I'll put the white drawer thing somewhere else.)

I'd also love to get a piece of art or two above the sewing machine and some hooks and such for sewing tools. I'm using it more lately to mend and take in things. The wall is COMPLETELY blank. I also may try somthing different with the chevron marker boards. They are in a spot that makes them visible, but not very usable. I'm just not sure yet! :D

Feeling a lot more ready for my new job and collage now that I can see most of the floor and most everything has a home! I'll be digging around in the closet for fall decor before I know it! :S Some more exciting news is that I'm going to get to take a trip to Colorado at the end of the month! I had such a great time last year just enjoying the ride up the mountains. I will definitely have to share pictures! And last, but not least the e-mails about college have begun rolling in! I am highly anticipating this event so it was a bit of a relief to begin getting some more info on the student loan process. I can't believe that in just a couple weeks I will begin school again! So ready to tackle it :D