20. A is for Alligator printable

I don't know if I would term this a pinterest fail, but between the time that I pinned and the day of preschool, I realized this particular printable was at a slightly higher level than I wanted for little Miss Thunder. So I went back to the ever fail proof first-school which in my humble opinion is the best preschool site EVER and it always has been (and hopefully always will be) free
Here is the pinterest version with an actual word




But I went for simpler; just the letter and LMT did several a's on her own

19. Sweater Hanging 101

That is not the actual title of the pin, but I thought it was cute.

And yes, when I saw this on pinterest, I thought: what an easy project to complete if I have one of those day that nothing gets unpinned and nothing is waiting in my cache (I have another A is for Alligator post, but it's going to take much longer to write, so I pulled this ace out of my sleeve)(pinned 2 days ago)


So I got out my sweaters and hung them this way. Great for not having notches on your sweaters, but I did notice that it is MUCH more bulky. Personally, I have 5 closets in my bedroom. 1 is the man's, 3 are mine and 1 is for stuff (non clothing items). More bulk is not necessarily a problem for me.

18. A is for Alligator Preschool craft

Friday! Preschool day!!!! And how I love to unpin the preschool stuff. I do have three different pins for one project ----- No, I'm not trying to cheat (this time)

So let me explain:

Here is the first pin that I pinned. I think I picked it because it was a little bit different than what I had done before. (pinned two days ago)


However, at the last minute (i.e. this morning right before Little Miss Thunder arrived) I decided I did not have time to cut out individual squares and went with this project I had done before with the A template I already had [done before?!!!! that is CHEATING ----- wait, wait - hold on there is more]


This worked out pretty well but I did use something I had found on pinterest - just take a white strip, draw touching diagonal lines (so that it looks like triangles) and have THE CHILD cut it out! And, with lots of help, but also some on her own, Little Miss Thunder cut out several "teeth". Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 just made cuts on the white strip for the most part, BUT! it's the process not the product!

So we also read books. I have found in the past that I have a hard time working in the books - but this week and last week, I did a pretty good job. And since I didn't find a pin for these books, I'll just put them in this post. Because it's preschool. And I love it.

At the library I found a book called Alligator's Toothache by Diane DeGroat.

It is a pure picture book, with no words. I sometimes really like that in a book so we can go as fast or slow as we need to go.

We also "read" An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni. Leo Lionni is an impeccable illustrator. His stories are also quite excellent - and can be very deep. Sometimes almost too deep for very young children. So I almost treated it the same as the pure picture book - just talking about each picture. Because, really, you just can't say you've read children's picture books until you've picked up a Leo Lionni book.

17. Baked Barley with Mushrooms

Okay, this is almost a cheat: because I just pinned the recipe, but in light of last night's blog post turning into #4's worst day at kindergarten to date, I'm not worried about this cheat.

 But, it isn't something I have done months ago: it was tonight's dinner.

However, because I wasn't planning on posting, I don't have a personal pic.

Now, when I pinned this (just a few minutes ago), pinterest made it clear that yes, this is in fact a pin others have pinned, but I had not had the opportunity to find this pin on pinterest. My neighbor introduced me to this site a few weeks ago.

After deciding to make a menu, I started searching. And I found this beauty. It just might still be the most recent post.

Major changes: Canned mushrooms instead of fresh ----- yeah, I know, but I am trying to avoid needless buying. Even though the pig is just a short walk away, I am really trying to cut down on my instantaneous gratification trips (which happen often - probably because it is so close - and yes, they know me by my first name there) --------
I also forgot add the parsley AND I HAD SOME! FRESH EVEN! And I used a prepacked bullion sauce (yes, sauce --- it is some relatively new product for which I had a coupon)
Wasn't to roll over and die for, but decent and filling -- I probably let it cook too long as well

16. 9 Time Management tips for everyday life

Who says a pin has to be a physical project? While I am producing physical items for this pin (things like a calendar, daily list, and a menu) sometimes a pin can almost be a state of mind.

My state of mind - chaos - so I am trying to remedy that (pinned 1 day ago)


So I found several different very useful tips:
Plan your month - I do have a calendar and I do write things down, but I don't write EVERYTHING down, so I think writing every little thing (each Tuesday and Thursday # 3 and # 1 have band practice, each time we go to swim practice, each football game, each parade, every time I want to take #5 to library time) it fills up fast; but I think that visual reminder might actually help

Make a to do list.
I do this often, but not everyday (kind of a waste of paper) however, every day I do this I am more productive, so maybe it isn't a waste after all

Start a Menu
I am AWFUL at this. Not very often have I ever kept a menu, but it sure does help when I do. And I found a fantastic site today! SayMmmm! AND.
IT'S.
FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You still have to do a lot of the work, but I feel so much better about being so overwhelmed with menus. Not totally positive, but I think you can write in your own recipes in your menu planner

And the very last for tonight (because my timer has already gone off) Set a timer. As the blog says "When I work on the computer I need to set a timer. The internet can suck me into a big black hole if I'm not careful.  It is definitely my #1 thing that wastes my time or wastes me!  I also use a timer when I clean.  I set it and see how much I can get done before the timer goes off.  It's amazing what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes."

My fav timer so far:http://www.timeanddate.com/timer/

15. Environmental Print for every letter of the Alpahbet - T

Yep, I am shamelessly using this same post again.(Pinned 50 weeks ago)



BUT I feel justified in the fact that I am not getting enough sleep and I did have to expend some effort again for today's letter.

And the letter of the Week is T

Our fabulous author included Taco Bueno, which I haven't heard of, so I replaced it with Totino's (pizza products)

Maybe I should have replaced TJ Maxx as well (I'm not sure there is one anywhere near us - but I just ran out of time)

You'll probably see this 23 more times (because I missed the first two weeks - M and S)

14. A is for apple free printable

Today's is kind of lame, but I do really need to get to bed. On preschool day, we used this printable:(pinned 1 year ago)


My thoughts: Very appropriate for the 3 1/2 year old set. Magnificent Blessing from Heaven #5 is almost exactly a year younger than our Visiting Little Miss Thunder (hope her mom doesn't mind that nickname, but I honestly can't see it bothering her).

Little Miss Thunder had a reasonable time coloring it (although she would have rather scooped cotton balls all morning)but MBfH#5 didn't even bother. So final result - 3: yes, 2: not so much

And because today's post is so lame and I can't really put this in a different post because I have never seen it on pinterest:

 If you ever homeschool or host a preschool in your home: Don't forget about the Library of Congress! Read.gov has plenty of books to wander through and I found this very theme appropriate gem!

Read.gov has tons of older books (i.e. ones without copyright restrictions) that you can just read online. While it might take longer for something like A Princess of Mars to download, there are some shorter children's books that work just fine.