Operation Prom Dress

I am back! It has been quite a while since I've posted anything; there really hasn't been much to post about! My life for the past three months has consisted of gradually lightening my stress at work and finally getting into a routine where I have found a nice (and important) balance of work life and home life. I just might have to share some of my time saving tips I came up with sometime!

And now that I am no longer lesson planning on weekends, I have finally found my way back to my favorite hobby! And what a way to kick off this wonderful occasion with a special project for my sister!

Ciara is now a senior meaning prom is just around the corner! Most girls would be rushing to department stores or specialty dress shops to find the one... but we (my mom, Ciara, and I) made a fun trip down to High Fashion Fabrics yesterday to create the one.

Ciara's inspiration for her dress comes from Taylor Swift's gown in one of her music videos. Here is a pic:

How cute is that!

We are going to follow the same basic design and materials adding in a slight sweetheart neckline, a corset back laced up with ribbon,"sprinkling" some crystals throughout the dress, and Ciara changed the color to a pretty sea foam blue-green.

I am so excited to start this project and keep posting the progress each step of the way! Next post, I will upload my preliminary sketches of our version of the Taylor Swift dress. :-) Until next time!

The crazy coupon lady is back!

Well for today at least!

I actually found the time to go through the deal blogs this week as well as my "coupon files" and match up some pretty sweet deals! (One done by myself, thank you very much!)

Now, in the past I have posted pictures with my kitchen table almost full of goodies, but today it is smaller than usual... its going to take time to get back into the swing of things!

Here is what I got at Kroger (minus the regular groceries!):

4 bottles of Dial hand soap (all free!), Gillette MVP razor (1.50), and a febreeze plug-in starter set (.79) So my total for all these items was 2.29! The retail price (even with the kroger card discount) is a whopping 19.78!


And they all went into my lovely stock-pile box which has really come in handy! Its nice not having to add these kinds of items to my shopping list when we run out... I just go to the "store" under our sink! And its even better when I bought them for next to nothing!

Well it is good to be back :-)
Is it weird to say I think I found my ultimate stress relief in couponing? haha!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

I am always in awe of how much God has blessed me, and constantly questioning what makes me special enough to receive them all.

Apart from the blessing of being saved by Christ, I am always brought to this question when I think of my family and especially, my two parents. Of all the two people I could have been born to, I was fortunate enough for Him to choose Paul and Annie Latour.

I am proud to say that today marks their 24th anniversary, and as I would love to present them with a 2 week Alaskan cruise to express my thanks for giving me such a wonderful life, right now this blog post will have to do. (I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet! haha)

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you for....

bringing me into this world- Mom, you risked your life, and Dad, you risked your sanity! You have sacrificed so much for me to be here.

raising me in a Christian home- I know that being shown Christ's love from you two was what started me on my path to being saved and living a life to glorify Him. I don't know where I would be without everything you both have taught me.

giving me two..... wonderful....siblings- I got to have my 5 short years of only child glory, but I am happy you brought them into this world as well... We wouldn't be a "circus family" without them!

supporting me in whatever I wanted to do- From girl scouts to softball to dance to art classes to choir to even that nerdy "discovery" club at school :-) , you made me realize that I could do and be anything because I knew you would always be there to cheer me on!

helping me through those awkward years- this one definitely earns you gold stars! I cannot even imagine what it was like for you both having to deal with a junior high aged girl who came home crying every other day about the most ridiculous things! :-)

loving Greg as one of the family- from the very beginning, (and after some discussion with dad and his guns I'm sure, haha!) you both supported us and loved Greg as another son. We are so blessed in knowing that you will always be here for us.

and in celebration of today, thank you most of all for being an example of a marriage that I will always strive to create in my own life. Listening to all the stories of the very beginning to the ups and downs along the way, and seeing it as I grew up, I know for a fact that this is how God intended marriage to be and why He created such a beautiful thing.

I remember growing up hearing from so many of my friends and the kids at school of how their parents were divorced, and sometimes being told how unusual it was for mine to be married for so long. But these were the times when I was so proud to be the odd one out!

Thank you mom and dad for being "odd"

Happy Anniversary!

the end of a better day

First of all, let me say that prayer is amazing. After I blogged that horribly depressing post earlier today (sorry! haha), I got into my car and started driving to the middle school with the most miserable feeling inside. These questions and more where going through my head "How am I going to wake up every morning knowing this is where I am going?" "Am I going to get fired for being so behind and overwhelmed?" "Would that be a good thing?" (I am laughing at that now, but it seriously went through my head!)

And then I began to think about all my dear friends and even people I don't know too well who were praying for me each day. I was amazed that I have so many people supporting me, not to mention a God who is so much bigger than any lesson plan, discipline problem, or lack of tables and chairs (I had to throw that one in there!) So I did something I have never really done before. I prayed in the car... out loud :-) It really helped me realize that God is so much closer to me than I seem to think sometimes. He was in that car with me, He was with me in the classroom, was always with me, and will always be with me. What an encouraging revelation :-) I recommend praying aloud by yourself to everyone!

The rest of the day went so much better than I could have imagined. I know that the strength I was given to take charge and lead the classroom was from God and God alone.

God knows His will for me, even when in times, like now, I don't know why.

Maybe its to teach me be in constant prayer, or to teach me to place my full trust in Him.

I have always said my favorite verse was 1 Peter 5:7 "Let the Lord have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you."

Now is my chance to really live that out!

I want to end this post with a picture I had Greg take of me Monday morning that is dedicated to my mom! Every year since Kindergarden, my mom has taken my picture in front of the door on the first day of school. Yes, even my senior year of high school (and probably my freshman year of college!) So mom, here is a picture to add to the timeline:

My First Day of School- August 24, 2009

A Classroom in Progress

I have been MIA for the past week as in service has started and a new school year begins.... tomorrow...

I've already vented, cried, and expressed my anxiety to poor Greg to last a lifetime it seems, so I won't bother my blogger friends with any of that!

Instead, here are some pictures of my brand new classroom! Cy-Creek has undergone a MASSIVE "facelift" to say the least which has on one hand given all teachers MASSIVE headaches in return, but on the other hand has also given us some state of the art facilities. Oh the price of beauty...

I am going to show some before pictures I took on Monday first..

Only 3 sewing machines.... there are now 30!

The big pile of "stuff" stored in our classroom waiting to be moved... oh how clueless I was on what was to come...

The front of the classroom- Its huge! I also have 2 ceiling mounted projectors which is amazing! The right side is the "sewing lab" and the left is the "classroom" side

And now here are the pictures my mom took yesterday as we decorated what we could!

The much improved "sewing lab"

My "chic" posters from Hobs Lobs. (hobby lobby lol) As you can see, there is much white wall space and as a design teacher... this is not going to work! I think I am going to put up some fabric stretched canvases up to add some much needed color.

My little corner. Where I am sitting should be tables for the "instruction" side of the room. Except as of today at 12:00... no tables. We might all be sitting on the floor. seriously.

These are the decorative body forms.....just kidding. I am so used to seeing construction men from this week... they might as well be accessories in the classroom!

More body forms. Mom thought this was necessary to take a picture of...

Decorating a real body form.

So this week has been a nightmare I could have never seen coming, but I am hopeful and in constant prayer that this week as well as my first year teaching is.... survivable!

UCLA Squirrels

We were shown this video at the end of one of our meetings today at Cy-Creek and it is by far one of the best "youtube" videos I've seen!

It is guaranteed to make you smile! Enjoy!

back to school!

Well, my summer is officially over and I only have one more week until the first day of school...

So as I am making the preparations I also need to do a bit of house cleaning.

Knowing that the students I teach are very internet-savvy, I googled my name just to see what would come up. My facebook picture (the profile is private) was one of the links, and the other was my blog. My blog is not set to private, so all the world including my students would have access to my posts. This could be a bad move as I don't want these kids knowing anything too personal about me! Now, my profile is very clean (I blog about coupons for goodness sake! lol) but kids will dig and dig and dig until they find something. That something could be pictures of my house to my occasional political rants which could lead to a disaster. Could you imagine if a student brought up my political views in class? And I feel very strongly that it is not my place as a teacher in a classroom to express those kinds of opinions.

So with that being said, I feel like it is neccessary to make my blog as private as possible only allowing those I approve to read it.

If you would like to stay in my approved followers list, send me your email address to: savannah.mercer@yahoo.com, and I will send you an invite to my blog!

I will officially make it private on Sunday evening so make sure you email me!