I love a Blog Makeover!

Just in time for Spring, I asked my bloggy friend, Faith to make over my blog. Don't you love this new look? It is so colorful and cheerful.

Head over to her design blog and get one of your own. She is so talented and it was a pleasure to work with her. She is such a sweet Christian woman.

Thank you, Faith, for my new blog look! I LOVE IT!!

http://adesignoffaith.blogspot.com/

Dress for Less

Kelly at Kelly's Korner (one of my favorite blogs) is hosting "Recession Fashion - Dress for Less!". I had to join in on sharing my ideas because my two favorite things (other than people) are shopping and good deals. Here are some of the many things I love that are $30 and under.

If you haven't checked out Old Navy lately, go NOW. I was there on Saturday and found so many things I wanted. I had self control though and only bought a few things.

I got this dress in black. It was only $15!! I wore it today with a white t-shirt underneath. I got so many compliments on it. It is cotton and comfortable too. Love it!

While you're at Old Navy, pick up one of these t-shirts in every color. I wear these under a lot of stuff. They are only $5!

Also, try on this dress. I saw it on Saturday but forgot to try it on. :( I want to go back and pick it up. It is only $29.50.

I also love Forever 21. They have cute and trendy stuff for great prices.

This dress is only $22.80 and so cute. I love it!!

You must have jewelry. You can get this set of earrings for $3.80! I love the colors of them.

As you can tell I, I love dresses. I'm so excited that Spring is close because I can't wait to get out all of my dresses. Of course, I have to buy some new ones too. :)

One thing I am having a hard time finding is shoes. I love flip flops but I can't wear them to work. I need some cute Spring/Summer shoes for work. Any ideas?

I hope you enjoyed this post and come back soon. If you are visiting from Kelly's Korner, please leave a comment so I can visit your blog. I LOVE bloggy visitors.

Serious Life Magazine

Go check out Serious Life Magazine. It is written by Brent Riggs (Abby's Dad). Abby is one of the little girls I've been asking you to pray for.

http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/

Pay close attention to page 177.

And, as always, pray for Abby.

Answers from Q & A

Wow! I have to start updating this more often. Don't I say that every time?

I'm finally getting around to answering the questions from Q & A. Thanks Ann and Patrick for your questions.

Ann asked if I had tried the Wii Fit for weight loss.
I have not tried it yet. Mat actually bought me a Wii for my birthday and grad. school graduation (neither of these occurs until August) but couldn't wait to give it to me. I was going to go out and get one for myself so he thought he better go ahead and give it to me. It is so much fun!! We don't have the Wii Fit yet because all of the stores around us are out. Hopefully we'll have one soon. Our neighbor has one and he's already lost 5 pounds using it. :)

Ann asked what different eating habits I have now.
I am starting out with the basics. I'm drinking water and eating healthier. I am actually thinking about what goes in my mouth which is always difficult for me. Also, I'm giving up fast food. McDonalds and Wendys had become our favorite places to eat. No more of those! Also, I'm trying to eat more protein because that keeps you full longer. My mother-in-law taught me that after she had surgery. Even peanut butter has protein!

Ann's last question was to tell the strangest thing that has happened in the last 3 days.
Well, let's see. I'm a teacher so strange things don't happen. HA!!
Probably the strangest thing that has happened was our dog, Patsy, eating chicken bones (no, they're not good for dogs). We had wings (yummy!) the other night and put the bones in the trash. Well, our little sniffer decided to pull them out and eat them while we weren't here. She's never been too interested in the trash can before so we didn't think about it. However, when I got home, she had trash all over our floor. She was sick all day Friday. I think she was rethinking that decision to eat chicken bones.

Patrick asked about recipes.
I don't cook a lot. I'm learning but I'm not great at coming up with meal ideas or recipes. I love cookbooks that are like "3 ingredients or less" because I don't have to have tons of stuff to make them. I've also discovered the Crock Pot and love it because I can start something in the morning and it is done when we get home. Melodie is a much better cook than me. Fish?! That girl is talented.

Patrick also asked for 10 reasons that he, Melodie, and Jamie (their son) should move up here to DC.
They currently live in Georgia (right outside of Savannah - my favorite city ever!!). But, they are going to move up here soon. YIPPEE!! Here are my 10 reasons they should move up here.
1. Free babysitting. Mat and I will babysit anytime!!
2. Playgrounds and parks. There are playgrounds and parks everywhere up here. Our neighborhood has several and we're right down the road from a HUGE park.
3. Great teaching opportunity. Patrick and Melodie are both teachers. Our school system is the 13th largest school district in the country. We have our own professional development department, get paid a lot more than in Georgia, and I work with lots of awesome people.
4. Great schools for Jamie. Because the school system is so big, we have tons of opportunities for kids.
5. There is never a lack of stuff to do. The Smithsonian museums are free, there are lots of malls, and all of those playgrounds and parks. SO much stuff to do.
6. The Cheesecake Factory! Just this week I found out that the Cheesecake Factory is the greatest restaurant ever. You should move here just for that. Yes, I think they do have them all across the country but our's is the best. :)
7. A great group of friends. We've already pre-selected friends for you to hang out with. We are of course the best of those but there are more.
8. Bad Movie Club. Every other weekend, Mat goes to "Bad Movie Club". Him and some of his friends get together and watch horrible movies. It isn't my kind of thing but you and Melodie might like it.
9. Wii Competition. We can all play games on the Wii. It would be much more fun than me trying to beat Mat all the time.
10. You would give Mat's mom a grandson. She cannot wait until Mat and I have kids because she wants grandchildren. She could be Jamie's adopted grandmother and that would take the pressure off of me and Mat. :)
There are lots of reasons but these are what came to mind.

I think everyone is probably tired of reading so I'll update more later.

Have a great Sunday! I hope your weather is nice like it is here. Bring on Spring!!!

My Weekend

I hope that you are all having a great weekend. Mine (Jess) hasn't been so great. Yesterday, we took Patsy to the vet and then to have lunch with Mat's Mom and sister. I was very tired there and got a stomach ache after eating. However, if you know me at all, you know this is normal for me. I came home and took a nap (again normal) but woke up feeling hot and achy all over. BLAH!!

Last night, things got worse. I laid on the couch all evening and finally decided to move to the bed about 1am. Well, Patsy couldn't sleep and neither could I. We woke up at 2am, 3am, 4am, 5:30am, and finally slept until 9:30am. It was a pretty miserable night. Once I moved back down to the couch this morning, things were the same. I've slept a little on and off. Mat did go get me a thermometer, Gatorade, and soup. I'm feeling a little better since I ate and slept a solid hour. I'm working on graduate school work now and hope that I can get that done.

There is supposed to be snow tonight and tomorrow so I'm praying for that!!

Once I feel better, I'll answer the questions from my last blog post.

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Diets and Q & A

Can anyone else relate to that? Well, if you were in the McCarl house you could. We have decided to go on diets. We could both stand to lose some weight and have tried for a while to diet but it just doesn't seem to work. Now, we are both watching what we eat and will attempt to exercise a little. Yes, Mat is the one pushing for the exercise. My idea of exercise is getting up to let the dog out. Pray that we can keep this up!

Have you noticed that every single post I say I'm going to blog more? What happens? I don't! It seems that something always gets in the way or when I have time there is nothing to blog about. If anyone ever desires to know what's going on I figure they'll email or comment and ask. Speaking of comments, is there anyone reading the blog? I know Melodie is but that's about it. So, to see who is reading and to come up with stuff to blog about, leave a comment and ask whatever you want to know. I'll read all of the comments and answer all questions. I figure this will be something fun that I know everyone will be interested in. If you'd rather email your question and have me answer that way, feel free. My email is jfmccarl@yahoo.com.



Have a great week! I can't wait to see all of your questions and comments!

Valentine's Day - A Little Late

It is about time that I posted something about Valentine's Day!

First, let's start with Valentine's Day - First Grade style. Valentine's Day is a HUGE deal in 1st grade. Even as the kids were coming in, they were asking when they could give out their cards. Because I am the horrible teacher that I am, I made them wait until the afternoon. So mean, I know!

The whole day I was sort of dreading it because this class is very active and not always appreciative. However, they really surprised me! They were all so well behaved and thankful for everything they got. They were saying "Thank You" for every card they got. It made me so proud of them.

I think the proudest moment was when I was giving out the cupcakes that I had made for them. Little A said "This is the best Valentine's Day I have ever had! Thank you so much Mrs. McCarl!". I didn't know what to say. It is moments like that that make it worthwhile to work with little kids all day.

Here are pictures of the amazing cupcakes that I actually made myself.

Of course I got tons of cards and candy from the kids. I also got these from D (have you noticed that I don't put my students' full names?). They are gorgeous and were so unexpected!

Now to the McCarl Valentine's Day. This year, Mat and I decided not to do anything special or get each other gifts. We really didn't have the money to spend. We did get each other cards and ended up going out to a little Chinese place to eat. Oh, the best part, we stopped by Krispy Kreme and got heart shaped donuts. That's a great Valentine's Day to me.

This weekend, we did a lot of relaxing around the house. We were going to waterproof our hardwood floors but realized Sunday afternoon that we forgot all about it. Hopefully we'll get to do it next weekend.

Saturday night, I made these cupcakes for Mat's mom's birthday that was 2 weeks ago. They also turned out being for my father-in-law as well because his birthday is on Valentine's Day. The cupcakes are supposed to look like groundhogs (because my mother-in-law's birthday is on Groundhog Day) but they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. That will probably be the first and last time I make those. Everything said that they were good though so I guess that is what matters. Thanks also to Mat! He actually made much better looking groundhogs than I did.

Why so many cupcakes you ask? Because I have this:

and this:

I LOVE both of these things. The first is a picture of my stand mixer. I have wanted one these as long as I can remember however the KitchenAid brand is over $200 so I wasn't getting that. At Christmas time, Mat and I were out shopping at Target and discovered this one for only $25!! I had to have it and my hubby loves me so much that he let me get it. I LOVE IT!!

The next thing is my new cupcake holder. It has a cupcake pan on the bottom, another holder on the top (they are stackable), and a cover. It holds 24 cupcakes! This is a must have for anyone who often travels with cupcakes. My students are going to love that I have this. I'm already planning cupcakes for every holiday. :) And, of course, this also came from Target and was purchased by my awesome husband. He is so good to me!!

If you have learned anything from this post, it should be:

1) You need to make cupcakes.

2) You need a stand mixer and cupcake holder from Target.

3) My life is so boring that I am blogging about cupcakes and things I buy at Target.

I hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and are having a wonderful start to the week!!

Happy Presidents' Day!