Busy Busy

As the title of this post suggests, I've been busy, busy - but, none of what's keeping me busy has anything to do with teaching or my classroom! I know this is a teaching blog, but it's summer, after all, so I don't feel guilty about taking a little teaching break! However, I do plan on going to my classroom sometime later this week to pick up my Daily 5 and Cafe books so I can participate in this book study - it's been awhile since I've reviewed both books, so I'm excited to join in - are you going to read along, too? 

Thanks to those of you who left sweet comments on my last post - saying goodbye to a beloved pet is never easy, even if it is something that needs to happen. Both me and my other cat, Maggie, were in mourning for a few days, so my vet suggested getting another cat to help with the healing process. So, part of what has been keeping me busy these days is my new kitten, Abita. She's precious, see?

It's only been a week since I said goodbye to Corona, and Abita is not a replacement by any means, but she is certainly helping me not be as sad as I've been. I'm in love with her name, too - my friend Emily suggested giving her a beer-related name, since Corona was named after the beer, and my sister came up with Abita, which is perfect because not only does her name pay tribute to Corona, but Abita is a Louisiana beer, and I was born in Louisiana. My boyfriend spent his middle and high school years in New Orleans, so he instantly liked the name, too. Maggie is still gets a little uneasy if Abita gets too close, but she's definitely made progress in tolerating her.

Another thing that's been keeping me busy is Pinterest. Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics has been hosting a Monday Made It linky party, but I can't participate quite yet because nothing I've made has been teaching/classroom related. However, Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher is hosting another linky party called I Saw It on Pinterest, and I can link up to that one! There are a few new things I've made this summer from things I've pinned (mostly recipes), so I'll share those as well as a few things I'd like to make:

First, I made this bread, and it was delicious AND easy:

pin; website/photo source

I've been making homemade pizza dough for awhile now (recipe here), so I decided to make my own pizza sauce, too:

pin; website/photo source

I also just bought a popsicle mold at Ross (it's not a Zoku, like the recipe below shows; mine's just a regular plastic mold), and these Nutella fudgesicle pops are currently being frozen in my freezer (I made them this morning!):

pin; website/photo source

I want to make a few crafty things this summer, too, and these cute gold tube bracelets look super easy:

pin; website/photo source

For my classroom, I'd like to set up my first Donor's Choose project, and the information found here will be very helpful, I think:

pin; website/photo source 

There are many other things I'm itching to try, and you can see all my pins and boards here:

I have plenty of teaching related boards, so feel free to follow me! Link up over at Amber's blog to see what everyone else has been up to this summer!

As for now, I need to get after some cleaning and tidying - my mom is coming to town on Saturday, and she'll be staying in Austin for a whole week! I'm excited to get to spend some quality time with her and my sister, so that means I'll be absent from blogging for another week or so while she's in town. Until then, friends!