Movie Review: The Butler

So I went by myself to see "The Butler" while my hubby went to the gym for 2 hours (I am still sporting a cast on my foot and obviously cannot work out so I did the next best thing which is go see a movie!)

The Butler has an all star cast which is what really drew me in. I mean we are talkin big names! Jane Fonda, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Forrest Whitaker obviously, Robin Williams, Terrance Howard. Gosh, the list is endless really!

This whole film reminded me of Forrest Gump, the way it spanned through the 1950s-all the way up to 2010. I was worried that the film would swing one way in terms of "Political" parties seeing how Oprah and many others in the film have let the world be known they are democrats and huge Obama supporters. I never felt any of the political jargon which was a relief.

The Butler reminded me a lot of the movie "The Help" which I loved as well. (Saw it TWICE in the theater when it first came out!)

I will say this, there are TONS of non factual things that happen in the movie, and it would be wise for you to read this article so you get your facts from fiction straight on. First non truth in the film was that the lead 2 stars had their names changed and only had ONE son, not two. The one son never died in Vietnam either, he's alive and well.

Anyone else venture to see it? Thoughts?

Here's the trailer in case you haven't see it! 

While the husband's away...

Every time my husband goes out of town, I always seem to come up with little projects to do around our house while he's away. This weekend I did a pretty simple one. And one that didn't cost me a ton of money either. Score!

As I have mentioned before, I've been hard at work trying to get our "family" room to feel more homey, and of course this takes time, even years. I had pinned this pin


on pinterest some time ago, and finally found the perfect "find" I had been searching for this weekend at a Salvage Antique shop!






There is a place in Phoenix called "Sweet Salvage" that I found out via someone I follow on instagram who lives pretty close to me in the Phoenix area. A friend of mine is really into vintage antique finds so I knew she'd be perfect to ask to go with me to check this place out!






What you'll need to do this:

Drill







Screws




Mod Podge (outdoor kind not gloss not paper kind this kind has a green label on it) (I got mine from Michaels)



Handle Hardware (I got mine from Hobby Lobby)

Okay so first I put the mod podge inside the crate. Why did I do this? Well, the crate is being used to store blankets, and since the crate is very old, antique, I didn't want my blankets to get dirty, so I sealed the inside with the Outdoor Mod Podge. Worked like a charm. No more dirty inside.

Next, drilled the holes with my drill of where the handle hardware needed to go. Switched out the drill to screw driver and used the drill to screw in the screws. Screws were from Home Depot and only costed a dollar for the pack of 6.

And here's the final product!










The wall behind the TV is my biggest "challenge"for this room. I honestly don't know what to put there. It's just awkward in terms of the space and what to specifically put there!

I scored this little lantern from Hobby Lobby and got one of those flameless candles to stick in side. It was a perfect color match to our accent pillows which is called a "Sea foam green." Sea Foam green has not been an easy color to match! :) 

Back to School!

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.

Hope everyone had a great first day back to school!

This was my back to school outfit choice ( would have worn with cute black heels but obviously a broken toe kinda keeps me from wearing anything of that nature!) 

Art Room Improvements!

I've spent the last week trying to get my room in ship shape order for next week when all my students return! Doing it with taped up toes and a special shoe has had it challenges!

This is what happened to my hair on the first day back in my classroom! LOL It never fails, I always somehow someway get paint in my hair! 

As far as the set up in my room, here's what I've got so far!

I added caddies to each table this year. I've tried this many years ago, but found the kids often played with the stuff in the caddies and stuck stuff that wasn't suppose to go in them. But, I'm going to try always having the kids store them on the side counter rather than leave them on the tables constantly. We shall see if it works. That back wall of lines and colors is now different, I need to take a picture of what I put up there. 

I also came home and took all the crayons that got peeled last year, and started to bake them in my silicone trays. I am going to use the former old but now new crayons as "incentives" in my class for when good things are happening--IE sharing, kind words, kids cleaning up without being told etc etc. 

One of the best part of being an ART TEACHER is all new TEACHER ONLY art supplies! This is my teacher only caddy on my desk! 

Drying racks are definitely not new, I implimented the STOP signs on them 2 years ago, but moving them by the door is new! 

I made these cute circle bubble labels to jazz up my ugly filing cabinet! 

I saw this on Pinterest midway through last year, and thought to my self I must make it for next year! So here's my version of the art catch up Ketchup day! 

The bathroom sign I bought last year from a teacher website to remind kids about using it before they come to art! 

The bathroom signs are my fave. I've been using this method for the last 4 years. Kids flip them from green to red when they have to go. They do NOT have to ask me to use the restroom. One of my biggest pet peeves is when they interrupt in the middle of me giving directions about using the bathroom. This way visually kids see hey the sign is green, I can go, they flip it to red, which signals to other classmates that they have to "wait" till the sign or the person comes back when it's back on green to go to the bathroom. Many other teachers on my campus have liked my method and implimented it. 

Mona Lisa I tried out last year, kids love it. When I want quiet, I holler "MONA" and they reply with "LISA" and that is our signal to zip the lip and listen! 

My teacher desk is more of a stand, and I have no drawers! This is where all my teacher stuff goes since I don't have a few drawers to throw it in. 

Close up of my old ART containers. Made those many years ago! I've blogged about it before. 

My teacher corner! 

1 Year Wedding Anniversary

One year ago...

I married this man on a beautiful beach in Hawaii! 

Now here we are one year later celebrating our first blissful year together as husband and wife!

The Arizona Biltmore Hotel a very sentimental place for the hubs and I! We had one of first dates here!

To those of you that aren't married but are getting married:

Marriage is indeed a beautiful thing. It's not "hard" and those that say it is, really may have not married the right person. (this is my opinion not a fact) But I firmly believe that you found the right one, things usually fall into place just fine!

To my husband, this year flew by so fast, I can hardly wait for all the rest to come! 

Back to School!

Well, it's that time, summer has officially ended here in AZ, and all of us teacher folk are back to work a week before students resume back for classes. 

I picked up my usual must haves for my classroom last night, BROOMS! Hahaha

Yes, we do have a custodian, but when you have creative little minds like I do, my room gets the most dirty out of the whole school, thus I need the extra clean up tools! When you buy fun cleaning supplies, you'll have no objections to having helpers clean the mess up! Trust me on this! 

I'm adding dusting to the art room duties should I get any early finishers this year! Who wouldn't want to dust with a bright pink chenille duster!?

So friends, I bid you adieu for a bit, 

(I do have a post scheduled for tomorrow though) 

seeing how the first few weeks of school are usually crazy and I'm going to be more than likely to exhausted to blog. 

We shall see. 

Summer Jam

If you didn't see this on late night Jimmy Fallon then watch it now! I love this!!!! I must have watched it 10 times already! 

PS did anyone else put 2 and 2 together and figure out that Robin Thicke's dad is Growing Pain's dad Alan Thicke because I sure didn't tell I read it/saw it on an online article!