Car Ride Line Etiquette: A Rant

As some of you may or may not know, we moved over the summer from a rural part of Oklahoma to a nice not-so-little suburb outside of Houston, TX. Things are different when you move from living out in the country to city living. And while it's nice to have the school just 5 minutes away instead of 15 minutes, there are drawbacks. The biggest one being that since we go to a "neighborhood" school there are no buses for those of us who live in the neighborbood, even though the school is way too far for my 9 year old to walk to school every day. So, I am now a perma-member of The Car Rider Line. If everyone would be so kind as to follow these rules at drop off and pick up time, I would really make my day a lot more enjoyable:

1. Please DO NOT park in the car rider line!! This is now my number one pet peeve. If you want to go to the front door and get your child, I compeletely understand, but do not park along the street where you know the car rider line is. It is inconsiderate and rude. There is a perfectly good curb to park at on the OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET. USE IT.

2. Use the crosswalk! If you are smart enough to actually think of parking on the other side of the street, thank you. Now, please be sure to use the crosswalk with the crossing guards to cross the street. Do not take your child between the cars in the car rider line. People driving up the street cannot see you and it is dangerous. Plus, if that's the habit you develop in your child when you are with him, that is what he will do when you are not with him and he very well may get hurt.

3. Let your kids out at the end of the car rider line. If you are in the car rider, use it to its fullest. Do not let your children out of the car halfway through the line. There is a reason there are teachers lined up at the end of the line to help your children out of the car. It is safer for them and for you. If you let them out early, all of a sudden there are kids where there are not suppose to be kids and they can get hurt by a car that doesn't see them.

4. Make a right turn. Coming and going. Please do not drive up right when school gets out and think you are going to make a left turn in to the car rider line that the rest of us have been waiting in for 20-30 minutes. I am not going to let you in. Quit blocking traffic and go get in line like the rest of us. And please make a right out of the parking lot. The neighborhood's not that big and you'll quit holding up the line as we all try to get out of there.

5. Say thank you to the teachers and staff! They are doing their best to keep to our kids safe and get us through that line as quickly as possible and that's after they've taken care and taught our kids all day! Give them a smile and say thanks! They'll appreciate it!

Now, I know no one who goes to our school will see this, but I feel better now.

Thank you.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is about the funniest book I've ever read! It's not often that a book has me literally laughing out loud with tears running down my face, but this one did. So enjoyable!

Before this I had read the first Stephanie Plum novel, "One for the Money", at the suggestion of a good friend. I found that one to be fairly dark and thought perhaps this popular series wasn't my cup of tea, but that same friend gave me this book and I jumped right on to that Plum bandwagon! As I've read more of these, it's interesting to me to watch Janet Evanovich get to know her characters and hit her stride in writing for them.

This book easily has some of the most interesting characters in the series and is a great escape of a book!

View all my reviews

February Year in Review Class

Hey all!

It's that time again!  February's Year in Review class is this Thursday at A Memory to Scrap! 

This month we are using papers from Doodlebug's Sweet Cakes line.  These are fun, whimsical papers full of hearts, cherries and, my favorites, cakes!  Perfect to share photos of your favorite sweetie or your latest baking adventures!

The real exciting part of this month's class is we are using GLITTER PAPER!!  How fun is that?

We've got a few spots open, so if you are interested give Vicki a call at 918-872-9104 or stop by the store!Class times are 11am or 6pm on February 23rd.  Class cost is $14.

We'd love to have you join our fun, if slightly crazy, bunch of scrappers!

Hope to see you there!

Kelli

Today was a GOOD day!

I finally got to scrap today! It took an hour to clean off my craft table so I could actually start, (hey, not all those legos were mine!), but it was so worth it! I put together the layout for the first class of my Year in Review series at A Memory to Scrap. Hard to believe this will be the fourth year in the series! It has been such a blessing to me in so many ways - creatively, personally, professionally. I am forever thankful to Ashley for giving me a chance to teach this hobby that I love! Speaking of the hobby I love....

I got to scrap today!! Yay! I pulled out the Bazzill Worth Remembering collection and stared at it for it a while. (No one really mentions just how much staring is involved in scrapbooking, but let me assure you, there is a LOT!) Then I punched out a few flowers and a few circles and started layering away. I just can't tell you how good it felt to be creative. It has been a busy, busy couple of months with my nose to grindstone trying to accomplish tasks for the betterment of my family and community. It seems I've had a series of weeks where there is something to do from the minute I wake up until the minute I go to bed. And, since creating a layout today for my class could be considered work, I felt so refreshed at the end of the afternoon because I got to CREATE SOMETHING!! It didn't feel like work at all!

And, to top it off? My 12 year old son said, "I can't believe the things you are able to do with that paper!"

Ah, yes.

Today was a good day!

Project Runway is Back!!

Can I just say that I LOVE this show?!!  I've watched every season and the creativity that goes on never ceases to amaze me!  While I'm still trying to decide if I like the new hosting/judging crew they have for the All-Star edition, I do know that I am in love with the challenges. 

For the first challenge this season, the returning designers had $100 to shop only at the 99 Cent Store!  The unconventional challenge is always my favorite.  In the past, they've had dresses made out of candy wrappers, Twizzlers, umbrellas, recycled peanut bags, lettuce (not very successful), corn husks (very successful), flowers, plants and paint roller trays.  Now, I am most assuredly NOT a fashion designer.  I can not sew, even though my grandmother and my mother tried to teach me several times.  I'm not really even a person who follows fashion all that much, but what I love and why I think this challenge in particular appeals to me, is that it requires the designers to look at things in a completely different way! 

As a scrapbooker and scrapbooking teacher, this completely inspires me!  It motivates me to use "my stash".  When I know what I want to use to finish a page but I don't own the exact product that I am picturing in my mind, I hear this little voice asking, "What can I use instead?"  or "How can I create the same effect with this piece of paper/ribbon/chipboard I've owned for 10 years?"  How cool is that? 

It's motivated me to make my own flowers,

use my letter stickers in a different way,

create an accent that costs more than what I wanted to spend

 and even better, it gets me using product that's just been sitting around for a while along with trying new techniques!  So, let the designer get to designing and let me get to scrapping!