Good Bye 2014! Hello 2015!!

Well first semester was a killer. I realized quickly I had over extended myself and was trying to do to many things all at one time. For a new administrator (or teacher for that matter) that is the quickest way to run yourself into the ground. I needed to step back from something in order to keep my sanity and unfortunately I chose this blog and my TpT account.

Christmas break was wonderful and exactly what I needed! My amazing parents came in and spent a week here in AZ. We worked on so many projects and finished my new office!  I now have a wonderful place to work on all my new TpT products!

 

 If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you already know this but one of the major reasons I am able to continue TpT and the blog is this brand spanking new computer!! I am in LOVE with this computer!! I got a new Dell All-in-One and it is sooo cool! Wireless keyboard and mouse and no clunky modem box!  I also got a much newer version of Microsoft Office and let me tell you I have been living in the dark ages with my 2007 Microsoft Office!


Besides all these home projects we also took a trip to Vegas! It was great to see some of my mom's family and play the slots! I walked away with a little more money than when I got there so I call that a success! The Christmas decorations were beautiful! They even had a real snow globe you could walk through to make it seem like to were actually outside playing in the snow!

We stayed at the Paris Hotel and as always it was wonderful! One of the days we ate the new Italian restaurant located right in the Paris.  Martorano's had amazing food and fantastic service!!
I'm already thinking of recreating this eggplant dish!

 





 

Hope you all had a wonderful break!

Weather & a Big Win ...Did you catch that Freebie??

So I dont know if you have been watching the news but ....

Ya that really happened! We got hit with a HUGE storm system. In case you don't know ..I live in ARIZONA -- the land of the sun, beautiful blue skies 350 days out of the year, the desert dry heat. We got slammed! It went on record as the wettest day EVER in AZ history. It was so bad -- SCHOOL was CLOSED! We got a rain day!! It has been almost a decade since my school district had to close for a weather/emergency related incident. This may seem like a silly thing but I live in a rural area and there was no way I could have gotten to work! CRAZY!

These pictures were taken right by the park in my development!

In other news both of my Fantasy Football teams came up BIG WINNERS!! 1-0-0!!

Did you catch the Flash Freebie?? If not make sure you are following me on TpT so you can grab the Freebies!!

Since BOTH of my teams won I put my ENTIRE store on sale for one day!!

The Sunday Scoop

http://teachingtrio.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Hi Yall!

I'm linking up with Teaching Trio's Sunday Scoop!

This week should be really busy! Between admin meetings, IEP meetings, Parent meetings, Teacher Eval meetings my week should be jam packed!

Three Things I Need to Do:
I have a ton of house work that needs to get done this week. Laundry, dust, vacuum and organize my closets. I also need to organize my work calendar so I am ready for the week ahead.

Two Things I Hope to Do:

Fall is here - well not really but if I keep my house chilly enough it will kinda feel like fall :) Seems like a good time to start hanging all the fall decorations I have stored in the garage. I also need to sit down and meal plan for the next two weeks so I can grocery shop. 

One thing I'm happy to Do:
I bought a few new sellers products on TpT and have been having so much fun working on new stuff. I also have a blog post that I want to publish soon on our Extreme Book Resource Room Makeover!! I hope I can find the time to work on that!

Make sure you check back Tuesday Morning to see if one of my fantasy football teams won and collect your FLASH Freebie! 

Have a Great Week!! 

September Currently

Listening: I have been having a wonderful lazy weekend watching Netflix.

Loving: Three day weekends are my favorite! Amazing chance to recharge !!

Thinking: About how much I LOVE my new Paprika App! If you haven't used this APP yet buy it now! If you are having a hard time planning your weekly meals this is the App for you!
Reasons why I love this App:

1. I can have it on my phone! Saves so much time when shopping that my list is on my phone.

2. I can store all the recipes I pin or love from other blogs right in the APP!

3.Once I choose what recipes I want for the week it will generate my shopping list so I know exactly what I need to buy. 

SUPER COOL APP PEOPLE!! Huge time saver for me!

Wanting: Nothing- I am truly blessed! I am trying to find balance in my life so I am not only the best administrator I can be but also the best daughter, sister & friend I can be. 

Needing- As I continue to move forward in making my TpT store successful I am in constant need of clip art that matches my specific units of study- Ancient Civilizations. 

3 Trips- Italy, London & Paris - My dream would be to go on a European Cruise and visit all of these places.

Happy Labor Day Friends!

Follower Appreciation FLASH FREEBIES

I feel like I blinked and summer ended and school started. August went by crazy fast!

Quick Recap of August: 

1. I am LOVING my new position!

2. August turned out to be my BEST MONTH EVER selling on TpT :)

3. I have sooo many topics I want to blog about! Can't wait to sit down and get all my ideas out!

4. The TpT conference helped me see I was doing some things the "hard way" when creating products ...now that I am learning some of the more efficient ways of doing things. Because of these tips I am creating products much faster!

5.  I am so ready for fall..and this is very silly because AZ doesn't really get fall weather. I am ready for long sleeve shirts, pumpkins,  fall decorations and .....FOOTBALL :)

Speaking of football something you may not know about me is I am in 2 fantasy football leagues. Last season I took the whole thing and won the championship ( didn't hurt that I had Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson on my team :) ) and  I am itching for a second big win!!  In honor of my banner month and all of the new followers I have acquired I want to share the love!

So here's how this FLASH FREEBIE will work :

1. Make sure you are following me on TpT & Bloglovin :) 
2.  Every Tuesday Morning I will announce if one of my Fantasy Football teams won- If ONE of my teams win I will be posting a BRAND NEW product for FREE -- but it will only be free for a few hours.
3. If BOTH of my fantasy football teams win that week I will not only post a BRAND NEW PRODUCT but I will also put my entire store on SALE for the ENTIRE DAY.

My Fantasy Football regular season runs from September 4th -November 24th so be on the look out for FLASH FREEBIES!

What are you most looking forward to doing this fall?

The Top Take Aways from the TpT Conference!! Linky Party!

Hello All!If you were able to go to the conference I hope you consider linking up with my post on the Top 10 Takeaways that made your day!!

Community 

WOW! This was made clear within moments of stepping into the conference meeting rooms! It was wonderful being able to sit with so many different bloggers and TpT sellers and discuss what each person does for a living and sell on TpT. Deanna Jump's Keynote address brought me to tears as she described her life before TpT and how this experience changed her life forever. I decided right then and there that I need to make it a priority to comment more on blogs that I have been reading and to reach out more on the TpT forum so I can become part of this community!

Costumer Care

I attended Jen Jones of Hello Literacy's session on Top Notch Customer Care. It was a thrill to meet Jen and hear her speak on things TpT sellers can do to strengthen their stores. One of the best tips she shared was utilizing the mark button after each comment so buyers see what wonderful comments were left about the product. She also reminded us how important great costomer service is and how it can make or break a sale.

Public Domain

This one might not be new to you but it was new to me in understanding copyright laws! PUBLIC DOMAIN!!! This term explains how anyone can rewrite Shakespeare's plays or Hans Christian Andersen's work. From my still basic understanding this term is defined as those works whose intellectual property rights have expired or forfeited. This one term has made my day as I have been working on some Greek Mythology passages and I have been worried about copyright laws.

How to Make your own Clip Art! 

I am not sure if I am ready to step into clip art yet but it was wonderful hearing Nikki of Melonheadz Clip Art explain her process !

Quality over Quantity

This one really resonated with me as I am creating new products that it is very important to always remember that my goal is to create the best product possible. Teachers dont have a huge expense account to purchase materials and I want to make sure my products live up to their expectations!

Magic Ingredient

I attended Erin Cobb from I'm Lovin Lit's session on how to accelerate your stores success. First it was wonderful hearing her speak about how her store reached such an amazing level of success.  She discussed how you need to find a magic ingredient that makes you stand out from the hundreds of other sellers out there. I realized quickly my magic ingredient is covering Ancient Civilizations! I hope that Friends of Reading can be known for foraging the connection between Science and Social Studies and Reading. So everyone can become a friend of reading!

Take time to Relax! 

As silly as it sounds this was made very clear as I really needed a vacation! It is so important to take the time to relax and indulge every once in a while! ( I will post later about my trip to Carlo's bakery while in Vegas!) 

Time -- Making my Priority List

It was actually extremely helpful to hear that other sellers struggled with juggling the demands of home, work and TpT.  Up to know I have really been working on my TpT products as a hobby and fit it in when I found time. As I sat there listening to the success stories and wonderful friendships that were created from blogging and selling I realized I wasn't giving my little business enough attention to see if it can be really successful...or at least as successful as I would like it to one day be. My second goal for myself came from this realization - I need to dedicate time and put hard deadlines to finishing posts and products so it doesn't get pushed to the back burner.

Importance of Appearance

  This goes for my brand appearance as well as my blog appearance. I need to make sure I am spending time on all aspects of Friends of Reading.

STAY AT THE VENETIAN HOTEL!!

 Enough said! See my pictures on facebook!!

 Ok --Join the linky party and share your experience!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Vegas Tomorrow!

This pretty much sums up how excited I am to pack up and head to Vegas tomorrow! I cant wait to meet everyone and collaborate...not to mention play my FAVORITE slot machine ...

Chances are that if you were looking for me while in Vegas you would probably find me at one of these machines!!SOOO much fun!!

More to come on the conference when I return! Follow me on Instagram to see pictures of the trip!