Freeze Ahead Slow Cooker Recipes

School is right around the corner for most educators in the south such as myself.  Us dear ol' dedicated souls will begin to devote way too much of our time to our jobs in just a short amount of time.  Like most OCD educators out there, I always try to keep everything really organized both at work and home in order to maximize the most of my time.  Sometimes it works, other times it does not.  So, in the spirit of getting ready for going back to school, I have decided to try to freeze many meals before the start to use during the first month or so of school in order keep myself from going crazy trying to run a household and classroom at the same time.  When I leased my first apartment on my own, my mom bought me a set of Campbell's cookbooks that are full of super easy, low ingredient recipes.  Over the years, I have cooked from these recipes quite frequently.  Most are quite tasty.  One of the books is called Campbell's Slow Cooker Recipes.  Last week I went through this book and wrote down the

ingredients of 13 recipes I felt my husband and I would enjoy.  It is just the two of us, so 13 recipes equals 26 meals in our home! There are many more recipes in the book that you might find tasty. You can find this handy little cookbook at campbell's website for $8.95 or at Amazon, used.  I have compiled a list of the recipes and ingredients needed in a grocery list here.  You can buy the book for the recipe directions, or go to Campbell's Kitchen website for the recipes.  Most of them are catalogued there.  A few of the recipes will need a little prep-work with the meats before placing in a freezer bag, but otherwise they should all be fairly easy with only chopping and bagging needed in the way of preparation.  Good luck!

Super Cute Headband

I just finished up this super cute headband with a free pattern courtesy of the blog Happy Together by Jess. See link below. It is the perfect size!  It fits snugly and is wide enough to keep my hair back. It is a super easy sewing project. Go to the link and try it out for yourself!

http://www.happytogetherbyjess.com/2011/07/double-sided-fabric-headband-pattern.html.

First Summer Project

June has been a super busy month. The first week I was out of school I did a major deep cleaning on my house, and I'm still not through cleaning, yet!  Then, I had to go to several professional development sessions. At the moment I have a couple of days free to work on this sweet little baby blanket for a friend before I have my final week of professional development. 

It is my first crafty summer project. Using a heavy weight, super soft baby yarn, I have half double crocheted the entire thing. My crochet skills are not all that great. So, I try to keep my projects simple. My goal for the near future is to practice simple crochet stitches in small projects like dish clothes and baby blankets. I have a long way to go before I can fully start comprehending patterns, but I'm having fun learning!

Nearing the End!

 I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I have two weeks left of school, and then I'll be free to craft again. This summer I hope to get enough crafts done to start my own Etsy store. I plan to make some homemade sketchbooks and crocheted items. I'm not sure what to call my store, yet, but I know it will come to me when it's time to open it up. Just a few more weeks and I'll be bag in blogging business again! 

First Attempt

I have decided to try to learn how to use prismacolored pencils better to create realistic drawings. I am going to use birds as my subject matter. This is my first attempt. A simple little blue bird. I can tell already that I need to look up techniques on the Internet, but I don't think it is bad for a first try! I love sweet little blue birds. They are so cute!

Learning New Stitches

I decided to make myself read my Learn to Crochet book and actually learn new stitches in the hope of being able to eventually read patterns. This is a little dish cloth that I'm practicing half double crochet stitches on. I'll post another pic after I finish it. 

Happy for My Students!

I just found out that four of my students were awarded awards for their art pieces in our local art guild's annual show!  I had one first place winner, two second place, and one third place. These ladies were competing against other students in their grade level in our county school districts. We have three other districts in our county. So, they were up against a large number of other students!  I am very proud to them!