Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette (vegan)

HOLY YUM!!!!

Here is the link to this OH SO YUMMY recipe!

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

Dressing

Ingredients

VIOLA!!

I only made a couple of adjustments: I only used 7 TBS of olive oil instead of 9 TBS and I used, our favorite, red onion instead of shallots. All three of us loved this dish. It is a must try. In addition, since I was serving this for dinner I also prepared jasmine rice to make it a bit heartier, it was delicious served atop the rice.

Natural Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner (homemade)

I am always interested in all natural cleaners, but honestly the only true step I have taken is buying the ones that read "green" on the label and using vinegar for window cleaning. I have finally decided to get in gear and take the next step. I recently found a blog Homemade Mamas to help me along my journey. 

I decided to start with a bathroom disinfected, because one I had the ingredients and two who doesn't want to disinfect their bathrooms?! However, I wandered two things: would it smell nice? and would it clean? The answer is YES!! to both. I am a happy mama. 

Below is a snippet taken directly from Homemade Mamas:

"Here is a bathroom cleaner that disinfects, cleans and is completely safe for kids and pets. We have used vinegar to clean with in the past, and found the smell too strong. Using the lemon juice seems to help cut the vinegar smell and it dissipated very quickly. We used it in the bathroom and the kitchen and it worked great. We were amazed how well it removed stains from an old white sink (spray and let sit 10-15 min.)"
The recipe:

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (reconstituted or strained fresh juice)
• 1 cup of warm water

Mix ingredients and pour in a spray bottle. Shake before using.


For more green cleaning recipes check out naturemuseum.org under education.

Tales of a Teacherista: Question Crazy!

Tales of a Teacherista: Question Crazy!: One struggle that my students have is punctuation. Many of them just put a period and call it good. Today I did a lesson focusing on just ...

Organizational Idea via Pinterest ...

Today I saw something on Pinterest that I love. A simple way to help organize your dirty laundry. Now here's the thing, I am known to recreate things "bootleg style" and this is no exception. The main reason I lovingly call my recreations "bootleg" is because I use what I have and try to cut cost at every corner. So although my replicas may not be as perfect as their originals I try to make them as successful :)! On to the idea...

Here is the original idea/"pin"  - this photo is from brownpaper--packages.com and shared on Pinterest.



Now here is how mine work out- I already have wire shelving in our laundry room AND I do not have four exact laundry baskets, but I do have four different ones~! So I headed to our classroom, found a file folder to cut up, a marker and pipe cleaners and labeled our shelves....Please remember mine is not nearly as pretty ;), but I am exicted to be a bit more oraganized.

FREE Grammar Curriculum Grade 1-6 (Scott Foresman)

I am in awe of all the free homeschooling material in the world. I am happy for all the homeschooling material in the world. I am tickled with all the free homeschooling material in the world.

Scott Foresman's Grammar Curriculum for Grades 1-6th

Lessons and activities for/with the Prince

If you haven't heard of File Folder Fun for fun lessons, then you should check it out :) You can search by grade, subject, etc.

Here are pictures of a couple of file folders I made for the Prince:

The turkeys look a little wrinkly; I glued them so they created a pouch for the addition feathers (see next pics)

Here are the words that I cut out and the Prince will insert in the "pots" pictured above

This  afternoon I was in the kitchen and it suddenly hit me that I had all the items needed to make this cool homemade bird feeder that I saw on a newly found homeschooling blog - The Crafty Classroom

So this is what we made :

AND THEN....we remembered that we hadn't completed on of the Bill Nye science projects we learned about on Friday.
What happens when you put a raw egg into water?
vs
What happens when you put a raw egg into salt water?

Results below:

First add salt to one glass of water...

Then...

 Discussion followed :)

The end.

Easy grammar lesson for the Prince - **UPDATED!

I was taking a much older lesson down (sorting animals) to make space for our newly created mini adjective poster, to go along with his noun and verb posters; I had a thought!......

Create a "parts of speech" lesson similar to the "ways to sort animals" lesson from last year....so here are the pictures of the previous lesson, supporting grammar rocks video I had on hand from the library (which the Prince is watching as I type this), and tomorrow mornings parts of speech lesson! (OH, what am I using to create the masterpiece lessons?? HA!, these are previously used file folders that I no longer need :)

 My proud student.

I have fabulous friends and with fab friends comes FAB FUN!

My most recent trip to Florida was one of the most fun filled, super busy, but fun! I had the opportunity to see many of my friends! So here we go.......

Of course, I will ramble a little about each friend and photo. The lady in the picture reminds me of how honesty is way more entertaining than lies. Thank you, Debi. I only wish you would have provided me with a glass of ice tea!

So I was graced by the presence of this lady, and her adult son, at Chipotle. After lunch we took about 20 pictures and it should be known that I picked a less flattering picture of myself so I could pick the better picture of her!....I bet she complains anyway! OH! The lunch conversation was very "interesting" - I think all reading this should FB her and as her the topic of that conversation.

  Here she is! The fabulous stylist that not only provides me with wine while making me cute, but also takes me for wine afterward. I love wine

  

I, of course, was not the only one who got to hang out with friends/family! MORE to come with regard to the Prince's FL activities.

Look who the Easter Bunny brought to town! This hottie and I spent had a Prince free night!

Alrighty, Big Poppa....let's head out!

Okay, the next photos are from a super fun night! Let the fun begin!!

 I, may be "uppity" (I'm not!!!), but even if I were this friend would still treat me like "white trash" and that is why I love her! She promises to come to NM to visit....we'll see!

AND HERE ARE SOME PICS FROM THE  SUPER FUN SHOW; Dolly, Lady Gaga, Liza and more....

This lady loves me :) 

A female impersonator show would not be complete without my sister.

 This lady actually made the reservations...so we can all blame her!

 This is what happens when this homeschoolin' momma doesn't get out as much as needed! This picture is also my fav of the night and is a perfect representation of how much fun we had!