Friday Favorites: Welcome February!

It's the first Friday in February!

This month would only be better if the Steelers had made it to the SuperBowl.

Alas, they didn't, so I will be saving up my enthusiasm for next year. 

It's the usual Friday Favorites. 

I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week.

Make Ahead Meals

I'm all about easy meals that you can throw in the crock-pot.

I'm away from home too long to leave the crock-pot on all day, so I throw everything in the night before, make the meal and then throw it in the refrigerator, and we heat it up when we get home. 

They start like this...

 And turn out like this...

More on this yummy meal next week.

William Sonoma Bakeware

I had some Key rewards that needed used, so I got online to see what I might enjoy. 

I was really looking for some vase fillers, but I didn't see much at Pottery Barn, so I went to browse some bakeware at William Sonoma. 

I've been loving making super easy bundt cakes from Shay's book. 

In addition, the mini ones are so cute and just as easy. 

Here are a few of my finds...

mini bundt cake pan

fancy pan

flower petits fours pan

mini brownie pan

I'm really curious if the brownies come out of the mini brownie pan clean and clear. 

I love brownies but really hate cutting them. 

I was fearful the mini brownie pan wouldn't work that great, so I opted for the flower petits fours pan.

Shark Sweeper Filters

We have a Shark sweeper that I use weekly.

I'd been noticing the filter getting darker and darker, but I couldn't get it to wash clean. 

Two weeks ago the sweeper started smelling hot when I was using it, so I decided to stop using it.

I got out our book and saw we had a 5 year warranty, so I called customer service.

They were super friendly and helpful and sent me new filters. 

They were supposed to be on back order, but they shipped the next day, and I got them already!

Funny thing is, I only had found one of the filters and was washing it. 

The main filters I hadn't found, and they were so caked with dirt it was embarrassing. 

I guess I should have paid more attention to where all of the filters were located. 

Now I know, and I have an extra set of filters.

I love a clean house. 

I would sweep every day if I had the time. 

There were so many times in the last week that I wanted to sweep something but couldn't, so I'm so happy to have a working sweeper again!

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The Week is Over

This has been one long week. 

I've had meetings nearly every night this week, so I haven't gotten home until much later. 

They make for a very quick night and limit my exercising. 

I'm so glad it's the weekend. 

I couldn't help but laugh at some of these memes after my week. 

Middle schoolers are the worst at listening. 

You can stand in front of them for 1 minute or 5 minutes and they still didn't hear a thing!

Which leads me to this one. 

They have no idea that someone just asked the same question and you answered it. 

I really wish some days I could zone out as much as they do!

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Last week we wrote explanatory essays, again!

This week they had tic-tac-toe projects due. 

I've done a ton of grading!!

It makes me laugh that the students think they can hurry and finish a project at the last minute and should get full credit with a half done creation. 

We have a retake policy at my school, so the students are basically allowed to retake any assignment.

Students ALWAYS ask me about the retake before they even get back their first assignment. 

It drives me CRAZY, but nonetheless, there were 0 questions after I passed back their project grades and explained that I really didn't get much effort from some groups. 

Saturday Sit-Down

I jumped way out of my comfort zone and signed up to be featured on Erica's Saturday Sit Down. 

Tomorrow you can read all about me!

Ahh!

That's scary!

I'm just getting used to this whole blog thing, but I dove head first right into this one. 

Erica was so sweet and open in reaching out to find bloggers to feature on her site. 

I love how down to earth and caring she seems!

If you want to know more about Erica or read about me, check out her site!!

My weekends are pretty low key, so this one should be just the usual, except tomorrow morning I'm meeting some girlfriends for breakfast. 

One of my dear friends is a month away from having her first baby, so we're meeting up for one last chat before baby!

Enjoy!