Dining Room: Before and After

I got a pleasant surprise sometime late Saturday in the form of my paycheck arriving two whole days early. As other teachers who get paid once a month know, January is the never-ending month of being broke. So, I had already cancelled plans and decided to have a hermit weekend. Given that I now had funds, what better way to spend my last free weekend for at least a month than improving my space?

Here is my dining room before:

As you can see, my wine glasses are all laid out (quite precariously) on the floor, my cookbooks are in a jumble, and various decorative items are piled on top of one another. It's kind of an awkward space for a bookcase given the way I have my wall clutter arranged. I was getting really tired of looking at it every day.

Here it is after:

I realize that in this second picture you can't see the floor which is a bit disorienting-it looks like the room is upside down. The reason why is that my wine glasses (and green antique fountain glasses-they were my mom's) are now hanging on the underside of my ceiling.

To accomplish this I used some inexpensive T-molding (used for flooring). This particular molding came with its own metal track, screws, and plastic anchors. I went a little overboard on the first one and put a toggle bolt in the middle of the track, too, but it took me over half an hour to install just the one track and toggle bolts require really big holes. I got lazier after that. There's a learning curve installing this stuff, especially on a ceiling, so it took me awhile. Still the results are worth it, and so far it looks pretty sturdy. Cutting the tracks and molding to size were pretty simple with a jigsaw.

I also made six shelves (there was one extra) using plans found here. I changed the sizing a bit, obviously; the horizontal parts of the shelves are 1x6 and each shelf is only 2 feet long. I'm hoping the top three hold; the only wood screws I found were Phillips head, and they all gave out on me before getting completely into the wall stud. They're in, they're just not flush with the wall. But so far, so good!

Las Vegas and Back to the Grind

I am quite happy to report that I ended my winter break by traveling with my best friend to Las Vegas, and neither one of us was arrested or lost more than about $10 gambling. We didn't win anything, either, but less than $20 is pretty darn good. While there, we shared a cab to the strip with a Bulgarian guy from our hotel and ended up spending quite a bit of time on the rest of our trip hanging out with him and his four Italian friends.

Both of us looked pretty darn hot, if I may say so myself. Also, the vintage-style purse (1940's) that I carried around on my wrist that night was made by yours truly :)

If you ever head to Vegas and, like me, prefer to see the things a little more off the beaten path, check out Fremont Street. Its' the old part of Vegas. The weirdos in this neighborhood are more classic weirdos than the drunk frat guys that hang all over the strip, and there is a fabulous Cuban and Mexican restaurant down by the El Cortez hotel and casino.

Now, back to the grind! Spring semester for all high school orchestra teachers is sheer insanity, but I love it! Coming up in February, we have solo and ensemble and jazz festival. In April and May, we have large ensemble festival and UIL large ensemble, followed by state UIL solo and ensemble, and a final concert. Throw in the stuff that's due for IB Music on top of that, plus all-region concerts this weekend, and I'm thoroughly busy. My stringlings did well on all-region chair auditions tonight and I'm quite proud of them.

In the last two weeks my kids have been sharing some rather interesting rumors with me, and I stress the word rumors because I'm pretty sure that that's all these are.

Kid: "Miss, I got like five texts saying there's gonna be a drive-by next week! It's gonna be across the street at Sonic!"

Me: "Oh no! If only we were inside, we'd be safe....oh, wait! We ARE inside! We're so lucky!"

Kid: "Miss, did you hear about the drug cartels that are after our principal? They're looking for this guy and said they'll kill her if she doesn't say where he is, even though he isn't here anymore!"

Me: "I'm pretty sure the cartels are across the border and aren't concerned with high schools over here."

Kid: "No, miss, there were these four Mexican guys in a black truck harassing some security guard at another school and this week my friend saw four Mexican guys in a black truck across the street at Sonic!"

Our city's population is nearly 80% Hispanic, and about 65% of the Hispanic population is Mexican. I wonder how many people drive black trucks? And why is everything supposed to go down at Sonic? I seriously have to wonder about how these things get started. But it is at least mildly entertaining. None of the kids spreading said rumors can identify a source. Go figure!