a musician's musings: 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Saver's Steals!

Saver's was having 50% off nearly the entire store (ugh...come on Savers! Why can't you do 50% off sales like Goodwill!?). Clothes, shoes, and bed/bath items were marked down, so I spent 2 hours scouring the racks looking for some good clothing bargains! Even though I'm weeding out my current closet in preparation for moving, I felt like the things I found today will make good additions to my wardrobe, especially my need for "teacher clothes!"

Adorable brown, comfy heels!

Soft Style Hush Puppies Company | Original: $5.99 / Sale: $3.00

I wanted some nicer black sandals that would be appropriate for teaching. Even though it would be great, it's not very professional to teach in flip flops! haha

Original: $3.99 / Sale: $2.00

This dress looks a little ridiculous on the hanger, but it's adorable in person. It's got a sexy LBD silhouette, but then there's the added tulle skirt that makes me feel like a grown up version of a little girl ballerina! Plus it's super comfy!

TopShop | Original: $9.99 / Sale: $5.00

A basic LBD that can either be dressed up or down.

H&M | Original: $6.99 / Sale: $3.50

I swear this dress is more flattering on my person than it appears on the hanger. It will be a good fall/winter dress!

Donna Ricco New York | Original: $7.99 / Sale: $4.00

I was on the fence about this dress because it's a little shorter than I normally like, but it's just so dang cute I couldn't say no! I love the fun, nautical feel of it! The picture makes it look electric blue, but it's really more muted, cornflower blue.

Love 21 (is that a part of Forever 21?) | Original: $6.99 / Sale: $3.50

Always looking for professional shirts. I loved this print.

CAbi | Original: $7.99 / Sale: $4.00

This shirt has a fun zipper detail in the back, too!

Anny Taylor (Score!) | Original: $7.99 / Sale: $4.00

I've been on the hunt for a good yellow cardigan for YEARS now ever since my favorite sweater walked away from me my freshman year in college (I still don't know who has it!). I loved that this one was staring me down from the rack as I passed by!

Old Navy | Original: $5.99 / Sale: $3.00

This is probably intended for a teenager, but it's such a fun color combo and print - who cares?

Takeout | Original: $7.99 / Sale: $4.00

I was just talking with a friend about how horrible it is trying to find appropriate fitting shorts as a 20-something. Teenage shorts are hot pants, and any older turn into "mom shorts." Nobody wants that! I was able to find this pair that fit appropriately! Huzzah!

Levi's (more Huzzah!) | Original: $5.99 / Sale: $3.00

I have an unhealthy obsession with the hi-low trend. I'm a sucker for it. So when I found this jersey knit, turquoise hi-low skirt, I was in love!

Charlotte Russe | Original: $3.99 / Sale: $2.00

TOTAL: $43 - Not too shabby for all that I got! =)

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Goodwill 50% Off = My Favorite! (+ Garage Sales Finds!)

Saturdays are my favorite. But not for the reason most people think. Rather than being lazy or sleeping in, I love the Saturdays that I get up early and go hunt for bargains at the 50% off the ENTIRE store sales at Goodwills around town! Especially now that I am shopping for my classroom and future apartment, in addition to all the other fun things I typically hunt for, I had a blast today picking up some good finds!

This was my favorite find of the day. A BRAND NEW (it was still in shrink wrap and not yet assembled) Chalkboard (Luns) from IKEA. $7.50 total

More teacher things. Magazine caddies (bare wood right now...I'll get artsy and paint them soon), a brand new (it was still in its box) pop-up Post-It note desk weight. It's an apple for the teacher! =) Brand new word strip walls (great for word walls), and brand new star accents for bulletin boards. Also a binder with dividers and additional post-it stickies of all colors and sizes (let's be honest...I really bought it for the fun stickies inside).

Grand total for all: $6.25

I know of a singing game I plan to do with my kiddos that involves a bowl for each person to slide on the floor. Rather than have a bunch of disposable Solo brand plastic bowls that I know would be destroyed after a few rounds, I saw these four colorful sets of hard plastic bowls and decided to pick them up at $1 a set.

Best bargain of the day! There was no price on the box, so when I asked, he gave it to me for .49 cents, which really reduced down to .25 cents! I'm so excited to continue learning more guitar chords and scales with these awesome flashcard-style tools!

Misc. fun! Two great movies ($2 each), a CD and information book about Classical Overtures ($1), and a brand new Cribbage board ($2) - I need to refresh my memory on how to play. I miss that game!

Kitchen awesomeness. 100 new cookie cutters for $2 (I have an addiction to collecting cookie cutters. It's a problem!), and a wonderful, functioning kitchen scale to use for baking. I'm so thankful I found such a great one for only $2!

The thing I'm always on the hunt for at thrift shops is good pictures books for the music classroom. I'm happy to say I found some great ones today! All kids books either end up being .50 cents or .25 cents, depending on hardback or paperback covers.

It's hard to tell...but this is a HUGE bag of crayons that I got for $1. I'm excited to finally do some crafts with crayons this summer (hello melted crayon canvases!)

Very cute hi-low green dress - $4.00

Long sleeve Mossimo red sweater - $3.00

Blue cardigan sweater - $2.50

And here are my garage sale finds! I LOVE a good bargain! =)

A media storage bookshelf from $20.00

A really cool metal jazz silhouette for my music room - $10.00

Fake fruit - good for tonal recall games -$1.00

Musical story books and a brand new wall calendar (has two calendars in it).
Total for all: $2.35

Friday, June 6, 2014

Happy Retirement!

On the last day of school, one of my sweet 4th {now 5th} graders came up to me on the playground and said:
"See ya next year, Ms. Polete!"
I smiled and responded, "You won't...I won't be here next year! But I hope you have a really fantastic summer!"
Her response was golden. Her face twisted up all confused and she said, "WHAT?!?! You're RETIRING?!?!?"
I just burst out laughing and said, "No! I'm not retiring! I'm only just beginning! I have my own school I'm going to teach at next year."

I don't think my kiddos always understand the concept of student teaching... =)

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

French Revolution...Who Knew?

While preparing to watch a video about Bach, one of my first grade students declared, "Well, when I was reading about the French Revolution, I learned that King Louis XVI enjoyed the music of Bach..."

Oh! Yeah! Because I often sit down and read about the French Revolution, too. It was a pastime I especially enjoyed back when I was in 1st grade... haha

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Things My Students Say...

My life is pretty much dedicated to teaching these days, and since I don't have much of anything else to blog as of late, I've decided to start a new "mini-series" for this blog in the hopes that I will eventually turn this site into my music education blog with lesson ideas, etc. The most special part of my job is working with adorable, wonderful kiddos, and sometimes, they say the darndest things...seriously.

Today's gem was so monumentally funny that I decided I should post mini-blogs whenever students say noteworthy things. So, enjoy!

Things my students say...

When I greeted my 4th graders today, two adorable girls came running up to me, gave me gigantic hugs, pulled away dramatically and then got straight to the point.

"Are you dating anybody?!?"

Taken aback, I laughed and said, "No, no I'm not..." (Gee, thanks girls for twisting that knife even deeper!)

Their response?!? "WHAT?!?!?!?! How are you not?!? You're so pretty!!!"

Well...thanks girls for that bout of confidence. Know any eligible, attractive bachelors you can hook me up with?

Nothing quite like your 4th graders prying into your dating life...or lack thereof!

Another noteworthy exasperation came from weeks ago with another 4th grader (what's with 4th grade? haha). While working on an anthem project, one student exasperatedly declared, "Oh boy! I'm a hot mess!"

Seriously though...where do they learn these things?

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Long Time No Post

I feel as though my post-UWP life doesn't really warrant blogging anymore, and when I do blog, it's only about thrifting. *sigh* I could blog about my teaching endeavors, but for right now, it's going to be another thrifting blog because I had a KILLER weekend at ARC!

ARC was having a .99 cent sweater sale, so of course I had to go check it out (It brings a whole new reality to Macklemore's "But sh*t it was $.99" lyric!) What I didn't realize was that the rest of the store (except white tags) was ALSO 50% off. Booyah! Needless to say, I did some damage!

Here's the loot:

CDs: (The music teacher in me loves stocking up for my future classroom!)

-Baby’s First Christmas Music Box Lullabies – Free (oops…clerk’s mistake! I told him I didn't want it anymore, he didn't ring it up, but instead of putting in the "Go Back" bin, it ended up in my bag without my knowledge!)

-Copland's Greatest Hits - $1.50

-Kindermusik Away We Go! - $1.50

-Louis Armstrong Gold Collection - $1.50

-Glee Season Three, The Graduation Album- $1.50

-Glee 3D Concert Movie Soundtrack - $1.50

-Gershwin Plays Gershwin - $1.50

-Beethoven Wrote It…But it Swings! - $1.50

ACCESSORIES:

Teal tote- $3.00