No. I haven't forgotten about this blog.

I post pictures and daily happenings in so many other places, that sometimes I forget about this blog. In case you aren't sure where to find those other postings ... here they are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, The View Across Town. 

I've already had a very full summer, and I just haven't found the energy to sit down and share about any of it. Or, I think you don't care. Or I know I've already shared the pictures a million times in other places. But, I find myself with a 2.5 hour layover in Cleveland (on my way to visit Julie) and I figured now would be as good a time as any to get an update on here. If you're lucky, there might be more than one blog post! ;) 

Last week sometime, Ellen begged to go to the Nelson-Atkins Museum to see the mummy in the Egyptian area there. I do enjoy spending time in any museum, I've always enjoyed looking at the art, but lately, I've liked spending time there just to take pictures of the beautiful building, AND art, AND the people. It's pretty great for people watching. So, Mom, Molly, Ellen & I all got packed up in the car ... excited to see the mummy. Well, that promptly turned into a very frightening experience, and Ellen almost refused to even walk through the exhibit. We were able to get her to cover her eyes as we walked by the one and only mummy, so the adults could roam around to enjoy the art. 

I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from the few hours we were there. If you haven't been lately, the World's Fairs exhibit is pretty fantastic (and interactive at times, too), and there until August 19th. If you can't get to the Nelson, hopefully this photo wrap-up will be a bit of a virtual visit :)

I don't know any details about this piece, but it was huge & all along a big wall in the Bloch Building. So bright & fun. 

Lots of texture in the American Art exhibit. 

These people startled me when I came around the corner. 

Pretty hallways.

The HUGE sarcophagus before the mummy. Ellen was okay to look at this, just not the wrapped up remains in the next room.

I like this carved sculpture. Again, not sure of the details & history.

This room makes you feel like you are outside. 

Hello there, Buddha.

Ellen remembered this "Chinese bed" from the last time she was here. It took a lot of convincing before she realized she couldn't climb in.

World's Fair exhibit. Thanks for the tickets, Mom!

"Ellen, do you want your picture with a lion?" 

She ran ALL the way up that ramp, away from Molly, in the Bloch Building. They have great floors & ramps for running :)

"Trying" on jewelry in the World's Fair exhibit. Pretty fun way to do this. 

Overall, it was a great trip. Next time, I'd like to go out on the grounds for another photo walk. That was a lot of fun last time we did that.

Art by students

These illustrations are currently hanging on the walls at school. The presidents went up first, and then I saw the other famous faces. I can't stop looking at them ... and think they are a great way to have groups of children take part in one piece of art. Enjoy!

Barack Obama:

Abraham Lincoln:

Kate Middleton:

George Washington:

Justin Bieber:

Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Elvis Presley:

Crafty time + Crayons = Happy Girl

I saw this project on one of my favorite blogs and knew that I HAD to make it. Apparently this melted crayon art is all over Pinterest, which I have yet to play on because I know I'll never leave my laptop.

Last weekend, I headed to Wal-Mart for a deal on Crayola Crayons, because they are the only acceptable brand of crayons. If you are a parent who shops for school supplies, please don't send your kid to school with Rose Art supplies ... they just don't do the trick! Jill came with me because she saw the link and also wanted to make some art for her classroom!

We each bought a box of 64 and an additional box of 48 for this project. We picked out the pretty colors ... who knew there are so many versions of brown in a box of crayons?

Jill went with blues, purples, white and a few reds. I went with a rainbow of colors, primarily pink. Are you surprised? After we picked out enough crayons, we carefully hot-glued them to the canvases. I had canvases left over from a previous crafty project that I ended up hating. The canvases were about 18x24 inches. We used painter's tape to line them up straight when gluing. About 1/4 inch was left between the top of the crayons and the edge of the canvas.

LOTS of crayons ... glued on our canvases. At first, I thought I wanted to glue my crayons with the color names facing out, but Jill & I decided that the Crayola label facing out added some interesting graphics to the art.

And here comes the hard part. Get a friend to hold your canvas upright. Use your hair dryer on HIGH heat and LOW air flow to heat up the crayons. The papers will start to glisten & then you'll see the tips of the crayons start to drip, drip, drip onto the canvas. I started on one side and melted about 8 crayons at a time. They will start to melt, and you can get them to melt more or less depending on how much you put the hair dryer on them. The entire canvas took about 35-45 minutes to get it looking the way I wanted it.

Then, it was Jilly's turn. This was when she said to me, "Betsy. Even your hair dryer is pink!" :) Her crayons were glued onto the canvas vertically, so she wanted them to drip a bit more/longer than mine did. We realized it is boring to be the "holder" of the canvas, but it is a lot of fun to watch the crayons melt right before your eyes.

My finished product! I'm pretty pleased with it. That brown-looking crayon in the middle of the oranges is actually gold. It didn't look as pretty as I thought it would :( Oh well! It's the first time I've done this.

I took it to school on Monday and hung it up in my room. My students oooooh'd and aaaaah'd over it. Lots of fun & I have a feeling a few of them might tackle this project at home, too!

Try to contain yourselves!

It's time for ...

Betsy's Favorite Things!

I was reading a few of my favorite blogs this week/weekend. Many of them were doing their own version of "Oprah's Favorite Things" in the form of a blog post, and then sharing what they came up with. I missed my chance to post on the starting day AND I couldn't narrow my list down to just 5 items. So, here you go ... in no particular order!

My DVR: It's hard to believe that just a few short years ago, I was taping my favorite shows on VHS if I couldn't be home when they were on. Now, I record anything from Oprah, to SNL, to my new favorite show, Auction Hunters. {Check it out on SpikeTV!} Oprah's last Favorite Things show aired on Friday ... but she's doing another on Monday! Haven't watched yet, but I bet there was some great stuff!

Apothecary jars: I collected these over 2 years and waited patiently to put them up until I had my own place. Love how they can create great decor pretty easily, and for not too much money.

Bath & Body Works candle: It's my all-time favorite scent! The store doesn't always carry this passion fruit & guava scent, so when I find it, I try to stock up. I'm always happy to get this as a gift. (Ahem ... hint, hint).

Beautiful painting: Passed to me from Aunt Susan. It's giant, and unique, and I love it! Oh, Minnie likes to hang out by it, too!

OPI nail polish: Lots of favorite colors (for my toes), but my MOST favorite is "Ladies and Magentamen"!

Canon Rebel XS: I still love, love, love my Canon PowerShot, but I feel like this new camera has made me a much better photographer. I have to work harder at getting a great picture, which is frustrating at times, but good for the process.

Rings: You can see how they take over the majority of my jewelry box. Some are from family members. Some were gifts. Some cost $1.00. One was bought in Italy. Most were bought at stores around town. I like to wear rings every day, and when I don't, it feels strange.

Bootcut cords from New York & Company: These are a new favorite. I bought the khaki-colored pair first. I got so many compliments on them the first time I wore them, that I went back right after work and bought the green pair. I just went this week to pick up the gray pair. That's how I typically buy things ... find one I like, so I buy all they have. They still have them in the stores.

Eyeliner: I love all kinds of make-up, but I tend to really experiment with eyeliner. I'm not a brand snob, and most of these come from drug stores. My current favorite is the ULTA store brand. I'll wear any color ... I think it's fun to change it up every once in a while.

Diet Coke: No explanation necessary. I'm not a coffee or tea drinker, so I need to have some caffeine to start and get through my day.

Perfume: I've never had fancy perfume. My two favorites are Clinique Happy and Tommy Girl. I still get compliments when I put one of them on (which I don't remember to do every day). They last me a long time, but I'm actually out of Tommy Girl, after several years. I'm a sad girl ;)

Panera: Not only do they have good food, but they have free WiFi and I enjoy working and grading papers so much more when I am out of my house.

Double Twelve Dominoes: If you haven't gotten on the Mexican Train bandwagon, errrr train, then you're missing out! Great game for the family during the holidays!

Garden Veggie Straws & Chips: Of course, my Wal-Mart doesn't carry these, but I picked up a box of the lunch bag size when I was at Costco with Mom. They are yummy & a bit better for me than the other kinds of chips I normally pack in my lunch. I thought I would hate the rosemary olive oil flavor, but they were my favorite.

Top Sites: This is the home page on my MacBook Pro (another favorite). It picks the sites that I visit the most often (you can also set them) and then it notifies you when the site is updated with a blue star. It took me far too long to realize that was what the blue star was for! Are YOU featured on my top sites?

Wrapping paper: I have a ridiculous amount of wrapping paper (and bags, and tissue, and ribbon, and boxes), but I LOVE wrapping presents! I'm dying to wrap what few presents I've already purchased, but promised myself I'd wait until I had my Christmas decor up.

Fuzzy blanket: This picture doesn't really show just how soft this blanket is. I have a few of these (picked up from HomeGoods or TJMaxx) and Minnie and I curl up with one of them most nights during the winter.

Pens: All colors, all brands, anything that makes grading hundreds of papers more enjoyable. Last year, I purchased a set of fine-point LePen markers online that are great colors, but I still like this basic set of Flair Pens.

Vaseline Lip Therapy: No flavor, no color, inexpensive and works miracles for chapped lips! Found at most drug stores & grocery stores at the check-out counters, too! So easy to find :)

Target store brand vitamins: I've NEVER been a girl who takes vitamins. I have good intentions and I'll buy a bottle of them, but then the taste and size of those huge multi-vitamins scare me off. A friend suggested the fruit-flavored gummy daily vitamins to me. I bought them and I actually remember to take them every day! The last time I was there, I thought I'd look at the other kinds and picked up the gummy calcium supplements, too. Mom thinks they're disgusting, but I feel better knowing that I'm taking something ... and I think they are yummy, too!

Didn't realize I was going to end my favorite things post on such an exciting item (ha!) but here we are at the end. Hope you found something you might like ... or something you didn't know about. Maybe you can even get some gift ideas for someone on your list. Maybe YOU should write a post of YOUR favorite things to share with all of us! :)

Here is the link to the original start of the Favorite Things Post.

Girl without the Pearl Earring

Last week when I babysat Ellen, we had a little photo shoot. It was little, because she was a sicky and didn't want to play along with my games. The second I took this picture, I knew I liked it. I uploaded and forgot about it until Molly used it in her blog post today.

Looking at it a second time, I had a feeling about it. It looked like something I had seen before. Then, it came to me. This picture of Ellen reminded me of the famous Vermeer painting, Girl with the Pearl Earring. I thought I was crazy, until I commented about it and Molly said she thought the same thing.

What do you think?

Maybe we DO live in a big city!

After a VERY LONG day at school, a night out with friends to take in First Friday downtown was just what I needed! After a quick meal at Sushi Train, we headed down to do a lot of walking, a bit of window shopping for art and the night turned into a mini Photo Walk for me! Too bad it was so chilly, we were bundled up in hoodies & scarves. Next time I go, I hope we can wear flip-flops and short sleeves :)

Enjoy!