Hordes of hoary redpolls (rolls off the tongue, don't it?) have returned to our feeders. It is so nice to see them! Spring may eventaully come to these parts, in 3-4 months or so. (There are pine grosbeaks out there, too, but they're too flittery and far away to get any pics. Plus it's -20 and too cold to hang out waiting for a shot.)
The cats approve of the redpolls, too.
Here's hoping your weekend has all the signs you're hoping for.
I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of my classroom and how things are organized there.
This is our postcard project. I ask my students' friends and family to send us contributions. (My mom sends us lots, too.) There is also a geography center with maps and a globe and books.
Magazine files with some themed books. The clock is one of several alarms I have to remind kids to go to tutoring/speech/resource/the nurse. They've learned to turn them off and head off to wherever. It keeps me sane.
Our inboxes and a little chalkboard for signing up to take AR (Accelerated Reader) comprehension tests on the computer.
Books on whatever our current theme is, plus some encyclopedias and books we made as a class.
Each table group has a drawer with whiteboards and markers, and these blue zipper bags with math manipulatives. Also, our compliment/complaint/comment box and tub for treasure box tickets.
Whisperphones fit over the kids' ears so they can whisper softly to themselves while reading– I love them. Headphones (just old, broken ones with the cord cut off) are for noise isolation.
Demonstration thermometer set to -30 F (-34.4 C)– that's what is was outiside this morning. Also, our class schedule and a reminder to use soft voices.
And my semi-cluttered desk! Can you spot my big, black Sorel boots under the desk?
Thanks for coming on my tour! 
This is our overstuffed closet. We actually got rid of a ton of stuff when we bought our house last spring, but things are still a little tight. R and I share this closet, as well as 1 dresser. That's pretty much all the clothes storage space we have, so our clothes are pretty crowded even though we don't really have all that many.
Things are currently organized into short-sleeved shirts, long-sleeved shirts and pants, with each section arranged by color. It is easy to find what I want (though sometimes R has worn the item the day before ), but things tend to get wrinkled.
I just now counted the hangers in this closet. There were about 175. That seems like a lot.
I think I may weed out some stuff, and buy a set of slimline hangers. (I saw the idea on Just Plain Joy.) Then I think we'd have to adopt a one-in, one-out policy– you can't buy something new unless you get rid of something old. We'll see. 175 slimline hangers is more than I can afford right now anyway.
Any thoughts? How's your closet space? If you have a walk-in I don't really want to hear about it. 
Hello. We are busy around here. How are you? Are you busy, too? I'll bet you are.
Here are some linkies for you to peruse. Enjoy!
cooking
things to make and do
keeping track of coats, boots, hats, scarves, gloves
There's no getting around it– Alaska requires a lot of gear. We are just two people, and yet have managed to accumulate all the winter gear you see above, plus two large boxes currently taking up space in our spare bedroom. This is after getting rid of a couple of garbage bags worth of stuff before we moved.
We live in a two story condo/townhome. The front door is at the base of our stairs, and this small area has become our coat closet. The hooks and shoe rack store most things, though as you can see the big boots are tough to store. The tote bag on the left holds extra hats, gloves and scarves, but is a mess to dig through and find the piece you're looking for.
Do you live in a cold climate? How do you manage your winter gear? What do you do with it all come summertime? We stuff ours in garbage bags and stuff it in the crawl space.
