Tag, I'm It

My cousin tagged me for Crazy Eight. So I'll give it a shot.

8 shows I love to watch:
Good Eats
House Hunters
Football with Mike (but only with Mike)
Mythbusters
Um...cheesy old movies
The Office (with Kimmi)
How it's made or Made in America
The fireplace channel (Oh wait, that's really a fireplace)

8 places I love to eat:
Carrabbas
Olive Garden
Cheesecake Factory
Little America coffee shop
Applebees
Sonic
Our house when Mike barbecues
Guilty pleasure - Big Macs at McDonalds

8 things I did yesterday:
medicated a cat
gave gifts to 21 fifth graders
drove home in a snowstorm
had a nice nap in a big chair
cooked omelets for 5 people
helped shovel out Norma
used a glue gun
wore glitter home on my face

8 things I'm looking forward to:
Spring
remodeling our bathrooms
the boys moving out
ANYONE moving out ;)
Mike and I moving out - to Oregon or ???
Mike's retirement
the end of emints classes
reading for pleasure while on vacation

8 things I love about fall:
cool air
leaves underfoot
school supply sales
goofy Halloween stuff
Thanksgiving food
meeting a new class
taking out the window AC
my birthday

8 things on my wish list:
clean air
clean water
starry skies
time to enjoy my family
enough money to retire someday
good health
happy children
peace on earth

8 favorite eye candy
Mike
Tom Selleck
Pierce Brosnan
Johnny Depp
George Clooney
Harrison Ford
Kevin Klein
Jim Carrey (really - but only when he's serious)

8 people I'm tagging:
Nope, not tagging anyone. I don't really have anyone to tag.

More Tales from the Credit Union

My friend, Becky, teaches second grade. Her students were showing off their loot after receiving gifts from the credit union yesterday. One child, Becky thought, appeared less excited than she should have been under the circumstances. When Becky asked her what was wrong the girl said she was grateful for the presents, but all she really wanted was a book. Another child piped up that he, too, had asked for a book and not received one. Across the room a third little boy pulled two Dr. Seuss books out of his gift bag and gave them to his two classmates. Yup, they do sometimes listen when you explain about giving being better than receiving.

Credit Union Day

Every year at Lincoln five hundred little miracles happen. A local credit union takes the names and wishes of every one of our students. They fill a tree with ornaments listing what the children want, then they and their customers adopt each child and buy gifts from their wish lists. On the day before we leave for Christmas break they bring all the gifts over to the school and we have a giant opening party. Each grade goes into the gym where presents are passed out and opened. There's lots of squealing, lots of paper tearing, lots of mess, and lots of joy. I've had children ask for everything from roller blades to baby dolls. The ones that break your heart are the kids who ask for blankets, or coats, shoes and socks. Sometimes they will ask for something to share with a baby brother or sister. One child in my friend's class asked for a bed. Really. The family had no furniture. They were literally sleeping on the hard floor with just a blanket. We found a bed for them and realized when it was delivered just how incredibly poor they were. For some of these kids the things they got today will be the only things they get. Well, excuse me now, I feel like adding to my "I'm Thankful" list. At least I have a bed, a blanket, and food on the table.

Merry Christmas, Friends.

The Briny Deep

Jumping right in and making a brine for our turkey this year. We tried it last year and it made the bird very moist. We want to see if it really was the brine or just a very good turkey. I'll keep you posted. Check out the recipe I'm using:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html
Thanks Alton.

Grades the New Fashioned Way

Add this to your acronym list: ESIS

I have no idea what it stands for. It is, however, the way I'm required to fill in report card grades now. Last spring I participated in a study testing the system that has you fill in the grades for all students online, then sends them off to the district office where they are mysteriously printed, then returned to the school looking like a report card. It worked moderately well, with a few glitches. So this fall everyone in the district is required to do it that way. Unfortunately they didn't work out the glitches yet and the training was practically nonexistent. Guess we'll see how things work out on a large scale.

One way or another my grades are finished for fall trimester - Woo Hoo.

Goodbye Old Friend

We had to say goodbye to Heidi this week. She was 16 which in dog years made her just a little older than Whistler's Mother. When her muzzle started showing gray a few years back I warned the kids she was getting old, but I didn't believe it. She still took the stairs in one long leap and tore through the backyard to bark at the fence. When her eyesight began to get bad I warned Mike she wasn't going to last forever, but I hoped I was wrong. She still got around just fine, and she still chased the little dog away from her food at night. She would skip around under foot as you tried to feed her. When we had to start hollering so she could hear us at all I mentioned that she couldn't be that far from gone, but I prayed she would last just a while longer. She got so it was hard to go down the cement stairs into the yard, though she still climbed the entire flight to sleep with Mike and me in our bedroom each night, then down once or twice in the night for potty and a drink. Back up again, she could still make it. Mike built a ramp for her last spring to make the cement stairs more manageable. She learned to use it so well I kidded myself into believing it would buy her another couple of years. We took to leaving a lamp on downstairs so she would think someone was still up. That way she wouldn't try to come up to our room anymore. She was sleeping 20 or 22 hours a day. When she couldn't keep from having accidents in her sleep we decided it couldn't be much of a life. No eyesight, no hearing, can't control your bodily functions. When I'm that old I hope someone takes me to the vet.

I miss her terribly. She was a good old dog. Mike hasn't broken down yet, but it's just a matter of time. She was his dog, really. No, we're not planning on replacing her. Couldn't imagine getting a dog any better, and we're worn out from the constant care she required at the end. I'm not sorry we got her and I'm not sorry we helped her go - just sad she couldn't have lived longer and better at the end.

Social Studies Coordinator - the Maytag Repairman of the School District

Someone finally came out and said it. It was a school district coordinator, so I guess it counts for more. I was at a training and he said, "There's not enough time in your school day to teach the entire core. So social studies is pretty much relegated to whatever a teacher can get around to." The legislature in Utah along with the federal government has mandated this and mandated that to the point where teachers have little say in how their day is organized. Reading - important. Math - really important. Science - sort of important. Social studies - way down there. (Don't ask about the arts.) This is a sad state of affairs as we are supposed to be raising the next generation of citizens. With the push to pass reading and math tests no teacher has the time luxury to present social studies (or any other topic, for that matter) in any depth. Sure, we try to integrate history and civics into our reading lessons. But we no longer have a learning environment in which children can explore the richness of American culture, or the importance of its history. We say the pledge (mandated), but we can't take time to explain what it means. We post a sign in our hallway saying, "In God we trust," (mandated) while not trusting teachers to do their jobs. We'll celebrate Lincoln's Bicentennial (mandated), but without the requisite understanding of why his life and death were important. It's kind of social studies fast food. Spit out the salient points and dump the rest.

It may sound like I'm disheartened by what the man told us today. I'm not. It was the first time someone spoke the truth about this issue. Doing so put this district specialist on our side. He is willing to help find resources and help us carve out a little time to take back a subject that is incredibly important. No one should dumb down history.

Hooray for UEA

It's so nice to have a couple of days off. The convention coincides with fall break at the U so Sean and Kimmi are on break as well. I'm going to see a speaker tomorrow - Alfie Kohn - who writes books on how teachers screw up their students. Well, not really. But he does have some pretty wide reaching criticism of everyday practices. His book, Punished By Rewards, talks about how making rewards extrinsic doesn't allow students to develop their own reasons for working hard. The latest installment is a book about how homework doesn't work. I'm curious because I see homework as a necessary part of education, particularly for students like mine who need to catch up. We have so little time and so much for them to learn. Practice becomes something they must do at home if they hope to compete with students raised in better circumstances. I wonder if Mr. Kohn can tell me what I should do about that if, indeed, homework isn't effective. And, of course, I want to wander through the vendor area where you can buy stuff for your classroom. Not that I need anything else, but it's lots of fun and I always seem to find something to buy.

My kids having fun in the rain

Sean, Taylor and their friend Mike decided to go to the "lake" Saturday. The news crew was coming back from covering some flooding west of us. We stopped by in time to see them videotaping the boys trying to navigate Lake Constitution.

Unnerving Dinner

Sean and Andrew met me at a sandwich shop near my school for a quick dinner. They were on their way to volunteer for Obama and I was just off work and heading home. The young man making the sandwiches was exceedingly slow, which was really no problem while he was making our dinners. I asked for three additional sandwiches to take home for the rest of the family and that's when the trouble began. Another customer was standing in line and I suggested he could just help that person, then get our other three finished. While he was laboring his way through a single turkey on wheat three new customers walked in the door. They were covered with tatoos and piercings. That's pretty normal for the neighborhood and nothing to worry about. It was the gang tatoos on their knuckles that made me a little uneasy. The boys finished their meal and would have left but for the fact that my three extra sandwiches weren't even started yet and there was no one else in the shop but the very slow sandwich maker, three gang members, and me. It's hard to leave your little old mom alone when a gang meeting is taking place before your eyes. I finally sent them on their way, waited out the gang, paid for my extra order and left. It was just a little unnerving. Maybe I'm getting too old to work in an inner city school, because it's a cinch I couldn't have outrun them. If you're going to get a tattoo, why not get a useful one? I liked these. The owner doesn't have to look up the spelling.

Silly Fun

The sing-along version.

Kimmi dragged us (well, not dragged exactly). We went at 9:30 pm so nobody was really there. Just us and a few other vocally challenged people. What a nutty experience - Just follow the bouncing ball!

Six Languages

That's how many languages are spoken in my class this year so far. Let's see if I can remember them all: Enlgish, Spanish, Greek, Arabic, MaiMai, and Navajo. I have a couple of Spanish speakers who are new to the country. And the two who speak MaiMai are refugees. Other than that they do a pretty good job with English. Although there's always a disparity between their social language skills and their academic skills. All in all it's been a good start to the year. I'm looking forward to getting to know them all.

On Your Mark, Get Set........

My classroom is all set up, copies are all made and paperclipped together. Now all I need are the kids. Tomorrow I start my 33rd year as a teacher. Granted, there were a few years there in the middle when I wasn't in a classroom, but most years I've taught something to somebody! You know, after that many years I don't even get butterflies anymore. I kinda miss them, so...

What Do You Think?

Today was the beginning of the new school year. Our principal challenged us to join her in making the commitment to a complaint free world. We're reading this book: And we're wearing purple wristbands which we have to move from one wrist to the other if we complain, gossip, or whine. The idea is to go 21 days without complaint. It takes the average person, they say, about 6 months to accomplish this, as you must start over each time you make an error. I'm giving it a try, even though I don't wear the band on my wrist. I just can't get used to the feel of a bracelet. (We even discussed whether that, in itself, was a complaint. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if a bunch of teachers can do this. Wish us luck.

Still Using 'Em

In an attempt to break our own world record, we went to the store yesterday and spent $411.83 on groceries in one go. The sad part is that they all fit in one cart. Well, not really. I did need another cart for the dog food. The good news is that they all fit in the reusable bags we've been taking to the store since last Earth Day. That's when my cousin sent me a shopping bag with our family name on it (big white bag in photo) on the very same day I got online to buy a set of reusable bags (the cute blue ones with the earth on them). I took it as a sign. We've added various additional bags like the two we bought up in Logan that are insulated (Smith's Marketplace $1.99 each!), when we needed to carry some cheese home from the cheese factory. It's quite a mix of types and sizes now and the store folks always comment on it. But they've been universally supportive of the effort even though it takes them more time to pack the groceries. Hooray for the little things we can do to make a difference.

Abundance

Anybody Want Some???

While we don't have this many, we have way too many summer and zucchini squash. Those tiny plants I started from seeds in March were just so cute I couldn't resist planting them all. Now I have so many squash we can't possibly eat them all. I've given all I can to neighbors and friends. At least school starts next week and the excess will disappear like snow in July if I leave it out in the faculty room.

My favorite new thing from the garden - cucumbers! I've never planted them before. The two little plants I put in the ground have produced several large cucumbers which I've pickled immediately and we've eaten already. I expected we'd can some, but probably not. The refrigerator pickles are easy and good, so who cares!

So far we've had a handful of lovely baby potatoes, two or three batches of green beans, many many squash, the cucumbers, and a few tomatoes. We have yet to see any eggplant or corn, though there are some coming on. And the tomatoes just aren't doing as well this year as they did last. By this time last year we had harvested at least 100 tomatoes. We had about 400 total last year. (Yes, Mike counts them.) Well, I hope we have a late frost. Maybe we can catch up.

HA! I beat my cousins!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTINE!

You were the apple of your mom's eye and a gift to the whole family when you were born. We had all been waiting for years to hold another baby. Here's a few photos I found in my albums to commemorate the great event. I wish they were baby pictures, but I'm betting your sisters will have some of those posted before very long. Here are some of the memories I have of you and your family over the years. The last three were taken when you were just a baby (that's you who's getting a drink from your mom) taken at Norma's house. I think it was Easter. Have a wonderful day, cousin!

Done

The colonoscopy went fine. I am all screened and done for the next ten years. I'd post the lovely photos I got as a parting gift, but you really don't want to see them. Cheers!

Stuff You Gotta Do

When you turn 50 your doctor will start pestering you to have a screening colonoscopy. If you're sneaky you can put it off until you're 53. Well, it's been "time" for three years now, so tomorrow I get to go in. I'll let you know if I survive. In preparation for the procedure I had to go off some old familiar medications and use a different one instead. It's injected. And I have to inject it. It has given me a whole new appreciation for the millions of other people in this world that have to inject themselves daily for diabetes and other problems. My tummy is sore from the shots, and I'm trying not to whine. I'll stop the shots on Friday. It makes you appreciate the stuff you don't have to do on a regular basis.

Hummmmmmmmming birds

I think it's lovely that hummingbirds visit in the summer when I have time to enjoy them.

Summer Projects

Mike and I spent our 29th anniversary doing house projects. Mine was creating a bookcase bed with Kimmi. His was tearing out the front fence and replacing it. We started yesterday. Needless to say we're not finished. He talked me into helping with his fence demolition this morning. He's out dumping the old fence materials. I'm in a chair trying to recall when my forearms last felt this rubbery. Swinging a hammer is harder than it used to be. Since he was to be at the dump anyway, I rounded up all the old paint to go to hazardous waste. Amazing how many coats of paint we've put on this place since we arrived. There were even some colors I couldn't recall ever using. I wonder where they came from.

I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills

The Black Hills of South Dakota (my 26th state) were amazing. This is the view from our driveway. The long drive through Wyoming was worth it. We stopped at Devil's Tower:
We spent more time right outside the monument at the prairie dog town:

We went boating - something we don't ever do at home. I wonder why not?
We panned for gold:

And we went to Mt. Rushmore.
We even petted kangaroos and alligators!
All in all, a very fun if not too restful trip. My favorite part? Being able to see the stars again. No light pollution to ruin our view of the Milky Way.

Want it?

Going cheap this desk would be perfect for your basement or family room. It's 8 feet long (can be cut to make it smaller) and both the countertop and the filing cabinets are in perfect condition. Not even scratched. I have the little metal name tag holders for the filing cabinets and keys for the locks - just don't use them. Family and friends can have it for free if you come haul it away. Comes with a perfectly awful looking but comfortable computer chair in cracked black leather. Just email or call me. You know the number.

Perks

There's that joke about the three main reasons teachers love their jobs - June, July, and August. I enjoy my job immensely though I often wish for a more flexible schedule. Right now I'm able to visit my daughter as often as horrific gas prices will allow. We went last Thursday to see where she works. Oh my, I am envious. Her office looks plain enough:








Then you look out the window and see this:









And this:









And when she gets bored she hangs out here:










Or with this guy:







And imagine sitting back to sip your break coffee here - twenty steps from her door:



Even though I know her job is tough and it stresses her out sometimes, the perks are amazing. She deserves it, too. She worked so hard to get to the point where she could have a job she loves doing something she believes in. Besides, I'm hoping she'll let me come visit every now and then. Too bad it will have to be in June, July, and August.

Hiding a Pretty BIG Secret

About three weeks ago Marianne and I were out shopping with our mom. We took her to a cute little bead shop where she sat in a chair while Marianne spent way too much time looking for beads to make a necklace for her stepdaughter's wedding. When I went to check on Mom she wasn't looking good. We ended up at the emergency room where she had a bunch of tests and went home with a heart monitor. Last week I took her for a follow-up with my heart doctor and on Monday she was in the hospital getting one of these:

Now we have matching pacemaker/defibrillators. Well, not really. Mom's is made by a different company. Well, at least now we know where my heart defect came from. The other side of the family can rest easy. Mom's doing well after staying overnight in the hospital. She's a little the worse for wear, but if my experience is anything to go by, she should be back to her old self very quickly. I'm glad they found the problem when they did. She is very healthy otherwise and I wouldn't want to see her go before her time.

School's OUT - WooHoo

My last obligation was yesterday. I had a final class to attend to complete 6 hours of university credit. I had already completed the assignment we were supposed to be working on so I got to basically mess around while others worked. I just can't work in that class. They tell us to start something and then turn around and talk and talk. Drives me crazy.

Now I have six whole weeks with nothing much to do. Mike took today off and we went to Ruth's Diner for breakfast. We spent the evening out on the back patio eating birthday cake (Kimmi's birthday) and being silly. We have a little - really little - fire bowl so even though it's been awfully cold lately, we stayed warm using old fence slats for fuel. Ah, summer!

Happy Birthday, Sis

So another May 4th arrives and it's my sister's birthday - again. She's the big "double nickels" this year. She said that, not me. Anyway, I think she deserves five plus five reasons why she's the greatest sister on the planet. So here goes:
10. She knows how to do every crafty or artsy thing known to man. Or at least she's purchased the stuff to do it with.
9. When someone finds a baby bird they know exactly who will agree to raise it, even if it means taking it to work on the train in a shoebox and hiding it from her boss all day.
8. Her hair is the color of spun gold and her eyes change colors with her moods. When she was younger I thought she should be the heroine in a fairytale because she was so pretty.
7. Even though it took her three attempts, she finally found a guy worthy of her and she wasn't afraid to keep trying until she found him.
6. Her "hare brained schemes" are more fun than most people's planned activites.
5. If something awful is happening in my world she is always there to give me advice, even if I don't really want it but I need it.
4. I can always count on her for a crazy story to regale my friends at work with.
3. We can share out Mom so we each only have to listen to half as many repeated stories. (I really miss Denny sometimes. We could have split three ways. Maybe he knew.)
2. We can share out Mom so we... oops. I mean, The kids love her because she has spoiled them continually since birth.
And the number 1 reason my sis is number 1:
She loves me as much as I love her, and that's not always easy!
Happy Birthday, Sis. You're the greatest!

Too Bad They Don't Make 'em Anymore

We bought this car:
1995 Camry Wagon. They don't make the wagon anymore. Too bad, because my cousin, Andrea, is expecting her third and is lamenting the need to upsize her vehicle. No minivans for her. I loved my Camry wagon. It was the first new car I ever bought. And I picked it out myself. We got it because we had three kids, so I can relate. I got stopped everywhere I went, "Is that new? What kind is it?" for years people would ask. My oldest son is still driving it. This photo was taken today. It still looks kinda spiffy, no? But since they don't make 'em what's a non-minivan mom to do?

Today on my way home I saw this:
Volvo XC90. Not cheap. But it will hold 7 people. I actually was following one that had two little boys in the far back. It reminded me of Andrea's lament. It comes as all wheel drive, too, which I would have loved.

We ended up buying a Honda van for Mike in 2000. It has many advantages, including better gas mileage than an SUV and lots of cargo flexibility. So I guess I would just go for the van and secretly pretend it was a sports car as I drove it to the store and to little league. Ah, the sacrifices a mom has to make sometimes. Sigh.

Rachel Ray hangs out where we do

When Mike and I went to Denver last October we ate lunch at this kitschy old restaurant called the Rocky Mountain Diner. It was funky and fun. The food was ok, nothing to write home about, but good. Tonight we were channel surfing and stopped to watch a Rachel Ray episode about downtown Denver. Sean and Andrew have been talking about visiting there so we were looking for things they could do. I was surprised old Rachel highlighted the Rocky Mountain Diner as a great place to eat. I mean, there were two other restaurants we ate at I would have picked for her to review. They were both more pretentious and had better food. Well, at least I can say Mike and I have "excellent taste" in funky diners.

My Cousin is the BEST!

Yesterday was my eMINTS night. While it sounds kind of edible, it's really just a class I have to take in order to get all sorts of fun electronic gadgets for my classroom - a digital projector, camera, scanner, and a computer for every two students. Anyway, twice a month I have to attend 4 hours of class after a full day of work. It isn't especially fun. So I'm always pretty wasted when I get home. I walked in about 8:30 last night and found a package for me on the counter. I couldn't remember ordering anything - then I noticed the return address was "C.Roth" - my cousin in Washington D.C. Inside I found a wonderful little Earth Day care package. It included some environmentally safe cleaning stuff, a CD of earth related songs, and my favorite - a canvas shopping bag marked with our family name and wedding date.

Thanks, Christine, you don't know what a pick-me-up that was at just the right moment. Everyone should have such nice people in their family.

What you find when you clean...

I've been looking for this photo for a couple of years now:

This is how Lucas got hooked on the computer. He was about 21 months here. It was the summer after Anna was born. He figured out that if he pressed the keys something happened on the screen. You could see his mind working. He would press the keys, watch what happened and giggle over and over and over...

This just reinforces the idea that one should clean out their sock drawer more often than once every three years.

Babies are so wonderful

I spent a lovely afternoon holding my cousin's new baby girl. I haven't spent much time with babies lately. Whenever we have parent/teacher conferences I try to snag the baby from the carriage or stroller for a cuddle. But lately, no one in my class has had a baby sibling for me to get my baby fix.

Thanks Aimee and baby Olivia for letting me get in touch with my grandmotherly side. Keeps me from annoying my own children.

Ancient Life

If I did have to live in ancient times I might want to live here:
It stayed relatively cool in the summer, was easy to warm in the winter. And the views are magnificent. Just watch that first step!






Mesa Verde National Park was spectacular. I had never been there before. It was a nice getaway and not to far from home. I even felt good enough to hike some. Woo Hoo! And when we weren't hiking I managed to find a shoe store that carried really comfortable shoes. I came home with two pairs of shoes that appear to keep my feet from hurting when I walk on the darned concrete floors at work.

Where Is March???

I just realized I have no posts since February 14th. And I even had a whole week off at the end of March. No one will bother to come here because it's so out of date. Sorry, friends. If you do come here hoping to see an update I'll try to provide one more often.

Happy Valentine's Day

I made an amazing discovery this Valentine's Day. According to one of my students I'm "The best teacher in the whole world." And since she put it in writing, it must be true. So all of you other teachers out there - watch out! Happy Day to those of you who celebrate this made up holiday.