Go here to participate in the fun interactiveness. Or something. But go. It's got me interested.
http://kevan.org/johari?view=chicadecasa2
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
the darndest things
Kids are too funny. I was tidying up my classroom last week and found a page-long love note from one of my kids to another. It was talking about how he was the love of her life, and how he was "lame for not realizing" that they were meant to be together. This, from the girl who, when given 15 minutes every morning to write a journal topic, will have, at best, a sentence or two written.
And then you get notes like this.
Oh, the silliness.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
fall has come again
Yes, I know, two blogs in one day, what was I thinking? But I discovered something important, so, here we go.
So it’s ALMOST apparently, officially, fall. It happens next week, though I wasn’t aware of it until today. I have been awaiting fall for so long, and wondering why it hasn’t yet come (summer decided to drag on FOREVER this year) so I went on a search to figure out when it was supposed to come.
It makes sense that it really is coming though, and making quite the debut at that. I meant to write about it when it happened, but, alas, the ever-busy weekdays strike, and I only seem to find the time to write on the weekends. On Wednesday, I awoke to find clouds in the sky. Yes, clouds. A phenomenon I don’t believe we’ve seen since last winter. I shook off the excitement, figuring that, as has happened many a time before, the clouds would leave and the hot summer sun would reappear later that day. The sky was smiling down on me, though, and it actually stayed around 75 degrees ALL DAY. It was the most heavenly day I’ve experienced in a while.
I love fall. It’s the perfect season. The leaves become the most beautiful colors you’ve ever seen. You can wear a jackets and hats, and won’t look silly, yet you can still wear summery clothes and not freeze. AND, now I get to pull out all my fall clothes. You know, the earth tone-ish outfits and the tall, leather boots you can’t get away with wearing any other time of the year. With fall clothing being the best clothing, one can only wish it would be fall for a greater time of the year.
I know I do.
Bring it on.
tales from the kitchen, part 1
Today I made a calzone. I am so glad that this kitchen is about twice the size of our last kitchen. With several mixing bowls (one for the yeast and water, another for all the dry, messy ingredients that get all over the place and merely spread or become fused to the countertop when you try to clean them with a moist sponge, and yet another for all the “inside ingredients.”) Now usually, I’m not a messy cooker. There must be something about flour and yeast that just gets me crazy in the kitchen or something.
While waiting expectantly for the dough to rise (this phenomenon is even more boring than trying to watch grass grow) I attempted to clean up my mess. Once the dough finally rose to its peak, I took it out of the fridge, only to realize that I do not possess the quintessential rolling pin. Why, oh why?
FYI, though, a can of refried beans will work nearly as well. It might not be as long as a rolling pin, and it might leave weird indentations in your dough, but it’s easily accessible and multi-functional as well.)
All in all, it was the most scrumptious of the messy dinners I think I’ve ever made. It dripped with homemade pasta sauce and yummy toppings like Italian sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and black olives. I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it. Good thing I made enough for leftovers!
While waiting expectantly for the dough to rise (this phenomenon is even more boring than trying to watch grass grow) I attempted to clean up my mess. Once the dough finally rose to its peak, I took it out of the fridge, only to realize that I do not possess the quintessential rolling pin. Why, oh why?
FYI, though, a can of refried beans will work nearly as well. It might not be as long as a rolling pin, and it might leave weird indentations in your dough, but it’s easily accessible and multi-functional as well.)
All in all, it was the most scrumptious of the messy dinners I think I’ve ever made. It dripped with homemade pasta sauce and yummy toppings like Italian sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and black olives. I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it. Good thing I made enough for leftovers!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
wow
So this month has been craz-azy! I got a job. We got a new computer. Today, we are buying a car. Can life get any crazier?!
I have to say, though, that it's been crazy in a good way. I've made it through my first two weeks teaching and it's been simply amazing. To finally have my own classroom, full of what my prior employer referred to as "empty minds to fill," is just the most amazing thing I could have imagined.
Though I've got some tough kids in my class, I've really come to be attached to them...already. I see kids who have had really bad experiences in school, because they aren't quite up to par with where they should be. But what I really see is kids who need another chance. Another chance to shine, to get the answer right, to feel smart and safe and special. I see a classroom full of minds that, while not being empty, are ready to be filled with much more than they could imagine.
It's an interesting phenomenon to be teaching 5th grade. They are at the top of their school. Next year, they go on to that strange new world that is Jr. High, where things will be so different. They will go to different teachers for each subject. They will be called to a higher sense of responsibility. They won't get the second and third and fourth chances they are given in my class. They will go through social changes, family changes, and hormonal changes. Looking at each of them now, they are so unprepared for that world.
Hopefully in 9 months, though, they will face it with confidence, intelligence, and responsibility. Afterall, that's my job.
I have to say, though, that it's been crazy in a good way. I've made it through my first two weeks teaching and it's been simply amazing. To finally have my own classroom, full of what my prior employer referred to as "empty minds to fill," is just the most amazing thing I could have imagined.
Though I've got some tough kids in my class, I've really come to be attached to them...already. I see kids who have had really bad experiences in school, because they aren't quite up to par with where they should be. But what I really see is kids who need another chance. Another chance to shine, to get the answer right, to feel smart and safe and special. I see a classroom full of minds that, while not being empty, are ready to be filled with much more than they could imagine.
It's an interesting phenomenon to be teaching 5th grade. They are at the top of their school. Next year, they go on to that strange new world that is Jr. High, where things will be so different. They will go to different teachers for each subject. They will be called to a higher sense of responsibility. They won't get the second and third and fourth chances they are given in my class. They will go through social changes, family changes, and hormonal changes. Looking at each of them now, they are so unprepared for that world.
Hopefully in 9 months, though, they will face it with confidence, intelligence, and responsibility. Afterall, that's my job.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
testing, 1..2..3..
I don't know what to say. With all that's been happening, I must admit it's been hard not to get depressed. I still don't have a job, though everyone says I should have gotten one by now and that they are "crazy not to hire me." Apparently "they" aren't aware of this. My mom has been in and out of the hospital 4 times in the last few weeks, and I don't have the money to keep driving over there to be with my family. I feel helpless and lost, and I'm trying SO hard to be patient and to have faith that this will all work out for the best.
I guess it's these times that really test your integrity and faith, huh? I hope this is a test I can look back and say I passed with flying colors.
I guess it's these times that really test your integrity and faith, huh? I hope this is a test I can look back and say I passed with flying colors.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
mothers aren't supposed to feel pain
I just found out that my mom has colon cancer. She’s been in the hospital for the past week, with doctors doing several tests on her to see what was wrong. The findings ranged from colitis to abscesses, and the final conclusion was colon cancer. She will have to go through surgery, where her colon will be removed.
This isn’t supposed to happen, especially to mothers. It’s a sad occasion to hear that someone is ill or has been hospitalized, but when I found out it was my mom, I couldn’t believe it. All I could think about was how she was not allowed to hurt. When I told her this, she replied sarcastically with, “Oh, I guess I missed that memo.” She’s doing her best to take this in stride, while I (not the one who is sick) is worrying and fussing about the whole thing. She is more worried about my worry than she is about herself.
That’s the thing about good mothers. They care more deeply about their “babies” than they do about themselves.
And there’s something about our mothers, that, while we may not always agree with them, it hurts more than anything to see them in pain.
Do me a favor, tell your mother you love her.
This isn’t supposed to happen, especially to mothers. It’s a sad occasion to hear that someone is ill or has been hospitalized, but when I found out it was my mom, I couldn’t believe it. All I could think about was how she was not allowed to hurt. When I told her this, she replied sarcastically with, “Oh, I guess I missed that memo.” She’s doing her best to take this in stride, while I (not the one who is sick) is worrying and fussing about the whole thing. She is more worried about my worry than she is about herself.
That’s the thing about good mothers. They care more deeply about their “babies” than they do about themselves.
And there’s something about our mothers, that, while we may not always agree with them, it hurts more than anything to see them in pain.
Do me a favor, tell your mother you love her.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
a mile in your shoes
A few weeks ago at TNT, we were asked to look at a pair of shoes and write a story about it and the person it belonged to. This is the story I came up with.
Her faithful flip flops . They had cost less than any other pair of shoes she owned, yet they had seen and done more than all the others combined. Faded and worn, these shoes had seen the beaches of the Caribbean, the sands of Lake Tahoe, and the beach-front sidewalks of southern California. They had been with her through friendships, moves, and graduations. They were worn on the day she moved away from her hometown, when she saw her first ocean sunset, when she received her first kiss. Though her friends often made fun of her for keeping the old shoes, she felt a bond to them, as if they were the tie to her past, present, and future.
Her faithful flip flops . They had cost less than any other pair of shoes she owned, yet they had seen and done more than all the others combined. Faded and worn, these shoes had seen the beaches of the Caribbean, the sands of Lake Tahoe, and the beach-front sidewalks of southern California. They had been with her through friendships, moves, and graduations. They were worn on the day she moved away from her hometown, when she saw her first ocean sunset, when she received her first kiss. Though her friends often made fun of her for keeping the old shoes, she felt a bond to them, as if they were the tie to her past, present, and future.
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