PennyCandy's two cents

Darkness

2011-11-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Darkness comes again. I do not just mean the lack of sunlight outside.

When son #1 and 2 were little we moved to Michigan. I lost my beloved grandmother and I slowly slipped into a depressed state. I knew I was there but did not know how bad it was until son #2 sat down next to me one morning and with his hand on my face he said "don't cry Mommy, I love you." This was monumental for him and I. He has an auditory processing disorder and that was one of his first full and understandable sentences. It was also what made me realize I needed help.

I went to the doctor and to my minister for support. It took a little more than a year for me to work through all that had happened and I slowly came off the medicine. I have been without depression since then ... up until now.

I realized Sunday that depression was slowly creeping back into my life. The dark has started to seep into my everyday being. I do not feel as hopeless as I did when the boys are little. It was a single comment by someone I know in passing that made me realize that the events of this year were and are weighing to heavy on me. With the simple words "you look defeated" I realized that for the first time in very long time a felt defeated.

What brought me to this point is not really necessary to discuss; what is important is that I recognized the dark before it swallowed me whole. So today I met with my doctor and with her help and the support of my family and friends I hope to step out of the darkness very soon.

Saturday School

2011-11-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

So today was not the first Saturday school of the year but it is the first one that the social studies department worked. We shared the day with English.

For this Saturday school we had 101 students show up. The disappointing piece; only 6 of them were mine. The 6 that showed are all doing fine in the class...the other 56 not so much. Okay maybe the other 45 not so much. I have 4 students that have zero for their average. Yes you read that right a zero. They have turned nothing in. They are making me crazy. How do you sit in class, do your work, and then not turn it it? It makes no sense to me.

After Saturday school was over I had my massage that was followed by a nap. That always makes life better.

Husband I also did our Samaritan's Purse shopping this evening so that they can be turned in at church tomorrow morning. When we do this each year we always do a boy box and a girl box. I always hope the little girl that gets the box is a girly girl because I pink and purple that box out. Hey it's my once a year events.

Life is good.

Homecoming Week

2011-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

So growing up homecoming was never a big deal at my high school. At least I do not remember it being a big deal...BUT in Texas is is more than a big deal it is a HUGE deal.

So the festivities went as follows Monday was Celebrity day. A few students dressed up and 4 teachers dressed. I was one of those teachers. I borrowed my youngest son's Renaissance costume and I became William Shakespeare. The photo is below.

Tuesday was career day and because we had big wigs coming in the building I dressed like a very good teacher; heels and all. Guess what my students dressed as? Basketball players and rappers. I did have a few that dressed as doctors and CEOs.

Wednesday was crazy; it was retro/tacky day. You got to pick which one to be. I went way retro and wore a poodle skirt with a sweater set and white keds. I was retro. Most of our kids came in tacky clothes and I do mean T-A-C-K-Y. The principal had to give them a very stern warning about there behavior and clothing. They got it under control and had a great day the rest of the day.

Thursday was pink-out for breast cancer. I have a pink shirt that has a pair of cowboy boots and hat that says "Give Cancer The Boot". I wore that. I also have one with pink boxing gloves that say hope and love with the pink ribbon with the phrase "fight like a girl". I decided not to wear that one.

Friday was spirit day so I wore my traditional blue dress with the highlander blue-black and white plaid.

Overall it was a good week and we get to extend it to Monday because we can sport our Ranger gear with jeans. Go Rangers!!

What is that?

2011-10-08T19:40:00.001-07:00

I was sitting in my office this evening trying to make myself do some work. That did not happen.

Then I heard a sound...I sound that I have not heard in a very long time. Could it be...yes it is...RAIN.

Rain that we have needed for so long. Rain that has been falling for an hour. Rain that is also accompanied by thunder and lighting. Rain that the ground is soaking in; if I listen carefully I am sure the ground is letting out a long low sigh. Like a human takes in a breath of fresh air or a long drink of ice water on a hot day.

Rain that delayed the Rangers game and a marching competition but a rain that was and is much needed so the delays are very much worth the trouble. Rain fall all night long I will not mind and neither will the ground or the rivers.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2011-10-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

I took this picture at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

It brings forth many thought to my mind. What does it bring to yours?

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

2011-09-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

The line from that Bay City Rollers song decided to enter my brain and Pandora radio is not on. Ugh!!! Oh how long has it been since any of you have heard that song? Lucky for me that is the only line I remember from that song.

I remember when I was a young teen I could not wait to be old enough for an outing that did not involve family and Saturday night in the same sentence. I was not allowed to date until I was sixteen and my friends and I lived in the middle-of-nowhere so our Saturday night fun had to happen during sleep-overs.

When I was in elementary school my best-friend was also a Belinda and when we were in first grade we had our first sleep over together. I do not remember a whole lot about the sleep-over. I do not even remember if I made it all the way through the night or if my Dad had to come and get me. I do know that she lived in a two-story house on a pretty steep hill and she had neighbors; it was a very small housing development. I thought they were rich and that she was the luckiest girl I knew because she did not have to collect eggs from the chicken coop or deal with the nasty smell of cows.

The sleep-overs are remember the most are all jumbled together because as I entered Middle School Belinda and I developed different interests and Debby and I became best friends. We are still close even with several miles and states between us. She is godmother to son #1 but now I am chasing rabbits. Back to sleep-overs.

We lived several miles apart when we were going visiting that meant a parent had to drive us. This was a good thing because it often meant that we could turn a one night sleep-over to a several day sleep-over.

There are three that I remember the most that I am willing to write about. A girl has to have some secrets.

The first one I remember was the night that we stayed up and watched "The House Of Wax" with Vincent Price. The movies left us so terrified that we checked in the closet (multiple times), under the bed and even all the other nooks and crannies that we could think of. We left all the lights in her room all night long. I know I did not sleep much that night. To this day I still do not like scary movies.

The second one was not so much the sleep over but the event after the sleep over. My mom and dad came to pick me up from Debby's house; which is located on a very steep hill. There was ice on the hill from a storm that had passed though and our car was at the top of that hill; no one was in the car at the time our parents were talking when all of the sudden our car started to roll backwards down their driveway. My mom yells the car is moving stop the car. My dad without thinking does what she says. He tries to stop the car but instead of stopping the car he fell backwards on the ice and hit his head pretty hard. Man...when he stood up he was madder than a wet-hen. Luckily he was not hurt and the car was not really damaged either. We laugh about it now but at the time it was a little scary.

The third one was actually a sleep over at my house. Once again it was not the sleep over but what happened when the two of us were together. I had decided to enter the Miss Renssalaer County beauty pageant. Deb was in the audience with my parents cheering me on. I placed 6th. It was fun and I liked that my best-friend was there for me.

I guess this isn't really about Saturday nights anymore but it is about my best-friend since forever.

This is the same friend that let me cry on her shoulder when I had my heart-broken; I am a hopeless romantic so it has been broken often. She was part of my wedding party, and we see each other whenever I come to town.

She also made the trip to Fort Worth to visit. Not once but twice; both times while my husband was away on business trips so she helped me keep my sanity. I was a brand new mom with a baby that got sick often and he did not sleep well. She gave me time to shower and nap if I needed to.

Her birthday has just passed and she usually reminds me that she is younger than I am, by less than 2 months but she still reminds me. So instead of wishing I was out on an S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night I wish I was having a sleep-over with my best friend.

Love ya lots and lots Deb and Happy Birthday.

Maps

2011-09-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am going to enlighten you about the use of maps in my class.I am not sure if I find what I am about to tell you funny or sad; maybe it is a little bit of each.

Last week I had my students create a mental map of the world. They were given a piece of plain paper and they needed to draw the world. Once the world was drawn the continents, prime meridian and equator needed to be labeled. I do not care how perfect the continents are because I can not draw but their placement and realitive size need to be correct. The also need to indicate where the following places are: The Galapagos Islands, The Amazon River Basin, The Gulf of Guinea, Lake Victoria and Borneo. For those of you that do not know the importance of these is they are all on the equator. They also have a list of events, cultural items, ect. to place on the map.

I am grading these assignments and this is the part that makes me smile, laugh and cry all at the same time. Africa is smaller than New Zealand, Lake Victoria is located in Mexico, Asia and Europe do not touch each other. Mexico is bigger than South America, the Atlantic takes up almost the whole page. A few of them are actually pretty good but most of them not so much. So we will be completing more of these as the year goes on and my hope is that they get better. I also hope it is sooner rather than later.

If you know what the world looks like without looking at a map or a globe please take the time to thank your World Geography teacher.

Monday Monday Monday

2011-09-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

So Monday was very interesting indeed.

I left work a little early (with permission) to go see the orthopedic surgeon. I have been bone-on-bone in both knees for several years and I can no longer take the medicine that has been controlling the swelling and pain in my knees so my rheumatologist sent me to see this doctor. Good news; I do not need to have knee replacement surgery because there is a new injection out there that adds cushion back to your joint. This injection reduces the pain and swelling which means no knee replacement for at least 5 maybe 10 years. I liked that news. The bad news from him was he can not help with the tendon in my foot, I knew he would not be able to but a girl can hope. So I get to go see a different specialist at the end of the month. Fun for me!!

I left the doctor and headed for Target where I found everything I wanted in record time. Well almost everything...I am looking for a pleated skirt and I can not find one. I found one I really liked on-line but I am not wealthy enough to pay $750 for a pleated skirt.

I left Target and head for home during rush-hour and as I approach one of the busiest intersections in town my car died....it would not even make a clicking sound. Of course when it comes time for me to "go" I can not because my car died. Instead of getting out to help me the two young guys in a massive SUV start beeping at me. "REALLY" like that will make my car start. All these people go around me beep at me...one even flipped me off. "Oh Okay Big Guy... I hope your Momma/Wife/Daughter/Sister never ends up in this situation". Out of nowhere comes this African-American man that looks like he is in his 50s or 60s and very skinny and he helps me get my car into the parking lot that I am not very far from. We did have to navigate 3 lanes of traffic to get into the lot. As he is moving my car and older Hispanic man gets out of his truck and blocks traffic to help Issac push.

I did not see where Issac came from because Issac had been on the city bus traveling in the opposite direction when he saw my problem he told the bus driver to stop he needed to get off and help me. I had never laid-eyes-on Issac until that day and I probably never will again. When I asked him why he stopped he said he saw someone in need and he knew he had to help because no one else would. Issac and I got to know each other a little bit while I waited for my husband to show up.

Issac lost his job at almost 50 years old in July and he became homeless at the beginning of September. While I waited for my husband to come and meet me I bought Issac dinner at Jimmy John's. As he and I sat in Jimmy Johns talking we did get strange looks from the customers that walked it. Issac was missing his two front teeth and his clothes were well worn. They did not have any holes and they were clean but slightly large on him. I just smiled at them as they looked at us.

Jimmy John's was another wow. When the manager realized what had happened he would not allow me to pay for the full meal. He charged me for the drinks only. Once Paul arrived I gave Issac some money so he could rent a room for the night instead of sleeping in the shelter or on the street. I know some people will think he will just use it for alcohol or drugs. I personally believed Issac when he said he did not need money for his deed and thus I offered. We have two large shelters in our downtown area and while both are well funded they are still shelters and men always get the last spots in the shelters. With the economy the way it is right now they shelters are bursting at the seams with families. Several of the students at my school are living in those shelters because their families have lost their income and have been evicted.

My battery was dead but still under warranty. The real culprit was my alternator, so it is at the shop being fixed.

Monday September 12th is not a day that I will soon forget.

Just another Saturday....

2011-09-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

If you have followed my blog at all you know I work in an urban district at a low performing school. With that comes extra work...I knew it when I signed on and I am good with that.

Today was one of those extra work days. We walked the neighborhood to find kids that are not coming to school. Well I did not walk because of my foot but I was on campus in the front foyer to greet anyone that came into the school. This year we did not have as many students to look for which was a good thing. The flip side...the students we needed to find were not found.

After lunch we started our Professional Learning Communities (PLC). I am part of the student achievement PLC. I am paired with a great group of people and I am not in charge...score for me on that one. Our task is do find out why we have low student achievement and then what are we going to do to fix it. We already have some great ideas and if we make the kinds of gains this year that we made last year we will be off the list. When we get off the list you will hear not only me but everyone that is involved with the campus cheering. So in May of 2012 it will not be an earthquake you feel it will be us stomping and cheering.

Just Right

2011-09-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Sticking with my theme this is going to be short and sweet.

Today was another first for this school year. Today I went to the doctor for an ear infection that I picked up at school. Oh joy for me.

But even better while I was at work today; I popped something in my foot. So now I am wrapped with an ace and I need to go see a specialist about my foot.

A student of mine is missing the first three weeks of school. She is in the hospital and has been since the beginning of August. Hopefully she will come home this weekend and come to school Monday.

On a better note; I got 4 yes 4 new students today. They are really great students; I am getting 2 more tomorrow. Even so my classes are fairly small. This year is just so smooth for me so far. Here's to a year that just continues to get better.

I do think that taking the month of July off also helped me to find myself and get rested and unstressed so that I could come back with a ready mind and body for work.

I would say it is Just right.

A new school year

2011-09-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today is our first day off in the new school year. We start August 22nd so while my family that is up north have not yet started I have already completed 2 weeks of the new school year.

This year the opening of school was much smoother compared to last year. When a plan is in place and everyone and I do mean everyone know what the plan is and then they follow it life is so much better for everyone.

I still have a few frustrations; I teach 10th graders so one would think that parents would say my child will need standard supplies and purchase them when the sales run. Every year I have students that come to school with nothing. Not even a pencil. Of course I have some on hand but I do get frustrated that there was no thought about essential school supplies. I still have kids that do not think they should have to read or do homework. They will quickly realize that they must do these things or they will not pass my class.

On the flip-side I have my joys; students that love history and want to be challenged by me and they specifically requested my class. I get to teach a special topics in history class this year so I have the best and the brightest. In fact they know what they are in for because they have had me before. I did have to give up my language center kids because the district moved those kids to a different building. I do miss them.

I did have a sad moment when we started the year; our long-time department chair retired at the end of the last school year. I miss him very much and still get a little misty-eyed when I realize he is not in his classroom just down the hall from me.

I decided to free write for awhile and see if it unclogs my stress and inability to write.

Empty Nest

2011-08-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

We technically have an empty nest. Son number 1 has moved to NY for a job. Son number 2 lives in a college apartment on campus.

Sounds empty; but it is not. We have 4 children or I mean animals still living with us.

First we have Sugar Son number 1's dog that he could not take with him. She is 14 and she is old and grouchy. She is a golden retriever and something. She barks at me all the time and I do mean all the time when she does not like something that I do or do not do fast enough.

Second is Cookie this is Son number 2's dog that can not live on campus with him. She is a beagle basset mix and she is not only as stubborn as all-get-out she is also as dumb as a box of rocks. Not a good combo at all but on the flip said she is a sweet as can be when she is not being stubborn.

Third we have the cat. This is the cat I did not want. The cat that my wonderful husband spent his Christmas money on to bring into our home. She is nasty: she makes to much noise and she leaves a mess in the laundry room at least once a day.

Fourth and most importantly we have my baby Winston Princeton Churchill. Winston is now a year old. He is a baby horse disguised as a dog. He weighs 75 pounds but still thinks he is a lapdog. He is as fast as a greyhound and as protective as a German Shepard. He is also so very sweet and lovable. He is my baby.

Over a Year

2011-08-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

It has been over a year since I last posted or read anything in the blog world. So I thought long and hard before I clicked back in today. I realized that I missed the blog world but I'm not sure how to fit it into my life.

Last school year was the roughest of my career. I was beat down almost every single day and I was not sure what I would do when the end of the year came. In the end I stayed in the building I have worked in since the 06-07 school year. I can say I am very glad that I did because this year is completely different. We had a great opening week of school.

I have decided for now short and sweet posts need to be my motto.

50th Anniversary

2011-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

50 years ago today Stanton L. married Alice Mable. They are my Dad and Mom. My sister, brother and I hosted a 50th anniversary party for them this summer when the weather is better for traveling. I've written about the party and posted a picture or two but today I wanted to pay a special tribute to this wonderful couple. So raise your imaginary glass and toast this wonderful couple with me.

This is Alice walking down the isle with her father, Raymond Phillips. Alice's sister Liz told a story at the party this summer. She said their father was not so sure they should get married in January because of the potential for horrible weather. But the day they got married it was sunny and there was no bad weather. A very good sign, or at least that is what I think.

Here the happy and half surprised couple. Mom knew about the party...Dad did not. He was very surprised and they were both very honored and thrilled that people were there to celebrate with them.

Our parents had a small wedding and a small wedding party. Of the original members of the party only one was able to attend. Robert has been a long time friend to my parents and we were so thrilled when he and his wife were able to attend the party.

Robert paid tribute to our parents.
As pictures were collected for the 50th anniversary scrapbook, I did not come across pictures of the guests at the wedding but I do have pictures from the party of family and friends.

Our family is blessed by the fact that several of our great-aunts and uncles are still alive and well enough to attend the celebration.

Bev's parents were friends with our grandparents and they and their extended family continues to be an important part of our families lives. In this picture Bev is hamming it up as she usually does with Dad and his granddaughter Shayna.

A random shot of famiily enjoying the celebration.

Friends enjoying the festivities.

The happy couple did not have music or dancing at their wedding but it was provided for the anniversary celebration. My brother-in-law Kevin is a great guy and after Shayna and I picked out special music to have for the party Kevin set it all up and made sure it played. My parent's love to dance and it was great to see them take a spin on the dance floor.

Gifts are usually part of the wedding and here Alice and Stan open some of their gifts.

One gift they recieved at the party was a song from their grandson Colin, Colin just happens to be my youngest son. Yes I am a proud Mom.

Cutting the cake, I always such a sweet moment of a wedding and I really like it when they do not mush cake in each other's face. Our parents were kind and loving to each other.

My sister found a great bakery and the cake was wonderful. I love the cutting the cake picture. I really thought I had a better picture than this but I can not seem to find it. Maybe it was someone else's picture but you get the idea.

The kiss, is where I will stop. Once again we says cheers Mom and Dad, Alice and Stan may you have a wonderful 50th anniversary with more wonderful years together.
We love you.

A Year in Pictures

2010-12-28T14:59:00.001-08:00

Last year around this time I decided to set goals for myself. You know a list of things that I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. That did not happen my life was over the top hectic. So this December I am looking back at 2010 in pictures so that I can take time to reflect on the past year and enjoy the good in my life.

Last year we started with a snow day. We also had 12 inches Christmas Eve of 2009. We have had none this winter and I am personally okay with that.

This is one of the many ways that I arrange my classroom. I almost live here during the school year so I thought it would be a fitting photo to include in my reflection. When we ended the year it was with packed and covered rooms because we were getting a face lift; the building is 50 years old believe me it needed the face lift. Gone is the nasty dirty carpet. I now have nicely tiled floors and new lighting and paint. It is wonderful.

The classroom across the hall from mine is a high needs special education classroom. The teacher is unbelievable with her students. I stand in awe of what she does each day. Her class was learning about diversity and each student created a diversity picture. They hung them outside of my classroom because there are no lockers on my side of the hall.

As most of you know I have a new man in my life Winston Princeton Churchill. This is him when he was still very little.

Here he is being very royal. He is now to big for this as well. The poor baby also has hip displacia; so for now he is on glucosamine just like his Momma.

This was taken just a couple of weeks ago. Winston is now 8 months old and he loves Cookie the beagle basset mix that likes to be up.

This summer we went to Yankeeland and threw a surprise 50th wedding anniversary for Mom and Dad. This is one of my favorite pictures from this party. There are many others that it could be a whole post of its own and I may just do that on their official anniversary date which is January 14, 2011.

While in Yankeeland my sister and I took a day trip together. Just the two of us. No kids and no husbands. We went to Olana the owner was one of the Hudson River School painters. His property and home are just breath taking. I love the Persian influence that is evident throughout his home.

I also attended my class reunion this summer. It was the 30th a little less than half of the class was there; we had 126 students in our graduating class. Many of these people I had known since grade school. It was wonderful to see them again.

I often talk about Yankeeland and the property I grew up on the next couple of pictures are of that farm.

This is the old stage coach road that led over the mountain.

This is the view from the back bedroom the creek is one on my favorite places on the farm.

I went back to Yankeeland in October because I was one of three people named alumni of the year for my high school. It was a huge honor. This photo is of me listening to the hostess read what was written about me and why I won the award.

My brother was kind enough to be my date for the ceremony because Mr. Doohickie was unable to attend. He was a wonderful date.

My sister and her husband were also able to attend the dinner. They make such a handsome couple and my sister has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders.

This is me with my Mom and Dad before the awards portion of the ceremony. My Mom is the person that nominated me and the letter she wrote was very moving, even though I knew I had done all of the activities that she talked about it still made me tear up that what I did was recognized by the committee as something that was worthy.

Receiving my award.

Myself with the other two award winners; both of which were members of the class of 1974.

The last big event or should I say purchase occurred in November of this year when City Cyclist announced they were going out of business. I finally decided to try riding a bike again. I had not ridden since 5th grade when I took a nasty fall and damaged my knee cap. When I had surgery several years later the doctor asked me why I had never had my fractured knee cap set. So this was a huge deal for me I have always been afraid of falling. I am happy to report that the step-through Biria is a wonderful bike and of course Mr. Doohickie is thrilled that I will go on rides with him. But please do not expect crazy camera shots while I am riding or long posts on the rides we take. I will leave all of that to him.

Overall 2010 has been a good year even though work has been extremely stressful. Onward and into 2011 and waiting to see what changes it will bring.

Happy New Year to each of you.

Brutal

2010-11-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

Brutal – not a word I use very often. My Sister-in-law uses it and I have to say that from August 2nd until now that word fits my life. Do not get me wrong there have been some great things that happened in July and in October. Unfortunately the stress of work has outweighed the few great and has kept me from being creative in any shape or form. My sister, niece, aunt and best friend have all been reminding me that I have not blogged in awhile so I am going to give it a shot. In all honesty if I had not read TC’s comment about wondering where I was the other day on my blog I am not sure I would be writing. I was pretty sure that the blog world did not notice that I was missing. I know my family and friends tell me I need to write but they hear from me in emails, phone calls and FB so if I did not write a blog for them they would eventually get over it. In fact they have kindly stopped bugging me.
July took us to Yankee Land; we got to see both sides of the family. While we were in Yankee Land I attended my high school reunion, I graduated 30 years ago. Gasp where has all the time gone? This was not the main reason for the trip there was an even more import event that was a very special one. My siblings and I hosted a surprise 50th anniversary party for our parents. Technically their 50th is not until January 14, 2011 but traveling to Yankee Land in the winter can be tricky so we decided to play it safe and throw the party early. A wonderful time was had by all and my Dad was surprised. We had to give in and tell our Mom because of information we needed that only she had. Family and friends both old and new were at the party, good food, great conversation, music and a little bit of dancing along with toasts and memories shared with each rising of a glass. Once the party was over and the church hall was clean the immediate family went back to my parent’s house where we had dinner together and more great conversation. Along with the party the gift to my parents was a scrapbook memory album. People sent well wished and pictures to be included in the album. The best was one of my Dad’s cousins found there original wedding invitation in with some old pictures he was sorting through and he sent it to my parents for the album. If I had been able to write this shortly after it had happened I am sure there would have been all types of details but that point has come and gone. It is the end of Thanksgiving break and I am just now finding time to write.
We returned home with a day or two to spare and it was back to work for me as the Lead Content Teacher (LCT). We were starting another school year with a new principal. The powers that be in their glass and ivory tower downtown do not know how to “fix” the school I work at so they keep changing principals. Ah gee let me help you with that … you with your PhD. Leave us with a principal in place for more than a year and a half. That’s how you fixed the other “problem schools”. We did not “break” in a year we can not be “fixed” in a year. So I have a new principal she is number 4 and of course she knows what we need to be “fixed”. Therefore the first order of business is to change everything that we do, even if it worked great. To make matters worse the four of us that wear the LCT hat got to be schedulers for two weeks because the student’s schedules were a mess. I therefore taught for 1 day in the first two weeks of school. Crazy…I know. Oh and we switched to a block schedule a whole different nightmare. With all that being said I still love my job I am just worn out at the end of each day and I use the weekends to get caught up which leaves little time for anything else. I am starting to get a grip on all the new requirements and responsibilities that have been given to me and it will be all right in the end.
October found me making a trip by myself to Yankee Land again. Two times in one year Wowy-Zowy for me. I went home to receive an award, I along with two gentlemen from the class of 74 were named alumni of the year. I was thrilled to be nominated but to win was just amazing. I told my Mom I will not get chosen they will select research scientist, lawyers and those types of people. I am a high school teacher and while what I do is important lots of people do what I do. The two gentlemen were…you guessed it a research scientist and a lawyer. When I got to Yankee Land my sister met me at the airport and we went out to eat and then dress shopping. An occasion like this warranted something awesome to wear so I purposefully did not go shopping here but waited for my sisters input. We do not get to do sister things very often, we plan to change that in the coming year. That will be another post. The night of the ceremony arrived and I was very nervous but I calmed myself by practicing my speech in my head. So my Dad, Mom and I met my Sister, Brother and Brother-In-Law at the country club where the dinner was being held. It was very nice and the food was excellent. My husband and sons were not able to make the trip so my Brother was my date and he was a great date. The one mistake I made was thinking that I had my short speech memorized – after all I talk all of the time it is part of my job. So my speech did not come off smoothly because I left my notes behind. A big piece of advice; never leave your notes behind if you win an award. I also started to cry something that I did not foresee either. So humor me because I am going to write what I should have said.
Good Evening; when I received the message that informed me I could speak tonight my first thought was oh no. But I quickly realized if I can speak in front of students, staff members and parents daily I could do this.
I want to take a minute to thank the committee for selecting me for this honor. I am honored and humbled.
I need to thank my husband and sons even though they are home in Texas their support and love is what keeps me going day in and day out.
I also want to thank my sister Heidi and my brother Derrick for cheering me on and being there for me and for being with me tonight. My brother-in-law Kevin for understanding my profession I thank you as well.
Most importantly I want to thank my mom and my dad Alice and Stanton. My parents have encouraged, supported and given advice when I needed it. I know they are very proud of me and this award is as much theirs as it is mine. So again thank you.
Yes I know some of you want pictures. I had to get a new computer and my pictures are not on this one. That will have to be another day that I post pictures. I have papers to grade, a test to create, lesson plans to write and grad homework to finish all before Monday morning. I used this week to rest and relax. I can not promise that there will be a post before the New Year but I will try to stop by more often and read everyone else’s blogs.

The New Man In My Life

2010-06-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy with the end of the school year. I work two half days this week and then I am done until August 2nd. But school is not the only thing that has kept me away from blogging; the other bigger event is the new man in my life.

His name is Winston:

My two sons were out walking their dogs a couple of weeks ago and this sweet little man got between them and walked home with them. Our oldest thought it was Buddy, a dog that gets out regularly but it was not.

He does not have a chip in his body, no one has called or contacted the shelter about him. So after trying to find him a home I decided that this was his home and I am the new lady in his life.

Winston is going to be a big boy, he is most likely a Grayhound German Shephard mix. He is so sweet.

My Sister

2010-05-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

My sister had her birthday in March, the 16th to be exact. I had planned to write this wonderful tribute to her and surprise her for her birthday. Life was a mess in March and most days I felt like I was running on a treadmill and could not get off. So better late than never and hopefully she is still surprised. Oh and a disclaimer before I start; it is not my intention to make you cry.

I was an only child for almost 6 years and I think I spent three of those years wanting a baby sister and I finally got one. I loved her from the moment that I saw her, and wished just a little bit right from the start that I could be more like her. She is fearless.

We did not always get along especially when she was younger. As little sisters do she wanted to tag along and I was the typical big sister I did not want her following me. My sister was a tomboy and she is still very athletic, she does the whole tri thing which I will never understand but I am so amazed and proud that she does.

The trait that I most love about my sister is her fearlessness. Is that really a word? It is now. She broke her arm 3 times before she was twelve. "Look Mom I can slide down the icy hill like Penny Candy and Tim" move forward a few hours and her arm is in a cast. She fell of the horse "look no hands" bam on the ground a few hours later and another cast. I don't remember the third way it must not have been as exciting as the first two or maybe she was just an old hand at it by then. She doesn't give up or let an injury keep her down she just lets it heal and goes right back to the activity that she loved or loves.

After I want away to college we grew closer and as the years past our bond became stronger. My sister is one of my best friends. We can talk on the phone or chat on FB for hours at a time. We joke and say she has my child and I have hers. Her oldest daughter and my youngest son are 6 monthes apart and NP Diva is very much like me while my second son reminds me so much of my sister he makes me laugh and cry at the same time. I think it happened this way so that we are always close to each other even though there are hundreds of miles between us.

My sister loves completely and she is a fierce protector of all that she loves. She has what I consider to be one of the toughest jobs in the world and she is amazing at it. She works with people that have suffered Trumatic Brain Injury. She has started Bookin Feet to help girls build their bodies, minds and self-esteem all while still having two young children at home.

I have learned much from my sister and I am not even sure that she knows it. I learned that love needs to be a two way street and if both people can not give freely then it isn't really worth trying to hold onto. I also learned that dating someone because everyone else thinks you should was not enough of a reason to keep dating the person. Younger than me and wiser than me. She is also one of my biggest cheerleaders. When I doubt my ability my sister is right there to remind me that I can accomplish the task and she reminds me of what I have already done.

My sister is an amazing woman, a great Mom and not only the best sister I could ever ask for but also a wonderful friend and my life would not be as full if I did not have her to share memories with.

My sister does not like many pictures of herself so I will not put many up but there is one picture that needs to be in the post and I hope she doesn't object too loudly.

I love you and Happy Belated Birthday Sister of Mine.

Okay...maybe not

2010-05-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying I am never again going to say my goal is to bring balance into my life. As I tried to become balanced I actually became unbalanced. It did not help that I have spent many weekends not feeling well.

So my goals for this year are out the window. I am just going to take each day as it comes and do what I do best, plan a little and fly by the seat of my pants a lot. Hopefully with the end of the school year just around the corner I can get back to being my normal self.

I actually had time to sit down today, Mother’s Day and read blogs it was nice to catch up with Bone, TC and my cousin Felicia that just had a beautiful baby boy. I also had dinner with my dear sweet husband and our two sons oh and I did laundry.

I have not written in so long, except for a grade school paper every week, I have forgotten how something else to get back to once summer is here.

This Week….Awesome

2010-02-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

I had a great week at work. There are three very different events that made it awesome.

First, I was nominated for Teacher of the Year again this year, but I decided to take my name off the ballot so that someone else could be on the ballot. I am not saying I would have won if my name was on the ballot but I really wanted to give others the opportunity. It is enough to know I was nominated again.

Second, my class played the Urban Game. It isn’t really a game it’s an exercise in learning but they think it is a game. Let me take a minute to explain the game incase you have never played it in your world history class. When the students walk into the room the desks are set-up in pairs, with one piece of copy paper in the middle of the desk and two pieces of colored paper with directions and background information for the pairs. The timer was set for 5 minutes to copy the key, when the timer goes off they need to start reading the first paragraph and complete what it says. They had 5 minutes for that as well. If they are not finished when the timer goes off they have to just keep going. They are only told that the river needs to be 1-inch wide, the rest is up to them. With the first 10 minutes completed I start readying short blurbs about the industrial revolution and in those blubs are the directions for what needs to be added to their village next. There are 21 rounds to this game. My perfectionists hate this game because it goes to fast, my ADD kids love it because it is so fast paced and even though my ELLs say it is hard at first as it goes on and they find their rhythm they like it as well. One of the first things they put in their original village is a “nice house” of course many of them draw it way to big so other things have to be really small or they have to erase and redraw. By the end their paper is covered and we then talk about how fast the Industrial Revolution felt to the people of England when it first started. This also launches the lecture about the Industrial Revolution that they now can picture in their mind as we talk and take notes.

Third and to me the most awesomest of all. I know awesomest is not really a word but I used it once this summer and it is now my trademark word. Anyway back to the third item. It occurred this Saturday, I held an AP World History study session at my high school from 8am – 12pm and I had 8 students that attended. I believe that I have between 10 and 12 students that can pass the AP exam. All 8 of Saturday’s attendees are in the 10 to 12 count. It was so great to watch them work together on timelines, the Chinese Dynasties of the Classical Era and essay skills and to see them realize that they knew and remembered a lot more from the first half of the year than they thought they did. I am holding another study session this Saturday and I hope it is as good or better than this one.

On a scale of 1 – 10 I would give this week a 9.5, not a 10 because the one problem I had all week was the temperature of my classroom. It was so warm (above 70 with the fans on) that it flared my asthma.

What Am I…Crazy….Maybe?

2010-02-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

Second semester is upon us and with it comes standardized test season. Oh boy the kids love it the teachers love it. Therefore we are all well rested and in the best moods ever.

Last Saturday I went to data training, from 9 to 3 so no massage that day. I was able to keep yesterdays appointment and believe me it was so worth it. This time of year I think I should get two a week but I do not have the time or the money. Sorry back to data; now that we answer to a test everything is data driven. What SEs (student expectations) are they weak in; lets look at the question and see what they do not know/understand. Usually it is vocabulary, please read to your children and use expanded vocabulary with them. It makes everyone just a little bit less stressed. The training I had Saturday had to be turned around this week and given to our teachers so during our in-service I trained the Social Studies department using the new data strategies.

So I decided I was not stressed enough and I added grad school to the mix. Yes I am back in grad school. I had been once before but then when our oldest son got sick I stopped. I did not return to Norwich for my Military History degree I am now taking classes through Texas Women’s University and getting my MA in curriculum and instruction. Why the switch you might ask when I had only 4 classes plus my presentation left for the MMH degree? Okay maybe you haven’t asked but I’m going to tell you anyway. Money…the district is paying for half of this degree but none of the other. Also an MA in C&I allows me do to so much more than an MMH. I would still love to get my MMH one day because it offers more credibility when I write. So far the hardest part about the class I am taking is not the work load; it is the idea that I have to tape myself teaching. Ugh! I do not like to be taped, have my picture taken ect. One good thing I have lost enough weight and toned that I do not look horrible on video.

Why am I concerned with what C&I will allow me to do since I do not plan to leave the classroom anytime soon? Well first some day I would like to be a full-time Academic Coordinator and eventually a Dean of Instruction. This degree allows for that, plus I might be up for another promotion at work, it depends on what the district will allow. My principal wants me to be the EHHS Academic Coordinator next year but I do not want to leave the classroom so she is pushing for it to be like the LCT spot I teach 3 classes and wear the AC job the other half of the day. It would be so fabulous…but I’m not sure the district will approve it. If not I’ll stay AP World History Teacher/Social Studies LCT.

So I am crazy busy but deep down inside I love it. To make it even better it is shaping up that I will be traveling this summer for trainings that are work related.

2010 Goals

2010-01-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

I have not set goals for myself in awhile but decided that I would do so this year. So here they are. Yes my sister and my cousin are rubbing off on me, in a good way.

1. Now that I am going back to grad school, changed venues and my degree plan but I am going back. My grad school goal for this semester is to have at least a 3.5.

2. As many of you know I am not the gym type but I do need to work out because of the fibromyalgia. So my goal for this year is to work out for at least 1 hour every day with one day off every 10 days if it is needed. I think this is doable because we got the Wii Fit for Christmas this year and I love it. I’ve worked out everyday for at least an hour and half since December 26th.

3. To outline the first draft of the World War I book I have running around in my head.

4. This one is going to be hard to measure but I want to balance my work and personal life a little bit better than I have in the past year.

5. To get a passport. I am the only one in the family that does not have a passport.

6. To apply and be selected for an AP World History reader position.

I think this is enough considering that I have not set goals for myself in a very long time. They are not resolutions they are goals. I have to keep telling myself that. In the past when I made resolutions and I did not meet them I would be mad at myself. I am hoping that because I am calling them goals I will not be so upset if I do not meet all of them. Wish me luck and I’m off and on my way. Now Bone is rubbing off on me too with the song lyrics. They are close enough to the Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun”.

Finally

2009-12-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

I finally feel like I have something to say in a blog post. After I got over the unconfirmed H1N1 I was so far behind at work and at home I did not have time to write but I also felt drained creatively as well. It took me several weeks to feel like myself again.

As Christmas approached I was still overwhelmed and felt I could not take the time to write before I got all the holiday activities taken care of. While doing so I had lots of thoughts running through my head so here they are in no particular order.

Christmas is so very different once the children of the house are young adults. There are no grandkids yet, which is a good thing, at 19 and 22 they do not need to be making babies. So I was having a hard time getting excited about Christmas. We usually put up a huge tree in the front room but with two weeks before Christmas left and the tree wasn’t even in the house yet we opted to buy a smaller prelit tree. So Paul and I went shopping December 13th right after Church because we had to. We had to go shopping because the MHMR gifts were due at the Church that evening.

For those of you wondering MHMR stands for Mental Health Mental Retardation. It is an organization that provides services to families that have child/children with these issues. Every year our church puts out an MHMR tree and members shop for a child they select. We picked a little boy that needed winter clothes and wanted a tricycle. We got almost everything on his list, I forgot to get pull-ups. We wrapped the gifts and took them to the church. While we were out we did pick up our new tree smaller prelit tree and that was it. I was still not in the mood to shop, I really felt like the Grinch. The tree actually sat in the box for a week before we sat it up.

So the weekend before Christmas I knew shopping had to get done. My love and I went shopping together to purchase family gifts. Tuesday I went to the bike shop to get my love his gift. The Christmas spirit hit me at that moment in time. My love had given me a list of what he needed from the shop. But he had always talked about a Cutter so I asked the shop owner which of the bikes was the Cutter. She showed me the bike that he had talked about for months and I decided to surprise him I got him the bike instead of the things he needed. For those of you that know me and know my love and his bike obsession you understand the big deal that this is. With the help of son #1 and son #2 I got it home, “wrapped” and hid before he got home. This is the front of his bike on Christmas morning. I was still not used to my camera and the idea that I could retake a picture.

With the arrival of December 26th came my Grandmother’s birthday. This year I paid honor to her memory by working a puzzle. My Gram loved puzzles; she always had one going on a card table in her house. So we sat at the table and over the next two days we put the puzzle together and I told my sons stories about their great-grandmother. It was nice. Son #1 had to prove that a round puzzle could be picked up and stay together.

I also got my first digital camera for Christmas and it has been fun learning to use it. One of my first pictures that I took was of the cheesecake that I made for Christmas dinner.
You might be wondering why I took a picture of the cheesecake…it did not crack. My cheesecakes always crack and while it does not ruin the taste it does ruin the presentation.

I brought no work home with me this time. I have cleaned house and I am trying to turn our spare room/junk room into an office/guest room. It is taking me longer than I would like but it is getting done. This is a very big deal I hate cleaning and bringing no work home might make some people think there is something wrong with me.

I have not made a New Years resolution in years but I am actually contemplating making one or two. So with that thought I wish the blogging world a Happy 2010.

Sick

2009-11-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

I will start off by saying I hate missing work. It makes me crazy so when I got sick last Saturday I told myself I would be better by Monday. After all grades were due, my students would be writing their first DBQ (document based question) in class and it was the week before Thanksgiving break so it would be hard to find a sub. On top of all of that I was supposed to leave right after work Wednesday evening for Austin. I had a conference to attend with my department. Being sick for more than 24hours was not an option.

So I was really peeved Sunday evening when my body temperature went above 101. I called the on-call doctor and he called in Tamaflu. My building has had confirmed cases of H1N1, the latest case was a teacher that I eat lunch with everyday and that I sat next to during in-service training. I knew that I would not be better Monday so I put in my sub request, and I spit and sputtered the whole time I was filling out the information. Did I say I hate missing work and I really hate being sick, I am not a good patient at all. So much for thinking that the on-call doctor was wrong I was still sick Tuesday and would see my doctor Wednesday.

I went to my doctor Wednesday morning, hopeful that she would say you can go to Austin, just drink lots of water on the trip. That of course was so not what she said. I think she delights in telling me what I do not want to hear, not really but it sure seems that way. Her actual comment was you have an unconfirmed case of H1N1 and there is no reason to run the test at this point because you are on Tamaflu. She also stated that she was not surprised that I have it but was surprised that I had been successful thus far in not getting it. She told me Austin was out of the question and that I was out of work for the rest of the week. As you can imagine I was not a happy camper. She gave me prescription cough medicine and sent me home to rest.

So I came home, called in a sub for the rest of the week and went to sleep. I am still not feeling great but I do not have a fever anymore. Now that Thanksgiving break has officially started I am not worried about missing work.

I am worried that my kids are now behind by a week, lets be honest subs do not really teach they practice crowd control for the day.

One funny dream that was medicine induced did occurred early Wednesday morning. I was in a classroom before I got sick and the teacher had the famous Teddy Roosevelt political cartoon up for the kids to analyze and that must have stayed with me because T.R. was in my dream. In my dream T.R. and I were walking the halls of my school that were now shaped like Latin America but instead of carrying his "big stick" he was carrying a big pink highlighter. He had me by the arm and pointed to the math teachers that were highlighting their data, science and English were doing the same and then we got to my department. They all had their highlighters to mark up the data but they had no data to use. I sat up with a start and texted my principal at 6:30 in the morning because I realized that all the data my department need was still in my classroom. She texted back "no worries" because she brought extra data with her. Oh thank goodness was my response back to her and then I went back to sleep until 1 in the afternoon. At that point I finally admitted I was really sick and stopped thinking about work for about 15 minutes.

So the moral of my story is love your job so much that you hate missing it but if you get sick get to the doctor ASAP to get checked out. Confirmed or unconfirmed H1N1is no fun.

Happy Birthday Mom

2009-11-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is my Mom and I when I was 3.

In May I did a tribute to my Dad; today it is my Mom’s turn. Today my Mom turns 70. My Mom does not seem 70 to me that is a grandma age; oh wait she is a grandma and has been for the last 22 years.

So I have been trying to decide what I would say about my Mom. I think in away it was easier to write about my Dad because fathers and daughters have a different dynamic than mothers and daughters. There are so many things to say about my Mom but they do not really capture who she is.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of my Mom is her smile, when she smiles her beautiful blue eyes light up and her happiness radiates across her whole being. This smile of hers makes me smile even when I am not there to see her I can still imagine her smile. She smiles often, especially around her grandchildren.

Mom and Kenzie

My Mom is between her two brothers.

The most important part of my Mom’s life, at least from my perspective, is her family. It is how she was shaped and how at times she has defined herself and in turn how we as a family define ourselves. My Mom puts all of us first and at times has actually put herself last, even when she should have been much higher on the list. The times that she went without so that we could have what we needed. I think most Moms do this but when it is your Mom that is giving up it leaves a mark on your heart because you realize just how important you are to her.

My Mom grew up in a large loving family and she sees her sibling often. They have supported each other and their extended families through thick and thin. My Aunts and Mom giggle like school girls when they get together, especially when my Aunt from Arizona comes to town it really is like they are teenagers all over again. Food, I can not talk about my Mom and her sisters without mentioning food believe me there is always something to eat. I do not think my family ever gets together without eating, everyone brings something to share and when I am home for a visit my Mom makes what I ask for which is so cool of her.

My Mom and Dad, this is one of my favorite pictures of my parents.

I remember when I was in school the bus used to drop me off at the end of the road, it was a long walk at the beginning or end of the day with school books. I mentioned to my Mom that other kids were getting dropped off and picked up right outside their doors but we had to walk. My Mom did some investigating and went to some school board meetings and got the bus to come part way up the road so we did not have as far to go to the bus stop. It was that image of my Mom that stuck with me when I had to fight for our youngest son to receive the services he was entitled to within the public school system.

When I was sick, tired, achy or frustrated my Mom took care of me and even now if I’m sick, tired, achy or frustrated I pick up the phone and call my Mom she makes me feel better just by listening. When I was in middle school I got badly hurt on a trampoline in gym class, I had to go to the emergency room and my Mom stayed with me through that. She was there when I woke up from my knee surgery and she wiped my tears when my heart was broken by a boy. She came and stayed with us each time one of our boys was born. She cried with me when I miscarried and was happy for me and with me when I carried a pregnancy to term.

My Mom has also been a rock for my sister and brother and there have been plenty of times when we have said we do not know what we would do without Mom. She is there in a pinch and helps in whatever way she can. She and my Dad are a team and that is why when I got married I wanted both of them to walk me down the aisle and they did.

So Mom we all wish you a very happy birthday with many more to come and we all love you very much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY DEAR MOM HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! That is all of us sing off key, well except for Colin he is right on the mark.

I am sure my sister will also post something about our Mom with pictures as well and that Mom will see this at some point. We Love You MOM!!

In the Blink of an Eye

2009-11-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

We all know life is short and that we all die. This is a fact that we can not escape but as human beings we try to escape that reality and then it comes up and bites us in the butt. So after the news I had today I picked up the phone and called Son #2 at college, came home and hugged Son #1 and my husband when he came in the door. I sent my family an email and now instead of outlining the trade map for tomorrow’s class I am writing this.

Yesterday I had an icky feeling mid-afternoon like something was wrong but I could not put my finger on it so I just pushed it out of my mind. I get these feelings once in awhile my husband tells me I am spooky I just think that at times I am “very tuned in” to what is happening around me. Then last night I had a dream about a co-worker being at a funeral, so I was just slightly unsettled when I got to work this morning and I opened my email to read that a co-worked and friend lost her husband to a motorcycle accident yesterday afternoon. This friend of mine is a young teacher and is expecting their first child and her husband were perfect for each other. They each walked to beat of their own drum compared to the rest of us but their drum beats kept perfect time together and they were so happy. Now her life and the life of their child will be forever changed because of one moment in time.

The driver that hit him made an illegal U-turn and crossed 3 lanes of traffic to do so. To make matters worse his wife and two young children were in the vehicle and all four of them were injured as well. This is something they will live with for the rest of their lives as well. The driver could very well face vehicular manslaughter and if he does so the lives of his family will also be forever changed.

Why am I writing this all down…to help myself process this senseless act…to let some of my anger and sorrow out…I have to keep it together at school for my kids. They were upset enough as it was. So take a minute and hug the people you love or call them to say I love you.

One More Step

2009-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

At the end of the 2008/2009 school year I was nominated and applied for a teaching chair position for the school district I work for. I heard nothing over the summer so I assumed that I was not selected for an interview. I was not bothered by this because it was the first time I was nominated and I thought teachers with more experience were selected. I thought in a few years I will be able to apply again and then today I opened a surprising email.

I have been selected to interview for the postion. This interview is in a few days so I have to prepare for this interview. The first part of the interview is with a panel of "judges" that will ask me about my classroom practices and educational ideals. Then I have to "teach" a 15 minute lesson to the "students" which are the judges.

I am so excited and so nervous, I have to capture what I have 50 minutes to do and condense it to 15 minutes. I'll keep you posted. Any suggestions would be welcome.

The last 25

2009-09-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Okay here is my last 25 I think.

76. Having lots of students in my room for after school tutoring
77. Socratic Seminars that run themselves
78. 80 degree days in the fall
79. Sunshine
80. Making my students laugh when they are stressed
81. Dogs sleeping at my feet
82. Reading old love letters/sweet cards
83. Helping new teachers get better at their craft
84. Sticky notes
85. Cold manderin oranges
86. Comfortable shoes
87. The smell of baby powder, even though it can kick up my asthma
88. Paper Dolls
89. Carosel horses
90. Antique hand-help fans
91. Postcards
92. Dressing up for Halloween
93. Group hugs, we started doing that 22 years ago when son #1 was a baby.
94. Scapbooking
95. Hearing "I love you"
96. Reading Twas The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve after we get home for the Christmas Eve service
97. Dimples
98. Vintage clothing
99. Well written essays
100. That I actually was able to come up with 100 things that make me happy

Things That Make Me Happy Part 3

2009-09-19T13:45:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure I will make it all the way to 100 today but if not I'll just have to keep thinking. So here it goes.

52. Homemade ice cream or frozen yogurt
53. A bonus check
54. Sitting next to the reflective pool at the water gardens
55. Going to the Stockyards and just wandering around and checking out the "goldfish" as I wander
56. Watching a waiters face when I order a half a glass of unsweetened iced tea and lemonaide, it is called an Arnold Palmer
57. Opening presents Christmas morning
58. My birthday
59. Coming up with creative ways to get my students to learn new vocabulary
60. Trying a new resturant
61. Listening to the music I grew up with, especially when no one is home so I don't have to hear complaints
62. When I have the house to myself
63. Homemade veggie soup on a cold day
64. Being told I'm the hardest teacher in the building
65. Having friends over for the holidays
66. The belief in miracles
67. Discovering a new store or resturant
68. Shopping at a Farmer's Market
69. Going to a County Fair
70. The Main Street Art Festival
71. Days when my hands don't hurt
72. The challenge of taking grad classes
73. Running into people when I am out and about that I haven't seen in a long time
74. Discovering a new author
75. A new haircut

Okay so I still have 25 more to go; this sure is harder than it looks. I noticed a lot of mine are connected to food and work.

Things That Make Me Happy

2009-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Okay here is the next installment of however many I come up with.

31. Watching Red Wings hockey;especially when they win!
32. Writing letters of recommendation for my students.
33. Getting hugs and hand shakes from my former students as they graduate.
34. A really good salad;especially if I didn't have to make it.
35. The smell of baking chocolate.
36. Cheesecake
37. Getting into grad school.
38. Getting thank you notes in the mail.
39. Being invited to a wedding.
40. Scapbooking
41. My roses
42. The smell of a clean house
43. Baby toes (Moms understand this one)
44. Hugs and Kisses
45. Emails from my Aunts
46. Slow dancing with my Love
47. A joke or story that makes me laugh outloud
48. Black and white movies
49. Being the first person to put a knife into a brand new jar of peanut butter. As an aside son number 1 and I race each other to do this and it only counts if the old jar is completely empty. I know we are strange that way.
50. Watching re-runs of Friends.
51. Dress pants that don't need to be altered in any way.

I don't think I repeated any of the first 30 but if I did it just means that it makes me really really happy.

The Most Awesome News

2009-09-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you that have taken AP classes this will not be news to you but man it is exciting for me because of the ramifications.

When a student takes AP classes and passes the exam with a 3, 4 or 5 they are recognized by College Board. Once they pass at least 3 AP classes with a 3, 4 or 5 they are considered a National AP Scholar. It is much harder to do than people realize and the school I teach at has not had a National AP Scholar student in 10 years. That is a long drought. This year we have 2 that's right 2 and both of them had me and my AP World History class is the first AP class they took, sat for, and passed the exam.

What does this mean for my students? It means recognition by College Board, it is placed on the top of their transcript and it means money. The students that reach this level get scholarship money and for both of these students that is a very big deal. One wants to be an engineer and the other a history professor. Yes I had a little something to do with that.

So when I heard the news today I did my little happy dance, pumped my fist and said YES. If two can do it than it can be two more and two more until we are in double digits, where we belong and where I know we can get.

YES!

Things That Make Me Happy

2009-09-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Okay my sister started a list of things that make her happy. She plans to list 100 items and she ends her post by encouraging others to do the same so I decided to finally take her up on it.

1. Waking up next to Paul each morning, especially after we have had a fight
2. Listening to Andrew and Colin play their insturments
3. Reading a good book
4. A weekly massage
5. Hearing Colin sing
6. Holding new babies
7. Watching the light bulb go on for my students when they finally get the hang of a complex subject
8. Watching EHHS marching band in competition
9. Meeting my friend Mary for coffee so we can catch up
10. Meeting my friend Kerri for lunch
11. Long distance phone calls to talk to family and friends
12. Getting comments on my blog
13. Watching sappy movies
14. Writing
15. Curling up under a blanket when it is raining outside
16. Going to work everyday
17. Hanging out with my girlfriends
18. Antique hunting
19. Going to the Fort Worth Zoo
20. Looking at old photos
21. Baking
22. Listening to a good sermon
23. Sharing a banana split
24. Going to Broadway productions
25. Walking around the neighborhood with Paul
26. The First Day of School
27. Watching my parents together after almost 50 years
28. Finding the perfect gift
29. Visiting with out of town friends and family
30. Having a conversation with my sons about whatever comes to mind

This is my first 30 and they were hard to come up with. I typed as they came to me I'm sure if I had to put them in order of importance I would move some of them around. Pass it on make your own list.

First Week Of School

2009-08-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Do you remember how you felt on the first day of school, the first week of school?

When I was a kid I loved school even though I was not a strong student at all. I loved the first day of school. New clothes for the first day or two, seeing old friends, moving up a grade and checking out the boys were all important first day and week activities. I did not have crazy dreams about forgetting to wear clothes or where my locker was. I did hope for better grades but I didn’t have crazy dreams about those either. I was just excited about school. I grew up in a very rural area with strict parents so most of the excitement that happened in my life happened at school.

Now that I am an adult I have the wonderful opportunity to experience the first day and week of school every year when I enter the classroom as a teacher. It is a wonderful feeling. This year however has been really unbelievably awesome.

Our principal that came to us in the middle of last year returned to us this year. Consistency is a wonderful thing especially in an inner-city school. Our principal worked very hard to put systems into place for the beginning of this school year. It paid off in a huge way; school opened very smoothly. Everyone was on the same page and because of this behavior has improved ten fold. We do have those kids that do not like the rules and think they run the school but they are quickly finding out they do not and that there are real consequences for their actions. The district has put some teeth into the cell phone and dress code policies which will also help with the overall discipline and attitude within the building.

I have great kids this year. Our academic coordinator did a great job of being sure the right kids got put into AP classes. I do not have any whiners, I have two skippers and that will come to a fast halt Monday when I speak to the stay in school coordinator. He and I will dog them like there is no tomorrow and they will not miss too many more days or they and their parents will be fined.

Our school is far from perfect but we are on our way to fixing what needs to fixed and improving what we can improve. So here is to a great New Year!

My Birthday

2009-07-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today is my birtdhay and I received the best gift from my Mom this morning in my inbox. I am going to share my Mom's gift to me with y'all. So today's post is written by my Mom.

July 29, 1962, I woke with the great desire to go to the bathroom about 2:30 a.m. Found myself in the bathroom several times thinking that the corn on the cob I had for dinner the night before was causing all the cramps. About 5:00 I decided oh no, the corn is innocent, I am having labor pains. I woke your father up and told him it was time to go to the hospital.

Now we had a 1953 Ford car that didn't always start so Dad kept it on the hill where we park our cars incase he had to roll it down to start it. I believe that morning it was good to him. We drove from Brunswick down route 2 to Bellview Maternity Hosp., between Latham and Schenectady. Since it was early Sunday morning and Dad was afraid to stop the car in case it stalled, he slowly ran through every red light we came to, lucky him most of the lights were green and except for Troy and Watervliet, very little lights to worry about.

We were at the hospital shortly after 6:30. Remember in 1962 fathers were not part of the birthing process. Once checked in the soon to be father was told where he could wait and after examining the expectant mother about how long it might take. Being a first time Mom he was told he could go and get some breakfast if he wanted to as it would take some time.

Dad went to Hoffman's Diner for breakfast while I tried to pace the labor room because it was more comfortable. The nurses kept telling me I needed to stay in bed, what did they know, I knew how I felt.

When birthing time got closer the dr. arrived and did the exam. I was wheeled into the delivery room where I was given gas to put me to sleep and you were born. Dad returned to the hospital shortly after you were born and taken in to see you immediately.

I was back in my room where they woke me up, I was very tired from spending the night on my bathroom trips and with the gas I was solidly sleeping. The nurses kept encouraging me to wake up, they finally brought you in to see me when they felt I was awake enough. I tried nursing you but you were more interesting in hic-cupping and I wanted to cry because I felt like a failure since you wouldn't stop hic-cupping. Dad wasn't around and since visiting hours were set from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 I was okay with that.

Sometime between 2 an 3 your father walked into my room with Gram and Grandpa. He had trusted his car enough to go to Stillwater and get them to see their granddaughter, for Gram it was number 2 granddaughter but for Grandpa it was his first grandchild and he just beamed from ear to ear. They had to see you in the nursery as babies were only allowed in the room with the mothers and fathers at feeding time.

Aunt Dorothy visited you in the hospital and then she went to Woolworth 5 & dime store and bought you two doll dresses to wear. You were 6 lbs. 2 ozs. and 18 1/2 inches long, perfect doll size. We were going to bring you home in a sleeper but Aunt Dorothy would not hear of that.. The doll clothes were a lot more affordable then baby clothes and Aunt Dorothy was on a tight budget. The dresses were beautiful, one was all pink and the other was pink and white.

You were probably five days old when we brought you home as that was the norm. You wore clothe diapers as disposables were just coming out and we couldn't afford them anyway.

Now you have the story of your real birthday. You can send this to Heidi or anyone you want to if you so desire.

Love,
Mom & Dad

25th Anniversary

2009-07-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Warning some of you might find this “sappy” if you don’t like “sappy” and pictures you might want to skip this post.

Penny Candy getting ready for our wedding.

August 11, 1984 is the day Doohickie and I got married. I’m posting this a few weeks early because August is going to be crazy busy this year. I wanted to take the time to honor him and our anniversary. We have been through a lot together both good and bad and have made it through thick and thin at times it was very thin.

So here is to a wonderful friend, father, husband, son, and uncle and may we have at least another 25 years together my love.

Doohickie and I met while we were both in college; we actually met at a fraternity party. A friend of mine liked a guy that was one of Doohickie’s fraternity brothers so off to a party I went. This good looking tall blonde, I was thinking oh maybe he is a Swede, came walking toward me and I smile to myself thinking this is more like it. Some weird guy had just finished hitting on me. I sent the weird guy on his way after a few well practiced stares and at least two cold remarks. Doohickie and I talked for awhile and then we did not see each other for awhile but when we met up again we made a date.

We had not planned on getting married right away but when Doohickie’s job offer was from a company located in California we decided to get married before moving there. So we did.

I am ready for my limo ride to the church. It had rained that morning but it stopped before we were ready to leave.

Both my Mom and my Dad were so important to me so I wanted both with me as I walked down the isle. I was so nervous as we walked down the isle.

The ceremony starts and we are united as one.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Doohickie.

After our honeymoon to Nova Scotia we headed out to California. We spent three years in Los Angeles and we grew up together as a couple. We were just 22 when we got married and I know that there were people that did not think we would last for more than a year or two. Our first November in California was warmer than anything we were used to so we took this picture on the pier and it was our first Christmas card together. We found it rather funny to send this back home to all of our family and friends that still lived in Yankee Land or in the Midwest.

We did not have a lot of money when we lived in LA so we used to drive around a lot and just see things. Sometimes we would drive for an hour, then stop at a McDonalds before heading back to our apartment vie a different route. The best drive ever was when we headed to Las Vegas to visit Doohickie’s parents while they were in Vegas. Doohickie wanted to take the shortest route possible and miss the LA freeways as much as possible. So he plotted out and route and after work we headed out. We did not know LA very well yet at all and he drove us right through Watts. Man that was just a little bit unsettling it looked like the race riots from the 60s were still going on. Needless to say we took the freeway home from Vegas.

While living in LA we lost a baby and then successfully had a baby our first son was born in 1987. While I was pregnant with son number 1 I had the worst morning sickness. It lasted morning noon and night. Poor Doohickie he had to open every window in the duplex before he could cook any meat because the smell would send me as quickly as I could to visit the porcelain god.

After son number 1 was born we moved to Texas. I loved Texas just slightly closer to Yankee Land but not so close that I would freeze to death in the winter time. I hate being cold and that is another thing about Doohickie he really does not like the heat and he misses the winters but he moved to Texas twice so that I could be warm and happy. Doohickie has been my rock and my comforter in the sad times of my life as well. We lost 3 more babies before son number 2 was born. He cheers me up when I get blue in June or when I miss my Yankee Land family. He encourages and supports any endeavor that I want to try and when son number 2 was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder I continued to be a stay at home so that he could get as much therapy as was needed

Doohickie and son number one at the park and they are ready to feed the ducks.

Doohickie being a wonderful Dad. Son number one wanted Daddy to swim with him so Doohickie did and he let me take the picture as well.

He builds things when I ask him too. When son number 1 was almost 3 son number 2 was on the way so Doohickie built a captains bed for son number 1. I told him what I wanted it to look like and he built it. In fact we still have it in our spare room; neither son 1 or 2 can use it they are both to long for the bed. That’s what happens when you live in Texas your kids get really tall: 6’5” and 6’3” to be exact.

Son number two is in the denim jacket facing the camara as he stands near Doohickie. Dad knows how to climb better than Mom so he gets the honors.

Doohickie places the newest items for advancement in cub scouts on son number two. I would always get a lump in my throat when I attended one of these events with my boys. He was and is there for us when we need him to be.

1998 we took a REALLY BIG family vacation. One of our stops was Sea World in San Diego. Son number one had a new camara so he took this picture. We all loved this vacation.

His Dad and his two brothers along with his Mom and extended family influenced who he was and is. The picture of Doohickie with his Dad and his two brothers is one of my favorites. Yes he takes after his Mom’s side of the family because his Dad’s side is on the shorter side of the six foot mark.

Doohickie is a very good sport and gets talked into activities that another person would say no way to. For several years in a row he was asked to be a part of the Easter pageant, Advent program and the talent show.

One of my favorite pictures of him. He might not agree but I love his smile in this picture. He had just finished being the terrified Roman Soldier.

Doohickie as most of you know has a new hobby: his bicycles. Yes it is a plural he has more than 1 or 2. I give him grief on a regular basis for all of the bike junk and bikes in the house but in all honesty I’m glad he has started riding again. It helps him keep his weight and blood pressure down. This is good because he better not check out on me too soon I would not be happy with him. I am sure Doohickie has a picture that he likes better but I did this as a surprise so I did not want to ask where his other pictures of himself are.

The last picture is of the Doohickie family. It was taken at son number two’s high school graduation this June.

Doohickie is the love of my life he still gets to me after 25 years together and when we have been apart for more than a normal day I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see him again.

Bluesy

2009-06-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

Summer is my favorite season, if it wasn’t I would be in big trouble because I live in a state were it is summer from May to October. But June is a rough month for me and mixed in with all of the happiness there is just enough sadness that I end up feeling blue and I usually end up with a migraine at some point during the month. The migraine sends me to bed and I end up dealing with my blues in my dreams.

June to me is a month of endings and some years the endings seem more final than others. June is a month of school years ending with students moving on and some graduate. In 05 and this June I watched my own sons graduate from high school. I know this is how it is supposed to happen but as I Mom I watch them growing up and the end of high school means they are grown up.

June is also a month when I am reminded of my Grandmother’s death. She has been gone for more than 10 years now but I still ache for her at times and June seems to be when it is the worst. It’s funny I don’t believe in ghosts but there are times, especially when I need guidance, I hear my Grandmother’s voice. The first few times it happened it was startling but now it just is and there are times when I find myself listening and waiting for her voice.

I get restless in June; I want to do something but I can never quite put my finger on what it is that I want to do. This is when I start to think about moving even though I don’t really want to move. It is when I think about taking a long trip to nowhere in particular but I usually don’t go too far or anywhere, money and other commitments keep me where I am.

This June did have bright spots that accompanied my blues. My youngest son graduated from high school in the top 25% of his class. Had he taken all regular classes he may have finished higher but he would not be college ready. All of this from a child that did not speak before he was almost 4 and was in the special education program until he was in 6th grade. He plays 2 instruments and sings in a beautiful deep voice that is very soothing. He has decided that he wants to become a professor of music history. If you would like to see pictures of his graduation go to doohickie's blog.

My parents were able to make the trip to Texas to see their grandson graduate and they spent three weeks with us. We went antique hunting, ate at some great restaurants, Mom and I played scrabble and we went shopping. I cried when they left, I hate good-byes.

I was very nervous about my son’s choice of college. He was accepted to three schools and his 2nd choice was my first choice but I tried really hard not to heavily influence his decision. This past week he had freshman orientation and I went with him. After the orientation was over I felt much better about his choice, I can see how he will fit in and that they will be supportive of his educational and personal goals. So in August I will help my youngest child move into his dorm and he will start the next chapter of his life.

In a couple more days another June will be gone and when July starts my blues always seem to lift and fad.

Test Scores

2009-06-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

The unofficial results are in.

I did not have a 100% passing rate this year on the state standardized test. One of my students failed so my passing rate was 98%. I was not thrilled with this but I can not take the test for them. None of the other teachers had a 100% pass rate. In fact I and one other history teacher have had the 100% pass rate. He now teaches government and economics which are not tested.

The good news the tutoring camps paid off for the 10Th graders we saw a 10 point jump over all with some of sub-categories going up more than 10 points.

The fair new our 11Th grade scores went up 5 points over all. I was hoping for a bigger increase for the 11Th graders because this is the class they must pass to graduate. The good new we have less than 30 students that will need to retake history portion of the test over the summer.

Our special education scores also went up so the modification guides that we put in place seemed to help. We will implement these guides earlier in the year so the students really learn how to use them.

On a different note son number two graduates from high school tomorrow night. I am really not ready for this his senior year has gone by quicker than I ever thought it would or wanted it to.

Dad

2009-05-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today my Dad turned 70. It does not seem possible.

I had orginally planned to do this really nice tribute to my Dad with pictures and lots of nice things to say and some funny things to say. Then my youngest got the lamest assignment I have ever seen in my life that he need help with so Dad's tribute got put on the back burner for a bit. The economics assignment actually had to be sewn on a shirt and I will not let the men in my house touch my good sewing machine. If my hands get better one day, I want to be able to use my machine. I have been able to add pictures since I posted this on May 11th.

So here is a short tribute to my Dad and maybe if time is on my side this week I can come back and add pictures to this.

This picture was taken about 10 years ago at my Aunt's home in the summer.

My Dad and Mom had me when they were young, barely 22 to be exact. My Mom tells the story that my Dad could not even say the word pregnant with regards to my Mom's condition. She was "in the family way" or "they had a loaf in the oven". My Dad was very protective of me from day one and still is or tries to be even though I am here and he is in Yankeeland.

My Dad did not graduate from high school but he made sure that we all knew how important an education was and he pushed us to do our best. Sometimes to the point that I wanted to scream because school was not easy for me and honestly there were times when I did scream "I am doing my best" and storm off down the hall. His favorite thing to do that I can laugh about now but oh I hated it at the time was to wait until I was almost to my room and he would call me back I was seething but I went. I would walk up to him and in my best scowl say "What?" He would wait and then with a totally serious face ask me "So how far would you have been if I hadn't called you back here?" I would try to stay mad it at him but in the end I laughed as I sputtered under my breath and went back down the hall.

Watching my Dad with his grandchildren is one of the biggest joys I have. He adores them even more than he adores my sister, brother and I. When he talks about his grandchildren you can hear his pride and his delight in all that they do. The pictures that would go here are many. The picture of my Dad and son number one swinging and laughing in our backyard. My Dad and son number two giving each other nuzzles. My Dad holding NP Diva as a baby with more than one party hat perched on his head.

My Dad is 70 and he is starting to show his age. I think this may be more shocking for me than for my brother and sister because I get to see him once a year. In my minds eye my Dad isn't a day over 50 yet I know that can not be right because I am closer to 50 than he is. So when I see him and he is not as young as I remember him it shocks me and unsettles me just a little.

I have wonderful pictures of my Dad most if not all of which were taken before I had or there even were digital camaras. So I will come back and add those.

I will close with this story of my Dad. My best friend and I wanted to go shopping and my Dad was heading to Wards to pick something up from the catalog department we wanted to go with him. He told us no because he did not want to wait for us he was only going to pick up one item. We insisted on going with him and he informed us that if we went and we made him wait he would put a banana peel on his head like a hat. Of course we did not believe he would do it so we got in the truck and went with him. Well you guessed it he ended up waiting for us and when we met him on the loading dock he was standing their grinning from ear to ear with the peel perched atop his head. We were young teens and we were mortified. Looking back I should have known he would do it. That is one thing about my Dad if he says he will do something he will do it.

I could not find all of the pictues I talked about because of course since I am looking for them I can not find them. I am adding some that I really do like. They are of my Dad and son number one, my Dad with my Mom, my Dad being funny in his hat before my wedding, he did not wear it to the church and my Mom and Dad with me when I graduated from college finally in 2005.

So to my Dad who will see this when my Aunt or my sister show it to him I say happy 70th Dad and we love you forever yes we do!

Hands

2009-05-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever really stopped and looked at your hands? I do not mean to see do I need a manicure or did I get a paper cut just now kind of look but to really look. Hands say a lot about a person.

You are probably wondering what in the heck is she talking about? The pain in my hands woke me up this morning at 5:30; no sleeping in for me I am up. I have not slept well for the last few nights. I kept waking up because my hair was not there it is was causing weird dreams. But that is a completely different story suffice it to say I had planned to sleep in the morning.

Before I developed the problems with my hands about 7 years ago I never thought about my hands. I washed them, put lotion on them and used them a lot and I did not really take care of them.

Now I pay the price. My fingers lock, my knuckles swell, I can not quilt or cross stitch without pain after 5 or 10 minutes so it really isn't worth it to get the project out. My hands shake when I write with a pen or pencil for to long. I have several uncompleted projects that I feel awful about not finishing becuase they were started as gifts for people.

So if you do not have problems with your hands take care of them. Yes wash them and put lotion on them but be kind to them as well. If you break them or sprain them follow the doctors orders completely. When we injure ourselves when we are young we do not realize it will come back to haunt us later. If they bother you do not ignore it go to the doctor and let her tell you it is nothing to be worried about. Massage them or better yet have a professional do it for you once in awhile; believe me it feels wonderful and you will wish you had done it earlier. Rest them; do not use your hands so hard everyday without a rest during the day. I do not mean rest them at the end of a long day or when you sleep but actually stop for a few minutes during the day and just rest your hands. Cover them when it is cold and use sunblock on them.

This is my public service announcement so that you will not wake up at 5:30 in the morning because your hands hurt so bad you can not sleep.

Inspired by TC and Bone

2009-05-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Okay I've been thinking about cutting off my long hair but everytime I got ready to do it I chickened out.

Then I saw TC's cute cut and well Bone's is really short so when I was bored because I was still on my "flucation" I called my hairdresser and she cut it off. So I got a Liz Taylor retro cut. When Liz was in her 20s and 30s she had thick dense wavy hair which is what I have so I went with an updated version of her hair.

Teaching with the Swine Flu

2009-05-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

Okay that is a little misleading. I wanted to catch your attention. I do not have the Swine Flu but my school is closed until May 11th because of the swine flu. If I taught a different grade level I would not be stressing this little “flucation” but I teach 10th grade AP World History. The AP test is May 14th and we have been out of school since April 30th so my kids are missing valuable instruction and after-school review time.

Then one of my overachievers emailed my work account and I had to most awesome idea. Well it took a few emails for the idea to really click. She emailed wanting to know if the shutdown was true. I told her that it was and because of that she needed to be studying on her own for the test. This young charge of mine emails back with the OMG I forgot about the test what do I need to do? I kept my fingers from typing YOU STUDY! (I have to remind myself on many occasions that my students are 15 and 16 year olds depending on when their birthday is. They must be 5 by September 1st to start kindergarten.) I told her that most of my material was at school but if she gave me a couple of hours I could start to put study guides together for her and email them to her.

This brought about another email: Ms. PC can you email these people as well and that is when it hit me like a ton of bricks. They all have Myspace pages so instead of trying to make sure I have accurate emails for everyone and sending tons of attachments I used my unused Myspace page and started to post study guides in the blog section. I make one post and check comments on the post and it is easy-peasy as my kids would say.

I have now posted 4 study guides for my little darlings. No comments from them so I do hope that they are using them to get ready for the test. This is not a test that you lightly study for. In fact I will be really nice and give you a question that they might see on the test.
Contacts between Hindus and Muslims led to
a. the seclusion of Hindu women
b. constant warfare between the two groups
c. the absorption by the Muslims of many Hindu social practices
d. mass conversion of Hindus to Islam
e. decreased trade opportunities

Take a stab at the answer, this is one of the easier questions because it is a fact question the concept questions are even harder than this.

I can not believe it

2009-04-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

I do not have school until May 8th. Our district has closed due to the swine flu. I can not believe it.

I am such a teacher because my frist thought was dang what is going happen with the AP Test. It is May 14th how in the world are my kids going to get ready for this test without class time.

My next thought was okay I hope my students stay home while school is closed. I bet dollars to donuts that most of my kids go to the mall and the movies tomorrow.

Shocked

2009-04-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today we had our social studies standarized test. Our kids feel that they did well.

Then we got the bad news. One of our teachers passed away this morning as she was geting ready for work. She was 33 years old. I am still in shock and so are most of our kids. The school had professionals in the building for the staff and students.

She was a graduate of our school so some of the teachers had been her teacher or had been classmates of hers.

Most Awesome Day

2009-04-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

For the past week and a half I have been planning an 11th grade after school "camp" to help our students study for the state required social studies test. I have been busting my butt planning and organizing this thing.

Today was the day. I was hoping for 25 kids; in the past we have had 2 kids show up. Today we had 52 show up. It was awesome. Six teachers ran the "camp" rooms and I was the director. The students had fun; they reinforced what they had learned and we identified weaknesses so that hopefully we can address those in our classes over the next two weeks.

My goal for our deptartment is an overall pass rate of 92% the first time through the test.

Tuesaday is the 10th grade "camp" I am hoping to repeat today's success.

I am exhusted but I feel so good. This is why I teach.

Lil and Morse

2009-04-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was off campus today for a meeting so I actually got out of work at 3:45 this afternoon. That is the time I am allowed to leave school each day but it just does not happen. So I took care of ordering my new glasses and then I called Lil.

Lil and Morse, a couple I know from church. She is almost 89 and he delights in being the younger man. He is almost 87. Morse is a native Texan and he is a hoot-an-a-half. He was a teen during the depression and he served in World War II. Lil is also a native Texan and she is a class act. As my father would say “she is a real lady.” After I took care of my glasses I stopped in to see Lil and Morse.

I had planned to stay for a half-hour, forty-five minutes at the most. Almost two hours later I was still there. Morse does not get around as well as he used to so he does not get out much anymore. His mind is still as sharp as a tack and there is so much history in that man’s brain it is just amazing. He was also quite the artist in his day so I love looking at his WWII sketches. When I wrote my essay to get into graduate school I interviewed Morse and wrote his story into my paper. He was an excellent primary source. I also used him as a sounding board for several of my papers especially if I was not sure I had made my point in a concise manner. Morse was an editor for a newspaper after the war so he also caught my typos and such. I know we have spell check and grammar check on the computer but it does not catch everything. Morse on the other hand still catches everything.

Lil remembers the depression and her grandmother feeding the out-of-work-men that jumped of the trains just outside of Fort Worth. If they got off the trains in Fort Worth they would be arrested for riding the rails without a ticket. The engineers actually slowed the trains down outside of the city so the men could get off. Many of the men had come to Texas looking for work. Texas was not as hard hit as other states.

Lil and Morse have been together a long time. Lil still gets out she comes to church on Sundays Morse can not so when company comes Lil sits quietly next to Morse because she “knows” he need the conversation more than she does. Morse always asks her to “fill-in-the-blanks” of his story because he “knows” she has a lot to add to the conversation.There are a handful of married couples that I admire. Lil and Morse are one of those couples and hope that my husband and I will be like that when we are in our golden years.

I have known this couple for 12 years now and my life is richer because I know them.

Home and Back Again

2009-03-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

I traveled to Yankee Land this past week. I left on a Monday afternoon with sunny skies and with temperatures in the low 70s and by the time I arrived it was dark and a very chilly 40 degrees. I definitely needed my winter coat that evening. My sister met me at the airport. My sister was celebrating her birthday; I won’t rat out her age here I will just say that she is younger than I am.

I made it safely to my destination. My luggage however did not. One of the guys that was loading our luggage had an “accident” and he had to be taken to the hospital so they stopped loading the luggage to take care of him. By the time others realized luggage still needed to be loaded our plane had taken off. Lucky for me I did not desperately need anything that was in my luggage.

Once at my sister’s house I got to see my niece NP Diva. She is always a joy to be around. She has such a sunny attitude toward life and she will be a wonderful primary grade teacher in the future. My sister’s hubby got home from work and we spent a few short hours talking. We had conversations about work, kids and of all things the art of passing gas. I am not even sure how this became the topic of conversation but it was and NP Diva and her Dad had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. I love visiting my sister and her crew they are laid back and I could just feel the stress melting away. I did not get to see the two younger members of the family. They were fast asleep when I got there.

The next morning my sister picked up my luggage before heading to work. I got to see Jack before he went to day care. This little man is a handful and I can only say he is my sister’s payback. But because he is not mine to keep I can laugh at his antics and dote on him without feeling an ounce of guilt.

My Mom came to pick me up from my sister’s and we headed out to the farm. Let me try to describe my home to you. As you leave the suburbs where my sister lives you travel through small villages and into farm land with rolling hills that are the start of the Berkshire Mountains and in the summer the area is lush and green. In March green is not found unless there are a few early snow drops in bloom. There was no snow left so it was very brown but in another month daffodils, crocuses and tulips will be in full bloom.

My parents have a 100 acre farm with woods, ponds, flats, swamps and a creek. Growing up here was at times fun, lonely and boring. I knew I was going to get out of the one horse town and live in the suburbs or the city. I just did not think I would move that far away from everyone. So going home is a mixed bag for me; while there I was able to see the deer on the flats and on the hills. In a few months there will be fawns bounding through the fields. The creek that runs behind my parent’s home was spilling over the banks. The creek in the spring has always been my favorite part of the farm. I used to spend hours sitting on the banks and just being or day dreaming. After several days of the quiet that is my parents' life.

I am ready to be back where there is a daily hum that moves at a faster pace. It is not anything my parents can understand although I have tried to explain it numerous times. Neil Diamond said it best in I am I said: L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home, New York's home, but it ain't mine no more. Texas is where I make my home but Yankee Land pulls me back. There are times when I miss driving down dirt roads, picking green beans out of the garden, sitting outside under the maple trees while I read a book. I do not miss taking care of the chickens…I hate chickens.

My Dad was still not doing as well as I would have liked but he was better than I expected. He has started to gain back the weight he lost and his cough is under control for the first time in a long time. More importantly I was able to just spend time with my Dad and my Mom. I know that sounds like a simple thing but if you live away from family you will understand how hard that really is.

When we travel home in the summer we have so many people to see and it is hard to have any quiet time with my parents. We have such a short time to squeeze in lots of visiting and sometimes it is stressful instead of relaxing. This visit was not stressful it was relaxing. Therefore I returned to Texas refreshed and ready to return to work this Monday. I was true to my word and I did not take any work with me so I graded essays Sunday. They really need to improve so we will be working on that again this week.

My favorite part of the essays is when they write a paragraph to explain to me why they did such a poor job on the essay. If they had used that time to continue writing their essay it might have received a better grade. They are either hopeful or they have yet to realize that I do not give pity grades. I use my former English and American History teachers as my role models. I did get to see both of these gentlemen on this trip. My English teacher did not accept garbage. The first paper I ever wrote for him was garbage although I did not think so at the time. He bled red all over that paper and he gave me an F--. I didn’t even know there was such a grade. I was so angry at him after all I had always made As in English. I worked my tail off in that class and managed to pass the class. The next year I had him again and the first paper I turned in that year received an A++. My American History teacher taught me to question the textbook and conventional wisdom. He made it safe to think outside of the box and to question authority. Both of these men changed my life for the better and I try to give to my students what they gave to me. The old high school has not changed much. They have added a new wing and I would give my eye teeth to have one of those nice large classrooms. They actually do have locked doors and you have to buzz to get in the building once school is in session. I was rather shocked by this development. Even in the inner city we do not have buzzers.

All in all I had a wonderful spring break that allowed me to spend time with me family and to relax which I needed more than I realized when I first booked this trip.

HOME

2009-03-14T16:31:00.001-07:00

In my last post I expressed the concern I have for my Dad and how I felt I needed to see him for myself. I have decided to do so. I will be heading north into Yankee land to return home for a visit.

I am not sure if other people feel this way or not. The life I have created with my husband and sons is located in Texas. We have not always lived here but have called it home for the past 12 years. Yet I find myself pulled northward in my thoughts on a regular basis and even though I do not wish to live north it is still HOME. The place I was raised shaped my life and even though it is an awkward fit I still return to see the people that I left behind.

I will spend 5 days in Yankee land 4 of them on my parents’ farm with no internet although they do now have satellite television. It is funny the satellite I could live without for 4 days the internet on the other hand is difficult to live without when I visit. This is always an adjustment for me. I rely on my email to stay in touch with the world. I also enjoy following several blogs and getting the news from several sources; none of that for 4 days.

What I will get is peace and quiet and time with my Mom and Dad. The nieces and nephews will not be on spring break so I’ll only get to see them a little bit. I will get to spend the 16th with my Sister which is a big deal because that is her birthday. I can not remember the last time I was able to see her for her birthday. I hope to stop in at my Alma Mater and see a few of the high school teachers that played a large role in my life. I usually return home in the summer when school is out of session.

I am not taking any work with me it will be here when I get back that is one thing I can count on. I will also return with a peace of mind along with less stress but at the same time I will be happy to be back in Texas and suburbia. I can only take rural farm life for so long before I need a Starbucks in the morning and a Sonic in the afternoon along with a 5 minute ride to the nearest grocery store along with a large variety of restaurants close at hand. I will also be ready to go back to work. A week off and I start to think about my other kids and I want to be back in the classroom.

Silver Linings

2009-03-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

Some people are very organized. I am not. I write that in my PDAS every year that one of my goals as a teacher is to be more organized. I will admit this year I am a little better because I have actually put papers, documents and such in binders or folders. I did even better at the beginning of the year when I had a student assistant. He left me after three weeks because there was an opening in the advanced art class so he switched into that and I went back to organizing myself. So where am I going with this train of thought all over the place I think because it has been a rough week both on the work and home-front.

I am not one of those people that is so organized that I can compartmentalize my life; thus I only keep one blog and work and life both show up in the same blog. I know several people that keep two or three blogs I just can not do that. So for those of you that only like to read about educational items I am sorry that not everything I write is education based therefore you will be surprised at times by what you read. I hope you will continue to read and comment.

As I said in the opening paragraph this past week has been very rough not only at work but on the home-front as well. Messy part number one is too complicated to go into but it involves the lack of health insurance for a young adult in the family. From where I sit “socialized medicine” does not seem like such a bad thing if it means coverage for those who need it.

Messy part number two as if part one were not enough to deal with. Work, specifically my concern for my students’ ability to write well for the AP test and the amount of class time I am losing because of that wonderful required state assessment we must give. By this time the students’ that are taking the AP exam in May should consistently be writing at least 6s. That is not the case at all many of my students are still getting 1s and 2s. For those of you in the non-education world that did not take AP classes in high school, I didn’t my school didn’t even offer them, a 1 is equal to a 57 a 2 is equal to a 62 you get the idea. So if they are still writing 1 and 2 level papers their chances of passing this test is not good. So once again I find myself wondering what more can I do to help them get the concepts that they are missing and I look for the silver lining. The first one is rather silly but it helps: the have stopped using things and stuff in their essays. It would go something like this: “the French they had things wrong in their country so they did stuff to cause a revolution.” This was enough to make me want to pull my hair out. The other silver lining AP baby number 890, I give them made up names and numbers, that usually only wrote one or two paragraphs wrote a full essay and it was a 9 yes I said a 9 the highest score you can get. I am losing 2 days with them this week to the standardized test requirements so that is two less days of content and writing. Can the State make this any more difficult? Please do not tell them that I asked that or they just might.

Messy number three is not really messy but it is something that I hate doing. FAFSA! Ugh the paper work is a pain. Our youngest child is a senior in high school and we need to get FAFSA done and finding the time with everything else that is going on makes it very stressful. The silver lining is that he has already received one acceptance letter. We are waiting to hear from two other schools.

Messy number four is something that Bone wrote about in his blog a few posts ago. Bone’s post was excellent and once I can figure out how to link it I will. He wrote about parents growing older. Both of my parents will be 70 this year. That wouldn’t be so bad in and of itself the problem is that they live in Yankee land which for those of you in the South does not mean everywhere North. Yankees live along the East coast. Michigan for example is not Yankee land it is the Midwest. Yankees do not like being lumped with just anyone that is north of the Mason-Dixon Line we are a unique breed and not everyone can be a Yankee just like not everyone that lives in Texas is a Texan. TC I thought I would help you out with that one. I of course am a transplant because I now live in Texas so I only get to see my parents about once a year. My Dad has been under the weather for a while and I am considering making the trip home to see them during my spring break. My silver lining is I will get to see him for myself the down side to that is I am sure he will tell me I did not need to come and that I should not have wasted my money. I of course do not think it would be a waste of money but I know my Father it is what he will say. The silver lining is I know that deep inside he will be happy I came home. He wishes I would not live so far away even though he understands why I do.

So my semi-organized overlapping life is not real smooth right now but I just keep hanging on and moving forward as I hold onto those silver linings.

Letter Game

2009-02-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's a fun game you should play...If you want to play, leave a comment on this post letting me know, and I'll assign you a letter. You post ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on. My cousin Felicia assigned me the letter S. So here it goes. S's are really hard.

1. Stan - this is my Dad. He is strong, silly with his grandchildren and once wore a banana peel on his head when we went to Wards. He loves, cares for and protects his family. He is a wonderful Dad, Husband and Grandfather.

2. Silence - something I totally enjoy when I have the house to myself. I don't even turn on music.

3. Scrapbooking - my new hobby now that quilting and cross stitching have become very difficult for me.

4. Students - my favorite group of people. They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, intelligence levels and they are just enjoyable to be around.

5. Siblings - I have two. A brother and a sister. They are both younger than me and they mean the world to me. My sister is one of my very best friends. I do not to get see either of them as much as I would like to.

6. Spiral Diner - the Vegan Resturant in Fort Worth. This is a fun little place with a personality all of its own. I like it so much because in the middle of "Cowtown" and "Where the West Begins" along with the "Chisolm Trail" stop we can have a Vegan Resturant.

7. Savannah, GA - We went here for the first time in the summer of 05 and I fell in love with this city. We were only able to spend a day there. I would love to go back for at least a week and I would not mind living there if the opportunity came about.

8. Sonic Drive-In - Even though I do not eat meat anymore I still love Sonic. I love their drinks and there soft-serve ice cream. I love that I can get iced tea all year long not just in the summer.

9. Singing - even though I can not carry a tune in a bucket I still sing in the car and I sing in church. I'm pretty sure God doesn't care that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I also love to listen to my youngest son sing. He has a beautiful rich deep voice.

10. Shayna - my wonderful niece that is more like a sister than a cousin to my two sons. She is beautiful, talented, confident, smart, sweet and funny. I love her openess and how she embraces life. She is a blessing and I am so lucky that she is a part of my life. I wish I could see her more often than I do.

That is my list it was harder than I thought it would be.

Second Semester

2009-02-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

I like the start of the 2nd semester almost as much as the beginning of the school year. Part of the reason I like it so much is my students have a new beginning with the arrival of the new semester. If they did not do well in the first semester they have the chance to learn from their mistakes and fix it.

This new semester has already seen so many steps forward for my students and some recognition for me; both of which have given my spirits a boost even as I battle the crud.

With the arrival of the new semester I give my students the “talk”. I tell them what happened in the first semester is water under the bridge and that if they work hard this semester they will only need to make up a half credit not a whole credit. This is also where I tell them that if they don’t get it done here it is summer school or a repeat of a year with me and that they would not want to suffer me twice. This usually gets a laugh or a groan from most of my students.

I had many students battle with me in the first semester but I have one in particular that I will tell you about. This one student battled with me all through first semester. He did not turn in most of his work, was insistent that he was not smart enough or that it was too much and too hard as well. None of this was true but it is what he perceived to be true. He also believed that if he failed I would have to let him out of the class. Boy was he wrong because not only does he need my permission. He also needed the academic coordinator’s permission, the principal’s permission and his parent’s permission. This is where he underestimated my powers of persuasion. I contacted his parent’s at the end of the first semester to give them a fair warning of what was to come. I had to use the stay-in-school coordinator as my interpreter I am fluent in ASL not Spanish. Once they realized that this class will help him go to college and be successful along with the fact that he could earn up to six credit hours while in high school that was all they needed to hear. He would not be allowed out of my class and he would complete my work. I can tell you he was not happy with me at all. The first day back in class he just glared at me but then he turned in an assignment and got an 81, he just wrote a great essay and it scored a 6 on the AP World History scale. I knew he could do it and now he knows he can do it. I have seen an attitude change in this young man and the fact that his girl friend “doesn’t want to date a dummy” her words not mine sure does help. It also helped that I gave him gift advice and his girlfriend loved what he gave her. The girls in the class gave him advice that was way too expensive. It pays to have teenage sons I use what I have learned from them to help my students.

Here is another change I am seeing this semester: after school tutoring. I am after school Monday – Thursday until 5in the evening and since the second semester started I have at least seven students in my room every afternoon for help or to work on assignments. I really like this part of my day actually I love this part of my day because I get to spend more one-on-one time with my students. I also get to know them on a personal level so that I better understand them and what drives them.

By the second semester I really do know my students well and I become very protective of them. I work with their other teachers, administer, and their parents. They are my AP babies. I am the first AP class they have. Everything to this point has been Pre-AP or regular classes. They have actually asked me to talk to our principal about having AP shirts made that say AP World History Ms. Penny Candy’s AP Babies. I am not sure that it will be approved but I think it is great that they want to be known as that.
The recognition for me this year came as a surprise to me and I am honored and touched that I was named Teacher of the Year at my school. This also means that I am a candidate for Teacher of the Year for the whole district.

Disappointment and Hope

2009-01-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

This week was final exam week for the first semester where I teach. So last weekend I graded the projects that my students turned in. They had four-and-a-half weeks to complete this assignment. The students were given a rubric and there were examples in my classroom for them to look at. This assignment could be done alone or with a partner. I was after school 8 of the 10 school days before break started so if they needed guidance or access to a computer they had an opportunity to get support or resources. The students also have my work email address if they had questions over they break they could ask in an email. I received one email from a student.

We returned to school Tuesday and the project was due Wednesday so they had a reminder to turn it in. I have 52 students and with the arrival of the due date I had less than 10 projects turned in. Thursday I had 5 projects and Friday I had 5. Granted some of these students worked with a partner so when it was all said and done 40 students turned in projects. I was disappointed because last year all of my students turned in this major project.

My disappointment grew as I graded the first 5 projects; the students had not followed directions and their grades were very low. Here is where the hope comes in as I moved through the projects they did get better and in fact a few of my students that had really struggled with earlier assignments had very good projects.

The students that did not turn in the project will feel the consequence of their decision because each of them failed the six weeks and some of them failed the semester. So then I think to myself is there a bigger hope and the answer is yes. My students are learning a valuable lesson that they need to learn sooner rather than later.

Another ray of hope came as I graded the semester finals. I gave them a modified mock AP exam and I had several students pass the test straight up without a curve. I did curve the exam in the end because there will still too many failures. This exam gave me a good read of where my students are, what they do and do not understand, what we still need to work on with regards to essays and who has a realistic shot at passing the exam and who has the potential if they really work at it.

As the new semester faces us I will use the exams and the projects as a way to motivate and move forward. My hope is that none of my students fail the second semester. I hope they have learned that deadlines are important and they have to be met even if you do not like what you have been asked to do.

Time to Reflect and Recharge

2008-12-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Before I became a teacher I thought that Christmas break was all about the students getting a break. Now I know that teachers need the time as much if not more than students do.

Friday the 19th was my last day in the classroom until January 6th. We have professional development off site January 5th. I will use this break to recharge, I am honestly bone tired, and I have not felt this way in the first semester before. Recharging is great but I will also use the time for serious reflection as I plan for the rest of the school year. My students and I have a lot of ground to cover before they take the AP World History exam in May.

Reflecting is so important to being a good teacher and I think most of us do not spend enough time reflecting in a deeper way. We reflect on how did a specific lesson go or how could I re-teach a given lesson that the students did not understand. That is all good and I know that is what most of my reflection looks like so starting with this vacation I am setting a new goal for myself as a teacher. Not only will I reflect on the actual lesson and how my students responded but I will also reflect on how my actions impacted not only my students but the school climate as a whole. Is what I am doing a positive influence not only for my classroom but for other classrooms as well?

The high school I am employed at is an inner-city, low-income school. Most of my students are on free and reduced lunch. Many of them only have consistency when they are at school. We are also considered low performing. Those are the labels we have been given. But those labels do not have to define us: they only define us if we allow them to define us. Our staff and students have been given the challenge to change our low performing status and I believe this is where the deeper reflection comes in.

One of the complaints I have is that our students come to us without critical thinking skills and their writing is formulated so that they will pass the writing portion of the required standardized test. I work with my students as I question them so that they learn to analyze and not just summarize. This takes me most of the year but as LCT I have been working with my ninth grade teachers encouraging them to challenge their students in this area. I believe once our students are successful with analysis they will become more comfortable with deeper thinking. This will translate into improved scores not only on the state standardized test but also higher AP scores. If our students can earn college credit in high school they might see college success as something that is in their future.

When we return in January my goal is to work cooperatively with the English teachers so that our students understand that there are multiple ways to write effectively. They have been programmed to ask “how long does it need to be?” I tell them there is no set length; you have to answer the question completely.

Something small that everyone can do to make the school climate better is to say “good morning” with a smile to co-workers; yes even to the co-worker that makes you crazy. I also try really hard to leave my problems in my car but when I cannot I am honest with my students. A good example of this is when I was driving to school and I received a call that a dear friend had passed away that morning. She lost her battle to breast cancer. I knew my students would see that I had been crying so it was easier to tell them the truth. If I had told them nothing they would have known I was lying.

I also think it is important to reflect on past successes; therefore I will share a story about one of my former students. I had this student in my AP World History class last year. She came to me having always received high 90s in both her history and English classes. My class of course would be different she made a 70 the first six weeks of the year. She wanted out of my class desperately because she wanted those high 90s again. I refused to let her out of the class and I pushed her and worked with her when something was not working I changed how I explained it until we found a way that worked for her. I encouraged her to work with a classmate that was making 90s. She continued to struggle through the first semester but she stuck with it and by the end of the year she was making 80s in my class. What was more important than that was I watched her self-confidence increase and when the time came to sign up for her junior year classes she stayed in the AP program.

So in the end what does reflection do for a teacher? For this teacher it shows me what I have done right, what I need to continue to do and what I need to work on.

Gram

2008-12-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

December 26th is my grandmother's birthday so I wanted to take a minute and pay tribute to her memory with pictures and words.

Raymond and Jennie Phillips
This is a picture of my maternal grandparents. My grandfather died when I was little so I do not really remember him but my grandmother left an imprint on my heart and influenced my life.

August 11, 1984 the day I married Doohickie. My Grandmother is between us. She gave us a gift that I still have. She gave us a large album filled with recipes that I still use to this day. My grandmother could cook and you always knew there would be something good to eat in her kitchen. I loved her homemade donuts and her pickles. I have never been able to get mine to taste like hers.

I am not really putting the photos in a specific order anymore. The photos are really a way to pay tribute to this wonderful women. In the picture with my grandmother is her daughter, son-in-law and their two sons. She gave me my love of sewing and quilting. She also encouraged people when they were down or frustrated and to this day I still hear her voice and it usually comes when I need it most. I know it is her because no one else calls me "girly". My grandmother had grit but she was also as my father would put it a "true lady". She was not as Doohickie puts it "a priss" but she did not have a problem with my being one.

Like my sister this photo is one I really love. It is of my Mom, my Grandmother, my oldest son and me. It was taken when son number 1 was four months old.

This picture was taken at the same time and my sister is in this picture. I am not sure why my Mom did not stay in the picture.

The one type of picture I do not have but would love is one of my grandmother when she was younger. One thing she did as she got older was to travel with the senior citizens group. She took many bus trips and she had great stories to share and she never failed to tell us about the food. I know this picture does not show any of that. It is just one of the memories that I have of her. She also had a charm braclet that I imagine was very heavy. It had charms of grandchildren, and charms from places she had been. Her children may have had charms as well I do not remember it that clearly.

Gram celebrating a birthday.

My mom with my sister's daughter and Gram. I'm not really sure when this picture was taken. What I do know is that my Grandmother loved her great-grandchildren and she was always happy to see them.

My grandmother with most of her children. As usual someone was cutting up. It was probably one of the brothers because both of their faces are hiding.

This is at one of the many gatherings that occured and continue to occur with extended family. My grandmother was the oldest sibling and even here she reigns supreme. Her brothers, sister-in-laws, daugher and great-neice gather round.

I believe this was my grandmother's 80th birthday party. My aunt, brother and cousin are in the picture as well. She touched so many lives and we lost her a few short years later to breast cancer. So on this day I took a few minutes to remember a women that brought great joy to many lives. Gram had a knack for making everyone feel special and important. There are so many more stories I could share and who knows as I find more pictures I may post them and share more stories but for now I will close with this final thought. Happy Birthday Gram you are still loved and missed.

Christmas Memories

2008-12-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

I started with Halloween and then I wrote about Thanksgiving so now it is time for Christmas memories. Some may not be direct Christmas some might just be winter memories. What is really odd or maybe it is not; most of my memories are about other people.

Two of my favorite memories of Christmas past are from my childhood and they both involve my sister. I am almost 6 years older than my sister and when we were young we shared a bedroom. Sharing a bedroom had its ups and downs but on Christmas Eve we had a ritual. My sister was one of those kids that could not sleep so she would ask if she could sleep in my bed and of course I told her “no just close your eyes and sleep in our own bed”. Then the game would start. She would try to sneak out of bed and try to climb into my bed. Part of the reason I did not want to share my bed with her is because she was a wiggle worm and she also took the covers but after awhile I would give in and let her sleep in my bed because I figured some sleep was better than no sleep. She would also wake me up in the morning to let me know that Santa had arrived. My second memory comes from a time when she wanted lots of gifts under the tree so I obliged her by wrapping up each of her presents separately so that she would have lots of presents under the tree. I reminded her of this several years ago when she asked for a sewing basket for Christmas. I not only wrapped the basket I also separately wrapped each of the notions that I had placed in the basket. Even though I was not home that Christmas as I was wrapping her gift and talking to her on the phone after she opened it I felt closer to home.

Gram and Uncle Herb would often come down to visit us Christmas Day and I would often receive the type of gift I still love to get; a book. I love to read and Christmas would not be Christmas without a new book to read on Christmas day.

I remember the year I thought I knew what I was getting for Christmas. We lived in the country so our mailbox was across the road from the Wigner place and as we were driving home my Mom stopped to get the mail and there hanging from our mailbox flag was a Dawn Stage. It was the number one gift on my wish list I was so excited and then my Mom busted my bubble. My mother said “This is not yours I’m going to call the other Penny Candy relatives I’m sure they ordered it for their daughter.” I was crushed my parents did not love me enough to get me the one thing I wanted and sure enough when my mother made the phone call the gift had been delivered to the wrong house and my Dad took it to the relatives. What I did not know at the time was my Dad delivered it to his work shop and hid it where I would not find it so when I opened my Dawn Stage on Christmas morning from Santa I was thrilled to pieces. I later overheard my Mom telling a friend of hers how my Christmas gift was almost ruined because the catalog company did not wrap the package in brown paper. After all what company in the 70s did not wrap their boxes in brown paper.

Fast forward to the 1980s and it is the first year Doohickie and I were married we traveled to Arizona from California to visit family that lived there. Doohickie surprised me with a sewing machine. Most people might think what an awful gift it is like giving a vacuum cleaner as a Mother’s Day gift. I wanted a sewing machine but had not asked for one because we did not have a lot of money. I still have that sewing machine and I use it from time to time when my hands are having a good day. A few years later I was so sick with morning sickness all day long that I had not done any shopping and we could not travel to Arizona so I was very depressed thinking that we would not have a Christmas. My wonderful husband surprised me with presents under the tree he had gotten out of work early and done all of the shopping without saying a word to me so Santa truly visited my house that year.

Our oldest child has never been a morning person to the point that we had to wake him up on Christmas morning. He was four years old and still asleep at 10:30 in the morning. Watching both boys try to guess which type of Hess truck Grandma and Grandpa sent them each year was always fun. They both loved getting Legos and once presents were opened they started to build their new creations. Or the year our oldest received a “grownup” camera and his reaction was “Sweet Monkeys”.

Our youngest child was thrilled the year he walked into the living room to see a drum set ready and waiting for him. He also went through a dinosaur phase and he loved getting dinosaurs in his stocking and under the tree. He received some that “hatched” and he kept those for a very long time. Our youngest child is sick this year so he did not get to play the drums at the Christmas Eve service last night and he opened his gifts this morning with just a bit of a smile on his face. He has spent most of the day sleeping on the couch.

A tradition that we have started as a family that I hope our sons will keep as they move into their own lives is the ornament tradition. Every year each boy picks out a new ornament that is theirs. Most of the time we pick them up while we are vacationing but some years we do not travel so they are chosen from a local store. The boys will sometimes put their names on them before it goes on the tree. Our tree does not have a theme, a color and there is no rhyme or reason. What it does have is memories. Almost every ornament was given to us, made by one of us or was chosen for a reason.

Christmas comes but once a year but the memories created in one day last a lifetime. Merry Christmas one and all.

If I Were the Secretary Of Education

2008-12-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

So if Barak Obama called me Monday morning and asked me to be his Secretary of Education of course I would say yes. I would be on the next flight to Chicago to meet my new boss so we could brainstorm how to improve the public education system here in the United States.

The first thing I would do with the arrival of January 20, 2009 is throw out NCLB and start over. So now that I am starting over what would school look like. First I would assemble teachers, principals, and parents to meet with me and my staff for input.

I will not pretend to have the best ideas for elementary or middle school but I do have some that I think would be beneficial and then the experts would fill in the rest. Half-day preschool would be available for everyone starting at the age of four and your income would not figure into the equation. If you wanted your children to attend a private preschool they could but the expense would be yours. Kindergarten would be full day and all elementary classes would be limited in size to fifteen students. I would also suggest the restructuring of schools. Elementary would run from Pre-K through fourth grade. Fifth and sixth grade would be in a separate building as an intermediate school. Seventh and eighth would be middle school. Ninth grade could either be a separate campus, part of the middle school or in a separate wing of a high school building. Grading and testing needs to change for elementary and middle school while at the same time students need to reach academic success. Testing and grading for students from pre-k to eighth grade would then be turned over to people with experience in those grades. I envision a portfolio being utilized in some way.

High Schools would see a radical change under my direction. There would be a two tiered graduation system put into place. Not everyone would be forced into the college track mode. If a student was not interested in the college prep route or has disabilities that keeps them from progressing down that road they would still take academic course but they would also have the opportunity to receive vocational training in a variety of areas so that upon graduation from high school they would be prepared for work in a given area. This would look different from the vocational training of the 1980s because industry has changed and more doors would be open because of that. Of course there would be the standard cosmetology, auto mechanics and licensed vocation/practical nurse. But computer technician, CATIA design, hazardous waste handler, travel agent, auto detailing, restaurant management are just a few that would be made available. The disabled students could be placed in life skills classes if that is what there IEP determines is necessary. The academic classes that they take would have end-of-course-exams to be used as a gage to determine that they had mastered the subject. The vocational training would have licensing or exams at the end of the program as well and with those two things combined the student will have earned a high school diploma.

For those students that are college bound the rigor would be extensive with AP, IB and duel credit classes offered at every high school. These exams along with the ACT and SAT would be what are used to determine that a student is entitled to a high school diploma.

Classroom sizes would be small, no more than twenty-five students in a class. Science labs would be smaller. The school year would be extended to two hundred days in an academic year.

I would take a radical approach with parent involvement; instead of punishing the parents/guardians that have children that do not what they are supposed to I would instead reward the parents/guardians that have their children do what they are supposed to. This could be in the form of a tax credit or tax rebate it could also be in the form of monetary aid if the child decides to go to college. The parents/guardians could elect which option they would like to take.

High School staff would be assigned 10 children each that they would mentor and advise throughout their high school careers. This model allows for a relationship to develop between an adult and a student so that the adult can give advice about classes, work options, college options and any other advice that the student might need. The counselor’s job would be to counsel with regards to more serious issues.

A few things that I would not allow or I would regulate. Vouchers would not exist if someone wants their child to attend a private school they foot the bill themselves completely. Home schooling and charter schools would be closely monitored and if students were not making progress from year to year steps would be taken to shut down the charter school and the home schooled student would have to return to public school.

President-elect Obama is sure to pick someone with more experience than I have as his S of E but I can dream. If you have any educational dreams you would like to share please feel free to do so.

College Tours

2008-11-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

We toured a college today; Baylor to be exact. Both boys had attended Baylor’s Summer Music Camps but we had never toured the campus before. Our oldest son did not want to look at Baylor; he had his mind set on going out of state. So today we toured the campus for the first time and met with one of the music professors. This tour was hard for me; at first I could not figure out why it was bothering me and then I realized it is because this has always been a summer thing that they did while they were in high school. This tour really made be realize that my baby is going to be in college in the fall. It also made me a little sad because our oldest son is still trying to find his way. Most of his friends will graduate from college this spring and even though he has not taken classes in awhile it also hit me today that he is in limbo.

We have also toured TCU (Texas Christian University) and Texas Wesleyan University both of which are here in Fort Worth. The youngest has also been trying to decide which state schools to look at. We have eliminated a lot of them for various reasons: distance, not the right type of program, their reputation is not stellar with regards to music, to cut throat at the undergrad level, classes are taught to heavily by grad students are just a few. So he has decided to look at University of Texas at San Antonio and Sam Houston. He also knows that the community college here in Fort Worth is always an option for his first two years. He is so trusting and also at times very innocent still so I do worry about him going away but we will both adjust if that is what he decides to do.

As a parent I can say this whole process is very difficult. The application process, deciding which schools to look at and then financial aid are all so much more intense than they used to be. The financial aid issue is something I am a bit concerned with because of the economy. Giving is down at most schools and their endowment funds may also be off depending on how they were invested.

All of his applications will be complete by the middle of December and then we do the hurry up and wait game with one added step the audition process that each college requires. The best thing about all of this is how far this wonderful young man has come. When he was young we were not sure if he would even go to college. Would his speech and language skills catch up? Would he learn to adjust to and accept change? Would he learn to make friends? He has done all of these things and so much more. He is a kind, loving and giving young man with a future in front of him. So as his parents we will support and guide and pray that all of us make wise choices.

Thanksgiving Memories

2008-11-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is almost here. It is my favorite holiday and has been for a very long time. When I lived at home I remember Gram and Uncle Herb would often come for Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Gram of course always brought the “pink stuff.” Yes Mom I know you and Aunt Liz gave it a name in the newest cookbook but I do not remember what the name is so to me it will always be the “pink stuff.”

Some years it was cold enough to go ice skating on the pond. I enjoyed skating and up until about 5 years ago we would go skating at the Tandy Center here in Fort Worth. The closed the rink down and I started having Fibromyalgia problems so I stopped skating.

I do remember some years that the uncles would come over right around Thanksgiving to go hunting with Dad. I don’t really remember if the aunts and cousins came or not. For some reason I vaguely remember that some years we would go to friend’s homes later in the afternoon or evening for dessert but that could have been for Christmas. We do that as well some years so maybe we didn’t do it when I was at home. Mom will set me straight I am sure.

Paul and I have had many Thanksgivings together and some of them really stand out. Our first Thanksgiving of married life was in California we did not know anyone so we were going to have a quaint Thanksgiving with just the two of us. I prepared the turkey, stuffing, vegetables and dessert. I was so proud of myself; then Paul carved the bird and guess what I had left in the turkey? The plastic bag with the giblets and other stuff I do not think I even knew that stuff was in there. We laughed and ate the turkey and we still joke about it when we prepare a turkey.

The Thanksgiving of 1986 was memorable because Paul and I traveled to Buffalo for his parent’s anniversary and I was so sick at the time that it hurt to breath and I was not keeping food down. When we arrived back in Los Angeles I went to the doctor and yes I had bronchitis but I was also pregnant and Andrew arrived in July of 1987. Three years later Colin would also make me sick near the holidays and arrive in 1990.

One event that usually happens to us right around Thanksgiving is that a major appliance dies on us. One year it was our dishwasher. The funniest was when Paul opened the oven door to check on the turkey and the door came off the oven completely. It was not funny at the time but later it was. We have also had a refrigerator stop working and so did our dryer and a microwave. Last year was the first year since I can remember that something did not break on us. The one good thing about a meltdown for Thanksgiving is the Black Friday sales that make replacement a-little-bit easier on the pocketbook.

My favorite Thanksgivings are those that we have company for. I love to cook for people and have everyone be they friends, family or both around the table for a good meal and good conversation. This year we will actually go to a friends house because the floors in our front room are being redone so having company over is not really an option. I will miss cooking for people but at least we will be with each other and friends that have come to be like family to us.

May all that read this have a restful and abundant Thanksgiving and feel free to share your favorite Thanksgiving memory.

AP Awards

2008-11-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went to an awards ceremony. At this ceremony the school district I work for honored their AP Scholars and for the first time ever they also honored a select group of AP Teachers. The Academic Coordinator from each high school was allowed to nominate no more than two AP Teachers for this award and they had to justify why the nominated teachers should win the award. This year myself and another history teacher were nominated and selected to receive this award. History rocks at our school!!! Seriously we do rock we are the best department in the building. I was one of 18 teachers to receive this award tonight. I was very honored to say the least since last year was my first year teaching AP World History. So now I am officially an AP Scholar Teacher.

Halloween Memories

2008-11-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

As Halloween draws near I can not help but remember some of my favorite holidays. Some are from when I was a child and of course the rest are from when my children were little.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday but Halloween and Christmas rank right up there as well especially when the boys were little. I loved to see the excitement they had for each of these holidays. They were the bright spot to the very cold winters that made me crazy.

Growing up in the middle of cow country there were not a lot of house to trick-or-treat at. My parents were not the type that would drive to a neighborhood so we could trick-or-treat so Halloween did not do a whole lot for me as a kid. Although I do remember the princess/Miss America dress in blue that I had one year and I am sure I dressed up for the Halloween parties at school but I really do not remember any of them. I do remember going to the firehouse one time for their Halloween party and I attempted to bob for apples. Yeah, that was a big hit. For those of you that know me well you know how much I hate the water and getting my face wet in a swimming sort of way. I do remember with great fondness the many Halloweens that we have shared since Paul and I have been married. Once Andrew and then Colin were old enough to wear costumes I made them a variety of costumes and had a lot of fun doing so. Part of the fun was watching them decide what they wanted to be. Once that was complete we would wander in the fabric store finding just the right fabrics and notions for the costumes. No Velcro or glue costumes for my boys. I made the costumes for two reason actually, first I knew how to sew and second they played in the costumes until they outgrew them.

For several years we went to Halloween parties at church as a family and we all dressed up. We were a mouse, cat and elephant when Andrew was two. When Andrew was 3 he discovered Peter Pan so he was Peter Pan, Paul was Captain Hook, I was Wendy and Colin was a Lost Boy (baby). Andrew loved this costume so much he used it two years in a row.

The Halloween that we all still laugh about was in 1994. Andrew and Colin both wanted to be dinosaurs that had morphed from something else. It was a show but I do not remember what show it was. Anyway Andrew was the red dinosaur and Colin was the white dinosaur. The costumes were made out of flannel and they had stuffed head pieced and tails. I had a pretty bad head-cold that year so I stayed home and passed out candy while Paul took the two boys trick-or-treating. They walked the neighborhood with several other Dads with kids in tow. They were at least 4 or 5 blocks from home and Colin was getting tired; the costume was heavier than I realized. So Paul decided to carry Colin for a little bit and then it started to sprinkle. With that Paul and the boys headed for home. Believe me they had enough candy by this time but to make matters worse it started to pour. Of course we did not have cell phones so Paul could not call me to come and pick them up. Paul and Andrew were both pretty tired when they got home. Andrew was walking with the heavy tail dragging behind him and it was even heavier because it was soaked. Paul had to carry a soaking wet child in a heavy dinosaur costume at least three blocks before they arrived back home. Once they arrived home the boys took a warm bath and got ready for bed.

I have wonderful holidays for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well and another time I will share those.

A Typical Day For Me

2008-10-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have had people say to me teachers have it easy they only work from 8:30 – 3:30. They have the summers off. I won’t even talk about the summer issue here but I’ll take a few minutes to walk you through my day.

I am up at 5:15 in the morning unless I sleep in until 5:45. I am out the door by 7 at the latest. This puts me in the building at 7:30 unless traffic is bad. Then the real day starts.

I check my box for mail and sign in. I get stopped by the principal’s secretary so that I can be filled in on any LCT updates that came up after I left the building the day before. The Dean of Instruction calls my name as I’m leaving the office so we walk down the hall together strategizing the day. The Data Analyst and at least one Assistant Principal and another LCT usually join the conversation by the time we have reached the stairwell. After I unlock my door and we finish the conversation I meet with my Department Head for a morning check in. This is all within the first 30 minutes of my day. Some mornings my principal calls me into her office before I even have the chance to sign in and if that is the case I know I’m in for a really long and busy day. This usually happens twice a week. But it has been known to happen as many as four times a week.

Email needs to be checked; most mornings I have a meeting and if I do not I have teachers and or students stopping in for advice, help, or an ear. At 8:30 the bell rings and first period starts.

First period is my planning period so I grade papers, call parents, make copies or fill out forms so that the copy lady can make my copies for me. This 50 minutes flies by and before I know it the bell rings and with the start of 2nd period I switch into LCT mode.

For those of you that do not know LCT stands for Lead Content Teacher. This means that I am the Social Studies expert on our campus. I love my job but this is the part of my job that completely stresses me out some days. There is always something that needs to be done with this part of the job. During 2nd period I usually do one of six things: visit a social studies classroom to observe/help for the full period; do learning walks in multiple classrooms; plan with one of the American History teachers or the World History teachers; meet with the Advanced Academic Coordinator or meet with the Social Studies Director from downtown and if I am behind I get paperwork caught up.

3rd, 4th and 6th period find me teaching AP World History to 10th graders. I love this part of my job it is truly my favorite part of the day and yes I know I am spoiled because I have the best kids in the building. I have great students that I challenge, support, push and love. They go from being whiny unsure students to focused and confident students. I like knowing that I have gotten them ready to move on to other AP classes and started them on their way to a successful college career if that is what they choose.

5th and 7th period are also LCT periods. If it is a Tuesday the LCTs have a meeting with the principal. The other days I repeat period 2. I do get a 30 minute duty free lunch but there are times that I work during lunch as well.

The bell rings at 3:35 to end the day with the students and technically I can walk out of the building at 3:45. That only happens if I have a 4pm doctor’s appointment. Usually I am at work until at least 5 and many times until 6pm. I use this time for meetings, tutoring students, planning and grading projects that are really to big to bring home. I also take care of paperwork, entering grades into the computer, more emails, phone calls to parents and just about anything else that needs to be handled. Once I go home I typically have another two hours of work to complete.

Twice a month I am off campus for LCT meetings and I also conduct professional development training both on and off the campus. This means I have to plan for there being a substitute in my classroom; the part of the job I really do not like doing.

Oh yes and the last thing I am involved in is showing my students I care by attending their afterschool activities. That means football games, band competitions, volleyball games, basketball games, softball, baseball, choir and orchestra concerts and that is just the activities that I can remember.
I love my job, my school and my students. I would not give it up for all the tea in China but I sometimes get frustrated when people think teachers make too much because of all their free time. I sure would like to know what free time they are talking about. One plus side to all of the time I put in; my students recognize that I do not have a lot of free time because of all I do for them and they thank me for it so in the end it is all worth it.

My thoughts on Teaching and Education Within the Arguments Of The Campaign

2008-10-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

This will most likely be my one and only politically leaning post so if you do not want to read my thoughts on the political process with regards to education this is your fair warning to close it down now and not read it. But if you want to read and leave a comment please feel free to do so.

After watching the third and final debate between Senator Obama and Senator McCain I thought I would put my thoughts out there. First of all I do not think either of the candidates have a workable plan for education and therefore the person they choose to become their Secretary of Education will really impact the state of educational system for a long time.

I am a teacher and as most of you know I became a professional teacher in 2005 at the age of 43. With that being said I believe I was a teacher long before that point and time. I also believe that most good teachers are innate teachers. That does not mean someone cannot learn to become a good teacher; I just think that it takes them more time to do so and some do not ever become good teachers.

One of my pet peeves that people discuss when they talk about education is how far behind the United States is with regards to math and science when compared to other countries. Let’s look at that for just a moment. Countries like Germany, Japan, South Korea and the list goes on do not educate all of their students to the extent that the United States does. Most students in those countries are identified and tracked by the time they reach intermediate to middle school age. What this means is that if those students are not “university material” they are trained for occupations. There is nothing wrong with this but those students are not taking the types of high school/college prep class that the students in the United States are. This country believes that everyone is entitled to a free public education and I agree with that. I also believe that we have turned our backs on vocational training in high schools for those students that want that track. The policy wonks have decided that everyone should be “college ready”. That affects our rankings so people need to compare apples to apples not apples to cantaloupe.

I will not go into all of my disagreements with NCLB (No Child Left Behind) I will just say I do not believe that there is a baby in that bath water so they need to throw it all down the drain and refill the bath tub with clean water.

One comment that Senator McCain made that I had a major issue with was when he said that when people leave the military they should be allowed to become teachers without having to pass any tests. Excuse me? So some person that joined the armed services right out of high school serves his 4 to 6 years that he signed up for, and has only been trained to drive a tank, can come back to the states and walk into the classroom and teach? So is my degree and all of the other degrees worth nothing? He has got to be kidding! Does that mean that once I have my Masters of Military History degree I can go and be a general in the United States Army?

I also take issue with Senator Obama saying that only math and science teachers should get paid more money to teach. Does he believe that those students suddenly become easier to teach if it is not a math or science class? I hate to tell him if they struggle in math and science they are most likely struggling in all of their core academic classes.

The other issue I have with Senator Obama and Senator McCain is that they want to hold parents accountable, that they have to be part of the solution. Believe me when I say every teacher in America thinks that parents have to be part of the solution. My problem is that neither of them has said how they would do that. We haul parents into to court on a regular basis in the district I work for because of truancy or other issues with their children and more often than not the behavior of the child does not change. So until they give me concrete examples of how parents would be part of the solution they are both blowing smoke as far as I am concerned.

The education system did not “break” in a year it will take longer than a year and quick fixes to truly fix the problem. In the end it will take educators that are still in the trenches to help fix the problems not policy wonks that are so far removed from the classroom that they have no clue what is like today. Until we are asked real effective and lasting change will not happen.

Trains, Legos and Other Boy Toys

2008-10-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

Colin decided to rearrange his room and make it more adult. He also wanted his electronic keyboard and computer in the room so he can compose so we cleaned up his living space. Granted they haven’t moved the computer in there yet but I’m sure they will in the next few days. With Paul traveling it keeps getting pushed back. This event leads me to today’s thoughts.

As Colin cleaned up we had to decide where to put the trains, Legos and Duplos along with the many other boy thing Colin had collected over the years. Some of the items were very easy to get rid of. They either went in the trash or were donated to our church for the annual garage sale. It wasn’t really hard to decide what to do with the Thomas tracks and trains or the Legos and Duplos; we boxed them up and put them in the spare room. All of this cleaning and reorganizing took me down memory lane. It just seems so strange to me that my children are now 21 and 18. I am not sure where the time went but I do know that it went away faster than I ever imagined that it would.

Andrew was given his first set of Duplo blocks when he was 3 years old. He loved the blocks right away and he was very happy to have my help in learning how to follow the directions and build the blocks. Then he got his first set of Legos and all of that changed. All of the sudden Mom went from being a great builder of Duplos to a very incompetent builder of Legos and the refrain I heard more times than I can count was: “Mommy, girls don’t build right I’ll do it myself or I’ll wait for Daddy to come home from work and he can help me.” Of course my ego was crushed and to top it all off Legos were the start of Mom does not know everything. Colin very quickly learned this refrain from Andrew and I was barely allowed to help with the Duplos. Colin preferred Andrew’s or Daddy’s help Mom came in 3rd at best. If our golden retriever Mollie had shown any ability with Legos she would have ranked higher on the chain than I did.

We had Lego boats that really floated in the tub, more airplane styles than you can count, at least 5 different castles, more car and truck types than you can count, Star Wars came out of our ears and we just generally kept the Lego Company in business. We should have purchased stock actually I’m not sure that they sell stock in Lego. It was money well spent and our boys had many happy hours playing with them. Hopefully someday they will have children to pass these Legos down to.

The one down side to all of those Legos, they were everywhere. I can not even begin to tell how many times I vacuumed up a Lego piece or worse yet stepped on one. Those little suckers hurt and they seem to multiple like rabbits when you are not looking. Honestly when I think about all the Legos Andrew and Colin had I do not really remember either of these things unless I think about it for a long time. I truly remember the fun they had building and playing with Legos. When Colin put them away he officially closed a chapter in his life that has made me sigh. It is just one more thing that makes me acknowledge that he is a young adult and no longer a little boy. It is a good change but a sad one at the same time.

It's the little things

2008-10-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

I know it is a pretty obvious statement but it is the little things that make life wonderful and very interesting.

Today my students asked me what I do when I get home from work. They were shocked to find out that Paul cooks most nights and that I do not clean the house or do the dishes. I do the laundry and I feed the animals but I do not scoop the litter box. After all Paul wanted the cat he can clean the box. I cleaned Figaro’s box the whole time he was alive. But in talking with my students about my daily life it made me realize how lucky I am that I have a husband that likes to cook and he doesn’t complain about the cleaning. After all he is the one that wanted to cancel the maid service that we had. The boys also help out around they house so it gives me time to do school related work; which at times seems to be never ending.

Another little thing that makes my day is the towel warmer that is in my bathroom. It makes my towel nice and warm to wrap up in after I get out of the shower. I really love it in the winter time.

Notes from my students that they leave on my desk or at the bottom of the assignment also make my day. Of course some make me laugh while others make me cry. They will give me their reasons as to why they did poorly on a test, did not complete their homework and just little things about themselves or about what they think about me or my class. Most hate my class but at least like or love me. They hate my class because it is so hard for them. For the first time they are really truly being held to a very high standard and I keep their feet to the fire until the middle of May and then a let up a little bit after the AP exam is over.

Phone calls from family and friends that I do not get to see very often bring a smile to my face because it lets me know that they are thinking of me and that they miss me as much as I miss them.

My sons still give me a hug and a kiss each night before I go to bed; it used to be that they gave me a kiss before they went to bed. Now I turn into a pumpkin if I am up much past 10 pm and they are up well past 10 so as I say good night to them and head to my bed they give me the hug and a kiss.

Colin has to create a Senior Scrapbook for English class this year and he is letting me help with the design of the book. Working on a creative project with him is always enjoyable.

Listening to Colin sing and play the piano as I drift off to sleep is a wonderful gift that I will truly miss when he moves out of the house. He has a rich deep comforting voice especially when he sings hymns that I remember from my childhood.

My fibromyalgia is under control again and because of that I can face each day with less pain and more energy. That is so important in my profession especially at my school. My students have so much instability that they worry when a teacher is ill or just not themselves for a day. They want to be sure that I will be there. That is why I warn them if I am going to have a sub they do not like walking into a room with a sub they did not know about. Even when they do know about it I get things like “Ms. Please don’t leave us again we did not like that sub.” Of course when questioned about what was wrong with the sub it comes down to I wasn’t there.

Last but not least my husband of 24 years still loves me for better or worse and I feel the same way about him. As I crawl into bed he is by my side and for that I am truly greatful; for even though it at times seems like a little thing it is a wonderful thing.

Real Time Post

2008-09-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

I had an exciting day at work for me. First we had open house this evening so I did not come home after work I just stayed at school and got some work done and while I was doing that Christmas came early to my classroom. The tech guys came and installed a promethean board in my classroom. They are really cool interactive boards; gone are the days of chalk or white boards. If you would like to see what they can do a Google search and there are all types of demonstrations to watch. I am so excited because I went to the training and early August and have just been impatiently waiting to get one of these in my classroom. The second exciting event ties directly to open house. Last year we had 75 parents come to open house; we have 1,500 students enrolled at our school. Pretty depressing when you stop and think aobut how few people came to learn about where their child attends school. This year we had 600 parents. I was so happy because when the parents take an interest that is when we start to see changes occur. Good things are happening at my school and I’m really thrilled to be a part of it.

Syracuse State Fair

2008-09-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

People tell me that I should blog and I’ve said I just do not know what to blog about. To me I just lead a normal and at times a slightly boring life that people would not want to read about and the people that might care I send a once a week email to and they can read it or not. Then I though what if I wrote in retro time; I have some great memories and as I’ve been listening to Pandora.com on the computer some of those memories have been flooding back.

For those of you that do not know about Pandora.com it is really cool you put in a song or an artist and from there the computer just starts playing different music that you might like based on your first selection. If a song you really do not like starts to play you can give it a thumbs down and if you really like it you can give it thumbs up.

Anyway I put the Osmond Brothers into the computer a couple of nights ago and soon I was having flashes of memories while I was writing lesson plans. My sister knows this story well and if she has slightly different memories she can add her memories as well.

I believe it was the summer of 1975 possibly 1976 and the Osmond Brothers were going to be at the State Fair in Syracuse, New York and like most teenage girls in the 1970s I love the Osmond Brothers especially Donny. My friend Debby had informed me of the concert and we desperately tried to get her Mother to agree to take us. After all Debby had family there we thought it would be a sure thing but it was not. So we tried a different approach. We asked my parents and to be honest I am not sure what transpired but I am sure my Aunt Dorothy had a hand in it. My parents agreed to let me go to Syracuse with my younger sister and I would get to see the Osmond concert. We tried to convince Debby’s Mom that Debby needed to come also but Debby did not get to go.

So my sister and I got on a Greyhound bus and headed to Syracuse. There were two seats left on the bus when we got there but they were not next to each other. There was no way I was going to let my little sister sit by herself near strangers; so we shared a seat and when it got tight feeling she sat on my lap. If the lady in the seat next to us had not been so large we most likely would not have felt so tight in our shared seat but we arrived safely in Syracuse and spent the night with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle John.

The next day was the day of the fair. Aunt Dorothy took us to the fair while Uncle John went to work and he met us at the fair in the evening. It rained most of the day at the fair but we did not care we were at the fair and I was going to see the Donny Osmond in real life. That evening Aunt Dorothy and I headed to our seats while Uncle John took my sister to the midway for some fun.

I remember that I loved the concert but what I remember with even more fondness was what happened after the concert. Once the concert was over we met up with Uncle John and my sister. We were both exhausted as we headed to the parking lot and then we hit a snag; my Aunt Dorothy could not remember where she had parked her car so we wandered around for what seemed like forever. My Uncle John had of course remembered where he had parked but in my Aunt Dorothy’s defense we had been there all day my Uncle John had only been there for a few hours. They finally decided that Uncle John should take us home. He took us home and put us in bed. I had been so excited I did not fall asleep right away so I heard my Aunt Dorothy come home. She asked my Uncle John if he had given us a bath or shower before we went to bed. He told her he had not because it was late and we were exhausted. This did not surprise me because my Aunt Dorothy is very clean. She said “John but my clean white sheets will be all dirty because you did that.” His comment and for this I loved my Uncle John “Dorothy they are only sheets you can wash them when the girls get up. They are girls that had a busy happy day and sleep with pleasant dreams was more important than white sheets.”

I know we spent a day or two more with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle John before they put us back on a Greyhound bus for home and this time we each had our own seat next to each other.

My first post!

2008-09-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

So who's Penny Candy? Well, if my mom had her way, she would have named me Penelope Candace, or Penny Candy for short. She did not, but I decided to use that for my blog name.

By the way this blog was set up by my husband, Doohickie, so that I can comment on other people's blogs without being anonymous.