Twenty-five years ago, mother told me multiple times that I should get my teacher certification. I was majoring in history and minoring in English at the time, working multiple jobs to pay my way through a BA. The thing is, I just couldn't figure out how I could student teach, work a job, get sufficient sleep and keep my sanity all at the same time. Plus, I knew I didn't want to teach my beloved history to a bunch of ingrate public school varmints who wouldn't appreciate the subject matter as much as I always did.
Fast forward to this afternoon when I received a passing score on my state certification test for history - yippee! At this stage in my teaching career, I know I could give the kids a run for their money in class and no doubt have them thinking history is not a total snooze. And maybe I'll get the chance to prove that in the near future as our district transitions 6th graders from elementary to middle school. I'm now certified to teach reading, English, ESL, special ed and, finally, my precious history.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Everything they say about Texas weather is true
Winter is doing its usual psycho trip on Texas. Bipolar, multiple personalities or something along those lines. Last weekend we were hunkered down after an icy, school cancellation Friday, with highs in the 30s. Today the temp hovered around 80 and I was running around in a pair of flip flops outside by the pool. It's something of a joke in Texas when certain school districts cancel classes for a few patches of ice. Other than a slick driveway and pool area, this was about the only other sign of winter I noticed in the backyard - some icicles on this one shrub outside my kitchen window.
Compared to our back yard in England last year, this was a bit of a let down. It makes for pretty pictures, but is a pain in the patootie to drive in when the Brits are no better prepared to clear roads than their Texas counterparts.
Compared to our back yard in England last year, this was a bit of a let down. It makes for pretty pictures, but is a pain in the patootie to drive in when the Brits are no better prepared to clear roads than their Texas counterparts.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Snow Day, Slow Day
We don't get them very often here in Texas. And it's not really snow, but rather icy road day. Whatever - I'll stay at home from school and be a slug. I got the call a bit after 5:00 am that I didn't need to get up and come to school because it's cancelled for the day. Ironic, eh? I get a call that wakes me up and tells me I don't need to wake up for work.
I'm still puttering around in my robe. It dawned on me I probably needed to download pics from my phone to the computer since I hadn't done that since the fall. I just added a post to my school blog and figured my old personal blog could use an update, too.
So what's new? Teaching still consumes the bulk of my time, trying to stay one step ahead of the students as I figure out the curriculum. The content is fine - it's the labs that are a pain in the tookus. Every new unit kicks my search into high gear. It's all about finding an appropriate germ of a lab idea, expanding it to create a workable lesson for 11-12 yr olds, purchasing the things required for the lab, doing any necessary prep work and then giving it a go with the kids. Sometimes they're fabulous… and sometimes I wish I had just shot myself in the foot for all the learning that occurred. Oh well, it's all about my education this year, too.
In the fall, I got desperate one Sunday afternoon and enlisted the assistance of my husband and 7th grader with the lab prep of sorting beads into baggies. My students enjoyed creating basic 2 and 3D atomic model structures, so that makes all of the work worth it for me.
In other miscellaneous and completely unrelated news, we went to the local bowl game over the Christmas break. Our team didn't win, but I always enjoy the spectacle of a major sporting event. Like most Texans, we believe football reigns supreme. At least the college teams. I don't give a fig about the pros. Here are a few of my pics from the best parts of the whole rigamarole - the pre game stuff and half time show.
Admit it - dontcha love it when the band spells out stuff on the field, even when it's upside down to all of us fans on the other side. And throw in some flags, too. God bless America and Texas!
I'm still puttering around in my robe. It dawned on me I probably needed to download pics from my phone to the computer since I hadn't done that since the fall. I just added a post to my school blog and figured my old personal blog could use an update, too.
So what's new? Teaching still consumes the bulk of my time, trying to stay one step ahead of the students as I figure out the curriculum. The content is fine - it's the labs that are a pain in the tookus. Every new unit kicks my search into high gear. It's all about finding an appropriate germ of a lab idea, expanding it to create a workable lesson for 11-12 yr olds, purchasing the things required for the lab, doing any necessary prep work and then giving it a go with the kids. Sometimes they're fabulous… and sometimes I wish I had just shot myself in the foot for all the learning that occurred. Oh well, it's all about my education this year, too.
In the fall, I got desperate one Sunday afternoon and enlisted the assistance of my husband and 7th grader with the lab prep of sorting beads into baggies. My students enjoyed creating basic 2 and 3D atomic model structures, so that makes all of the work worth it for me.
Admit it - dontcha love it when the band spells out stuff on the field, even when it's upside down to all of us fans on the other side. And throw in some flags, too. God bless America and Texas!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Happy Holidays
The first semester of school is a done deal for me, the 7th grader and college coed. Talk about fast! If time keeps rushing along this quickly, I'll be dead before long.
I've had a variety of things to post on the blog, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Oh sure, I could just go ahead and lose my mind trying to do it all, but what's the point. They can put me in the local looney bin, but that doesn't get the clothes washed or the clean dishes put away.
Below are some bulleted highlights of November and December that my fuzzy, middle-aged brain can recall without checking the calendar in my planner…
I've had a variety of things to post on the blog, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Oh sure, I could just go ahead and lose my mind trying to do it all, but what's the point. They can put me in the local looney bin, but that doesn't get the clothes washed or the clean dishes put away.
Below are some bulleted highlights of November and December that my fuzzy, middle-aged brain can recall without checking the calendar in my planner…
- the coed was accepted into a short fine arts study abroad class that will travel to Ghana to teach art to school children in May once the spring semester ends
- we traveled to NYC for the fabulous Macy's Day parade, scratching another item off my bucket list
- I booked us on a spring break trip to Turks & Caicos, much to the chagrin of my husband when he found out how expensive it is to visit the pristine white sands and turquoise waters of a more exclusive resort that isn't frequented by college kids or low end cruise line ships
- I shed 20 lbs this semester the old fashioned way by eating sensibly and exercising regularly
- temporarily losing my mind, I decided to host both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here at our house, mainly because we've had to travel back to Texas the past two years for Christmas and I wanted folks to come to us this year instead of us traveling around to other people's houses once again
I know there's more - there always is thanks to the perimenopausal haze that keeps my brain foggy these days - but at least these are the highlights. I hope every one of my family and friends are blessed with a healthy and peaceful Christmas celebrating the birth of our saviour. And may your blessings continue into the new year!
Happy Holidays from Radio City Music Hall
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Parent's Weekend 2013
I need to go ahead and blog about parent's weekend at the University of South Carolina before I forget everything we did since it happened over a month ago. Time flies. Gets swallowed up. Disappears in the blink of an eye when you're working full-time again. And thus I'm back to wishing my life away to some extent, looking forward to the next big school holiday.
On Friday, we all played hooky from work and school in order to fly to Charlotte at the crack of dawn. I don't know where everyone else and their dog was flying that morning, but Terminal B at the airport was swarming with people. The security line twisted and turned and backed practically up into Terminal A. The straight shot flight to Charlotte was uneventful. We got our rental car and hit the road for a pleasant drive to Columbia. We checked into our hotel, let the coed know we had arrived and toodled over to campus to meet up with her. She has an afternoon Spanish class on Fridays, so after we got checked in for parent's weekend at the student center, we found a shady bench on the historic horseshoe to wait for the coed to arrive.
As we were walking in between two buildings, with the 7th grader about a yard in front of us, all of a sudden something fell out of the tree and landed on the sidewalk right in front of the younger daughter's feet. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a poor squirrel with crappy balance and worse luck that obviously feel from a branch way up high. After landing with a really loud thud (OUCH!), it hopped up and scrambled into the bushes. I swear the daughter and I almost had a heart attack.
The four of us went out to dinner that evening to locally owned Lizard's Thicket with their down home country cooking. You know you're in the south when you see fried bologna on the menu. We grew up eating fried spam and potatoes, which seems kinda high falootin' compared to bologna.
We also made a run through the bookstore to get a t-shirt in order to represent at the game the next day. Aggies get shortened to Ags. Longhorns get shortened to Horns. And Gamecocks get shortened to Cocks… which makes me want to giggle even though I'm middle-aged. I did NOT purchase the shirt below, but rather a vintage design.
After we returned to our suite that evening, we all piled up like lazy dogs to watch TV or check email. The girls had fun surfing shopping websites, with the younger daughter giving her opinion on potential clothing purchases to the older daughter. Awww!
The next day, we took the coed shopping at the mall in Columbia. It's miles from campus and since the coed has no driver's license or car, it has greatly curtailed the amount of retail therapy she has been able to do since she headed off to college.
After a late lunch at Cracker Barrel - more home cooking - we headed back to campus so both girls could get manis and pedis. Rotten, much? Then we went back to the hotel to spruce up and head to the football game. Here are the husband and girls in front of the famous USC Cockabooses. Some guy towed a bunch of run down cabooses onto the stadium site back in the '90s and now they're the ultimate tailgating venue. You can snap one up for a cool $300K!
The sun was setting while the football players wrapped up their warm up and were getting ready to take the field.
The picture above was taken by the coed at an earlier game in the season. This is the students only section. For parent's weekend, we were sitting in the end zone directly across from the students on the second to last row of the third deck. Talk about bird's eye view. And not even a whiff of wind in the humid still-warm-as-summer night on bleachers that had us all crammed together like sardines. I didn't mind the lady seated in front of me who kept madly swinging her USC towel so that I was forced to duck multiple times to avoid a slap in the face because at least it provided a bit of much-needed breeze.
Since it was the start of breast cancer awareness month, they shot off pink fireworks whenever the team scored. Plus the players were wearing pink gloves and socks - really cool since the coed's sorority's philanthropy is Think Pink, breast cancer awareness and education. What a worthwhile cause.
And, finally, I couldn't help but include the crowing rooster sound they play in the stadium. This is just a smidge of it, but you get the drift. HILARIOUS!
On Friday, we all played hooky from work and school in order to fly to Charlotte at the crack of dawn. I don't know where everyone else and their dog was flying that morning, but Terminal B at the airport was swarming with people. The security line twisted and turned and backed practically up into Terminal A. The straight shot flight to Charlotte was uneventful. We got our rental car and hit the road for a pleasant drive to Columbia. We checked into our hotel, let the coed know we had arrived and toodled over to campus to meet up with her. She has an afternoon Spanish class on Fridays, so after we got checked in for parent's weekend at the student center, we found a shady bench on the historic horseshoe to wait for the coed to arrive.
The four of us went out to dinner that evening to locally owned Lizard's Thicket with their down home country cooking. You know you're in the south when you see fried bologna on the menu. We grew up eating fried spam and potatoes, which seems kinda high falootin' compared to bologna.
We also made a run through the bookstore to get a t-shirt in order to represent at the game the next day. Aggies get shortened to Ags. Longhorns get shortened to Horns. And Gamecocks get shortened to Cocks… which makes me want to giggle even though I'm middle-aged. I did NOT purchase the shirt below, but rather a vintage design.
After we returned to our suite that evening, we all piled up like lazy dogs to watch TV or check email. The girls had fun surfing shopping websites, with the younger daughter giving her opinion on potential clothing purchases to the older daughter. Awww!
The next day, we took the coed shopping at the mall in Columbia. It's miles from campus and since the coed has no driver's license or car, it has greatly curtailed the amount of retail therapy she has been able to do since she headed off to college.
After a late lunch at Cracker Barrel - more home cooking - we headed back to campus so both girls could get manis and pedis. Rotten, much? Then we went back to the hotel to spruce up and head to the football game. Here are the husband and girls in front of the famous USC Cockabooses. Some guy towed a bunch of run down cabooses onto the stadium site back in the '90s and now they're the ultimate tailgating venue. You can snap one up for a cool $300K!
The sun was setting while the football players wrapped up their warm up and were getting ready to take the field.
The picture above was taken by the coed at an earlier game in the season. This is the students only section. For parent's weekend, we were sitting in the end zone directly across from the students on the second to last row of the third deck. Talk about bird's eye view. And not even a whiff of wind in the humid still-warm-as-summer night on bleachers that had us all crammed together like sardines. I didn't mind the lady seated in front of me who kept madly swinging her USC towel so that I was forced to duck multiple times to avoid a slap in the face because at least it provided a bit of much-needed breeze.
Since it was the start of breast cancer awareness month, they shot off pink fireworks whenever the team scored. Plus the players were wearing pink gloves and socks - really cool since the coed's sorority's philanthropy is Think Pink, breast cancer awareness and education. What a worthwhile cause.
And, finally, I couldn't help but include the crowing rooster sound they play in the stadium. This is just a smidge of it, but you get the drift. HILARIOUS!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
One More Can't Hurt
OK, so I lied. I told my husband I wouldn't buy one more Santa anything after packing up part of my collection when we prepped to move home to Texas. And then seeing the rest of my collection once we made it back stateside. That's a whole lotta Santa stuff! I've been collecting jolly old St. Nick for 20+ yrs and have racked up a nice variety of items. Ornaments, plates, stockings, figurines, snow globes, tablecloths, bowls, cups. You get the drift.
I just couldn't resist yesterday when I was snooping through a local shop looking for a ceramic rooster to place on the eat-in-kitchen table and stumbled upon the most darling collection of themed Santas. This one really called to me because I intend to put out my Kathe Wohlfahrt pyramids. Aren't they cool?
Herr Santa will be a perfect accent piece in the same room where I display my lovely pyramids, most likely the formal dining area. Right across from the cuckoo clock I purchased in the Black Forest. Just too danged cute, I tell ya!
I just couldn't resist yesterday when I was snooping through a local shop looking for a ceramic rooster to place on the eat-in-kitchen table and stumbled upon the most darling collection of themed Santas. This one really called to me because I intend to put out my Kathe Wohlfahrt pyramids. Aren't they cool?
Herr Santa will be a perfect accent piece in the same room where I display my lovely pyramids, most likely the formal dining area. Right across from the cuckoo clock I purchased in the Black Forest. Just too danged cute, I tell ya!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Happy Birthday to Ollie
On September 24, Ollie turned two. In human years, that makes him about the same age as our 7th grade daughter. Thankfully, he doesn't behave like an adolescent. The little guy still has a lot of energy - he is a Cairn Terrier - but in general he minds his P's and Q's.
This morning we rolled out well before dawn to get the coed off to the airport for her return flight to college after a super short fall break. I'm the sort that can never fall back to sleep once I'm up, and so I decided to get a few things done at 5:00 am this morning after the husband and daughter hit the road in order for her to catch her plane. The first thing I did was load the dishwasher. Then I started on the pile of dirty clothes in front of the washing machine. Next, I sat down with my current seating charts and created new ones for the second nine weeks that kicks off tomorrow at school. I rearranged student desks Friday after dismissal, so it's fruit basket turnover at the start of every class tomorrow.
About the time the sun hit the horizon, I bathed the dog after I fed him and took him out for a little walk to take care of business. He's tolerant of a bath. In typical canine fashion, it's the bit after he's clean that is a real show.
It's obviously a desperate situation. Must.remove.clean.smell. No matter how much he begs, I don't let him go outside off leash all day because that's just inviting a roll in the grass and dirt that will undo all of the shampoo applying, scrubbing, rinsing, drying and brushing I just accomplished. I'm a pro at ignoring his pleading looks while he longingly gazes out the back door.
This morning we rolled out well before dawn to get the coed off to the airport for her return flight to college after a super short fall break. I'm the sort that can never fall back to sleep once I'm up, and so I decided to get a few things done at 5:00 am this morning after the husband and daughter hit the road in order for her to catch her plane. The first thing I did was load the dishwasher. Then I started on the pile of dirty clothes in front of the washing machine. Next, I sat down with my current seating charts and created new ones for the second nine weeks that kicks off tomorrow at school. I rearranged student desks Friday after dismissal, so it's fruit basket turnover at the start of every class tomorrow.
About the time the sun hit the horizon, I bathed the dog after I fed him and took him out for a little walk to take care of business. He's tolerant of a bath. In typical canine fashion, it's the bit after he's clean that is a real show.
It's obviously a desperate situation. Must.remove.clean.smell. No matter how much he begs, I don't let him go outside off leash all day because that's just inviting a roll in the grass and dirt that will undo all of the shampoo applying, scrubbing, rinsing, drying and brushing I just accomplished. I'm a pro at ignoring his pleading looks while he longingly gazes out the back door.
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