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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Autobiography Stew


"We interrupt this blog to bring you 70 plus autobiographies straight from the pens of pubescent adolescents straddling twelve and thirteen!" And if you multiply each of those tweens by an 18-page paper, then you can account for pretty much every waking second of my life for past two weeks...editing. We started off by looking at our lives like a "stew" (more a gorp)--raisins are our early years (we come out wrinkled), goldfish are our school years (fish swim in schools--Incidentally, did YOU know that only 40% of those Pepperidge Farm goldfish have smiles?), peanuts (we have nuts in our FAMILY), marshmallows (what we're soft and squishy about, what we love), m&m's (me! me! me! stories about ourselves), crackers (things that crack us up), animal cookies (animals in our lives), and bugles (blowing our own horn--what we're good at!). You get the picture. I've read some great great things and giggled and tittered. I'll pick out some good stuff to share. For now, I wanted to post this great little ditty I just chanced upon (the very random nature of the greatness of these papers keeps me reading!!! The good stuff is tucked away in there!) a few minutes ago: From a "Bugle" chapter--
"I always have an animal to take care of. My dad always asks me what might be the problem with an animal, and I can usually figure it out so we don't have to go to the vet. Once we had to pull (a bovine obstetric term that means exactly what it sounds like. Thanks, James Herriott) a dead calf, and it was stuck. I told them the front legs had to be with the head or we'd be pulling against the legs. Before we could find the legs, the head was already out, and the new calf was actually breathing! All of a sudden the cow fell over dead, and we had to do a sea-section (I left that charming error there. We've actually had quite a few descriptive sessions on why a C-section is called that--complete with some diagrams. I try to be a full-service teacher...). Then we cut her open, and I got the calf out. It turned out that it was twins, and they both survived! Only the cow died."
This delightful girl goes on to explain that she also works at her uncle's meat-processing plant cutting and wrapping meat. She furthermore confesses that she's not like other girls her age. Well, I guess NOT!!!!!! Off to read more papers.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Just Another Day...

Most Comical Moment: Paco's imitation of Mugsy having his temperature taken at the vet's today.

Most Inspired Moment: Roasting garlic for tomorrow's chili cook-off entry!

Most Sober Moment: Watching "Happy Valley" on dvd and entering the real life lives of four people on prescription drugs--oh my goodness...That green jello on the cover really misled me!

Most Grateful Moment: Having an adult conversation with Paco about the REALLY REALLY good side of a non-philandering spouse!

Most Regretful Moment: Not starting the sewing project with my neighbor that we wanted to.

Most Anticipated Moment: Snuggling on the couch by the fire watching the Olympics! I LUUUUUURVE the Winter Olympics!! Gotta go find my Roots beret!

Most Relaxed Moment: Knitting in my loft--ahhh...

Most Like-Any-Other-Day Moment: Backing a forklift into my classroom to load the stack of autobiographies that I need to read and proof this weekend.

Most Tongue-Clucking Moment: Watching the Dallas high school students on the news turning a snowball fight into a gang brawl!!!! FIFTY teachers didn't arrive at school today there?????

Most Grandmotherly Moment: Cramming just one last thing into Petey's birthday box.

Most Educational Moment: Learning that garbanzo beans take only 20-25 minutes in the pressure cooker.

Most Heathen Moment: Contemplating adding some of Paco's Uncle Tom's Washington wine to my chili...

Most Back-to-Nature Moment: Pausing to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous peaceful 8 A.M. snowfall and watching Mugsy eat the flakes right out of the air...

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Avenue Q


Off to see this today!!

Entrepreneurs

In the past four months or so I've been teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th graders (about 60 of them totalled) about money--how to make/manage it. Ha ha hee hee. I hear titters. What qualifies me for that??? Absolutely nothing. Nevertheless and notwithstanding we studied entrepreneurship for 25 minutes a day, thunk up multiple money-making plans, AND participated in two Entrepreneur Fairs held at our school!! The fruit of our efforts was kids selling jewelry, hair bows, gourmet dog treats, Korean penny candy, jerky, marshmallow guns, wooden bookshelves (made from free scraps), used books, movie posters (once again Free from the attic of the local theatre), caramel apples, homemade lollipops, nachos, taquitoes, homemade salsa, Heart Attack kits (locker decorations for Valentine's Day), magnets, pizza, and candy. One enterprising kid set up a sign that he would do "Small Engine Repair", but I'm not too sure he got many takers. The second fair which we held two weeks ago brought in close to $500!!! Lots of good grandma and grandpa support as you can imagine. Now I'm teaching 20 kids to knit. We won't have a fair. We'll be lucky if we generate a couple of knitted beanies. But never EVER doubt that a good time is being had by all...

Friday, February 5, 2010

Say, WHAT????


I desperately need someone to read this book and discuss it with me. I'll take it back to the library today. Seriously thinking of re-entering the blogosphere...Stay tuned.

Favorite books

  • Me 'n Steve
  • Thundering Sneakers
  • James Herriott's vet books
  • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • Travels with Charley
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • Peace Like a River
  • The Egg and I
  • Mary Poppins
  • Extremly Loud Incredibly Close
  • How Green Was my Valley