Here We Go Again!

We now have eleven eggs in the finch nest.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I love to learn the history of Christmas carols AND Christmas songs. Did you know that The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas are locked in a struggle for first place in performed Christmas songs? I happen to love BOTH of those songs. I remember sitting at the kitchen table as a kid and listening to Nat sing Chestnuts. What good memories. Now I love to hear Celine belt it out!

As for non-Christmas songs, my 20 something year old student teacher has recently been introduced to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and plays their music on his phone during our breaks. I love the songs as well. It's interesting that we connect on this level. Ah...the universal language of music.

What is your favorite Christmas song or carol? What about golden oldie group? Who do you like?

Thanksgiving

Hubby and I flew to St. Louis and then drove to Elizabethtown,
Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, and nephew. I had forgotten how beautiful the foliage is! We got a picture of these trees, but were not able to get pictures of the pear trees, which are ALSO very gorgeous. I think this is some kind of maple tree. We also got to visit the new and improved Coke Museum. WOW! I was in Coke heaven! They had so many cool, historical items. Not sure of all the history of why there is a Coke Museum in Elizabethtown, I just know it was fun to visit and there were all kinds of interesting "things." The main difference between this one and the one in Atlanta is this is all USA stuff and the one in Atlanta had Coke stuff from all over the world.

Now I'm back home and wanting to get ready for Christmas.
Keep in touch!

Boo Hoo

Well the birds are dead. I came in this morning and a baby bird was on the bottom of the cage and later the other one appeared on the floor of the cage also. Now I threw away the nest (with 6 unhatched eggs in it) and will put a new one in and try try again after all of the holidays. It's kind of a relief because I had no idea what I would have done with them over our long Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Especially since dear hubby said NO BIRDS IN THE HOUSE!!! I hope mom and dad aren't heartbroken!

Can you see his/her little head and beak? I wish I could get better pictures!

I thought they were dead, but they are still moving. They are making the sweetest little sounds. The mom and dad are interesting to watch because one or the other is usually sitting on them. So far, only two eggs have hatched or maybe three as far as we can tell. My student teacher sees them better than I do. The opening of the nest is rather small and the birds have covered the opening of the back with newspaper and other "things" from the cage. My biggest dilema now is what to do with them over Thanksgiving break. I don't want to move the babies. I'm thinking of just leaving them with lots of food, a clean cage, and plenty of water. Any other ideas? I'll be in Kentucky. The school is open a couple of those days.

This is the most recent picture of the babies. I brought my camera Friday, but forgot the memory stick, so no new pics until next week. If you look closely you can see one with a wide open mouth.

Here are some more pictures.

Sorry this is blurry, but you can kind of see the bird after it
has hatched. I think I have two now.

Babies?

This is what happens when you have fertile finches! There really are seven eggs in the nest, but all you can see in this picture is six. I'll keep you informed on what happens - if they even survive.

Why Did I Get Married?

Amy and I went to see this funny Tyler Perry movie yesterday. I love Perry's movies - they make me laugh, they make me cry, and they seem so very realistic. People in his movies say exactly what any normal person wants to say, but doesn't quite have the nerve, leaving one with a rather satisfied feeling. Tyler Perry is a Christian but his characters are very flawed - they cuss, they drink, and they have extramarital relationships. The one great thing though is that there is always a good lesson embedded in the plot - redemption, forgiveness, and a great word for God.

Amy and I go to every Tyler Perry movie that comes out. We are in the minority in the audience, but that doesn't matter to us at all. The message is great and the movies are entertaining. I recommend them highly!

Life in the Slow Lane

Well, I was gone the last two days to a PLC Conference at the Disneyland Hotel - WOW - there were over 2,000 people in attendance. Lunch was interesting! They fed ALL of us. I didn't get to Disneyland, we decided to see a movie instead - Game Plan. It was super cute. The conference was great. When I left on Thursday morning I had no sub, but somehow the district dug one up, so I had a sub both days. What a relief! It's hard when they split a class. Everyone is already dressing up in Disneyland for Halloween. That is one thing very cool about Disneyland this time of the year. They go all out for Halloween. I love what they do with the flowers. Well off to never never land for me.

HELP!

I need prayer over the next two weeks. A sweet little guy in my class is out of meds and can't even get into the doctor until October 8. He is smart and wonderful when on meds, but when off, he is perpetual motion and noise - humming, commenting on EVERYTHING said and happening in the classroom. He can't help it - but it's hard on the rest of us - especially his teacher!! I need an extra dose of patience. Why oh why don't parents take care of their kiddos and make sure they have simple little things like MEDS??

On the up side, I had a wonderful massage yesterday and slept like a baby last night for the first time in weeks. Ah, sweet oblivion. It was the Lord because when I went to school this morning, I had to face the above. He was preparing moi!!!

This coming week I get to go to a conference at the Disneyland Hotel - not a good year to be without my Disneyland Pass, but I am.

Fall is Coming!

Fall in SoCal means rain and a teeny tiny bit cooler weather. Of course the natives (and me too now) think it is cold when it is in the 60s. I love Fall, just can't believe how busy life can be with Halloween (even though I don't really celebrate it), Thanksgiving (which this year is a trip to Kentucky) and then of course Christmas right behind. School is at it's busiest and everything at church is starting up again. Fall is energizing!

Garbage, garbage, everywhere

Not since I was a kid in New Jersey have I seen so much litter. I guess people think it's attractive to see their garbage strewn out all across the highways. It drives me CRAZY. Even in NJ they put an end to this and we're talking many, many years ago. Is there litter in other places? I need to know. I noticed this summer in northern CA signs were EVERYWHERE No littering - $1000 fine. Why, oh why don't they have that here?

Gym or P.E.?????

Well, one thing about living in California is that while teachers get pretty decent pay - I made a huge pay increase when moving here from Missouri, they also have to teach EVERYTHING. We're it - a one woman show. Now we're getting trained in a new P.E. program - called Game Day. Well, it looks pretty cool, so far, it's just that I can't get these old bones and joints moving fast enough or bent far enough! I'm looking forward to implementing it though. It seems to teach (in a fun way) skills needed for soccer, football, basketball, baseball, kickball and just plain regular hopscotch, handball, and tetherball. We also have some dance and other games, stretches and cardio activities. The company planned out our entire year for us beginning and gave us everything needed. I'll find out more tomorrow. Can you see ME as a P.E. teacher? Try, it'll happen yet!

Ant Farm

Well, no comments on getting an ant farm? Has anyone ever had one? Admittedly, I still have a bunch right outside my door, but I think a farm would be cool. We have a story titled "Ant," too, so I'm moving closer to getting one. One thing that especially excited me in the Costa Rica rainforest was seeing leaf cutter ants like in our story - I took pictures to show my class - ahhh the life of a teacher!

Two days ago it was 112 degrees, but today it was back in the 90s - felt like a real cooling down! We were able to send the kids to a full lunch and have PE outside. It's supposed to stay in the 90s for a few days now - whew!

I'm getting to love my little class. I'm full at 20 and have 10 girls and 10 boys. We are very busy already - no time to play!

106 DEGREES

Well, my class in full, yup, I have my full 20 kiddos. They are cute, but so, so energetic. We have really great air conditioning in our room, but outside it is wicked hot! It is supposed to be this hot for the rest of the week. Any ideas for getting wiggles out of seven-year old kids in 106 degrees? The birds are just as active and noisy! We have a great class - I'm looking forward to this year! I'm wondering about getting an ant farm. Any comments? I don't mind them in the farm - not too crazy about them on my counters and crawling on the floor. I wound up with 10 boys and 10 girls - a great mix!

Drive-throughs

Hey, I want to know if anyone else thinks that drive-throughs are like the express lane in the grocery store? That's what I always thought, but the last two times in the drive-through I've sat behind people with humongous orders - either for their whole office, or their whole extended family and it took FOREVER. Today the lady had to check and recheck her order. The drive-throughs in CA don't let you back out either. I'm waiting just to order my diet coke, or one measly meal. This is getting old. What is your impression of drive-throughs?

Back IN the Saddle Again

It was in the 100s by degrees today and HOT! Thanks be to Jesus that our air conditioning is working well. 17 of my 20 showed up. It will be an interesting year. Now that I'm back, I have mustered up some excitement! I have some familiar kids after all - a cousin of a boy I had last year, a sister of a girl I had two years ago, and some people that visited me during Open House last Spring. An interesting mix. One of the three missing children has dropped and been replaced already. I think the other two moved, but can't drop them until three days have gone by.

Anyway... I now have THREE birds. They are sure active and noisy! I hope they don't procreate like my friend's do. Her birds have laid lots of eggs and 10 survived. This was all in a year.

Back to the Saddle Again

Well, it's off to work on Monday. Where did the summer go? Each year, Steve reminds me I hate the end of summer and dread going back to work. I watched "The Ron Clark Story" a couple of nights ago to jumpstart that old desire to meet my new class and get going with preparations. It helped a lot. There are some really amazing teachers out there along with their inspirational stories of work with students and families. My major goal is always to instill the love of books and reading to my students. They are at a perfect age for that. With so much excellent children's literature available, it seems like an easy goal. Last year I had a real challenge with one of my students, but we hit it again. By the end of the year, she was reading during all her spare time and improving rapidly! It just took us the FULL year to get there.

Ok, here I am at two rainforests - the top two pictures are in the temperate rainforest on the Olympic penisula in Washington and the bottom picture is in the tropical rainforest in Costa Rica. It's been a busy a fast-moving summer.

This and That

Well, the kids still hang out outside, but they are quieter. They need something constructive to do poor dears! One of my birds died. I guess I'll take care of that August 13 when I go back to school. Tsk, tsk.

Do you like "Lifetime" movies?

Last night we were living a lifetime movie. It seemed like hundreds of teenagers (high school kids) converged on our neighbor's house. This house is behind our house two houses to the left of us. Remember how CLOSE houses are in S. CA. They were playing live loud music outside in the backyard (which of course faces our backyard) and it sounded like microphones were going - the whole nine yards. We think these people also have a pool. Kids were parking on our street, which is a cul-de-sac, and walking over - because they live on a busier highway and there is no place to park. Well, I decided not to call police because I just did two nights ago, but I prayed like crazy someone would and in the meantime decided to stay up and watch tv to try to keep my mind off of the noise. Sometime around 11:00 p.m. a helicopter starts circling our area shining lights and with a loud speaker telling the party to break up, they were minors drinking alcohol, etc. etc. They also announced those people would be paying the price for the helicopter. The helicopter flew around and around for about 15-20 minutes. Talk about excitement - well about 14 or 15 of those kids went to the house down the street from us, where we constantly have trouble because the mom lets the two young teen boys virtually do whatever the heck they want and a huge fight breaks out. Hubby comes into the house yelling call the police there's a huge fight - and of course all of the colorful, wonderful language at the top of their lungs to go with it. I called and they sent the helicopter again. I guess they also sent an officer, but the kids hid in the backyard or something. Anyway, we had to watch our yard, house, cars, etc. until the party really did break up. Boys were sitting in the yard across the street puking their guts out, and not only sitting across the street, but making sure they walked around and hit several yards with their puke. A girl was put in the back of a pickup passed out, and some mom was waiting outside these neighbors' house 45 minutes for some girl to come out. We assume it was her daughter. While waiting, these lovely teens egged her car. Of course, everyone appeared stone cold drunk. We think it all ended about 1:30 a.m., but who knows. WHERE ARE THESE PARENTS? This is supposed to be a good neighborhood. Teenagers need to keep busy - and not keeping busy terrorizing the whole neighborhood. They are wasting their lives because they have apathetic parents. Parents appear to care more about themselves then raising decent law-abiding kids.

Kirby and Ruby - the birds - actually these are the birds BEFORE I traded one male for one female.

My class has gone to the birds!

Well, now I have two zebra finches. I wasn't sure whether to take them from a coworker whose birds had offspring or not, so I sent a note home asking parents if someone could babysit over the summer - and guess what? I got not one, but TWO takers. They leave tomorrow because Wed is our last day. I have grown quite attached to these critters, although they chirp up a storm.

We have 1-1/2 days left. It's been an interesting year. I will miss the kids, but definitely ready for the break.

Orlando

Well, we got back last night in time to have a good night's sleep and for me to go to work today. Lucky Steve had the day off.
The weather was gorgeous - just a little humid, breezy and warm. It was great for my skin. I went with patchy dry spots and came back all cleared up - humidity IS good for something! We had a wonderful time seeing old friends, going to great worship services, and hanging out at Epcot Center.

May 20

I wonder, wonder, wonder where May is going - speeding by so quickly! A couple of more weeks of school, the weather is heating up, and the kids are back outside screaming (their version of play). I do love summer and I'm looking forward to it coming!

Here is our floor, all finished and pretty. Now, to get all the furniture back in.....

Life is Too Busy

Well, I made it to one Spanish class - that was that. The next week I had to go to a conference and the next week I was dead exhausted from not sleeping the night before. This week I have Open House. So, now I wait until they offer it again and hope I don't already have things on the schedule. SHUCKS! Actually, to learn a language I need to give it my full and repeated attention. I struggle with this at this stage of life. Honestly, I struggled with this at ALL stages of life. Maybe I'm a little ADD.

This week the wood floors go in - beginning tomorrow.

The End of State Testing

Well, we made it through the week and finished testing. All in all it was a good week. Our butterflies hatched and we let them go, only to get new caterpillars on Thursday. We love our mealworms, although they continue hiding under the oatmeal.

I think the kids did ok on the test. They were good and they tried, that's all I can ask. I take pleasure in realizing that we covered everything that was asked, so either they knew it or they didn't.

We have 13 teachers changing rooms next year. The man who helped me get my job out here is coming to our school next year - yahoo! He was asked when my principal first came, but felt God wanted him to stay where he was. Now he is coming and moving to fourth grade. I am excited! He is an awesome Christian with a good reputation with our staff. Most knew him from our former school. Just to fill in the blanks - when I first moved here we worked together at one school (Armada), then our principal moved to a brand new school (Towngate) and a bunch of teachers and I moved with her. Does this make sense? Anyway, I guess he's decided it's time for him to come. I know my principal has wanted him from day one. Anyway, I know some of the changes but all changes will be announced on May 14. No surprises - just change. Change is good.

Floor Saga

Monday we measure for carpet, Tuesday we measure for wood floor. Keep you posted

New on Carpet/Floor

Now we are thinking about carpeting the living room, dining room, and the two small bedrooms and wood flooring the entryway, hallway and master bedroom and retreat area. Any thoughts on this?

State Testing

YUCK! The past two weeks I have been reviewing, reviewing, and reviewing the second grade state standards with my sweet second graders. All of us are SICK TO DEATH of it! Thankfully, one parent gave us some caterpillars (her mom is a pre-school teacher) and another parent gave us some mealworms. We are all involved in watching the circle of life while we prepare for and this coming week take the state standardized test. We are also reading and getting grossed out by the book Andrew Lost on the Dog - I never remember the exact name of the book, but it's great! I'm hoping after Wednesday we can relax and enjoy school. Also, there are some big changes coming down in our school with switches in personnel and grade level, etc. etc. So far, I am safe, but my team will have big changes - maybe this will be an answer to the DRAMA we've experienced this year - I pray so! Ok - off to work, I need to pack up some ebay and pack up our study and my thousands of books so sweet hubby can paint. We are still up in the air about carpet vs. wood. Could use some more opinions and ideas, PLEASE??????????

Floor

Ok, if you had the choice, would you prefer carpet or wood floor? We are debating. Of course there is lots more to consider than what we "prefer," but I want opinions.

Messy, Sloppy, Heaps and Piles

My spring break was very awesome, I got SO much done, but now - one week back at school and it is all undone. We bought some new furniture, which necessitated painting and hopefully new carpet. WELL..... everything is now again in heaps and piles and all over the house. Why????? Because in order to paint, everything needs to be out of the bedroom. AND...since we bought bedroom furniture, we have to rearrange and make room for it anyway. Oh well, life is NEVER dull!

We are taking Spanish lessons, I have been going to listen to a Reading expert with lots of new ideas - very useful for my second graders, and we are still preparing for state testing. I am overwhelmed.

Back in the Saddle Again

My first day back at school was pretty good. The most challenging thing about teaching is getting the children to LISTEN. I think this is a problem universally with PEOPLE. We are NOT good listeners. Today, I blew my stack at them - then I have to go back and apologize for getting angry. They know I care about them and their learning, they just can't seem to help themselves. Why is focusing so hard? I keep them moving and we do a wide variety of activities, but still we expect so much out of these sweet little people. Today when I was teaching what is 4/5 of 20, I wondered...what do THEY care??? Again I wondered, WHY is this a second grade lesson? I also wondered this yesterday when I was (for the umpteenth time) trying to explain the difference between a fact and an opinion. Did I even know these words in second grade? Why do we rush them? If someone has a good answer for this, please share........

Good Friday

Well, today is Good Friday and my break is almost over. It was good, really good. I didn't do lots of traveling, although Steve and I did some driving and visiting. I'm almost ready to see those fresh, young faces again. I have been into my classroom twice to work and both times felt rather productive. I got lots done at home as well. I have no complaints.

Pictures

The pictures below are of my three granddaughters and my son and youngest daughter. I figured whoever read this would know that.

Spring Break

Well, it is my first official day of spring break and am I ever happy. I rested pretty well this weekend so I can now get started with all the things I need to do that I don't have time to do when I am in school. I have a list and I'm checking it twice!! It will be nice to have two full weeks! I will be ready to go back. Weather is cool and cloudy - my favorite! I can wear jeans and a sweatshirt. I have already read two books - crazy about William Bernhardt, but have not watched much tv. It's quiet around here - sort of considering they are putting in a pool next door - the kids are still in school and off next week. God is good!

Entertainment

It is no secret that I LOVE TV and movies. I watch something almost every night and we rent lots of movies. This weekend I saw two outstanding movies. One was Facing the Giants, the other was Daddy's Little Girls. They both inspired me and I cried through them both. I think because they were faith-based they spoke to me at a much deeper level, then let's say "Stranger Than Fiction," which we also watched this weekend. "Stranger..." made me laugh and feel good, however. Tyler Perry, who produced "Daddy's..." does such amazing movies. I absolutely LOVE his work and will go to see all of his movies. They encourage me and they give me hope in humanity. Facing the Giants was produced and completely made by a church in Georgia. I don't know if it was a true story or not, but it could have been - realistic fiction, maybe. Well, that's all for now. Happy movie-going! By the way, who is your pick for American Idol?

Noise, Noise, Noise

Well, living in Southern California is nice most of the time, but the area we live in is growing like a wild fire. The houses are super close together and you HEAR every little noise. It doesn't help that the young love motor bikes, mini bikes, dirt bikes, talking loud, screaming, and loud music. Now, I'm worried because our neighbors right next door are putting in a pool. They have four screaming kids ages 6 to about 15. OH NO! Do you think I can bear it? The pool company has already broken our fence putting it in. It was a nice fence too. Only thing is that neighbor put the fence in - we paid for half of it. Also, the kids hang out all night in the street. Not to mention all the littering that goes on here. I will survive. It is bothering me less than when we first came from relatively quiet Crestwood. Anyone else with this problem?

READING

Why do I love reading so much? Last weekend I didn't do ANYTHING but read about a book and a half. I read different genres, but I seem to be really enjoying law or psychological thrillers lately. That's not only what I read, but today I've been reading Junie B. Jones to my class with them following along and it is just FUN! They love it too! I don't have enough room in my house to support all the books I have had over the years. Right now my wall-long bookcase is full and doubled even - if you can understand that. Anyone else out there with this addiction?

Why So Many Chiefs?

Why does everyone want to be in charge? Why can't there be more compromise so that we can actually accomplish more? I'm quite weary of everyone wanting their own ideas pushed forward and their own agendas followed even if it's not in the best interest of the majority. Does anyone else struggle with this?

Road Trips

Hubby and I went on a fun road trip over the past weekend because I had a four-day one to celebrate our presidents. It was fun, but I was so worn out that I slept sitting up most of the 700+ mile ride ride. The scenery (what I saw of it) was so cool - very mountainous, deserty and very little green. The weather was nice, even somewhat hot. We went to see the Hoover Dam, the London Bridge, but the most fun was visiting a pastor and his wife in Quartzsite, Arizona. They were a blast. The house was full of delightful animals - two cats, two dogs, and two gigantic noisy birds. What a riot! We actually stayed in a little cabin they were redoing about a block from their parsonage. Church was fun, too, because this is the time of the year all the snowbirds are visiting trying to find a bargain on gems. What an interesting place! I LOVE traveling - just wish I didn't get so tired. The troops wear me out! I wonder if THEY ever tire? Doesn't seem so.

New Jersey Girl

You can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you can't take New Jersey out of the girl. I can't believe how much joy, comfort, whatever I get out of reading books by authors from the east coast and NJ in particular. These are books I wouldn't normally read because of language and more sexual content than I normally like. But because they are about the east coast I read. I just finished Harlan Coban's book "Just One Look," which was set in NJ and now I am reading a new one by Janet Evanovich about again NJ. There is something about the language or something that speaks of home to me, even though I've been gone for almost 34 (wow) years. I also noticed this when I went home for my 30th high school reunion. We just picked up from where we left off - in many ways. I can't believe how important that background is! My mom is the same way. She gravitates to people from NJ in Kentucky! There seems to be quite a few. I don't meet many out here, but then again out here is where the Beach Boys are from and Hollywood! Oh well, just a thought.

Aren't they cute?

Drama, Drama, Drama

I feel like life is full of unnecessary drama. I see it at work - with the students AND the staff, I hear about it at others' work places, I see it in traffic, at the store, etc. Why do we make life so much more difficult than it has to be. Ok, so Anna Nicole Smith - can we escape her tragic life? Not very easily. After all, these people with weird lives seem to fascinate us. Why, I ask, why? Does anyone know? Do WE want lives like that? NOT ME! I'll take dull and boring anyday!

On the positive note, Friday night Amy and I learned how to make beaded watch bands. It was EASY, and we may have found a new hobby. Watchbands don't take much time either - productive!

Today is Sunday, the day before a week of "holidays." I am sitting here overwhelmed with things I want to do and search out on the web for my class - fun things, things that will cause creative and critical thinking. Activities that will focus on others and friendship. The problem is I won't have time to do these cool activities because I am dictated by a pacing chart and standards and an already overfull schedule. So, I decided to ramble on about my frustrations instead of looking those things up and wasting my precious time. We will have a party on Valentine's Day, and we will exchange cards. We are skipping P.E. that day, so that we have an hour to play a little. We have already done a Scholastic News on Lincoln, although I have so much more I can do. My kids need to think about "others" on Valentine's Day. They need to get their mind off of themselves. I'll try SOMETHING. Wish I had more time.

I feel like it's about midnight and it's really only 9:31. I'm going to bed to read a book by Harlan Coben. He is an awesome author - lots of twists and turns and keeps me hooked until I absolutely have to stop. Tomorrow is Friday and Saturday is coming again. This has been a week. Seven year old girls are sooooo emotional - and they haven't even hit puberty! Unbelievable!

Then again I get wonderful news of my 5 1/2 year old granddaughter who is reading at a high second grade level, my almost 10 month old granddaughter who is almost walking and has FOUR teeth and the four year old little missie who loves playing mommy AND cooking! Life is good!

Ahh - Saturday mornings

I LOVE Saturday mornings - no rushing, I can read a chapter or four or five of my book, I can make muffins or not, I can stay in jamies for a while. Oh, for more Saturday mornings...
School has been intense. I have had three SSTs this week for super struggling kids that may need retention. It breaks my heart, I don't know how to reach them. On the other hand, I am seeing growth, albeit slow in others. The life of a teacher is multifaceted.