no grinding for that one, he's jerky...and then i went to the hobbit

i wish i'd spent more time yesterday cleaning up around the place...i'd better not procrastinate too much today-this is the season for guests! i did get some reading done yesterday from my class. i shouldn't read so far in advance, because inevitably, i will forget most of what i read and will have to re-read before our next session!

then i took the boys in to get their nails clipped. the lady got me to upgrade to a 'grind,' which is like a filing. well...when i came back for them, she nodded her head to chaco and said, "no grind." apparently he was jerky...not a jerk, just a little skittish. bruno did fine. neither of these revelations surprised me.

and on the way out, i found it necessary to get a small early Christmas gift for them

this should last as evening treats until we go to mom and dad's...i bust them out when bruno starts barking at neighbor dogs.

i also went to see the hobbit this weekend...i know thanksgiving is over, but i am thankful for jrr tolkien, peter jackson and the hobbit! love-ed it! you have to know that when i was a youngster, we had a picture-story book of the hobbit, so i have loved it for a long time! then when i was in college, i took a jrr tolkien/ c.s. lewis class as my capstone (i took two capstones because i could-the second was in art and architecture of the Christian church-which was really interesting; but alas, that is another story altogether).

i loved the way they started the story and tied in the lord of the rings-very well done! note to self...never have dwarves over for fancy dinners. i knew it was a two part movie, but i had forgotten about that, and was disappointed when it ended. now i am going to have to go back and reread the book-Christmas break. of course, let's be real, part of the allure of middle earth is the majestic scenery! oh to live in rivendale!!


mountains and waterfalls are magical to me! i've also always been intrigued by angel falls. i was jealous of the old man and the little boy in the movie UP. perhaps it stems back to when i was young and we went on camping trips with mom and dad-one summer while we were camping, we saw a few neat waterfalls. there were also a couple sets of waterfalls in the mountains that i got to see when i lived in HONDURAS. enthralled.

and i know everyone was wondering what i was dreaming about last night...well, i remember being in china. i have no desire to visit china...ever. it must've been the story about chinatown and the earthquake of 1906.

we heard flipped classrooms in our policy class, and i had never really heard about it before, so i was looking into the concept yesterday, and it was very appealing to me.  i need to see how many of my students have access to the internet at home, and perhaps try it out with social studies or science. i may need to try to see if there are any grants out there through which i might be able to get some cheap tablets that kids can take home to use-they just need to be able to get internet access to watch videos. i think it would be more valuable to do it for reading and writing, but i need to take baby steps. there is another interesting site that talks about it here.

well, it's time to stop procrastinating and enjoy the remainder of the weekend!
julie