vanilla is better as ice cream than as a shot, and unpacking standards is much more involved than unpacking a suitcase!

so...went on a walk yesterday morning in the beautiful 70's weather and we were in walking-heaven.

had to get a pic-they had a neat look about them, and it reminded me of something.

when i lived in costa rica for a year (5th grade, when mom and dad were going through language school), chris (girl) and i used to go to a little park and she showed me these weeds that you could pull the 'berry' off and pull the stem out along with some fibers that went through the middle of it, and make them into beads for bracelets and necklaces. i thought it was the coolest thing ever!

we also made cookies at her house one time and i distinctly recall her setting out the vanilla for the dough. well, i guess i'd not made cookies with mom yet, because i looked at the vanilla and thought, "hmm..i like vanilla!" (ice cream). i may or may not have taken a small swig while chris was looking the other way and gagged a little. no worries, i never did that again.

back to yesterday-we went up to the office later in the afternoon to say goodbye to jessica our office girl. sad day. the boys have grown quite fond of her because she loves to get down and play with them.

then i ran some errands-had to swing by lakeshore to pick up borders and fade-less paper! and the best part was when i got up to the counter and paid with my gift card, i only had a balance of like 1 dollar and change!!

and i learned that one of my friends-mere- who is not a teacher recently joined the cult out in cali so she could become a laminating queen! welcome aboard, i'm sure your sister is proud! (she teaches, right? do they have one of these in la-the state?)

of course, since i had only spent $1 and some, i obviously had the misguided notion that i was rich and lucky, so i crossed the street to bed bath and beyond. fortunately i knew exactly what i needed and i did not tarry. 

remember how i brought another pallet home? well, it took awhile but i decided on a design; it was probably the most time consuming one i could choose because i had to tape it out and move tape and what not, but i think i like the result. all that's left is to paint the back boards-there are 5. i am trying to decide what color to paint them. i thought white at first, but i am now leaning toward yellow, green, blue, orange and red-or white...any thoughts? then i think i'll sign it on the 2nd board from the right at the bottom (red, white and blue-gotta' love this country!) it took about three evenings (because i had my wide brushes at school, and was alternating between two, which meant waiting until they were washed and dried to re-use. i finally broke down and went to get some yesterday).

and this morning i was kicking myself (all the way out of bed) for saying that i would go to this curriculum alignment training-thing down in south america...ok, well...south of hwy 30...(i've told you a hundred and fifty million thousand times not to call me an exaggerator)

it would have been REALLY cool if i had actually looked at the time instead of assuming (love that word) that it would start at 8 am. and of course i left early to have a cushion for being lost or having traffic...i did end up having to stop at quicktrip to put air in my tires

well, needless to say, i got there early. best seat in the house. i chose the back corner. it was actually a really good training. all kinds of terms were thrown around-align the curriculum, unpack the standards, create dol's...if you ever get to go, do it! susan walker provided an excellent presentation.

cute tables.

at one point we had to get up and go into the hall with a mixed group of people and come up with lists about a section we read from a packet, and the instructions were to come up with as many points as possible. and we were off to the races. and when we were told to stop, we counted them up and then read them off out loud for the group. well, my group had the most, but some lady from group 4 had the audacity to look at me and say "it's all about quality." blah blah blah. in my mind i was thinking, "we still won, yo!" and then we were given a prize for winning-added bonus!

i would not have been so excited were i not teaching science this year!

so, all in all it was a good day and i learned some things. the problem with learning things and liking them and knowing in my heart that they will improve my practice as a teacher is that it is always something that is going to be time consuming and a slow, long process! grr, but in a good way?

julie

found another pallet...let's get creative!

last night i finally turned off the t.v. and took some time to read my book about project based learning-very good read, helpful as we enter into this new year-especially for the science! i cannot wait to get started! so this morning i left the t.v. off for a bit and pulled up the curriculum guide to check some things out and begin making some decisions.

something different-now i need to start preparing materials

 then after i'd finished feeling slightly productive, i turned the t.v. on again, and sure enough, the olympics were still on, and i got to watch...wrestling. gross. so i switched the channel-not much on, so i naturally divert to the news. that got old, so i decided that i really needed to take action on the brilliant idea i had going through my head right before i went to sleep last night. i was thinking about how i really could make some great artwork. and my thoughts kept going back to using pallets. i made sure to write it out before i fell asleep and forgot it! (note to self: must get mini recorder for bedside).

so i figured i would stop by school to see if they had any available...

they did! the only problem is that it barely fits in my backseat!

so i got it home and drew up some quick mock-ups of some of the ideas that were going through my head last night before i fell to sleep. they are rough ideas of possibilities, but i decided instead of leaving it see through like the last one i did last time for my headboard, to put a canvas across the back (it would be kind of like a shadow box) and paint it to contrast or compliment. remember, it will be about 3ft by 3 ft 10 inches...so, here are some possibles...which style-ish (even if not exactly-these are marker, the actual product will obviously be painted) do you like best?? please post comments, because i seriously would like some feedback.

#1 Spiral and straight combo

#2 off-centered daisy

#3 giant partial rose

#4 ocean/sunset-ish

#5 random

#6 colorful more geometrical lines

i'll probably keep collecting pallets and make some more...i was actually thinking it would be cool to make an over-sized coffee table-using glass or plexiglass over the top, and drawer-like legs at the corners-or ends- for storage...

thank you ikea...great ideas

anyhoo, lots of ideas, wish i'd had them a little earlier in the summer. boo. oh well.

well, back to looking at some plans for starting up school again...
julie

strategically moving through addison and the acting portion of the gre

today-the first day of Christmas break! woo hoo! we wanted to wake up late, but had to settle for 8:30..try again tomorrow! i was very happy to be able to finish my Christmas shopping...all i need now is to pick up some manila envelopes and wait for something in the mail. oh, and i have one more picture to develop. remember when i painted the pallet? well, i took the pallet when our interim principal was at our school, and she had asked what i was planning to do with it, so i am sending her a pic of the inspiration and the actual pallet.

these are the canvases i did awhile back on the opposite wall.

i was going to get the pics developed while i was at cvs, but i forgot to bring the usb cord to pull the pics off the phone. boo.

so after i swung by cvs, i planned my moves strategically. first i would stop at the post office, then lakeshore, after that i'd cross the street and hit bed bath and beyond and last stop-over to barnes and noble!

so when i stopped at the post office, there was a line ( even at the machine! imagine that). but surprisingly everyone was acting strange-the holiday spirit had apparently descended upon everyone. isn't it strange how at Christmas time, people are more chatty and willing to talk to randoms in line?

a sweet elderly lady (who knows if she really was sweet, i just like to imagine that most elderly people are) didn't want to wait in the main lobby line, so she asked if the machine dispensed Christmas stamps, and someone in front said they were getting some and would let her know. (i had bought some the other day, but i didn't speak up...because what if the machine was out or they changed them up).

love the stamps!

 so indeed it did still have them and the lady looked at me and asked if the machine took debit cards and when i told her yes, she went on to explain how when debit cards first came out, she thought they were the devil, but now she can't live without it! then she conversed with the lady at the end of the line offering to hold her baby son...heavy baby son, judah...

at lakeshore, i realized how ridiculously over-priced educational resources are. boo. i got a couple of books to assist my students in their grammar and spelling- i wanted to get one that was white board compatible, but it was pricier than i really wanted to go at this time.

thought these might give me the most bang for my buck...(fireworks for my money...not bangs on a male deer-that would just be wrong)

when i got home, the boys asked me to please please please take a nap with them, so i did...reluctantly (right).

when we woke up refreshed, i pulled out the 'where is santa' book. i bought about 4 of them real cheap after Christmas at the family general store a couple of years ago meaning to give them to students as gifts. well, this year, i brought one home so that i could search-i love searches!

find the patriotic yorkie...

and now we are preparing to get our studying going! bruno said he's going to try to help me with the math rules and chaco said he was going to help me work on the acting portion. i explained that the test i was taking had no acting portion and he let me know that i was no fun. so i sent him off to practice the shepherd scene from the Christmas story and he could perform for us later.

hope your Christmas spirit gives you the opportunity to talk to people in long lines,
julie