So I Was Just Thinking

I got this in email. Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions: Why did God make mothers? 1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is. 2. Mostly to clean the house. 3. To help us out of there when we were getting born. How did God make mothers? 1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us. 2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.. 3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts. What ingredients are mothers made of? 1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.. 2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think. Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom? 1. We're related. 2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me. What kind of a little girl was your mom? 1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff. 2. I don't know because I was...

At our church, we have a program for mothers of preschoolers called MOPS. Do we have such a thing for teenagers? No, so I am starting MOAT - Mother of a teenager. There will be a girl and boy group as those of you know teen boys and girls and completely different creatures. I am looking forward to this time. There is so much in store for the two of us. Below are the pictures are a couple pictures of Caitlin on her birthday. Cait and her friend most of the evening laughing at things on their cell phones. Watch out world. Here she comes.

Day 3 of Spring Break was a great day. Mom took James for a haircut and then took him to visit the new Harley Davidson store. James loves motorcycles. If you ask him when he is getting one, he will respond, "When I am 18 and have my own money." I love programming. If you are new to this blog, you are new to my St. Patrick's Day story. Click on over for a minute and then come right back. Don't worry. I'll still be here when you get back. See. I told you I wasn't going anywhere. So, you will notice that last year at this time, my aunt was recovering from hip surgery. That went very well. This year, however, she is in the hospital again with Myasthenia Gravis . The treatment worked the first time she had an episode last summer, but returned this month. We are hoping she can come home soon. If you jumped over to my St. Patrick's Day story, you will see we are just adding more to the "hardship" part of it. Because my aunt was in the hospital this Mar...

You can get a lot done. No, I didn't do laundry or organize my closet, but I did cross off two items off my art journal list. I have one more page left to do plus a cover. When I finish it all, I will show you. Here is a page that we were supposed to add texture with gesso. It is textured, but hard to see in the picture. The second one is using a picture that Rieni took of daisy. I painted over the photo. Then I drew the notebook paper for the quote and finished with some journaling.

My children have been blessed or cursed depending on your point of view with having birthdays on during spring break. It's a blessing because in our schools, if you give an invitation to one kid in your class (elementary) then you have to give one to everyone. My thought is if there is someone in your class who is just a total turkey, why should you have to invite them? Having a birthday during spring break means you don't have birthday parties with classmates so you don't have to invite someone you don't want to your party. This is also a curse. You don't have birthday parties so no one comes to your birthday. Another good thing about spring break birthdays is presents can be things like trips to North Carolina like we did one year for Caitlin. We are going to try to go Disney next year. We will be having Caitlin's birthday at a local restaurant with some friends. Sunday was James birthday and we had a little friend over. She is the cutest little girl. Note the...

We (meaning Gary) got our garage cleaned out today. What a surprise. We found a little cowboy soccer player hiding in there.

I just won this: It was for a post I did on March 1st. You can read it here. I guess I have been on my soap box more than a little lately. Hopefully, spring break will mellow me out a little. LOL

...or SOU for short. A term that sends a shiver down the backs of veteran teachers from my school and can cause a novice teacher to curl up in a ball under her desk. No we are not talking about the annual speech that the U.S. President is required to give to the nation to assure that the we aren't all going to hell in a hand basket. I am talking about the quarterly report our beloved leader requires us to submit in person that lets him know we are doing what we all said we would do when we signed up to be teachers, which is to teach. Imagine that! They expect us to TEACH. This report and meeting began as a result of a greenhorn principal finding out in a baptism by fire initiation that not everyone does what they say they are going to do. At the end of our principal's first year, when the state test results came in, I am sure he was amazed to find out that not everyone passed. Unfortunately, his laissez faire attitude toward letting grownups be grownups didn't work. The ne...

I never know what is going to follow that. Today was no exception. While learning about ecosystems, we each had to make a personal food chain. Students had to list the elements of a meal and then break that down to the smallest origin, which eventually leads us to the ultimate energy source - the sun. See the example below: So my students started writing down a typical meal, and I started hearing the scariest things (mind you these are gifted students.)... Random Student: Mrs. Victory, what is a cheeseburger made up of? Mrs. Victory: Ummm. What? (pausing to let the question truly sink in - realizing that he wants to know what hamburger patty is made of) BEEF. Various Students: Do you need milk to make French fries? (This one heard me say that you need milk to make mashed potatoes.) What about strawberries...lemons...oranges? Mrs Victory (in her head): Are you kidding me? Mrs Victory: Look it up. Then it hit me, most kids don't watch their moms make their food. Many moms (me include...

Here's another page from Marit's Let It Loose workshop. I had been holding on to the lady and the flower and cookie (smiley face) for quite some time. I knew I would use them, but never planned to put them together. After I combined the three elements, it made me think of JOY which was another word I had been saving from my magazines. It's all just justification for my collecting habit. Don't worry, you won't see me on an episode of "Hoarders."

I have the song "Feelin' Groovy"* running through my head. Only, I am thinking "I don't feel groovy, not even a little bit." In fact, I am feeling quite icky. *BTW Feelin' Groovy is really the "Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge Song." After having kidney stones removed mid February, I thought I would be up and running in just a few days. On the contrary, I continue to have pain most days, not from the stones, but from the stint that remains until the doctor removes it (Monday??? One can hope.) Regardless, I have become accustomed to this annoyance - good meds get me through. The new problem is a cold, something I haven't had in a very long time. I work very hard to keep my hands clean at school even though I shake hands, hug or high five each and everyone of my students every morning and afternoon. I teach them to wash their hands often - doesn't always work, especially when you have one or two who still love to pick their noses. Getting a cold...

How do they know? How do they do it? What am I talking about? Well, this morning I stumbled upon a neat online music station called Jango that is playing so many of my favorite songs. How'd I find it? I was looking for some lyrics for "Kick" by INXS and there was a player button at the top of the page so I clicked - something I would rarely do because of viruses. Fortunately, I was greeted by Jango.com. It reminds me of Playlist.com, which is no longer available to my international friends. Jango allows me to pick a band like INXS and then it starts pulling other performers from the same genre and makes a "radio station" for me to listen to during the day - well not school days. I can add other groups to the list or I can make another station based on other genres. I have been sitting here listening to INXS, Midnight Oil, The Power Station (Bang a gong), Duran Duran, and eww Culture Club (I could do without Karma Chameleon) and so on. It seems like a nice way ...

Okay, so it is common practice since No Child Left Behind for schools to give yearly assessments in the areas of reading, and math and in certain grade levels, writing and science. Yesterday was one of those tests. Since there is an issue of confidentiality and security I shall not name the specific brand of test students took, but the subject was writing. The question I present to all of my writer friends is this, Do you write in a vacuum - void of any inspiration? Where does the spark come from when you want to or even need to write about a given topic. The guidelines for this particular test requires that all words, posters, etc. must be covered or removed before the students begin writing. Heaven forbid they see a poster that says, "You Can Do It" or "Reach for the Stars." What about that map of the United States of America that has in two inch letters the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? I hope by now, fourth graders know the country where they live and how to s...

Here's a new canvas from my Let It Loose art journal class. I was playing with fonts while making this acrostic. I have been having fun with this class, even though my schedule and recovery * have kept me from being as productive as possible. The background was created with fluid chalk pads that I got from Stampin' Up eons ago, but they don't sell anymore. I found similar ones here . I wish I could get that paint effect on my kitchen walls. *Recovering from the surgical removal of two kidney stones three weeks ago.