The UC

I'm not a Utah County native.  I don't want to be an immigrant even.  I'm plenty happy being a daily in-and-outer.


I guess there are just some things that I just don't quite understand about the UC.


1.  A few weeks ago was the Hope of America 5th grade performance, the Freedom Festival kick-off event.  I drove down with my lovely team and ate dinner at Zupas.  Can we say "I'm-more-religiouser-than-you" any louder than long, silent, bowed heads in prayer in a restaurant?  Not just a little quick short bow of the head.  I'm talking about a few minutes worth of prayering.  In a public place.  With someone sitting across from her.  In a crowded restaurant.  Really?


2.  Shed hunting.  This came up in after-school conversation the other day.  Two people with master's degrees don't know what this is, the two people from Lehi UC did though.  Do you?  Better yet, if you don't, what image does it bring to mind?  And no, the Lehi-er didn't put bullets through any storage units in case you were wondering.


3.  Bad driving.  Maybe the problem is all the construction going on in the south UC, and by the time people drive to north UC they're still driving strangely.  Maybe.  Or maybe it's just an extension of Utah drivers as a whole.  Meh.


4.  BYU.  And okay, I'm a Utah girl, so everyone's obsession with the Y is not normal to me anyway.  But everyone on the BYU bandwagon?  All they're really doing is making life that much more exciting for Utah fans, with Utes thinking that their lives are in danger - especially in Provo.  Which reminds me - I forgot to switch my plates when I was driving around there last week... no harm done though - what a miracle.


5.  University Boulevard vs. University Parkway.  Really?


6.  Speaking of streets, I don't get the UC address system.  13 summers ago, my lovely little city decided they were going to finally re-address the city to match the rest of the county.  What a relief!  I really don't enjoy driving down a street in the UC and find that it's called something different at the other end.  Talk about confusing.  Everyone gives directions in the UC according to landmarks because street addresses are a lost cause.  If you can find the Purple Turtle, you can find anything.



I guess there are a few good things about the UC.  But only a few.

1.  JCW's.  Yum-o!
2.  Proud Utah fans baring their colors boldly.  And putting their lives in danger each time they do so.
3.  My great school.

Yeah, that's about it. :)

iPad...

Oh how I love it!

I'm going to test out some blogging from my iPad using blog press. I'm not sure that I want to type essays here (great news for you!), but maybe it'll work for capturing a few thoughts.

Here's a few pics from my photo roll so I can see how it works...



Edited using the Snapseed app.




One of the ways I spent some time during spring break... More on that later...!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Disneyland - Best of...

A little late, seeing as how we were in Disneyland in December... but here it is!



Best ride worth waiting an hour in line:  Midway Mania

Best ride worth Fastpassing twice:  Star Tours

Best ride with no line so you can ride it 3 times in a row:  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Best time to get to the park:  8:15 am

Best time to stay at the park:  12:10 am

Best popcorn stand:  Main Street, 12:05 am (they cook it there until 12:30 so you can get some on your way out of the park!)

Best thing about getting a 'Happy Birthday' button:  Everyone - cast members and fellow Disney go-ers - wishes you a happy birthday!

Best place to watch World of Color from:  We didn't find it... we went twice and had rather tall people standing in front of us both times... what?

Best holiday rendition of a ride:  It's a Small World

Best thing about mentioning it's your birthday when you make reservations for the Blue Bayou:  Chocolate mousse

Best thing to eat so you don't have to eat anything else for the rest of the day:  Monte Cristo sandwiches from the Blue Bayou

Best Fantasyland ride with the longest line though I can't for the life of me figure out why it's so much longer than every other ride's line:  The Flight of Peter Pan

Best scare:  Tower of Terror

Best (worst?) song that got stuck on my head:  Mad Hatter's Teacups jingle

Best song to sing along with on the ride:  Yo-ho, Yo-ho, a Pirate's Life for Me!

Best advice overheard given from mother to son:  "Don't cut off your own arm with that light saber."

january blargs

i am so glad january has come and gone.  it is an awful month.  i've never particularly cared for january, but this one seemed to drag on and on and on and on......

i ran out of my monthly copy allowance at school about a week too early.  probably a good thing for my students, they haven't had near the homework load they would have with a few more copies.

5 january sundays.  5 january mondays.  5 january tuesdays.  only 4 january saturdays.

no snow.  not that i really love snow anyway, especially driving in it, but it's just so mug-ugly out there.  brown, dead grass.  brown mountains.  dirty cars.  ugly.  at least with some snow on the ground it cleans things up a little bit.


but i guess there have been some good things about january too.

weather - lovely outside-recess weather.  i remember a january a few years ago when the first two weeks were spent in inside-recess.  i thought i was going to go crazy then.  this is much better.

5 january mondays - but only 3 at school.

scrapping at hale center theater with joee and tammy and others.

an item crossed off my bucket list - going to a sundance movie while it's at sundance.  my cousin ended up with 2 tickets he didn't need to "your sister's sister."  joee and i went up.  not a bad flick overall.  not quite the experience i was expecting, but it was okay.

Weekending - basketball style

I. Love. Basketball.  I love playing it.  I love watching it.  I love seeing little kids playing it.  I love the sounds of dribbling balls and swooshing nets and squeaky shoes on the gym floor.  I love the smell of new gym shoes and leather basketballs.  Not so in love with the other smells though.  Love.  It.

So with the looming NBA lockout, it seemed like a great year to get season tickets to U of U men's basketball, so that I could get my 'fix'.  Yes, they're slated to come in last in the PAC-12.  Yes, they started out the season a little on the rough side.  Yes, they got a new coach who drove some experienced players out.  But... they have improved a ton so far this season.  A ton.  They don't get blown out as often as you'd think.  And they really do play well at times - even for long stretches at times. 

It was quite exciting, then, last Thursday night when the Utes not only came from behind to win over Washington State, they won it in overtime!  What a crowd!  What a game!  What great plays down the stretch!  What great interesting thoughtful pointless commentary from the men sitting behind us!  Woo!  Go Utes!

Friday night, our neighbor to the south, Andy, gave us tickets for the Jazz game against Memphis.  Another team that started out rough, but are looking like they've found their groove.  They won as well, and in great fashion.

Back to the Hill for Saturday's Utah game against Washington.  This game was very back-and-forth, with a few lead changes, but mostly with Utah behind and then sneaking up, and getting behind and sneaking back up.  Well, they almost sneaked themselves into a win, but came up short.  Still, a good game played by a team that is improving game at a time.

Yup.  A good weekend had by all.

Gotta love it, baby!

currently...

currently...

listening... to the hum of my loooovely mini-fridge

eating... cuties

drinking... diet coke

wearing... school-uniform attire and shoes that i should not have

feeling... worn out

weather... sunny, waaaay too warm for january but who's complaining?

wanting... a few more hours in my day

needing... to 'prepare' my room for the fire marshall's inspection tomorrow

thinking... about what i'm going to wear to the ute's black-out game tonight

enjoying... the thought of the weekend

2011 Top 11

In no particular order... and maybe a few more, too...

Travels
1.  Disneyland at Christmas
2.  Colonial Williamsburg
3.  Washington, DC
4.  Civil War tour

The Theater
5.  Wicked
6.  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Movies
7.  Harry Potter Movie Marathon
8.  Breaking Dawn

Hobbies
9.  Reading
10.  Crocheting
11.  Crafting

Family, Friends, & Others
12.  Family
13.  Friends
14.  Others

Technology
15. iPad
16. New Camera

Experiences
17.  Relief Society at the prison
18.  Camp Spike & Wave
19.  Craft Booth at Midvale Days

Thankful - Linky Party

1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?

My class this year - I love them!  A lot!
My Promethean board, Elmo and projector - I couldn't teach without them!
Books - a lot of them.  Never is "I can't find something to read" an option.



2. What people are you most thankful for?

My family - I wouldn't be where I am without my Mom, Dad, and Holly
My lunch group - I am sane thanks to Karen, Jami, Ryan, Vickie and Megan!




3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?

 What the Teacher Wants - of course!
Read This!?!? - my BFF's new book blog
Heartland Paper - to keep me sane!




4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?

Diet Coke
Chocolate
Dancing with the Stars!



5. What are you most thankful for?

Family, friends, the gospel, a great job, health, and wellness!

still here

yeah.

haven't blogged for a while.

i'm sure a lot of really great things have happened...

school... 33 5th graders... who are actually really quite great...  just time-consuming...

40 books for the school year... most my kids are keeping up... me not so much... this is week 8... and at one a week i am about 3 weeks behind... but i have some really great books lined up...  the new ranger's apprentice books for example...

math class... reading that i skim... lesson plans to re-write... but a lovely wednesday evening that passes by fairly quickly... and the best part is that i can come to school the next day with new ideas for discussion in math.

history class... even more reading that i just barely skim... does anyone get through it all?.. doubt it!... but good knowledge... and my favorite for dinner - golden corral... ick...

crochet class... really great students that don't need lots of help so i can stitch too... coming up with projects that will work is a little challenging... but good...

the utes... started out the season great... and now i have no idea what happened to them... except to say that they could give me a scholarship to fumble 10 times in the last two games... it's probably a good thing that the most important game of the year was early on, and they played a lot better than they really are, and the cougs played a lot worse than they really are...

general conference... was good... lots of things i need to work on... but i have apparently a lot of time to do that now... and not just to 2012 like all my great students say every time someone reports a new volcano or earthquake in the world...  but i probably should be telling you this in person instead of sending it into the great cyber void...

so yeah.

see you in a few weeks... or months... or whatever...

Summer in a Post

Summer 2011

My summer very literally started the last day of school with a red-eye flight to Washington DC, and ended officially just days before the first day of school.  What a great, crazy, summer!

Library of Congress Teacher Institute @ Washington DC w/ me

Computer Camp @ Deerfield w/ 16 kids

Utah National Guard 23rd Army Band @ the Tabernacle w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne


Hair Cut @ Joyce's w/ Joyce

The before

Williamsburg Teacher Institute @ Williamsburg, Va w/ Karen and the history cohort

Relief Society patriotic presentation @ the Prison w/ Mom, Holly, and about 30 prisoners


Murray 4th of July Parade @ State Street w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne

Crocheting with Achievement Day girls @ Joee’s w/ Joee

Harry Potter movie marathon @ Jordan Commons w/ Mom, JoAnne, and Holly

Sad it's over...

... but happy it happened!

Crocheting marathons @ the back porch w/ Mom

Pops Concert @ Abravenel Hall w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne

Pioneer Commemoration Concert @ the Conference Center w/ Mom and JoAnne

Cruising the parade route @ SLC w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne

Camp Spike & Wave @ Park City w/ Holly and campers

Gambling @ Las Vegas w/ Charlotte

another jackpot!

Harvest Days booth @ Midvale w/Joee, Holly, Mom, &JoAnne

Riding the new Trax lines @ South Jordan and West Valley 2/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne

Co-blab-eration @ Deerfield w/ Karen, Jami, and Ryan

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat @ Hale Center Theater w/ Mom, JoAnne, Holly, and Joee

Lagoon @ Lagoon w/ Holly

All this!  Plus the usual… going to the rec center (hem, hem…), sleeping in (staying up late), being lazy, cleaning up, cleaning out, taking stuff to the DI (and watching to make sure they don’t take more than they’re supposed to!), enjoying Tippy’s adventures in the backyard (bird, anyone?), watching daytime TV (She’s Crafty, Matlock, Studio 5, Maury)

Summer wanderings...

Washington, DC

I totally had a great time in DC at the Library of Congress teacher seminar!  It was fantastic!  I LOVE DC! (see post dated a little ways back...)

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Williamsburg, Virginia

25 teachers from my district got to go to Colonial Williamsburg's teacher institute for a week.  Talk about History Boot Camp!  (Another week of 90+ degree temperatures combined with 90+% humidity (Utah really is a dry heat - but you can't fully appreciate that until you've experienced the opposite!) and I would have melted into the sidewalk!)  We got to visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and, of course, Colonial Williamsburg.  I learned so much while I was there, and gained a greater appreciation for Virginia as the first permanent English settlement in North America, and for the founding of our country.  One thing that was particularly cool was that British soldiers occupied the town while we were there - so interesting to have so much going on!

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Harry Potter!

Holly and I plotted many weeks ago to do a multi-day marathon showing of all the Harry Potter movies, and to take Mom and JoAnne.  It started on Monday and wrapped up Friday morning with the 7.2 movie starting at 12:01.  It was kind of sad, really, to have such an important part of my life over with.  Is that dumb?  A book and movie series as an important part of my life?  I guess having these types of interests though is what makes life life.  JK Rowling did say this though, which is helpful:  “Whether you come back to it by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."  It was fun to see all the movies on a gigantor screen and with a fun crowd.  They gave us lanyards with our movie pass, and served up butter beer the last night.  Oh, and the popcorn.  Yum.  Though I think that I'm capped out on that.  Definitely a worthwhile way to spend 20 hours of my summer, lazy life.

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Accomplishments

There are some summer days when my biggest goal for the day is to shower.  Other days I'm more ambitious.  Like wearing shoes other than bummy flip flops.

Many summers I don't have anything to show for what I did, but with my great seminars and movie marathoning, I got certificates for all of them (yes, even the HP marathon!).  I think I'll frame them and post them on my wall at school and see which impresses the kids the most.

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Crocheting

I love crocheting.  I really do.  I learned how a long time ago, I think when someone in my ward or a teacher or someone was having a baby, and I asked JoAnne to show me how to crochet around a burp cloth.  I was in elementary school then.  I liked it okay, but didn't have a lot of patience for crocheting with such small thread (I still don't...).  I also didn't have a lot of time to do it, and definitely no money to fund my habit.

Fast forward to 9th grade.  Ms. Woodger's creative stitchery class.  What a great class - one of the best I've ever had, probably (for what we did - not so much for my classmates, that's an entirely different post!).  We did a little bit of everything handiwork - cross stitch, swedish weaving, plastic canvas, knit, sew on a machine, needle point, quilting, and crocheting.  I'm definitely more of a jack-of-all-trades with these skills, but they are great skills to have!

Fast forward to two years ago.  Mom, Holly, JoAnne and I decided to take a crochet class via community school.  It was so fun to get back to crocheting again!  JoAnne especially acted like she didn't know a lot about crocheting, but it was good to have an expert with us on our table!  Holly never really got into it much (college is a tough time to do anything with your life except study).  Mom loved it - she only mastered one stitch really well (we're still trying to figure out what that stitch actually is...), but she uses it all the time.  Her favorite thing to crochet?  Dishcloths!

I've loved getting back to crocheting. It's fun, it's relaxing, it's not something that everyone does.  I'm not totally creative on my own, but I am good at following a pattern, so I've made some fun things.  Last spring I taught my own community school class at WXHS for beginning crocheters.  I was shocked at how many people came!  And how many people wanted to make sure I did another class this fall!  I also crocheted a lot of hats over the summer to be sold at Harvest Days... Um, yeah, that went over like a lead balloon... but at least I've got all my Christmas gifts ready to go.

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Personal History

I've been thinking about the best ways to go about writing not only a history of myself, but a history of Dad.  One of my aunts is big right now into writing biographies of deceased relatives.  They're finely written for the relatives I didn't know at all... but now that she's getting more into writing about people that I actually did know, like my Grandma, I see all the holes that are there and have been wondering how to write someone's life without things missing.  I guess a lot of it has to do with the documents and pictures that people leave behind, along with the stories and memories that others have of them.  The latter is particularly troublesome to me - no one person has the same memories as anyone else... so how do you get it all?  Any ideas?

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I {heart} WDC!

Looking toward the National Mall from Arlington House

Things I {heart} about Washington DC:

1.  I love the Metro.  I like that I can take the Metro and walk pretty much everywhere I want to go.  It's safe, it's clean, it's easy to figure out where you want to go.

Luv my Metro stop!

2.  Tourists.  Yes, I know that I'm one when I'm here too, but I really try to not look conspicuously like one (well, except for the camera - but even that, I don't bring all 8 zillion lenses with me).  I like how parents and children are making connections over the documents, monuments, and artifacts they're seeing.  I also like chuckling to myself when parents get it wrong.

Paying my respects to President Lincoln

3.  Too much to see!  Museums, monuments, exhibits, offices, restaurants x 10 million!  There are so many things to do and see - how could you ever see it all?

WWII Memorial

4.  Softball on the National Mall.  I love that teams - law firms, offices, and congressional staffers - organize and play their games on the Mall.  Sad to say, but watching them play is one of my favorite down-time activities when I'm done with museums and monuments.

Things that I could do without in WDC:

A.  June = 8th graders on tour.  Yeah.  Avoid DC in June if at all possible.

Washington Monument, the emptied-out reflecting pool, and 9 million 8th graders and their poor chaperones and tour directors... I feel their pain, but I'm glad it's not me!

B.  Icky brown grass on the National Mall.  Yes, I know it's irresponsible to use a sprinkler system when others are in a drought... but really.  This is America's capital city.  Surely taxpayers wouldn't mind a cent or two more to cover the water bill for America's showpiece city?

The Capitol... and brown grass... ick...

Sample 7: Caps by Christine

I spent the better part of the weekend crocheting hats.  So cute!  (The hat, not me...)  The pattern came from this blog: http://vallieskids.blogspot.com/2009/06/olivias-butterfly.html - fun, quick, easy crochet patterns.  Such a great weekend!!  (Ah, the bliss of having a Monday off from school!)

Holly, Joee and I are working on crafty items to sell at the Midvale Days craft fair in August.  I've been wondering about price points.  I've looked at similar items on Etsy to get some ideas, and Googled some as well.  I definitely don't want to overprice, but it's a fine line between that and underpricing.

So let me know - what would you pay for your very own, handmade, crocheted cap?

Traveler

Traveler.

The travel bug started early - Dad always had a great summer vacation planned.  West - National Parks (Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, etc.), Oregon, Disneyland, Alaska - and East - Boston, Maine, New York, Prince Edward Island, and more...  

I got my first taste for somewhat-solo travel when I went to Europe when I graduated from high school.  It was a perfect combination of being supervised, safe, protected, and independent and on my own.  Kind of.  (I was only 18, after all!  Who lets an 18-year-old out of their sight in a foreign country for very long??)  

From then on, I was ruined.  I was totally addicted to going somewhere - anywhere - for new places, new faces, new eats, and new souvenir shops.  I love, too much, taking pics on all these adventures.  I love the planning almost as much as the going.  I even love the driving to get there!  (Though I do miss the days of relaxing in the back seat with a good book or working on a hobby or napping...).  I love the anticipation of getting ready.  I rarely sleep much the night before leaving - a trait I've inherited from my Dad.  I'm not a great packer - I've had to invest in a suitcase scale to ensure that my packing job is underweight at the airport - I got a new, lightweight suitcase set from my Mom (who is tired of hearing my packing woes, I'm sure) to help me out with this also.  It's so great to go to new places, famous places, out-of-the-way places, and old favorite, tradition places.

Since becoming a somewhat independent person, I've gone to Las Vegas (once; Joee, several more times with Holly), China (with Joee), the Hill Cumorah Pageant (three times; twice driving cross country, once with an old-fashioned map and once with a GPS, and once with Mom attached to a history seminar in Philly), NYC (with Holly, attached to a HCP experience), Washington DC (twice; once attached to a HCP with Holly, the other time all by myself! for a Library of Congress seminar - and I get to go again this summer!), Philadelphia (once; for a history seminar, Mom would come out later), Boston (once, with a district history cohort).  

Beijing with Joee

Niagara Falls

Washington DC

Vegas with Holly

More is planned for the not-so-far distant future - a Civil War tour (with a district history cohort),  a Williamsburg/Jamestown seminar (with another district history cohort), another romp in DC for another LoC institute, and hopes for another one or two seminars.  Getting to go to so many places is my favorite perk of never having left home - how else would I get to go here and there and everywhere if I were paying down a mortgage?

Is it weird to have travel goals?  Because I do.  I want to visit all 50 states (32 down, 18 to go!).  I want to visit all 7 continents (3 down, 4 to go!).  Any time I study about a place, it makes me want to see those places in person - like when I learned about Machu Piccu when I taught the 3rd grade.  I get this from my mom - I did my 5th grade state report on Maine - guess where we went for vacation a few years later?   

Rick Steves is one of my favorite tv personalities.  I love his travel philosophy - you can't see everything when you're in a new place, so travel like you're going to go back there someday.  Because chances are, if you ended up going there once, you're going to go again.

Student

Student.

I had known for a while that I'd go back to school to get my Master's.  I didn't think it'd be so soon after leaving with my BS degree.  I applied to the U after going to an interview that I didn't think went so well... and I thought that into August, it would be good to have a back-up plan.  School was it.  It took me about 30 minutes to apply to the U as a grad student conditionally, and got in officially after my first semester.  My job being a part-time contract computer specialist really was an ideal way to start and get into grad school - much less of my life was devoted to teaching than currently is, which helped me get a lot of homework done.

I decided to go the literacy route, and got my reading endorsement along the way.  With my few classes that I could choose, I took the technology endorsement classes, figuring that would be a good fit with my computer teaching.  I had some really good professors along the way, and a few marginal ones.  I read a lot, studied a lot, did a few group projects, and wrote a ton of papers.  I went the comprehensive exam route at the end, which meant that I had 10 days to write 3 10+ page papers.  I took a week off school to get this accomplished, which helped a ton... I really do write best late at night and early into the morning.  I passed (whew!), and emailed in my last paper of my last class 5 minutes before it was due.  Sigh.  And - I'm done.  No more homework, assigned research reading, outlines, summaries, research papers, or group projects.  For now...

Teacher

Teacher.


After many, many interviews, late into August, I finally got hired.  It was not my expected job - a computer specialist at a .65 time contract.  But, a job is a job, and I took it gladly.  I often think that it's because of Dad that I got my job.  Alpine District is an Apple district, and, well, I had exclusive use of Macs growing up, thanks to Dad.

It was a great job, and there are many days when I still miss it. :)  I liked getting to see and know all the kids in the school.  I liked being the teacher that didn't know (as the kids thought) who was naughty or who was and wasn't the smartest in the class.  It was fun to be the 'fun' teacher in the school - most of the kids could not wait for their once-weekly computer dose.

After the first part-time year, my contract was extended to be full time for the second year.  After that year, my school was going to an extended-day schedule, and so the specialist jobs would be back to part time.  I really wanted to be full time, so I did interview at another school, but was able to stay at good old Deerfield, and took a position in the 3rd grade.

Third grade was a good place to be.  I did my student teaching in 3rd grade, and I loved it.  I enjoyed that age of kid when those classes came to computers.  I liked the 3rd grade team and got along with them pretty well.  My classes were so cute - 24 the first year, 27 the second year.  I like how the kids were just getting used to working on their own, and were anxious to do things themselves.  They are still pretty cute at that age, too, and are ready to let you know how much they love you.

After two years there, I moved to the 5th grade, mostly, I think, because I would be a good fit with their eMints technology grant.  I have loved the 5th grade team - we've had a few new members over the three years I've been there, but is always fun and uplifting.  (Some days the best part is lunch!)  My classes have always kept me hopping - 32 students my first year, 33 the next, and 37 this year (36 now).  I had several kids in 5th grade that I also taught in 3rd grade, and so that was fun to get to have them again.  I'm starting to get siblings of kids that I had either in 3rd or 5th, and that is a fun connection to have as well.

I enjoy teaching for many reasons:  I enjoy being with kids, and am at ease talking to them and teaching them (not so much with adults).  Kids are so funny!  They have great little personalities, and, while I have just a small part in how they are going to turn out, I like to think that I'm making a positive difference in their lives.  I like preparing lessons and activities for them to learn from.  I even like going to professional development workshops to learn more about being a better teacher.  I like that each day is different, but that I have control (mostly) over how the day goes.

Some things that I don't like about teaching:  Grading... it never ends.  Never.  I'm only ever caught up in May.  I also don't like having to deal with 5th grade drama - bullying, love triangles, discipline issues.  There are times when I've been frustrated with other adults in the building, but for the most part, I enjoy the camaraderie of the teachers in my building.  There are definitely ways that the profession can improve - funding, testing, legislative concerns, and other things that don't have to do with kids and teaching them - but overall, it is a good profession and I'm glad and grateful to be a part of it.

Seven years in, and I think that I finally know what I'm doing.  Most of the time.  Some days, anyway.  At least only a few kids go home crying, on any given day.  (The teacher's tears, however, are another story...!)

Sister

Sister.

The week that I was the VIP in my first grade class was life-changing.  How many 7 year olds can say that??  My mom made me a book to take to school to show me off to my class.  Of course, no siblings were featured (just the aforementioned dog and cat).  Well, by the end of that fateful week, I had acquired a sister.  In all the wishing and hoping that I'd have a sister someday, it didn't occur to me that she'd come so little.  I wanted someone to play with!

Who could possibly play with this little thing?

Now that I'm more used to her (after 22 years!), I'm glad to have had her around for so long.  We definitely have had some good times together.  For a glimpse into some of these adventures, check out this post.  Every girl needs a sister.  There are just some things that only sisters can do!

Only

Only.

I was the oldest born of the family, and enjoyed single-status for 7 blissful years.  It was great being both the baby of the family, as well as an adult-tag-along.  I enjoyed the full attention of both my parents, not to mention single-most adoration from a number of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Dogs and cats, by the way, make great siblings.

This 'only' status would change eventually...

A Dozen Words

Thanks to some blog stalking, I found this post from Travelin' Oma.

~Write an outline of your life using only a dozen words. Go back and turn each word into a paragraph.

Here are my dozen words.  Subsequent posts will be my paragraphs...

Only

Sister

Wanna-be

Newbie

College

Teacher

Student

Techy

Traveler

Work-a-holic

Half-orphaned

Single

"Thanks to your Dad..."

In December, Lone Peak HS sponsored a food drive at the elementary schools.  The class with the most cans got a pizza party, in addition to school-wide incentives.  My class was doing okay with their can count, but it really picked up the last week when I told them that whatever cans they brought in, I would double it.  Well, actually - my Dad would double it.  He always supported the Food Bank, and we thought this would be a good use of some of his money.  (He usually supported them with money, as the food bank gets more for their/our buck with that, but thought this would be a worthy exception.)

By the time the end of the week rolled around, the kids had brought 238 cans in... so I dutifully went to the store with Mom and bought 240 cans... of everything!  All totaled up, it was only $119.37 - not too shabby!  The receipt is still hanging up in my room, over 3 feet long!

My kids were so impressed that I'd be willing (well, that Dad'd be willing) to help them out to meet our goal of getting that pizza party.  I'm glad that I could help out their morale a little bit, and maybe help demonstrate what a good cause a food drive is, and the people it helps.

The kids brought in more cans that last day, so we ended up with over 500 cans, and ended up winning that pizza party.  When I told the kids that we won (oh, and that we were going to be good sports about it!), one of my students who really doesn't see outside himself much said to me, "It's thanks to your Dad that we won, you know."  Awwwww...!

So thanks, Dad!