School daze

I've been subbing....a lot. Still trying to decide if I want to jump into the special ed thing. Those jobs are certainly in high need.

I was in one room with a couple of autistic kiddos. I had a sweater on and was hot, so I took it off. I had a short sleeved shirt on. One of the little boys started rubbing my upper arm. "Smooooth..." he said. I was so pleased with myself. "..and JIGGLY!" he gleefully added.

Another little boy, labeled emotionally disturbed....CUTE CUTE CUTE kid!! I can't stand it, he is so cute! Did I mention he's cute?? Big, brown doe-eyes. Round chubby cheeks. He got upset at something and started in with the Damien face...evil eyes, furrowed brow, clenched jaw and fists, heavy, labored breathing. He came up to me....darn close...inches from my own angelic face. ;-) I reached over with my index finger, tapped the tip of his nose gently and said, "Boop!" Totally diffused him. I'm pretty sure that technique isn't in the books....

Another autistic boy, 5th grade. Has made wonderful strides. One day in class, just would not write what he was supposed to in his class notebook. I tried all the little ways, the polite ways, the non-confrontative ways to entice him to success. He simply wouldn't write. He is high functioning and knew fully what to do. I finally leaned over to him and hissed in his ear, "JUUUUST DOOO IIIIT...NOW!" I'll be darned. The 50's parenting technique works on others' children, too!

I'll remember more. They just crack me up.

Crossroads rest stop...

Well, I may not know where I'm heading, but I'll tell ya one thing. Going back to substitute teach at my favorite school after Christmas break and getting mob-hugged by about 30 little kids is just about the bestest thing in the whole wide world.

Family Feets

Just postin' cuz I liked it....can you guess which ones are Gracie's? ;-)

Saturday afternoons. . .

I hear that cats and dogs aren't supposed to get along, but Lizzie and Gracie didn't get the memo. I love days like this. Quiet, overcast, chilly without being outrageously cold. Working on a couple of client projects and sipping some java. Most excellent. I hope your day is special.

7 random and/or weird facts about me:

1. I'm a sci-fi nut
2. I know how to tat
3. I can write upside-down and backwards (at the same time, if it's a good day!)
4. I nearly died twice--once as a baby and once as a toddler
5. I had my 'beginning' in a 400 year old house near the North Sea, in Thorpeness, England
6. I've had an out-of-body experience
7. I did editorial cartoons for a time for a newspaper in Garland, Texas

Tag, you're it!

Don tagged me a bit ago on this fun lil' thing:

Rules: Identify the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
(I'm lazy. You're all tagged! ;-D)

The Missy Fridge Challenge

What's on your refrigerator?

For KB

Oh, heck....

...I was ready to hang this blog up, but will putter on...I have a couple posts brewing thanks to you all....make me think, will ya?
This is kind of true, except for the balanced person thing, and the success thing. Having a mid-life crisis and not feeling so successful....but I DO love playtime! :-)

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - incorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Stuff we miss. . .

AOL had a list of stuff "we" miss:

Grape NeHi Soda
House and Garden Mag
Use of vowels (as in texting-my 17 year old refuses to "text-speak")
Lard in pastry
Howard Johnson's (like it used to be)
Vent windows (in cars)
Screaming yellow zonkers
Train travel
New Potter books
Chromed metal on cars
Gelatin salad
Drive-in theaters
Gas attendants
MILKshakes
vinyl records
McD's fried pies
cursive writing
full size spare tire
day games during baseball playoffs
phone booths
pleasurable air travel
Hydrox cookies
Easy to open packaging
In-store lunch counters
The Far Side

I thought about it. I'm not sure I miss "stuff" so much. I miss:

Kids playing outside in summer
Only 3-5 channels on T.V.
Neighborhood BBQs
Everything shutting down on Sundays
Clothes hung on a clothesline
No privacy fences
Grandparents' house on Sunday
Farms
New school supplies' smell (and you kept your own!)

Got any to add?

Happy Monday?

Got the foot shot on Friday, heck, that didn't feel good, but not as bad as pushing out a 10 lb baby boy with a 15" head, drug-free, with a migraine headache. It's all relative.

He suggests another in a couple of weeks. Hmm....guess maybe I will. Why the heck not? I'll plan on smacking myself in the head for a good 10 minutes with a wooden plank so the foot pain will seem insignificant. Not much result yet. I stayed off it, and then worked in the yard yesterday...but I didn't "stand" or put all my weight on it. Still hurts. A glass of wine seems to help.

Oh, well. I must push forward. Lots to do. I've been feeling good, and it's like a person who wakes up from a coma. Hey, feel great! Look at all the paperwork and dust.

Awaiting bloodwork that was also done.
In a funky mood. Can you tell?

How's about you?

Check out Missy's blog It's like she has a cool index of what's happening on everyone's blog! :-D

Happy Friday!

I can't make out what the words of the song are. If you know, and they are objectionable...please tell me! The kittens are way cute!!

Wonderful Spring!

I'm so sorry if you're having snow still! We had it last week, but it's been glorious here!

Gracie and I finally got out for our walk around 3pm; we had errands and chores to attend to. Getting ready to work in the yard, went to the store, went to the nursery for corn gluten meal and some natural weed killer. All the spring smells. Ahh...allergy time! I took my camera out to get some cool shots of Gracie on our nature walk, but the battery croaked 3 pictures in. She wouldn't stay still after I gave her the "free dog" go ahead, so all you'll see of her is her butt running by. The pictures don't tell the story of how green it's getting here.

Take heart...spring is coming your way!

10 things today. . . .

It was a.....non-work day. So, I thought I'd write 10 things that happened today.

1. Woke from a very interesting spiritual dream that I liked bunches.
2. Fought with my computer; tried to copy some artwork files to a CD (something I do lots of times) and it wouldn't work. After many tries??
3. Got a blazing migraine. See #2??
4. Took G to school, grabbed a coffee
5. Went to the store, almost lost the milk on the driveway.
6. Grabbed the grandbaby for a couple hours so mommy could rest with her migraine--something in the air??
7. Roasted a chicken and some potatoes for dinner
8. Picked G up from school.
9. Talked to Pat on the phone. :-D
10. Talked to a teacher I'm subbing for tomorrow, hope migraine is gone by then :-/.

What stuff did you do today? Was it a good day? Hope so!

When blogworlds collide.....

....it's a good thing!
Missy and her wonderful family lunched with me and my sons here in Texas! Our visit was short, but we were grateful for the time and enjoyed ourselves! Gracie had fun with the kids, as well! Nice to spend face-to-face time and give a hug.
:-)
(Missy says she'll be back online soon!)

family blessings. . .

Great weekend...had our decorating last night...so nice to hear a 16 year old boy say, "That was fun!" (Although he won't take a 'normal' pose for a picture) We ate, we listened to Christmas music and talked about the magi as I put up my 30+ year old nativity scene under the trees.

Snarfing all the wrong kinds of food ( I avoided most of that...had shrimp and eggrolls)
Got up early this morning, feeling GREAT (have gotten 2 good nights of sleep), got coffee and bible and turned on the newly decorated trees (three small trees surrounding the creche), baked wheat free pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, walked the dog in the early morning cold rain. It was fun...for her. Watching her bounce/walk, tail waggin' in the cold wet air was fun for me...she spies a neighbor's moving "reindeer" that they left on all night. Gracie thinks it's real and goes after it. Exciting....what did she think she'd DO with it if she'd caught it? It's certainly not a bird!

We decorated the little trees (we have several sizes, but the guys like the smaller ones so the animals don't mess with them) with small ornaments. Most of our family ornaments stay packed, which kind of bothers me...but not the guys. I still sift through the larger ones. Memories come back as I touch each one. Mom made this one, a star...that went on the tree. Aunt gave this one; a neighbor who moved gave this one years ago. Some of grandparents' old glass ornaments. They don't have to be hung, just remembered.
The guys decorated (and argued!), and I tied bows and added their baby photo ornaments. They recoil at that action. Sorry! I insist on those!

It's cold and rainy, but I know it's better than what some of you have.

I find a card from Connie in my Bible that she gave me a couple of years ago with a silky shawl she made for me. She called it a garment of praise and put this on the card:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me. . .
To comfort all who mourn...
To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.
The oil of gladness instead of mourning.
And a garment of praise
Instead of a spirit of despair...Isaiah 61

For the first time in a long time, I have the Christmas spirit. . .before Christmas! :-D

moar funny pictures

Needed laffs today! (There are even FEET for Missy! ;-) He looks kinda like Pikachu!)
Click the pic; then scroll down a bit for the animated version!

Out of the mouths of babes....

I subbed for an English teacher Thursday and Friday last week. Don't you think it's funny that we're the only country in the world that makes us take classes in our own language? And, we are requiring that Hispanics coming into our country take Spanish? And, that our command of our own language is so poor?? And, no, this post will not be grammatically perfect.


But, I digress.


These were middle-schoolers in my charge. By Friday, I had fallen in love with all of them, even the ones named by the teacher that were supposed to cause me many problems. They were so funny. Some scenarios:


One lad looks at me funny. He says, "You look like Jamie Leigh Curtis." I reply, "Well, I suppose I've been told that." Under my breath I mutter, "Yeah, maybe if she gained 100 pounds." Another lad shouts, "JAMIE LEIGH CURTIS GAINED 100 POUNDS?!?"


It's reading and book review time. One young fellow is looking at the book shelf. For a really, REALLY, long time. I finally go over and ask him, "What are you looking for? May I help?" He says, "I can't find the book I was reading to do my review." "What was the book?" I asked. "Call of the Wild," he responds. "Well, go sit down and try to do as much as you can, and I'll hunt around for it." He sits and I KNOW that book is there. I hated it back in the old days and I hate it now, and every Language Arts class has more than a fair supply of the heart-breaking novel. And, there it is. Sitting right there. I take it over to him. "That's not it," he says. "Yes, it is. It's Call of the Wild by Jack London." I reply. "No, it's not. That book has 345 pages. Mine had 295," he says authoritatively, "so this can't be the book." ?!? Oy.



The teacher, ever so kind, left a boat-load of work for the kids to do in the last 2 days before Thanksgiving break, and you know they were just itching to do it all. She left a worksheet for the Gifted and Talented class. It was about complex and compound sentences. She left instructions for them to do some extra sentence analyzing besides just identifying which sentences are complex and which are compound. The kids look at the worksheet, and by the looks on their faces I contemplate calling 911 for mass resuscitation. "We DON'T know what this means!" The wails begin. And, as they were proper little G&T's, I knew they could see their entire future collapse before their very eyes. They would be destitute forever, living in a cardboard box, eating cold and stale McDonald's french fries from the McDumpster. Whoa was them. Panic ensued. I rang the little apple bell on the teacher's desk to quiet them down. They looked at me, silent and shocked. "Your teacher doesn't ring this little bell to get your attention?" I ask.
"No, she just screams."

SOOOO I explain, 3 or 4 times, the difference between a compound and a complex sentence. They work on the worksheets, muttering and whining, and beg to take them home overnight to study more. They bring them back the next day and the next assignment is horrific. Write 10 COMPLEX sentences about Will or Jim in Something Wicked This Way Comes. The blood drains from their faces. We go over it ONE MORE TIME. They start writing. They've got it! They are EVEN splitting the independent clause and putting the dependent clause in the middle! One kid, at a table of three students, raises his hand. I go over and he wants me to read his sentence. It's a correlative sentence. I start to tell him that it's a great sentence but "actually it is a correla..." and before I can finish, they all have their fingers in their ears saying "la la la la la la." LOL. Never mind. I show him how to change it up to keep it complex.

I had the best time with those kids.

Subbing pays off.....

Yay! I can do more than draw a picture! ;-)

Dallas Dating

Memories of Halloween then and now.....

I love Halloween--more of the way it was. We had about 30 Trick or Treaters last night. They were so cute...the later it got, the older they got. I never give them a hard time when they're over 13, though. At least they had costumes. I don't really pay much attention to all of the costumes, too busy handing out candy. One kid, though, probably around 14 or 15 stood out. He made his costume--a robot--out of cardboard and tin foil. What a hoot! He had a cut out for his eyes, all boxed in around himself with black clothing. There was a small flashlight in his eye area. He pulled open a "drawer" to put candy inside. He and I made eye contact and I said, "That is the BEST costume I have seen all night!" He hesitated and said, "I spent way too much time on it." I said, "It was worth it. I'm an artist, and you are awesome!" He paused and said, "Thank you!" Then, he ran to catch up to his friends, yelling, "HEY...I'm AWESOME!!" LOL

Now, in our city, the merchants on Main Street have a "Trunk or Treat" on Halloween; all the kids in the city go there and get candy instead of going around the neighborhood. I prefer the neighborhood approach. We were a more cohesive neighborhood when our kids would go around the block. The fear of poisoned candy and razorblades has proven largely unfounded, but we always checked the kids' candy.

My memories of Halloween are wonderful, and I asked my oldest if he had good memories. He's a little hacked at the "killing" of Halloween by fundies and churches, too. He said he has great memories of when they were little. Mine are of scrambling to make the weirdest costumes: Captain Picard, a pterodactyl (THAT was fun), T-Rex, because my kids couldn't be just ghosts or Frankenstein's monster....oh, Grant was one year. I took Kyle through Walmart costumes one year, he was about 5. I said, "What do you want to be?" He said, "Nothing black-colored." We were surrounded by black costumes. I nagged Grant one year, he was about 5. He wouldn't decide what to be...time was nearing! "Please, just be a vampire, little G!" I pleaded...it was easy, and I had face paint and a black cape. I pleaded up til the day before, terrified that he would come up with the most difficult idea at the last minute. "PLEASE! VAMPIRE!" I asked for the last time. "Oh, all right!!!" He relented. "I'll suck people's blood and live in a box!" LOL

Robert loved taking Grant around because the cute factor yielded more candy...until he went as an IRS agent. He put on a black suit, and carried a briefcase for the goods. They would ring the doorbell, Grant would say, "Trick or Treat" in his cute little kid voice, and Robert would say, "IRS, ma'am" The people would say, "Here you go, sweetie." to Grant....and to Robert, "Nothing for you, bud...you took everything already!" LOL

When I was growing up, my mom would decorate the house all up; we lived in Iowa, so it was a real autumn. She made an incredible ham and lima bean soup (sounds weird...SO savory!) and it was just FUN. My dad would carve a big pumpkin and stick it on our yard light (free standing street lamp-looking) and wire it up with a two way radio. He was the Great Pumpkin. Kids would come to talk to the GP, and dad would respond....but only to kids. Many was the ticked-off kid that would drag a parent over to hear the GP talk, but my dad wouldn't talk in the presence of adults. He was trying to keep the "magic" going. I thought it was kinda mean, but we all giggled anyway.

When I got into "religion" I discovered that all of this was evil! OMgosh...I never knew. I thought it was. . .fun!

Happiness is.....

A nearly
one-year
old
grandbaby
right
across
the
street!!!