More Joys of Motherhood

As if the sassy mouth, screaming and overall insubordination were not enough, now it's PINK EYE...yup...pink eye has invaded not just one, but both of Shorty McShort's eyes. Grammy spent the day with her Monday, Mr. Tall spent the day with her at home yesterday and after missing two days last week just couldn't miss another, so here I am. Please God, let her eyes not ooze so she can go back to daycare tomorrow!!!

Home on a Wednesday. Feeling worried about my 20 little cherubs at school and the shenanigans they'll be trying out on the substitute. God bless her and please keep the little people safe today...

So Shorty and I've mixed up some zucchini bread (4 loaves) and just popped them in the oven. I'm thinking I'll make more granola and maybe a couple of other things today as well. We'll read some books and do some art too, I'm sure. She's already tired so I'm sure nap is in order as well. (no complaints from me!)

Until later....

In Praise of Joe....Sad But True....

In Praise of Joe
by Marge Piercy

I love you hot
I love you iced and in a pinch
I will even consume you tepid.

Dark brown as wet bark of an apple tree,
dark as the waters flowing out of a spooky swamp
rich with tannin and smelling of thick life-

but you have your own scent that even
rising as steam kicks my brain into gear.
I drink you rancid out of vending machines,

I drink you at coffee bars for $6 a hit,
I drink you dribbling down my chin from a thermos
in cars, in stadiums, on the moon washed beach.

Mornings you go off in my mouth like an electric
siren, radiating to my fingertips and toes.
You rattle my spine and buzz in my brain.

Whether latte, cappuccino, black or Greek
you keep me cooking, you keep me on line.
Without you, I would never get out of bed

but spend my life pressing the snooze
button. I would creep through wan days
in the form of a large shiny slug.

You waken in me the gift of speech when I
am dumb as a rock buried in damp earth.
It is you who make me human every dawn.
All my books are written with your ink.

My friend Leon shared this with me...I thought it would make a good blog post. How do you feel about "joe"? Personally, I couldn't do mornings without him!! Sadly, the mornings I know it's ready to brew I get out of bed faster and with more purpose than the mornings that I know I need to grind and fill with water before I can push the beautiful "on" button.

I just love coffee. And sadly enough, like the poem says, I'll take it just about any way I can get it. I've been known to drink the really bad stuff when in a pinch. (district inservice days)

I remember drinking the dark thick yummy stuff in Germany. Nothing will touch that "joe" I experienced. And I have my favorite "special brews" that I love and am willing to pay 4 bucks for. Those special brews are few and far between these days though. Gotta love living on a budget!

That's all I have. Enjoy your Monday and grab a cup of joe...and if you don't "do joe"...what do you do? And how do you like yours? I like mine black. And I like french roast. Yummy.

Weekly Winners

August 31-September 6, 2008

So Sunday morning I decided to make some breakfast and then we decided to make some ABC crayons. Here is the breakfast before putting it into the oven. It was ok. The recipe is here. Mine didn't turn out as good as she raved about though...maybe it didn't cook long enough? But I cooked it for 3 times as long as she said...I don't know...we ate it.

We used these ABC silicone molds. I saw them on another blog and thought they were really cool. Peeling the crayons is a challenge, as you can see Mr. Tall Man got out his knife...I promptly had Shorty McShort go get him a cutting board.
We just love peeling crayons!

Just keep peeling.....Peeling, peeling, then we break them and put them into the molds and bake them at 250 until they're all melty. We tried to put the same colors in the letter. We found that we didn't put enough crayon in...lessons learned.

Ta-da!

Oh! And this was Friday....we have a contract, out union members voted on it. Also, a good reason to have a beer after the first week of school! (This is my friend Carrie, the most talented reading teacher I think I've ever met or will ever meet....EVAH!)

For more weekly winners, click here.

Scattergories

Ok, so I got this as a forwarded e-mail from my friend Vanessa. Thank Ness...so instead of sending it on, I'll just put it on my good old blog! (how thoughtful of me). Anyhow, now 10 of you need to put it on your blog or cut and paste it in my comments section...yeah!!! That'll be a lot of fun!!!

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Erase my answers, enter yours, send it on to 10 people including the one that sent this to youand post it in the comments section. Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.

They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up!
Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.

You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

It is fun! (so says vanessa that forwarded it onto me!)

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?........................ Janelle

4 LETTER Word:............................ just (as in just leave me the eff alone already and stop tugging on my shirt and calling me "teacher"...I HAVE A NAME!
VEHICLE:.................................. jeep
TV SHOW:..................................I can't think of one, bonus points to you if you can!

CITY:..................................... Juneau (as in Alaska)

BOYS NAME:................................ John
GIRL NAME:................................ Jolene (my twinny)
OCCUPATION:...............................job coach

SOMETHING YOU WEAR:.......................jumper
FOOD:.....................................jerky (as in meat, not a personality trait) or my personal favorite, junk food!!!
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM.............jack, if that is the name of your husband or you or a juicer if you're really a sick-o
REASON FOR BEING LATE:.................... just needed to do one more thing
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT:..................... jackass! (well I actually shout, "jack a-s-s"...god help me when shorty mcshort starts to decode words we spell)
SPORT:.................................... judo (as in i'm gonna judo-chop YOU!)

I'm not sure about how much "fun" this was. I think it's kinda dumb. But be nice and just play along already.

Kthnxbai!

Haiku Friday

first grade is brutal
god bless primary teachers
they work so so hard

my feet really hurt
my quadriceps are aching
i shall squat no more!

my head is aching
calgon take me away now
thank god it's friday!!!!!

bring on the vino
let me sleep in until eight
and then take a nap

So all in all, first grade is kicking my ass. Seriously. I thought third grade was challenging...it's got NOTHING on first grade. I can't even imagine teaching kindergarten! If you have a child in kindergarten or first grade you SERIOUSLY need to take them a gift. Like flowers or a coffee or a gift card and more than anything, just tell them thank you!

Thirteen Amazing People I Work With

Thirteen Amazing People I Work With....A Photo Story (pictures in no particular order!) 2nd Edition 1 & 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. & 13. And all the other awesome people I work with that I didn't photograph!!!

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First Day of School!!!

So today is the first day of school. (I'm actually writing this the night before and am excited, but nervous...normal) Today we had inservice and an open house. I got to meet 9 of my new students talk about keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-------------uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute! (that's cute) Seriously...I could not believe their excitement for first grade. It just got me all jazzed up for the year!!! So bring it on, let 'em come.

It'll be fun.

No, it'll be FANTASTIC!

And, I thought it was about time I actually share some pictures of my classroom (I finally remembered to take some). So....here goes!

This is a nook for reading and a place to play during inside rainy day recess.

This is a place I plan to post kid artwork and another nook area to read in comfort.

Bad picture of the corner with a table for reading groups and the door that connects to my friend tricia's room.

My wall story board, life skills area and colors. Our carpet area for shared reading, read aloud and just lots of fun together as a community.

Calendar Corner
White board/front of room.My computer/work space...left my messy closet hanging open! (oops)

Picture from the door.

I finally gave Lori her loot for winning my giveaway....took me long enough!! She assures me she'll be blogging about it and holding her own giveaway, it may just be a while, which I completely understand. Her dad is dying. Like fast. Keep her in your prayers. She'll also be with me tomorrow for the first day of school. She's the bravest person I know!!!!

That's all. Have a fabulous day whatever it may be bring you. I'll be back with a ton of stories soon I'm sure!!!