Rangers-Astros

I'm not posting the score---let's just say it didn't go in our favor that night.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, June 28th

Today's hunt theme is Bright. Going back one year, this is a bright display of fireworks in Granbury.

I thought about posting all the bright kids I know of----my two kids, of course, and my sister's kids, my students. I like that sort of brightness, too.

Go over to TNChick's website to join in or to see more bright things in this world.

Next week's theme is on my sister's birthday, and I'll be in Granbury again for the fourth. I hope I can get my photo hunt picture all ready ahead of time. The theme will be pointed. I thought of Bob Hope's nose first, but we'll see what I have in my archived pics to fit the theme!

Thanks for visiting and comment!

Brought to you by Friday's Feast!
This is the feast we got to eat last night---all you can eat seats at a Rangers-Astros game in Houston, Larry's Father's Day present from B.

Appetizer
What is the weather like today where you live?
From my news station's website:
"Friday: Partly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers or thunderstorms. High 98. Winds S 10-15 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 76. Winds S 10-15 mph."
We haven't hit 100 degrees here yet this summer. Of course, it's only June! I think August is the hottest month. Our humidity is 79%---so it's pretty hot and humid here today.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?
In the past month or so, it's become a 10! Well, really, I have to say it's got to be a 9 or 8 because nothing can be more important than my own family, and my own well being. But the reason it's gone up a lot lately is that I am in training for my teaching certification, and I'm working on the schoolwork this summer. And I'm enjoying it, too. :-)

Salad
What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?
I have blinds everywhere, and some curtains up in the living room and bedrooms. Not a big priority with me.

Main Course
Name something that instantly cheers you up.
A big Sonic Coca-Cola. Big calories!

Dessert
How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?
One. But often I don't hit it at all. Once I get waked up in the morning, if it's light outside (6:30 or so right now?), I can't really get back to sleep anyway.

Hey! Life is happening!

I walked two miles today, and J walked 2.25. It's the first day he's out-walked me. I had to go potty! B is running her track club while we walk the track. I have some new shoes this summer. They are all red on the bottom from the red track. I went to the store looking for some more expensive shoes, but the $20 pair fit the best---the arch hit me in the right spot.

Now J is taking care of his own laundry! He got the load going before track this morning. (I had been a bad mom and he didn't have clean shorts---one he wanted for walking, anyway.) How wonderful to be teaching him to do his own stuff. :-)

A conversation a few minutes ago:
B: J, will you vote for me for president?
J: No.
B: Please?
J: Well, if you're the best candidate, I'll vote for you.
Me: I guess he wants to agree with your policies, B.
J: Yeah, what are your policies? If I agree with you, I'll vote for you.

Nothing is a simple matter to these kids.

THE BIG TEST

I'm a pretty good test taker, so yesterday's Content Area test was not something I was freaked out about. But I was giving it the serious consideration it deserved!

I took the Generalist 4-8 test, which means I have to know everything a teacher would teach any kid from 4th through 8th grades. At first, I was thinking, sure---I'm a grown-up woman---I'm smarter than an 8th grader. But as the test approached, I worried about it. There is actually SO much to know! Especially in Math---it has been about 19 years since I took a Math class.

So I got to the testing site at 7:30 a.m. like they told us test takers to, and the doors opened to the building at 7:45. This is a hot Texas morning, mind you, and I dared to wear jeans because I knew it would be cold in the testing room. (So cold, in fact, that after the 3 hour mark, my nail beds were purple---and I am usually a hot natured woman!) So I got to sweat for about 20 minutes outside. Lovely start to the day when I'm probably already sweating from a bit of nervousness! ;-)

I got all my important numbers bubbled in on the answer sheet and the test booklet, and the test began about 8:30. I thought surely I'd get done with it before noon, and I almost did. 130 questions, and none of them simple. I had 4 sections---4 content areas to cover. First Science. I don't remember as much as I should! If I had taken this test right after I graduated form college, I'd be so much better off. Next, Language Arts, which should be the easiest, since my degree is English. It wasn't too bad. Math was next, and I'm sure I spent the most time here. I had to guess on some questions. Lastly was Social Studies, which was the easiest section, I felt, but by this time, my brain was fried and I was getting tired of reading and bubbling in. So who knows if I answered those questions right.

Now the waiting---three to five weeks. I hope I did well!! I can just say that I did as well as I could have yesterday, thinking through stuff and making logical choices as well as I could. I'll have to wait and see!

I'm a talent!

I copied this off the top of the quiz I just took-----

"In the mid-90s, in articles in The Atlantic and Time Magazine, Nicholas Lemann introduced the idea of three paths to success in American society -- that of Talents, Lifers, and Mandarins. He later went on to write a book, The Big Test, about the SAT as the Mandarin path to success.
Which path are you on? That's what this test aims to find out."

I'm a Talent!

You're a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You're determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You're not afraid of a fight, and you're not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you're already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you're not willing to settle for an ordinary life.

Talent: 54%
Lifer: 38%
Mandarin: 49%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

I don't know what a Mandarin is, but I'm almost as much that as Talent!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, June 21st

This week's theme is water. I have several water images from trips I've been on.

This first one is me and my family at Lake Michigan, circa 2006. This water was very cold, my children told me. That's my family on the left, and my aunt and dad on the right. We're in Michigan when this was taken.
This is the coast of Texas, South Padre Island. I have very fond memories of this trip playing in the water with my friends/workmates at a training conference.
This is MY water----Lake Jenny in Wyoming. It was unbelievably beautiful up there, very different from the landscape where I live. Also from 2006.This is Old Faithful, a geyser of water. The people in these two photos were with me on a high school mission trip to Dubois, Wyoming. I went as a chaperon in 1994---I was 23, a newlywed, and not a mother yet. One of my favorite memories form that trip was watching that water shoot up in the air, right on schedule, while I sipped hot cocoa on the inn's deck that evening. This last one is also In Yellowstone Park, WY, as the last one was. We were standing at an observation deck watching the power of water as it fell over a waterfall. This picture is looking down the river, and the landscape and rainbow make everything look like a fairytale. I hope to go back and see all these things again someday, taking my family with me.

If you like the Hunt, go see TNChick and follow the links to other hunters. Next week's theme is bright.

Friday's Feast, June 20

Appetizer
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?

Europe. I think there's so much to see over there.

Soup
Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?

Internet Explorer

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country?

7, I guess. I have a pretty good feel for stuff like that, but not a passion for it! ;-) I only like to remember stuff that is interesting to me, so I forget all kinds of important dates and battles.

Main Course
Finish this sentence: Love is…

Love is like a lucky penny---hold it tight and you won't have many. Give it away, and you'll have plenty. You'll end up having more.

I have little time today to get any more philosophical than that! ;-)

Dessert
Have you ever been in or near a tornado?

Yes---I have plenty of times. Mom can tell the story about she and I getting under a bed (when she was pregnant with my sister). I also watched 3 tornadoes form my dorm's balcony one time (1990?), and a little one went through my neighborhood a couple of springs ago. It only tore up some roofs two streets over, and twisted some trees in the park. I was looking out the front door, marveling at the wind when it happened----there was no warning about it. We were on our way out the door to school with the kids.

I had two things I needed to do before I could "play" today. The first one being getting the house ready enough for the bug exterminator to walk through and spray our walls. We aren't having problems, but I like to keep the buggers out of here! ;-)

The second thing was my studying and practice test I took for my BIG test tomorrow. I am taking a Content Area test for grades 4-8. I am going for a Generalist certification, and if I pass this, it'll be great. I took a practice test, and I made an 86. Not too bad! But I can't remember what I have to make to pass. I don't feel altogether ready for this. And I'd feel a lot better if I was taking the EC-4 test instead, now that I have a job in Kindergarten. But I will go for this, and maybe I'll pass. The encouraging part was, I got all the Math questions right! They are HARD, too. Really.

I can take another test later.

I am confident I can be a good teacher, and I'm confident anything that I need to teach, I will learn really well before I need to present it to anyone. BUT I have to show here that I know enough to teach it before I really do!

Track Meet Last Thursday

B wanted me to post these three on a row to show her jump. I'm showing the jump that went the farthest---8'6".
Here she is about to take off . . .I have a camera feature where I can take 3 pictures rapidly. :-)
Here she is in mid-air . . .
And here she is landing. She told me the best thing was her bottom didn't touch the sand, so it didn't take off some of her inches. Not the jump with the best form, but the farthest one she's done!
Too bad we have a super girl in this age group who can jump over 12 feet!

Can you see Larry in the white hat? B's coach form her elem. school is there on the far left with a gray shirt and tan baseball cap. He's her P.E. coach, but also went to the high school to coach the running backs this year. B said we had to post a picture of her friend jumping, too, because she is important.

We finally talked B into doing the 800 meter (half a mile) after she refused to run the mile. In the 800, she got first place, and beat some of the boys, too. Fortunately, you just compete with the same gender and age group, so B is golden in this event. She's made for distance, not the sprint! ;-)

Proud of you, baby girl!

I put a few more pictures on my other blog---I'm still posting one picture for every day! Stop by there and comment, too!

Weather Update

It's 7:25 and still 91 degrees outside (that's 34C).
Heat index 96 degrees.
Only 49% humidity.
Our low tonight will be 73.
High tomorrow 97.
And Larry's working outside this weekend at a softball tournament! I feel especially bad for the girls out on the field playing. Whew!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, June 14th

This week's theme is Emotion. My first child has always been full of emotion---to either extreme---and now he's acting out his emotions.

Here is J and another J in a skit called "Extreme Sports." They were the newscasters reacting to athletes doing sports "without a net" so to speak. (Taken with no flash----excuse the blur!)

Here's J in the back yard. The emotion----surprising me? Is that an emotion?
This was last summer before he left for camp. What's funny about this is, there looks to be the emotions of concern and maybe worry or frustration. I'm sure Larry was concerned, but J was excited to be going that day. I think they were just discussing something like money for a meal along the way, nothing major. But it *looks* like an emotional exchange between father and son.
This little girl--no names!---was very emotional about having to come to Circle Time. She had some adjusting to do, and after I took this one picture, she'd want to see it and asked me again through the year to take her picture when she was crying. I guess that was better than looking in a mirror! This one was true emotion---frustration with her teacher.
If you'd like to see more photo hunters' emotions, go to TNChick's site and have fun! Next week's theme is Water, which means we better go to the pool this week!

My kids are ASLEEP right now, at 8:06a.m., a miracle. J and I were up until midnight scrapbooking, though, so I am especially glad my early riser is still in bed. B is tired from going to bed late too many nights in a row, I bet, and if I can keep quiet, she may sleep longer. She does not like having to get up, but she gets up earlier than this most days.

Please leave me a comment if you dropped by!

Optimist/Pessimist/Realist

I saw this on Kim's blog, The Misplaced Midwesterer. (She saw it someplace else!) Now we can answer that Friday's Feast question with authority---with all the authority that 7 questions can give you, anyway.

You Are a Realist

You don't see the glass as half empty or half full. You see what's exactly in the glass. You never try to make a bad situation seem better than it is... But you also never sabotage any good things you have going on. You are brutally honest in your assessments of situations - and this always seems to help you cope.

Are You An Optimist or Pessimist?

Friday's Feast, June 13

B-a-n-a-n-a-s
Appetizer
Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

Well, one time my eyes were opened by my husband on this. This same question was asked in a "Not-So-Newlywed" game we were having at church. I thought for sure I was an optimist---that's the "right" answer, isn't it? We missed the question because Larry shook his head and said no, no, no. Because he sees the "all" of me better than anyone, I took that to heart. :-( I think I plan for the worst, but hope for the best. Maybe I'm somewhere in the middle, and I'm a realist (this is what J thinks he is). But lots of my friends and workmates see me as positive. Maybe I'm just giving my best at the office! What a sad question thought!

Soup
What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

Black---and I feel strongly about it!!

But I do love to have a variety of colors available, too. Love a purple pen! But if I cna only have one, it's black.

Salad
How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

Oh, I guess I do pedicures---but I haven't had my fingernails done in forever. I do it myself---I'd rather spend $20 or whatever on something else (craft supplies?). I still haven't gone anywhere to do one! But I will when I get done with my schooling---with the gift basket J won me off the radio for Mother's Day! ;-)

Main Course
Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?

Yes! When B was only 1, I got a $100 prize from Toys-R-Us in her name. I won a gift basket from Unilever brands one time, filled with Dove soaps (I think this is the brand!), shower gels, lotions, and a cool CD I never would have bought, but I love: The Best of Sheryl Crow. And I once won a purse from a fellow blogger. She had made it! I think that's so cool.

Dessert
In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

The living room---I don't know where else we'd put it, but it's great for watching over my children's shoulders.

If you'd like to do the feast yourself, or see what others have to say, go to Friday's Feast!

Movies in May (or June)

We saw a lot of movies (for us) this past month. All 4 of us saw Indiana Jones and had a great time. B has really gotten into the action-type movies----all the IJones ones, and National Treasure. During the movie, She made a point of telling me she really was enjoying herself, and "loved" this kind of movie. I enjoyed the Shia LeBeouf character. Maybe there will be some movies made with the torch passed to him? I love that I.J. said, "I have a bad feeling about this." I looked at J who was looking at me----was it a crossover repeated line from Star Wars? I think that line is in every Star Wars movie, said by different characters.

Lar, J and I saw "Iron Man." I didn't really know what it was all about before watching it. I really liked it, though! The effects were cool, for sure. And I was totally skeptical that Robert Downy , Jr., would be a great superhero, but he played this part really believably, very cool. It was intense!

THE movie of the season for our J is Kung Fu Panda, which we saw on Saturday. J loves Pandas right now, don't ask me why---it's that mysterious time of his life where he is part man, part child still. And part obnoxious person, but this is part of his persona right now. I enjoyed the movie, and I'm not a kung fu movie aficionado. It was beautifully animated, and I enjoyed the characters. The story was pretty predictable, but not entirely so. It was witty, and I heard the Dads around me laughing a lot. (Larry included.) I relented at the grocery store ad let J get two boxes of Eggo waffles so he could get the UPCs and send in for a King Fu Panda pillow. You know how that is . . . I usually buy the store brand to save some money! Sacrifices for the children . . .

On video, I just saw The Martian Child. I'd recommend it! There was a lot of things said about being unique that rang really true with me and the way I see my kids. This one wasn't too predictable, so it was interesting to me. You can tell this is important to me---element of surprise. Of course, if I know what's going to happen before it happens in the screen, then why bother with that movie?

There is an exception to this----Star Wars Episode III. I knew exactly how that was going to turn out, and I had to watch that train wreck happen. I even watched it again today. BooHoo!!

The one movie I am still wanting to see is the Narnia movie. I don't know how I saw King Fu Panda before that one! ;-)

Money Money Everywhere . . .

The economic stimulus plan money was sent to us a long time ago, but I wondered if anyone else was keeping track of what they spent theirs on. A lot of ours was spent on summer camps
$200 Annie Camp for J (it starts on the 17th)
$50 for Track camp for B
$350 for church camp in July
The good thing is, I was able to just pay for it all already. No split payments I'm stuggling to pay for in the summer months (when I don't get paid).
We also had some repairs for Lar's truck. $400, Ug. He still needs to do tires and some other thing that's going to cost $350!
I'm nervous, though. I've put some back for summer, so we can stimulate the economy later. And I know we've done some extra entertaining of ourselves (movies!) and eating out. And it came before Mother's Day, so the kids bought me nice gifts---and Larry did, too, even though I am not his Mom.

So for the record we stimulated the following industries:
automotive
movie
the arts (Annie Camp)
anything involving church camp (I assume it's a break-even endeavour, so it's for food, Bible class materials, craft materials, etc.)
restaurant
clothing

Doing our part!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, June 7th

I'm finally at home on a Saturday morning with some free time to blog! This week's theme is Bad Hair.
Christmas 2006

I decided to not pick on anyone but myself for this category. As you can see, I have had this thinning straight hair for a few years now. I know I have more recent pictures of myself with bad hair! Believe me, nothing's changed. These pictures were taken when I wasn't looking to get my photo taken, of course. The Christmas one was just a waking up and rolling out of bed picture. I am sure this other one was after we'd stood out in the sun at the parade.

Lovely, Lovely

Fourth of July 2006

If you'd like to see more Bad Hair, go over to TNChick and see what others did for the theme. Next week's theme is emotion. Come back to see what I found!

The "feast" table the night J had his awards banquet

Appetizer
When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?

At home, I usually drink right out of the can---the fizziest!! woohoo!

But I love to get a giant drink from Sonic or McDonald's., with ice.

Soup
What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?

Hmmm . . . it's hard for me to stay awake for any show if I am just tired. There is nothing that can't be taped and watched later!

Salad
Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.

I can't think of one person right away. I like to see those flashes of brilliance in my own kids, and the kids I teach. One day, they may be the names you mention in a meme like this!

Main Course
Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?

I have thought that junior high and high school kids should do this. But I think it would be too long a day for elementary kids, maybe. And since I NOW have a teaching position secured for the fall, I am going to have to say no.

And I have to add, I would MUCH prefer to have Fridays off to Mondays off. I am not sure why that seems better. Maybe because I am committed to church for much of my Sunday, and if I have a Friday, then I can have two days in a row to play.

Dessert
If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?

Telekinesis Girl! I'd have a big TG on my chest.

I'm alive! Nothing's wrong!

I just posted some pictures on the other blog. Mom and Dad thought something was wrong with me because I have not been posting. I've just been so busy. This week is the most filled up of all the weeks of the summer, I think. So I'll get to posting again when I'm not so busy. Go look at the highlights of the week on the other blog!