Indigo Robe

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Mum likes reading, decorating, shopping with the girls, and Starbucks. She also feels funny writing in the 3rd person. Papa (also known as Sparky) is currently looking at me with a blank stare having asked him to add something about himself to the blog. (Now he wants to say something) The only thing he loves more in life than music and Coke is his wife and kids. (Awww...) :) Little Lotte is a genius on the computer and makes me fall over laughing every day with her quick wit. She loves computers and animals. Sweet Pea abandoned her family and moved to Phoenix for work and is now married as of 2/28/06. She is beautiful and smart and the most nurturing person I know. She gave me the greatest gift ever when she made me a grandmother. I am the proud Mum Mum to Andrew Christopher. There are no words to describe the joy of having a grandson!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Eve of the Eve of Graduation


We have spent the past week cleaning and gearing up for Little L's graduation and party. It is not without it's drama. We, the Moron Family, cannot possibly throw a party unless we can make someone really mad. We just have a way with people!

I remember when we had this house, our first house, built back in 1995. Naturally, we were told we needed to throw an Open House Party. It was around the holidays so we decided to hold a New Year's Eve party. I spent a million dollars at Costco on food and another million on decorations and party hats, etc.

We invited several couples. One couple was particularly new at the marriage game and didn't know how to play nice in front of others. The husband showed up at the party with their giant dog. It was a huge german shepherd/horse something or other. WHO shows up to a party with a freakin dog??! So we figure we will leave it out back except that a) it barked and barked and b) Little L and the other kids were terrified of this dog. The couple fought about it. SHE talked HIM into taking it back to their house (they lived about a mile away). They argued and argued. I said something - cannot remember what and HE looked at me and said "Don't be condescending with me." in a very condescending tone, I might add. I was floored. Speechless. In my own house. It all went downhill from there and we promised we would never throw another party.

But we did manage to get through Sweet Pea's high school and college graduation, as well as her wedding (well, there were 2 small incidents that we won't speak of) but now we are back in the swing of things!

I am too tired to explain it tonight so I will have to save it for another time. Besides, I should blog about it after the party to see if the problem just gets bigger and bigger! In the meantime, here is a picture of a side table that I decorated in a very weird shrine like way for Little L.

Did I mention how PROUD I am of my little girl?!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

If Only!

You Should Spend Your Summer in Europe

You're in to almost all forms of culture - art, music, architecture, food...
And spending a summer at the beach sounds pretty darn boring to you.
So head off to Europe, where you can have your tiramisu (and even eat it on the beach!)

Friday, May 18, 2007

 
 
 
 
YELLOW

You are very perceptive and smart. You are clear and to the point and have a great sense of humor. You are always learning and searching for understanding.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

McTeacher Night II (Hawaii Themed)



Once again...

shut up.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I can't wait to see how many messages I have waiting on my phone tomorrow!


So I am teaching 2nd grade. I pull off the shelf my newest addition to my Eric Carle collection, Draw Me A Star.

I am beginning to read the book. Now keep in mind that it has been drilled into my head for the 14 years I have been teaching that you ALWAYS preview material that will be read or viewed in class. But COME ON! It's ERIC CARLE!

I begin to read the book...

well, let's go to this review from Amazon which is explains it much better:

"
A Heads Up for Parents, July 3, 2001
By "abookbug" (Dublin, CA United States)
I am an enthusiastic fan of Eric Carle's work, and found this book to be unique, touching, and beautiful in its craft. However, when I read it through for the fist time with my two-year-old, I was surprised and a little uncomfortable when we turned a page and found a man and woman introduced to the story completely in the nude and basically anatomically correct! The pictures were tastefully drawn, inoffensive, and certainly appropriate in a creation story, but I wasn't expecting a variance from the usual tunic or fig leaf covering in that is usually present in such stories when the book is directed toward a young audience. Personally, I could have used a forewarning to prepare myself with positive and fitting responses to my child's natural curiosity. Whatever your comfort level is with nudity in art for children, it might be helpful to you to know it is there."


Uhuh.... Mr. Carle uses a beautiful art technique of paper and water colors and then cuts them out and glues them on paper. He glued breasts and a vagina on the woman and a little penis on the man. Yes, I kid you not.

Can you IMAGINE what happened ? The class started to giggle and I couldn't figure out why until I saw the picture. I didn't crack a smile and I just went on with the book but oh man, am I gonna get calls tomorrow. I ran over to the art teacher and showed her. After she picked herself up off the floor from laughing at my predicament, she offered to help me. I asked her if we could draw some clothes, a loin cloth, anything!

Here is another review from Amazon:

Draw Me a Star, September 30, 2005
A Kid's Review
"Disappointed w/Eric Carle. This is a wonderful story, but the illustration of the man and the woman are not appropriate for our second grade classroom. This book goes well with a Marilyn Burns math lesson , but we were unhappy with the book's illustration."


NOW SHE TELLS ME!!!!!!!!! :-(

And finally, this enlightened individual feels this way:

"some people are ignorant, May 25, 2005
Reviewer: A. Stenvig

i heard people saying this book was borderline pornography. so i guess when you go to classic art museums and you see the body of a nude person it's porno. america is very ignorant for that stuff being so contraversial. if you go to european countries there are elementary children taking field trips to museums with completely exposed nude bodies and there is nothing wrong with it. it doesnt mean these kids are going to grow up with perverted minds. maybe if a a naked body wasnt made out to be such a dirty thing, children wouldnt care so much."

Oh yeah? Well, I am forwarding all my my parent messages to you tomorrow, Mr. Stenvig!

Days to teach 2nd graders: 6

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The Continuing Saga of First Grade

Me: Complete this sentence.... "My mom is special because..."


First grader writes: she's hot.


Days to teach first graders: 7

Monday, May 14, 2007

When Abbreviations Abound... A Moment in Teacher Lingo

Actual conversation with a Spec. Ed. teacher:


Me: Is Ar*** from another district ?

Other Teacher: Yes.

Me: Does she have C.P.?

Other Teacher: No, she is O.I.

Me: Oh, does she get OT/PT ?

Other Teacher: Yes, they just did an IEP on her.

Me: So the T.A.T. is done?

Other Teacher: Yes.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother's Day begins at 4 in the morning...

So long story short, I was really kinda sad that Sweet Pea was not coming to Tucson to visit her mum for Mother's Day. There were very practical reasons for it but still - we are quite close and I was a little down.

Sparky has been feverishly working on laying the flooring in our bedroom BY HIMSELF (his super duper Mother's Day gift to me, my request!) and we had no bed to sleep in last night due to the floor only being half done because we all know how much help I am when I hand him the yardstick while he measures or I put a dot on a piece of wood with a permanent marker as he bends over and stands up constantly until he can't move a muscle in his poor body or how I open and close the sliding glass door as he goes back and forth to the various power saws he has assembled to cut and lay the floor. So without ALL OF MY HELP! he still didn't have the floor done last night because we have all these weird angles in our room. So anywho, we decided to sleep on the couch which is a giant squishy, quite lovely piece of expensive furniture and we are quite happy.

Somewhere in the middle of the night (I now know it was 4:00 a.m.) I hear Little L open her bedroom door. I assume she is headed to the bathroom or to get a drink. Then I feel her presence in the livingroom and think she must have had a dream or she is sleep walking (which she has done in the past) so I start to talk to her. I always say her name and ask her if she is ok. She ignores me and heads towards the front door. YIKES! I can't quite wake myself up to move, I feel FROZEN, STUCK to the couch but my heart is racing and I keep saying her name and asking her what she is doing. She says, "It's ok." And I think, um, NO, it's NOT ok that you are headed out the door in your p.j.'s so I once more ask what is happening and she is unlocking the door! I can't seem to unfreeze my terror stricken body and I yell, "Don't open the door!" to which she once again says, "It's ok!" and I see a figure come out of the dark and cross over the threshold. I am struck with fear and confusion. Sparky starts to stir. I am soooo completely lost and confused. Flight or fight. I am always a fighter and ready myself to do battle with this stranger! The stranger that Little L has let into our house?!?!?!?!?

That's when Sweet Pea says, "It's me, mom!" BIIIIIIIGGGGGG sigh of relief and then PURE happiness!!!!! She drove to see me!!!!!! Right after she got off work. And I am SOOOO glad I didn't know that she was on the highway, alone, for 3 hours, in the dark, on a dark, desert highway to steal a line from my future husband in another life, Don Henley. So my baby girl came to visit her Mama and made it the best wake-up scared you know whatless in the world!

So we all went to sleep for a few more hours and then Sparky got up and finished the floor while we girls enjoyed breakfast and girl talk. The girls wore their "I HEART MOM" t shirts and then we went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes cause we loves our salads. We are home now and enjoying a moment of quiet. Sweet Pea is watching Survivor (I've never seen it) and Little L is doing some dancing and then we will rejoin in a room and enjoy some cheesecake.

Did I mention that I have the best girls in the entire planet?!?! THANKS, GIRLS! It was a WONDERFUL surprise and a FANTASTIC mother's day!!!!! I love you sweet beings!


w00t w00t for MOTHER'S DAY!!! :D


Mama, I made you an awesome layout for your blog but it's not finished yet :( My technological mind was far too inferior to complete this task on time :( But it looks awesome and as soon as I'm done frantically flipping through the pages of my AP Bio book, I'll have it up, I swear!! (It looks awesome, honest D: )

Anywho, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!! :D

Yea, everonez, you can't haz my mama.

MY MAMA

You can't has her.

-Chi <3

P.S. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAAAAAAY!!!!

(And by P.S., I mean "post-script".)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

More Tales From the First Grade

Me: (hands out paper for students to make a booklet for their mothers)

Me: Let's read this sentence together: "When my mom sees my room she says..."

Me: Now your job is to finish the sentence. Think about a time your mom walked into your room. What did she say to you?

After giving them time to think and write, I ask a few students to share what they have written.

Me: Yes, Cole?

Cole: She says, "CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!!"

Me: Oh yes, I'll bet a lot of you hear that!

Ryan: (too excited to raise his hand) "Yes, but my mom adds the "F" word!"

Me: Casually walks over to Ryan to make sure he has not added the "F" word to his paper!

Days to teach 1st Graders: 9

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Random Thoughts...

1. my favorite color to wear is ...
black. Lately, I have been eyeing everything in the Black Market/White House store. Cannot shop there on a teacher’s salary but get great ideas! Black and white is just so crisp, so classic! And black, of course, hides a multitude of sins!

2. i haven't grown up when it comes to...
anything sparkly. I will stop mid-sentence (ok, I do that anyway) when I see something sparkly. I have a sparkly coin purse and I NEED some t-shirts with a few sparkly’s on them for summer.

3. my dad...
used to call me “Peanut”


4. if i had another daughter i would name her ...
Erin or Catherine.

5. when i got married...
I was just 18. Luckily, the angels were watching over us and we were actually meant for each other. And Sparky wore a dark blue tux with a light blue, ruffled shirt. Hahahahaha...
6. i grew up ...
in the murder capital of Chester, Pa. Scary place even then, scarier now. And yet every time we go back east, I MUST drive through it!

7. right now, you know what is bugging me?
That I need to water the backyard and it’s too windy or I am too lazy, take your pick.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

More Prom Pics... Be sure to look at the ones I posted earlier, too!







Saturday, May 05, 2007

Little L - Senior Prom May 5, 2007















Friday, May 04, 2007

A Rose by any other name...

Conversation with a second grader at school today...


Him: Is your real name Mrs. Daut****?

Me: (eyebrow goes up) Yes, why?

Him: Has it always been Mrs. Daut****?

Me: (two eyebrows go up) Yes, but why?

Him: That name just scares me. (kids shakes his head, as if he is disappointed with my name)

Me: Why does that name scare you?

Him: I don't know, it just does. (Continues to color)

Me: Do I scare you?

Him: No, just your name.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Epiphany


for the past three days...

I am waking up before the alarm even goes off.

I am SKIPPING to the shower.

I am ON TIME for work.

I smile at Sparky this morning and proudly proclaim to him, "I LOVE MY JOB!"

(He looks at me kinda funny)

I get to work and enjoy teaching!

My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders write marvelous works that I proudly display on the walls of my classroom.

I come home tonight, an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach...I am planning ahead for tomorrow.

It is THEN that I realize that the reason for my happiness, my sheer joy for the past 3 days:

I haven't had to teach 1st graders all week.

I mean - by themselves, they are cute. (Well, most of them) But collectively? Squirmy little bugs. Who eat boogers. And make noises with their armpits.

Tomorrow I have them once again because tonight is their music program. Thus, the music teacher will not be taking them from me anymore. I do believe it is time for the great countdown once again:

Days left to teach 1st graders : 14