Revolutionary Journey

When I was 17, I had the remarkable opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. with my high school. But I didn’t fully appreciate the experience; I was too young and immature. In fact, I clearly remember refusing to look at the White House as our tour bus traveled by because I was mad at someone on the bus. My small-mindedness cost me a magnificent memory and my supposed adversary never even knew I was angry.

Later when I was 32, the Declaration of Independence came to Phoenix on exhibit, but I still didn’t fully grasp its important historical significance. I was growing closer, but still not grown up. What a gloomy commentary.

Now at 45, visiting the Independence Hall replica at Knott’s Berry Farm feels like a reawakening of missed adolescent knowledge I could have fully entered in to. I experienced a deep sense of pride in our country and the astounding men and women who made it all possible.

My favorite part of the “Revolutionary Journey” has been reading Johnny Tremain. Esther Forbes’ novel grabbed me and captured my attention and made me feel as though I was really part of Massachusetts history. Abigail Adams letters were a fascinating glimpse into a marriage filled with sacrifice and forward thinking. She was a remarkable woman. Thomas Jefferson was an inspired writer and thinker, a true patriot. Though the original words of the declaration were edited time and again, I’m sure his flavor still shines through. The movies “Johnny Tremain” and “1776” were a fun visual stroll into the past. Finally, I agree with Firesign Theatre’s statement, "Benjamin Franklin....the only President of the United States who was never President of the United States."

The “Revolutionary Journey” has been a tremendous life affirming rite of passage for me. I’m able to appreciate our great country and the incredible sacrifice of those brave men and women who couldn’t know me but have shaped my future. I am so geared up to delve into the Civil War.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Slapstick is funny because most of us like to laugh at the absurdity of everyday mishaps-not malicious laughter, just good ol' guffaws. If the following account of my wardrobe malfunction gives you a chuckle, then I'm pleased.

Today I wore a comfortable pair of side zip capris to work. (First wrong move.) Side zip clothing is always a mistake. A mistake I find myself making far too often. I suppose I continue to err in this way because I like the slimming long line I achieve when wearing side zip clothing. But I digress-

After using the restroom at 10:30 this morning, I found that I could not pull my side zipper back up all the way. Nylon zippers are notorious for broken teeth and mutiple snags, not to mention difficult to maneuver because of the side position. I determined to pull harder. (Second wrong move.) The zipper pull came off in my hand! Now I have a zipper half-closed and no way to repair it. Fortunately, I was also wearing a vest that covered most of the offending clothing.

Realizing I had to return to the classroom posthaste, I tried not to think about how the 7th and 8th graders I work with might notice my condition. Everything was going fine until lunchtime. That's when I grasped the fact that I could not use the restroom for the rest of the day!

After work, I went to the library to return a book so that it wouldn't be counted as overdue. (Third wrong move.) It was too long since my last bathroom stop. As I rushed inside my house, I grabbed a pair of scissors from the desktop, intending to cut myself free of the offending clothing! The dogs were whining and scratching at the door because they like to be fed immediately upon my return home from work. The phone was ringing and now I have half a pair of capris!

Before today, I had originally intended to wear my other pair of side zip capris tomorrow-I've changed my mind.

Pushing Daisies

My favorite tv show is Pushing Daisies. I love the quirkiness, the pictoral quality and the storyline. So when I found out the Pushing Daisies Touch of Wonder Tour bus was stopping at Westgate last Sunday, September 14, I just had to go. They gave out free cup pies, magnets, pie servers, spatulas, balloons and a chance to win the first season DVD.

I participated in the trivia contest and answered the first question correctly, then went on to the second round, where I was asked an extremely easy question, (the name of The Pie Hole's waitress and I froze!) My mind was a complete blank. As a result, the other contestant won. An hour later, they played another round of trivia and I wasn't even close on that one. An hour later, they played yet again. This time, I was only competing against four other people, not twenty. I ended up winning an advance copy of season one (two days prior to the public release date.)

On my way home with all my free goodies, I stopped by a fast food restaurant for a burger. While I was driving home in my Buick (a car with no air conditioning) I had the front window open, one hand on the steering wheel, the other wrapped around my burger and suddenly my precious mylar Pushing Daisies balloon flew right past my face and out the open window! There went my twenty-years-down-the-road-Ebay-collectible.

If you like quirky, you'll like PD. Try it out - Wednesdays on ABC. And abstain from eating fast food in the car.

Heads of the Family

Four heads are better than one!

Fascinating History

Currently, I'm reading Natalie Bober's fascinating biography on Abigail Adams. Recognizing that they were living and making history, the Adams' purposely saved all their correspondence to each other. Plus, Abigail herself saved letters from others she wrote to. If you like history, you'll like this book!

Political Cartoon

I'm reading Johnny Tremain The Story of Boston in Revolt Against the British by Esther Forbes. Intrigued by what I've read, I decide to make a political cartoon. (This is something like what a teacher in school would assign for credit.) I love doing stuff like this for myself-wacky, I know.

California Trip

Disneyland and California Adventure were awesome! Lezlie, Louise and I were visiting CA from June 1-4. We were all feeling our age, but it was a fantastic trip.

One of the highlights of our Disneyland experience, was receiving a free lanyard and two "Year of a Million Dreams" pins, just because we were in the right place at the right time! All the rest of that day we looked for other park visitors with our same free lanyard-we saw no one. We felt giddy with excitement for the rest of the trip.

After some internet research, I found out that those free promotional pins are not available to the buying public, we just got a special blessing.

Of course, those free items made me want to purchase two more pins for myself, (clever people there at Disney.) I bought the Tinkerbell and Soaring Over California pins to add to my lanyard.

We're already talking about our next trip, (that always happens.)

A scary message

Here's a graduation message from Irene to all high school seniors:

Make a Smilebox free ecard

My Job as an Assistant

I still love my job even though:

• I had to confiscate a young boy's bike for a day because he constantly rides it in the busy breezeways
• boys and girls both enjoy running in the hallways, even after I tell them not to
• some kids love to whistle in the classroom and it's hard to catch them doing it
• kids often forget to bring a pencil to class

This is why I will always love my job:

• I've seen two years worth of academic growth in one year as students go through our remedial program
• some children are amazed to realize they finished at least five books through the year, when previously they'd finished NONE
• I no longer have to remind my 8th graders to properly punctuate their sentences
• junior high students can be extremely funny, they crack me up daily

If God hadn't prodded me into accepting this job, I'd never know these highs and lows. I'm thankful for summer vacation though!

giraffupine

As a teaching assistant, sometimes I like to practice doing the same assingments my teacher gives out to our students. Our current project is to morph two different animals together, draw it and write about it. The giraffupine is my creation. As you can see, a giraffe with porcupine quills.

As an amateur biologist, I discovered this specimen in the desert surrounding Bumblebee, AZ. It's 1 1/2 stories high and six feet long. It eats acacia tree leaves and uses it's quills as a defense to protect itself when lieing down.

Have you ever created your own animal? I'd be curious to hear about it.

California at 4000 feet

There's nothing quite as sad as a lifeless form alongside a lonely stretch of California highway.


Stopping to survey the situation seemed like the prudent thing to do. Hubby and I poked, prodded, and pushed the miniture creature until it was able to stand upright. We coaxed and coddled the sad figure all the while sensing the end was very near. Persuaded that nothing else could be done, we left him there resigned to his fate.


With one final effort, Hubby perched him up onto a roadside post, where he promptly fell off and ceased to exist.











Goodbye, sweet snowman!

Sunday School Lesson

Grace Place may be geared to the K-2 crowd, but I find I need it as well.

Yesterday at the after-school girl's basketball game, a cocky 8th grader, really pushed my buttons. Since he realized he was bigger and stronger than me, he chose to ignore my directive to leave the game.

What could I do? The vice principal was unavailable at that time, so I had to overlook the offense. Aarrgh!

I came home still licking my wounds. This morning when I woke up, I was still ruminating about it. I decided to have a heart-to-heart with myself. My unforgiveness was threatening to ruin this day as well.

Now on to Grace Place, last Sunday's theme was forgiveness. We did a Biblical skit on Matthew 18:21-35. A king wished to settle accounts with his slaves. The first slave was forgiven, but he did not, in turn, forgive the second.

As that message rolled around in my head, I knew what I had to do. By the time I got to school, I was able to pray blessings on that particular student, (a good indication for me that I had truly forgiven him.) Whew! What a relief. I can only imagine how miserable my day would've been without the assurance that I love because He first loved me. Or in this case-I forgive because He first forgave me.

It Was A Great Day

Yesterday was my birthday and my boss at school wrote that fact on the board for all four of our classes to see. All the students were very kind, two classes even sang to me. I left work feeling very blessed.

I can attest that being firm but kind in your actions is really what all kids (teens included) want. My sometimes extra firm stand on the student's work ethic, talkativeness, etc. makes me wonder if I am being too harsh, too pushy, too everything. But their response to me was heartwarming.

I really feel called to be there for them, to guide them as they transition into high school. It's a great job for my and my gifts.

Then came my after school job as door monitor for the basketball game. I had to ask one child to leave the game; he was not so happy with me. He even said I broke his digital camera. He then proclaimed that misinformation to all his friends standing nearby. I started to feel that I was again acting too harsh and too pushy. But I think I just need to let it go, remembering that firmness is also fairness.

When I got home, I had some very special cards waiting for me in the mail. Then Larry took me to a fancy Chinese restaurant, where we had a fabulous dinner. Great egg rolls! Finally, I got a foot massage from my hubby.

Like I said, it was a great day.

Bacon Cake (click here)

This photo is of Shannon and several of her friends from ODF. From left to right: Andrew, Shannon, Anna, Abbie, Sara, Tim, Winsky, Ari, Todd, Jessica, Dave, and Dan.

Apparently, Winsky (center) is in love with bacon. He has a bacon air freshener, bacon wallet and eats bacon as often as possible. For his birthday, he wanted Jessica to make him a bacon cake.

WHAT? A bacon cake? I'm still so intrigued by this unusual birthday party that I had to blog about it.

Follow the link above if you want to try a cupcake version of this cake for yourself. Personally, I'm not quite there yet.

Paul Potts (click on link here)

I first learned about Paul Potts, at church, last June, when John Lynch played the "Britain's Got Talent" youtube video of Paul's first audition during his sermon. (Thanks John!) Of course, as many of you probably know, Paul won the competition and is now touring the world promoting his first album.

I'm particularly excited because Paul will be appearing for one night only on March 27, 2008, at the Ikeda Theater in Mesa.

Of all the venues in the US, like California, New York, and Florida; he's also singing here. It's going to be lots of fun.

The concert is Larry's birthday gift to me. We couldn't even get two seats together so off I go on my own. In fact, the concert sold out shortly after I purchased my ticket. There are hundreds of unhappy people on the Paul Potts myspace page. I'm sad for them but happy for myself.

This is all very strange for me since there is a little known secret about myself that I'll dare to share: I'm not all that fond of music. Wow, I said it! That's kind of different, isn't it? When most people describe themselves, they say they like music, and then they add more things to their list. I don't hate music, but I don't have an overpowering affinity for it either. I'm happy driving in my car without the radio on. Worship music doesn't always make me worshipful, sometimes-but not every time.

So anyway, when I say I like Paul Potts-it's a BIG deal.

Movie Pecs

In my opinion, the greatest movie pecs of all time belong to Ricardo Montalban in the movie, "The Wrath of Khan".

This belief holds true even as I consider Arnold

Schwarzenegger in the "The Terminator".

Of course, there are the "no pecs" of SpongeBob and Patrick to reflect on as well.

Oh, forget pecs! What I really love is the bald head of Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard.