Miscellaneous Missives

I decided 2011 was a year of firsts according to my Christmas card.  Actually my card was kind of a five truths and a lie.  I had pictures of my firsts/truths (horseback ride, combine ride, World Series Game, U2 Concert, and trip to Guatemala) as well as my first/lie (drinking beer on the 4th of July).  It was a fairly amazing year since it was also my first time to Puerto Vallarta (although not Mexico).  If you are counting (and I did), this is my 37th post surpassing the needed 30 making a successful blogging challenge although I only have comments on 26 of my posts, so maybe it's a fail. 

While my posts on Facebook are typically irrelevant (as with my posts on my blog), I have at least one friend who always posts relevant information.  Today she posted the picture that I've stolen for my blog.  Of course I had no idea today was the anniversary of The Massacre at Wounded Knee.  I often to quite often wish I was more informed.  The picture initiated my doing a bit of research (using Sweetsearch.com) about the massacre.  Basically, in typical fashion, the white men didn't appreciate the Ghost Dance of the Natives.  Yes, there's more ...

My PT suggested that I try riding the exercise bike since I'm getting zero cardio with my hip problems.  It's become part of my routine, and I'm happy to have some exercise since I'm sure it will be even more limited after my surgery (unless that Christmas Miracle that alleviates the pain and therefore cancels the surgery comes).  Since I'm in Okoboji, I went to the YMCA.  The $10 day pass seemed a bit steep since I only wanted to ride a bike for 30 minutes, but they were kind enough to let me use my YWCA membership (of which I had no real proof).  From what I can tell the Y has two names:  YMCA of the Okobojis and The Bedell Family YMCA.  Berkely Bedell was the founder (?) of Berkley's (fishing company) and was an Iowa Democratic representative.  I realize it seems like my post is going downhill quickly, but I am trying to make a point... give it a little more of your valuable time.  Anyway, I was happy to be able to ride their stationary bike...

Last night I went to get my sixty-four cents, out of my change compartment in my car, to buy a fountain Diet Pepsi at SA.  As I was digging for the last penny, my finger nail dug into chocolate.  Since I tend to eat (often to quite often) in my car and tend to eat chocolate (often to quite often), it's not surprising that I have chocolate pieces in the change compartment.  This has happened before, but tonight I decided to clean it out.  Tuesday they will clean the inside and outside of my car as they do every two months.  I thought about waiting for them, but why would they know to take the change out, so they could take care of the chocolate mess?   Anyway, I also decided to clean the change ($8.94) too. Did I mention this is my 34th post of this blog challenge?  Who says one can't post about absolutely nothing?!

Our Advent theme at church was "We are those who dream."  Yesterday as I sat in the sanctuary, I was mesmerized by the giant dream catcher hanging from the ceiling.  I wondered what others visiting the church must think to see the Native American dream catcher in a Christian church.  A good source told me that Santa Claus often attended the 4pm service and sat in the upper right balcony.  For some reason, he missed yesterday, and  I only made it to two of the three services.  Instead of attending the 11pm service I started watching the first season of The West Wing .  I think I made a good decision.  Today I made a poor decision.  Instead of watching more West Wing, I decided to watch A Christmas Story for the first time.  Why do people watch this each year?  It's painful to quite painful to watch it the first time.  It will never happen again.

  Christmas Party at South Danbury Church  by Donald Hall December twenty-first we gather at the white Church festooned red and green, the tree flashing green-red lights beside the altar. After the children of Sunday School recite Scripture, sing songs, and scrape out solos, they retire to dress for the finale, to perform the pageant again: Mary and Joseph kneeling cradleside, Three Kings, shepherds and shepherdesses. Their garments are bathrobes with mothholes, cut down from the Church’s ancestors. Standing short and long, they stare in all directions for mothers, sisters and brothers, giggling and waving in recognition, and at the South Danbury Church, a moment before Santa arrives with her ho-hos and bags of popcorn, in the half-dark of whole silence, God enters the world as a newborn again.   (Poem taken from another blog.)     Since I have a small family, Christmas Eve for me has never held the excitement  it does for those with larger fam...

Typically I don't attend staff gathering because I don't want to get stuck talking to people I don't really appreciate.  Last night I went and enjoyed the people (except one) with whom I talked.  In reality I stayed a bit too late and had too much holiday cheer.  This became obviously clear tonight at the gym as I sweated out that cheer.  Today I learned about an app ("Don't Drink and Dial") that may come in handy for people during this season of holiday cheer.  It made me laugh.  There was certainly a time in my life in which this app would have been helpful.  Enjoy the holiday cheer safely.  Happy Holidays!

Today the students were reading from Guys Write for Guys Read.  The stories are captivating.  Since I had already explained the written responses that needed to be completed, students had no need for me.  I realize this, motivated learners, is a good thing, but I was completely bored.  This is the second day of this assignment, and the journals are all graded.  My last class needed me least of any class, and I was walking around the room with nothing to do.  When I'm bored, I tend to be distracting to others, and I was a bit distracting to the last class.  Of course I understood this, so I tried to explain that I was bored.  They didn't care and really wanted me to leave them alone, so they could read.  One student suggested I look up funny cat videos online.  I found this video (via Huffington Post?) and shared it with the class before I tried to occupy myself.  Yeah, they didn't think it was that funny either.  I need ...

One of my favorite books to use with creative writing is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick .  If you don't know the story of this picture book, look it up.  The pictures and titles are phenomenal.  Today I received The Chronicles of Harris Burdock as a Christmas present.  It is fabulous, and I can't wait until I have time to sit down and read the stories.  Basically some well know authors (Stephen King, Walter Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, etc.) wrote stories to go with the pictures (which really don't have known stories... look it up, I tell you).  It's exciting!  Really, look it up!

Today we listened to The Parable of the Eagle .  At the beginning of the hour, students listened (only audio) and wrote down what they heard, what they questioned, and what they thought.  It is a great parable, and we discussed the theme.  Listen to the story if you have five minutes.  At the end of class I paused and said, "I want you to know what keeps me up at night crying."  Yep, it was lame, but I did get their attention.  I went on with my lecture about the fact that I gave them the opportunity to redo the last assignment, showed them examples, and made extra copies, yet only a few picked them up from me.  To continue with my madness I exclaimed, "I guess you want to be chickens while I want you to soar like eagles."  It may have been a hand over-dealt, but I did have several students stop after class and after school to get sheets.  Brilliant or Lame?  Chickens in Mexico... IDK... Chickens!

Rainmaker --  Matchbox 20 I wonder what it's like to be the rainmaker I wonder what it's like to know that I make the rain I'd store it in boxes with little yellow tags on every one And you can come see them when I'm... done, when I'm done I wonder what it's like to be a super hero I wonder where I'd go if I could fly around downtown From some other planet, I get this funky high on yellow sun Boy I bet my friends will all be... stunned, they're stunned It seems a bit crazy to have rain in the middle of December.  On my way home from work, I took a picture of the raindrops on my moon roof and thought of the Matchbox 20 song.  My favorite line is "I'd store it in boxes with little yellow tags on every one."    Lyrics | MATCHBOX 20 - RAINMAKER LYRICS

A Prayer of Thanksgiving by Max Coots Let us give thanks... For generous friends...with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms; For feisty friends as tart as apples; For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us we had them; For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible; For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn -- and the others -- as plain as potatoes, and so good for you. For funny friends, who are as silly as brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions; For friends ...

The date for my surgery is set for Friday, January 13th.  This morning I woke up thinking the tests today would prove I didn't need surgery.  Instead of taking the entire day for appointments, I taught the first two classes with the substitute in the room, so he could see how it went.  I realize this is a control issue, but I felt better about the day.  Next I called the travel clinic to see if they could get me in for the second round of my Hep A shot since I had an extra twenty minutes.  They gave me the pretty blue bandage.  Next I drove to Mendota Heights (across the river :( ) for my 3D CT scan and injections.  My wait between the two was one hour.  Did I mention I love my iPhone?  They gave me a ugly beige bandage even after I showed them my pretty blue bandage and suggested they try to do better.  It's amazing she actually found me entertaining.  I was feeling awesome leaving the CT/injection since I still had some pain/di...

Guardian of the seasons, keeper of every tie, tune us so to your rhythms that we may know the occasion for stillness and the moment for action. May we be so prepared so aware so awakened in our waiting that when you prompt us into motion, our hands may be your hands and our purposes your own. ~Jan L. Richardson I love to watch the lake at all seasons, but I am especially intrigued by its wonder when it makes the change from liquid to solid.  This morning on my drive to church, I drove up on the median looking at the changing water.  While part of the lake has a skim of ice, the rest is part tumultuous waves and other forms of rolling water.  Amazing.  Beautiful.  Charming.

I've been busy to quite busy with orthopedic, physical therapy, and chiropractic appointments.  Tonight I decided to stop at Chipotle on the way home although I questioned it because I didn't want to get out of my warm car.  It's been awhile since I stopped at Chipotle, and I was hungry.  When I was asked if I wanted white or brown rice, I was pleasantly surprised.  Who knew I had a choice?!

Today my dad turns 70.  He was born the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Maybe the attack sent his mom into labor.  In honor of his birthday, I sent him a text and wore the sweater his mom made him.  Happy Birthday!

 Dreams All night
 the dark buds of dreams
 open richly.
 In the center
 of every petal
 is a letter, and you imagine if you could only remember
 and string them all together
 they would spell the answer. It is a long night,
 and not an easy one–
 you have so many branches,
 and there are diversions–
 birds that come and go,
 the black fox that lies down
 to sleep beneath you,
 the moon staring with her bone-white eye. Finally you have spent all the energy you can
 and you drag from the ground
 the muddy skirt of your roots
 and leap awake
 with two or three syllables
 like water in your mouth
 and a sense
 of loss–a memory not yet of a word,
 certainly not yet the answer–
 only how it feels
when deep in the tree all the locks click open,
 and the fire surges through the wood,
 and the blossoms blossom. – Mary Oliver from Dream Work Tonight I met with my church book group (love these ladies) for our annual...

"I'm Stevie Wonder.  I didn't see anything," a girl stated in my after school reading program.  It was perhaps my favorite line of the day.  My second favorite line of the day came as students shared, "I've learned that..."  His line, "I've learned that teachers can't help but smile when I say, 'sticky buns'."  True story... I couldn't help but smile. Yep, that's all I have for today. 

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.' Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Nameless here for evermore... In some Native American cultures, the raven is a symbol of transformation and metamorphosis.  It's a harbinger of the cosmos and a creature of healing.  Although this was not the message in church today, it's the portion that remained with me as I ...

We didn't have school on Friday, and I was so excited to venture out of town to hang with friends that I left sans winter coat (or any coat) and mittens (or gloves or anything warm).  When I realized it was going to snow and perhaps ice today, I realized the foolishness of my packing.  Actually I realized it last night going from restaurant to bar sans winter apparel.  My trip was short but full of friends and fun.  Early this afternoon I left as it started snowing in God's Country (Iowa) and arrived in the Cities as it started to snow (making my trip uneventful... except for the tears that sometimes came to my eyes as I listened to more This American Life) .  ANYWAY, this first snow is full of big flakes and incredible beauty.  Tonight I opened the door to take photos of the snow coming down and covering the trees.  Maybe I should let Mary Oliver explain: The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere...

Until Sunday I did not know about This American Life .  A friend played a portion of Middle School for me while we were returning from our horse back riding experience.  Today, on my drive to Okoboji, I listened to three episodes:  Thugs , Middle School , and Break-Up .  All three were superb, and I already have two of my three selected for my return trip to Minneapolis.  How did I not know of this driving tool before?  My drive was wonderful.  Actually, my only disappointment was when I had to pause one of the episodes to answer the phone (which ended up being one of my besties, so it was fine).  I am quite happy to have this app on my iPhone. 

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks took a seat that became important in the Civil Rights Movement.  I feel many are taking a stand now with the Occupy Movement.  It's time for a revolution as a staff member suggested in today's union meeting.  Later as we talked about the corrupt and horrible events of our nation and world, I was reminded that I need to be more of an activist.  Rosa Parks didn't want to get arrested; she merely wanted to get home.  She did, however, take a stand.  It's time for me and those like me to take a stand.  Thanks Rosa. Although I'm not a Miley Cyrus fan, the images in this video are powerful.

Last night at ALC the readers theater went well.  The conversation also went well although it's easy for this group (struggling readers) to get off task.  At one point a young lady gave her thoughts on teachers.  She said she thought that teachers were teaching to help students.  Her point being that she was "heartbroken" when she realized they were paid.  I'm not quite sure what emotion it showed, but it was a little "matter of fact".  My guess is the statement held some truth.  This was a bit of a rose because I found it to be an interesting comment.  Since she was already off task, I didn't want to continue the conversation. The thorn from yesterday had to do with the lack of significant and consistent discipline in my building.  The previous day I sent a student out because I had done many interventions, yet he continued to be a disruption to the class.  Yesterday he came to my room asking for work because he was in the quiet ro...