My Fantastic Classroom

Haley was a trooper last night -- we were at my classroom till 7:30 last night. But I'm done getting ready for the first day -- we won't have to go back this weekend to finish up! I have all my photocopies done and organized. (We have these crazy packets to hand out -- about 8 pages that parents need to sign and return -- permission slips, picture forms, and more!)

I got a deck of cards and took out one of each rank. I taped one card down on each desk. The other three of that rank went into a deck -- when the kids come in, I'll hand them a warmup quiz and they'll draw a card, and they'll go sit at the table with the matching rank :) It's a good way to randomly divvy them up and seat them three to a table.

Anyhow, my classroom is looking pretty good! I even have, get this, POSTERS on my walls! I know, crazy, huh? I guess it is about on schedule though -- it generally takes me a few years to decorate *grin*

Here's a video I made of my classroom :)

The Mighty Fava Bean

Today began with a 4 hour staff meeting. Blah. Unfortunately, most of what was covered really needed to be discussed, so I can't even complain that much. Then I had a lunch meeting with Cindy M. Then I had a 45 minute AVID meeting, and then a partnership meeting. Yup... A whole day of meetings. But... the meetings were mostly productive. For example, during our lunch meeting Cindy & I went to the library and covered our new class sets of books with snazzy new covers and then hauled them back to our classrooms. Jeff gave me one of his old computers, so now my classroom has a Strawberry iMac as a student computer :) He might even end up giving me another, so then I'd have two student computers :)

Haley and I joined the gym today. We're going to try working out in the morning before school. We'll see how that works out... But Haley really enjoys running, so I thought that the treadmill would be great for her. We have so much miserable weather (for weeks at a time!) that we can't count on outdoor exercise.

On the way home we went grocery shopping, and we bought this funny thing that looked like a giant string bean. It turns out that it's a fava bean. Tonight's dinner was fish sticks, guacamole and chips, and a few raw fava beans each. They taste a lot like giant peas :)

Crazy Busy Day

So today was my first official day back at school. Of course, most of the teachers came back last week to start putting things back together, but now we're getting paid for it! *grin* We had the big welcome back thing in the auditorium, where every teacher in the entire district crams in. It was hot. I admit, I snuck out to drop Haley off at the babysitter's, and then came back and kinda drifted in and out around the back door. I did do the welcome for the new employees, but other than that...

Then there was a big meeting for all the math teachers, on how to use our new textbooks. Unfortunately, it was focused mainly on the technology, directed by a sales lady who wasn't that strong in technology. I had played around with the software some on Friday, so I'd pretty much picked up the stuff she spent 3 hours covering. *sigh* I still think we picked the wrong company, but oh well. Suck it up and move on already, right?

Then I picked up Haley and we changed clothes and played tennis with Cynthia and Julie. A friend of Cynthia's, Teira, joined us with her daughter, Sierra. So we had three girls with tennis rackets. Haley suddenly got a lot more motivated to play (all the sudden it was cool!) She did a pretty good job swiping at the ball :)

Then we went home and showered, and then drove out to Cindy M's house so she and I could work on math teacher stuff. Dang. Let me say that again: DANG. Her house is beautiful. It's about 10 miles inland, on the river. She helped design it, and WOW. We were very impressed. We had dinner and then worked on math stuff. Did you know that pizza hut makes chicken parmesan??? I sure didn't. It was good, too! Garlicy (sorry Mom) but I *like* garlic! Cindy made a salad with lots of avocado, which made a great pairing.

I brought a bottle of wine: 2006 Coppola Rosso. Cindy and I both liked it quite a lot. I'm not good at tasting notes, but I found some online. Winemaker notes: "Rosso 2006 has smooth, rich layers of sweet dark fruits, cloves, a touch of vanilla and mildly toasted oak. Its mild tannins make it incredibly food-friendly, so it's easy to pair with anything from braised short ribs to grilled salmon or a sausage and pepperoni pizza." Yum.

Crash and Burn

Haley went to a slumber party last night. How did I spend my exciting night of freedom? Err, well... I went to work and fiddled around with my classroom till 11. Um, exciting. No hope for me, I'm afraid :)

I french braided Haley's hair before the party. I've only french braided a few times, and Haley's hair is *really* tangly, so this was a 20 minute, sobbing ordeal. But it looked pretty good afterwards. Moreover, when I picked her up today, after lying on it at least part of the night (although apparently not sleeping) and going to the river and swimming, it *still* looks pretty good!!! Yay me, and yay french braids!


Of course, Haley crashed on the way home. She had a headache, she was going to puke, etc. She got home and headed for the bathroom, to hang out by the toilet. No, she didn't puke. She fell asleep on the bathroom floor, and didn't wake up for more than an hour. Finally I went in and told her that she could either get up and have dinner, or she could get up and go to bed.

Too bad; tonight's dinner was potpie :)

Haley's First Game of the 2008 Season

We're really happy with Haley's soccer team this year. Not only is her friend, Julie, on the team, but the coach, John Murphy, is awesome. He's a teacher, so he's got the management/rapport thing down :) The team has 18 kids, so each kid gets to play half a game -- plenty of subs in case of sickness or whatever :) Here are the kids who managed to show up on time for the jamboree (opening ceremony) today:


Haley got to throw the ball in at least 3 times this game -- she's good at throwing it far and to her teammates. Her coach is standing next to her :)


She did a really good job of running hard and staying on the ball :)


Ok, yes, they did win. 3 to 0 :)

Getting Ready for School

So I've already spent a lot of time getting my classroom ready. This year I'm going to have a *lot* of students -- my largest class has 37 students. So I had to completely rearrange my classroom to try to accommodate 37 bodies. I'm a little discouraged about the number of students -- many of them are already struggling with algebra, and cramming that many in a room is not exactly the best way to help them to succeed. Oh well, I'll just do my best. We have a completely new textbook this year, so we'll see. Anyhow, here's a photo of my new classroom layout -- three kids to a table...

Henna with Ann

Today, Ann Redd came over and we got to use up some more henna :) I warned her that my drawing skills were limited to stick figures. I would now like to retract that statement -- as a joke she used stick figures in her designs, and I'm not that good. So I guess next time I'll have to find an even more pathetic description for my lack of skill. Meanwhile, here's Ann's leg


and my shoulder. (This is even better if you know that I fight with a teardrop shield. And, yes, that is my coat of arms :)

Pas d'Armes

Robert & Leia hosted the Allyshian Pas d'Armes this year. It was pretty fun. We got there after dark Friday night, but set up our tent by the light of the full moon (and assorted streetlights:) On Saturday, we armored up and had both rapier and heavy fighters. The heavy tourney was such that the gallery selected a challenger, the challenger issued a challenge to another fighter, and that fighter got to pick the weapons and format (three bouts, 10 thrown blows, etc.) It was fun :) After the fighting, I put my armor away (yay me!!!) and brought out the henna (woohoo!)

Wendy painted my hand


and Paula painted my face :)


BTW, for those who aren't familiar with it, henna is a plant that is ground up and made into a paste which is applied in fine lines. When the paste is removed, the skin beneath has been dyed a reddish brown. The thicker the skin, the darker and longer-lasting the dye. That's why my hand is darker than my face, which will be dye free within a week.

Grandma Ruby visits us!

Grandma Ruby and Mom came up to visit us. We went to dinner at the Chart Room. They have excellent clam chowder and fish, a good view of the sea lions on the dock outside, and a neato shark carving out front.


Then we went to the Simpson Reed Grove, to go on a walk. Grandma, Mom, and Haley posed on a bridge.


Here, Grandma and Haley pose in front of a fallen redwood.


This tree grows all the way across the trail, reaching the ground on both sides.


But now matter how hard she tries, Haley can't *quite* jump high enough.


Haley would like to move into this tree-cave, but only if we get rid of the spiders first.


Haley and Grandma in a hollow tree :)

Wild Game Park

We drove home via Reedsport, even though it's slower, so that we could stop by the Wild Game Park in Bandon, OR. It was a complete surprise for Haley. Since the entrance to the park is the back door of the gift shop, she didn't know what it was until after I'd bought our tickets and we went on through! We had just enough time to see most everything.

Haley got to pet a ferret.


The lion's coughing roar filled the park.


The lioness laid at her ease.


The leopards were beautiful.


There was a white tiger, just like Haley's new stuffed animal.


We got to pet a lioness cub.


Haley got to meet 2 baby goats.


We also got to pet a baby panther,


and a baby lynx!


Then it was time to go, though we did feed the sheep/goats/llamas before we went. All in all the park was a blast! We made it home just before dark and actually unloaded & cleaned out the car before showering and hitting the sack. Tomorrow we'll drive down to Eureka to pick up our cat from Mom's house :)

Coming back home

Our triumphant return to the USA had us driving down to Grandma & Grandpa's house. The original plan was to hang out in Seattle on the way, but that was before the 1 1/2 hours we spent inching along at the US border. Kinda ridiculous when you think about how easy it is for any real bad guys to sneak across. Then we hit rush hour going by Seattle. Argh. It was a SLOW drive. I did have plenty of time to take a photo of the official border marker though!


Once we got to the grandparents' house, we mostly just crashed. The next morning, we had a chance to take a couple of photos. Here's Grandpa in front of his tomato garden.


And here are the four of us in a family photo :)