It Was A Zoo in More Ways Than One

My poor neglected blog. Why do I neglected you? It's not for a lack of thoughts, there are oh so many swirling around in my head. I suppose it's the usual lament of 'there aren't enough hours in the day'. But, I would venture to say that's not really the reason. Truth be told, I'm lazy, plain and simple. In my old age the spirt is still very willing but the body is often too weak to do much of anything. Sigh.

Let me make amends and begin again with my latest foray. 

Today was field trip day. Art Teacher, my partner in crime when it comes to the Student Council, and I took some of the StuCo members to the zoo. I'm always a bit apprehensive about taking a group of adolescents out of their daily routine. Bad things have been known to happen. But, I will say this, the group of kiddos that we have the pleasure of chaperoning is a well-behaved bunch, so I don't fret as much. Notice I said, as much, they are after all teenagers...and teens think they are invincible.

The day was somewhat muggy and misty when we left for the zoo, it was anything but that when we headed back. Oh. My. Goodness. Summer is here and spring didn't have a chance to say good-bye. Oy. I always dread the first hot day after weeks and weeks of coolish weather. Let the acclimating begin. 

I ran into a friend while at the zoo. He told me he'd heard that today there were suppose to be approximately sixteen hundred kids at the zoo. I think his sources were right. It was a zoo in more ways than one. I'd venture to say that our group of kiddos was the oldest one there. Let me just say this,  I marvel at the patience of the teachers who have anyone younger than high school age. They are saints in my book. While walking about one had to look down more than up for fear of traipsing on a wee one. Fortuneately, each group of wee ones was well chaperoned and corralled when needed.

The Caldwell Zoo is a wonderful little zoo. Lots of flora and fauna.

Some of the fauna.

The scarlet ibis were nesting, you can kind of make out the egg in the middle. I'm amazed that they are able to nest with all the commotion that sixteen hundred kiddos can make.

Some of the flora.

After a day at the zoo I was exhausted when I got home. Like a little one might do, I came home and promptly took a nap, albeit a short one but it was refreshing. Glad I only do field trips once a year.

A Dangerous Thing

Raise your hand if you know what the this question is referring to: Do you pin? 

Yay! I see many virtual hands going up! 

Since I didn't have a Young Women's lesson to review this fine Sunday morning, I found my self perusing through the many pins I'd been missing out on over the last several months, it'd been a looong time since I had check anything pinteresting. Lemme just tell ya, it's a dangerous thing trying to catch up. Too many things you wish you had time for, hunger to eat, long to do, marvel at, and hanker to try. I had pin overload. BUT, I'm glad I stop in because....

....I found some cool websites to revisit. Most interesting of all was craftgawker. Oh. My. Goodness! If you like crafting this is the place to go. It's a clearing house for various craft sites, so many amazing crafty people out there.

Cool crafty stuff like this from Live Laugh Rowe

pic from Live Laugh Rowe

Or, how about this cool idea from Just Crafty Enough. Awesome idea to reuse, recycle.

pic from Just Crafty Enough

How's this for a Mother's Day gift on the cheap from My Own Ideas. I would enjoy this as a gift, wouldn't you?

pic from My Own Ideas

There are craft ideas for kids and for kids to make, like this one from One Artsy Mama.

pic from one artsy mama

Guess what? There's also a dwellinggawker, a weddinggawker, a stylegawker (for all you fashionistas out there), and a foodgawker (foodies of the world unite). I suppose these sites are akin to Pinterest but they are organized specific to that topic, which is good, because you can spend HOURS looking at sites/ideas in that one area, and bad because you can spend HOURS looking at that one area. 

Have an extra hour or two on your hands, or you just want to procrastinate cleaning the house, doing homework, fixing dinner, taking a bath, walking the dog (oooh maybe not procrastinate this one) whatever, go do some Gawking, you'll thank me later.

Channeling Georgia

My friend, Art Teacher, has realized one of her dreams. She opened her own art studio. Kelly opened her studio in January, I finally made it out to take one of her classes. I'll share my experience in just a bit but first a quick tour of the studio.

The building has been many things, a bank, a daycare center, a laundromat, and an apartment. After so many interesting lives, the building sat vacant for many years. Kelly and her business partner, transformed a derelict into a shabby chic, comfy place.

I'm so happy for her, it's always great to realize a lifelong dream. 

Kelly's studio is not too different from many that have opened recently. You and your friends, you and your mom, you and your child, or just you, can come to the studio and paint the picture that is being offered that day, she provides everything...even some munchies! She's also had some painting parties. Think birthday party, wedding shower, baby shower, twenty fifth wedding anniversary, a retirement party, in other words, whatever kind of party you can imagine. Let Kelly know you would like to have a party and she'll set you up. Recently, she had a birthday party for a group of eleven year old girls, it was fun...and interesting as the attention span of eleven-year olds is rather short. My friend Art Teacher can handle them though, she's taught high school kids for almost as long as I have, which makes us almost invincible. Right?

Kelly and Shelly, her business partner, have a Facebook page that showcases their wares, go here to check it out. 

Ah, now, what you've been waiting for...my debut as an artist. Um, yeah, I wish. 

Last night's painting was a sunflower, on of my favorite flowers. Here's the example Kelly painted ahead of time. This is what we were all aiming to achieve.

My blank canvas. I've used this metaphor so often it's kinda nice to not be using it as a metaphor. 

So scary to mix that first batch of paint. The only paint I'd ever mixed before was the kind that sits around too long in the can.

Even more nerve wracking...putting it on the canvas. 

The most nerve wracking...painting the flower! I kept trying to tweak the orange/yellow/brown ratios but couldn't quite get it to look like the example, so I just said it was good and moved on to the center. 

My finished painting. I think Georgia O'Keefe is jealous, don't you? Okay, maybe not.

Crafty Friend came and painted too, here's her masterpiece. Along with the others.

Looking at everyone's paintings brought home to me that even though we all used the exact same paint colors, looked at the exact same example we each created something very different. Even the painting Kelly did to show us the technique turned out very different from her example. 

Torture Might Be The Wrong Word But ...

The state of Texas is in flux at the moment where standardized testing is concerned. The wonderful men and women of our legislature decided a few years ago that 2013 would be the year to end one test, the TAKS, and fully embrace another, the STARR. Tomato/tahmahto, neether/niither, TAKS/STARR it's all the same, just more of it.

Completely phasing one out and bringing the other one in is making for a very loooonnnnng testing season. We began in February and have given a standardized test each month. I feel for the kids but not all of them are testing in both the TAKS and the STARR, I'd explain it but it's so convoluted that I confuse myself thinking about it, suffice it to say that as a test administrator, I'm spent. 

Let me elaborate for just a moment what being a test administrator entails. It's not difficult, really it's not. If you have organizational skills it's a piece of cake. The taxing part is in not being able to do anything while the students test. You can do nothing, and I do mean nothing, while ANY student in your assigned room is testing. Actually, I exaggerate. There are two things you can do while the students test, you can breath and quietly walk around the room, this is called actively monitoring. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do nothing other than breath and pace for three uninterrupted hours? Perhaps the government would like to look into this instead of water-boarding a terrorist. Just a thought. 

At HHS we are fortunate in that we do have another teacher in the room with us so we can tag team the pacing around the room. Occasionally we'll take a break and sit and watch the dust settle, look at each other briefly, and then resume the tag-team pacing.

Tuesday, at lunch, my co-monitor and I were discussing our stream of consciousness while we tested that day. Hers ranged from did a couple of the girls go shoe shopping together to why did she wake up at four that morning knowing full well that she needed her sleep so she could maintain decorum while testing. Mine ranged from mentally counting the cars and trucks that passed by and trying to distinguish from the sound if it were a truck or car and if it was a truck what type of truck, semi, cement mixer, delivery etc., to every time I passed the maps that were on the wall noticing the terrain of each continent and being amazed at how much of Australia is desert. Did you realize that almost three-fourths of that great continent is desert?!

Wednesday, my eyes kept landing on this picture (worry not fellow administrators, all of these pics were taken AFTER all the tests were returned to the hermetically sealed room that houses those golden tomes) 

With each round of the room I'd notice something different and ask myself myriad questions.

I noticed that in the crowd of men was one lone woman, front and center. I wondered why she was there alone, was she waiting on someone, was she considered daring to be there alone? 

I also wondered if all these men had ditched work to go to the game or was it a game played on Saturday. Another question I had, was this opening day or did they always have the bunting on display?

My eyes were also drawn to the word 'Coke' at the top of these silos. 

Initially I thought of the beverage, until, on one of my rounds, I noticed the word 'coal' and vaguely remembered Hank telling me something about 'coke' and 'coal' in the same sentence. At that point I realized that Coca-Cola was not advertising on the silos...I felt sheepish. Although no one knew about my silly mistake except me so there was no need to feel sheepish and then I felt sheepish for feeling sheepish. Oy. 

Today, I just paced. I'd run out of things to do. Counting passing cars was passe, the picture no longer held my interest, and, since the test given today was the Social Studies test, the maps were gone (can't have anything on the walls that might give the kiddos any ideas). 

We have a respite for a couple of weeks, then, we get to pace and watch dust settle all over again. 

Oh. Joy.

Last Weekend

Saturday, Hank and I headed to Big D to attend the temple.  After a week of bombings, explosions, and manhunts, I was beyond ready for a place of peace and some uninterrupted introspection. I found both in the temple. 

Our journey to and from Dallas was interesting. This past weekend, unbeknownst to us, just happened to be the weekend of the one hundred mile long, give or take a few miles, garage sale along US Highway 80, our preferred route to Big D. Oh my, if garage sales are your thing, you would have been in heaven. Zipping by at seventy, forty or even twenty miles an hour made it hard to see exactly what everyone was selling. The blurs I could make out ranged from clothes to furniture, you know typical garage sale stuff. I'll be honest, had I been traveling solo I so would have stopped at a couple of places but since Hank was chauffeur, and perusing other people's junk is not his idea of a good time, we moseyed on down the highway. I'll have to pencil this event on my to do list for next year.

We lived life on the edge after the temple, we didn't eat at either of our usual spots. We ventured to a place we'd tried once before, a placed we had enjoyed but always seem to forget.

I wouldn't say it's high brow Tex-Mex but it is a little higher class than most, at least Hank and I made that call based on the heft of the cutlery. 

The chips, excellent. Not paper thin nor greasy, both musts on my list of what constitutes a good chip. They are almost as good as what my mama used to make.

Ah, the food. Yum. Had the tortillas been fresh-made, I would give this place five forks. Five forks is my own personal rating system. 

Best thing about this place, they give you more than a thimble full of guacamole. 

If you want to try Mi Cocina, it's in the shopping center on the southwest corner of Preston and Forest. You won't be disappointed if you do.

A Horrible Song With a Horrible Verse

Once again, our nation has been rocked by something sinister. Something we can't begin to make sense of nor understand.

Photo: David L. Ryan, The Boston Globe via Yahoo News

And once again the only thing, perhaps the best thing, we can all do pray. 

Pray for the dead and their families, to receive comfort at a very difficult time. Pray for those who witnessed firsthand the atrocities, the mayhem, the carnage, that though they may never forget what they witnessed, that they may survive without lasting mental anguish. Pray for the first responders. Pray for our leaders and agencies in charge to find the motive and those that perpetrated this evil. Pray for ourselves, that despite the anger we may feel, that we will be level headed and not jump to conclusions, a tall order, I know.

Over the last twelve years, I've felt guilty going about my daily business after one of these catastophies. But, after moments of retrospection and mourning, to NOT go about our business would mean that 'they' win. I don't give in. I don't quit. So,I will not allow evil to permeate my life. I will pray. I will be faithful. 

A Proposition

I have a proposition. I think it's a good one, at least it makes sense to me. 

Every January, scores of individuals promise themselves, by way of resolutions, that they will begin to do this or stop doing that only to give up on themselves two weeks later. I know why, it's the wrong time of year. Yep that's right it's the wrong time of the year. Why try and make changes when everything is bleak, bare, with blizzards blowing outside. Seriously, it's a depressing time! My proposition? Make your resolutions on March 20, the first day of spring. Spring is all about renewal and rebirth, why not resolutions!

As you look around, Mother Nature is setting the stage for success. 

Shrubs are bursting out of their winter slumber.

Blooms are emerging out of their winter cocoons.

Plants are pushing through their earthy blankets.

All around riotous color brightens the mood, beckoning you to succeed with your resolutions. 

How am I doing? Makes sense, doesn't it? 

In case you're not convinced yet, here's one more argument, spring is about the impossible. Too often we give up on our resolutions because of the 'I can't' mantra. Mother Nature doesn't know those two words, therefore spring brings about the seemingly impossible. Take a close look at this symbiotic relationship.

A red bud and an oak. You see the red bud but not the oak? 

Okay, a closer look. A little closer, you ask?

I can oblige.

I know, this relationship must end.  Believe me, I've tried to end it, the oak is stubborn. See the three little stems, those are my attempts at trying to end it but the mighty oak keeps coming back. 

Spring is all about doing the impossible and emerging from the bleakness of winter, about getting ready for what's ahead in the summer and fall. So why not create changes in our life too (I'm preaching to myself here, folks). I'm going to take inventory and create some resolutions, well maybe a couple. Care to join me?