Our Leprechaun Catcher

Houston had to build a Leprechaun Catcher for school this week. We had a blast with this project.

Leprechaun's love gold and rainbows ....

The rainbow leads the way ...

Look, gold!

The trap door ....

Houston ... Future Engineer?

So yesterday after I picked Houston up from school we headed out to the back yard to lay in the sun. Had to take advantage of a gorgeous 70 degree day as we haven't had many of those lately. Well I loaded a few Circuits I lectures from MIT's opencourseware site onto my Blackberry and decided to watch one while I was laying in the sun. (reason for this in a later post) If you want to learn about anything that is taught at MIT I highly recommend their opencourseware site. You can download lecture videos, assignments, tests, course notes ... just about anything for any subject. So back to the story ... Houston, as Houston does, wanted to do what I was doing so he got another lawn chair and set up next to me in the back yard. I started watching the first lecture and he was like "what is that and why does he talk funny?" ... professor has an accent. Well then he had to see what was going on so he leaned over to watch. Kid was totally fascinated. I couldn't believe how long it held his attention. Then he started asking a bunch of questions like "is that high school?" and "do they have a playground?" ... funny stuff. I thought for sure he would get bored at any minute and go do something else. Nope. He wanted to sit in my lap so he could see better. He ended up sitting there watching the entire 41 minute lecture. I couldn't believe it. Houston has the attention span of a doorknob (nonexistent, it seems). He doesn't stay focused on any one thing for long at all. (Drives me crazy most days but he learns fine and I've been told he doesn't have that problem at school.) I was done with Circuits for the day but he wanted to watch the next lecture so I told him he would be able to see better if he watched it on my computer inside. Once he knew he could watch it on a computer he was insistent that I load the lectures onto his computer. Next thing I know Houston has me adding a network card to his computer so we can get him on the internet, download iTunes and start downloading Circuits I lectures to his computer. He now has the first four lectures of the Circuits I course at MIT on his computer. I'm curious to see if he remembers it when he comes home today and also to see if he actually watches an entire lecture again. I also wish I could go to MIT. As far as Circuits I goes, this professor is quite entertaining. My Circuits teacher never tried to blow up a pickle by sending 120V into it during any lecture I made it to. ;o)

The Symphony of Science

This is amazing. From http://symphonyofscience.com/

Annual Valentine's Fondue

Jump Rope for Heart

Houston's new school is doing JR4H in a couple of weeks. I remember doing Jump Rope for Heart at my elementary school. Things have certainly changed in the past 20+ years. When I did it we went around to our neighbors and asked them to pledge a certain amount for a certain amount of jumping. Nowadays kids get their own website to collect donations with. Sign of the times I suppose. Sure does make it easier to raise money. You can view Houston's page here. Thank you so much to all the friends and family who have already donated. Houston is really excited about this. We check his page every day and he is all kinds of excited about his goal thermometer being full already. :o)

The Known Universe

Just found the most amazing video on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site. Take 6.5 minutes and go watch this. Amazing.

Christmas Photos

Big changes are in the works around here but i'm not ready to blog about it yet. So for now, here are some photos from Christmas time.

Soup!

So I combined one of my soup recipes with one my friend Andy shared with me. It turned out fantastic and I've had some requests to share the recipe so here it goes.

Ingredients:

1/2 sweet onion, diced

3 carrots, sliced thin

3 stalks celery, diced

1 c green beans, snapped into short pieces

1 c cabbage, shredded

4 medium red potatoes, cubed with skin on

olive oil

salt & pepper

roasted garlic powder

onion powder

2 cans chicken broth (i use Swansons with no MSG)

2 cans water (just filled the broth cans after i used them)

2 c soy milk

1/2 c flour

1 package/link Hillshire Farms polish kielbasa, sliced then quartered (think small bite size)

Directions:

1. In large soup pot, saute the onions, celery and carrots in some olive oil.

2. Add the broth, water, green beans, cabbage and potatoes and bring to a boil. Stir in the salt, pepper, roasted garlic powder, and onion powder. Cover and let simmer.

3. In frying pan, sauté the sausage until good and browned.

4. While the sausage is cooking, whisk flour into milk in separate sauce pan and heat to a simmer.

5. Drain the sausage and lay out on paper towels to soak up the grease.

6. Add sausage and milk mixture to the soup pot. Let simmer together for a little while.

Yum!

Houston's First Day of School at Columbia City Elementary

Look at this ... going to school in regular clothes with a ... what's that? A Transformers backpack?!?!?! Say it isn't so! :o) Houston is loving every bit of his new school. He is especially enamored with the hot lunch line in the cafeteria. His teacher is fantastic and he has already made new friends. He loves all the things they get to do and the playground at recess is a big hit too. He has transitioned better than I could have dreamed. He just fit right in.

Where Do I Start?

Really ... so much has happened lately, especially just this last week. I don't even know where to start or how much I want to post about. Maybe i'll just start with the facts ...

• Our family is no longer associated with The Blake School in any way. The boys don't go there, I don't teach there, Brett and I are no longer on the Advisory Board, I am not running the Christmas Parade float tomorrow. Done. Finished. Over. Yes I am happy about this. Not happy about how it went down, one thing I cannot stand in life is a lier, but the stress that has been lifted from my life is tremendous. One word ... "karma".

• Houston starts at his new school (Columbia City Elementary) tomorrow. I've heard great things about the school. It's been an "A" school for seven years now. I've heard great things about his teacher, Mrs. Kennon. We are excited about this. She was super nice when we met her on Friday and Houston is really excited about all the fun things at his new school. Pet hamster and hermit crabs in the classroom, computers in the classroom, really big playground with lots of fun playground equipment, the lunchroom where we will actually be able to afford the hot lunch ($1.75 vs. $4).... he's been asking all weekend if he can go to his new school yet. It's super close too. It literally takes us only 5 minutes from our driveway to the school. Why we had to get re-zoned for this is beyond me. The school we are zoned for would probably take us closer to 20 minutes to get to in the morning given the distance, traffic and area we would have to drive through.

• I am really looking forward to spending more time at home with Brody. Rock on.

• I am super excited about teaching at the community college. LCCC is actually now a four year college and is going through a name change. It will be Florida Gateway College. The math department just won a big award. More good news. Also, less than 24 hours after things fell through at Blake I was contacted by the math department to see if I could teach two more sections of the math class i'll be teaching in the spring. Heck ya! Bring it on! :o)

• Sometimes when things get too stressful it's good to look around and see what needs to change and allow yourself to be open to the new things the universe has planned for you. Good times folks, good times. I am so excited about the new direction our life has just taken and I truly hope this is a sign of wonderful things to come in 2010. I'm healthy, i'm happy, i'm really excited about my new job, lots of stress is gone ... good stuff! And I still haven't even posted about my awesome weight loss/weight watchers/running goals met. I think I'm afraid to jinx it. ;o)

So I think that's a good update for now. Houston and Brett are on their way to see the Jacksonville Jaguars and the the Houston Texans play in Jacksonville. Wish I could see the look on Houston's face when he walks into that stadium. He's never seen anything like it. I told Brett he better take lots of pictures with his phone. Brody and I are enjoying a lazy Sunday. I suppose we'll have to get out of our pajamas eventually and make it to knitting group.

Ahhhhh .... life is good. Now if CES could just get a new project or two so we can pay the bills life would be just about perfect. Minus an SEC championship and a national title. Poor Tim Tebow. I hate it for him.

Big Changes

Big things have happened here lately and I promise to blog about it soon. Hopefully before the weekend is over and after the Gators beat some 'Bama tail! Go GATORS!!!!

And so it begins ...

I taught Houston how to make a crochet chain. I woke up two Saturdays ago to find him showing his brother how to do it. Now they both sit on the couch at night and crochet.

Have a Laugh

Have you Elfed Yourself lately? I did: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/emGjwrzNjE4YqHqQlRPX

Check it out. Funny stuff. :o)

Update: Surgery, School

So much going on lately. Some I've wanted to share and some I haven't. Seems there is always some good to outweigh the bad and bad to outweigh the good. Balance, I suppose. So here's a bit of what's been up around here:

On October 15th I had surgery to remove a milk duct and surrounding tissue from my right breast. There were mammograms, ultrasounds and a core biopsy before this. According to studies, there was a 12% chance of my having breast cancer due to the condition found on the first mammogram. I didn't want a lot of people knowing I was going through this. I told more friends than anything because they are supportive without freaking out. (thank you) Many of my family members don't even know yet and this is probably where they will learn. I'm sorry if you are offended by this. Just know that I did what I had to do for myself here. The good news is that everything came back completely benign and the condition I have carries no increased risk of breast cancer. Yippeee!!!! All I have now is a big reminder to get regular mammograms, do regular self-exams, a nice big two to three inch scar across my boob and more gray hair. Well more like my gray hair went white and some of the brown went gray. A couple of people have actually asked me if I highlighted my hair because I have a new streak towards the front that almost looks like I put it there on purpose. Nope, ahhhh the wonders of anesthesia and stress. :)

So about two hours after I found out I did not have cancer I learned that a very special woman passed away. Here name is Colvin Carter. She was a high school teacher that was very sweet and comforting to me during my year teaching at Columbia High while Patsy was dyeing of cancer. She will be very missed around this town. There were a few other things that all happened within 48 hours of me getting my good news. The balance, I suppose?

In other news, I'm going back to school. Just got my acceptance letter from the mathematics department at UF for some post bac work. I most likely will not be accepted into the master's program there because I don't have a 4.0 in undergrad math and they are, apparently, extremely competitive like that. I have a few tricks in my pocket though so I'm not counting it out completely. And in totally related news, I interviewed at the community college here in Lake City a month or two ago. I just heard today that I will be teaching Elementary Algebra there in the spring. Which is awesome because I was starting to sweat about paying for my class at UF in the spring. I will be one busy woman come January. I already have my schedule all entered into a spreadsheet with driving time included. Best to be prepared for the craziness. Morning class as teacher at Blake every day. Afternoon class as teacher at Blake on Tuesday and Thursday. Afternoon class as student at UF Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Evening class as teacher at Lake City Community College on Tuesday and Thursday. Boys will be on their own for dinner those nights! Depending on enrollment, there is a possibility of me teaching more than one class at LCCC. And of course, Blake is way out west of town, LCCC is way out east of town and UF is down in Gainesville. The good news is that I'll get to make it through a ton of books on CD. Good thing the library has a large section to borrow from. :) And LCCC just had a name change approved .... it will now be Florida Gateway College and will begin offering four year degrees. They are even starting an engineering program. I'm so happy to get my foot in the door there. I love teaching but middle school students are tough. I love teaching, hate discipline. Shouldn't have too much of a problem with college classes.

Well speaking of school .... I better head that way. Got a math and science class to teach. Lab day!

Fashion Sense

Brody loves to pick out his own clothes. He was quite proud of this outfit today. Does he have good fashion sense or what? ;o)

Halloween Pics