Wild and Precious

Wait.

2012-01-29T20:47:00.004-06:00

New post coming.

Soon, I hope.

Until now, this is where I'm at:

Shamelessly stolen from Pinterest.

Just pictures today.

2012-01-18T21:17:00.003-06:00

Mostly just pictures today. Busy.

Daily photo challenge- Smile. I couldn't help but grab this picture of Little Man. He's pretty cute. Unless you're moving a wall without telling him.

What I wore:
This is not what I necessarily wore today, however, one of my "things" is to take a picture of my shoes, or where I'm standing. This happens to be my new pair of Toms, which are my absolute favorite.

Finally...

Daily Sneak Peak: Sub plans.
I'm going to be out of the "office" tomorrow, so I have to leave detailed instructions about what to do. One of the perks of my job. And one reason I have over 50 available sick days...it's a pain to take a day off.

No MawMaw, I said a math question.

2012-01-17T20:35:00.000-06:00

Things on my mind prior to writing tonight's post:

- I went to bed last night at 8:15pm and it...was...awesome. I really wish I could do it again tonight, but alas, I'm already up past that and still have a few things to do.

- I would like for recipe writers and food packagers to pull themselves together. I needed 12 oz of cool whip. My choices were 8oz or 16oz. I either add four ounces or take it out. I needed 15 ounces of creme de coconut. The bottle was 21 ounces. It's the hot dogs/buns issue all over.

- Kelly Clarkson's song "Mr. Know It All" is haunting me right now. I am on a CD-listening kick, so I rarely hear the radio. When I do hear the radio, K-Clark is all over it. I don't even like the song. Kelly- get off my back.

- No. I DID NOT just start crying during the Glee proposal. Why would you ask that?

On to the post...

Mostly what I want to talk about today is this: I have a new camera, and so now I need to take some pictures.

Yesterday, I went to the BFF's house because she has two freakin' adorable little boys. We took roughly 99 pictures between the two of us. I only found six that I wanted to edit. Six. of 99.

Since it's not a point and shoot, I took it off "auto" after about a week, lest the photography gods (or PandaMom) smite me down.

But my pictures still stink. So I have to learn about my camera. And that means taking lots and lots of pictures. And then some more. And playing with my settings and hoping to get better.

So here I go. I've found a couple of different photo challenges to get me going.
Will I finish all of them? Probably not.
Will I blog all of them? Doubtful.
But I need to take pictures.

I'm also doing some daily sneak peeks of my life. Not ready to commit to 365, but getting there.

Day 1:
Favorite Food

Now, this is not my favorite food of all, but it is up there in the top. It was, however, all I had to take a picture of on short notice. A meat and cheese tray in Italy was not readily available for a quick photo op. (And this was the only one of the pictures I've taken in full Manual. I'm getting there.)

Day 1: Self portrait.

Oh my word trying to get this was a challenge in itself because I wanted to take it in one specific mirror. I took a zillion (or 8) pictures. Most were blurry. Some had me making funny faces. One of them was of my armpit. So, yeah. I've got some work to do.

And finally, a sneak peek of my day. We were talking about the water cycle and I love the drawing and the colors so I grabbed a shot. My kids didn't even think twice about it.

So there.
I'm working on my photog skillz.

You've been warned.

Life in letters

2012-01-14T17:12:00.001-06:00

I recently found this site. I'm pretty sure it was made for me.

Dear Wendy's,
While I thank you for your tasty burger this afternoon, could you have put the lid on the soda a little bit more securely? It was super fun riding home sitting in a puddle of coke. So much for the rest of my errands.Time to do some laundry.

Dear students,
Yes, Martin Luther King, Jr. did not use violence or weapons in the civil rights movement, but I'm pretty sure he didn't use "tickle fingers" either.

Dear teacher that asked if I wanted a few National Geographic magazines,
Four hundred magazines is not a few. Now I have four hundred magazines to go through so I can staple together the pictures of the native tribes. But the magazines from the 70's and the maps that say "Soviet Union" are pretty cool.

Dear Kindle Fire Solitaire,
You are my kryptonite. Seriously. I didn't know just how much solitaire one person could play in an evening. You're giving pinterest a run for it's money.

Dear students,
I've rearranged my classroom and moved some furniture and changed a few rules. Your world is about to get rocked, but it needs it. See you Tuesday!

Dear Civil Wars and TSwift
Thank you for making your Hunger Games movie song more Civil Wars and less Taylor Swift. It makes me very happy, as well as music fans everywhere.

Dear Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book,
How do you say "huh?" in Swedish?

Dear God,
Are you telling me what I think you're telling me?

And finally...
Dear Tim Tebow,
Play good tonight! I'd like to see you again next week. And the week after that. And the week after that...

We are Young

2012-01-09T19:41:00.000-06:00

- It's hard to go back to blogging after being gone for a while. You feel a pressure to write something fabulous and funny and you know... coherent. It's hard man. That's why today is just bullets.

- Today was cold and rainy. day, and I want to go to bed right now, even though it's not even 6:30. Instead I put on my fleece pants and pullover and will hopefully be super productive.

- The Aunt is in a church personnel meeting, but tonight is Monday, so I will be watching HIMYM, 2 Broke Girls, and Mike & Molly, and texting The Aunt. Who will be getting those texts in the meetings. This should be fun.

- I ordered a planner from Erin Condren, and I can...not...wait for it to get here. It was originally supposed to get here today, but I have to delay that until tomorrow. I am so excited about sitting down with a blank year and a blank calendar. I really think it might help me heal my soul a little bit.

- I'm also waiting for my fixed lens for my camera to come tomorrow. So then I can play with it. I'm still shooting in auto mode, but I hope to remedy that by the end of January.

- I tried some new food for Crazy Daisy, and not only has it increased her allergies to an annoying level, it has some other, um, unexpected results. That force me to leave the room before my eyes water due to the stink.

- There is a Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie about a teacher who takes his class to space camp and it stars John Corbitt and I need to avoid it like the plague. Will I? No. Will I instead be sitting on my couch watching it and weeping? Yes.

- My new playlist for 2012 knocks my own socks off. It's primarily new groups I haven't heard of, and primarily from songs I heard on commercials or television and downloaded. But it is wonderful and I listen to it non.stop. In my car and at school. It features Florence + the Machine, Safetysuit, Group Love, Kickdrums, Cary Brothers, The Middle East, M83, The Icicle Works, Airiel, and Fun. Which is very fun. There's also a Coldplay and a Rhianna, but they're so mainstream.

Here's the acoustic version of the Fun. song that's on my playlist. I love love love it.

I'm off to find my gas mask.

Click.

2012-01-08T21:26:00.001-06:00

I've been told by more than one person in real life that I should start blogging again.

I keep meaning to... I really do. Instead, I busy myself with some other mindless task, like playing solitaire on my new Kindle Fire. (Y'all, look for me on a future episode of Intervention, because I. need. help.)

My newest toy, aside from the aforementioned Fire, is my new camera. It's all sorts of fancy, and today I will tell you the tale of how I up and bought an expensive, fancy camera. It was a bit of a frenzy, truth be told.

I have been saving up for a fancy pants camera since about last year when The Aunt got one. So, not knowing exactly which camera I wanted, I started squirreling away money. One day last week, I decided that it would be a good thing to do around March, when I turn 21 plus 14. But, it was not March. It was Tuesday.

When I made that decision I decided to price the camera I thought I wanted, and then see how much money I had in the bank. I asked The Aunt which camera she had, because I wanted that exact one. I wanted her to teach me all of the tricks and such, and to know I was getting a good camera.

Found it on Amazon, along with the fixed lens I wanted as well, for exactly the amount I had saved (including some money I was being reimbursed). I was pretty psyched about it. Especially since the camera was a lot more at the Buy More.

So, on Thursday, I went to the bank, and withdrew a fair amount of money (which required nothing more than my signature...really?). I decided to go to Sam's to double check their prices, and lo and behold, I got to look at a newer camera. I decided to go home and research it.

I headed home and immediately put on my pajama bottoms, as is customary to do at my apartment any time past 5 pm. I pulled out the laptop and compared the prices. I watched youtube videos in which a guy out-nerded me by sitting in his house and videotaped himself discussing the pros and cons of two different cameras.He helped me pick out which camera I wanted: the Rebel t3. Not the t3i. That one is way more expensive.

Then, I clickity clicked on over to the Buy More website and discovered that they were selling it for almost $200 less than the dot com site and the Sam's club. I clicked some more, and discovered that they had it in stock! I didn't even have to order and have it shipped to my parents and wait! I could go right that very moment and pick it up and have it in my grubby little paws.

Which is exactly what I did. After I changed out of the pajama pants, of course. I drove right on over to that shopping center and found a parking spot right next to the door! I was in luck. I got out and hurried right in. I took one look around and realized

I was in the wrong store. I was in the office supply store next to the Buy More. Perhaps I got a little too excited.

In the end, I corrected the mistake, went to the right store, and bought the camera and all sorts of other accoutrements like a lens filter, a camera card, and a warranty plan because have you met me?

So I brought the camera home and have taken approximately 37 pictures of my dog, because what else do I have to take pictures of?

And in case you were wondering how long it would take me to lose the lens cap to the camera and have to resort to putting a glove on the lens to keep from damaging it, the answer is three days. Luckily, I found it and have since removed the glove.

Tomorrow I get the fancy fixed lens I ordered off the dot com and can take 37 more pictures of my dog. She's so excited.

For 2012

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

From about August to December, 2011 has been damn hard.
Looking back at old entries, I realized that sometime around September, I just lost my voice.

This song will be playing on repeat for the new year.
"Shake It Out" by Florence + the Machine

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around

And our love is pastured such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues strong
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
Cause I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a final mess but it's left me so empty
It's always darkest before the dawn

Oh woah, oh woah...

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat
Cause looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off,

That Florence.
She gets me.

Hey Buddy wanna pick some snowberries? Not now Arctic Puffin!

2011-12-04T21:15:00.001-06:00

It's 9:15, and I should be getting ready for bed, or at least grading papers. But I'm not.

Instead, I've created my own ringtone and declared myself awesome (or just able to read detailed directions on a website).

I've also put up my Christmas tree, which I will write about in a whole other post. And taking way too long to decide on an Elf quote for the title.

I've listened to my dog SNORE to the point that I was even impressed. I may or may not have put her rain coat on her when she asked to go out and then posted the picture of it on The Face Book. Maybe you didn't see the part about the snoring. It was something else.

My biggest accomplishment today (aside from the ringtone thing) was getting my presents made for my coworkers. Well, half made. I've still got a few things to do with those.

I'm also pretty excited that I've finally figured out what present I'm going to make for The Aunt. And I actually think I can do it. I saw it at a craft show a while back, and figured out how to do it thanks to the interwebs. I think it may work out and be epic.

I also worked on a project involving my drill and it came out very well, minus cutting my finger on some glass in a very weird way. I've taken my window and added a shelf and some fancy pants knobs. I'll get pictures up eventually.

And no farms. Everyone's pushing small town rural. A farm book would just be white noise.

2011-12-01T20:18:00.001-06:00

Yes, I'm going to quote Elf every.single.day. of December.

You're welcome.

I would have called this "A small price to pay for sanity" but the price is not small. I spend way too much every year on my December Daily. Way too much time. Way too much money.

But it really does keep me sane. It keeps me focused on something other than my crazy-a$$ family and job around this time of year, and it gives me a creative outlet, which soothes my soul and gives me peace. So small or big, it's a reasonable price to pay for sanity.

Each year I try this.Last year was my first finished book. I love it more than I should.

This year, I'm going for a 12 x 12 book, so I can incorporate more journaling. I was a little intimidated, but as I'm piecing it together I'm really liking what I can do with it. A lot.

I'd like to say this is a little sneak peak, but it's not. It's about all I have finished. I'm WAY behind this year. As in, instead of having the whole book done by now, I've only done through Dec. 2. Well, half of Dec. 2. You know. Tomorrow.

Here's the cover, waiting to be bedazzled. I have something fancy to create for the big black square in the middle, and then a little blingity-bling to put in the corner. Which is not really my style, but is a little bit.


The cover. Very plain. The picture is sideways. Naturally.

Here's the workspace. My dining room table. Also known as the first thing you see when you walk into my apartment.

I start each year's book with a calendar. Last year it was part of the cover, so I never wrote anything on it. This year I'd like to keep a better calendar.

This is the opening page. It's a fold-out. I'm not showing you the inside of the flap, because it's not done. I printed out what I needed to fix it today. And left it at school. I'm awesome like that.

And finally, the page for day one. It will be pictures of my tree and my decorations, and a few wrapped presents.

Except I haven't decorated my tree yet.

Or much of anything else in my apartment.

I'll try to get the rest of the book done. You know... before Easter.

Son of a NUTCRACKER!

2011-11-28T19:54:00.001-06:00

I was going to blog about Black Friday from the back of the line, and about the small price I pay for sanity during the holidays (December Daily), or even show pictures of my Christmas decorations and how much hanging garland makes me use the queen mother curse word.

But I had to go back to work today.
And teach long division.

And if that's not blog fodder, then I just don't know what is.

I've decided that in the future, when we've been gone from school for a whole week, I'm going to start the return to school with recess. My kids were either extremely chatty or all but asleep today. And I had to teach Long Division.

We survived, though I did contemplate getting a restraining order against one of my little ones that asked me question. after question. after question. And then some more questions.

But we survived, and moved on to science. We talked about forces, and push and pull. We did an activity where I called up my students to the board and they had to put pictures into the category push or pull. There was one picture they couldn't identify. One of my boys went up to the board on his turn and asked me what it was.

Before I could remember that I teach fourth grade and that my class is boy heavy, I answered him:
"It's a nutcracker. You put your nuts in it and it squeeze it and it cracks your nuts for you."

And after that even I couldn't stop laughing.

Thanksgiving 2011- in pictures

2011-11-24T17:52:00.001-06:00

I'm still not up to writing a bunch just yet, but I have been taking pictures like a fool.

My phone with a lower case i in front of it is full of pictures.
Or was, until The Aunt ruthlessly stole them all from me.

Here is our Thanksgiving in pictures, with a few bullet points afterwards for good measure.
Cast of characters: Aunt, Uncle, KellsBells, Katybug, The Cotton family, Cousin Jess, and friend Tara. A full house.


Someone discovered the hamster in the house


She can't think about anything else but the hamster

Getting the ads ready for perusal

Elvis wanted breakfast so.badly.

Katybug slept in

Green Beans: my contribution

Food cooking

Friends gathering

Food ready to be eaten

Desserts waiting to be eaten

My plate. Delicious, but not very colorful

Girls waiting to eat

Daisy, worn out from begging for food.

Elvis needed a little nap too...


All the men in their tryptophan-induced comas

Thanksgiving Day Outing:
Old Navy. Got some cheap jeans, a pullover, some pj pants, and a blanket. Everyone else checked out, except me. Because choosing the wrong line in a store is my super power, I told my family to go on without me and tell Daisy that I love her. Or to come back at midnight to pick me up.

Most fun prank:
This one's a toss up. The Uncle was sleeping, so I tickled his nose with a feather, and he woke up swinging. Also, we discussed at length the little girls going with us to Old Navy, and when they were all outside talking on the trampoline, we sent a cousin outside to tell the girls that we went without them as we watched through the window. Priceless.

And, finally...

Even Elvis needed some pumpkin pie

Sweet dreams are made of these

2011-11-21T21:53:00.001-06:00

I've given up trying to find my blogging mojo again, and just decided to start blogging again. So there.

There's a school of thought that says that your dreams are simply a manifestation of your brain trying to make sense of the thoughts floating around while you're sleeping. Basically, whatever you were thinking about during the day is what you dream about. Sometimes that's true, sometimes it's not.

I have to think that was the case for me and my dreams last night. I also don't sleep well, so it's not unusual for me to have several unrelated dreams all in one "night." Like last night.

I had three recognizable dreams.

1. I had to fight off a zombie and bash his head in. That leads me to think that perhaps I shouldn't have watched a four-hour marathon of The Walking Dead, followed by seeing Breaking Dawn with my friends. Just a guess.

2. I didn't show up to work, and I didn't get a sub. This has always been a big fear for me. That's what happens when you're responsible to a fault. Your biggest fear is irresponsibility. (And I have to find a sub for the Tuesday when we get back, and I haven't found one yet...thus, this part of the dream.)

Now in the case of this dream, I wasn't too upset, because it was a holiday, and only three of my students came to school that day to begin with. That's what happens when you have school on the Fourth of July. Eventually, in the dream, I couldn't find anyone to come in to sub for me, so I ended up having to not show up for the family picnic and go and teach instead. I was a little put out by that part.

3. Finally, one of my kids was busted for selling drugs. One of my fourth graders. I wasn't surprised when I heard he'd been busted for drugs, because dream or not, it made sense. It made even more sense in the dream when I found out that he didn't know there were drugs in whatever he was selling, and that's how he got busted. That also made so much sense to me, in the dream and after the wake up.

Now today, I've spent an inordinate amount of time on laundry, so I can only imagine that my washer and dryer will be attacking me in my sleep.

long time gone

2011-11-15T21:13:00.001-06:00

I really do keep wanting to blog again.

It's just hard to get started.

I've let it lapse almost a month. More than I've ever lapsed before.

I've had many "adventures" if you will.

The one with the dog, the fire truck, the ambulance, and the trailer park.

The one where I went to Lubbock with my whole.entire.family and didn't drink myself to death upon my return, or throw The Sister from the car going 75 mph down the highway, both of which would have been extremely justified.

I've sat on babies, and done soccer practices and games, and gotten us off and ready to go to school.

And there are more, that I can't remember right now.

It's not just the blogging that I've quit. I've quit writing at all. And reading.

But most importantly, I've quit creating. And that's not been good for my soul.

But I'm going to try again. To blog, anyways. And to create some.

I'll get back to myself soon. I promise.

Happy Halloween. Or, why I will sleep with one eye open this evening.

2011-10-31T19:45:00.000-05:00

A few pictures of our Halloween.

Best $8 ever spent.

You're not going to make me go out in public like this, are you?


The princess is ready to meet her subjects.

Where are my adoring fans?

And finally...

Sleep with one eye open woman.

October Favorite. Singular.

2011-10-30T17:57:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't do a favorites this month, here's a little You Tube gem I found for you.

I will be showing it to my kiddos.

Happy Halloween

Alright boys. It's time to man up.

2011-10-16T21:35:00.003-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been having myself a bit of a midlife crisis.

I'm better now. A little bit, at least.

I'll write again soon.

For now, I leave you with the title. No, it is not a rally for Christian boys everywhere.

It's what I heard as I walked off the kickball court at recess, having just informed the boys that if I had anymore injuries, I was calling off kickball for the day.

Halt; and remain calm! Well we've halted; how are we all doing on the calm front?

2011-10-07T21:26:00.000-05:00

Last night, I wrote a long, drawn-out post, and I cried as I wrote it. I left it up so I could finish it today.

I deleted it instead.

I should know better than to blog while tired. Really, really tired. And overwhelmed.

I haven't posted this week. Not even a Text Message Tuesday. It's been a busy, hectic week.

I'm just going to bullet-point it for you.

* Monday was a long day, as evidenced by the last post. It was one.thing.after.another.

* Monday night, I went to see some of my WyldLife girls play volleyball. Both teams fought a valiant battle, but victory was not to be had. I understand that they are in middle school, but I'm pretty sure #37 for the other team was juicing. I just want to see a birth certificate. That's all.

* My boys have been hysterical this week. We had a bit of a lamp incident this week, where the lamp worked for just a second and then quit working. The boys stood around it and waved their arms saying "we believe" a la Angels in the Outfield. I couldn't tell them to sit down because I was laughing so much.

* I had my annual teaching observation on Wednesday. When I first started teaching, I would plan out the most fabulous, elaborate lessons, with four page lesson plans and bells and whistles. Ten years later, I poke my head in the office, say "I'm teaching math at 11:15. That good for you?", and teach whatever is on my plans for the day. But I do keep chocolates on the table I sit her at, because I'm a good teacher, but I'm. no. fool.

*We'd had such a busy week by yesterday, but we were making salt dough maps, so I put on some pop music, and just let them work on their projects. They shared, they sang, and we all just chilled the heck out. It was beautiful and so very needed. We all came out better for it.

* My kids have really made me laugh this week. It's been a really sweet time. Except for when Princess Pouty Pants thought that one of KC's boys was being rude to her and so she kneed him in the family jewels. That did not make me laugh.

*Tomorrow, Katybug and KellsBells are headed my way, and we are headed to Jerry's house to see T. Swift. I'm a little bit excited about it. Or, I will be when I get my apartment cleaned and presentable enough for three teenagers to stay the night in it. (Katybug is bringing a friend...Abs is coming with us.)

So I should probably clean house now.
Stat.

Dear Monday, Go back where you came from.

2011-10-03T18:31:00.001-05:00

That is all.

XOXO.