Based on the words @ www.stewartsville.k12.mo.us
Friday, June 25, 2010
I am a town...Stewartsville, MO USA
I am Mid-West, small town USA
I am cattle on the farm
I am grassy fields and rolling hills
You are just passing through
I am a flashing traffic light on Highway 36
I am black-top and gravel roads
I am Main Street and the Hill Top Shops You are just passing through
I am the Fall Festival in August
I am the city park and "school road"
I am football Friday nights
You are just passing through
I am old wooden bridges
I am the "S" curves where they used to go
I am a family around the school
You are just passing through
I am a close nit community
I am people surviving together
I am generations of families
And you are just passing through
Monday, June 21, 2010
My Heart
Today I was fortunate enough to be part of a small class on digital-place based writing. I love learning new ways to make writing more fun, real life and unique. It has been several months since I have taken time to update this blog. I am inspired today by the heart map I made first thing this morning. We used tagxedo.com for this. It is a free online program that you can use to create a word cloud of anything, in about any shape. It could be random words like this one, a piece of writing you have done, a website...anything with words.
My cloud below is a heart map. It shows the things that fill my heart. I listed the names of my immediate family and activities that I enjoy. Without my family members helping me in several different ways, I would not be able to enjoy all the activities and accomplish all the goals that make me feel whole.
For example, Seth, Jacob Jeffrey, Mom, Dad, Crystal, and the in-laws have helped me complete my Master's Degree in Special Education. Over the 2 years of driving to UMKC my sister spent many hours on the phone with me keeping me from getting too bored during the hour and a half drive. Seth took over making dinner, taking care of the boys and putting them to bed when I was gone. Mom and Dad watched the boys longer hours on days when I had class, or needed to study. My parents and my in-laws (all of you) all gave many encouraging words and always said the right thing to make me feel like I was doing the right thing by changing careers, as risky as it was.
So these are a few things that fill my heart. Without you guys, I wouldn't be able to do the things that make me happy and whole.
My cloud below is a heart map. It shows the things that fill my heart. I listed the names of my immediate family and activities that I enjoy. Without my family members helping me in several different ways, I would not be able to enjoy all the activities and accomplish all the goals that make me feel whole.
For example, Seth, Jacob Jeffrey, Mom, Dad, Crystal, and the in-laws have helped me complete my Master's Degree in Special Education. Over the 2 years of driving to UMKC my sister spent many hours on the phone with me keeping me from getting too bored during the hour and a half drive. Seth took over making dinner, taking care of the boys and putting them to bed when I was gone. Mom and Dad watched the boys longer hours on days when I had class, or needed to study. My parents and my in-laws (all of you) all gave many encouraging words and always said the right thing to make me feel like I was doing the right thing by changing careers, as risky as it was.
So these are a few things that fill my heart. Without you guys, I wouldn't be able to do the things that make me happy and whole.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Laughing Out Loud
I ask students to journal, from time to time, to practice writing skills. I want the exercise to be fun and interesting for them so I am always looking for topics. I found a great list of journal topics a few weeks ago online. The topic I used today was "10 things that make you laugh." The students were hesitant at first, so I offered to do it with them. We spent about 15 minutes just quietly listing things that make us laugh. We then shared our lists. Mrs. Richardson, the students, and I had a good time doing this. It was harder than I thought it would be to come up with ten things that make me laugh.
My ten things in no particular order are: Jacob's jokes, Jeffrey's attitude, Seth's sayings, my friend Mindy, being called "boss", chatting on the computer with someone who is in the same room, the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, Jimmy Fallon/John Stewart, urban dictionary, and listening to Jacob and Jeffrey make plans.
Jacob and Jeffrey make me laugh all the time! Jacob loves to tell jokes. He can memorize and retell a joke after only hearing it once or twice. He loves to make people laugh. Jeffrey cracks me up when he gets a little attitude. My parents say he looks just like me when he does it. He puts his hands on his hips and says something like "you better be nice right now or you gonna have to go time out!" Kids really are little mirrors. Sometimes it is fun to see the reflection, other times we see things we maybe need to change. Jeffrey's attitude, like my own, will be his best and worst feature. The two of them together are hilarious when they make plans. They have big ideas. I hope they stay as close and friendly as they are right now.
Seth can be really funny! He has a lot of great one-liners. It cracks me up when he claims to have coined a phrase that we hear on a movie. My friend Mindy is really funny too. We have had some many great times together it is hard to pick out one to describe. She is just the kind of person that makes everything fun. She has a really great personality. She is loud, fun, caring, outgoing, silly, and I love her.
I don't get called boss very often, but it cracks me up every time!
When you have kids it is sometimes hard to have conversations with your spouse. Jacob and Jeffrey are always listening and constantly asking us, "what you guys talking about?" Our solution has been for each of us to have our own laptops and have conversations via g-talk, or on facebook. It makes me lol, a lot.
In the evening and on weekends we watch a cartoon called Phineas and Ferb quite often. We all really like this show. The songs are great, and the dialogue is hilarious. It is great that they make a show that appeals to all of us. We all enjoy something different about it.
Jimmy Fallon and John Stewart are just plain funny. We watch these shows in the tivo timezone after the boys go to bed. I love when Jimmy Fallon slow jams the news. It is really great when it is so funny that they can't do it with a straight face. John Stewart is smart and so very funny.
Urban dictionary is very useful, and a lot of fun to just browse. Seth and I had fun reading through it together on Saturday while the boys were napping. We laughed at most of the definitions in there.
Life is so much fun most of the time! It is never perfect, but we can laugh and make the best of what we have. It is good to sit back and reflect on the little things that make us smile every day.
My ten things in no particular order are: Jacob's jokes, Jeffrey's attitude, Seth's sayings, my friend Mindy, being called "boss", chatting on the computer with someone who is in the same room, the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, Jimmy Fallon/John Stewart, urban dictionary, and listening to Jacob and Jeffrey make plans.
Jacob and Jeffrey make me laugh all the time! Jacob loves to tell jokes. He can memorize and retell a joke after only hearing it once or twice. He loves to make people laugh. Jeffrey cracks me up when he gets a little attitude. My parents say he looks just like me when he does it. He puts his hands on his hips and says something like "you better be nice right now or you gonna have to go time out!" Kids really are little mirrors. Sometimes it is fun to see the reflection, other times we see things we maybe need to change. Jeffrey's attitude, like my own, will be his best and worst feature. The two of them together are hilarious when they make plans. They have big ideas. I hope they stay as close and friendly as they are right now.
Seth can be really funny! He has a lot of great one-liners. It cracks me up when he claims to have coined a phrase that we hear on a movie. My friend Mindy is really funny too. We have had some many great times together it is hard to pick out one to describe. She is just the kind of person that makes everything fun. She has a really great personality. She is loud, fun, caring, outgoing, silly, and I love her.
I don't get called boss very often, but it cracks me up every time!
When you have kids it is sometimes hard to have conversations with your spouse. Jacob and Jeffrey are always listening and constantly asking us, "what you guys talking about?" Our solution has been for each of us to have our own laptops and have conversations via g-talk, or on facebook. It makes me lol, a lot.
In the evening and on weekends we watch a cartoon called Phineas and Ferb quite often. We all really like this show. The songs are great, and the dialogue is hilarious. It is great that they make a show that appeals to all of us. We all enjoy something different about it.
Jimmy Fallon and John Stewart are just plain funny. We watch these shows in the tivo timezone after the boys go to bed. I love when Jimmy Fallon slow jams the news. It is really great when it is so funny that they can't do it with a straight face. John Stewart is smart and so very funny.
Urban dictionary is very useful, and a lot of fun to just browse. Seth and I had fun reading through it together on Saturday while the boys were napping. We laughed at most of the definitions in there.
Life is so much fun most of the time! It is never perfect, but we can laugh and make the best of what we have. It is good to sit back and reflect on the little things that make us smile every day.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
New Goals
Three years ago I made the decision to pursue a career in teaching. It was something that I always wanted to do, but I had talked myself out of it several times. I truly believe that everything happens in its own time and exactly when it is supposed to. I know that I would not have been the same teacher right out of college as I am now. I have more patience, work experience, and life experience.
A few weeks ago I finished the Masters program at UMKC in Special Education. Since about mid-November I have been trying to decide how to spend all the extra time I would have once my degree was finished. I had been spending 12 hours a week traveling, attending classes, and about 12 more doing homework/reading. That is an entire day every week, or about 3 hours and 25 minutes every day! I have decided to to several things with this time. The one I am dedicating the most time to is just being home more. I have decided to read for fun again. I am reading "The Invention of Air" right now. I have also decided to just take better care of myself.
The other day Seth said that one of the things he likes most about me is that I am able to set a goal and accomplish it. That made me think about all the energy that I had been putting towards my Masters program. It was more than just time that I spent, I spent a lot of energy motivating myself to finish what I had started. So I have decided that I am now going to focus that energy on a new goal. That goal is to get in shape before school is out! I am so excited about the summer. I won't have any classes to go to, Jacob will be in school for the first month, and Seth and I are planning to take a vacation alone. I can't wait! I love having something to work towards.
A few weeks ago I finished the Masters program at UMKC in Special Education. Since about mid-November I have been trying to decide how to spend all the extra time I would have once my degree was finished. I had been spending 12 hours a week traveling, attending classes, and about 12 more doing homework/reading. That is an entire day every week, or about 3 hours and 25 minutes every day! I have decided to to several things with this time. The one I am dedicating the most time to is just being home more. I have decided to read for fun again. I am reading "The Invention of Air" right now. I have also decided to just take better care of myself.
The other day Seth said that one of the things he likes most about me is that I am able to set a goal and accomplish it. That made me think about all the energy that I had been putting towards my Masters program. It was more than just time that I spent, I spent a lot of energy motivating myself to finish what I had started. So I have decided that I am now going to focus that energy on a new goal. That goal is to get in shape before school is out! I am so excited about the summer. I won't have any classes to go to, Jacob will be in school for the first month, and Seth and I are planning to take a vacation alone. I can't wait! I love having something to work towards.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A Good Day
I am having a really good day so far. Just wanted to share my good mood. I wanted to write down some random thoughts I am having today.
It is funny how the memory works. It seems that physical pain is forgotten very quickly, emotional pain stays forever, and emotional or physical joy is there but takes some work to remember.
Being a kid was so much fun overall for me. However, I don't readily remember a lot of it. Memories have to be sparked by a picture, or conversation. Is this how it is for everyone? I think I have a pretty good memory when it comes to events. Like Jacob says "that is just how my brain works, I'm good at remembering." However, I am terrible at remembering names and interactions with people. So many people in the small town where I live know who I am, but I have no clue of how I know them or what their names are. I feel really bad about this. Does this mean I am self centered or stuck up?
In high school I was often called stuck-up, I never really felt that way though. I really wanted to be more outgoing, but I am a pretty shy person and it is hard for me to initiate conversations. I usually have to have a reason to talk, I can't usually just chat with people. It isn't that I don't want to, it is just hard for me.
A student asked me yesterday "When you were in school here, didn't you want to leave and go somewhere bigger?" I told her that I really liked school and had a lot of fun. I was excited about moving out on my own, but I never hated it here. I have always been proud of where I came from. I think most people look forward to bigger and better things no matter what stage of life you are in, or how happy you are. I have traveled all over the US and to 8 European countries. I have lived in MN, Columbia and Stewartsville. Each place has advantages and disadvantages. Right now Stewartsville is the best place for our family because we are close to my parents, I have a great job, we can afford to have a farm, we live in the country, and we feel safe and secure.
It is just strange to me to think about how complicated life is. It is a series of choices. One different choice anywhere along the way could have made everything completely different for me. I am pleased with the path life has taken. What I have right now is an amazing culmination of bits and pieces of everything that I have tried and liked. My life has been like tending a garden. You plant things you think you will like and as the garden grows weeds sprout, plants bloom and spread, and some die. You have to pull the weeds, replace some plants and nurture it. In the end you have a beautifully full garden that is just right for it's spot. Amazing!
It is funny how the memory works. It seems that physical pain is forgotten very quickly, emotional pain stays forever, and emotional or physical joy is there but takes some work to remember.
Being a kid was so much fun overall for me. However, I don't readily remember a lot of it. Memories have to be sparked by a picture, or conversation. Is this how it is for everyone? I think I have a pretty good memory when it comes to events. Like Jacob says "that is just how my brain works, I'm good at remembering." However, I am terrible at remembering names and interactions with people. So many people in the small town where I live know who I am, but I have no clue of how I know them or what their names are. I feel really bad about this. Does this mean I am self centered or stuck up?
In high school I was often called stuck-up, I never really felt that way though. I really wanted to be more outgoing, but I am a pretty shy person and it is hard for me to initiate conversations. I usually have to have a reason to talk, I can't usually just chat with people. It isn't that I don't want to, it is just hard for me.
A student asked me yesterday "When you were in school here, didn't you want to leave and go somewhere bigger?" I told her that I really liked school and had a lot of fun. I was excited about moving out on my own, but I never hated it here. I have always been proud of where I came from. I think most people look forward to bigger and better things no matter what stage of life you are in, or how happy you are. I have traveled all over the US and to 8 European countries. I have lived in MN, Columbia and Stewartsville. Each place has advantages and disadvantages. Right now Stewartsville is the best place for our family because we are close to my parents, I have a great job, we can afford to have a farm, we live in the country, and we feel safe and secure.
It is just strange to me to think about how complicated life is. It is a series of choices. One different choice anywhere along the way could have made everything completely different for me. I am pleased with the path life has taken. What I have right now is an amazing culmination of bits and pieces of everything that I have tried and liked. My life has been like tending a garden. You plant things you think you will like and as the garden grows weeds sprout, plants bloom and spread, and some die. You have to pull the weeds, replace some plants and nurture it. In the end you have a beautifully full garden that is just right for it's spot. Amazing!
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