Holiday 08

Make a Smilebox slideshow

research projects

I make my students do a research project each year. I introduce (briefly) about 20 different artists and they each choose one to research and tell us more about. In the past we've made posters, big giant, expensive posters. The really great ones go on my wall.... this year we re-used the poster board to make portfolios in my 2-D class. The re-using is good...but I learned how to make these easy little books at a KAEA conference this year. Instead of these huge posters, we are making little 4x6 books. I am excited about the change. It's more green. :)

Along with that change, we are researching art movements instead of specific artists. This is more broad and fits with our state standards a little better.

So while they research video, pop, land, renaissance, surreal, dada, and all that jazz.... I have been hanging out in the library with a very portable craft...... I think needle felting is my new favorite thing. Okay, I don't like it more than making jewelry with silver, but I like it. I like it a lot.

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trick or treat

Well it is almost Thanksgiving... seems like a good time to blog about Halloween right?

I lost my camera for a bit. It turned up in a bag of books that we had taken on a picnic. Oops.

We celebrated Halloween on two edges of the state. Kassy loved trick-or-treating her whole way home to Topeka. They went to 4 towns and got a ton of Candy.

Willow went to one house in Kansas City, and got one piece of candy, which I ate. Thanks Willow! She wasn't a huge fan of her fleece outfit on this warm fall day... but she looked so cute! We didn't make her wear it for too long.
Maybe next year we can all be together for the holiday.... hopefully.

RHVS Art Blog

I started a new blog for my students and their parents. Check it out if you'd like.... http://rvhsart.blogspot.com/

a shift in the way you handle things....

A little over a month ago I took a day off work. Willow, Justin, and I headed to Wichita on a Thursday night. In the morning, Justin left for Colby. I had a day with my mom, a nice lunch with a friend, and then a trip out to Salina with mom. That is where I met Justin and Kassy on their way back from Colby. When Justin arrived, after having driven about 8 hours, he was GRUMPY, Kassy was GRUMPY and after about 10 minutes in the car with them, I was grumpy too. I knew I would not be going along for any part of these trips from now on. (not just because of the grumpiness... but also the extra miles the detour to Wichita caused)

Because this drive is now a part of Justin and Kassy's life (every other weekend) and I live with them, I knew this attitude needed to change. So now Justin takes my iPod on these trips (instead of like 5 cd's). On my iPod I have loaded lots of This American Life episodes and Moth pod casts. This means that the first 4.5 hours in the car=Story Time (instead of stewing time). How can you be pissed about story time? After story time is over, Kassy is picked up from school by an educated and invigorated father (maybe a stretch). That begins movie time. Kassy chooses a movie that can be viewed in the car on the way home. This is nice unwinding time for her the the vehicle and is the only time in our care she ever watches movies/tv.

After movie time (or during it) Kassy and her dad go on an ADVENTURE! How exciting. The first adventure led them to the Salina Art Center. They got out of the car and spent over an hour looking at and creating art. They also got some good dinner. This time they went WAY OFF the beaten path, to Monument Rock. Do you believe this is Kansas? Kassy loved it. She couldn't wait to tell me all about it in the morning. Kassy also had a chance to add to her beloved rock collection on this adventure.

Next adventure? Well it will be Halloween. So instead of rushing back to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, they will be trick-or-treating the whole way home! I am working on a candy chart, so that Kassy can count up what she gets in each city as she travels to the next one. Math, candy, geography, candy.... good stuff. Do you know of any good towns to stop at?

Renaissance Festival

I took a group of art club students to the Renaissance Festival yesterday. I don't ever bring this up as a field trip idea.... but each year they beg me to take them. I prefer art museums and big city attractions... but those kids love the ren fest. Justin and Willow joined us.....

Justin and I can't quite understand the draw to this festival. It costs a lot of money to get in, which doesn't cover any of the attractions once inside. The crafts (aside from a select few) are cheesy and expensive. I guess the food is pretty great, (once a year a turkey leg makes a nice treat) although I had 2 employee's tell me they NEVER eat the food there... hmmmmm. So the theory Justin came up with is this: this place makes even the weirdest student, feel normal.

I did enjoy the above photo opportunities, getting to stroll around with family on a Monday, and a really delicious ice cream sandwich. The kids had a ball.

repairs

I made this necklace for my little sister like 7 years ago. About 3 years ago, its hanging devise was looking a little weak.... it needed a dreaded repair. I did that repair today. It took about 30 minutes. Why do these things sit around for so long? My mother-in-law needed a clasp replaced over a year ago... still sitting in our change drawer. My friend Sylvia asked me to fix her med assist bracelet. MED ASSIST. Thank goodness she didn't need any medical assistance in the 3 months it took me to do that 10 minute repair. (I did give birth one of those 90 days, but still!)

It isn't just jewelry I guess. Justin and I have been doing some major cleaning lately. We are finding ticket stubs and receipts from as far back as times when we had enough money to go to shows and buy things. Wow!

blah

We just got new furniture. This will, at some point, be exciting. The new stuff is sweet. Right now it is causing major stress. By receiving 3 pieces of furniture from my parents old house, we have found it necessary to rearrange just about everything in our home. We also gave back a shelf that I have moved, with the drawers full, at least 4 times. Everything from that shelf is sitting on our dinning room table. The clutter is driving us insane. It has started to suck the life out of Justin and I. Baby-proofing is also a part of this. Less is more. It's just getting to the less stage that is difficult.

This would be less of a problem if we were at a normal energy level. Unfortunately, long drives across Kansas, a legal battle, money troubles, and general Middleton-related stresses are taking there toll. I think diet is also a factor in my blah mode. Having only 20 minutes for lunch (and spending 15 of them in a tiny bathroom making milk for Willow) is challenging. I'm hungry and granola bars just aren't cheering me up.

Justin is my husband. I love him lots. I just finished putting together a nomination for him to receive the governor's art award. It required lots of gathering of great information about him, writing letters, collecting letters of support, and clippings all of his press. When it was complete, I showed it to him... I think even Justin was impressed with himself.

craig's list

I've been driving a 2000 wagon for several years. It has over 165,000 miles on it and by the time we replaced it, it had some issues. Actually that is kind of an understatement. We thought we had it sold to a lady in the neighborhood. By the time she got around to paying for it, the car didn't run anymore... oops. She changed her mind.

So I put the wag on Craig's List. Wow. I had 12 e-mails in one night. I sent them on to Justin and he fielded calls and arranged for people to check it out. When I got home from work, not even 24-hours after posting, we had a string of people on our front lawn. The first was sure it was the engine. He said he'd take a chance and offered us half what we where asking. I was tempted, but with the response we had gotten, we had to give it a little more time. The next guy had never paid a car payment. He just kept breathing life back into cars like ours. Very Green. He didn't know what was wrong and wanted to tow it to a shop near by. He said, take the money if someone hands it to you. I'll be back tomorrow. We said that would be fine. Before the night was over, we had two more guys looking at the wag. Crawling under it. Poking around. These two thought it was the fuel pump. They said they'd be back later that night. They didn't show up until guy #2 was about to show up to tow it. They had their laptop out and were dead set on figuring it out. They got kind of mad when the wag headed down the street. I really thought there might be a fight on the lawn over our old wag.

I am happy to report it was a minor electrical issue and we got our full asking price. Thanks Craig. Your list rocks.

hat day. back pain

Hat day. Good stuff. I wore this hat to my graduation from KU. In a sea of mortarboards, my family could pick me out. The flamingo wasn't droopy back then.

Can you tell I recently discovered my photo booth on this laptop?

I am not really walking around school with this ridiculous hat today.... more like hobbling like an old man. Not fun. I hurt my back sleeping all weird a few nights ago. I blame my child... and her cold... which most likely came from my students, so really I blame them. And their snotty noses. Willow wanted to eat when I wanted to sleep. The combo didn't work out very well. I can't even pick her up now. Sad.

spirit week- continued

60's day.

Spirit Week

crazy hair day.

football

Today's game is finally called off. It's been raining all day. I really thought they might have those boys run around on that wet field. Thank goodness they didn't. We've already had 2 broken legs this year. I remember talking about going out for football when I was in High School. I wanted to do it for all the wrong reasons (feminism and such). I don't know how my parents would have stomached that!

Last week our coach gave his little pep talk at the pep rally. He spoke about a dream he had, where he spoke words that had never been spoken before in the history of the world. What were those words? He had us on the edge of our seats... they were "I cannot wait to go to Effingham tonight." This made me laugh. Hard. As I have been to Effingham (well, through it anyway) and I believe it may be true. I doubt those words have been spoken before in the history of the world. He couldn't wait to get to Effingham because he wanted to destroy the team and send those Effingham boys "crying home to mommy." This was the most interesting pep talk I have witnessed. We came back with a win.

dances

I went to my first high school dance since 1998, the year I graduated from Halstead High School, last Friday. Willow, my 6 month old baby, joined me. She was excited at first, laughing and smiling... after about an hour, she went to sleep. Being worn does that to her, cuddled all close to her mom.

Some things about dances never change. There are still wall flowers, although now, they aren't the lame kids that can't get a date, they are the kids that are "too cool" for everyone else. There are still the couples that take this opportunity, in the dark lunch room, to make-out and dance as close together as possible. This couple, and there was only one this time, is the reason they pay me $17.10 an hour to "chaperon". I think Willow's attendance helped me out. No one really wants to make-out in front of a baby.

The DJ played the cupid shuffle, about half the student body did the dance, much like the electric slide. When he play Cotton Eye Joe, almost everyone was on the dance floor. They skipped around in a circle... backwards... forwards... I felt like I was in small town Kansas.... because I was. One thing brought every single student onto the dance floor.... even the ones that were "too cool" for everything else. Todd. He requests a song at each dance and he preforms while everyone circles around him. This is amazing for many reasons: Todd is not a cool kid. He's a kid that took his senior pictures with swords and dreams of designing video games, napoleon dynamite style. Todd is no longer in High School. Todd was break dancing, kind of. Good times.