Feb. 29

That's right!  It's February 28- Leap Year!  And I finished my zentangle tonight.  I thought about putting words in the "mustache", but in the end, I decided against it.  What do you think?

Feb. 28

Okay, I can't tell you how very tired I am tonight.  I feel like I've been through the wringer!  About all the energy I had went into watching "Worst Cooks in America" and coloring my flower.

After I took this, I decided to add more color...

After I finished, I wished I'd left it.  LOL  Oh well, live and learn... and do another soon.

Feb. 27

Still drawing.  Nice way to relax after work.  I attempted a zenspiration flower tonight.

Feb. 26

I started on a new "zentangle" today.  For a while it looked like a mustache.

By bedtime, it looked like this...

Now I've just got to figure how what I want to put in the other spaces!

Feb. 25

I spent about 6 hours at school today working.  I should have taken pictures there before I left, but I didn't think about it.  I was just glad to be home.  I did get a picture of Bailey.  She's going through her nightly ritual.  I put a treat on her crate, and she noses it down.  I haven't managed to get a picture of her in action yet, but this is her munching on her bone.

Feb. 24

We had a birthday party at school today.  Party horns were distributed.  I haven't been around horns for a while.  Boy, are they loud!  I let the kids go for 5-10 minutes until I had to stop them.  It was enough time for many of them to blow them enough that they were wet and blowing off the plastic blowers.  With that being said, I truly enjoyed seeing them have so much fun.

Feb. 23

I started doodling "Bob" tonight.  The whole thing isn't so great, but I'm liking the "B".

Feb. 22

I've been doing some drawing.  Well, doodling is more accurate.  "Zenspirations"  It's really very soothing and relaxing.

Feb. 21

Tonight I attended the school board meeting.  Well, "attended" is probably an exaggeration. Actually, I was there at the beginning of the meeting where our students were recognized for their accomplishments in UIL, including my first place writer.

This building, which now houses the technology department, among others, is MY elementary school. The boardroom is what used to be the cafeteria, and the computer lab is my first and second grade classrooms.

Feb. 20

I'm really struggling with getting up in the mornings.  I moved my alarm clock to the bathroom so it would force me to get up to turn it off, but instead I'm sleeping 45 to 60 minutes with the alarm going off!  So, I switched clocks and put the alarm back by the bed.  We'll see!

Feb. 19

Sunday... school work and laundry.

Clean, folded, and ready to be put away.  Bailey is amazed!

Feb. 18

Had a wonderful visit with my 24 year old!  I can't believe 24 years have gone by already!  It was a wonderful visit, but nasty weather.  It rained on us almost the entire way home, and I hate driving in the rain!

In the distance on the right, you can see big Sam Houston.  We were trying to get a picture of the statue, but missed.


I got home in time to see the Bud Shoot-Out; the beginning of Speed Week to kick off the NASCAR season.

I don't like the big flash glare, but I love this picture 'cause I managed to get the 48 in there!

Feb. 17

I took off today.  My mom, aunt, and I are going to visit my precious daughter for her birthday.  I took advantage of some extra time this morning to catch up on this blog.  I promised you a picture of our Valentine's, and here it is.

I think they turned out GREAT!  The parents seemed to love them, too!  And how cute is Bob?

Feb. 16

These were a gift from my Abbey.  (Her mom is the the best head room mother EVER!)  Aren't they beautiful?

Feb. 15

I love tulips!  These were a Valentine's gift from sweet Austin.

Valentine's Day

I think all teachers agree... Valentine's Day should always be celebrated on a Friday!  Oh my gosh!  The kids are wilder on Valentine's Day than any other day of the year.  And then we have several days of sugar highs to follow.
The kids had a great time, and my room mother ROCKS!  I have wonderful parents to go with my adorable class.  Here's a gift I received.  The best part was it was presented to me with this line.  "My mom said you should open it right away in case it falls apart."

Feb. 13

Tonight I printed our Valentine's Day cards for parents, after I picked up our pictures.

Feb. 12

After spending all that time yesterday grading, today was spent creating.  but first, breakfast.  While working yesterday, I watched repeats of "Worst Cooks in America."  One of the things they taught was making a folded omelet.  I decided to give it a try.

Not bad for a first attempt!


I spent much of the rest of the day creating things for school.  I made a couple of PDF files that I could both print and put on the smart board, and I made a couple of flip charts.
First, I made a flip chart for our spelling words for the week.

On this page students drag the word and put it under the appropriate pictures.  This file also included ABC Order, spell the picture, and a word search.


My kids had some trouble with making plurals last week, so I made flip chart for them to practice.  

Feb. 11

Procrastination is a terrible affliction, but one from which I suffer.  Today was assigned for trying to get caught up.  Here's my bag of work.

First step, sort papers into subject so that I can see what I need.

(That last picture is to give some idea of the depth of these stacks.)


After about 8 hours of work, here is my stack of graded papers.

What you are not seeing is the stack I threw away, which was even bigger than this one!


Now I know anyone reading this that is not a teacher is wondering how on earth it could take 8 hours to grade papers.  In a perfect world, it wouldn't.  However, there are those sets that you start to grade and then realize that it's not worth grading them... they just didn't get it.  Or maybe you were out that day, and you're not exactly sure what the substitute told them.  Oh, and then there are those children who STILL after 24 weeks of second grade can't remember to put their name on their papers.  You have to stop, try to figure out who is missing, and if it's several, then you have to start pulling other papers to try to identify handwriting.  Anyway, I slept well Saturday night, knowing that, at least for the moment, I was caught up.

Feb. 10

Today we took pictures for Valentine's for parents.  I'll show you a finished card later, but here's a hint... our props!

Feb. 9

Who doesn't love winning things?  I know teachers do!  I came home today to find these pens in the mail from a contest I had entered.  Pretty cool!

Feb. 8

We are studying the Phases of the Moon.

Feb. 7

Today was our turn to do the PTA program.  Our kids did a GREAT job!

Feb. 6

Bed time!  At bed time I put a dog biscuit on top of her crate.  She "noses" it until it drops.  I was hoping to get a picture of that, but I missed.

Well, it's Sunday night, and I've slacked again this week in posting my pictures daily.  I was prepared to catch up tonight, and I had a problem transferring pictures.  But I have them.  Hopefully I'll get caught up soon.

Feb. 5

 Today was Superbowl Sunday.  It was a pretty good game.  I was pulling for the Giants over the Patriots, and they won.  Blake and Miranda sang "America the Beautiful" before the game.  It was awesome!  There were some cute commercials. But the best part of the evening was that The Voice was back on tonight!  

I love Blake!

Feb. 4

Today was interesting.  I woke up with my uvula swollen.  You know, the hangydown thing in the back of your mouth.

Then Dad came over for coffee and a visit.  He is finally driving and he was glad to get out.  I enjoyed him coming by.  Later, Bailey and I went over to my parents to watch movies and eat popcorn.  Lola and Bailey had a grand time racing around and playing.  We got home around 9:00 and Bailey was completely exhausted.

All in all, it was a good day!

Feb. 3

Today wasn't bad.  I'm flat worn out, but we had our annual "Souper Bowl" luncheon at school.  I made Black Bean and Rice Stuff... here's what was left.

But the best part of today was coming home to find a couple of packages on the front porch, one of which was my new boots!

I finally have some "boots with the fur"!

Feb. 2

It was good to be back in my classroom today.  We spent the majority of the day doing Groundhog's Day stuff.  We ended the day by making our heart Groundhogs.  Here's a couple... can you find the one done correctly? 

Feb. 1

First round of testing... OVER!  Tonight I cut out patterns for my kids to make heart groundhogs tomorrow.

Jan. 31

Exhausted from testing.  Going to bed early!

Jan. 30

Ugh, Monday!  If it isn't enough I'm going to be out of class on Tuesday and Wednesday testing, I'm out this afternoon for a ELAR CScope meeting. 

This is just part of the English/Language Arts/Reading CScope for next six weeks.  I do NOT like it, Sam I Am, I'd much prefer green eggs and ham!