Green Bounty

As I contemplated the vast green sea around me, I realized to harvest it would take at least 3 hours.  I will need to stop frequently and clean of the blades of our harvester.  You see wet grass clings to the blades and than all kinds of things go wrong with the mower.  Standing there a while and than out of nowhere this big yellow orb shoots out rays, past the fluffy white bits, through the blue ocean, the sun warms my face.  It also causes, almost immediately, a flurry of activity in that great green sea.  In that moment of aahhh, the sun, the grass of which I am contemplating grows not one inch but three.  And so once again I retreat to the house, not wanting to disturb the fascinating chain of events.  I allow the grass to grow another day, enjoying the warmth of the yellow orb, which shows up so infrequently these spring days in the great state of Oregon.

This and That

Today was a beautiful day.  Granted it was raining but my family and I went for a drive to the coast.  We went over just for lunch and ice cream.  We normally go there and drive around until we see something that looks interesting.  This time we used our "smart" phones to find a local place.  My husband came up with Pacific House Restaurant.  Rated with 4 to 4 1/2 stars it sounded terrific.  We pulled up in front of this oldish looking hotel.  My son made a comment about the appearance and my husband said "maybe we should check some place else."  Than he read "don't be fooled by the appearance."  We decided to take a chance.

WAA HOOO.  5 stars easily, friendly staff, excellent service, and the food was the bomb.  I think has become our favorite go to restaurant on the Oregon coast.  After lunch we headed over to the most famous ice cream shop in the state of Oregon.  My son's BoyScout troop stops here every time they use the BSA camp here on the coast.  What a wonderful trip with the family.

I wish I could take a video of my dog trying to make himself a bed.  He has three blankets and two sections of an over-sized sofa and he can't seem to get comfortable and must move all of them.  When he does lay down, he will cry quietly until someone (me) covers him.  He likes to be covered!  That is not what I came to write about. It just happened.

Every year for my birthday or Christmas I ask my family for some weird thing that they think is too weird.  One year I asked for a broom; yeppers, a broom.  It had to be an old fashioned broom not one of those new fangled made out of synthetic materials but one made of straw.  One year I asked for an electric pencil sharpener.  I got them both but now after being in classrooms I have decided that I need this new sharpener for my someday class. It is the best sharpener I have seen in classrooms that is kid friendly, easy to use and comes in 4 great colors.  Than I found this adorable car one.  Now I them both.  I think I will get the car one for myself from Classroom Friendly Supplies to use this summer at Daycamp.

That is all for now.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day friends and remember to celebrate all those who have given their lives for our freedom.

In-laws

You know you are slacking when your husband announces "my Mom might stop by" while he is cleaning the bathroom counter!  WAA HOOO.  I am not a housecleaner.  I do not enjoy cleaning house and mostly I do it when I am really energetic.  Lately that has not happened very often!  I am busy subbing in three districts.  I try to cook dinner during the week but even that doesn't always happen.   Seriously folks I am not a good housewife by any means.  I was not meant to spend my time away from work doing that.  I enjoy reading, watching TV, walking the dog, Heck even mowing the lawn comes much higher on my list of enjoyment.  Hey doesn't getting on the roof and unplugging gutters count for housecleaning?  I don't mind doing that!  BAH  OK so this is my bane of existence, my sadness to my delightfully (otherwise) non-hedonistic life.  I need a maid to follow along behind me and clean up the messes I seem to make just be being!  The table that somehow has clothes on it (that aren't mine), the counter which has at least containers of pens (which again aren't mine), the floor which needs vacuuming and sweeping (ok some of that is mine after all I did drop the wood bag while bringing in wood for the wood stove.)   So maybe I do need to clean but darn it I wanted to spend my saturday doing; ummmm NOTHING!

WELL, nothing other than walking my dog, reading, writing on my computer, dreaming of a clean house that I do not have to clean, making lunch, watching the laundry grow,and maybe settling in for a movie and popcorn and potato salad.

Potato salad will be provided by the man I love who started this whole darn conversation about why I hate cleaning and why I now have to.

Have a great Saturday friends.

Two Funny Stories

Two Funny Stories - 

Neither of which are about Teaching!

First - while talking about segregation during lunch in the staff room a woman down the table from me mentioned that even though she lived outside of cleveland growing up; there wasn't necessarily segregation because her particular town did not have any blacks.  Now this all started because I had mentioned that A the younger had asked me about me being around when there was segregation.  So the conversation continued for a bit when I mentioned that we had a black housekeeper when we lived in BayVillage, OH.

 

Right than this other woman's jaw just about hit the floor.  She said "you lived in Bay Village?"  I said yes but we moved to Iowa when I was 4, so I don't remember it much.  It was hilarious we found out that she and I were born in the same Hospital and that she and my brother Bill are the same age and might have gone to school together!  Mind you Bay is smaller than Forest Grove and the fact that two people end up in the same school from that little town is tooooo hilarious!

Second - Not as funny but still . . .

I was geting ready to run to the store and pick up the boy when I was searching for my car ear bud.  I remember putting it on the table but dang it was missing!  A the elder came over to help because he remembered picking it up but he also said he had set it right back down!  I had my keys and phone in my left had and we searched.  We checked to see if the dog ate or chewed on it.  We looked in the kitchen, the bathroom, and even searched Alan's jeans he had just changed out of.  After 10 or 15 minutes I said forget it, it will show up.  Went out to get in the car.  Put my phone where I keep it while driving.  Pulled my keys out of my left hand and 

Oh yeah there it was in my hand under my keys under my phone.  I was laughing so hard I had to run back in the house and go pee.  

Yeppers, just another day in my Subbing in Three world!

Have a lovely evening friends.

Tuesday started out terrific.  I am sitting in my classroom for the day and the students start to stick their heads in to say hi to the teacher.  2 of them saw me and enthusiastically called out hi and told me how great it was to see me again.  Another student came in and informed me that he had missed me and was sooo happy I was there for the day.  Now this wouldn't have been surprising in one of the elementary classes I am frequently in but this was a high school.  If I can get the high schoolers to accept and appreciate me I think that I am doing a super job as a sub.
Tuesday continued in that vein and turned into just a terrific day.

Now the funny part of the whole experience:  I left my computer cord in the room where I was subbing and did not realize it until much later that evening.  Of course that meant that after I spent some time checking email both that night and the next morning my computer had limited time left.  So Tuesday night I did not spend a bunch of time on Facebook and did not see the message from my neighbor.  Now I am pretty sure my neighbor was tired of seeing the dead plant on my plant hanger.  You must understand my neighbor is a plant lover, planter and raiser.  She can raise any plant and well me, I can kill any plant.  but I did keep the last hanging plant alive for about 2 months.  When I finally retrieved my cord and got my computer back up and running it was early evening Wednesday.  So back to the message - she wrote: "If a plant showed up on your hanger in the backyard I know nothing about it! BUT if I did it is a Nasturtium --NO fertilizer and just needs minimal water---Happy late birthday!!! xoxoxo".  Don't I have the best neighbor?

Just makes me giggle that not only does she give me a plant but one that even I would have a hard time killing!

Have a happy Friday all.

The Doogie Howser Experiment

OK, I know I am dating my self with that title; but hey it fits.  Doogie was the most famous of the original bloggers.  Even if his wasn't seen by any but his loyal fans he blogged about his life and that is my intention.

This blog will eventually be about my days as a Substitute Teacher in 3 very distinct districts.  Each with their pros and cons, these three districts are linked in vicinity and by virtue of having me as one of their subs.

The largest district is the furthest from my home and the smallest is the closest.  So inferring from that statement only:  well I let you determine your own inferences.

I have worked in Title one schools and schools in the wealthier sections of cities.  One of my favorite schools to sub at is a Title one school with the best staff.  Walk into this school and you see and hear the love this staff shows their students and anyone who walks in their door.  The school is small enough that the students are all friends but large enough that there is a distinction between the lower classes and the upper level classrooms.  I will be there tomorrow.

I cannot wait to tell you all about my day in Kindergarten.   On Tuesday I will be at a local High School.  Wow, What a difference a day makes.

Have a Happy Sunday all.