Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

It was a quiet Saturday, nothing but the sound of the blade slicing through the pretty papers, and me muttering not-so-kindergarten-teacherish words under my breath each time I accidentally burned myself with the hot glue:

Now I have both “inspiration” binders finished, full of seasonal/holiday decorating and craft ideas, as well as the regular home decorating inspirations that help me figure out furniture placement and storage solutions each time we move to a new home, new floorplan, and new traffic pattern. The third binder is extra, just for me, though I have no idea what I’ll be saving in it just yet.  Something about the binders matching/coordinating makes me smile.  I’m also assured that their flowery femininity will guarantee that NO ONE will mess with them “on accident.”

The packers arrive next Tuesday, which means tomorrow and Monday will be spent working through the to-do list:
* baking “thank you” and “we’ll miss you” cookies and goodies for friends and neighbors
* cleaning all of my copper decor
* laundering all of the linens, spare blankets, sheets, etc. so they’re clean and closet-ready when we open the boxes in Kansas
* packing our travel suitcases, preparing car activities and snacks for the kids
* getting BOTH trucks back from the repair shops (oh yes, Dear Husband’s truck decided to have brake problems this morning)
* making sure all of our legal documents and necessary paperwork are in our family binder, ready to travel with us
* buying our travel stash of diapers, snacks, toiletries
* loading the iPod up with drivable and motivating music
* making sure the cat carrier is clean and ready for Anni
* TRYING to work ahead, posting blogs in the queue so you all don’t think I’ve abandoned Kindergarten’s 3 R’s while our household goods (and my computer) are in transit
* finding one small craft that I can bring with me to help me wind down each evening in the hotel while the kids take their baths (I’m thinking crocheting)

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~ Country French Antiques continues on with the flower theme (I mean really, did you take a good look at my binders?  I seem to have absorbed a bit too much floral/romantic inspiration  lately), sharing photos from Shoe-Fleur

~ I might just have to subscribe to small, after this Frida-inspired photo shoot (oh yes, more flowers!)…it’s an ONLINE magazine!  Thanks to AllSorts for the link!

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With a name like Rosy Posy Confections, how could I *not* include this blog on my post today?

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I hope you are having a FABULOUS weekend!

Tags: binder

My feet are *so* ready to return to Oz!

The rest of me is too, but for now, these spangly ruby red sneakers will just have to do their part in keeping my mood upbeat as my family and I endure this latest round of power packing, marathon driving, and bidding one state goodbye (er, “adios”) and another hello.

As for the sparkly shoes, head to Walmart~ they’re nine dollars!

Unfortunately, their heels don’t click…

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My truck is at a collision repair shop here in the Bordertown.  They’ve *promised* it can be repaired, good as new, by next Thursday.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed since we’re supposed to drive out two days later!  Until then, I’m getting used to driving my husband’s truck (it’s the one I’ll be piloting back to Oz, pulling a small trailer) while he drives a rental car.  May I just say THANK YOU GEICO?  I think you’re pretty terrific, even though your spokesgecko reminds me of a SleeStak:

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~Back to kid-friendly snacking, The Pioneer Woman Cooks Marguerites (Ritz crackers, peanut butter and marshmallows!).  I’m a kid, right?

~Strawberry Shortcake from Tracy Porter

~Andrea doesn’t know it but she crafted the perfect crown for ME…Fairy Tale Dress Up Day just won’t be the same this year!

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It’s time for me to start collecting all things Tasha Tudor~ she has always been my favorite featured artist in magazines such as Victoria, and one of my favorite childrens’ book authors/ illustrators.  She died two days ago at the age of 92:

Tags: Bordertown, fashion, links

I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but no worries, I’m fine, the toddler is fine (though he did exclaim “Mommy, BUMP!”) and the young man who hit my truck (with his 1976 VAN!) is fine too.  Instead of posting something girlie or teacherish, I’m off to spend the afternoon filing a “blue report” for insurance purposes.  In 100+ degree heat.

Yep, it certainly could have been worse, and I’m ever thankful that it was only the back of my truck that felt the crunch.  Whew!

I’ll be back tomorrow, posting on hopefully more *cheerful* events!

After getting my daughter on the plane to see her grandparents this morning, I have to say I know another job I hope to never have: baggage inspector. It joins the rest of my do-not-ever-hope-to-be list of occupations: garbage collector, sewer maintenance repairman, surgeon (needles I can handle, literal blood and guts, not so much), and mortician.

Dear Daughter already had her boarding pass pre-printed at home, and wasn’t checking any luggage, but in order to guide her all the way to her gate, I had to obtain a parent’s pass at the ticket counter. Not a problem. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Burger King in the terminal, and headed upstairs to the security checkpoint. It was a rather long series of two lines since the first few flights of the morning were scheduled to leave in the next hour, but pilots mingled and chatted pleasantly with the passengers as everyone slipped off shoes, wrangled belts out of belt loops, with several young women wriggling out of tons of cheap jewelry and accessories that kept setting the alarm beeper thingies off.

After my daughter and I made it through the scanner beep and alarm-free, the only unpleasant, sour people we encountered informed my daughter her carry on would have to be searched. Yep, the baggage inspectors. Turns out her ziploc baggie carrying her toiletries was too large and that two of her three items surpassed the 3 ounce limit. Surprising, because the two items were a two-thirds used tube of toothpaste (and yes, it was obviously MORE than half used) and a half empty 4 ounce bottle (half would be TWO ounces) of sunscreen. Apparently the original container size itself determines whether or not the ever-deadly gingivitis fighter and its sidekick, anti-cancer cream make it on board. Dear Daughter said there wasn’t a problem, she’d just ask Grandma and Grandpa to let her stop by the store once she landed to replace the toothpaste and sunscreen.

To which Grumpy, the baggage inspector replied:

“Fine. But YOU (meaning me) need to take this downstairs, to your car, and then you can come back up here.”

I told Grumpy in a purposefully pleasant voice that if I took the toothpaste and sunscreen to my car, I’d have to go to the ticket counter, obtain another pass, then wait in another line to come through security, and therefore MISS getting my daughter to her gate. “Would it be possible to just dispose of those items here so I can make sure she doesn’t miss her flight?” Smile, smile, pleasant pleasant…

Grumpy growled. Oh yes, she growled. “Fine.”  Then she slapped the lid down on Dear Daughter’s carry on case, and shoved the case down the roller ramp.

I couldn’t resist: “Thank you!”  (smile, smile, smile) “Have a great day!” (beam, beam, beam)

Perhaps Grumpy was just ending a long, difficult shift.  Maybe Grumpy had had a tough morning at home.  Maybe Grumpy is just G-R-U-M-P-Y.

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*Perhaps installing one of these Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machines would help… (I’m not kidding! Go take a look!)

*…or maybe a hug from a Softie made from scraps would better soothe the inner-Grump?

I started this day waking up from a somewhat trippy dream. One fragmented scene I remember had me attending the Olympics with my daughter, watching Olympic mascot characters (in this case, bunnies and kitties) lined up next to one another falling down, “wave” style. That was the whole opening ceremony. While attempting to find seats in the crowded bleachers, we looked up to see an avalanche of weather, rain, snow, lightning…rolling toward the unsuspecting people in the venue…and no, it wasn’t a wave of weather, it was somehow an avalanche, falling as it rolled, racing…maybe it didn’t want to miss the bunnies and kitties.

Can’t forget the children with blue hair wearing clothes that looked as if they had been sewn from picnic table covers.

Hair like this, only BLUE (thanks Joan):

Something tells me that the package of hot dogs I prepared last night for dinner occupied our freezer a tad bit too long… who knew freezerburn was hallucinogenic?

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108 degree weather kept us indoors most of the day, though we did venture out to the PX to join my godmother for lunch:

Once we returned home, I re-acclimated to the much cooler temperature of our home and made a ton of progress on the scarf I started yesterday:

It will be finished later this evening, just in time to be put away with our winter gear, ready for the movers to come and pack away next week.

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*You can’t beat a cold treat on a scorchingly HOT day like today. Our freezer is full of Otter Pops, but Haute*Nature shares a link to some nummy sounding popsicle recipes…

*There’s no way I’m turning on the stove today, tomorrow…possibly the next day either… but once the temperature cools down, and we’re settled into our new home, I just might celebrate my return to baking with Smitten Kitchen’s Pistachio Petit-Four Cake…

*My daughter wants to save some of our moving boxes to try her hand at making cardboard food art! Perhaps I can use a few of her creations to inspire my students to make something other than robots in my Creative Construction Zone.

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Interestingly enough, these guys never gave me nightmares. Yep-yep-yep-yep, it *had* to have been the hotdogs.

Which would be a change for me, frankly! Not that all of my Mondays have been miserable in the past, but they’ve been, well…Mondaaaaaaaays.

Until this year. Since January 1, 2008, I’ve had some pretty terrific day-after-Sundays. I was contacted for an initial interview with my new school district on a Monday. The interview itself was on a Monday, and I was offered a job that very afternoon! Humorous emails have been sent my way, I’ve had great timing at the grocery store on early Monday mornings, and the toddler has even slept in occasionally…all on Mondays.

And then there was today, THIS Monday. When I checked my email I found a message from GoodyBlog, notifying me that I had won this:

A wonderful Father’s Day Giveaway was hosted at their site, so I entered. Once we get to our new home in Oz, a fifty inch plasma t.v. and surround sound system will be on its way to us, belated perhaps, but still very much appreciated by my husband. GoodyBlog and Shop.com, you are AWESOME!

See what I mean about Mondays?

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Check out the temp in my truck:

No matter! Inside, where the air conditioner is working just fine, it’s cool enough for me to crochet a scarf with left over baby yarn:

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I’ve enjoyed checking on my blog visitor information provided by Lijit and have to laugh at some of the searches that seem to bring people to my site…”freakyoldwoman” (huh?), “weird crafts” (hey, I think they’re pretty!), and “wanna-be-decorator” (nope, I’m not a professional!). A big *shout out* to Winter Park, Florida…Hays, Kansas…and most especially, Germantown, Maryland. You’ve been searching for ME, point-blank! Feel free to say hello sometime! It’s wonderful seeing that I’ve been visited by readers in Great Britain, Mexico, Canada, Australia~ welcome All!

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Selfishly, I’ve been feeling a bit bummed though. Some of my favorite writers/bloggers have chosen to move on to greener non-blogging pastures. Understandable, yes. We all grow, change, move on. But sad too, like when the last episodes of Mary Tyler Moore or M*A*S*H were broadcast. There I go dating myself again. Hopefully their archives will be left up so I can revisit from time to time. Recipes, crafting, altered artistry, poetry, criticism, edu-blogging. I’ve been an appreciative lurker. I’ll miss you.

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Thankfully…

* A Fanciful Twist (full of happy, vibrant creatures and wonderful photography~ I can’t wait to visit Vanessa’s Etsy shop to choose a favorite little magical tree or creature to purchase!)

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I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

…to my Dear Husband!

You’re a wonderful Daddy!

I’ve been waiting for just the right project to use Laurie’s beautiful paper and button flower that I won in her giveaway…and today, I found the perfect opportunity to incorporate it into something that I’ll use each and every day for the next year and a half!

Voila! My day runner! Well, okay, it’s a bit **blah**, isn’t it?

So I gathered my goodies:

Chose some paper:

Thought some pretty green velvet ribbon and some coordinating paper (from the inside of an envelope!) would compliment Laurie’s flower:

Punched tiny holes for the gold-tone brads:

Spelled my name with my favorite burgundy Scrabble tiles and located the perfect spot for the flower:

Ran some floss through some green buttons and added ivory alphabet tiles, “S, M, T, W, T, F, S” for the days of the week:

…and used the clear plastic cover of the day runner to protect the flower and tiles~ it’s great because the flower isn’t smooshed!

I’d say it’s a HUGE improvement, and frankly, I won’t have to worry about anyone picking up my day runner by mistake!

Thanks again Laurie!

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BTW, Laurie has gone all Etsy on us now! Yay! Here she is!

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I can’t remember if I shared my latest blog discoveries with you:

*Amazing Mae (I love the lunch bags she made for teachers)

*Country French Antiques (oh WOW!)

*Craft N Clutter (check out the Happy Birthday banner she made- now I’m inspired to make one out of fabric!)

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4 Krafty Kids posts craft ideas for Father’s Day gifts…

I’ve spent my stay-at-home-mommy-year blogging, crafting, reading, crocheting, baking, and reading some more, discovering fun new things to try, and searching out necessary materials and supplies at craft stores, yard sales, etc. Yesterday I thought I’d sort through all of the pretty ribbons I had found or bought this year so I could show and share them for my usual Thursday post.

I underestimated the widespread appeal of the ribbon however. I also underestimated my toddler’s determination to satiate his interest in “helping Mommy” with the ribbons. And I committed the ultimate faux pas: I turned my back on the toddler while he was in my crafting area. With…the…ribbon. ALL…of…the…ribbon.

Did I get a photo of the resulting tangled-ribbon-noodle-like-mess on my floor? Uh, no~I couldn’t take a picture because I was too busy putting myself in a much-needed Time Out. Just superimpose ribbons over the toys in this bedroom shot in your mind to get a feel for the mess I enabled the boy to create:

While I was rolling my ribbon back onto their spools, a miracle occurred! I got an email from Michael’s Craft Store with a fifty-percent-off coupon in it. I took a break from the grosgrain and satin, and searched the store online when lo and behold, a link for Martha Stewart Crafts took me to a page featuring ribbon storage boxes. Michael’s and Martha~ how did they know?

Here’s the midpoint:

(Did you notice there’s no sign of the toddler? I learned my lesson, and had Sister take him out to play in the water while I rolled, sorted, and organized!)

Muuuuuuucccccchhhhhhhhhhhh better:

Earthy browns, blacks, and black/white:

Golds, cream, white, and an extra roll of patriotic red/white/blue:

Purples, greens, yellow and orange:

Blues…

Solid pinks:

Patterned pinks and reds:

And look! With the lids closed, you can still see a little peek of what’s inside. Once we’re in our new home and my craft area is established, little tails of ribbon will stick out of the slots… just so my toddler can yank on them and unspool them onto the floor…AGAIN!

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*Don’t forget, Sunday is Father’s Day!

*The Pioneer Woman Cooks Cowboy Nachos

*GoodyBlog posted about Velcro’s Birthday (and shared a photo of a much-desired-by-me Velcro WALL…here toddler-toddler-toddler, here toddler-toddler-toddler)

*And how about a blog written by a dad? Perfect for this Father’s Day weekend!
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Tags: crafts, humor, links, toddler

For those of you who can’t “hear” my tone because you’ve never met me, let me assure you this is not one of my sarcastic, fired-up rants. It’s been seven exhausting, depressing, ridiculous and in some cases, surreal years thanks to NCLB (No Child Left Behind). Seven years is apparently the exact amount of time needed to pass before our nation’s policy makers, journalists, and titillating-gossip-only-news-junkies figure out that those teachers who have been complaining about and rallying against many of the horrible changes NCLB has wrought… are in fact, right. Teachers suspected what has now been confirmed: NCLB’s policies were intentionally put into place to create nationwide failure among public schools in order to make school privatization more appealing to the public.

Jim Horn at Schools Matter shares:

… it just took Time Magazine seven years to ask someone on the inside if what we have been saying for seven years is true, but later is better than never, you might say. Susan Neuman, former Asst. Sec. of ED under Rod Paige, now admits that insiders at ED saw “NCLB was a Trojan horse for the choice agenda.”

“Neuman gives no clue as to how she will make amends for staying silent during the past 7 years of educational genocide, as millions of children, parents, and educators have been brutalized by the policies she promulgated and promoted.”

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From the Time Magazine article (with bold emphasis mine):

There was always something slightly insane about No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the ambitious education law often described as the Bush Administration’s signature domestic achievement. For one thing, in the view of many educators, the law’s 2014 goal — which calls for all public school students in grades 4 through 8 to be achieving on grade level in reading and math — is something no educational system anywhere on earth has ever accomplished. Even more unrealistic: every kid (except for 3% with serious handicaps or other issues) is supposed to be achieving on grade level every year, climbing in lockstep up an ever more challenging ladder. This flies in the face of all sorts of research showing that children start off in different places academically and grow at different rates.

Now a former official in Bush’s Education department (Neuman) is giving at least some support to that notion.

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Horn also links to TeacherKen who wraps up his blog post:

“No Child Left Behind has been very destructive to many of America’s public schools. And to have someone as connected as was Susan Neuman acknowledge that for some supposedly dedicated to the well-being of our schools and students it was instead serving as a vehicle to attempt destroy the public schools (and thus a chance at a meaningfully improved economic future for many of our young people) strictly on ideological grounds is something about which everyone should be aware.”

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Some self-reflections about my job and responsibilities as a teacher as well as my responsibilities as a parent and the educational experiences I want my own children to have are posted here, here, here, and here.

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No wonder I need a hug!

Tags: appalled, links, NCLB