Friday Fragments

 Mrs. 4444 describes Friday Fragments this way:
"Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard."

 ~  Wow!  It's already Friday!  Only 6 more weeks until Spring Break!

~  What's with this weather?  Where's the snow???  It's been almost 20 years since the big blizzard of '93...and the weather was very much like it's been this winter.  HMMMM...

 ~  One of my students said something hilarious yesterday, but, I didn't write it down so I can't tell you about it.  I've gotta start writing stuff down!

~  Here are a couple of FB statuses from some friends who live in the small county:

   *So I just saw a guy on a couch with his dog riding in the bed of a truck...WOW!!!

    * SOOO...........wanted to go to mall this afternoon. Car would not start. Call my son to come jump me off. He could not get his truck pulled up beside my car so in 20degree weather with no coat and only a short sleeve shirt on son for 15 maybe 20 minutes pushes the front of the car then the back. Over and over again. Only to find my car did not need to be jumped. I never put the car in park when i got home from work therefore it would not start while in drive. NOT a very happy son!!!!

~  My friend, Patty at Reasons for Chocolate, just gave birth to a 7'15" little girl!  If you get a chance, please hop over and tell her congratulations!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. The NFL playoffs were held this past weekend and this year's Superbowl lineup will feature The New York Giants versus The New England Patriots. How do you define 'patriot'?

A Patriot is someone who loves his country.   Even when it feels like it's going down the tubes.

2. What's something in your life right now that feels like a 'giant'?

Honestly, I can't think of anything.  The "fog" is lifting, and I'm getting back to my normal self!

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think back to being 18?

Starting college.  I was soooo ready to move on...I was at the college just a few weeks after graduating from high school.

4. Coconut-mashed potatoes-vanilla ice cream-mayonnaise...which white food would be the hardest to give up?

I don't eat any of those things very often, so it wouldn't be hard to give up any of them!

5. Describe an incident or a day you remember as the coldest you've ever experienced?

When I was a junior in high school, the AFS had a short term exchange with Mayo HS in Rochester, Mn.  In February.  I don't think I was warm for 1 second that whole week!  How do you Yankees do it?

6. You're hosting a brunch...what's your favorite dish to prepare and serve?

Overnight Eggnog French Toast.  Fix it the night before, and the day of, just pop it in the oven.

7. How do you combat negative thinking?

The first thing I do is make sure I'm on a schedule.  If the negativity is coming from another person, I distance myself.  If it's coming from within, I get my prayer life in order and try really, really hard to look at the positives in my life.  Oh, and I may write a blog post to accentuate the positive!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Yesterday at school, I was talking with a group of 4th graders about the Chinese New Year.  I told them that the Chinese invented fireworks, and one of my students said, "The Chinese invented a LOT of stuff!  Every time I turn over a toy, it says 'Made in China'! "

Hooray for Hollywood!

Has anybody else noticed that there have been some good movies playing? There are a few good ones coming out, too. Over Christmas, MS & I saw "Breaking Dawn, Part 1". I resisted seeing any of the Twilight movies until the first one was on tv on Halloween night. Now I'm hooked. I'm going to have to read the books since people are saying that as good as the movies are, the books are better.
We also saw "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows". Thought provoking, and every bit as good as the first one. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law work together magnificently. This part is as perfect for Downey as much as Iron Man is.
Sunday, CH & I had a "day date" and went to see "Red Tails". I have to admit, it wasn't on the top of my list to see, with it being a "war movie" and all. Man, am I glad I didn't miss it. It was so worth going to see! On the drive home, CH said, "I can't believe you cried during a war movie!" I looked the movie up online to get some background (after I saw it), and read that George Lucas financially backed the movie himself because no one thought that a movie with an all black cast was marketable. I was completely floored by that: this isn't the 60's! Definitely worth going to see, even if your tv isn't always on "The Military Channel"!
I've heard that "Beauty and the Beast 3D" is really good. I just wish I had a niece that was young enough to want to go and see it! I may have to go in by myself, or would that be too creepy?
I've also heard that "We Bought a Zoo" is actually worth seeing, too, but I thought I would wait for that one until it comes out on DVD. "Contraband" sounds intriguing, too.
Coming out in March is "The Hunger Games". After reading the book, I can't wait for this movie to come out! It's gotta be good! I told y'all already that I couldn't put the book down.
"One for the Money" comes out at the end of this month. If you've never read Janet Evanovich, you're really missing out on something. I literally LOL when I read those books! Grandma is a HOOT! Lulu, too. I've gotta be honest: When I heard that Katherine Hiegl was playing the part of Stephanie Plum, it turned me off. That is NOT who I imagined playing that part. When I read the books, I saw somebody like Daniela Ruah, the girl who plays in NCIS: LA. For Ranger, I imagined somebody like Dewayne Johnson (The Rock)...he would've been PERFECT for that role. I'm not sure who I saw for Morelli, but it wasn't the guy that's playing the part. When I saw the trailer, it looked like mom and grandma are the same age. I definitely saw Betty White playing the part of Grandma. Maybe they tried to get her but she as too busy!
I got another surprise in the mail: a $50 gift card from the cable company! I was a little hesitant because I figured there was a catch somewhere. I checked it out online, there didn't appear to be any strings attached. There were a bunch of different coupons to choose from,so we decided to get one from Fandango so we could get some free movies. AND, the theater is now offering a bucket of popcorn for $3.50: you purchase the bucket full of popcorn, then save the bucket and bring it back for refills.
Have you seen any movies lately that definitely need to be seen? Or, are there any coming up that are must sees?

Positively Positive

I realized that most of my posts since before Christmas have been a little on the negative side, so I'm looking at the positives that are going on in my life:

*  We only have to complete 1 FAFSA this year since OS graduates in May.  Hip hip, hooray!  :)

*  I just found out that a coworker's dog "may" be pregnant, and the timing will be just about right for us to have a new family member!

*  YS has started getting information on colleges in the mail, although he's already narrowed his choice to 2 or 3.  2 of them are out of state, so those may be knocked out of the running depending on how much financial aid he gets.

* I'm looking into book clubs in the area, but I'm having a hard time finding one.  One of my sisters is involved with the library, so I'm going to see if she has any insights.

*  I'm still thinking about a crochet class at Michaels.  Who knows?  Maybe this will be the one crafty thing I'm good at!

*  We love to watch "Big Bang Theory"!  The episode from a couple of weeks ago made us laugh harder than we've laughed at something on tv in a long time:




Have a Marvelous Monday!

Friday Fragments

~  Have you seen Cindy Crawford's daughter in the new Versace ad?  That child is 10 years old and looks like she's  at least 17 in the picture.  If you haven't seen it, click HERE.  Unbelievable.

~  Wednesday as I was leaving school, I was behind an elderly gentleman who was very slow in navigating the curves.  Well, I say very slow when he was going just under the speed limit.  I was in no hurry, so I patiently drove behind him, making sure to keep a respectable distance.  Then, this other guy who appeared to be in his 30's, comes up behind me and is following a little too closely.  Like that was going to make me go faster when there was another car in front of me.  What logic!!!  Anyway, the guy behind me decides to pass both of us.  When there are solid lines.  Did I mention the road has curves in it?  He took off, passed both of us, then swerved in front of the old guy and put on his brakes.  I'm fairly certain the guy in front of me panicked just a tiny bit.  Me?  I was holding my breath as he was passing because, well, the road is curvy ad the shoulder on that road is nonexistent.  I had a vision of a car coming the other way.  Luckily for all of us there wasn't.  Glad our guardian angels were watching over us.

~  Does anybody else think it's a little strange that when a candidate drops out they're saying he "suspended his campaign"?  I guess that's more "politically correct"...ha, ha!

~  I have a major birthday coming up in a couple of months.  A couple of days ago, I got a card in the mail:  the return address was my own address, and the card wasn't signed.  But, oh, what was in the card:  a $15 Starbucks Card!  I'm pretty sure I know who sent the card because I recognized the handwriting.  I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident that I know who it is.  I just love surprises!

Not Living up to the Hype

I have a new therapy gadget.  It's suppose to do wonderful things for me and make my work easier.  So far, it's pretty much just taken up a bunch of time.  Not necessarily while I have children in my room; it's the "extra" time.
Yesterday I was ready to throw the thing across the room.  I had just about had it.  This was not making my life easier. 
Now that you're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what this gadget is:  it's an iPad.  I seriously don't get all the apple hoopla.  The kids think it's really neat, and there are some neat things on it, but honestly, I prefer my Android Tablet.  The battery lasts just about the same, and I haven't had the problems with programs just shutting down like I do on the iPad.  The best thing:  my tablet was about 1/4 of the price of an iPad.  And the kids think it's just as neat.
We have an app on the iPad that has picture cards on it.  In theory, it's a pretty neat app:  you enter a child's name, choose what sound they're working on, choose the words they're going to work on; then they say the word and I click the check or the "x".  It's suppose to keep track of the data and tell me their percentage at the end of the session.  Then, it's suppose to save that data so I can use it as a comparison.  We're also suppose to have the capability of e-mailing the data to ourselves so we can print it out. Notice I said "suppose to".  Here are the problems:
1)  You can't e-mail the data if the wifi doesn't work any in the school except the library.
2)  When I add a student, the app closes.
3)  When I close out the session, it doesn't save the data if the student is working on the sentence level, and,
4)  Yesterday, every time I tried to swipe the screen for the next picture, the app closed and didn't save the data.
So, I went back to the old-fashioned way:  I got the picture cards out of my box and we used them.  I took data the way I normally do:  with a pencil and labels.  I sent a couple of messages to the developers, but haven't heard any kind of reply.
I really, really hate to be a complainer, but I'm wondering if the money spent on all this technology is really worth it?  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING can replace good, old fashioned interactions!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's Wednesday already!  Time for the Hodgepodge!

1. A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be?

No, I don't watch the pageants.  My talent would be playing the flute, but I'd have to practice on it quite a bit since I haven't played in years!

2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?

We have a fake ficus tree.  I brought in  a couple of plants from outside when it got cold...they managed to survive for a whole year!  In fact, this is the 2nd winter they've been inside.  Fingers crossed that I remember to water them!

3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?

It depended on the subject.  Math & Science:  I prayed.  English:  My hand was up all the time!

4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests Chinese food?

My favorite is sweet & sour sauce, but I also like sesame chicken.  Love crab rangoon, and the "cat on a stick" (the chicken that has a skewer...I don't know the correct name for it!).

5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?

There are miracles happening every day, if we just pay attention we'd see them.  It's a miracle when a student finally gets a sound or a concept we've been working on.    It's a miracle when I didn't leave work when I normally do, only to find there was an accident about the same time I would've been going through the intersection.  Every time you think "What a coincidence" think again.

6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here.

Well, gee...since I just read Joyce's post about going to see Beauty and the Beast 3D, I have the theme song running through my head.  Then I checked the website she directed us to:  574 songs?  There have definitely been some amazing songs through the years, but I can't get B & the B out of my head now.

 

7. I should have _____________ yesterday.

I honestly can't think of a thing.  Yesterday was a good day:  I went to work, came home, played a little, fixed dinner, went to a meeting, played/read a little, then went to sleep.

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We've had big news in the big city close to here.  Extreme Home Makeover has been in town for the past week and a half.  One of the teachers I work with helped over the weekend, and it was very interesting to hear what she had to say.  Apparently there were a couple of people there who were only there for their "star power".  It's going to be interesting to see how they come across when the show airs next Thanksgiving.