Today I Love The Art Show - Slice of Life 2014 Day 27

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Today is Day 27 of 31...and today I am blatantly steal...umm...borrowing an idea from my friend Cathy's post from yesterday as I attempt to sum up My Ol' Man's art showing in a series of six "6 word" stories.  (Spoiler alert to my students who are reading this...we'll be trying these after break!)

The Man and I had a great time tonight with My Ol' Man, my big brother, and his two sons, at the Bryn Du Mansion in Granville.  While three pieces were entered in the exhibit, he felt quite blessed to have gotten one accepted...many regulars were turned down this year.  And by evening's end, he had been given the wonderful (and profitable) news that his piece sold!  This year's show will be running through April 5, weekdays 4-8pm, Saturdays 1-7, and Sunday 1-5.

Today I love The Art Show

From "Red on Red" to "Picasso"

(zoom in close)

 

 

From The Shark to homemade crayons

(zoom in closer!)

 

I'm color deprived; craving "Brilliant Day"

 

Loved watching My Ol' Man hobnob

The boys sharing art, or technology?

 

My Ol' Man - quite the artiste!

"Clockworks"

 

Today I Love the company of a friend - Slice of Life 2014 -Day 26

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  And thanks to my friend, Cathy, who first introduced me to this challenge last year.  Cathy has been such an inspiration to me as a student, as a teacher, as a mom, as a friend.  We graduated college together, went our separate ways as young teachers, wives, mothers, and reconnected through the wonderful world of blogging a little over a year ago.  Today is Day 26 of this second writing challenge and today I enjoyed a nice break in my busy Spring Break week with my friend, Cathy.  Looking forward to more of these days in the future.

 

Vacation?

Nope, not me

Couldn't get away

and truth be told

I shouldn't

Queen of Procrastination 

strikes again

and grades are due soon

Long, dramatic, self-pitying sigh...

But today I took a break

with a friend

chatting

laughing

eating 

 discussing

reminiscing

 learning

slicing aloud

she and I were

(literally and figuratively)

 

Slipped over to the farm market

Moseyed through the aisles

Dinner in our arms 

A pound of this, thin please

A half of that, a little more 

Dreams in our minds

of new recipes to try

of tried and true favorites

for family 

near and far

Signs of spring

everywhere

we look

when we look

Not a beach

nor a mountainside

but a break 

in the busy week

and the company 

of a friend

 

Today I Love Acrostic Poems...REALLY! Slice of Life 2014 - Day 25

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Today is Day 25 and Today I love ACROSTIC POEMS.  If you visit this wonderful link, you can try your hand at writing one of these FUN poems!  Here's my attempt today, this 25th day of the SOLSC and this 2nd day of my school's Spring Break.

Photo credit: Krista May

 

SPRING BREAK SNOWFALL

ALLURING, BEAUTIFUL,

RAPTUROUS AND...

COMPLETELY ENCHANTING

AMAZINGLY COMPLEX, AND YET OH SO VERY

SIMPLE...

 

MAGICAL

 

 

Today I love Acrostic Poems...and loads of other things as well...

 

Today I Love flying solo...sort of. Slice of Life 2014 - Day 24

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Today is Day 24 and I flew solo for the first time today.

Those who know me well, know that I absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt...ADORE going to the movies!  I've had it on my Today I Love list before, but today was different.  I don't have a fantastic memory, so I can't tell you the first movie that I ever saw on the big screen, but I do have lots of memories of all us kids being loaded up in the station wagon to go to the drive in theater.  We'd throw the sleeping bags in the back where the seats were laid down, park the car backwards, hook the speakers on a nearby window, and pajamas already donned, reach into the large paper grocery bag full of popcorn...butter already leaking through.  

I remember clearly how frightened I was when we saw "The Poseidon Adventure" - my generation's version of "The Titanic".  

I'm not sure what my dad took me to see, but I remember going along with my sisters and brother as they all waited in line to see "Jaws" while we were on a vacation in Florida of all places!  

I remember seeing "Footloose" with a friend while home on a college vacation and him telling me right in the middle of the movie that, oh by the way, one of my favorite teachers had passed away.

I remember taking our own two wee ones to see "The Lion King", "Toy Story", and all the sequels.  We made the very poor decision to see "Toy Story 3" the summer before the Man Boy would be going off to college...I cried like a baby as Andy packed up his toys, realizing that my son would soon be doing the same.

There were many many years in between times that we couldn't go to the movies...just too expensive for a growing family on a limited budget.

But even with the tears and the cost, I still love the movies.  I love everything about going to the movies...the popcorn, the candy (confession...I smuggle my own in!), the previews, the lights dimming and the music starting up...and yes, I am a credits watcher.  I love every single moment of it.  I love the temporary escape into another world.  I love the story. 

As soon as I saw the trailer some months ago for "Saving Mr. Banks" I knew I had to see this film.  I couldn't quite squeeze it into Christmas Break, so figured I'd just wait until it made it to the dollar theater, hoping Spring Break wouldn't be too late. 

Today I had my mind made up.  Before I started my busy week of catching up, I would go see this movie!  I called this friend and that one and the answer was the same everywhere I turned.  

"No, sorry...busy!"  

"Nope, no can do...have to take the kids to the ____."  (fill in the blank with appointment of your choice.)  We all do it...schedule every imaginable appointment known to man kind in these five precious days.

The Man had to work of course, and he'd already said he didn't really want to go to this particular film.  My Ol' Man had already seen it.  My Running Girl is off running around at college.  The Man Boy has his own college classes and work today.  

So...today was my day to fly solo...for the first time ever.  

Oh, how glad I am that I did!  It was a bit awkward at first...I was so afraid people would look at me funny...going to a movie all by myself, but there were actually a few other folks there by themselves as well.  My friend Jaci says she goes to the movies alone, and My Ol' Man does it all the time. I had to walk it through in my head first to figure out that I had to get the ticket, then visit the women's, THEN go buy the popcorn, then go find the seat.  And once I got to the seat, there was no one to hold my popcorn while I got settled!  

But once the lights dimmed and the music started, all was right with my world.   

I munched.  

I sipped.   

I laughed.  

I cried.  

I loved it.  

Would this be my preferred method of movie watching?  Maybe not for every new film that comes out, but...today?

Today I love flying solo. 

Today I Love Normal - Slice of Life 2014 - Day 23

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Today is Day 23 of 31.  Just a normal day.

 

Meh. 

 

That's what I've been feeling all day today.  Just meh.  I've posted a few times this week about a coworker friend whose husband died very unexpectedly a week ago tomorrow.  All week I've been trying as hard as I can to wrap my head around how this sweet young mom of two teeny boys is supposed to regain any sense of "normal".  

 

It's been just long enough since my own world has been rocked in any major way for me to forget...that is until I really think about it, as I have been all week...that you don't regain normal in 5 easy steps.  It will be a long process that will cycle and circle around and back on itself many times over before she finds some type of normal that will be all new to her.  Her old normal will not return. Her mornings will be a ripping off of the scab that formed overnight.

 

So...today I am trying to break away from my "meh", quit whining, and celebrate my own normal and the tiny normal things there are to be appreciated here on the prairie.

 

Yesterday I was thrilled to get a package in the mail.  Today I was thrilled to be able to prepare TWO packages to go out in the mail tomorrow.   

We did some excavating today and discovered a shoe rack in our closet!  I went so far as to give places of honor to the sandals, while not quite putting the snow boots away, as that would jinx us all for sure!  

 

There was a chicken and noodle casserole for dinner.  The Man declared it "rib shtickin!"  (Translation:  He liked it!)  There will be leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  He will go to work and I will go work in my classroom and we will come home and there will still be chicken casserole in our fridge.




There are dirty dishes in our dishwasher waiting for me to add soap, push buttons, and close the door.  We will fall asleep to the swishing and whooshing sounds and when we wake up there will magically be clean plates and cups for us.  

There are clean sheets on my bed and flannel and fleece quilts to warm me up.  There are clean jammies folded and waiting on me.  I will cuddle under the layers and read my book for a bit before it hits me in the nose as I fall asleep.

 

 

Simple things, the stuff of normal.  

 

Things not to be missed.  

 

Today I love normal...and pray it will come quickly to my friend.

Today I Love reading aloud...and getting a package in the mail! Slice of Life 2014 Day 22

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Today is Day 22 and even though my Spring Break is just getting started, today I have reason to be very excited about going back to school already!

 

 

Think back, friends...

waaaaay back...

to a time when someone pulled you up on their lap, 

cuddled you in, 

and opened the cover of a book with you.  

Can you see that book?  

Can you feel those arms?  

Can you hear that voice 

whispering in your ear 

as you and that someone 

travel to a distant land 

and experience some wonderful journey together?  

I have memories of My Ol' Man 

tucking me in at night 

and telling me stories about Paul Bunyon and Babe his Blue Ox, 

singing me songs about the Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapese, 

and reading the Sunday funnies with me 

all stretched out on the living room braided rug.  

The power of that shared moment, 

to instill a life long love for... 

words 

and language 

and voice 

and rhyme 

and legend 

and rhythm 

and metaphor 

and...

story.

 

My students all know that my very very very favorite time of the day (and I hope theirs) is when we are sharing a story together that I am reading aloud to them.  I have the wonderful privilege of teaching three different Reading and Language Arts classes, so I get to go on three different journeys each day.  Currently I am enjoying:

 

 

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin with 6th grade,

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate with 7th grade,

and Wonder by R. J. Palacio with 8th grade. 

 

But today...today...Oooh! Oooh! Oooooooh! I am so excited! Today I got a package in the mail!  I just finished reading Sahara Special (oh please, oh please, click that link because it is just so much fun to read the interview with Ms. Codell!) by Esme Raji Codell (who has her own fascinating blog) to my 6th graders a week or so ago and couldn't seem to get my hands on a copy of the sequel book, Vive La Paris, but thanks to the helpful staff at Half Price Books, I was able to order my very own keep it forever copy for $2.99 which came from just next door Indiana and today it showed up even sooner than I expected and did I mention that I am excited?  (Pardon my run on sentences...when I get excited, I run on!)

I can't wait to be able to push every other thing aside for a precious few moments each day and escape to a new set of characters who will soon be friends, and a new set of problems that aren't ours, but will eventually feel like ours.


I can't wait to go back to Chicago and be a student in Miss Pointy's 5th grade class again, but this time through the eyes of Sahara's friend, Paris, who is the only girl among four brothers.

I can't wait to practice up on my Jewish grandmother accent so I can read Paris' piano teacher, Mrs. Rosen with style; "Your hair looks like Minnie Mouse.  It's cute.  Is that the latest style, that and wearing your pants like they are going to fall down, the whole world should see your pupik?  Excuse me, I am old-fashioned. So why are you here, again?  Remind me.  You are selling Girl Scout cookies?"

I can't wait for the hush to fall over the room when I simply pick up the book.

I can't wait to see the looks on my students' faces and hear their voices complain when I say, "Aaaand that's where we'll stop for today."

Today I absolutely love reading aloud...and getting a package in the mail!

Today I love Rap? Well...Today I Do! Slice of Life 2014 - Day 21

Thanks to the good people at Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Today is Day 21 of 31 for this challenge, but it's somewhere around 640something since I started this Today I Love business.  While I never know what will present itself during the day to be loved, I sure never ever ever thought I'd be saying I love Rap music! 

Got a text from my Running Girl today
"Go listen to the song 
I'm Alright by Jake Miller
I know it's not really your style,
but listen to the lyrics!"

I hesitated.  Rap really isn't my style.
I pondered.  Rap really really isn't my style.
I wondered.  She knows rap really really really isn't my style.
But something in her text gave me pause.
She had a reason for sending this my way.
 
I googled.

So should you.

And now I've been humming all evening long...

"I got life, I got love
I got faith and that's enough
We feel sorrow, we feel pain
But there's sunshine after rain
So I'm alright (you'll be fine, take it one day at a time)
So I'm alright (said you'll be fine, take it one day at a time)"

It's been an 
interesting 
week. 
The sudden 
unexpected
news of the
death of a co-worker's husband.
The end of the grading period.
Endless errands and tasks.
Taxes. 
Fatigue.
A break in the middle, 
but right back at it the next day.
The world still spinning
even when we wish 
we hope
we pray
that
it would stop for a bit
or at least slow down
long enough 
for us to 
catch our breath

But Jake is right...

I'm alright.
(You'll be fine, take it one day at a time)