a SNOW day in the life of me ...

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.... o.k.a.y

I went to sleep last night in 44 degree weather. It was cold, but not frigid. I should have known something was up Mother Nature's sleeve.

There I was, snug as a bug, in my bed at 8am this morning, when what do I hear? A lawn mower. A what? you might ask. A lawn mower. Now, I was just as puzzled as I'm sure you are as to why I would be hearing a lawn mower on a Sunday morning at the end of November, but nevertheless there was the unmistakable sound of the whir of a lawn mower. 5 minutes, 10 minutes 15 minutes and it was still outside my bedroom window. Honestly, there's not even enough grass to keep a lawn mower back there for 5 minutes, but okay. Who knows? Maybe he was just trying to be very thorough?! Finally I get out of bed. As I come into the living room my roommate, Amanda, is looking out the window, the blinds open. What?! It snowed! What?! It's not a lawn mower? It's a snow blower - bahahahhahahahahahahahahha. Looking out of my blinds 20 minutes ago would have solved a lot of problems. :-) Bring it on winter!

a NEW CAR day in the life of me ...

Guess what?! I did it. I bought a brand-spankin new car! 2011 Subaru Legacy. Yes, that's right. It had 12 miles on it when I drove off the lot. Isn't she a beauty? Jenny thinks that I should name it Redy, I'm thinking Scarlet, but am not sure.

So the most amazing things have been happening in this little town of Provo, since I bought my car. My roommate bought a 2010 Honda CR-V this morning. My friends Megan and Katie, after learning that I had bought a new car, went out and bought a Jeep Laredo and a Dodge Charger. What?! This is crazy. Can we say Pied-Piper?! I love it!!!
HAPPY DRIVING (especially in the snow that really does need to come soon - please)

a HELL day in the life of me...

Okay, so I was NOT in the mood to go to school/work today. I had a rough night of sleep and was just not enjoying the getting ready process. My dear, sweet, roommate drove me to school (I sold my car - stay tuned for that one) and inquired as to whether I had a good old Dr. P to see me through the day ... no. :-) I did however have my first period. . .

I decided that because it's the week of Thanksgiving and they have just been such an outrageously good class, we could watch the Lightning Thief today (I'm reading that book with some of my classes and they are loving it!)

For those of you that have not seen it, they pay a visit to the underworld and have a little heart to heart with Hades. Persephone, Hades wife - for those of you that need to brush up on their Greek mythology, is asked to bring the 3 little "heroes" before Hades and to hurry up about it or else .... She inquires, "Or else what?! I'm already in Hell."

Well that sparked a ripple of laughter from my students quickly followed by one of my students saying, "I live in Hell."
ME: Well I don't.
Student: You will someday.

bahahahhahahahahahahaha

Not even 30 seconds later - yes conversations about Hell have been happening this whole time. . .

Student 1: I never want to go to Hell.
Student 2: I thought we all went there every week day between 7:30 and 2:15.

BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is why I teach! We talk about going to Hell and laugh about it.

a CHRISTMAS DECORATING day in the life of me...

Welcome to the s.n.o.w. I am so So SO happy that it has finally come! With the lovely snow that fell upon the earth yesterday, the incredible desire to set up Christmas decorations overcame me :-) I pulled out my box of stuff and away I went. I love this season: the music, the food, the family, the games, the sights, smells, snow, skiing, presents, love, joy, remembering Christ.
Welcome, welcome Christmas time!!!

Throw given to me by my friend Meghan - yes I do cuddle up in it during the Christmas season, as well as put it over the back of my couch.

This candle holder was given to me a number of years ago. I made a little addition to it this year by putting cranberries and cinnamon sticks in the bottom of it :-) Go me!!

A crystal bowl (me) full of purple ornaments (Meghan) accompanied by a
darling snowman (thanks Cecile)

Advent calendar given to me by my Mother!

Nativity given to me by Emily Stoddard, from the Dominican Republic. I bought the fabric and decided that I really like the accent that it gives!

Snowman tea light candle holder!

My darling friend Jill gave this to me for Christmas last year and let me tell you, it makes me smile!

It all fits so nicely on the counter top in our kitchen.
Wow! I'm feeling super blessed this year. I have darling friends that just know me so well and have put together a beautiful set of Christmas decorations to beautify my apartment! Yes, I realize Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet, but bring on CHRISTMAS -
deck the halls ....

a STATISTICS day in the life of me ...

Hi folks.
I spent Thursday and Friday up in Park City at a wonderful education conference. The overarching theme was ACCESS. Although we talked a lot about our students gaining access to the information that we are delivering in our classroom, it went much broader than that, access for humans to the world in which they live in. Now I realize that an excellent play for that to begin is in my classroom, so for sure saw the cross over :-)
I wasn't prepared for how emotionally exhausting this topic was going to be. By the end of Friday's session my brain was about ready to burst and needed an outlet of color - picture below

I realize that it only looks like a tower of markers, but when there is a presenter speaking and you're building with markers like they are building blocks, yeah you know your mind needs to be thinking of something else.

Quick synopsis of some interesting points: Sometimes we honestly have to make a decision that involves two RIGHT choices. When that happens they fall into 1 of 4 categories:
Justice vs Mercy: Law vs Love, Equity vs Compassion
Truth vs Loyalty: What is truth?
accuracy = not lying
completeness = telling salient details
relevancy = making sure important truths are not obscured by other truths

it's never okay to lie!

Individual vs Community: needs must be weighed. the needs of the many outweigh the one
Short term vs Long term: right now vs the future :-)

Decision Making Principles:
Ends Based Thinking: do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number
Rule Based Thinking: act only in a way that, at the same time, you would will your action to become universal
Care Based Thinking: do to others what you would like them to do to you

If each of the following racial groups had 100 kids in school the following is true:
Latinos: 52 graduate high school, 10 graduate college, 4 grad school, 0.4 PhD
Native Americans: 71 graduate high school, 12 graduate college, 4 grad school, 0.5 PhD
African Americans: 72 graduate high school, 14 graduate college, 5 grad school, 0.4 PhD
White: 84 graduate high school, 26 graduate college, 10 grad school, 1 PhD
Asian Americans: 80 graduate high school, 44 graduate college, 17 grad school, 3 PhD

It was definitely an eye opening conference and I feel much more aware of what the reality is and how I can more fully offer access to the students that are in my direct "circle of influence."

a CATCH UP day in the life of me...

hi folks ... I just want to give you a little update
of what I've been up to lately! I had a wonderful vacation, for my Fall Break, in St. Louis, MO. I went to see my friend Megan Monahan Newman and her darling husband, Jared. (yep, she got a good one)















Unfortunately, the arch was all sold out, so I wasn't able to go up and see across the Mississippi, but that's okay. It gives me an excuse to go back there sometime. We did do a ton of fun things: Band of Horses concert, Art museums, gardens, Budweiser plant tour, farmers market, arch, Pappy's BBQ, shopping, Lewis & Clark sites, cozy town, cobble stone streets, yummy food (made by Megan), yummy food found in St. Louis, drives in the fall time, picking fresh herbs to use in Italian food (OK!)
It was a delightful time!!!!

In other news, last week I went with some friends: Brandon, Amanda, Chris, Melinda and Zack to see the Scarlet Pimpernell at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. I told Brandon that I was going to get "dressed up" to go to the theater. He said that he'd wear something snazzy too, so of course I had to go all out. I did my hair and was delighted to discover that my hair is long enough to curl and then pin back. I LOVED it!

On Sunday Tara, Mia and I showed up in red, black and white ... it was too good to pass up the picture opportunity. (my hair looks flat, but it's really curls and a braid :-)