Coming Home

I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve written that I should probably introduce myself again.  I’ve had millions of possible posts half-written in the insanity that is my mind, and yet somewhere between thinking so eloquently, reflectively and sometimes philosophically and getting it to flow through me and spring forth as actual words has been quite a challenge as of late.

Admittedly, I have been in what I’ll call a “funk” for the past couple of weeks.  Spending my entire day with students who may or may not give a rip that I spent 4 hours categorizing my bookshelves to make them more user-friendly or fighting with the copier for 45 minutes on a Sunday night doesn’t provide the most rewarding experiences.  Add that to the fact that I I’ve entered a new age bracket, which wasn’t really a spectacular celebration, and I’m hyper-emotional being nearly 6 months pregnant, and I hope you’ll understand my absence.  Instead of seeing the glass half-full I’ve been much more inclined to find it completely empty, and trying to “fill it” with empty words and posed pictures seemed trite.

So, on those happy notes, I’m am at least pleased to report that lately, things are looking up.  I’ve had a few days where I’ve seen small successes with students and felt validated in the methods I’m using in class.  I’ve had engaging conversations with new friends, colleagues, and family.  I’ve been bombarded by baby kicks and rolls and happily enjoying Calder as we spent last week combining work, play and rest on our much-needed spring break.

In some ways, my most and least favorite part of a trip is that familiar trip that ends at our front door.  That moment between turning off the car and opening the door is filled with relief that we’re safely back home, and a almost-tangible twinge of regret that our time away has come to an end.  Walking in and looking around, things look oddly different and yet startingly the same.  Even here, as I type, I’m surprised by the changes that have taken place in my absence…yet it feels good to be back among the writing.

So the few of you who are out there reading, please know that I’m back.  Slowly, but surely I’ll find that groove once again and happily share the ups (and downs) with those who are interested enough to stop by.

A swing and a miss

I was pretty optimistic about presenting digital stories to my 7th grade students.  I thought for sure they would think they’re pretty sweet and motivate them to put forth more than minimal effort.

One class of 7th graders engaged in a great conversation with me on Friday and they seemed on board.  They had ideas for how to make it fair to folks to different genres or writing, possible ways to circumvent the lack of technology issue, etc.  They’re the only class choosing to do this project.

I really hope that it goes well, and that all parties concerned have fun (and LEARN) throughout the process.  It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to keep these kids motivated or excited about a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.  As if the job wasn’t hard enough…

Tag

A while ago, I was tagged and completely forgot about it until today!  My apologies on the late participation, but here goes:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.
We’d love it in West Virgina, she told us.  We’d live in the forest in the mountains with the squirrels and the chipmunks.  We could meet our grandma and grandpa Walls, who were genuine hillbillies.

5. Link back to the person who tagged you.

Michelle 

6. Tag five other people. 

I’m really not sure that I know five other fellow bloggers, so I think I’ll make this a “commenting” tag from here on out. 

I tag:

Mom C.

Mom E.

Garth

Gavin

Amber 

Leave a comment with the book information and whether or not you tag anyone else is fine by me! 🙂 

 

Family Fun – Best Shot Monday

What a perfect end to a great weekend…that’s right another early morning phone call, though my darling husband thought it would be hilarious not to tell me for about 15 minutes after I continued getting ready post-shower.  It worked out very well as Garth’s family had stayed last night after coming to watch C.’s baby dedication.  We indulged in a great breakfast, a few more snuggles from Little Man and then they were on their way northward.

Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the family fun yesterday…

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Check out other BSM pictures at Mother May I

Help?!

OK, so I’m changing the look of my blog a bit (even though I lose some of the formatting on my early images).  In any case, I was looking around for a way to have one of those really cool “moving” Flickr badges (like the one I found here).  So I read about it and learned it was really simple.

Copy and paste the code for the badge into a text widget and watch the magic happen!  As you can clearly see by the atrocity that is my failed attempt at said embedded badge, it didn’t work!!  I’ve already spent an hour or so trying and re-trying to get this thing to work, but to no avail.

If, by some miracle, you have found your way to my blog and can offer any assistance, the obsessive compulsive side of me would be beyond appreciative!  What’s more I’d love to use my text widgets to put cool buttons on my blog too, but apparently I’m text-widgetally challenged!