Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent

Let all mortal flesh keep silent
And with fear and trembling stand
Ponder nothing earthly minded
For with blessings in his hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

Merry Christmas!

Bear is Good!

Bear is good when it is pot roasted and with deer sausage, carrots, potatoes, and onions. I have heard that it can be rather tough, but the bear we ate was tender and delicious. I have read that when shot with bow and arrow by a dwarf and cooked over an open fire, it isn't very good. Especially when all to go with it was apples. However, applesauce, salad, and home-made bread as side dishes complete the meal most delightfully.

Exciting news!

One of my students learned to read today! She has been struggling even remembering her the letter sounds. She also seems to second guess her answers a lot. We got our first reading books and she read her page without any help. Everybody else in her group needed help. From there, in her spare time, she read page after page of blends and one vowel words! There weren't even pictures to help her out. The look of delight on her face when she realized she could do it almost brought tears to my eyes. Moments like this remind me of what part of teaching is about.

Countdown!

Seven school days until Christmas! My students are thrilled and incredibly excited.

Six school days until boys' auditions.

Five school days until girls' auditions.

Four school days until our Grandparent's Christmas Party.

Three school days until our Drama Meeting.

Two school days until our Spirit Week Basketball Game (actually the second one, but this one is a home game.)

One school day until tomorrow night...

Tonight is a Christmas Concert!

Christmas shopping will have to fit in somewhere, as will eating bear and doing laundry. Maybe there will even be time for sewing and drawing. YAY!

Serenity Quiz

Your results:
You are: Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)
Dependable and trustworthy.
You love your significant other and
you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.



Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

---

75%
Wash (Ship Pilot)

---

75%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)

---

70%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

---

65%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)

---

60%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

---

45%
Inara Serra (Companion)

---

45%
River (Stowaway)

---

30%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)

---

25%
Alliance

---

25%
A Reaver (Cannibal)

---

10%

Pride and Prejudice

Dispite my prejudices, I swallowed my pride and watched the Keira Knightley/Matthew Macfadyen version of Pride and Prejudice. It was better than I expected, but that isn't saying much. Two hours is really not enough time to sufficiently cover the characters portrayed. Mr. Wickham, Charlotte, Miss Bingley, and Mr. Bingley really weren't present enough to enjoy, or despise, or both. The scenery seemed to be more important than those characters.

Certainly Jane Austin dialogue can be tedious to read and to hear, but the modern abreviations of the conversations did not fit with the time period or the characters that I knew. It also made Elizabeth resort to "telling Mr. Darcy off" rather than wounding him with the cruelty of her wit. While on the subject of Elizabeth, I didn't like the smirks she had after saying something clever. I did, however, really like her genuine smiles and laughs, though the giggles slightly annoyed me.

The proposal scenes also bothered me. The first one was overdone by the rain and Elizabeth yelling. This movie made Elizabeth always in love with Mr. Darcy, only hiding it from herself and everyone else she could. The audience knew that she was in denial and just would come around eventually. I had always pictured Elizabeth really and truly hating Mr. Darcy. He did slight her and ruin her sister's dream. She kept hating him until the point when he humbles himself enough to admit he was wrong about Jane and Mr. Bingley. That broke her pride and opened her heart enough to learn that there was more than pride to Mr. Darcy. The time spent at Pemberly was when she began falling in love. His humility gave her the freedom to be humble in return and admit her errors.

The second proposal because it was so modern. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had enough propriety to not be out of doors in such a state of disarray and undress. If they had seen one another, they would have respected each other enough to wait until they were fit to be seen. As for the ending, I did not like "Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy." I get called Mrs. Wiley all day I do not see the slightest thing romantic about it. I thought it was stupid.

By the end of the movie, the issues of pride and prejudice had been blown over by "true love." Yet my previous perceptions was that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were both just as proud and prejudiced as in the beginning. Their particular prejudices were balanced by each other and their pride matched each other. I'd like to think they now knew their faults, not denied them because they were in love.

So it wouldn't be one of my favorite movies, but I will not forswear watching anything with Keira Knightley in it anymore.

Yay!

One of the most exciting things about being married to a superhero is that he always takes the time to come to the rescue. He has helped me set up a profile picture and find a counter! He has also watched Pride and Prejudice with me, without me asking him to. He just sat down and watched it. It wasn't the mini-series. I will blog about the movie later.

Posting

You know, it is really hard to get the initiative to post when I never know if anyone bothers to read anything anyway. Therefore, I didn't, and won't post about Thanksgiving, except to say that it was a nice break, and I loved seeing my cousins.

School has started again. It is nice not dreading each day of work. In fact, I generally enjoy it. Today we played with a big box, which I turned into a fort/house. They thought it made a great jail, but they all wanted to be in the jail. It did not get wrecked on the first day, as I feared, but has lasted and is still in good condition. I think we will decorate it tomorrow and Thursday, but I am not sure I am up to that adventure.

Friday starts our December countdown to Christmas. These in between days are a little odd. I don't want to start Christmas stuff yet, but Thanksgiving is over. So we will talk about wisdom from Proverbs and obedience and our memory verse: "God is love." Then Christmas!!!

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but I love the expectation before Christmas. I try to do something little each day to get ready for the holiday so I get excited little by little, rather than do everything at once. The whole moderation idea... In my classroom, we'll start by making stars to hang from the lights. Then we will begin a Christmas tree made out of hands. I have to plan for a Grandparents Christmas Party too. The kids love the little by little decorations too. I love seeing their faces light up with excitement.

Faith like a Child

When I tell others about Jesus, I am asking them to trust in a person they really don't know. Sure they may know about Him, but they don't know Him. In a world full of liars and tricksters and people out to make you look stupid, why would anyone trust another person, especially one they don't know?

Look at a child. He trusts his mom. Does he really know her? Does he know what thrills her, what frightens her, what makes her tick? Of course not, but he trusts her. Why? Because he know she loves him, that she will do what she can to be there for him and take care of him, and that is enough for him.

Oh God, give me faith like a child, to trust you, even though I really don't know you! And teach me how to know you more each day.

As You Like It

By William Shakespeare
Performed by American Shakespeare Center
Performed in the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA
For our first anniversary, Thomas and I went to see As You Like It. Isn't that so romantic. Of course I liked our Orlando better, I mean, I fell in love with him, but it was a fun time.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am very excited.

I just use a Mac short-cut on this Dell computer. It didn't do what it was supposed to.

My kids looked really cute today in their Pilgrim Hats. We had popcorn and cinamon\raisin bread for our Thanksgiving feast. We also sang a blessing: "For health and strength and daily food we thank Thee now, oh God." Th last phrase we fold our hands and bow our heads. It was sweet to watch the thankfulness on their faces. They also did a short pre-chapel program.

I love this class, not that I didn't love last year's students, but this class is different, and more affectionate, being mostly girls. There are fewer of them too, so I can enjoy each one more since I can interact with them more.

I am really excited for Thanksgiving, and the break surrounding it.

Ok, I am done now.

Reading Rodeo Pictures

Now you can see how much fun we had. These are pictures from the last day.

Here is my class, all nine adorable, and often wild cowboys.

And the teachers... K, 3rd&4th, 1st&2nd, and our handsome second floor sherrif.

Organic Food

I found this on my friend's blog. I don't buy organic food, except for Virgil's organic root beer, which is absolutely delicious. However, I thought this was hillarious.

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

Anyway, thanks ibaurora2.

Reading Rodeo

Howdy y'all!

Today was the last day of the Reading Rodeo. We stomped letters, read cowboy stories, danced blend ladders, and rounded up herd of letters. I also got to dress up in cowboy clothes every day. I didn't know I had so many outfits, but they all worked out and I thought were rather cute. Wednesday night, my sister and I rag- curled our hair, so Thursday and today my hair is really curly. Thursday I also wore my crinolin, a sequined skirt, and a tight vest.

Today's outfit was probably my favorite. I wore jeans and a flannel shirt. Last night I made fake suede chaps that matched a vest I already had. Of course I had a bandana and boots, but the final touches were my brown leather coat and my husband's hat. (My curly pigtails, right behind my ears, were the only thing that kept the hat from falling over my ears.)

All the kids in the school were allowed to dress up today, so we had kindergartners to seniors dressed as cowboys. Then in the afternoon K-4th grade had a dance, flapjacks, and (jelly) beans. That was downright crazy and very noisy. Even though the whole week was lots of fun, I am glad it is over. It will be nice to get back to normal, and it won't be nearly as exhausting.

Right...

The Weekend

My first cold of the season has struck. I hope it goes away soon because my colds tend to turn into sinus infections if they don't go away soon. The stuffed nose has corresponded nicely with Reading Rodeo. So for the first day of the Rodeo, I was kind of slow and plodding. We had a stampede, we rounded up some blends, and we line danced phonics chants. I felt rather slow and my head felt fuzzy so I wasn't as on my toes as I wanted to be, and my kids got bored of my lessons. Oh well, there are four more days of Reading Rodeo, so hopefully the rest of the week won't be so bad.

This past weekend we went to see BTE's production of Much Ado About Nothing. Contrasted with the setting, NapaValley post-WWII, the Shakespearian lines stood out, but not awkwardly. I enjoyed it greatly even though I disagreed strongly with the portrayal of Claudio. Someday I want to see a Claudio who you could actually believe was a great warrior. I am tired of the goofy-in-love perspective. Benedict and Beatrice were more fun before they were in love, but they did an good job bringing out the humor yet seriousness in their characters. Balthasar was great, he did more than just recite lines, but actually had a character. Verges, portrayed as old lady with a gun, stole the show. Even more incredible was the fact that she doubled as Margret. Yet all in all, my favorite characters were Leanato and Don Pedro. They had so much energy and depth. They made me laugh and made me sympathize with their troubles. They were not props for the story, but vital participants in the story.

Afterward, one of the cast commented on the unity of the group, where there were not stars and extras, but one community presenting a story, an ensemble. This was not only a cast remark, but it was evident in the production. Cheers for BTE!

The Powerhouse Eatery

If ever you should be travelling Rt 80 through Pennsylvania around exit 273, you should stop at the Powerhouse. It was a power plant for a tuberculosis treatment center around the early twentieth century. For many years now, it has been a resturant.

Atmosphere: The table were dimly lit and the music was not too loud. You could hear the voices of other tables but not what they were saying. Our waiter was a good friend from church and he did an excellent job. The pacing of the meal suited our digestion -- liesurely, allowing things to settle before the next food item. The bathrooms were generally clean, though the trash can was not right beside the door. There was one TV over the bar, but the sound was off and it was not overly distracting. Since it was inside a powerhouse, old blowers or mechanical devices hung from teh ceileing, but they were painted and looked impressive. The attire was casual, but the table was set semi-formal.

Food: The bread on the table as we sat down was incredible -- thick without being heavy, soft without falling apart. I dipped my in the olive oil provided, but my husband preferred butter. We both ordered veal of various sorts. With the entree came a salad; we experimented with parmesean peppercorn dressing. It was amazing. I had veal parmigiana. Though I was not able to finish my meal, I did not feel that it was too much. The veal was juicy and covered with parmesean cheese. I enjoyed it thuroughly. My husband had veal madiera which he said was delicous. For dessert we had maple creme brulee. Our waiter carmellized it with his torch at the table! We enjoyed the show.

We came away comfortably full, not overstuffed, happy and contented. I would recommend the restuarant to people in the area, or travelling through.

Weekend

My weekend was very enjoyable. We were visited by some college friends and had a relaxing and fun time together. (Note to all other college friends: if you are in the area, or want to be in the area, let me know.) Because I had planned to be hostess, I planned on getting nothing done. There was little pressure to be doing stuff, especially relating to Kindergarten. We stayed up late and got up late. We ate tons of food. We watched Hoodwinked. We talked with one another. It was great.

By the way, if you haven't seen Hoodwinked, you should. It is hilarious and very quotable.

After such a great weekend, I was very tired today. Unfortunately, my Kindergartener's were not. So now it is naptime, or at least clean the room and be quiet time.

The Curse of the "Should Haves"

What if there was a town where everyone had the curse of the should haves. Whenever they did something they would doubt themselves and think they should have done something else. Then they would begin doing something else, but wonder if they should have completed the first thing. Where would they be if they realized that washing the dishes was good, but they stopped doing it to do laundry which is also a good thing, but it was a bad thing to stop the one and do the other so they think they should have finished the dishes first. But then they realize that if they had finished the dishes first then the laundry would not have been dry in time. Therefore what they did was good, except it wasn't good because the dishes were still undone.

And what would happen if a man entered the town, never having know any "should haves", but only "dids" and "did wells." Would he love them or would he give up on them? Would he feel compassion, or disgust? If he did have compassion, would he help them do all their tasks, and think through them so they didn't have should haves? Or would he laugh at the people under the curse? No, I think he would he teach them to laugh at themselves. He would pity them, and see that the problem really isn't the "should haves" but confusion about what is best. He would teach them what was best, but for those times when there were two bests, he would help them do their best at both things.

And he would laugh - a rich, confident, beautiful laugh.

My Day with Word Association

blackboard, dirty, B as in bell, button, points, calendar, fourth of October, rough, student, principal, Daddy, home, sleep, homework, ba be bi bo bu, yelling, whispering, high-voice, music-class, final-straw, second-red-slip, one-more-hour, goodbye, gone, relief, email, yeah!, helping-mom, clever-me, blogging, not-clever-me, food, dinnertime, friends, youthgroup, singing, hallways, walk-not-run, bathroom-time, water-fountain, nalgene, full-of-water, thirsty, ahhh-that's-better, lunchtime, 3rd&4th grade, stampede, Reading-Rodeo, planning, headache, naptime, wiggles, rocking-chair, rest...

Good Day!

My student didn't get sent to the principal's office today!

I also got to play tag with my students and run around like crazy. They loved it, and I could still out-run them.

The Book of Thomas made me laugh and tonight I am having a grading party with the 1&2 grade teacher and the 3&4 grade teacher.

And tomorrow is Saturday!

To My Husband

What could I do without him?
He balances me - where I have weaknesses, he has strengths; when I am a wreck, he pulls me back together; where I have strong opinions, he has clear and reasonable thoughts.
He completes me - he enhances my creativity, he encourages me to pursue my dreams, he helps me fulfill my calling.
He loves me - when I am grumpy, when I am a pest, when I am being silly and goofy, when I am mad at him, when I make good food for him, whenever it is.

I love you, Baby.

Psalm 103

Praise the LORD, oh my soul,
And all that is in me, praise His holy Name.
Praise the LORD, oh my soul,
And forget not all His benefits.

This is a command. If it were not, you can be sure I wouldn't be. But then my focus would be on me and my problems. I guess problems are really not mine anyway; they belong to God. He will take care of them. Therefore I can and will say, "Praise the LORD."

Praise God for being good.
Praise God for being my strength and shield.
Praise God for His Son's saving blood.
Praise God that I am not in control, nor do I have to be in control.
Praise God that He understands our sin, and those who sin against us, and shows His love in many ways.
Praise the LORD!

Today, besides Talk Like A Pirate Day, is picture day. It was nice to see little boys wearing ties, and one even a jacket, and little girls all combed and curled. Good thing pictures are in the morning. By lunch none of us looked prim. I am sure I looked frazzled. But that is true for any day in the Kindergarten class room.

A few other random thoughts:
Isn't it funny that you can miss someone you see every day?
If they learn nothing else, I want my students to know that I love them.
Sometimes the most beautiful thing is a child running towards you with her arms open wide for a hug, or the child that shyly walks beside and slips his hand in yours.
Laughter and crying use the similar muscles and often have the same effect on the well-being of a person.

Now you can comment

I just changed it so non-bloggers can comment. So now you can comment. So I would be delighted if you would.

Kindergarteners don't know anything!

What more can I say? I get to teach them everything from how to write their names to how to use a public restroom to how to interact with 9 other individuals who like their own way.

It comes to this point of the year (second day) and I think, I don't know anything about teaching Kindergarteners!

Countdown to School

It was two weeks from Wednesday... School will begin on September 6. With pretty much everybody else in school, I suppose I shouldn't complain, but there is so much to do before school starts. I am more ready this year, I think...

In other news, one brother is off to college, the other is home from England. Sadness on one side, happiness on the other.

My First On-line Movie Review

Pirates of the Carribean:Dead Men's Chest.

This review is written specifically for those who have already seen the movie or those who don't really care if they find out things before they see it.

Pirates, etc. is a fun movie. It is full of hilarity and silliness. However, I have a few picks with it. All my complaints stem from the ending when those left of Captain Jack's crew would give all they had to find and rescue Captain Jack. What in the world would motivate them to do that? What about Captain Jack makes the world fall in love with him?

Captain Jack is funny. He steps outside the usual expectations of pirates and makes us, to a certain extent, like them. He has an uncanny way of doing the unpredicted and bewildering those who are trying to kill him. He uses all sorts means to prevent facing the judgement day. He likes Elizabeth Swann. The problem is, he doesn't change. He has been like that, but nothing new is learned in Dead Men's Chest. Even that he faces the Kraken with courage shows nothing new. This is just the next thing bringing death, and he will fight it or squirm his way out of it with courage and hilarity.

This is contrasted sharply against the developing characters of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Each of them grew more into characters on their own, rather than tools to support Captain Jack's character. This only makes Captain Jack seem all the more constant. It does not however explain why they would leave all they had to get Captain Jack back. I will be interested to see what all happens in the next one.

Fred Beans

There is an auto dealership called Fred Beans Auto. In my sleepy mind, it struck me very funny, but it continues to strike me as downright hilarious. Fred Beans, just say it and start laughing, Fred Beans, Fred Beans...

There once was a man named Fred Beans. He had a son. The son's name was Fred Beans too. Instead of calling him Fred Beans, Jr., he was called re-Fred Beans.

A story for Daddy

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived with her mommy and daddy in the middle of a deep dark wood. Even though she was the only child in the forest, and so the only child she ever got to play with, she was not lonely. She had her chores and a little schooling to keep her mornings busy, and in the afternoon, she had her fairy friends to keep her company.

Now those who say there is no such things as fairies have never been alone in the woods, sitting quietly for long enough. Anyone who has sat quietly a long time in a deep and dark forest knows there are fairies. Who else makes the leaves dance, or the gather water in leaves, or make stump wells, or carve chairs out of the stones?

Now this little girl, never saw the fairies, and she never looked for them, because everyone knows that once you see a fairie, you change instantly. If the fairies don't like you, you are either struck dumb; but if they do, you become a fairy yourself. So the little girl instead of looking for them, would talk with them, and they would show her the secrets of the forest. That was how she found the squirrels nest with tiny babies in it. That was also how she found the spring that fed the stream that ran by her house. That was also how she found the cave.

The cave was not far from the little girl's house, but it was so well hidden that only a very adventurous person, or one led by fairies would find it. It was so well hidden because it was the place where the local dragon hid its hoard. The local dragon never bothered the little girls family because it thought they had nothing it wanted. However, it terrorized the nearby towns, but catching wheat fields on fire, then stealing everything of worth from the houses while the people were putting out the fire. Even worse, it would sit in the moat and boil the water so nobody could get in or out of the castle. It would not move until the queen herself threw in some of the royal treasury. Not only that, it would sneak into the dungeons, up through the castle and into the royal nurseries and frighten all the little princes and princesses out of their wits. It would then take the golden toys and trinkets back to its secret hoard in the deep dark woods.

Needless to say, the King was beside himself wondering what to do. Little did he know that the fairies were fond of this King because he didn't chop down their forest. Little did he know that the fairies had shown the little girl the dragons cave. Little did he know that his own son would slay the dragon.

In the beginning

In the beginning there were too many blogs to count, but this blog did not exist. Then she clicked and typed and there was this blog. And she said, "This is silly, but here goes."