Monday, April 21, 2008

Cielo's Party


This sounds delightful. I am excited about participating. Cielo's blog is so sweet already, with her sweet spirit... Then we're doing all these yummy dishes... Wow... Check out her blog House in the Roses. It's wonderful

New Fangled Research Assistance

Photo from St. Francis College

Okay... So spring means a lot of things to a lot of different people, but to students and especially to English teachers, it means research papers. I can't begin to tell you how many years I've taken a stack of papers to the lake, to the park, outside to my deck... anywhere to just get some spring soaking in while I did the usual mark-ups on rough drafts for the students to revise. Through the years I have always taken advantage of any and all cheats and ideas to make the system easier for my kiddos... (and ulitmately for me). I have also "leaned" down the paper from the original 12 pages to six... and now to three to five pages. I know... but when you multiply it all times the 80 students.... and then re-check them all when they've been revised... I personally think they can get the idea in three pages... (Don't hate me, Mrs. Kirby.... my beautiful, now in heaven, English teacher from high school).

Okay... this year I found out about a cool website called Son of Citation. No kidding. The kids actually enjoy the documentation part of the paper! You click in there, choose MLA or whatever style format, select the type of resource you have on the left column... fill in the blanks on a chart, click, and voila! You have a shaded area of completed documentation to copy/paste in your paper. Even the further documentation annotation is right there underneath. I am amazed, thrilled, and willing to let them do this and hope for the best. I will use this little site next year for magazine report mini cards.....

Oh, and I let them to a working outline until the paper is finished---- then the real one with the Roman Numerals, etc. And we do introductions and conclusions last... kind of like mirrors or sandwich buns.... Anything to ease their pain.

So far I have graded a cool term paper on Andy Warhol and a very interesting one about the differences in Playstation 3 vs. Xbox 360. So many game-heads any more... I am thinking about the Emporer of Japan's statement during WW 2... I saw it translated in a newsreel about Jack London as a reporter. The Emporer told the reporters something like, "Japan is very patient while the West is not. We will not have the hearts and minds of you today or of your children. But never doubt that we will have the hearts and minds of your grandchildren." I think Japan doesn't exactly, of course. I have no ill will toward Japan at all... but the technology born there... yeah, they have the hearts and minds of the grandsons of many WWII veterans... like my son and my sophomore boys. I have known some girls to break up with boys because of Halo 2.... (a game).

Anyway... I digress! I just thought if any of you were trying to help a child with a research paper, you might want to check out Son of Citation.... ????? Happy spring.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Shirley's Party.... Pictures and notes...

Shirley books on Mom's bed....


Shirley's wall of fame in Dad's bedroom. He always bought anything he could find at all his flea market soirees.
Our refreshments... I forgot again to take a good picture after we put out the food.
The program display... The big doll in blue on the table was a gift to my mother on her 56th birthday with a note from Gramma that said, "47 years too late." When Mom was little they didn't have the $12/50 a Shirley Temple cost right then.
The little Shirley on the right is Mom's newest from me for Easter from the movie Bright Eyes.
I found the fabric blocks on Ebay two Christmases ago, and my former sister in law set them together and made a quilt for my mother.
I creweled this Jan Hagara picture for my mother several Christmases ago.

The paper doll on the front is Mom's own original from her little girl days.
Our gift bags hidden under the table until the big reveal.
Mom's largest Shirley watches a little one strut her stuff on the guest table.
Shirleys everywhere...
She welcomed our gursts outside... What a brave little girl.
Dining room table ... It was buffet style, so I didn't get to set the table.
Goodness Gracious!

I think everyone had fun. I did, and so did my mother. Tonight afterward we just sat and dozed off in our chairs and finally said an early goodnight. Tomorrow it's back to school to see what we can do with the end of the testing.... Thundering in the distance. I'm glad we had a lovely weather day for this party... The real Shirley will be 80 on April 23rd. I'm sure she often is amazed at the i ntensity of her fans.
Have a good day tomorrow.... My mind is rather numb, so I'm not penning great words of wisdom here...



Sunday, April 13, 2008

Animal Crackers in my Soup.... in my sack!

Tags and little Shirley buttons for the gift bags.....
land of peppermint sticks.... they're in the bag, too!
and of course, Animal Crackers......
in my soup! (Only 60 cents a can!)Captain January covers for Memorabilia Booklets....
Gift bags of Shirley goodies.... There will be 12 of these!
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Moving right along.... Only three days to go until the big day. Tomorrow is testing all day in my room plus mid-term reports... Then tomorrow night I hope to finish cleaning my quadrant of the house and my bathroom... fix up the display of Mom's Shirley things. Foo foo the dining room table (Where is Sandra Lee when you need her?) and finish these little sacks. They are so cute. We went with little favors that come from the "Animal Crackers in my Soup" song... Animal crackers, soup, lollipops (which I forgot to snap a picture of those) and peppermint sticks. I made a book for everyone of Shirley Trivia, cool photos, filmography, interviews, listings of doll items, etc. It's in the colorful Captain January covers. My mother has been a Merry Maid all week. She can clean me right up into a tree stand, that she can... and this week she did. That little lady did major cleaning on five rooms, ON A WALKER..... and she isn't really all that tired. I am impressed as heck... and sure hope that isn't contagious! haha..
I am putting the staples in the club booklets tomorrow... and our taxes are all done and filed.... What else this week? It is kind of fun... tomorrow night is a deep freeze here, so I finally knuckled under and bought a couple of pretty silks to put in the planters by the front door... I don't think reals will survive.... Have a fun week.... I hope the tablescape photos will be tomorrow.... and the mantel display... We'll see.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Oh, dear! Oh, dear!

These invitations have hit the mail and been received we hear. I am so very extremely far behind on everything. In the next week my list looks like this:
six days of school,
mid-term parent reports,
grade exams and research papers for mid terms,
make yearly program books for club type and bind,
refreshments, shop and make,
INCOME TAXES.... eek! GULP
make favors
set table
clean house
run sweeper
make centerpiece
set up Shirley Temple memorabilia table
write and practice presentation
fix up little garden area by front door---looking so shabby
take Mom to hairdresser
Sorority Founder's Day banquet
uh... I' m sure that's not all... but you get the idea.

And through it all, I'd just love to curl up with a good book or even without and take a nap while the rain pelts the windows... After the sixteenth, that's number one on my list. Have a good week.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

We're having a doll party!


Upcoming month news and notes: Mom and I are hostesses for Doll Club in April. (If you look back at October, I pulled off an all-nighter to get my house ready for the final meeting of the year.) Well, for some reason, Mom signed up for the first meeting of the NEW year, so that means back to back Doll Club meetings. We decided to honor Mom's favorite star, little Miss Shirley Temple. I'm making invitations, gift bags, programs, favors, and decorations to go along with America's little darling. Here is the montage I made for the invitations. Stay tuned for more stuff about this "big" event.