Hands off my Toblerone!

If you walk around our house on Christmas Day you will find Toblerones hidden in different select areas. That's so that no one confuses whose Toblerone is whose and believe me, we know!
Mine is usually gone either before or after breakfast.
These stocking stuffers have been a part of the family ever since my family lived in the Azores and mom saw them in the store on base.
When she came back to the states, she was always able to find select stores that would sell them. For about the past ten years or so, you can pretty much find them everywhere.
But in our house, they shall forevermore remain an annual novelty!

Raman for Christmas

So, my brother, Steven, and his family came up north to mom's for Christmas.
Sadly, my four year old nephew promptly got sick. He threw up for over 15 hours which landed him a visit to the Gaylord ER. Poor guy! The next day, my niece got sick.
This led to us all feeling terrible for them and having the conversation about who had or had not been sick on Christmas in the family. To which I said, "I've never been sick on Christmas", and yes there was a touch of pride in my voice when I said it.
Christmas Eve rolled around with best wishes for us all to be able to celebrate the next day together. Not so!
I got sick all through the night and woke up to my mom being sick and unable to get out of bed the entire day. That afternoon my brother got sick.
The only one who managed to not get sick was Bethanne, my sister-in-law. She "says" she did feel pretty queasy at times.......yeah, whatever!
And so began the raman, tea and toast for Christmas. Ever so sadly, the roast got put into the freezer for another day. The next few days were bananas, crackers, pudding, jello and you guessed it, more raman.
I know....... jealous aren't ya?

Merry Christmas!

OK, so I'm a few days late, but then again, that's all in the perspective of when Christmas was actually celebrated. And in our house, that was last night. After a lengthy four days, we were all able to enjoy together the long awaited prime rib & mashed potatoes complete with dessert while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Girard & Ella

I made Girard and Ella for MiAnna & Andre Ross, my niece and nephew.
I really liked making the stuffed animals a lot
and I think I'll try my hand at a few more.
I fell in love with these guys,
but it was more fun seeing them go to their new owners
where I know they will be cared for more enthusiastically ;o)

Meet Room 42!

JeremyZelner

Alfonso

Jalal

Desmond

Darryl

Jamaica

Brittany

Marie

Kabira

Jasmine

Camille

Let's Support Our Own

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ud1Bk3Ns-E

This seems familiar......

We've been taken over by the state and our superintendent is out.
What's new? Been there, done that.
What will it take for a real change to be accomplished?

http://www.wxyz.com/news/story/Calloway-Fired-as-DPS-Superintendent/wdFH3vPuZ0Ogr617I027Fg.cspx

Same Old, Same Old

Ever get tired of being in the same spot?
I think Otto is a bit bored and perhaps, slightly frustrated.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328480/Otto-the-octopus-wrecks-havoc.html

(I 1st heard about this story on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/ which is one of my favorite podcasts.)

Out with the Old, In with the New

I finished the Dresser!
Off went the shellac, which didn't come off without a fight and made for some extra sanding. I used Jacobean stain and finished it off with satin polyurethane. I'm very happy with the finished product. Taking my clothes out of the rubbermaid and putting them back in the dresser was a definite highlight.

Here's Hoping...

Teachers live for snow days.

So, they predict snow and my thoughts turn to:
"I hope we get at least 4 inches and that the snow hits in the middle of the night so the plows won't have a chance to catch up to it all".
Then I start to make a mental list of all the things I could do with a free day....

Then I go to bed and check out the window. There's nothing.
In the middle of the night I have to go to the bathroom and I check out the window again. There's nothing.

I'm still completely hopeful even so.

Wake up, look out the window and, you guessed it, there's only a dusting. If you can call it that.
Complete disappointment. I wish I were up north.
Once again, everywhere but the Metro Detroit area got lots of snow. Boo Hiss.

But, a glimmer of hope exists. We might get snow on Thursday........

I'm Back

I know, I haven't posted much since I broke my camera in Europe. Well, I bought a new camera, so here we go. To me, it's more fun to tell a story with pictures.

MiAnna's 1st Birthday!

In keeping with Korean tradition, 4 items were laid out in front of MiAnna:
a sword, a book, money & a string,
to see which one she would choose.
She choose money.
Prosperity and success; a girl after my own heart!

Fun with Grandma Gennette

More fun with Grandma & Grandpa Beach
A Family Photo
(This took some work to get...)

Big Brother, Andre Ross
has to help out because
MiAnna is more interested in playing with the ribbons

The Baby Blanket I made for her
Walking Strong

Thanksgiving up north

Scenes from one of my favorite ski trails at mom's. It was snowing like crazy. The big fat snowflakes and it couldn't have been more beautiful or fun to play in.

Beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhudXJepBAA

Quirks

This idea came my way per Rebekah Craft. Fun stuff. So, here are my quirks:

1. I sleep with a light on and the bedroom door open --too many murder mystery books. I figure I need to be able to see whatever is coming my way.
2. I usually read anywhere from 4-8 books at a time, which is why I never finish books quickly, well, unless it’s Harry Potter. I start reading something and then I come across another book I get equally excited about and I start reading that and there’s always a few magazine articles in the mix, not to mention the continuous line of audio books, which are my favorite. What can I say? I’m easily distracted.
3. My desk at school is a giant mess. Since the day I started, it’s always been a colossal disaster with assorted half eaten food items, coffee and tea stains on half the papers, kids lost items, gardening seeds, science experiments, you name it. It’s always a mountain of papers and no matter how much I sort, it continues to overflow. I’ve given up trying to organize it. I know right where everything is though…..mostly!
4. I’ve got to be able to walk barefoot in my house, so the floor’s gotta be clean.
5. I’ve been getting manicures with a little Asian lady solely for the purpose of her giving me a jade plant. That was the whole reason I even decided to get my nails done there because I got sucked in from the window to needing to see those jades up close and personal. You should see the jade plants she has in her shop! They’re like trees. Unbelievable. The first time I went there I told her how awesome they were and she said, “You like them. I give to you. You come back and I give to you. I throw them out. We got so many. They grow too much.”
6. I can’t eat an orange if it has any of that white stuff hanging off of it, so I sit there peeling all the little strings off…..Yeah, it’s tedious.

Orange

Hillary Clinton wore a very smart looking orange suit to the DNC last night. Since everyone's giving their opinion, I thought I'd give mine. It's sharp, smart and what a great color!

Whining....

So, I get home from vacation and in my mailbox is a letter from the DPS offices saying that we wouldn't be getting paid on our regular day this week in order to save costs and that we'll be getting paid a day later.....And that saves money how?

I am DPS

I am starting my 15th year of teaching,
14 of which have been in the Detroit Public Schools.

I love education. I love teaching. I really like being in Detroit.
Thankfully, my experiences have helped to make me better at teaching. I love working with the kids/ students, whatever background, whatever race, sp ed or gen ed, science or reading, it's all good.

Don't love the bureaucracy.

Don't love the union. (they get a LOT of my money)

Don't love the incompetency of what seems to be the majority in leadership.

Don't love the millions of dollars that are wasted in our district.

This is the 6th Superintendent to take over the district that I've worked under (give or take a few, as I've lost count).

This year marks the last of our contract and so, I have the added bonus of preparing mentally and financially for a strike come fall. Will Connie Calloway be the one to break the union? I think eventually another major city besides New Orleans is going to fall and I just wonder if I really want to be a part of that...

I came across this article (dated July 20, 2008)

http://www.macsb.org/NewsIndex.php?parm1=229

All year long this past year I've been wondering what was going on with the DPS first-class status. Detroit is the only district in the state to have 100,000 students +, making them a "first-class district". Arguable wording I know. Well, until last year that is. How we have avoided falling below that # last year I don't know because I am certain that we were under that number as of 2007-2008.

Anyway, our state legislature voted to redefine first-class to a new threshold of 60,000 students, because heaven forbid that we would loose our $15 million special funding bonus for being the largest district. So, we can all stop holding our breath now. Let's also not forget the fact that DPS is $400 million in the hole, have a 75% drop-out rate and under the provisions there will be no audit.

What is wrong with this picture??

You know, like when you were a kid and you watched Captain Kangaroo, there was this game called, "One of these squares is not like the other".

How exactly does 1 district get to 400 million in the hole?

Thankfully, J. Granholm also allotted funding for the small school iniative with lots of incentives for those "dreaded charter schools".

Hey, I believe in public education and plan to remain a part of it.

I also believe in good, old-fashioned, healthy competition. If someone else can do it better, they should. I mean where would we all be without Wal-Mart?

If you lived in Detroit, would you send your kids to DPS?

P.S.

In case you're wondering, the "I am DPS" slogan began with our former superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Burnley who spent a good 5 minutes reiterating the slogan in new and savvy ways during his first year in. We've had a good deal of fun with it ever since.

Holy Places in Brussels

Notre -Dame du SablonEntrance of ND

Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule

Paris Houses of Worship

Yes,
I realize that I'm missing some amazing churches
from lovely Paris
however
I only had one day
and these are the ones I saw.
Truly amazing that even the small ones are
elaborate and gorgeous on the inside.

Église de la Sainte-TrinitéCenter doorway of Notre Dame

Temple de la Visitation Sainte-Marie
of La Marias
It just got restored/cleaned-up last year.

Cathedrals in Bruges

Church of Our Lady
from two
different viewpoints

Basilica of the Holy Blood has an Upper and a Lower Chapel.
The Upper is above.

The part that looks like a castle is actually the City Hall.
The Basilica has the lower roof line.

This is the Lower Chapel