All Summer in a Mantel

So...the bunny mantel stayed up through the end of May.

Yeah.

'Cause ain't nobody got time for decorating in May.

With the arrival of summer comes lighter clothes, lighter food, and lighter mantels.

DD#2 and I added the banner today, and after much fiddling and fidgeting, got it placed just where we wanted.  

The bike was a thrift store find a few years back.  Isn't it fun?

 

All the flowers in my yard are off to a slow start because of our delayed spring, so I made some from circles of tissue paper and twigs. 

 

 The paper pack used for the banner is the best $5.00 I've ever spent at Michael's; it's shown up in all sorts of projects.  

Lighter and brighter.  

One project down, about 122, 345, 875 to go. 

Be blessed,

Ginger

linking here

Hello Monday: First Full Week of Summer Edition

Hello, Monday!  

Hello, June.  I heart you and your sun and flowers and lazy days projects!

 

Hello, near-death experience. 

Recovering with a nap on DD#1's bed.  Excuse the unfolded laundry.  Teen believes bed=closet.

 Katniss slipped out the back door this morning and into the jaws of the dog.  I awoke to the sounds of vicious battle,
 but Big Red prevailed. 

My hero--plants gardens, does dishes, saves lives.  

 In typical feline fashion, Katniss was traumatized but not particularly grateful.

Hello, dental work.  I weally wuuve having a numb mouph. 

Hello, summer Bible study. 

 

 Day three and you're already eating my lunch.  

Hello dirty house.  I've ignored your piles of junk, but now it's crunch time.  I shall be relentless...

right after I finish my new library book.

Be blessed, 

Ginger

Linking back up here.

The Merry, Merry Month of May

Though for several reasons it shouldn't be, May is one of my favorite months.  

It's a month of new green, daisies in ditches, lavender sunsets, misty sunrises.

It's also a month when those things whiz by, glanced at in passing as we dash from one end-of-school responsibility to the next.  

Then one day, the calendar is empty, and the green and the daisies and the sunsets are still here,

and I breathe deeply for the first time in a long time.

In Dickens-ish terms, this school term was the best of years and the worst of years, much I would deem successful and much that I'd deem..not so much.

On the personal front, there's much I learned and much I'm still muddling (muddying?) through.

2013 is half over (!!!), and in it, I've pondered what makes a good pastor and what women's ministry looks like and how one navigates teens and mid-life and whether I really am a speaker or a blogger or a teacher.

I've chewed on 1 John and wondered if I love people, really. 

I'm still thinking and praying, but now it's from the porch 

with a view of new green and daisies and lavender.

Be blessed,

Ginger

May in Memos

Attn: School Board

Re: calendar

Whoever decided to have a month of school after testing does not teach.  Just sayin'.

Signed,

A Tired Teacher

Attn: Blogger

Re: Font Sizes

I can't get happy.  Every font I like is either microscopic or gigantic.  Apparently, "normal" is for people without bifocals and "large" is for kindergarteners.  Please remedy.  

Thanks,

A Bifocal-ed Blogger

P.S.   While you're at it, could you write a few posts for me?  Thanks.

Attn: Waistline

Re: Size

Pls. ignore dessert helpings.  Sugar needed to survive next few days.  Thks.

Signed,

Distracted Dieter

Attn: Weather

Re: Rain

Go away.  Come again another day.

Thanks,

A Soggy  Seed Sower

Attn: Katniss the Kitten

Re: Advice

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Thks,

The Mgt.

Attn: Slow Cooker

Re: Supper Every Night

We are BFFs.

Attn: Bloggy Friends

Re: Apology (With apologies to William Carlos Williams)

I have read your posts.

I liked them

And you probably expected me to say so.

Forgive me;

May is busy,

and my children have kidnapped the computer.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Hello, Monday--Single-Digit Days Edition

Hello, lovely readers!
Hello, Monday!
Finishing you puts the school countdown in the single digits.  
Even though I wasn't actually in school today, it still counts.
Hello, college visit day!  I'm overwhelmed; she's overwhelmed.  It was a lot to take in, and we're just getting started.  
Hello, soon-to-have-college-student-budget! Cha-ching,  Cha-ching.
Hello, warm weather.  With your late arrival comes full-blown allergy season.  Hello, scratchy throat and sinus headache.  
Hello, salted caramel iced coffee!  Found you at a cutie coffee shop outside of college town.  A definite reason to consider that school.  
Hello, hyperactive cat.   You just circled the living room in ten seconds flat.  My furniture might not survive your kitten-ness. 
Hello, sisters.  Shhh...I won't tell anyone that you are really good friends.
It'll be our secret.  
Be blessed,
Ginger

New Addition

Congratulations!

It's a girl!

(Um...we think.  She {he? it?} is quite modest and ...hairy.)

Meet...

Picture is blurry because subject is always in motion.

Katniss.  

Katniss has lived at our house for five days now, and so far she has

-hidden in the tupperware cabinet (frantic text from DD#1: "I'VE LOST KATNISS!!!);

-discovered a hole in the bottom of the china cabinet (it's an old jelly cabinet my dad rebuilt) large enough for her to pop through; we find her perched atop the extra coffee cups;

She helped out with the paperwork....

 -used my pajama-clad thighs as pincushions;

-frantically shadow-boxed the recliner (hilarious);

-attacked my right arm every morning while I do Bible study (evil kitty);

-greeted us loquaciously each afternoon when we come home from school.  

Saving the world from polka-dotted predators

Our previous cat exuded dignity snobbery; Katniss epitomizes viciousness playfulness.  

No toes are safe.  

May no mouse be safe.

Be blessed,

Ginger

 

Teacher Appreciation: An Insider's Preview

Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up soon, and I'm here with the scoop.

First I'm here with the confession: I was the mom who always intended to do some sort of Pinteresty-awesome teacher gifts and never. quite. got. to. it.  If that's you, it's totally okay. 

So, in lieu of a cute idea, I'll just offer a list of things I think you might need to know.

 (Pinned on my board; link to original broken)

 Ten Things You Never Knew About Teaching (Unless You're a Teacher)

1. We are well-versed in acrononyms:

     CRCT

     CCGPS

     RTI

     WBT

     EOCT

     ETC, ETC, ETC

     And I thought I was cool in the 4th grade when I knew what NASA meant.

2. We can make complicated things simple.  For example, when we teach the state-mandated anti-cyber-bulling lesson in "character education", we can take a three page suggested lesson and boil it down to what it actually means: Be Nice. 

When you are on Twitter, be nice.

When you are on Facebook, be nice.

When you are on Instagram, delete all your duck-face pictures and ...be nice.

See?  Complicated things made simple.

Which leads me to 

3. We don 't write the curriculum. We just teach it.

4. We don't mind being held accountable for our own work.  We have a problem with being held accountable for other people's work, like a student who throws the standardized test by "racing" to see if he can fill in all the bubbles in under 10 minutes.  (True story.)  "Pay for performance" sounds great on paper, but in practice it makes about as much sense as holding dentists responsible for whether their patients floss. 

5. All the scissors, suckers, stickers, pencils, etc.  in your child's class were probably purchased by the teacher out of her own pocket.  She may have purchased notebooks for students who showed up without any school supplies in August.   (Incidentally, in an effort to "tax the rich," and make them "pay their fair share", our small tax credit that reimbursed some of those funds will disappear next year.  Just sayin'.)

6. Middle school students are hormones with feet.  Some of us go home to our own little hormonal darlings, and then we look in the mirror and have hot flashes.  We do lots of hormones. 

7. We know many parents believe their children are brilliant and special.

We might agree.  Or not. ;-)

But we know that what most parents want is for their children to just be normal.  

The good news is they probably are.  

8. We wonder why we are supposed to differentiate and offer choices and recognize unique learning styles in students...and then give them a one-size-fits-all standardized assessment.  Yeah.

9.Our children have to hear about school all the time. Mine wish I'd give the summer planning a rest, but that never happens.

10.   If you've got any great, Pinteresty ideas about teacher gifts, share with me... and help me remember to get them together for my kids' teachers!

  Be blessed, 

Ginger