"I've seen that face before..."

I was on my way home from class today, and this kid got on the bus that looked oddly familiar. He had an unusually effeminate voice, and carried on a chatty conversation with the driver that was loud enough for the whole bus to hear. He told the driver he was visiting a friend. I caught sight of an "American Idol" wristband, and suddenly put two and two together. He was on American Idol last year, and Simon told him he looked like a bush baby. Apparently he is back for another round tomorrow when American Idol hits Salt Lake. Watch for him when they air it in the fall--I'm sure they will show him again, because he fits into the category of contestants who are really...unusual.

Memories

Here's a tag my sister posted on her blog. It's been fun to read the responses to hers and others who have done this.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Contraband

Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the illegal fireworks that get confiscated? Ryan and I watched an impressive display last night compliments of our local highway patrolman. He said they are confiscated contraband--at least, that's his story, and he's sticking to it. I think it even rivaled the city's display they do on occasion.

We watched them with a neighbor down the street. I'm not sure if the neighbor was more interested in watching the display, or in making sure his house didn't catch on fire. There were a few that came pretty close to landing on his roof. Fun times for all!

Wanna know why they're called "squash bugs?"

...'cause if you don't SQUASH them, they'll eat your squash. Nasty little bugs. They are kind of hard to squash, too. Last year I had a zucchini plant that died after a long struggle. Once it was dead, I noticed a whole herd of these critters tromping all over the wilted remains of the plant. I just found a couple of them again on my zucchini yesterday, and I've now declared war. I found some helpful information at this website. They recommend leaving a board out next to your susceptible plants, and checking in the morning for squash bugs that have sheltered there for the night. You know what happens next... *!* They have blue guts, by the way.

Incentives, incentives!

I teach the 8-year-olds in primary, and by the time we make it through sacrament meeting, primary class and get to sharing time, the kids are pretty much done with being on their best behavior (not that their behavior was ever very good to start with). The primary chorister is always coming up with ways to try to trick them into enjoying the last hour, with mixed results.

This past Sunday, it was "rhythm sticks". She had 5 sets of sticks--one with the end colored orange, the other with the end colored green. Five kids would gather around the music stand at the front of the room, and follow the color-coded system she had marked to make noise to "Called to Serve Him." As is typical with primary, all the kids were anxious to have a turn, so the chorister told the kids who had just finished banging their sticks to "go find someone with their arms folded who is being reverent."

I have one boy in my class who is incredibly shy. I think a lot of that comes from fear of doing things wrong or messing up in front of other people. He grins a lot, but that's usually all I get out of him on any given day. He is typically the most conversational when I am sitting next to him in sharing time, and he can quietly whisper little side comments to me. I looked over while the chorister was rounding up the next batch of volunteers, and noticed that he had his hands shoved in his pockets as far as they could possibly go. He giggled, and then whispered, "I'm not folding my arms, because I don't want to get picked to go do that."

The cheesiest book I have read in a long time...with a side of corn.

The past couple of years at school (last year especially) I've seen more students than I can count carting around books from the Twilight series. I haven't been particularly inclined to read it myself, but I have heard lots of people gush about how it's their favorite book. Regardless of my own personal opinion of the book, I think it has been a powerful force in getting kids to read. I have never seen so many kids reading books at school, and it hasn't stopped once they finished Twilight. They come back for more, and are picking up all kinds of books. They are even (not so covertly) reading during my class! Because I think it's so great that they are reading, I don't get mad until I've asked little Knarblethorpe to put the book away for the umpteenth time in one class period because she is reading it every time I glance away from her while I'm teaching IMPORTANT STUFF that she will be clueless about at the end of class because her nose was in a book the whole 90 minutes (minus the 8 minutes I actually had her attention). I sound grumpy about it, but actually it tickles me pink, even though I'm not currently teaching English.

So anyway, the book itself. If you love Twilight, maybe just skip this part, because I love you, and I don't want you to hate me. I'm not quite done with it yet (and I'm not sure why I'm trying to finish it), but from the 2/3rds that I've read so far, it is the goopiest, sappiest thing I have encountered in ages. Good land! If you deleted all the parts that described people's eyes, amazing physical beauty and their frequent looks of "frustration" on their faces, I think it would cut the book in half. This has all the sappy romance of Jane Eyre, mixed with a vampire who is drop-dead gorgeous (pun intended) and has all of the draw of the ultimate "bad boy" you should never date but feel curiously, self-destructively drawn to. Their relationship has all of the superficiality of Romeo and Juliet, and seems to be based mostly on the fact that what's-her-name is completely in love with Edward's physical appearance. She doesn't even know the guy, nor does he really know her. I've run out of things to say. I think I'm going to sign off and go finish the book.

My new weapon of choice

I've used a lot of different cleaning products over the years. I've used Soft Scrub with Bleach for a long time, because it seemed to get everything really clean. Everything, including my lungs. Especially over the last few years, I've noticed that after a really big cleaning job (like scrubbing down the tile in the shower), I still feel like I'm breathing bleach fumes for a few days afterwards, even if I'm not in the room I had cleaned. Maybe that's why I don't love cleaning the bathroom...we'll blame it on that.

Anyway, I found this website that has a bunch of different recipes for "green" cleaning products you can make yourself. (I had to type in "recipe" on the website's search function, because the link to the recipes wasn't very obvious.) I tried out the creamy cleanser yesterday, and it worked a treat! I would have to say it is as good if not better than Soft Scrub as far as cleaning capabilities, plus having the added bonus that I don't have a fume-induced cleaning hangover today.

Creamy Soft Scrub
suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer (optional)
Mix together and store in a sealed glass jar, shelf life of 2 years.

Tips: For exceptionally tough jobs spray with vinegar first—full strength or diluted, scented—let sit and follow with scrub. Dry soft scrubs can be made with baking soda or salt (or combination of both) with 10-15 drops essential oil to scent

This took me a little bit to get all of the ingredients, and figure out where to find them. Castile soap, essential oils and vegetable glycerine can be found at a health food store. I would recommend calling around first. The castile soap I found was already scented with lavender, so I didn't add any of the essential oils. I also discovered in the process that lavender and Ryan don't get along, so I will be looking for a different flavor that works for us. Some of the essential oils are pretty potent, so a "sniff test" might be in order before you buy it. The oil, soap and glycerine are a little bit of an investment up front (in the $8 to $10 dollar range), but in the long run it is much more cost effective than what you would spend on a similar cleaning product in the store.

The other side of the grade book.

I had the opportunity on Wednesday to experience life from the other side of the grade book. I took a midterm for the class I'm taking this summer, and I must say, it was an interesting experience. I think it is very healthy for teachers to experience things from student perspective on occasion.

The first thing that came to mind when I read several of the questions was (instead of the answer to the question), "What kind of a question is that? This doesn't reinforce the core concepts we have covered so far...!" I think "minimally meaningful minutia" is probably the best way to describe a good chunk of it. We'll see how it went next week when we get them back. I guess that is one very big plus to being on the taking end of a test--I don't have to waste a weekend grading them. =)

Walls so blue, and sunshine yellow

Very blue.
Very yellow. Fortunately both shots are of only one wall, a wall I am hoping to be able to use as the back of the room for a number of reasons--one of them being that if I don't have time to paint before school starts, it's not going to be the focal point of the room.


I managed to make it over to my new room again. This time I brought my camera so I could document how interesting the walls are. I'm slowly making headway on things. In these pictures, I can't blame all of the mess on the former occupant--most of the piles are mine. It's been hard finding time to get over there, because the school is only open Monday-Thursday, which also happen to be the days I have class or am working. I still have plenty of time before school starts though, right...? Just a little over a month and I'm back. I'm not ready to think about that yet.

An Enchanted Forest

It's been a while since I've been on. Ryan and I went to Washington to be with my family for a weekend. It was a lot of fun! It was also more green than I have ever seen anywhere else. On one of the days we were out there, we went and visited Beard's Hollow. With a name like that, you can't go wrong. It was so beautiful, it was cheesy beyond words. I loved tromping through it, even though I was doing it in my sandals (not a good idea).


Mom went on the hike with me.