Making our own leftovers

This year, Werty's huge family decided to disperse to ID or to in-laws' for Thanksgiving. So, we went to my grandparents' house in SLC, taking Glump with us. Werty made his beet-root pie. I was a little stressed about it, but we had a great time. I even got Werty and Glump to play the old family favorite with me - Clue. "Mystery Mansion Clue" to be exact. I won. :D Thursday evening Glump, Sue and I went to see Twilight again. It was better the second time around.

Since we didn't have any leftovers from the actual holiday, I made a mini-Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I made a ham, my version of candied yams (Werty said they were the best ones I had ever made), Werty's second beet-root pie, and stuffing. Now we have leftovers for the next week. Oh, and I actually baked an apple pie this weekend. (Julie can I have a copy of your apple pie recipe? I can still remember how good yours are!)

This break was my first chance to really spend time unpacking and organizing...even though we moved 3 months ago. I have just been that busy. (Werty was given the job of unpacking, but let's face it, he has different priorities for what needs to be dealt with first). The living room looks worse now, because stuff was shuffled around. However, I finally have all the clothes unpacked and closets organized. There are only two boxes left in the bedroom - bathroom stuff mostly. Werty worked on the 3rd bedroom which will be our exercise/video game/guest room/Werty's tool storage room. It's a small room, but we have lots of plans for it. The office is still a mess, but the box piles are shorter now. I am the one that is good at deciding where something should live permanently, so not having time to help has been a problem. (My goal is to be comepletely unpacked before the Christmas holiday.) Unfortunately, I still have about 100+ powerpoint projects to correct, as well as a pile of response journals and essay tests. I guess I will be doing that on Sunday, even though I don't like to do work-related stuff on the Sabbath. I hope everyone had a good holiday!

Tag from Ddonn

Choosing the 12th pic from my folders that have at least 12 images in them - cuz I don't have 12 folders of pics. Most of my pics are on my memory card, not actually uploaded to my computer. I guess we should take more pics. Here is Werty last Thanksgiving at Bear Lake, UT. Brrr.


Here is the 12th image from my "screenies" folder - screenshots from FFXI. Werty and I hanging out in the Castle in San d'Oria, our home nation.

The 12th pic from Werty's graduation pics. Werty, Zinx, and one of their little sisters. (Haha - none of the pics of me are the 12th pic - which is fine by me!)

So, if you would like to - choose the 7th pic from your 7th folder to share on your blog.

Movie Trivia and Twilight Critique

How many characters played by Will Smith can you name? There was an activity at a training meeting where we had to identify movie lines. One of my favorite games. Besides naming the movie and the actor, we also had to know the character's name.

"I didn't hear no fat lady."
"Fat lady. You're obsessed with the fat lady."
And I realized that Will Smith is such a big name entertainer that I don't remember the name of the actual characters he plays. How many can you name?

Here's the quote that most of the people at the meeting didn't get, but I did. Can you name the movie? (I guess most of the other first year teachers were too young to know.)
"Interesting game - the only logical move is not to play."

Speaking of movies, Werty went with me to see Twilight this afternoon. After the first half, I wondered why my sister Sue would be willing to see it a second time. After the second half, I wanted to see it again too. I liked what they chose to leave in, etc. My only beef was the cinematography and dialogue - not sure if the blame goes to the script or the editing because the lines they had were good. A little less long takes, a little more dialogue please. It's a difficult thing to transpose a book that takes place in someone's thoughts into a movie. I'm not a purist who demands they stick to the book. But usually, movies add dialogue to compensate. Twilight chose voice overs and long takes instead. It made the falling in love sequences a little awkward. There were times when people in the theater laughed when they weren't supposed to laugh. Bad sign. Other times, the laughing was at the right times - a good sign. The action of the second half of the movie, once their feelings for one another was established, really saved the film. Recently, movie makers seem to think they have to hit their audience over the head with something or else we won't get it. It felt that way with all the long shots. Subtlety is part of good acting. It's what draws you in. The cinematography got in the way of the acting - but there were perfect moments between the two, so I don't blame the acting. I'm glad I went and saw it. I agree with Ddonn, they did a good job capturing the green of the Pacific Northwest, and it does make someone like me feel homesick.

Klari got the job!

My sister-in-law Klari will be the new math teacher for the grade 4-6 gifted program. When I saw the job posting, I encouraged her to apply. She wasn't sure if she wanted to teach this year since her son is only in kindergarten. But this job is prefect for her - it's only 10 hours a week. So congratulations Klari!!!

Also, one of the counselors paid me a compliment today. She said that I have a high retention rate comparatively - that is, students like my class well enough that they aren't requesting transfers. Not a big deal, but enough that someone noticed. So, I must be doing something right. :P

Kill 5th Period

They were not nice to the substitute today. I arrived back to school from the field trip, exhausted and hoarse from walking all over for 4 hours while I am sick. I arrived the last few minutes of class to find the kids off task and the sub texting at my desk. Worst part was that the students all noticed the sub was texting. The classroom was in a shambles. I had to clean up colored pencils and textbooks scattered all over the classroom, at least a third of the colored pencils were snapped in half...causing me to be a few minutes late to my round table meeting...which means that they paged me over the intercom... and I had to wait until the end of the meeting to say my part because I arrived last. To add insult to injury, the front office named all the teachers that were to report who weren't there yet as "Mr. so-and-so" "Mrs. so-and-so" and then when they said my name, they called me by my first name. The building full of students just released from class, and I am called by my first name over the PA. Made my blood boil.

What consequence should I give to 5th period? Any ideas?

Jurassic Park Memories

Ddonn had a post about the book on her blog today. I had to read and write a paper on the book in 8th grade as a science assignment. The first time I saw the movie was on a field trip with my science class at then end of the year. But the SECOND time I saw the movie was a month later. June 21, 1993. The day after school got out for the summer. Hee hee. Anyone know why it was important? I do.

So, here is my run down for the week:
Monday - NHS after school activity
Tuesday - IC field trip chaperone to BYU's World Fest
Wednesday - all day long literacy training at the district (to get an endorsement I already have - but my presence is required by state law)
Thursday - IC working concessions at the BYU Bball game, none of the other advisors can make it, so Werty has to come with me to fulfill the 2 adult requirement
Friday - visiting teachers, followed by FFXI static
Can I just say - I hate having to create lesson plans for substitutes?

Friday dinner with GLump

GLump called earlier this week to invite himself and a mystery girl over for dinner. Knowing that by Friday I am dead to the world and not up to entertaining, we decided to go out to a restaurant. Turns out the mystery girl was a pleasant surprise - one of my former students that GLump works with. She couldn't believe that GLump and I were siblings. She was one of my all time favorite students, so it was a good evening.

Also, I am sick once again. I haven't had a lot of sick students - but Sue was sniffly last week when we went shopping. I figure that's what did me in. Walking home from work in the cold twice in the last week probably didn't help matters either. It takes about 30-35 minutes. Now I know.

One of my Seniors decided to drop my class and only do the partial program. Sad. But she wasn't really keeping up, so maybe it's for the best. She can concentrate on other priorities now, since my class wasn't one of them. (After a month of discussing the Manifesto, a student should be able to write an essay on the principles of Marxism, don't you think?)

The Unexpected

This last week there was the A+ student who took the answer key and cheated...the multi-pierced rocker who decided to try out for the school basketball team. Teenagers surprise you and keep you on your toes.

Werty and I took time to go out on a date last Thursday to go see WallE again before it leaves the dollar theater. I love that movie! When you think about how little actual dialogue there is, it is amazing. So much of the story is told through expressions. Plus, I'm a big "Hello, Dolly!" fan. Only problem is, it puts the music in your head for days...

Friday night my sister Sue and I went shopping. Mervyn's going out of business sale. Sad. Bought new jeans and work clothes. Spent way too much. Saturday we were supposed to head to ID, but Werty wasn't feeling up to the long drive. Sad.

WWI Debate

My class had a good debate over the origins of WWI today. It wasn't quite the same as when I was an IB student - but that was mostly because there were about 1/3 of the number of students. The vote was a 3 way tie - between Serbia, A-H, and Russia. There was one independent study student who wasn't in class - I guess she will have to watch the video and cast the deciding vote.

My favorite show was preempted tonight and next week. How sad. Don't they know it's the one show I allow myself to look forward to each week? :P

Afraid they might melt...

We bought trick or treat candy last week, but once I put it in a bowl it didn't look like enough. So, the afternoon of Halloween we went and bought some more. We went to our ward dinner, but skipped the trunk or treat and came home to give out candy. (Werty's siblings had their trunk or treat right before our wards'...in the same parking lot...and they came in to the dinner to let us know that they thought it was time for us to head home so that they could trick or treat at our house.) As we headed home, it started to rain a little. Werty's siblings came and then only a few more people. So sad. Our new complex is known for attracting a large number of trick-or-treater. Our last apartment would have about 1-2 families each year, so we were looking forward to having more people. I think because Halloween was on Friday, most people had trunk or treats and parties and didn't do the door to door. It was really warm out, but maybe they were afraid they might melt in the rain...Thankfully, we didn't open all the bags of candy so we can take some of it back to the store. :P

Also, I emptied 2 more boxes this weekend! Go me!