Milk Everywhere

These little guys are making a mess everywhere!!!

Six Little Orphan Kitties

Okay, my friend and her kids pulled up to my house Sunday night. Do I still want some kittens? she said. Yes, of course (that's my standard reply when it comes to kittens). Well, the neighbor lady (aka super-crazy-cat-lady) said one of her cats was missing and had left six kittens behind. My friend's husband had heard them walking home from church they were crying so loud. (Of course, this guy wanted to just do away with them.) So I go out to the pickup and there in a box are six squirmy kittens that are thankfully just old enough to almost eat on their own. About 3-4 weeks I would say. Yes, some of them lap up the milk from the bowl, but they all prefer to suck something. Generally this sucking involves claws and teeth in some way. I don't know how momma cats do it!!!!! Anyway, about four times a day, my daughter and I feed them. This process takes about 40 minutes. They are so cute though. I can't wait until they grow a little more and can eat. I worry too much that they are getting enough or too much. I will keep you updated and add pictures later.

Project Green Update

Well, I have now given away 34 bags and made a total of 57 (16 last night). Our trash group actually went to pick up this morning without me reminding them. A step in the right direction. We also have three very full boxes of old plastic bags to take to walmart for recycling. Already had volunteers to help. The recycling group is also working on a contest to see who can bring the most cans for recycling.

Earth Day Bag Give-Away!!!!

Welcome to Earth Day! My class has been working on environmental projects for about a month now. I divided them into three groups and they chose their topics. One group is doing water conservation, another trash and pollution and the other is doing recycling. They have worked really hard. The recycling group has called every county employee trying to get a true recycling program in our small rural town. Unfortunately, they have not met with many people that were willing to help. Let's call all three projects "in progress". I told them, since they did not vote to do a project on plastic bags, that I would be in charge of that one. A couple of students donated some fabrics to reuse. I took these fabrics and made them into reusable shopping bags. I even made my own stamp out of some old packing materials that were headed to the trash, and stamped our project name on them. ---Project Green 2008--- I have now given each student one and we are now giving them out to any student in the school who brings a bundle of plastic sacks to recycle. This morning I gave out nine bags to the first and kindergarden students. I talked to their classes yesterday about our project. Three of my own students have also brought bags to trade. Well, we are doing our best to make this Earth a better place. I hope you have great plans for Earth Day too. Please post a comment about how you will participate in Earth Day so that I can share it with my class. Also, look for a give away PIF on my Etsy site. I will give one of these bags away to anyone around the world.

Update:

We have now given away 30 bags. We have 11 left and I have to go home and make more!

I Think it's Fixed

Well, I didn't get any sewing done this weekend, but used the machine a little on Thursday and I think using the correct oil finally helped. It seems okay. The true test is when I run it for a couple of hours tonight. Almost through with all the reusable shopping bags I am making for our class project. I will post pictures of the piles of them tonight.

PS...My mom came for a visit to see my daughter play volleyball. We had a good, but short, visit. Wish she lived closer!

Calling all Singer Repair-people!!!

Okay. I oiled it, it was running much better, and now it is going clank, clank! I only used it about an hour! Now I am frantically searching the internet for advice. If you know anything about really old sewing machines, please contact me.

My Poor, Poor Old Sewing Machine!

Yes, I made most of the rice bag innards last night. Still have the covers to make and about 20 reuable shopping bags to finish. My class is working on an ecology project and my part is to take recycled materials and make shopping bags. But, after all of this continuous sewing, my machine is starting to rattle a bit and I am not going to use it until I locate the oil and get it nice and oily on the inside. From the diagram, it could take from 2-8 hours for me to figure out where it all goes. I haven't used my machine much in the past few years.

Rice Bag-o-Rama

A good friend and former co-worker of mine just emailed me and wants to order 12 rice bags! Yay!! Isn't it amazing that my local sales are making me tons more money than my Etsy worldwide website? Thank goodness for friends. BTW I love my new neck bag and I am having a hard time keeping it because my daughter keeps using it for her volleyball soreness. Another friend wants me to make one that she can wear around her back. That's one I will have to figure out. OH, and can someone go to town and get me some rice from Wallyworld? I'm running low for some reason.

Oh, and check out my new MIT Theater T-shirt.

Testing Question

This past week I had to give a state test called the TAKS test to the fifth grade class. At part of the test, students are given a piece of paper that has measurement info and rulers printed on it to use on the test. The test instructions called this a "seperate mathmatics chart". The instructions I had to read repeated the fact that the students could not write on this chart probably seven or eight times. It got a bit rediculous. Anyway, all the students were feeling a bit tense and everytime I had to read that part again I would kind of grin at the craziness of it. The kids would roll their eyes. Finally I got to the end of the instructions and, of course, it asked, "Are there any other questions?" I looked around at the class. One boy raised his hand and a smile came to his face. He asked, "Mrs. M, are we allowed to write on the seperate mathmatics chart?" With this, the class collectively laughed and a rush of tension left the room so we could begin the test. Someday that kid is going to write sitcoms for TV!

Last Night's Visitors

We had two visitors last night on our back porch. My husband was out watering, and called us all to come and look. There were two hummingbird moths feeding on our new hanging baskets. I grabbed my camera and started shooting. They were really hard to catch with my digital, but I took tons of pics so I ended up with quite a few shots. By the end of my battery life, the little guys were flitting all around us, making circles around me especially, and hovering around my legs. I was able to stand super close to the flowers. They didn't seem bothered at all by our presence or my camera flash. Aren't they the cutiest moths you have ever seen?

Oprah's Puppy Mill Show

This show was so sad! We just watched it last night on our DVR. My MIL had told my husband about it. As a dog lover, I cannot believe these people can live with themselves for treating animals the way they do, just to make a buck! There will be a special place in the afterlife for these horrible people. It makes me want to quit my job and go around with the people who save these animals. They are all so sweet. I would take them all and end up with way too many dogs myself I guess. I am attaching a picture of Bella. We rescued her from a shelter which had put back her E-date because she was so sweet they couldn't bare to put her down. Unfortunately she died shortly after we got her, but it was sweet while it lasted. I still miss her, but I know she has a comfortable place up in heaven beside my daddy, Prince and Ginger.

Stop Me If You Have Heard This One

This is an old one but it really happened. In fact, I think it has happened more than once, but never to me.

My husband was on playground duty one day. The kids know not to come tattle all the time to him, but if something really bad happens they should let him know. So, one of the more well behaved children comes up to him and says "B said the F-word!" Suddenly, this child has my husband's full attention. This is a pretty big transgression for an elementary student. Before he set the punishment in motion, he wanted to be sure that this student had heard B clearly. After interviewing her for a minute or two he asked her to repeat the word.
"You won't be in trouble," he told her, "I just need to know exactly what B said."
"Well...." the little girl hesitated, "He said fart." After my husband stopped laughing he actually called B over and told him not to say fart again.


BTW: The S-word is shut up!

Elementary Teacher Predictions

You know, when you spend eight hours a day for 138 or more days a year with a group of kids, in your head you start making predictions about what they will be and who they will become. It is inevitable! One year I had a class so wild, so unruly, and so defiant, I could swear that some of them were destined for Huntsville! I kept this to myself of course. I didn't really want to think ill of them. Most of them were sweet souls with no self control at all. Well, I don't know much about what happened to this class. I do know that one of the worst of the bunch is now happily married with....get this....six children! I am so glad he is not in jail. Now, as for the teachers who work in that area....prepare yourselves!

My Favorite Story

I've got lots of funny and sad stories. This is my favorite.

Teachers don't have favorites. Teachers don't have pets. I will always stand by this as true. But if I did have a favorite it would have to be one of the most rambunctious, rowdy students I ever had. This is the kid that you had to tell twenty times a day to sit down or be quiet. "D, don't drum on the desk...pay attention...leave them alone." And yet, this kid has a special place in my heart. It didn't take me long to see once the year started, that D was not what he seemed. He wasn't the troublemaker that I had been led to believe. Instead, I saw what should have been obvious. I beautiful heart inside that constantly moving body. Also, what I soon determined, was that the other boys in the class would constantly pick at him and try to make him mad. Especially at PE class. They soon learned though, that I saw right through them. By the end of the year I hated to see D go. I hated to think he was going to another classroom. Who would be teaching him? Would they understand him? Or would he end up constantly in trouble? Constantly being yelled at? Put down? It broke my heart to see him go. My class has never been quite the same since. The best part of the story is the next year. I would see him in the halls and he would always give me a big hug and talk to me for a minute. One day, before school he handed me a folded piece of construction paper that he had made into a card. It said, "I love you. Thanks for taking my side against J and C." That is one piece of paper that I will always treasure as much as anything my own daughter has made. I still think about and pray for him. I hope that he is surrounded by people that understand and support him. Someday I hope to travel across Texas to see him play football. But, of course, I don't have any favorites. Never! I love you D!