A counting we will go...

I just updated my counter on my blog because my first one died. Last time I looked it was at "444." I just got a more sophisticated counter which will not count my hits to the website. So, now I'll see if I am doing the majority of hits on my own blog. {smiley face} Of course, this new counter has site statistics which will be a huge timewaster! I can see how many first-time visitors, returning visitors (Hi Lauri!), busiest time of traffic, etc... They also have this really cool guestmap that you could add to your blog ~maybe after my master's thesis is done!

Grad Update: I spoke to my grad coordinator on Monday. We had a phone appt. at 1:30 p.m. I waited by the phone, then it was 1:31, 1:32...1:34. I just decided to call him, and he apologized profusely for forgetting about our phone appointment that took me 2 emails to set up. I asked him how I should read my interviews now that they are transcribed. He said I should view each one as a movie and review it. Then I should write down a maximum of 3 themes that emerge from each interview. Now to get motivated to do it!

Work News: I find out on Thursday {May 1st} what my school schedule will be for next year. I heard a rumor that I will be at one school, and I heard a more recent rumor that I'll be at 2 schools. I saw one of my prinicpals yesterday, and she wasn't spilling anything.

Rambling: Do you believe it's May already? I started signing up my kids for summer camps this week! I signed S* up for a Farm Camp at a local farm... I hope he likes it!

Question for you: What do you do with interesting tidbits of information that you read in magazines. Case in fact, I just read something about cool restaurants Portland in the "O" magazine, and I hate to lose that information. I was thinking of saving the page, but I have pages floating around that I never reference. Then I was thinking of making an excel spreadsheet, but then I thought it was way to obessive... Ideas? Thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!

Wildflower 08

I have been reading again lately. I finished Light on Snow by Anita Shreve this weekend. I have gotten into the habit of skimming fiction lately. So I wonder if I am reading or not. I started The Hours on Sunday, and I really like it. The author writes great descriptions of what depressed women are thinking. (I can identify with some of those thoughts!) It's a story of 3 women from different time periods. I watched the movie, but I don't remember how it all comes together in the end.

And....drumroll. Dale, Z* and I rode on the wildflower on Sunday. They offer 5 different bicycle routes. We did the 30 mile one which was all flat. Z* zoomed ahead and wants a road bike now. We caved in and got a jersey for him, even though his seahawks jacket is missing. We started planning next year. I would like to do the 65 miles, but I would have to train. We'll see if fantasy matches reality. We saw the Spanfelners on the way to Durham!

Kitchen... we have steps out to the patio. Dale built them Saturday while I was at Chico State pondering the lessons of lesson study!

Blog Candy

Most of the blogs I read are written by SU demostrators, and they sometimes offer blog candy... What is blog candy? From what I can tell they encourage posts and then randomly pick winners. I was thinking of offering "blog candy" as a celebration of 1,000 visits. The site, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman offer $500 gift cards to Amazon for some of her "blog candy." Of course, she has between 300-500 comments per post. Her blog is very entertaining, I'll have to say, though. Anyhooo... you can leave a post on My Life's inky escape and more to get some blog candy! Her drawing is Friday!

So I just bought this book from Amazon. It's written by the same author of "It Takes a Worried Man." He is writing about his experiences as an English teacher, and I like reading memoirs of teachers (so I don't think I am crazy.)

So, I was a little extra bossy today. I think being the STAR test coordinator has gone to my head a bit! Tomorrow is the last day of regular testing and then Friday I will be in a meeting all day at Chico State learning about Lesson Study. My quick synopsis of lesson study is: Research-Implement-Reflect-Revise-Redo (RIRRR?) with the last 3 R's going for as many iteriations as needed. I am excited because they have the top researcher in Lesson Study, Dr. Catherine Lewis as the speaker. Yes, I can talk academics in the breath after talking about blog candy!

On another note, I made the cutest card yesterday! I am going to try to make my mother's days cards this weekend ~ I am lusting after a tennis backpack for Mother's Day, but I can't decide if I should hint too much....

Thanks for stopping by!

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

So, I stole the whole "earth day" from another blogger because I just plain forgot. I feel like my biggest contribution against plastic reproduction is using my klean kanteen. I thought about buying one for 1 year. I bought it about 3 months ago, and I am happy with it. It's a little heavy, but it doesn't smell like plastic and it's reusable!

Here is my baby card that I made for one of my coworkers! It was so fun to make. It's hard to see, but the trim has polka dots on it.

So, did you anything for earth day? Leave me a post and let me know if you celebrated!

Thanks for visiting!

Kitchen pictures

The sliding door is installed! We had a BUSY weekend with little league, tennis, stampin' party, door installing and then fun stuff like grocery shopping. (And, at Winco, a woman told me (jokingly) that she hated me because I don't dye my hair. I'm a little stressed out this week because I am the STAR test coordinator for NCCS. (Wish me luck)

(Sorry pics are out of order and one is upside down - but I'm in a rush!)

Thanks for stopping by!

cardmaking!

I had to share this card I am about to copy for a baby shower on Friday for one of my coworkers. Wish me luck! I think this card is so darn cute!! It's posted on my friend Heide's blog.

Kitchen update: our new sliding glass door is at Home Depot!

Master's Update: finished interview #4, start interview #5 tomorrow. My grad advisor actually called me on Monday, and we had a great chat, but I guess I was talking too fast because he wrote in an email to me: "I just sometimes feel like I have to corral your mind as it does spin fast. " But no matter, I'm almost half way there, and I had students asking me when I was going to interview them (SCORE!) My mom is going to transcribe my interviews for me which took me all night to install software, upload sound files, find said files, copy them to a CD and, of course, beg Dale to come help me out when I got warning messages.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tax Day

This is a card that I made from a "sketch for you to try" I found on a blog. I actually didn't do any stamping because I used my rub-on set. Very fun!

I just finished a big birthday weekend. S* turned 8 and had 5 boys over to celebrate. He planned the whole party. I couldn't really relax until it was over (Sunday at 3:00 p.m.), and then I was just exhausted. My mom and friend also had a birthday last weekend.

I signed the family up for the Wildflower bike ride on April 27th. We are going to do the 30 mile ride. I told Z* that we need to get out there and practice. He informed me that he didn't need any practice because 30 miles is nothing. So, I made him do a ride Saturday night with me to Eastside Little League (4.8 miles). It was a little warm, but we did fine. I always have images of Z* and I having these really deep and revealing conversations while we are riding together, but didn't happen on Saturday. S*, on the other hand, is NOT happy about this family event. He is going to ride on the tagalong with Dale.

I saw a great play Monday night put on by Hearthstone (one of my schools). They did Romeo and Juliet. I nearly fell in love with Romeo myself, he was so believeable. It was a great production. The kids sat through the whole thing, so I am wondering if we are ready to go to Ashland to see more Shakespeare.

Well, no pics, just baseball fever. Z* got to pitch tonight which was exciting ot watch!
Thanks for stopping by!

Terrific Thursday

This is the album (girls and boys)that I am listening to everyday. Ingrid Michaelson. It's a mixture of pop & folk with her great vocals. I would highly recommend it!

Well... tonight I went to bb game #1 and skipped bb game #2 to come home and make blueberry muffins for S*'s class party tomorrow. I'm blogging because blogging and blueberry both start with b's and I wanted to upload some pics. The picture is of us playing Settlers of Catan. Usually when you play with adults it takes about 2-3 hours, but I think it took us 4ish hours spread over Sunday, Monday & Tuesday night. S* won the game after some encouragement. I don't think he wanted the game to end, so he took a while to make the winning move.

I played tennis last night. I was surprised I was able to hit the ball because I was so tired. Once I started playing though it woke me up. I was thinking that sports psychologists must do research on the dynamics of doubles' partners. Maybe I should get my master's in sports psychology! I noticed that when I play with a "better" player I tend to slack off a bit and have a hard time "getting into the game" because I am afraid I will make an error. Now that I have admitted that to the blogging world, I feel much better.

I found out that one of my (ex) students was in the paper today. The strange thing is that she allegedly stole a car and I saw her in school on Monday. I saw her with car keys, and I was curious, but she walked out claiming she had a "personal" day. Very sad.

To end on a happier note, I had a fabulous math day! I was working with a student on an exit exam problem and she had a break through with me. There were 2 other things, but it would take too much verbiage to explain. Maybe another post, another day!

Thanks for visiting! Off to make blueberry muffins!

Quick Note

Should I blogging before work? No, but I have so many things to share with you. I wore my new necklace yesterday from the luncheon and loved the look. I couldn't help but solicit affirmation from my coworkers. The responses ranged from: Yes, that looks nice! to Why are you showing off a piece of jewelry to me? We went to see the Chico science fair offerings yesterday afternoon. I ran into a teacher friend of mine, and her son turned in 2 projects. He had been working on one since the fall. One was an elaborate catapult that was constructed out of a kit (scale: 1/20). It was pretty amazing. She is already planning for next year when her son is in 6th grade because if he gets first place his project will go on to the state science fair. Both Z* and I got a little jealous-inspired. Z* started planning his project for 2009. Check with us in 3 months! He built a really cool marble track with recycled materials. I'll post a picture later.
Happy early birthday mom!
Thanks for visiting!

What shape are you?

I attended a luncheon that was sponsored by Omega Nu on Saturday. At the luncheon they had a boutique of handmade items and Amy and I bought necklaces. Amy was a model during the fashion show part of the luncheon. Teresa Morisco, the speaker talked about what to wear depending on your shape. She has a blog with wardrobe tips! It turns out that I am a triangle. It was a great way to spend Saturday afternoon after Z*'s first baseball game. Today was a slow day, I felt like I was attacked by allergies. I played tennis, rested and then played Risk (3.5 hours) with S* and Z* while I made chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Z* was so enthusiastic because he was winning. At one point S* was crying because he was not winning. After dinner, we played Settler's of Catan for about an hour, we'll have to finish it tomorrow. Settler's is usually a 2-3 hour game it combines elements of risk with monopoly.

Can't Wait!

Nothing much has happened except elaborate arrangements for bb practice at 5:30 and a bb game at 6:30 p.m. We have 2 on Saturday too. The weather has been absolutely perfect. My best news of the day, however, is that I have scheduled a doubles match on Sunday, and I found 3 people who could come! Stupendous!
thanks for stopping by!

Interviews

This is a belated picture of the homemade noodles (scroll down).

So, I'm interviewing students for my master's thesis project. I am basically looking for themes in my disenfranchised student's dark mathematical past. I finished my first interview today. I offered $3 in Dutch Bros. gift certificates for returning parent permission forms. And, I'm offering a burrito if they complete the interview. It should cost me a total of $60, but that's a small price to pay. I also bought a VERY cool digital tape recorder which records audio files that you can upload to your computer. I am starting interview #2 on Friday before work. Of course, interviewing students before work, going to work and then running to little league is a little tiring.... Everyone asks me how many students that I need to interview. Hmm... It's not like I can ask my grad coordinator this question since he wants me to do it for the love of the project not for the menial details like the number of interviews. I am shooting for 6-8 usable interviews, so I am planning on interviewing as many kids are willing. Just the fact that 2 students have turned in permission forms is encouraging. I guess I am encouraged that I have actually started the process. I see an end in sight, and, if all goes according to plan, I could be finished by Summer 2009. The excitement is building!

And, speaking of excitement, we ordered our kitchen door on Saturday. We decided on the sliding glass door with blinds in between the glass. I was having a fashion vs. function moment at Home Depot, but when I saw how we could control the light coming into our kitchen, I decided to go with the blinds. I was thinking, "What if the door looks tacky?" And then it occurred to me that I am NOT living in House Beautiful. Martha Stewart does not visit us on a regular basis. There is a lot of light that comes through the window when there are no leaves on our tree.

And, on to recipes, Lauri, I would love that lasagna recipe (I am starting a collection). Dawn has posted a family heirloom recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls on her blog: Check it out! (Dawn is a virtual friend, I read her blog). Speaking of blogs, it looks like my friend Jillian is going to start one. Who's NEXT? I figured out how to subscribe to the feeds of blogs so that I know when the author has updated their blog. I have about 5 that I really like to read. I would really love to read yours! I found that someone writes a Chico, Sustainable blog. He/she just listed all of the reasons to shop at Chico Natural foods. I guess it's time to pretend that I'm interested in helping with dinner. Thanks for stopping by!

breaking news

Grad news!
I got my approval this morning from Chico State, and I started my first interview this morning!
Yippee!