Beating the Winter Blues: Makeover Project #2

“I can't think of any sorrow in the world that a hot bath wouldn't help, just a little bit.”-Susan Glasee

When I moved into this house, the main bathroom was designed with beautiful wood around the tub, low light, and high white walls. The whole room was pretty simple. It worked for me though. Somewhere in the scheme of makeover projects during the last week, it came up to redo the bathroom. I am so glad we took on the bathroom. It is hard to see much with this picture, but there was a lot of blank wall space.
After much consideration, the colors of platinum gray, a lovely blue called Blue Waltz, and navy all combined into a bathroom makeover. The beautiful painting by a local high school artist that was a gift worked well with the color scheme as wall decor.

Last night I had a new room that I just wanted to sit in for the sake of sitting. I don't think I have ever used the bathroom just for a sitting room! Perhaps when the whole project is done I can soak in the tub and take it all in!

Beating the Winter Blues: Makeover Project #1

When it is gray and cloudy outside and the weather is too cold to appreciate an outdoor activity, it is time to move indoors and plan some makeovers. For my birthday gift JEJ offered to paint the main bathroom and the study. As always happens with makeover projects... one thing leads to another. When we realized all the furniture wouldn't fit back into the study we did a makover of the sunroom. Above are the shelves moved from the study.JEJ did some contract work a few years ago at my school. He built new shelves in classrooms which meant there were some beautiful old, varnished wood shelves that were going to be trashed. They came home with him. We had the two sets of shelves divided and placed in two rooms. Saturday we created a new shelf setup in the sunroom to hold the gardening books. We left them just the way they were with the shiny varnish intact. I like having all the books in one place. The sunroom is a nice place to sit with seed catalogs, gardening books , and a warm fire while dreaming and planning the 2009 gardens. We may not even notice the gray skies and dirty snow if we stay in the sunroom! Click the pictures to get a larger view if you want to check out my favorite gardening books.

Good news about this makeover. It was free! Makeovers can never end with one project. Stay tuned in days to come as I post our other makeovers taking place as I write.

Teaching and the Many Hats I Wear

I have now taught my students almost ninety days this school year. Some of you have asked "What do you teach all day?" Being in a school of about 200 students K-12 I definitely wear many hats. Originally when I arrived at my school I was hired to reorganize the Title I reading and math program, which is a federally funded program to support students struggling in reading and/or math. The program has staff pull students for tutoring or move into classrooms to provide learning opportunities. We also coordinate a summer school program. I now have another teacher and three paraeducators as part of this program.

Once the program was in place, I asked to add classroom teaching to my "duties as assigned"! I really missed working with students of my own in the classroom. Now about a third of my day is working in Title I and Learning Assistance Program K-12 and two-thirds is spent teaching sixth grade writing, and seventh grade and eight grade language arts. That pretty much fills up my day. Of course there are times that I charge iPods, wipe tears, listen to stories students need to tell, and do playground duty. We are busy and the days go fast. One advantage in our school is small class size. None of my classes have more than seventeen students. I also loop the same students all through middle school so I know them pretty well by the time the finish 8th grade.

I love this time of year at the end of the first semester. I can sit back and reflect on student learning and celebrate the growth my students have made. I look forward to the next ninety days. I also look forward to the day there aren't ice chunks outside my classroom door and kids don't need assistance walking from the basketball court to the door over the ice!This is the ice that has not melted yet outside my classroom door.

Praise Song for the Day

photo by Callie Shell/Time magazine

Inaugural Poem, January 20, 2009

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise.

All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign;

The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national.

Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

by Elizabeth Alexander

I could only find a transcript so I don't know if this is how it is organized by lines. I wasn't able to watch the inauguration,but later I appreciated the mix of words. I loved the sound of brink, brim, cusp. I loved the image of dirt roads, raising bridges, and figuring it out at the kitchen table. I loved the feel of "love that casts a widening pool of light." It was a praise song for "walking forward in that light." I thought the picture above captured our president and president elect walking forward in the light.

Winter Tour: Fortunately, Unfortunately

I love the picture book Fortunately by Remy Charlip. This week-end I was finally home when it was light outside so I could tour the property and survey the effects of winter. This book kept coming to mind.
Fortunately the snow is still piled high enough that Shelby can still play Rin Tin Tin and watch over the neighborhood.
Unfortunately it is still almost impossible to get the car in the garage.Fortunately the ivy under the eaves has survived the winter.
Unfortunately some climbing roses got hit with the snowplow and we don't know the damage.
Fortunately the trellis is still standing after it was covered with snow for weeks.
Unfortunately one lawn decoration didn't get put away and it is buried in this frozen snow bank. I spotted the pretty copper color glinting in the sun. Fortunately there are actually buds coming out on the lilacs, forsythia, and serviceberries in the yard.
Unfortunately they may be buried in snow again in a week. Fortunately this crabapple tree has food for the birds.
Unfortunately the feeders are impossible to fill right now because of the snow. Fortunately we had snow shovels when they were a scarce item a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately that meant JEJ had to use them! Fortunately the sun came out and the sky was blue so we could get some Vitamin D.
Unfortunately I was sequestered in the study grading tests and scoring writing to be ready for the semester end this week.

4X4 Photo Meme: Bucket of Fire

I saw this meme in many variations as I visited blogs this week-end. My sister Silver Valley Girl sent it this way so I'll try it. The only difference with the others were the number of the folder and picture.

So here are the rules:

1. Go to the fourth folder where you keep your photos.

2. Post the fourth picture in that folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four fellow bloggers to join in the fun.

All fellow bloggers.... join in and let me know so I can come peek!Here is my fourth picture in my fourth folder. This is not a new fireplace for our gazebo. When the weather was so cold the smoke stopped going out the top of the chimney. I thought I was doing something wrong in building up the fire when JEJ was gone. The whole sunroom filled up with an awful smoke. The same thing happened to JEJ. He took the burning firewood out of the stove, put it in a coal bucket and placed it in the snow. I had to take a picture of it because it did look like a bucket to warm up while shoveling or building a snowman. This cute fire burned a long time. The problem? When the weather was so cold the moisture on the mesh around the top of the chimney combined with soot froze and the smoke couldn't get out. JEJ hit it with a snow shovel while removing snow on the roof and once again the sunroom wood stove worked beautifully.