October 2011
Compendium of "I'm In The Lord's Army"I was just thinking (i.e. being distracted) in music class that someone needs to set up a library of versions of 'Lord's Army' because there are only like, 1,000,000 different versions out there. Off the top of my head I can think of Indian, Space, Cowboy, Mexico, Africa, Superhero, Regular, and Hawaii. This is definitely something that needs to be done.
October 31, 2011
For your early morning perusal - Aussie Scrap Source is a scrapbooking/cardmaking blog based in Australia (thus the name...) and they've got A LOT of good information about color (colour!) theory. Really helpful. Beautiful pages, too.
October 30, 2011
I need to get home and go to bed. I'm still here at church because we just finished Military Ministry cleanup which is pretty easy because we pretty much just throw stuff away and wipe tables down. That's it. At any rate, it snowed for the first time yesterday and I was walking around D.C. in it getting my hair all wet looking all weird but it was good nonetheless. I'd do it again, indeed.
Davies is calling for a drawn-out, hard winter. I sort of hope he's right. I wouldn't mind having four or five inches of snow on the ground for three months, really I wouldn't. Plus, this being Maryland, that would mean a whole lot of snow days. lol
Got to make a few cards today. Three. Two I finished and the other one is waiting for something to complete it. One of the cards I've put up here actually got completed a few days ago but was never published. It's cute.
If the JOY stamp weren't a little bit crooked this would be a much cuter card. As it is I absolutely love it. lol
This one I made for my teaching assistant Mrs. Stover who ran the Marine Corp Marathon today. She's pretty amazing.
This is the card I finished a few days ago. Putting glitter over stamped letters is my new favorite technique. lol. I've been doing it all over the place recently. And the BELLS!! I LOVE BELLS!!
So there you have it! Still waiting for my Papertrey order, my SEI order and my diecutting machine to come in. Hopefully tomorrow but we'll see. I've learned that it is best to expect to be disappointed about these things. :P See y'all tomorrow!
October 28, 2011
So my computer went into this crazy mode where all it typed were CAPITALS and I couldn't get it to TURN OFF so I restarted the computer and when I did FIREFOX didn't open up all the old windows that I thought I'd saved which means that the edit page for OtterFiles.com was closed down. Long story short, that's why I didn't update yesterday. Not that anyone is too worried about that. I don't think many people actually read this thing. lol
Today is going to be a good day. It's finally Friday (please don't start singing) and ribbon is on sale at Hobby Lobby and I got paid yesterday and get paid again next week so I can freely spend money. Oh, and hopefully my new Jeep tires come in today which would be amazing because the current tires are BEYOND bald (you know it's bad when strangers are rolling down their windows at red lights to tell you that your tires are bald) and I have the money to get them mounted and balanced. So all is currently right in the world. The padres come back on Saturday and I've got a dinner date with a friend in D.C. It's also supposed to SNOW! I really don't see how things can get much better than this! Of course, I say all this but on Wednesday I was having a pretty rough day. It always cracks me up to see how crazy my mood swings are. Wednesday night during church I was crying and left before the prayer time to go home and go to bed. In my devotions that I night I pretty much just whined about the terrible time I was having. Now it's a moot point. lol. Ahh, hormones.
So I don't know what's going on but this morning I couldn't spell OR read. I was writing Spanish homework on the board and instead of 'Compile a list of 10 natural resources from your research country' I wrote 'Comiple a list of 10 natural resources from your research contry'. I really, really did. And then, for the life of me, I couldn't get the word promises to differentiate from promise. (And yet I can write the word differentiate.) Anyways, I've got a music class to prepare for. I'll see y'all later! Ciao!
October 26, 2011
Apparently I forgot to post yesterday. This is okay. Tuesdays are always really crazy because I work straight through and then go running. There is no time for blogging. lol.
But there is time for cardmaking. I got these fantastic cards finished. I love both of them and I've already mailed them off to people. :)
This one is, in one word, AMAZING. But this picture is absolutely terrible. lol Believe me, it looks much, much better in real life than in this picture. I bought 25 of those big tags off Etsy and I'm so glad I did. They are infinitely useful and I've already used at least five of them (I destroyed two while trying to learn how to antique them). I'm either going to have to buy the die or buy more of them because I'm addicted.
This is the card from a few days ago that I finished with another one of those big tags. As you can see, I'm a bit in love with the number three and buttons.
I'm still waiting for my order from SEI to come in, as well as the Papertrey order and my die-cutting machine. I keep sending Zach home with orders to check the mail as soon as he gets there and text me if I got any packages. He's been a terrible sport about it.
The padres get home on Saturday. They called early this morning from Sicilly, sitting at another cafe. Am I jealous? Yes, of course. It's getting really, really cold here (the arm warmers have become an everyday staple) and they're predicting snow somewhere North of here this weekend. Personally, I want it to snow here despite how cold it'll have to be in order for it to do so.
Alright, must get things finished here in my classroom. Then music and so on. lol. Have a great day everyone!! Ciao!
October 24, 2011
So a lot of pretty awesome things happened this weekend. First off, I went to the auction at Great Scraps, that paper store I found over in Millersville. It was really, really cool. I met a bunch of people who had spent WAY more money than I had (which made me feel good) and they were friendly. I was bidding and bidding (I only at 173 fake dollars) so in the end if I wanted something I would just yell out "173!!" and hope that no one outbid me. In the end someone loaned me 27 fake dollars so that I could buy something. Then I left because I had no more money. But I'll so be doing that again. And paying that lady back for the money she gave me because she was awesome. I don't even know her name.
Anyways, while at the auction, I saw this girl walk past with ARM WARMERS on. So I immediately went over and asked her where she'd had the good fortune of finding them. REI she said. And I was smitten. I formulated a plan to go to REI tonight (Monday night) but since I left the auction early I kidnapped Zach and dragged him out to Columbia with me.
Please excuse my un-manicured fingernails. Due to my frenetic style of piano playing I stopped paying $20 for a one-day manicure awhile back. Aren't they so awesome?! Yes, yes they are. And they're incredibly useful as well. My arms don't get cold anymore when I lean out the window at Dunkin' Donuts. It's fantastic. People seem to think that I've broken my arms though. That's pretty much the only downside.
So beyond armwarmers and paper auctions, my Papertrey order shipped yesterday/today. I got an email yesterday (the 23rd) saying that my box had shipped today (the 24th) so I'm guessing I'll get everything by Thursday which, consequently, is payday. Sweet. But also open-house night here at the school so...yeah. Not sure how it's all going to work out card-making-wise.
October 22, 2011
So I totally caved this morning and went ahead and bought the die cutting machine that I've been researching for the last five days. I blame it on my parents who called me at 7:00 in the morning to tell me that they were in Croatia having a better time than I was. Then, having been sufficiently woken up so as not to be able to go back to sleep despite the comfyness of my bed, I got on my phone (which has the lovely eBay app) and bought the Sizzix machine. Hopefully it isn't a counterfeit (I paid approximately half of its legitimate value) and hopefully it comes in next week. I'm pretty sure half the stuff sold on eBay is counterfeit (pretty much 90% of the makeup is, lol). That or maybe a front for money laundering businesses. Anyways, I need to do a Sunday School lesson, get stuff together for bus tomorrow and go to a ladies luncheon thing which promises to be delicious. I'm supposed to lead music (??) which I've never done before so we'll see how that goes. But first, before all of that, I'm walking to the local Ace to buy a timer for a plug I have in my room. That is all. Ciao!!
The Classroom!
Teenagers show they love you by not ignoring you all of the time. Today mine were loving enough to help clean the classroom. lol
Dear Highschooler,
I love you but I don't want to talk to you right now. Obviously I am in the middle of doing something. My fingers are moving, I am typing which means I'm concentrating on two things at once which is hard thankyouverymuch. That and you finished telling your story about five minutes ago and now you're just adding random details.
Thank you,
Miss Shafer
NANOWRIMO!!
If you have any guts at all and nothing to do in November, go here and sign up for NANOWRIMO - National Novel Writing Month. My username is 'Tovinney' just like last year and this is going to be epic.
One present down...
Let's just say that, once again, Zach is going to LOVE his Christmas present. Now to get everyone else.
Christmas List:
- Mom
- Dad
- Tim
- Steph and Levi
Ha! Shortest list everrrrrr.
And before I forget...Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. - Ezekiel 8:12
It's just as true today as it was back then. Is it worse now? I don't know. It's always been pretty bad. But never assume God isn't watching or that He doesn't know what's going on. I sense a Sunday School lesson coming on. lol
October 21, 2001
Finally. It's Friday. Today I am buying at least one Christmas present for any member of my family.
October 20, 2011
Well, that didn't quite work out as well as I expected. My parents called this morning at five a.m. to say that they were on top of Mount Vesuvius which, granted, is pretty awesome. They're enjoying themselves, but calling me at five in the morning is...not nice. lol So, long story short, when my alarm went off at 6:15, I didn't wake up. But I did manage to turn my alarm off. Next thing I knew it was 6:45 and I was still laying down. And then I couldn't make myself move very quickly so I'm really, really late today. Yay. No one seems to care though. That's nice. lol
Ooooh!
This looks fun!!
And, man I just consumed like, 10,000 calories at lunch. Going to have to run again tonight. :P
Wild Crickets
No I am not feeding my frogs wild crickets! Stoppit!!
October 19, 2011
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. - Ezekiel 3:17-19
A good argument against Calvinism if I ever heard one. People have a choice and it's our responsibility to remind them of it. That's our primary goal here on the earth, it is why God didn't just haul us up to Heaven as soon as we got saved. I like the reassurance verse nineteen gives: if we tell people that they've got a choice and they decide of their own free will to reject that choice then we are blameless. However, if we don't tell them then we are at fault. Why would this verse be in the Bible if people were forced into salvation? Just saying. I'll get off that now.
I pretty much came to the conclusion (for now) last night that I'm not in any big hurry to move out of my parent's house. lol. I didn't realize until last night how much stuff I have and how much I love not having a high rent. (So that I have more money to buy more stuff. Kidding.) I also realized I don't want to get married right now. I prefer having the leisure to do pretty much whatever I want. Basically, I had a pleasant evening last night and the two factors that made it that way are living in my parent's house and not having a significant other. So if I keep with the status quo, logic states that I'll probably have more evenings like that.
Last night I finally got a chance to just sit down and make cards. I had been planning on going to Dunkin' Donuts but that plan fell through. I was feeling too creative. lol
Blackbird
Blue Flowers!
Fiesta!
Christmas!!
Green Flowers
Scraps
Workspace
Etsy...
Is going to be the death of me yet...
October 18, 2011
Here's hoping that this card-making thing lasts awhile. I discovered a new part of town that I'd never been in yesterday (egads!) and there is, conveniently located, a scrapbooking/paper craft store over there. It took me awhile to find it but find it I did and pretty much discovered heaven on earth. Yeah. I won't tell you how much I spent because some of you would faint but, good news, it was under $100. And, hey, God worked it out so that I came on the perfect day. They're having an auction on Sunday and they use fake money that they make in order to purchase stuff. Last night they were giving out double the fake money so I made off like a bandit for the auction. Needless to say that's where I'll be headed this Sunday afternoon.
Crazy busy day today. Tuesday is the one day of the week that I have a love/hate relationship with. lol. I teach non-stop up until 3:45. But then I'm off. It's the one day of the week that I get off before six (well, Thursday. But I get off at 4:45 on Thursday which is pretty much six anyways.) So after school I'll be going for a run and then hanging out at Dunkin' Donuts with my peeps whom I've been neglecting in favor of paper stores. (Hopefully the people at the paper store become my peeps here pretty quick. I need peep benefits from there or else I'm going to go broke.)
So now I'm going to use my last fifteen minutes of free time to price Copic markers on ebay. My parents left France without a scarf but they did manage to buy soap. I emailed them asking them to buy Italian soap and a scarf. We'll see what happens. Someone suggested that we ask them to buy cheese but...yeah no. Ciao!!
Addicted
Gyuh. I've seriously got to get off of this getting addicted to expensive hobbies thing. First horses, then scuba diving now this. -sigh-
Poppy Paperie - Wonderful cardmakingness.
Seasons of Change - More cardmaking wonderfulness.
My Blog - More papercraft.
I love paper.
Two (Absolutely) Legitimate Reasons to go to Craft Stores
Okay, so being a teacher has real perks. Mainly, the excuse to go craft stores. Really, a teacher can just up and say, 'I need to go to a craft store' and no one is going to ask what for. They just assume that you're going to buy teacher-y stuff and they leave you alone. (What's even better is that craft stores love to capitalize on this and Michael's offers a 15% discount off your entire purchse. <3 <3)
But, on that rare, off chance that you have to provide a reason to go to a craft store, I've come up with two excuses that you can use and anyone will have to accept them.
Excuse #1: We're going to play ZONK!
Zonk!!
Zonk is quite simple and it is one of the best review games that I've ever come across. It can be adapted for pretty much any subject and it is SO easy to make, all you need is a pad of 8 x 8 paper, some address labels, magnetic tape, regular tape and a marker. You really don't even need scissors. You rip out about ten pieces of paper, rip (or cut) them into four squares, sort them and then start writing points on the address labels. For every four squares I make one Zonk card. So it can be a strategy game. For example, if you have eight squares, obviously two of them are going to be Zonks. Attach the points to the back of the squares. Be careful when making the points because if you make them too high the kids get too many points and if you make them too low then it's too hard to play. Once you have your points attached, apply your magnetic tape. The tape I purchased was not sticky enough and the cards would randomly come falling down so I ended up having to tape the magnetic tape to the cards. You can go that route or buy the better, stickier, magnetic roll. Whatever floats your boat. The magnetic tape is so that it sticks to your magnetic chalkboard or whiteboard. Obviously, if you have neither of these, don't attach the magnetic tape. Sticky-tac works well in that situation.
To play Zonk, arrange the squares on your board (I like to make it look like a quilt but do whatever you want. A quick hint though, younger kids are not going to be able to pull them off if they are too close together, spread them out some.) Ask the first student a question. Usually we go in rows, first kid on the left hand side of the room, student behind him, student behind him, etc, working our way through the room. If the student gets it wrong, go to another student. If that student gets it wrong, YOU draw a card off the board and then subtract that number from their score (so yes, if they are at 0 they get negative points, if you draw a ZONK they lose all their points). If the student gets the question right they come up to the board and draw a card. If they get points, add those points to the total. If they draw a ZONK they either lose all their points or, if they were at zero already, don't gain or lose anything. You can do the drawing thing one of two ways:
- 1. Each student draws one card.
- 2. The student can draw as many cards as they like until they are done or until they get a ZONK.
This game is a pretty big hit. We play so that each time they get up to 30,000 points they get an extra credit point. The points on the back of one of my ZONK sets are pretty high (lowest number is 1,000) so it works out. And they don't get too many extra credit points either. Today they only managed to earn two but we reviewed a large portion of the test.
Excuse # 2: You need cards to play Poor-Man's Catch Phrase.
All you need for this game is a pack of blank index cards and a marker.
Write down whatever words you want to review on one side of the index card. I mostly use this to review Spanish vocabulary. You can use however many words you want for this one and you don't have to worry about the students seeing through the back of the cards because you'll have a whole pile and the top card is the one you're working with.
To play, divide the students into two teams (1 and 2) and then sit them in a circle like this: 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2. This works best with even numbers so you might have to include yourself. Pass the cards to the first student, he or she then has to explain the word on the card without actually using the word (or spelling it). As soon as a member of their team guesses the word they pass the stack of cards to the person on their left. Whichever team does not have the cards at the end of a minute gets a point. If you've ever played Catch Phrase, do it in the exact same way just have the student flip the top card over to the bottom when it comes to his turn. I don't do this for extra credit because I don't like giving half of my students the opportunity to get extra credit (and they don't like it either) so if you wanted to reward the winning team, do something like donuts or candy.
So see? Looks like I need to run to a craft store tonight. Hmmm....
October 17, 2011
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. - Lamentations 3:22-26
I love it when I'm reading through my Bible and run into verses that I know but I forgot where they were. Especially when they turn out to be in a book like Lamentations. lol
Relatively easy week this week, looks like we've got a pretty nasty storm coming in though. That's fine. Rain is always good. (My weather channel app just failed on me. Now it is telling me we're only expecting rain on Wednesday. Hmmm.) I need to use these last vestiges of free time to get my Christmas card project off the ground and actually save money to buy Christmas presents with. (And stamps.) As soon as I get off my embossing kick I'll be able to do that. It was quite the struggle yesterday to not go to Michael's and use my 50% off coupon. But it worked out. I've discovered a papercraft store just 20 minutes down the road that I'm going to check out tonight. After I've gotten off work and started laundry. Then I've got to run and hopefully I'll be in bed before ten o'clock. Unfortunately we'll have to save the Hawaii 5-O watching for another day. Oh the sacrifices....
Mis padres are in France today, doing Frenchy stuff I suppose. I'm drinking non-French-press coffee due to a lack of understanding of how their super-complex coffee maker works. Actually, my dad explained it before he left but I'm too lazy to get upstairs before 6:30 and make coffee in advance and the silly thing doesn't have a timer on it so there is no pre-programming option. Oooo...I hope they bring me French soap! Or a SCARF! I need to email them about that. I don't know the time difference there, I hope they're still in France.
Okay, well, must go. Busy day and all that. Thanks for reading! Ciao!!
October 16, 2011
It truly breaks my heart to see the condition that this world's children are in today. We've recently started a bus route over in an area called Meade Village and we have roughly 20 regulars. (I say regulars but our highest number of riders so far has been 19, not bad for a five-week-old bus route.) Unfortunately, despite our immaturity as a bus route, we've already had to take three kids home due to failure to obey. And when I say failure to obey I mean these kids would NOT do anything we asked them to do out of pure and utter rebellion and, in some cases, spite. They're 5th graders!!
In two of the cases, I sent them home after they cursed about a whole group of people (whom they didn't even know). Fifth graders! One of them absolutely refused to go into class and threatened to start fights with everyone if he had to. Would he have done it? I don't know. By that time I had tried every trick available (short of using physical force) and was already late for my Sunday school class. My rule is simple, if one kid who refuses to cooperate is taking Bible time away from any number of kids who want to learn then they're done. I refuse to bargain or make promises with them. Sometimes in order to help them (or maybe not them but another kid) you've just got to send them home. Fortunately I've got a GREAT team working on my bus and the neighborhood we're in isn't more than five minutes away (especially on a Sunday morning).
Which brings me to my next point: These kids know absolutely NOTHING about the Bible! And a lot of them claim to have gone to church before! When we ask them simple questions like 'What is sin?' or 'Who was the first man?' they inevitably get it wrong. 'Jesus' and 'God' are, of course, the most popular answers. This is in a neighborhood not five minutes away from our church! These kids know LESS than the kids I had on my bus route in Mexico! Even fresh-off-the-street kids! What sort of terrible tragedy is this?!
But man I love those kids. Whenever we go into their neighborhood they just SWARM us. Visitation is so easy because as soon as you pull up in a vehicle they're just all around you, BAM! Like that. 'Hey, you guys coming tomorrow?' 'Yes!' Then they show us where their friends live, we talk to other kids out on the street, it's great!
Of course, this can't last forever. I know eventually something is going to happen. We're going to have a bad day, kids are going to stop coming, whatever. But as long as we can I'd like to ride this wave, helping these kids that God has given us because you never know how coming to church right now might change their future. And, even better, if they get saved, I know we'll have accomplished something. Even if just one of them gets saved. It'll be worth it.
So we'll just keep on through the heartbreak. Keep on through these kids who have been taught nothing about what is going to happen later on, keep on even though they cuss at us and refuse to cooperate. Because for every kid who calls me a bad name, there are five who are still malleable, five who just need someone to love them and five who will change. And that's what we're looking for.
My Two Offices
School Room
Music Office
GAH! Sideways!!
Hobby Lobby
October 14, 2011
I wouldn't be doing this right now if it weren't for Jen and her innocent but probing question. That and I have about fifteen free minutes after a mad-dash of desk cleaning frenzy. But now I can see the fake wood again and only the floor behind my desk is a mess. But that is excusable because no one can see it unless they're sitting in my desk. Which that should only be me. And usually I have my back turned to it so I can ignore it. What mess? And even if I start feeling guilty about it I just console myself with the fact that it is mostly contained. And if that doesn't work I remind myself that it is for the children. :D
So...a lot of things have happened in the last two months that I've been...absent. I've taken up running (again), become a card-making addict, helped start up a bus route and went through an earthquake and a hurricane (which accounted for many blessed days off). I'm still teaching but can't say much about that. Going to run a 5K in November. And various other things. You know how it is.
I really have no poignant thoughts to put up here other than everyone should buy a heat gun and embossing powder. Worse comes to worse you can do what our IT guy does and roast your own coffee beans with the heat gun if you just decide to give up on embossing. Think multi-purpose here.
I do enjoy writing up here, it's just that I lose track of it and suddenly it has been TWO MONTHS and I haven't done ANYTHING and NO ONE is reading the blog anymore (not that many people were in the first place). But I think I have enough material now to make it worthwhile. We've got a few things coming up and I'm doing a Christmas card project plus NANOWRIMO is next month so I'll have to post excerpts from that. And who doesn't like pictures from someone's first 5K?
Anyways. lol. Time for choir. I'll catch you all later.
