Summer school is winding down and I always try to have a cooking lesson at least once a week...we've made full meals like lasagna, salad and bread and then we've done minor things like baking cookies. I had been telling the students I had a surprise for them that included food dye but I never told them what exactly it was going to be. Finally the day had arrived and we were going to be making rainbow colored cupcakes where each one has multiple colors swirled inside. We taught the kids to separate the white cake batter into 5-6 bowls and then using gel food coloring (the gels tend to be
more vibrant than the liquid kind) dyed each a different color. Then using spoons they added batter a spoonful of color at a time until each cup was 3/4 full. The coolest part was after they were done baking because I let the students choose which two cupcakes they wanted to ice and eat. I didn't let anyone eat until all the kids had theirs iced and ready...then we had a countdown where everyone took a bite at the same time and then compared colorful middles. I don't think I've EVER seen kids eat cupcakes so SLOWLY before in my
life because with every bite they were comparing it to other kids. Overall, everyone was quite impressed and ultimately went home with a sugar high! :-)
Dating...round one! Jim McMahon (really, James McMahon Jr. so he went by Jim) is a correctional officer who owns his own home, car and motorcycle. We had some fun together, went out to dinner a few times and took a couple rides on his motorcycle. His schedule was tricky to work around because he had graveyard shifts that varied from week to week. In the end, even though our personalities gelled well we were on different life paths/timelines so we bid good luck and farewell!
So, if you haven't seen the Duct Tape selection in the hardware isles recently you'd be AMAZED!!! The days of gray and silver are no longer...you can now get it in bright colors and prints too!
Everything from tie dye, to polka dots, to skulls and Hello Kitty you will be overwhelmed with the choices! Kacey (my aide during summer) and I decided it would be a fun project for our summer school class to create some usable art with the fun new colors of Duct Tape! She and I had both bought a few rolls out of pocket but then Kacey was over at her mother's house and was watching some You Tube tutorials on creating
Duct Tape wallets and her mother loved the idea! The next day Kacey's mom (who works at Wal-Mart) decided to buy 30 plus rolls of various
colors and prints and donated them to my class!!! This was nearly $100 dollars worth of Duct Tape even with her employee discount!!! It was unexpected but VERY appreciated! So each student got to create a wallet for themselves and because father's day was quickly approaching they got to make one for their dads that we then wrapped up as gifts too! Some of the quick working kiddos even made flower toppers for pens too! I then took the opportunity to create an English project by teaching the students to write thank you notes to Kacey's mother to thank her for the Duct Tape donation. To make the notes pretty (more like stationary) we used special a Japanese floating dye I'd bought. After the students wrote, revised, typed, and printed their letters they got to pick their colors. Kacey and I manned the dye (because it was expensive and permanent)...each drop of color chosen was floated in water and then lightly swirled by the student with a Popsicle stick and then we dipped the paper and envelope into the dye and wallah--Beautiful!!!
It's Monday, June 20th, 2011 and I'd just gotten home after teaching summer school and running errands. When I tried to unlock my back door to go inside the entire lock mechanism came out WITH my key!!! Now, I'm no expert but I am pretty sure that THIS is not supposed to happen!!! When I mentioned this to other people everyone quickly jumped to the conclusion that someone had tampered with the lock trying to break into my house. I wasn't so convinced because the lock had been giving me trouble for weeks now. Every time (before this) I
had to jiggle the key around to get it to turn and the last couple days I actually had to steady the knob with my other hand to remove the key. It seemed to be getting looser and looser until today, when it simply gave up and fell out I guess?!? I gotta get it fixed one of these days though because I've already locked myself out a few times by twisting the bottom lock as I leave the house (out of habit) but from the outside there's no way to untwist the lock so I then have to go around to the front door to get in! Problem is, installing a new lock means a new key or a locksmith to come out and key it the same as the rest of the house and all of that is just a pain--hence I have not yet fixed it!
Carter at bath time on a babysitting evening...I realized quite quickly that I couldn't add the bubbles till the end when he was done playing and ready to wash because he kept swimming and gargling with the water!
I didn't have any bath toys but I DID have gigantic Lego's that float--problem solved!!! Makes you wonder
at what age baths become a chore or necessity we have to do instead of a
playtime event to look forward to! Carter laughed, giggled, and played until the water got to cold to stay in! Gotta love the crazy bath hair and cheese face--he is SUCH a ham!!! :-)
MoesMatch79...Your attitude towards life defines not only who you are, but the quality of life you are after!!!
32 year old woman Bakersfield, California, United States
seeking men 28-38 within 100 miles of Bakersfield, California, United States
Relationship: Never Married
Have kids: No
Want kids: Definitely
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Body type: About average
Height: 5'6" (168cms)
Faith: Spiritual but not religious
Smoke: No Way
Drink: Social Drinker
About Me & Who I'm Looking For
I'll be the first to admit, I'm not perfect and I'm not looking for perfection! In general I'd say I'm independent, caring, down to earth, affectionate, intelligent, hard working, and energetic.
I'm looking for someone who’s done playing games and considers themselves balanced. I like guys who can be witty, playful, and affectionate but who can also get serious and deal with adult conversations and realities when appropriate. I like the idea of someone who can be equally happy staying in or going out (but I'm over the party scene). I hope to find someone who has a good sense of humor, a strong (but open) mind, a kind personality, solid values, a love for family (dogs included) and an overall respect for people.
I think relationships work best when communication is open and where honesty and trust are a given. I enjoy spending time with my partner but respect the time they need for themselves and expect them to respect mine as well. I'm definitely not looking for someone to MAKE me happy or fill some hypothetical hole in my life...but I'd like to meet a great guy that would compliment my life...and hopefully I'd compliment his as well!
Whew! That’s enough for now, if you'd like to know more...just ask! :)
Interests: Camping, Cooking, Dining out, Gardening/Landscaping, Hobbies and crafts, Movies/Videos, Music and concerts, Wine tasting Sports and exercise: Aerobics, Billiards / Pool,
Bowling, Inline skating, Running, Skiing, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis /
Racquet sports, Walking / Hiking, Weights / Machines, Other types of
exercise, Hockey, Volleyball Exercise habits: Exercise 3-4 times per week Pets: I have Dogs (2 sweet female yellow Labs with plenty of personality...ages 3 and 6) Political views: Middle of the Road Sign: Aquarius California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA Favorite Things: Mmm...for music, I'm pretty well rounded--My favorite band would still probably be Matchbox 20 (even though they no longer exist as a group)...I like most alternative, 80's, rock (classic/current/hard) country (I can hear the grimaces already!) :-) Last Read:
The last two good book I read were: The Art of Racing in the Rain...By: Garth Stein Water for Elephants--a historical novel By: Sara Gruen
Just because we were outside and smart phones have cameras! Ginger was good about "smiling" this time because we'd been playing and she was still panting! Baylie on the other hand wouldn't hardly sit still long
enough to get a picture because when she's playing fetch it's serious!!! :-)
Today in summer school we had a tie dying event (check out the previous post for pictures and in-depth details) and by the time I had everything put away, cleaned up, and planned for the following day I don't thing I left until after 3! I know what you're thinking...3pm isn't even a full work day, and although you are correct, it is a day that goes non-stop starting at 7:30am with no breaks and no lunches!!! Needless to say I was DONE and I stopped on the way home to grab a much needed/deserved celebratory beverage and ran across this new heavenly flavor!!! Mikes Hard Lemonade in Black Cherry?!?! Soooo good (in moderation of-course) I had to share! Cheers! :-)
I'm always in search of fun cross-curricular hands-on activities to do during summer school because four straight hours of English and Math paper and pencil assignments would bore me to death as fast as it would the students!!! So this summer we took art to a permanent level!!! Kim Smith promised that if we did a tie dying day that she'd come to help out and of-course participate! Luckily I'm blessed to have an aide of my choosing to help out during summer school, but I definitely wouldn't turn away an extra set of hands on a day I'm dabbling in permanent dye and
teenagers! Kacey McNew has been my summer aide for years now and we work rather well together! She is fabulous at helping the students without giving answers or doing projects for them--a necessity in truly learning if you ask me!!! During the year Kacey works as an interpreter but in the summer she assists me in the classroom and helps to keep me sane during our non-stop 4-hour block schedule in a classroom FULL of students (at least double the size of any class I have during the year)! So once we set a date I then discussed it with the custodians because we needed to borrow a hose and bib
connection to rinse out the dye (and any other messes that could arise). They are awesome and had everything set up for us before school even started that day, which is a bright and early 7:30 am!!! Over the course of the first week of summer school we had the students bring in 1-2 items that they wished to dye and
if they did not already have a white t-shirt or socks their parents would allow them to alter I told them to bring me $3.00 and I'd buy them a shirt and socks (thank goodness or multi-packs at Wal-Mart!) . All the students had been awaiting this day in utter anticipation and I'd threatened them
with plenty of homework if they goofed off too much around the dye because I didn't want parent calls yelling at me for sending their students home multi-colored! Luckily when the time came everyone was rather well behaved and no casualties occurred , although we did create quite a spectacle with our clothing line of colorful items strung from one side of the building to the other!!! At the end of the day (give or take noon) Kacey and I had the job of bringing in all the clothes. We strung up new lines across my classroom so they could finish drying overnight without being stolen. The next day we had a life skills lesson in ironing (that's how you set the dye before washing) and then washing and drying in the machines located in the room next to mine (normally utilized by the Severely Developmentally Delayed (SDD) class during the year). So from art to life skills it was an enjoyable couple of days!!! :-)
Summer school began on June 6th and only 4 days into that hectic-ness Mom and I drove up to Fresno's Savemart Center for a concert featuring Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and The Band Perry. I was VERY tired on Friday (Mom had taken that day off)! The concert was really good and I just kept telling myself that I only had to survive about 5 hours on Friday then I could head home for an afternoon nap! Interestingly enough, we both found The Band Perry and Luke Bryan to be far more entertaining than Tim McGraw even though he was the featured artist!!! Luke Bryan not only
owned the stage but won over the crowd within the length of the very first song he sang whereas Tim didn't seem to put much effort into playing to the people!
Thursday June 2nd, 2011. YEAR #7 DONE! I/we made it!!! Oh how the years fly by, I started this job in 2004 and 7 years later here we are at yet another graduation...sending a few more seniors out into the world to begin to fending for themselves--fingers crossed they survive! It is not exactly mandatory that teachers attend the graduation ceremonies but it is HIGHLY encouraged! Thus far I haven't missed one and this year we had a few students that I was going to truly miss and that always makes the graduation a bit more special. Kim Smith and I decided to go shopping the day before for a new outfit with the
full intention of going out after the ceremony...which we did but it didn't last too long. Everyone was drinking and I'd come in the same car as Kim so I didn't really have a way leave at my leisure and I just never really feel comfortable drinking in a mixed crowd and tonight was the epitome of mixed with coworkers and administrators--simply not my scene! I was kind of hoping that Kim, me Linda and some of "our" crowd would find something to do together and not stay at Goose Loonies with the whole Highland Staff. Ultimately an hour or two into the so called after party, I bummed a
ride home from Rob Long (friend, drama teacher, and co-worker). After that I only had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to rest and recuperate before Summer School started on Monday the 6th of June!!!
Summer school is winding down and I always try to have a cooking lesson at least once a week...we've made full meals like lasagna, salad and bread and then we've done minor things like baking cookies. I had been telling the students I had a surprise for them that included food dye but I never told them what exactly it was going to be. Finally the day had arrived and we were going to be making rainbow colored cupcakes where each one has multiple colors swirled inside. We taught the kids to separate the white cake batter into 5-6 bowls and then using gel food coloring (the gels tend to be 
