It's a cold morning here, but the sun is out. Lucy has found a great sunny spot in the bedroom to take her morning nap. I wonder if she is dreaming of warm spring days.....I know I am!
January 31, 2010
January 30, 2010
Day 30 - NICE Mini Conference
This morning I attended the NICE Mini Conference. The morning was spent networking with tech friends and attending three great workshops. In this session, Scott Meech was discussing The Lifelong Learning Toolbelt. It was a great way to spend a cold January Saturday!
January 29, 2010
Day 29 - I Have a Dream
While subbing, I saw this awesome project hanging in the hallway out side the 3-4 grade classrooms. Each child had a digital photo of themselves 'sleeping' and they added a speech bubble of their dream. What a great project! MLK, Jr. would be proud of the dreams these young people have!
January 28, 2010
Day 28 - Moon
I looked out the window at dusk this evening and saw a huge bright moon. It has been rare this month to have a cloudless sky, so we were lucky to see this beautiful moon tonight. My camera doesn't do it justice, but I heard later on the news that the moon is the closest to earth that it will get during 2010.
January 27, 2010
Day 27 - Retired friends
I had lunch with 30 retired teachers from my school district today. At the end of the luncheon, I took this photo of me and three of my best friends. The shot was taken as we were looking into a giant mirror that covered one whole wall in the room at the restaurant. I think they thought I was being a little goofy wanting to take the photo that way!
January 26, 2010
Countdown!
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Okay, so this isn't really a photo, but it is my post for today. My daughters and I are going on a 'Girls Trip' at the end of March. I'm really looking forward to relaxing and having fun with them!
January 25, 2010
Day 25 - Lucy's new do!
This photo was enhanced using a website called piZap. Thank you to my friend Skip for sharing it with our PLN today. I'm collecting a variety of fun photo editing sites for a workshop I'll be presenting soon. This one is a fun addition to my list!
January 24, 2010
Day 24 - Waiting
Lucy has an internal time clock that is amazing. About 30 minutes before her dinner time, she begins waiting to be fed. In this photo, she decides to stare at Scott until he gives in and feeds her!
January 23, 2010
Day 23 - Therapy dog
I've been volunteering at Rainbow Time at a public library one Saturday per month. The Rainbow Assisted Therapy Dogs come and spend time with children who have autism. In this photo, Abbey (the dog) looks on as the children play a rubber electronic keyboard. It is so fun to see the children and the dogs interact with each other!
January 22, 2010
Day 22 - Dirty snow
Our daytime temperatures this week have been hovering just above freezing, so the snow has been melting. But as it melts, it exposes the dirt that has accumulated or was plowed into the snow banks. This is the ugly part of winter in the Chicago area. The colorful stake at the edge of the grass was planted by one of our neighbors. It helps the snowplow drivers see where the parkway grass begins and hopefully there will be less damage to repair this spring. I'm hoping the dirty snow melts quickly.
January 21, 2010
Day 21 - Gray day
A very gray day again in the Chicago area, so while out for a walk I'm forced to search for beauty. I'm not sure this is beauty, but it is an amazing part of nature. This is a squirrel nest. During the majority of the year, it is hidden by the leaves in the tree, but in the winter, it is exposed for all to see. It strikes me that we are the opposite, as people, in the winter we are bundled up and hardly recognizable to neighbors who drive by. I look forward to the warm days of spring when we can shed our winter layers.
January 20, 2010
Day 20 - Scott
My husband, Scott, has been unemployed since the end of April. Recently he attended some job hunting workshops at our public library. One of the workshops was on using LinkedIn. He asked me take a photo for his profile picture. I took about a dozen shots and this is the one he chose. Although I worked at eliminating the glare on his glasses, I wasn't completely successful. I guess I need to learn more about portrait photography!
January 19, 2010
Day 19 - Listening Center
I was subbing in a first grade classroom today as a 1-to-1 teaching assistant. This class is well organized and the teacher has done a wonderful job teaching the kids how to learn independently at a variety of centers during their morning literacy block. The kids are engaged, obviously enjoy the work they are doing, and are learning great skills. In this photo, the girl is drawing and writing a response about the the book she listened to on a CD. How fun!
January 18, 2010
Day 18 - Books
This is the pile of books on my desk that I would like to read soon. Several of them were on my 'wish list' on Amazon and I received them for Christmas.The book on top is the next selection for our Book Club, and I do plan to start reading it today!
January 17, 2010
Day 17 - Lunch
Lucy gets a foot long carrot for lunch everyday. Here she is contemplating the last little piece. She likes carrots better than doggy treats!
January 16, 2010
Day 16 - Foggy night
Tonight we drove out to have dinner with old college friends. They live about an hour away. It was a nice drive out there, a wonderful dinner, and a great visit. You know you are having good conversations when you linger over dinner for two and a half hours! I snapped this photo during the foggy drive home.
January 15, 2010
Day 15 - Caricature
I do love looking at the student artwork hanging in the halls of the schools where I sub. At this school, the 5th graders all drew a caricature of themselves. They were all amazingly well done! This is one of my favorites. Notice that she is lifting a barbell. Our schools have wonderful art teachers who bring out hidden talent in all our students.
January 14, 2010
Day 14 - Firefighters
I was subbing in an early childhood class today and snapped this photo of the boys during their free play time. This firetruck folds flat and springs into shape in less than a minute, just like a pop-up tent. The boys were having such a fun time being firefighters, notice the one inside 'driving' the truck!
January 13, 2010
Day 13 - Blue Shirts
I was at the Apple Store today for a one-2-one appointment. On my way out, I noticed all these blue shirts standing at the window. At first glance, they look like Apple Store employees waiting for customers. In reality, they are life-size cardboard photographs of real Apple employees, the side facing the window has their front sides. I always marvel at the creativity that comes out of Apple!
January 12, 2010
Day 12 - Drums
These colorful Conga drums caught my eye as I was subbing today. Our school district owns a classroom set of them and the the music teachers rotate them to all the buildings during the school year so that all the kids get to experience playing these wonderful instruments. I got to sit in on a first grade music lesson today and see the excitement of the kids as each one of them had their own drum and were able to produce music following their teacher's patterns. What fun!
January 11, 2010
Day 11 - Woodpecker
I took this photo out our kitchen window at lunchtime. This little woodpecker was enjoying his free meal at our suet feeder. We've had to move this feeder several times because the squirrels keep finding ways to get to it. At one point we had it hanging on a thin branch and the squirrels would hang upside down by their tail in order to reach it (see below). Now we have the feeder hanging off the overhang right outside our kitchen window. I'm glad the woodpecker has found it and I'm pretty sure we've now foiled the squirrels!
This photo was taken a few weeks ago before we moved the suet feeder!
This photo was taken a few weeks ago before we moved the suet feeder!
January 10, 2010
Day 10 - Foiled!
Lucy is standing in the kitchen. In our split level home, our family room is down six steps below the kitchen and separated by this oak railing. My desk is positioned next to the half wall under the railing. Before dinner tonight, I had a bowl of pretzels on my desk. Lucy wanted them, but her puzzled face shows how she was foiled by her attempt to reach the pretzels through the railing. So sorry, Lucy!
January 9, 2010
Day 9 - Sun and Ice
This is the view out our front door this afternoon. It is still a cold 17°, but it is wonderful seeing the blue sky & sun. Although we don't feel the warmth from the sun, it does melt some of the snow on the rooftop which makes its way down to the gutters where it refreezes into icicles that glitter in the sunlight.
January 8, 2010
Day 8 - Snow!
This is what our house looks like this morning after we got another 6" of snow last night. Scott just finished shoveling the driveway. We've had about a foot of snow in the past two days. It's pretty, but we've had enough now!
January 7, 2010
Day 7 - Winter
When subbing in the elementary schools, I love walking through the halls and looking at the student work so proudly displayed in the halls. These 1st graders depicted themselves dressed up in their winter outside clothes and practiced writing words like 'jacket', 'scarf', and 'boots'. I'm sure the kids had fun with this project!
January 6, 2010
Day 6 - Scientist
While at bowling tonight, I walked past this colleague who had a glass that was smoking. He's a retired science teacher and bowls with a current middle school science teacher. Both of them have a great sense of humor! It turns out this is a glass of water with a bit of dry ice in it. The teacher in this photo was well loved by his students, I can see why!
January 5, 2010
Day 5 - Apple Store
I had a one-2-one appointment at the Apple Store at Woodfield this afternoon. I'm preparing for the iWork '09 Workshop that I'll be presenting at ICE in February and at ISTE in June. Although I know a lot about iWork, I like to take a lesson occasionally to ask questions and learn tips I may not know. Today we worked on designing word processing and page layout templates for Pages. My photo today is the window display at this Apple Store. It is hundreds of hanging 'icons' for apps that are available for the iPodTouch and iPhone. Whenever I'm at the Apple Store, I always realize how much I still have to learn!
As I was posting this, I noticed that the icons are backwards! I guess I should have taken my photo from the 'mall side' of the window instead of from inside the store. :-)
As I was posting this, I noticed that the icons are backwards! I guess I should have taken my photo from the 'mall side' of the window instead of from inside the store. :-)
January 4, 2010
Day 4 - Wii Fit
I've resolved to take off the weight I've put on this year. We eat fairly healthy, but I don't always exercise as much as I should. So, I'm back to my goal of using our Wii Fit daily. This photo shows the exercise I've done 3 days in a row. I hope to keep it up!
BTW, the Wii is amazing on our new flat screen TV!
BTW, the Wii is amazing on our new flat screen TV!
January 3, 2010
Day 3 - Luggage
We just took Kristin to the airport. She's on her way back to Denver after being home for nearly two weeks. It was wonderful having her home and I will miss having her here. In this photo, she is posing with her new luggage that was her Christmas gift from us this year. At 26 1/2 and being a world traveler, it was time she had her own bags!
January 2, 2010
Day 2 - Change
Another one of our New Year's traditions that hasn't changed in many years is Scott changing the batteries on our smoke detectors. He always does this on the first weekend of the new year. Thank you, Honey, for keeping us safe!
January 1, 2010
Day 1 - New Year's Day
For many years, our New Year's Day tradition has been to stay at home, watch football, watch movies, play games, graze on leftover holiday goodies, and have milkshakes for dinner. The four of us had a wonderful day today! Holiday traditions sometimes need to change as family circumstances change. I'm so glad we have not yet had to change this tradition of family bonding. It was wonderful having our adult daughters home with us today.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
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