Content?

As an early adult I was content. Happy in my knowledge that I would someday marry, have children and spent my life as a stay at home mom. Life was simple and uncomplicated. I never intended to use my degree. I wanted a degree to stand as an example to my kids, a way to teach them to accomplish their goals. I have 4 days left to teach. Actually less than that if you consider that Mon no school, Tues is a full day, Wed yearbooks and a dance, Thurs all day assemblies and Lagoon, Friday school is 3 hours long and basically no one comes. So, I have 1 day. T'was the week before the end of school, I've gone through my class, I've packed up my 'admiral rosenvall' pencils but left the orange hall pass, I scrubbed all the sinks, my tables, my walls. They look sad and lonely, just like the school halls. The kids have all left, school year is over! I hope they've had fun, learned something or another. The core curriculum is hard to fully cover, "See you next year!" shouted with delight, Sounds bitter when followed by, "oh, you're leaving. That's right." My 8th graders wonder what fate they await, Some fear the future, imagine their plight. Mr. Nichols my replacement; I hope he's alright. My 9th graders angry, bitter at a loss, Mr. Anderson said, "Devastated." he's my boss. I made Kathi cry when I told her and then, Todd soon followed the grief parade. That's when I decided to end the tirade, And not say a thing, for as long as I could. Until rumor spread, I knew that it would. 8th grade do you remember: When I ate play dough in half? To show you the layers of a rock, what a laugh! The play dough stuck to my teeth all day long, Tasted way salty-- super gross. How about when I burned Ryan's paper for the class? And Zandons I cut into a string of little men. To show physical and chemical change. Will you join my particle party? Fusion? Fission? Convection dance! Will you remember the song? Convection fueled by fission forms mid-ocean ridges, Ridge push leads to sea floor spreading, slab pull and subduction, Weak subduction zones good for Earthquakes, melting plutons and volcanoes, Silicic volcanoes they constantly flow, Pyroclastic volcanoes get stuck and then blow, Volcanic gases help form the atmosphere. Spewing gases, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrogen. Layers divided due to density. Troposphere, Stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere. Exosphere is the beginning of space, Welcome to the final frontier, Our sun, the medium star,and her satellites, Mercury, Venus, earth, mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris. So many songs, things to remember. Fair well, my 210 teenager children, My 3 kiddos at home need their mommy.

A change of Pace

I really wish I owned a camera. Suggestions on good cameras to purchase? Hopefully not too expensive, but easy to use and transfer to a computer?

I never thought that I would teach. My plan was to go to college, earn a degree and be a stay at home mom. But, when I graduated without children that plan had to be tweaked, and then modified so on so on...

When my friend Kassi told me that she could see me teaching, I thought that idea was crazy. (sorry Kassi-you were right). Or when Sharon told me that I would never be away from teaching for long-again, she was right too. I didn't think that I actually had it in my personality.

On to what's happening this week...

Well, after landing myself in ER for respiratory problems, luckily no blood clots. It seems that I may have developed asthma. Dr. Lamoreaux checked my stitches, looks like they are healing well. They will be treating any subsequent pregnancies I may have as high risk-because I delivered pre term. Dr said if I ever wanted to be checked (while pregnant) that they will see me immediately.

I am cleared to go back to work April 25th. My students are extremely excited. I visited my classroom today-it is a complete wreck! Things are scattered everywhere, epp! But, that usually happens right before a Science Olympiad competition-so I'm not too worried. My long term sub apparently teaches just like I do. She is a theatre major with a minor in Science.

My kiddos will be watched by my friend Karena while I finish out the school year.

I've been receiving comments from parents such as: "My student will be horribly disappointed if you don't return next year." "My child is taking your class-so you better be teaching." "I'm signing Alex up for Science Olympiad-be here to teach it." (These are actual comments.)

Yikes. I am quitting.

Andrew found a job. He is working at Wencor Aerospace Engineering and so far is loving the work. He is a quality inspector engineer.

I've worked the last three years. The years that I didn't teach-when August hit and the schools started to get busy I cried and sobbed that I wasn't there. I'm planning on buying myself a box of freshly sharpened pencils in August. I received my level 2 license and intend to keep it up to date/renewed. I also will probably return to teaching when my youngest is in school. (Never thought I'd say that!)

I am going to be staying home with the kids. So far it's been fun and left me with the desire to home school my children. I haven't decided if I will yet, I'll see how the summer goes.

Living

School has been interesting. I have a unique mix this year. I had a student who has been giving me a very hard time, out of seat, not doing work, but is a very smart kid. I finally had to write up a student contract with him, and if he does well I will give him a treat.

This is what happened yesterday:

"Mrs. R can I have my treat now?" student.

"Yes, but first, how did you feel you did in class today? Scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest." Me.

"Uhm, probably a 5." student

"Does a 5 deserve a sucker?" me.

"Yes." student

I pulled out a sucker and a hammer. Broke the sucker in half and gave him half a sucker.

He did much better in class today.

*****************

Update: I am halfway through my pregnancy, any guesses for gender? anyone?

I can feel my little teddy bear kicking and bouncing. Speaking of which, i'm hungry...

Rew is looking for a job, pray for him please.

My kiddos are so excited to have a new brother/sister! S was so excited today she bounced up and down "Can I help with the crib daddy?"

New flooring in the kitchen is almost done, only a few tiles left woo hoo!

Moon Sand

Yesterday our daughter's cousins come over to play. Five (Six including mine) little girls all marched into the house and immediately asked, "Amy, Do we really get to play with Moon Sand?" "Yes." I said.

Amanda: "Really!? I've never ever gotten to touch it before."

Jessica: "Is it really sand?"

Lindsey: "Where is the Moon Sand?"

Moon Sand is a supposed rival to playdough. I really like it! Unlike playdough, Moon Sand is easily vacuumed up and the colors don't stain your fingers. It feels like a mildly wet sand you may get a little sandy feeling on your hands but it brushes off immediately. It's a little bit harder to mold into small shapes, but it comes with neat molds for making people/animals etc. depending on the set you buy.

I placed a tablecloth on my kitchen table and let the girls go crazy with Moon Sand, in the end the kitchen looked, as my sister said "a horrid mess." However... all I had to do was lift the corners of the table cloth have the sand pool to the middle, squish it into a ball and put it away.

I imagine that if I was using playdough that I would have had pieces stuck and squished into the tablecloth and the floor would have needed to be scrubbed with a wet rag to get all the little pieces. INSTEAD... my tablecloth was clean--no stuck on pieces, no dyed spots. Any moon sand on the floor could be vacuumed or swept up with a broom-try that with playdough.

Sand

Early in my quest to become a teacher I saw Mr. Ty Robinson (Provo High School) complete a lab which included sand. The students study the various sand through microscopes and determine if they have been altered by wind or water.

Friends from my major will note that I collected sand on all geology trips. Yes... my backpack got very heavy... but it me it was worth it. I have now collected sand from several places in Utah, California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, England, New Zealand, Hawa

ii, etc, etc...basically anywhere that my family and friends have traveled and I've been able to convince them to bring back sand.

(Just so you know, it is legal to bring back sand into the United States, but not soil.)

As I was perusing my various sand samples the other day finishing up a lesson plan, I discovered that I am missing my sand from Hawaii and New Zealand!!!! AHH!!!! :(

So.... If you by chance happen to travel to either, would you please bring me back some sand?

Things I did Today

Today has been a lovely and very interesting. Last night Rew and I didn't go to sleep until 2 am. We went stargazing up Spanish Fork Canyon; I slept in until 10:40am this morning. And since I was still tired at 2pm, I took a very short nap.

At 4:12pm you would have found me in the kitchen howling in laughter!

I have always enjoyed cooking. In fact, when Rew asked my father for my hand in marriage. (You must understand my father always says something to the new son-in-law to be... such as "She's cranky." Little things to torment the man asking to see if he can live with all of his daughter's quirks.) The first thing my dad said was, "She's a really good cook." Rew in all his excitement proclaimed, "YES! I know!"

I was going to make bread.

Two kinds: bread with Parmesan cheese baked into the crust AND cinnamon walnut swirled bread.

Since both start with the same bread recipe I was doubling the ingredients.

Off I went, combining flour, sugar, yeast, milk, water, shortening.

I set the timer for 9 minutes and started kneading the dough. It looked wonderful and was smelling great (like bread dough).

It wasn't until after the kneading that I realized my mistake.

I'd read the ingredients... but not the portions.

Horrified I pulled out the recipe again! I'm used to changing a few portions; adding an extra sprinkle of nutmeg, perhaps an extra tablespoon of vanilla.

but NEVER this bad....

Here's the original recipe (doubled):

1 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

2 cups scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 t Salt

1 T Shortening

6-6.5 cups Flour

NOW.... here's what I did... (what I did wrong is bolded)

2 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

1 cup scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 T Salt

2 cups Shortening

6 cups Flour

I can understand misreading yeast and salt. But the SHORTENING????

Alright you Home Economic Majors, what happens to the bread when you add THAT much.... Well! I'm curious, so I'm going to cook it and I'll let you know!

Until then.... I'm going back to sleep.

(several hours later: Looks like fluffy pie crust... very rock hard pie crust. Good for throwing away or knocking someone out.) *sigh* Now to try again...

I love Science!

I love SCIENCE!!!! From the first time I picked up that rock out of my parents garden to licking the rocks in geology dept. to determine which one is Halite. From my mom taking me out to see the shooting stars until 2 a.m. to today when I can view the stars through the telescopes on top of the Eyring Science Building! Science fascinates me! What a wondrous world we live in to have Heavenly Father's creations at our fingertips to study and learn about!

1. Where are you from? Earth, the third planet from our central star, Sun.

2. Favorite Planet? Neptune, for it's beautiful methane cloud coloration and twisted rings caused by variation in gravity.

3. Favorite constellation? Hmm... Lets see, Cassiopeia, Andromeda & Perseus... The mythology behind the three is fascinating! If you ask I can tell you...

4. Do you have a star named after you? Yes

5. Favorite rock? Oolitic Limestone

6. Favorite fossil? Crinoids and Echinoderms

7. Is your current location of residence geologically sound? Um... probably not! Though really anywhere on the planet you live will have some sort of natural disaster!

8. Favorite cloud type? Nimbocumulus or Mammatus, both are really good thunderhead clouds, what can I say, I love thunderstorms!

9. Mountain you would simply love to climb? Cervino (Italian) also known as Matterhorn (German), yes I know, death waiting to happen on that near vertical horn which was carved by years of glacial erosion and adjacent cirques! But hey! they take mountaineering groups up every year!

10. What do you plan on doing with your major? I hope to teach, write books based on science, hopefully someday I'll be able to help others explore the wonders of the planet we live on and open their understanding and horizons into the realm of exploration, observation and overall fun in the field of science and education!

I love science!