Minor Construction

Bryan and I accomplished putting a counter and more cupboards in our office!

And Bryan Loves...

Today I laughed so hard I cried -

I was told by an 8th grade girl that she and her friend were working on a "project." It sounded a like a word association game, but the words had to be connected with love. For example, "Winter loves snow, snow loves snowboarders, snowboarders love..." and on and on. They included names in their list, however. So I was informed that I made the list.
"What do I love?" I asked.
"Bryan."
"Oh, so what does Bryan love?"
"Fertilizer."

Of course.

Terry Redlin

I've never been a fan of Terry Redlin art (despite being from South Dakota). To me, they all look the same.

However, when Bryan won a large Terry Redlin orginal as a prize at a meeting, I was forced to reconsider my feelings.

The whole scenarion reminded me of A Christmas Story - husband wins a "major award" and wife is reluctant to display it. It has to be displayed though because it is "frag-ee-lay."

Once it was up in the office, however, I didn't really mind it. It warms up the place and makes it look office-y.

And, since we don't have any plants in the office for me to water, it looks like the art is here to stay. This won't end like A Christmas Story.

If you need a refresher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVOOjV_E3s4
(it is April...4 months since your last viewing)

Hello 8th Grade Me

Sometimes when I'm teaching the junior high kids I try to channel my junior high self to help me to understand them. Though it's not always pleasant to think back to the days when my idea of being fashion forward was matching my neon green FUBU jersey to my neon green adidas slide sandals (with socks, of course; this outfit was not restricted by the weather), it does help me to have the patience and mind set needed.

Today, I didn't need to conjure up a mental image of myself; there before my eyes was a school picture of me circa 1999. I was reading an excerpt to the class from The Diary of Anne Frank (we read the drama version; I'm not one of those "we'll just watch the movie version and read parts" teachers...yet). I was flipping through and saw of flash of bib overalls and colorful hemp necklace - sure signs of a blast from the past. When I paged through again, the picture fell out. I'm surprised it made the journey from my personal library growing up to my college book shelf to eventually end in my classroom library.

It was odd to look at the eighth graders listening intently to Mrs. Ressler while I looked at myself in their shoes.

I laughed to myself that I was my bookmark in eighth grade.

And in that thought was my patience and mindset to last through the final days of school and then some: If all my eighth graders are their "own bookmarks," as they should be, it doesn't matter who's in front of the classroom; as long as I keep them the stars, then we'll accomplish something.

How freeing for a teacher who practically launched off her teacher stool to grab the evidence of her junior high days from the floor.

Cookie Dough & Peanut Butter

Bananas are an okay fruit, but I have found that they need some help. The texture is a little too liquidy to really be enjoyed alone. My solution has been swiping peanut butter on each bite. In recent months, that has become old, too (especially at school; you can only eat so many school-sized bananas with school-portioned-mini-cupped peanut butter...which was not contaminated, I was assured).

Then, I came across two great products:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter
and
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough


The possibilities are endless. I have eaten so many bananas since these products have entered our home. It's probably not healthy. I rationalize that I'm not confident in my banana bread ability yet, so I have to eat all those bananas one way or another.

Palm Braiding

I learned a Ressler family tradition this weekend: palm braiding. Bryan and I came home from Saturday night mass with a handful of palms (which are different than the palms of my youth; these palms are long, skinny, and yellowish-green) and proceeded to braid them. Bryan's family does this every year, but we still had to do a quick google search to refresh Bryan's memory of how to start them. I chose the cone design and Bryan made an impressive crown of thorns. Below are the results.

This One's For You Megan

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