Family Craft Night

Our school had a family craft night tonight. Danielle Culberson and Bryan Bearrs both helped out in my room where we made sock snowmen. This was a craft Mom taught me when I taught first grade. The kids LOVED it and it was a huge success. I'll add the picture later :)

Christmas Cards

Our family friend, Lisa Walton, sent me this request. I thought it was an easy opportunity to do something special for a stranger...

Essentially, Lisa's high school friends, Chris Johnson, has just turned 40 and is entering hospice to cope with Polycystic Kidney Disease. They are asking that an extra Christmas card be sent to her. Here's a bit of the request :)

"A bunch of my high school friends have decided to help send her support and Christmas/New Year wishes on a massive scale. We’re asking for friends and family to send Chris a card, note, postcard, letter, picture, etc We’re hoping to inundate her with love and support and lift up her spirits during this difficult time. Think of the scene in “Miracle on 34^th Street” when they bring the bags full of mail into the courtroom for Santa, that’s what we’re hoping for!

"So if you can just mail out an extra card, or have your kids make one, we’d really appreciate it! Everyone loves to get mail, especially at Christmas time."

Her address is--Chris Johnson, 2209 Portofino Pl #2526, Palm Harbor, FL 34683

Bad Dog

Mom found and sent me this... when pets are part of your family, some disasters are hard to avoid.

Education Policy

Mom found this interesting article in Newsweek by Michelle Rhee, D.C.'s former Chancellor of Schools. Well worth checking out :)

The Candy Man Did...

Here's Tracy's "cooking"... (tempted? all the fun; none of the mess or calories)

The HORRENDOUS Hunt

Okay, so, the movie is actually called The Wild Hunt. It was part of the Anchorage International Film Festival-- whose tag line is "Films Worth Freezing For".

(I am only mentioning this film because it is John's birthday and he wanted me to talk about it.)

We saw it last night and it was horrible! (John didn't think so.) The film is about LARPing, which stands for Live Action Role Playing... this means games like Dungeons and Dragons, but acted out for real. The movie shows Erik who is upset that his girlfriend, Lyn, is spending so much time at these games. Erik follows Lyn to the middle of nowhere (which I think is in Canada) and tries to win her back. This sounds simple enough. And, as has so often been said, it's all fun and games (however dull) until someone gets their head bashed in. Disturbing.

Here's the film preview, which is free of blood, but not cussing or violence--so viewer discretion is advised. (Though, FYI, the sexual assault that's threatened in the preview does NOT happen... so, there's that.) Needless to say, if I'd watched the preview, I would have SKIPPED the film.



And here's one character's "shout out" to Anchorage:



Finally, here was the disturbing, but interesting short animated film called Millhaven, based on a story called The Millhaven Curse. It's by a Polish director and is subtitled.

Happy Birthday John!!!

Today's John's Birthday... hooray for John! I think he had a nice day overall. This is a picture of a picture from Jens' where we had dinner. May the year ahead be wonderful!!

Alyeska Pics

This Sunday John and I went to Girdwood to eat brunch and read at Alyeska. John took many great photos. Here are a few.

The Candy Man Can

Want to decorate a gingerbread man with no cooking or mess? Another teacher forwarded me this site, which let me "candy it up".

Gingerbread Man Decorating

Crazy!!!!!!!!!!

John's co-clerk and our ski coach, Michael, asked me to "friend him" so I could see our photos. To find him, I clicked on the "friends you have in common" button. OH MY GOSH!!! There are soooo many people I haven't talked to in FOREVER! I'm going to have to go back and start adding some of my friends... maybe after the new year, since I feel like getting back in touch en masse is going to require some effort.

Wow. It puts the movie "The Social Network" in better perspective.

Wow!

Dad just sent me this picture from our Annual Christmas-Eve-Eve Caroling Party. I think it only lasted for 3 years, but it was fun :)... and what I formerly thought was cold.

It's Easier

for me to find stuff on the blog, than in my email. So, these were my mom's contributions to our school cookbook and I thought I'd paste them here-- that way I knew right where they were :)

HEARTY CORN CHOWDER

2 cans creamed corn

1 can corn

1 pint milk or half and half

2 potatoes, baked al dente, peeled/cubed

salt and pepper to taste

Add if you want: chicken, cubed (I use the store-bought rotisserie chicken); real bacon bits

In a large pot, mix all ingredients together and heat through. For thicker chowder, mix about 3 Tbls flour with cold water and stir in to mixture, continue to heat thoroughly.

ENCHILADA SOUP

1 can refried beans

1 (larger than bean) can enchilada sauce

cubed chicken (I use the store-bought rotisserie chicken) or ground turkey

LOTS of cheddar cheese

Heat thoroughly. Serve with tortilla chips.

Pet Sitter

Hooray! We have a pet sitter for winter break :)

John's justice's judicial assistant, Sonja, needed a place for her family whose coming in town over break. They'd made arrangements with a friend, but the arrangements fell through. So, it's perfect, they're going to stay at our place and take care of the critters. What a relief to have this figured out! Good job John and Sonja :)

1 BELOW

One degree below zero! That's my new "first" coldest temperature... we write it on my classroom whiteboard even. It's very cool! --he he

Even if You Don't Give a Moose a Muffin...

...it still might come in your yard.

Yesterday I saw some weird tracks in our yard ...imagine a potato stamp getting dragged through ink. I suspected a moose, but the culprit was not to be found.

But, tonight when we came home, there were moose crossing the street.

The answer to the age-old question-- Why did the moose cross the road? is in fact, To eat your neighbors' trees.

I took a few pictures initially. They're not great... as they're in the dark and from a distance. These pictures are on the left.

I was fiddling around with the pictures-- trying to brighten them up--and Hayden needed to go out. John took her outside. She was finished and heading back in when she let out a loud bark... very unusual for her. Hayden came across a moose in our backyard! We didn't even give out muffins ;) John called me out and I took some pictures. These are at right and literally taken from a foot outside our front (back) door.

I came back in and John told me there was a baby outside. Both of us had totally missed it! They're just kind of giant brown lumps in front of dark bushes--so a "bit" hard to see. Out I went again to take pictures of the baby moose... this picture is at the bottom.

As you may have noticed, there was a lot of taking on and off of my jacket, which was worth it. Even if the pictures aren't great, it was cool to see them from so close.