Donna

Well i got an email from my friend Donna who's son has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. I have really been feeling guilty because I have not been in contact with her since she told me this. I understand what she is going through because my mom and brother both died from cancer. I am feeling guilty because my way of dealing with difficult things is to avoid them so I have not talked with her at all. I really don't know what to say to her. It makes me think of my mom and brother which brings back the horrible times. I went to the site she set up for her son to communicate with everyone and seeing the pictures of him getting treatment made me soo sad and made me think of the times I went with Shawn to get his treatments at the Cancer Center. It was very difficult to see my brother this way, I can't imagine how it feels for your son who is still a child.

I am going to try my best to send emails at least once a week and maybe do some pictures for her scrapbooking.

~later

Books and Movies

Well I haven't read much lately.

I just finished Twilight by Stephanie Myers which is a teen book. It is about...wait...vampires LOL. Very different take on the vampire though and they don't even bite or kill in this book. Basically a misunderstood teen angsty book. She meets this family of vamps who go to her new school and she falls in love with Edward the one not paired up. There will be another by this author soon and I don't know if it will be a sequel. I think it will due to the ending.

I am currently listening to Lyrael by Garth Nix which is the sequel to Sabrial. I listened to that one too and LOVED IT!!! It was read and Lyrael is read by Tim Curry. Not alot of romance but the action is great and he really knows how to give cliff hangers at the end of each chapter. Lyrael I am having a harder time following because it jumps between two stories, Lyreal and Prince Sam. However it is just as good and action packed. Plus you get to see some more of Sabrial and Touchstone.

I finally was able to pick up the sequel to the Last Dragonlord, The Dragon and the Phoenix by Joanne Bertin. I have read oh about a fifth of it. It is very long and the words are small so it will take me awhile.

I went to see Cars and Click with my nephew Sage. I LOVED Cars! It was reeeaaaalllly long for a cartoon movie though. The story had a message and the characters where great. Click I didn't like at all. I thought it was just slapped together and the jokes where not funny or were juvenile. Like the same joke about the dog doing the stuffed animal which appeared at least 5 times in the movie. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! It was funny the first time (a little) but after that, no way.

Well I have a ton of other books I need to read so I will update my list.
~see ya

WOOHOO!!!

I have been accepted by Digiscrap Central to be on their Element Team and I am soo excited I can hardly stand it. I am in the process of making some kits to sell either there or somewhere else. My career as a designer is off and running! Hopefully I won't stall and will get some kits sold. Stay tuned!

Summer has been kind of boring so far. Just working on my computer making kits and doing scrapbook pages. I have also recommitted to my weight loss goal of getting down to 190 then 175. I usually go somewhere during the summer (two years ago London, last year Alaska) but only my dad went to New Jersey to see my brother. It was for his and my new stepmom Lillie's unofficial honeymoon even though they have been married for 2 years.

~see ya

My elements for my Girly Girl kit. 

These are the papers for my other new kit.  

This is my new kit!! I am sooo stoked by how many people are downloading it!!!!! 

Summer is Here!

Well the last few weeks have been very busy. School ended with a bang. Everyone had to move stuff around last minute due to our portables being moved. I also applied to about 6 jobs for Computer Instructional Technologist at my District. This person is basically the techie on campus to help teacher intergrate technology. I have heard NOTHING about interviews. I am little bummed.

I went to a workshop and a person there from a campus I applied at was there and made some nasty comments about needing a person who is more adept than I was for thier campus after I said I had applied at her campus. Talk about being a tech snob. She didn't know anything about me and said this. I am glad I didn't get an interview there needless to say.


I have a new kit coming out today called Iced Cocoa. I also decided to track how many people were downloading my stuff.

Well that's it for now!

Books and Moview

Been very busy with reading lately.

Wolf who Rules by Wen Spencer. WOW!!!! I can say that this was as good as if not better than the first one. I really like the complex characters in this series. And a male elf? Yummm!

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear. Well I have to say I got half way through this book and gave up on it. It was too techie/science/military for me.

Megan's Mark by Lora Leigh. HOT!!! HOT!!! HOT!! If you like your stories with sizzle and good characters Lora is one of the best. Love the Breed Series and was very worried about transitioning from ebooks to mass market paperback but she has done it well. I have to say that Ellora's Cave has some of the best writers in the romance field writing for them and most people don't even know about this ebook company! Although now they are moving to print. These stories are not for the faint of heart. Very graphic.

Heart Thief by Robin T. Owens. Fantasy Romance. The hero is a theif/outcast because he doesn't have any psi powers so he was ousted from being leader of his house by his uncle. The heroine is a judge that must help decide his fate and has empathy psi that he blocks so she feels at peace. I must say I thought this wasn't bad. I have Heart Choice and Heart Mate on it's way from paperback swap so I will read some more of this series to see if these are as good or better. One thing I was irritated about tho was the names with the first initial and an apostrophe like T'Ash.


A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole. First book by her that I have read. Another werewolf book lol. Different take again with the girl being a Valkie wolf hybrid. She was a little mousey but got more kick butt as the story progress. The hero was great as well. I will definitely read more by this author!

Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter. I had a hard time finding this at discounted price but finally got it!!! I must say I liked it alot even though a lot of reviewers didn't. The character is alot like Anita Blake but I liked that. The twist being about Aliens living in world. Her romance was a little weak but it was fine with me since I knew that about her from the other book I read by her (something about a Dragon). I will definitely keep reading this series but not the one about the dragon (the newest in that one in that series is something with Atlantis in the title)

I saw Flight 93 which I didn't really want to see but my Dad was treating so I went. It was very tense through the whole movie because I knew what was going to happen. I must say it really made me understand better why/how this could have happened. I thought the movie was very good and took into account the survivor's families feelings about this tragedy.

Also saw Ice Age 2 with my nephew. I liked it alot but it wasn't as good as the first I don't think. That's it for now!

Talk to ya later!

An Update?!?!

Well been really busy. TAKS reading is mostly over. My kids did outstanding!!! WOW! and our school's 3rd grade scores were way high with 50% making commended.Still doing Reading with Meaning and continue to see improvements with my students even the low ones now. I really like the discussions that go on between partners and since my students LOVE to talk this really makes them work too.

Books finished:

Dark Lover by JR Ward, a vampire romance (series) was great. I really like the writing.

A Touch of Evil by Ct Adams and Cathy Clamp. Was very good. A unique twist on Vampires being a disease and are like bees with a queen. Loved the heroine was alot like Anita Blake in the early books before all the kinkyness (not that I don't mind that but it just ruined the story for me).

Willing by Lucy Munroe. Love this writer. This series is on secret agents that are on a team (Alpha Males alert!) The first was better (Ready) can't wait for the third one.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. I kept picking this one up in the store and FINALLY bought it. It was unuasal. It was pretty good I will keep an eye on this author. Another vampire/paranormal romance. LOL. can you see a trend?

The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin. LOVED THIS!!! I have loved dragons since reading Anne McCafferty's Pern books and this reminded me alot of those early books. I fell in love with the hero and the story is very character driven. A big book and it is a series. I have read that the sequel The Dragon and the Phoenix is not as good but I really want to see how these characters progress. The third one should be out soon.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. I have another by her Dragon Bones that I have yet to read but picked this up due to all the buzz on my email group. I was not disappointed. Another take on the familiar vampire/werewolf/other romance but the character was very well done. I can't wait for more!


Thousand Words for a Stranger by Julie Czanerda. WOW! I have wanted to read some of her stories for awhile and finally got it from www.paperbackswap.com and was very surprised. The beginning was a little slow but it picked up and ended good. Very complex story.

Currently Reading:
Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse so far pretty good. Very complex story. I have had few stories that I had a hard time understand (like my students) so I have to really pay attention. It is a techie book about the future and everyone is LINKED to the computer through biological connections in there heads. Well the world is run by the churches! Interesting world so far. The girl is a ex cop whose partner killed the pope and she helped put him away and she became a pariah and celeb over it. Any way the LINK has had angels show up and say the second coming has arrived but there is a lot of political manuveuring. The cop has a real angel (at least that what he says he is) come to her and relink her to the computer so she can help him with something.

talk to ya later!

School

Well the year has gone by very quickly. I am getting things more organized and I have made a push to get more results from my teaching. I have been reading alot about the book Mosaic of Thought by Eline Keener and purchased it along with Four Blocks Guide to Guided Reading. Keener's book has been a real eye opener to me. I never really thought about how I read effects my students and teaching them WHAT I as good reader do to help them was very interesting to me.

Keener talks about a lot about making my students THINKERS and not just readers. I have not finished the book yet but I bought another, Reading with Meaning which I read in one day while car was being fixed. It is basically a companion to Keener's book since the person who wrote this book is a colleague of hers. I felt this was also a more indepth look at how I can use Keeners strategies better in my class since it looks at the author's teaching through a year. I HIGHLY recommend both books if you teach reading or a content area that does reading (which is pretty much everything).

I came about these books because my team members and I have not really been collaborating as much as we did last year. I am not sure if it is due to new team member added or what but the feel this year is very different. I saw how three of my team was collaborating together and not sharing what they were doing in their class so I basically said to myself what can I do to make my teaching better? I am the type that gets ideas from others and expands from their ideas. With that basically not there anymore I was really feeling left out and I was struggling with how to do things this year to make myself a better teacher. So instead of just whining about it (which I am good at LOL) I picked up the books above. I am really glad I did. I can't wait to try these new ways of doing the same things I am already doing but in a better way.

Right away I started focusing in on predicting before we read to activate schema. I used various strategies from Four Blocks like Prove It, Anticipation Guides, RIVET, and Think Alouds. In the about 3 weeks before the break I could really see some improvement with the students. They were more engaged with a PURPOSE for reading that is more natural than to just answer questions at the end of a story. I will continue working with schema and start introduce questioning before/during/after reading next. I am really excited and hope that this really helps my students to be better thinkers AND readers.

~talk to ya later!

Long time no talk!

Well lots been happening in my life. Right now just posting to show you my what movie I am!

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic

Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few. But if someone's obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky. Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

The papers for my new kit I am making with my Scrap Pack buddies. 

Back to School!

I start this week by meeting with my team and going over things for the new year. We had a great salad lunch and everyone brought something. YUUUUMMMM! Of course with all the good cooks on my team is was great.

So far I have arranged all the tables, and pretty much organized my files and papers that I didn't get to at the end of the year. I am quite proud of myself.

My new goals for this year are to be more organized (grade papers quicker, have a caldendar and WRITE in it) and to be more positive with the parents and students. I am going to try and speak in person to every parent once a month for a progress report. I think I can handle this. It is going to be hard tho because I HATE talking on the phone. Before I usually just communicated by email or notes in agenda. I want to make it more personal so hope this works.


My new kit is out and I am working on another one called I Love Rock and Roll. It is inspired by the Beatles and 70's retro. My girl scout kit will be posted at SBB tonight or tomorrow and I will be taking it off my website at the end of August.

Talk to ya later~

This is exactly where we scattered Shawn's ashes at Alieska 

Dad, Bill, and I at Flat Top Mountain 

These are the salmon we saw at Ship Creek! 

A moose we saw at Flat Top 

I won a beautiful knife at the Dusty Sourdough Show at Sourdough Mining Co. 

Lillie and I in Whittier 

Me near Portage Glacier. These waters are run off from the glacier which causes it to look turquoise. Neat huh?