Recently

Here are 2 images of a painting I started. I think I'm on to something, though I've thought that during the last 3 series I've tried to start. I'm going to stick this one out for at least 6 paintings. This involves some collage, watercolor, pencil and memories.

Untitled No. 1
-mixed media on BFK

Untitled No. 1 detail

Off Gassing

The title of this post refers to a few things:

1. Has anyone else noticed the odor that emits from every Abercrombie and Fitch store, no matter what town, city, or state? I swear they pump their cologne through the vents, along with that god-awful techno music. I have never purchased anything from their stores and plan to keep it that way.

2. I've been eating Fiber One bars every morning. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. But, it's working.

3. I rode my bike about 16 miles today along the beaches. It was strange because as I passed through certain neighborhoods, there were waves of some smell that reminded me of old books. I love opening up an old book and smelling the pages. Uncle Paul, is this some chemical phenomenon?

4. I need to vent a little...orally. I'm tired, somewhat physically, but more so mentally.
I'm tired of feeling overly responsible for other people's feelings and then beating myself up for feeling that way, of having the pressure at work to make every single moment of teaching a lesson jam packed with excitement (I'm sorry, but like it or not, there are some concepts/skills that are just plain boring. It's like learning your multiplication tables: once you learned that, you could do pretty much anything in math.), of politicians who have never been educators spouting off "solutions to change and improve" our education system, and of bills. The end of no. 4.

Suggestions, anyone?: My co-worker and I are trying to come up with a story to base a Christmas-ish play from for our students. So far, we've considered The Clown of God and A Christmas Carol. We're finding road blocks with the former due to the fact that at the end of the story, the guy drops dead, and also, we'd need a killer student juggler to play the part.

Let me know if you think of any other well-known stories with a positive message.

Shrimp Fried Lice, anyone?

For the record, I know that the title is culturally insensitive. Apologies.

But it almost perfectly describes my "almost meal" the other night... minus the "shrimp fried" part. And instead of lice it was flour beetles (which kinda look like lice). I've been having a dilemma with flour beetles for the past few months. It's a wonderful thing---opening up your airtight (I need bugtight, people) canister of flour only to find it contaminated with little red beetles. And then to find that the corn starch, bread crumbs, oatmeal, and any other grainy food have been infected too. I cleaned out and sprayed the pantry and let it sit empty for a while just to be sure they were all dead. No sign of them for weeks, until last night.

I was boiling rice and as I was stirring it, I noticed these dark specs rotating around. They ended up being bits of discolored rice...phew. And then I noticed some stringy white things. What was first thought to be some grainy residue from the rice ended up being flour beetle maggots (which were still alive, mind you). I quickly retrieved the bag of rice from the pantry and sure enough, there they were: many, many flour beetles wiggling between grains of uncooked rice. Fabulous.

So now I'm at a loss over a few things...
1. My rice had to be thrown away.
2. I don't know how to prevent or keep flour beetles from infesting my food.
3. Maggots are indestructible. Boiling water doesn't do the trick. Neither does muriatic acid, bleach, or other household chemicals. (I know the acid and bleach don't work because my mom and I had a bout with maggots years ago upon cleaning out a trash can in the garage)

I'm open to suggestions. I've been told that if the plant where the grain products were processed was infested, then the eggs/maggots/beetles are already present in the food when you purchase it. But I find it hard to believe that several of the grain products I have bought and or replaced over the past few months are all infested.

Yum.

Explorations in Common Sense

The title of this post should be the name of a professional development workshop provided by Duval County for teachers needing just that...common sense. I often find that the frustrating things that happen with adults during the school day have much to do with lack of this much valued characteristic. As a joke, if someone would do something stupid, my mom would tap her index finger to her head and say "Kidneys!" That's what I felt like doing today to a co-worker, only my common sense stopped me from causing an argument. Or I could have said "Did you grow up in a mayonnaise jar?" as my high school history teacher said many a time. I won't get into the dumb details of the situation. So that's all.

On another note, school is going well (still!!). Hooray! I have my challenging classes, but overall it is a completely different experience from last year. Oh a whim, I came up with this little song and dance about line variety (zigzag, wavy, vertical, broken, horizontal, etc) for my 1st and 2nd graders. It involves some singing, clapping, and wiggling. The kids love it more than I thought they would. This is good news for me because they're having fun AND memorizing the names and directions of lines. Woot. When you're so focused on a high-structure classroom management plan, it is easy to forget that acting silly and nutty can be one of the best ways to engage everyone.

That's all for now.