Long time no post
As usual, much has transpired! I've moved into my own place, which will be OUR own place when Derek and I get married 5 weeks from today =) It's starting to come together as a home, but is missing some seemingly essential elements. I can't feel settled until we get a dining table and chairs.
Actually, as soon as I moved in, the overwhelming urge to go on a nesting rampage nearly took over; it took the combined willpower of both me and Derek to quell the desire. There's no reason why we need to buy all of these things (sofa, nightstands, dining table and chairs, bookcases, etc) right at this very moment, especially since we're currently buying a wedding (with lots of parental help), my college loans, and my car loans. Derek very sensibly pointed out that we can live without the furniture for a while, at least until the "just right" thing comes along. I wasn't too happy about being sensible at the time, but I'm very happy right now that we were sensible. It is nice to be able to focus on one thing (the wedding) at a time.
Well, almost able. Work is taking up lots of cognitive space, but it's going really well right now. In an effort to get my 7th graders thinking like scientists and writing proper lab reports, I've come up with a project that they're really into; we're creating our own "Mythbusters" episodes, called "Space Cases," with problems about space. Students are asking questions, forming hypotheses, setting up and conducting the experiments, analyzing the data, and forming a conclusion about their work. AND they're doing research. We're filming Mon/Tues, and I hope it turns out well. I have a contact at Mythbusters (a current writer for the show) and I'm hoping to send the completed DVD to the Mythbusters team. The kids are really into it, which makes me extremely happy. Also, my 8th graders are pretty much totally turned off of physics (it's the curriculum they're subjected to; no matter how much passion I attempt to infuse into the subject, they can't get over the math), so I decided to do something a little different yesterday. We're talking about balanced and unbalanced forces, so we went outside and challenged the other class to a rousing game of tug-of-war. It was awesome, and the kids started to have fun in science. Hooray!!
Derek and I had a lovely date night last night...we went out to dinner and saw The Kite Runner at the local $3 theater (which is the best invention EVER). I highly recommend the movie; it was brilliant, through and through. Very sad and happy all at once, kind of like real life. Right now, though, real life is much more on the happy side. I am super excited about marrying this most amazing of all men, excited about seeing everyone at the wedding, excited about the honeymoon...just very, very excited. Yay!!
Actually, as soon as I moved in, the overwhelming urge to go on a nesting rampage nearly took over; it took the combined willpower of both me and Derek to quell the desire. There's no reason why we need to buy all of these things (sofa, nightstands, dining table and chairs, bookcases, etc) right at this very moment, especially since we're currently buying a wedding (with lots of parental help), my college loans, and my car loans. Derek very sensibly pointed out that we can live without the furniture for a while, at least until the "just right" thing comes along. I wasn't too happy about being sensible at the time, but I'm very happy right now that we were sensible. It is nice to be able to focus on one thing (the wedding) at a time.
Well, almost able. Work is taking up lots of cognitive space, but it's going really well right now. In an effort to get my 7th graders thinking like scientists and writing proper lab reports, I've come up with a project that they're really into; we're creating our own "Mythbusters" episodes, called "Space Cases," with problems about space. Students are asking questions, forming hypotheses, setting up and conducting the experiments, analyzing the data, and forming a conclusion about their work. AND they're doing research. We're filming Mon/Tues, and I hope it turns out well. I have a contact at Mythbusters (a current writer for the show) and I'm hoping to send the completed DVD to the Mythbusters team. The kids are really into it, which makes me extremely happy. Also, my 8th graders are pretty much totally turned off of physics (it's the curriculum they're subjected to; no matter how much passion I attempt to infuse into the subject, they can't get over the math), so I decided to do something a little different yesterday. We're talking about balanced and unbalanced forces, so we went outside and challenged the other class to a rousing game of tug-of-war. It was awesome, and the kids started to have fun in science. Hooray!!
Derek and I had a lovely date night last night...we went out to dinner and saw The Kite Runner at the local $3 theater (which is the best invention EVER). I highly recommend the movie; it was brilliant, through and through. Very sad and happy all at once, kind of like real life. Right now, though, real life is much more on the happy side. I am super excited about marrying this most amazing of all men, excited about seeing everyone at the wedding, excited about the honeymoon...just very, very excited. Yay!!