02.26.09

Eurasian Collared Dove?

This morning I looked out at the bird feeders and saw two new visitors. Each year we have a mourning (turtle) dove couple that live in the area and usually frequent the feeders everyday. I had never seen any of these doves around our place, but I have seen them at my parents' house in eastern Colorado. They didn't hang out long...grabbed a quick bite and were on their way.

02.25.09

The Rock.

I posted a "rock" photo from my morning drive to work recently. Today this shot is of the rock, from a different angle, when I was headed home. I have noticed over the last few weeks, the sun is staying out just a little bit longer...I'm anxious for spring.

02.24.09

Silhouettes.

As I was walking to my car tonight I saw two people walking along one of the ridge lines just outside the school. I just thought their silhouettes looked interesting.

02.23.09

Keeping up.

Well, the last couple of weekends have gotten the better of me...I have missed posting on both of them.  I need to get back into the swing of things. 

With the basement finished, it's time to get the rest of the house in order.  I didn't realize how much "stuff" we, or I, really had.  I'm excited to get my new craft room and library up and going soon.  Chad got the carpet stretched so I will hopefully do some paining this weekend or next.  I will have to get some before & after photos up of the basement and my new room.

So, tonight's picture was taken with the intention of getting today's photo and post up...today!  I will say, it does include one of my favorite dive photos.  This was actually my 150th dive.  Just about a minute into the dive, this grey reef shark came within 2-3 feet of us...it was AWESOME!

02.22.09

Some more great blooms!

My amaryllis has now been open for a few days and it looks beautiful.  I'm excited because there's a second bloom that will be opening next week.  I loved the deep, red color in the morning sun.

02.21.09

Parking Lot.

I was a little disappointed in how this photo turned out...it really didn't capture the environment.  It was in the afternoon and we were leaving the Learning 2.0:  A Colorado Conversation conference.  I  noticed that all the cars were a parked a little "crazy."  The reason for this was due to a light-dusting of snow on the ground when everyone arrived earlier in the morning.  There was just enough snow to cover the parking space lines.

02.20.09

Approaching storm.

The wind was terrible in the area today.  Just about 20 minutes prior to taking this picture I was on the phone with my sister.  She mentioned how she could see a "brown cloud" in the distance and within a few minutes of her saying that, she said the cloud had moved in to their area.  I'm pretty sure this was the same cloud that moved in on us as well.  It ended up producing several hours of snow...not too heavy though.

Looking forward to attending the Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation tomorrow...and seeing an old friend!

02.19.09

Hungry birds.

My poor birds...they were so hungry they were scratching at the feeder and actually left marks!  I'm glad to say that I made it home in time to replinish their food supply.  I am SO anxious for spring...some of you know why, others will have to wait and see.  Will it be a 3 for 3 year??

02.18.09

Birthday flowers.

One of my teammates will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow.  We decided to surprise her with some flowers and sweet treats.

02.17.09

My Google Reader.

Well, as you can see, I need to get a grip on my Google Reader. I haven't figured out a good "attack plan" for consistently checking and reading my feeds. I think at this point it's almost better to just clear them all and try again.

I am open to any helpful tips on managing my reader.

02.16.09

Envelopes...and more envelopes.

Today was a day off - sort of. My youngest sister is getting married in April and she asked me to help address her invitations. So, that's what we did today. We did get to have some fun though...we also babysat our nephew. He is just the most precious little thing.

02.15.09

Family dinner.

Well, after everyone recovered from helping us move stuff on Saturday, they all made their way back to our house for this month's family dinner. The family dinner is a tradition that my youngest sister began last year. Her and her fiance hosted all the dinners last year and this year, my other sister and I are hosting this year.

Keeping with the Italian theme, we had some tasty appetizers (one was a sun-dried tomato mixture with toasted bread) - baked ziti - and homemade cannolis for dessert.

Today's picture is of the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It looked a little like a heart...just a day late. As soon as we saw this, everyone said, "Take a picture!"

02.14.09

Valentines for everyone.

Well, I missed my first day of posting...okay a couple of days. I did however take pictures on all the days. The basement and family have been the focus of this long weekend. We had many helpers (thanks family!) with getting things in the basement on Saturday. It was great...after moving we ate pizza, drank beer, and played some pool and ping pong.

In the evening, Chad and I had a romantic dinner...in the new basement of course. We had ordered some side dishes from one of our favorite restaurants on Friday and then ran up to a little store nearby for a couple fillets. We also cracked open a favorite bottle of wine and topped off the evening with German Chocolate Brownies and a romantic comedy.

02.13.09

Hazy morning.

Friday the 13th...it started off cold with a few snow flurries. This was the view looking east towards the rock this morning on my way to work. The kids were a little on the wild side today, the day before Valentine's Day. The classrooms had either breakfast or end-of-the day parties.

02.12.09

Discovery Education Streaming Class

A colleague of mine and I wrapped up the second night of our three-night DEstreaming class. This class is offered through the school district. Unfortunately since our bond & mill levy override did not pass this fall, our class is one of the last ones that people will actually get paid for completing.

I absolutely love DEstreaming - it is an amazing resource!

02.11.09

Weekend menu...

Well, we spent most of the evening in the basement.  We managed to get some things moved into the bar and Chad did some touch-up work on the tile.  We're hopeful that contractors will be out of the house by Friday.

For the rest of the evening I began looking over potential recipes...I am hosting our monthly family dinner this Sunday.  We are focusing on Italian food this year and I'm excited to finally put the recipe book that Chad got for me last Christmas to some good use.  I came across a number of great ideas - it will be hard narrowing down what to fix.  I will keep you updated!

02.10.09

Tomorrow's snack.

Well, I'm feeling much better today.  I decided to take a sick day, so I managed to sleep until almost 10:00 this morning.  I had to go into school for the last class of the day and for a professional development class I was teaching after school.

Anyway, these pretzels will be eaten by my fellow teachers tomorrow.  Our social committee organized a staff event to celebrate the birthdays of our Principal and AP.  Each team has been asked to bring something to the event and our Specials team is on the "pretzel, trail mix, etc." duty.

02.09.09

Well, I have finally fallen victim to the germs.

It started coming on last Thursday and I kept hoping that I could "will" it off. (Just in case that didn't work I did take my Zicam religiously.)  Working with almost 600 kids each week, I can't believe this hasn't happened sooner.

I'm hopeful that a day in bed tomorrow will help me.

02.08.09

After nearly four months, I finally rediscovered the floor of my dining room.  When we began our basement finishing project we decided to forgo a storage unit and just move our things into other rooms of the house.  This weekend we began moving items back into the basement.  As I was sorting and cleaning, Fiji managed to find one of my empty boxes.

02.07.09

Home improvement fopa?

We decided to pick up our new barstools versus having them delivered...it was much cheaper!  Plus, they were pretty light, so it there wasn't any heavy lifting/moving involved.  Since we had the Home Depot van, we decided to pick up the shelves for our store room as well.  We had to get all of this done and be back home before the theater chair delivery came.  (We were hoping that it wouldn't be the one time that a delivery was early.)

This is where the fopa comes into play.  The shelves were cheaper at Lowes, so we got the HD van first and then headed over to Lowes.  We purchased our shelves, made it up to the store to get our barstools, got back home, were just finishing up the unloading of the stools, and the delivery guys showed up...10 minutes early.  We couldn't have planned it better.

02.06.09

"Handled With Care?"

I'm not so sure about this.  The light that is in this box if for our basement bathroom.  The first light was the floor model from the store...it came in bubble wrap, had a few wires attached to it, and the two nuts that are on the front were different colors.  It ended up not fitting well on the wall - seems that it was bent.

So, this is the replacement...handled with care.

02.05.09

Sushi!
Prior to this evening, I had not had "real" sushi.  (I've had the California Roll from the grocery store, but I was told that didn't count.)

My sister celebrated her birthday today and her fiance arranged a surprise dinner.  It was great!!  Our whole family was in attendance.  I did enjoy the several different rolls I tried.  I'm still not sure if I'm a true sushi fan yet...I would have to pick my red meat.  So, I'm sure I will give it another try.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kelly!!

02.04.09

Today I decided to capture the paperwhites in their full glory...in the morning sunlight. The one thing I forgot about these beautiful, little flowers - they don't have the sweetest smell. I'm still not sure if all of the bulbs will bloom.

02.03.09

Well, as I promised last night...diving!

I was VERY excited to see the release of Google Earth 5.0! I had to get it downloaded on my "teacher" computer at school ASAP. Once I had it installed an began exploring, underwater of course, I had to call over a fellow teacher and scuba diver. We agreed that we had logged our first dive at CSE!

Tonight I managed to get it installed on my laptop and to do some more exploring. Using my screen capture, y photo today was taken just east of one of my favorite dive sites - Sting Ray City in Grand Cayman. You can see some of the underwater topography and the waves lapping overhead.


So what have our friends at Google improved this time? As for the ocean layer, there are some great resources. Not only can you dive under the surface, but you can add photos to dive sites, watch videos, visit live blogs, and more. Another great feature that I like is the historical imagery. You are able to see the changes a location has undergone over time. Our house is still not on the map, but it was fun to see what the subdivision looked like before the golf course and houses. Finally, I'm looking forward to trying the recording feature. This allows you to record a tour for others to take.

The one downfall of all these changes...I have figure it all out so I can share it with our students and teachers. A great example for students that you are always learning, no matter how "old" you are.

If you are interested in checking out the Google Earth 5.0, here's the link. Enjoy!!
http://earth.google.com/

02.02.09

"I am the Future"

This was the phrase on the collar of a student I had in the computer lab today. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to use it in my blog. The funny thing is, the boy didn't even know that the words were on his shirt! I hope that's not a sign of our future. ;o)

Just a preview for tomorrow...I may be going diving!!

02.01.09

New beginnings...

Yesterday I posted a "fairwell" to January photo of the sunset.  Today I decided to post a "welcome" to February photo.  Today's photo is one of the paperwhite flowers that are beginning to open...they are just beginning to show their beauty.

I'm also in need of a new beginning.  Chad and I have been watching our calories - burned and consumed.  After entering my information for this past week, I didn't do so well.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming week as a new beginning - a chance to get back on track.

Here's to a great month!