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Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas Message From Our Family To Yours, CHRISTMAS 2008
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Sunday, June 15, 2008
Happy Father's Day
No Blog today. It's my day off! Join me tomorrow for a new installment of Picture Monday. The scanner is up and running so I will pull out some old pictures for you. See you then and be nice to your Dad today. After all, it is his day.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2008
We're BACK!!!!
The first day back from the holidays is always a challenge for kindergarten students. They have to adjust to the school schedule and the school routine again. Half my class told me they were sleepy at 9:30 AM. "Sorry! We can't go to sleep. We're here and we have a lot to do. " Lunchtime is at 10:50 AM and then recess. It rained a lot early yesterday morning. It left the ground very wet. We couldn't go outside for recess. We had to go to the room instead. Someone had to cry. Not me, one of the students. Kindergarten lives for recess; even after two weeks of holidays. Rest time is at 1:00 PM after Music. By 1:30 PM 4 students were asleep and the rest said they were hungry. "I know! We'll have a snack after Social Studies."
The teachers also have to adjust to the school schedule and routine. The biggest challenge is adjusting your body to the restroom opportunities. Or actually the lack of restroom opportunities. Don't stand in front of the restroom doors after the students are gone. I am certain the water pressure in Waco drops drastically at school dismissal time. Fortunately dismissal times are staggered between elementary, middle, and high school.
Our campus uses the Voyager Expanded Learning Universal Literacy System for English/Language Arts in the early grades. One of the components of the system provides for highly structured and scripted lessons. In order to prepare for the daily lessons the teacher has to gather materials each afternoon for the next days lesson. I didn't remember if I had prepared for the lesson before I went home for the holidays. As soon as I got to school Tuesday morning I grabbed my teacher's guide and looked at the lesson and my materials. It didn't look as if I prepared so I set about to gather and organize. I finished and felt good. Later, I discovered I looked at the Wrong page in the guide and unknowingly prepared for next Monday by mistake. OOPS! I had already prepared for the lesson before I left for the holidays. Now what is it they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men?
© 2008 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
The teachers also have to adjust to the school schedule and routine. The biggest challenge is adjusting your body to the restroom opportunities. Or actually the lack of restroom opportunities. Don't stand in front of the restroom doors after the students are gone. I am certain the water pressure in Waco drops drastically at school dismissal time. Fortunately dismissal times are staggered between elementary, middle, and high school.
Our campus uses the Voyager Expanded Learning Universal Literacy System for English/Language Arts in the early grades. One of the components of the system provides for highly structured and scripted lessons. In order to prepare for the daily lessons the teacher has to gather materials each afternoon for the next days lesson. I didn't remember if I had prepared for the lesson before I went home for the holidays. As soon as I got to school Tuesday morning I grabbed my teacher's guide and looked at the lesson and my materials. It didn't look as if I prepared so I set about to gather and organize. I finished and felt good. Later, I discovered I looked at the Wrong page in the guide and unknowingly prepared for next Monday by mistake. OOPS! I had already prepared for the lesson before I left for the holidays. Now what is it they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men?
© 2008 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Last Night Was 1936, 1938, and 1959
The movie, "Joy of Living" 1938, came on TCM on December 20th. I was busy that night preparing for the last day of school before Christmas holidays so Chris recorded it on the DVR. Well last night we watched it. It was a cute movie which Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Irene Dunne played a Broadway star whose family sponged off of her. Irene fell in love with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who wanted her to leave the stage if they married. Of course, the family was against this. Hilarity ensued as they went back and forth. The movie was very enjoyable and definitely worth another look. However, the real reason I am writing is this...If our lead character was an actress and she fell in love how could the object of her love tell if she was sincere or merely acting?
I suppose you would call this one of life's imponderables. Here are a few more of Life's Imponderables:
Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?
Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?
Moving right along,
Chris and I watched two more good movies that were DVR'd from TCM earlier in the week. They were "The Next Time I Marry" 1938 and "Petticoat Fever" 1936. "The Next Time I Marry" starred Lucille Ball, who incidentally was also in "Joy of Living". Lucille played an heiress who must marry "a plain American" in order to inherit a fortune. "Petticoat Fever" starred Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery. He portrays a wireless operator in Labrador that falls in love with a woman, Irene Dunne, that is stranded at his wireless base only to have his fiancee' show up. Both are great and are highly recommended.
Finally, after the old movies I popped in a DVD, Perry Mason-Season 2, Volume 2. I watched Episodes #21-23. What a great night; Old Movies and Old TV Shows.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
I suppose you would call this one of life's imponderables. Here are a few more of Life's Imponderables:
Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?
Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?
Moving right along,
Chris and I watched two more good movies that were DVR'd from TCM earlier in the week. They were "The Next Time I Marry" 1938 and "Petticoat Fever" 1936. "The Next Time I Marry" starred Lucille Ball, who incidentally was also in "Joy of Living". Lucille played an heiress who must marry "a plain American" in order to inherit a fortune. "Petticoat Fever" starred Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery. He portrays a wireless operator in Labrador that falls in love with a woman, Irene Dunne, that is stranded at his wireless base only to have his fiancee' show up. Both are great and are highly recommended.
Finally, after the old movies I popped in a DVD, Perry Mason-Season 2, Volume 2. I watched Episodes #21-23. What a great night; Old Movies and Old TV Shows.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Where's My Schedule? I Think I'm Running Late
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, holidays give me a lot of spare time. Therefore, I can get a lot of my backlogged "need to do's" taken care of. Well, holidays are also great for getting your internal out of sync. Way out of sync. The same has happened to me or my internal clock, as the case may be.
I generally get up at 4:00 AM to Blog, then I get ready for work, and have breakfast. I arrive at work between 6:45 and 6:55 AM daily. Once at school my schedule is set by the school day. After school I return home; generally no later than 4:30 PM. I may run a few errands on the way home. I will do a few things around the house, do school work, etc. Bedtime is between 9:00 and 10:00 PM. Then we start all over again the next morning. Weekends are not very different. The only exception is I don't go to work. I will do small projects around the house and perhaps run some errands with Chris.
But the holidays!!! I am not sure how it happens or when it exactly occurs. It may be that in the way back, deep, dark recesses of my mind I think (Yes, I do think occasionally!); anyway, I think, "I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I will stay up a few minutes later!" Perhaps I unknowingly think that if I maybe sleep a few minutes longer the next morning I will catch up staying up later! Who knows?
All I know is that it doesn't work. It just gets worse and worse. Presently, I seem to be going to bed around midnight and getting up at 6:00 AM and having a short nap thrown into the mix during the mid-afternoon. By my calculations, if I return to work on January 7, 2008 I should be going to bed around 3:00 AM. Something has got to change before then. It will. As usual, I will start a few days before the holidays end and will force myself back to bed "early" so I can start rising on time at 4:00 AM. Ahhh!! It will be nice to get back into the normal routine.
I will be on time for school and life will be grand. Until, Spring Break. And don't even get me started on Summer. Summer really throws a monkey wrench into the mix.
Before I leave today, I wanted to mention a web-site. I have been helping a friend develop her website. The web-site is for The Cedar Chest Antique Mall. I would appreciate it if you could visit the website and give it a look. I have also added a link to the web-site under My Favorite Links on the sidebar of the Blog. See it? It's right there, on the left hand side.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
I generally get up at 4:00 AM to Blog, then I get ready for work, and have breakfast. I arrive at work between 6:45 and 6:55 AM daily. Once at school my schedule is set by the school day. After school I return home; generally no later than 4:30 PM. I may run a few errands on the way home. I will do a few things around the house, do school work, etc. Bedtime is between 9:00 and 10:00 PM. Then we start all over again the next morning. Weekends are not very different. The only exception is I don't go to work. I will do small projects around the house and perhaps run some errands with Chris.
But the holidays!!! I am not sure how it happens or when it exactly occurs. It may be that in the way back, deep, dark recesses of my mind I think (Yes, I do think occasionally!); anyway, I think, "I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I will stay up a few minutes later!" Perhaps I unknowingly think that if I maybe sleep a few minutes longer the next morning I will catch up staying up later! Who knows?
All I know is that it doesn't work. It just gets worse and worse. Presently, I seem to be going to bed around midnight and getting up at 6:00 AM and having a short nap thrown into the mix during the mid-afternoon. By my calculations, if I return to work on January 7, 2008 I should be going to bed around 3:00 AM. Something has got to change before then. It will. As usual, I will start a few days before the holidays end and will force myself back to bed "early" so I can start rising on time at 4:00 AM. Ahhh!! It will be nice to get back into the normal routine.
I will be on time for school and life will be grand. Until, Spring Break. And don't even get me started on Summer. Summer really throws a monkey wrench into the mix.
Before I leave today, I wanted to mention a web-site. I have been helping a friend develop her website. The web-site is for The Cedar Chest Antique Mall. I would appreciate it if you could visit the website and give it a look. I have also added a link to the web-site under My Favorite Links on the sidebar of the Blog. See it? It's right there, on the left hand side.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Night After Christmas Morn
'Twas the night after Christmas morn, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings and such lay on the floor in a mess,
In hopes that it would surely not block our egress;
The children were playing all snug in their room,
While visions of new games danced in their heads I presume;
And momma in her finest, and I in my finer,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap in my recliner,
When out in the den there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the recliner to see what was the matter.
Away to the hallway I flew in a rush,
Tore open the doors and stood with a blush.
The light on the breast of the new-fallen tree
Gave the lustre of calamity to the objects I see,
When, what to my wondering eyes should materialize,
But 7 cats from the branches, "What am I to surmise?"
With a mischievous leader, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Mister and his sidekicks.
More rapid than eagles his cohorts in crime came,
And I fussed and I yelled, and called them by name;
"Now, Peanut! now, Tabby! now, Callie and Boo!
On, Mister! on Rory! and now Bristow, you too!
To the top of the chair! To the end of the hall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild tornado fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, they jump to the sky,
So to the end of the hallway the cohorts they flew,
With an ornament of catnip, and a candy cane too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard Grandma quite clear,
She was scolding each cat, each scofflaw that was near.
As I drew up my hand, and was turning around,
Down the hallway Mister came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his tail,
It was all tarnished with the pine needles that fell;
A bundle of toys he had in his mouth,
As he looked like a tramp, beginning to head south.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! His tail was so comic!
His nose started to twitch as his whiskers he did flick!
His curious eyes were drawn down the hall,
He squinted and stared at his apparent downfall;
The bundle of toys he held tight in his teeth,
By my feet he stopped and left them beneath;
As if to leave an offering of peace,
An apology for being so caprice.
He stood regal and erect, a right stately old cat,
And I laughed when I saw him, as away he did scat;
A twinkle in his eye and a twist of his tail,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to bewail;
He made not a sound, but went straight to our room,
And started to refresh; and also to groom,
And laying himself down upon the furniture,
He gave us all a nod, and started for to purr;
He opened his eyes, to his cohorts gave a mew,
And away they all flew with barely an adieu.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he nodded off contrite,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings and such lay on the floor in a mess,
In hopes that it would surely not block our egress;
The children were playing all snug in their room,
While visions of new games danced in their heads I presume;
And momma in her finest, and I in my finer,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap in my recliner,
When out in the den there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the recliner to see what was the matter.
Away to the hallway I flew in a rush,
Tore open the doors and stood with a blush.
The light on the breast of the new-fallen tree
Gave the lustre of calamity to the objects I see,
When, what to my wondering eyes should materialize,
But 7 cats from the branches, "What am I to surmise?"
With a mischievous leader, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Mister and his sidekicks.
More rapid than eagles his cohorts in crime came,
And I fussed and I yelled, and called them by name;
"Now, Peanut! now, Tabby! now, Callie and Boo!
On, Mister! on Rory! and now Bristow, you too!
To the top of the chair! To the end of the hall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild tornado fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, they jump to the sky,
So to the end of the hallway the cohorts they flew,
With an ornament of catnip, and a candy cane too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard Grandma quite clear,
She was scolding each cat, each scofflaw that was near.
As I drew up my hand, and was turning around,
Down the hallway Mister came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his tail,
It was all tarnished with the pine needles that fell;
A bundle of toys he had in his mouth,
As he looked like a tramp, beginning to head south.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! His tail was so comic!
His nose started to twitch as his whiskers he did flick!
His curious eyes were drawn down the hall,
He squinted and stared at his apparent downfall;
The bundle of toys he held tight in his teeth,
By my feet he stopped and left them beneath;
As if to leave an offering of peace,
An apology for being so caprice.
He stood regal and erect, a right stately old cat,
And I laughed when I saw him, as away he did scat;
A twinkle in his eye and a twist of his tail,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to bewail;
He made not a sound, but went straight to our room,
And started to refresh; and also to groom,
And laying himself down upon the furniture,
He gave us all a nod, and started for to purr;
He opened his eyes, to his cohorts gave a mew,
And away they all flew with barely an adieu.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he nodded off contrite,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
The "W" In Christmas
Below is the text of an email I received from a friend a few days ago. I believe it is appropriate for today's post:
"As every December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the
presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas, I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snow caps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage-held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing C is for Christmas, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, H is for Happy, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her W. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... Humbled by His love.
May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His Amazing Love!
It's me again. I am not certain of the song mentioned above. I have done some searching and this may be it: Christmas Love from Tru North Music. It is the only song by that name I could find. Try the link.
And again, Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
"As every December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the
presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas, I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snow caps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage-held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing C is for Christmas, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, H is for Happy, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her W. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... Humbled by His love.
May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His Amazing Love!
It's me again. I am not certain of the song mentioned above. I have done some searching and this may be it: Christmas Love from Tru North Music. It is the only song by that name I could find. Try the link.
And again, Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Still Working Hard At This Thing
Today was a good day. The day was cold and got colder. The day was wet and got wetter. I was able to leave work at 3:15 PM. (The operative word here is "ABLE". ) I actually did not leave until 3:30 PM. That is still better than 4:30 PM. I also received my evaluation today and got good reviews. (I sound like a movie.)
The kids at school are a little wild. They are getting excited about Christmas. The teachers are getting excited about the Christmas holidays. I am just excited!
Hold on just a moment! I'll be right back.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I'm back! I had to take Tiger Lily out and feed her. Tiger Lily is Julie's dog. I call her Puppy, not Tiger Lily. Fortunately she was quick. It is 38 degrees and misting.
Please continue to visit. As the days go by I will be adding pictures, slideshows, etc. I invite all of you to comment if you wish. I especially would like for you click on one of the ads on the bottom of the page. If you do, you will witness one of the miracles of the Free Enterprise System. I will get paid a phenomenal amount of money per click-thru. (Well, not really a phenomenal amount. But, it will add up over time.)
Have a great night and visit often.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
The kids at school are a little wild. They are getting excited about Christmas. The teachers are getting excited about the Christmas holidays. I am just excited!
Hold on just a moment! I'll be right back.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I'm back! I had to take Tiger Lily out and feed her. Tiger Lily is Julie's dog. I call her Puppy, not Tiger Lily. Fortunately she was quick. It is 38 degrees and misting.
Please continue to visit. As the days go by I will be adding pictures, slideshows, etc. I invite all of you to comment if you wish. I especially would like for you click on one of the ads on the bottom of the page. If you do, you will witness one of the miracles of the Free Enterprise System. I will get paid a phenomenal amount of money per click-thru. (Well, not really a phenomenal amount. But, it will add up over time.)
Have a great night and visit often.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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