Monthly Archives: October 2008

Here are some pictures from our annual Jr. Staff Hallo-wii-n Party! I think one of the best parts is the costumes people come up without buying pre-made costumes! This year’s included Kris Kross, Ed McMahon and the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Winner, a Venti Hott Coffee and Starbucks barista, the Chinese gymnastic team, Sarah Palin, a couple of hillbillies,  James Bond, and Hurricane Ike with a price-gouging tree trimmer.

Since I teach sixth grade math, I thought I would start a fun new blog thing. Every once in a while, when you see this banner, I am going to post a math problem or two in the unit that my sixth graders are currently studying. You can try to work it and comment with your answer. (No cheating! Don’t look at the comments until you work it out!) I am curious to know how many adults remember how to do this stuff. As I was teaching the other day, I thought, would I remember this stuff if I didn’t have to know it to teach my students? So… here’s today’s questions.

1. What is an improper fraction?

2. Change 3   1/2   to an improper fraction. (Yes I realize if you don’t know #1, you probably won’t know #2 either…sorry.)

A couple of weeks ago we went with some people from our sunday school class to see a new movie, Fireproof.

Here is the storyline:

“At work, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the firefighter’s adage: Never leave your partner behind. But he follows his own rules at home. After seven years, he and his wife have drifted so far apart that Catherine wishes she had never married. As divorce looms, Caleb’s father challenges him to commit to a 40-day experiment he calls “The Love Dare.” Caleb isn’t sure it’s worth the effort, but agrees. In frustration he finally asks his father, “How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?” When his father explains that this is the love God shows to us, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment. And–with God’s help–begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. But is it too late to fireproof his marriage? His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever . . . rescuing his wife’s heart.”

You have got to see this movie!

Here is the story behind the making of it:

A church in Georgia made a movie a year or so ago called “Facing the Giants” that was about a high school football team. They use the story line to share the gospel. It is a really good movie. Well it did really well and even appeared in some theatres. So they decided to make another movie and this one is about marriage. It is called Fireproof because it is about a firefighter who is working to save his marriage. It is a phenomenal movie. Kirk Cameron is in it but everything else is done by the church members. According to the website, “As with the church’s first two films, the production is driven by volunteers (one professional film crew of eight men works at a discounted rate)—church members act, cater, baby sit, answer phones, pray, handle wardrobe, make-up, set design, and support sound, lights, and every area of filmmaking.” Click the link/picture at the top to find more information and find out where it is playing near you. The link goes to the movie site where you can see the trailer, etc, but you can also go to http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com for some good info.

Has anybody else seen it yet?

So, here’s the deal:

Publish it to a NEW POST and tell the story of the photo.

This is a picture from a family reunion a few years ago. It is my dad’s side of the family and it is actually at a lake named for his family. His great grandad had a grist mill there and so there is a spring fed lake there, and the water powered the mill. So every fall they have a reunion there. It is really pretty and my cousins and I all wish that it had been handed down through our branch of the family. At least the person who currently owns it lets us use it for the reunion. I went to this reunion a few weeks ago, although this picture is from a few years ago. Here on the bench you can see L to R, my aunt, my cousin, and my mom. They are all the ones looking at the camera. I don’t know the other people but I guess I am related to them somehow. hehe. You know how reunions are, you know your bunch pretty well, but there are usually some distant third cousins four times removed or something that you don’t know. But it is good for those who do know each other to catch up, and so I enjoy family reunions.

Your turn! What’s on your computer?

Hey readers,

My mom Denise has a new blog so head over and give her some traffic!

Many frugal bloggers are proponents of “The Envelope Method” to stay on their monthly budget. Here is one such article. Basically you get out cash for each category and keep it in a labeled envelope. We have tried the method of getting out cash for various budgeted categories and that does seem to help. When you use up the cash, you are done spending money on that particular category! We do this for our separate eating out budgets. I have also done this for groceries before. Now the tricky part here is when you buy something at the grocery store, say medicine for example, that doesn’t come out of the grocery category per se. Then it throws a kink in the system unless you want to pay cash and debit for your purchase, which is kind of a hassle. So I thought I would throw out the question to my readers…

Do you have a good method for staying on budget?

My sub yesterday, apparently not so great. In the words of the 6th grade counselor who checked in on the class. “The kids were good but you did not have a good sub yesterday. She slurred her words. They had trouble understanding her.” Oh dear… Can’t you just picture it? Mental image anyone??

Yesterday, I was pretty lethargic from sitting around the house feeling bad since, oh, Thursday! So I decided I needed some exercise and fresh air and I took Gracie for a walk. Apparently I should have taken Gracie for a walk a long time ago. I found my sunglasses. I have been looking for them for about two weeks. They were in the bag with her leash.

One handy fact about our newly installed garage door opener is that it has a keypad outside. You just key in a code and the door opens. This was so handy for walking the dog because I didn’t have to take keys with me!

Isn’t she the cutest dog ever!? This is the “please let me out or take me for a walk or at least pet me” look!