Study Leave

I'm sure you've noticed my posts have been irregular at best, thin on the ground is probably more accurate.  I've got three assignments due in the next 2 weeks and one about two weeks after that.  I'm going to take a short break from posting.  More to the point, I'm letting myself off the hook completely.  No "hmmmm haven't posted in a while, what should I talk about?" kinds of thoughts.  I'm just going to get these assessments done and then I'll come back.  Eng of August at the latest.

See you then.

On Giving and Pilgrimages

screenshot from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'

After our series at church about stewardship and making a decision about how I would respond to that I figured that would be kind of 'it' for now.  After all that thinking, angst and finally a decision, I have received the very thing I wanted at the beginning of the year!  Just yesterday I was told that some extra funding had come through for one of my students, so as of next week I will be working four full days a week again.

Which brings up another issue - cleaning.  It's one of those things that doesn't require any great skill or knowledge, just time.  Because it doesn't take skill or knowledge I balk at the idea of paying someone else to do it.  But I don't have time.  Nor a love for the doing of  it, truth be told.  It seems I have passed on this genetic trait to all of my children because none of them have a love for the doing of it either.  Then again, perhaps Mr Busy would like to earn some extra money.  Lawn mowing through winter is not terribly lucrative.  And it's tough when you're the only one who isn't legally old enough to get a job and earn some money.  Especially when the lure of hot chocolate or the best hot chips you've ever had are dangled before your nose each Sunday.

A thought to ponder this week came from Sunday's sermon.  Life is not a journey, it's a pilgrimage.  And it takes a great deal of responsibility.  It's amazing what happens when that responsibility is absent. 

By the way....and completely off the topic....have you ever seen Penny Dale's 'Ten in the Bed'?  It is the cutest version ever and perfect for teaching kids to count backwards.  I see a maths assignment in the making!  For Prep children what's more .... way more fun that analysing semiotics!

Monday....

screenshot - 'The Cat in the Hat' (2003)

I've spent the entire day thinking it wasn't Monday.  But it is!  Perhaps when you spend too much time with Dr Seuss you lose track of time?  I've watched both 'Horton Hears a Who' and 'The Cat in the Hat' in the past week in preparation for an assignment.  And above is my favourite screenshot.  I didn't know this, but the direction of the image tells us that this poor fish has now power in his relationship - and after watching the movie, 'they're' right!  No one listens to the fish.  Ever felt like that?  Yep, me too.

The girls have been pushed into service this week, because I need to focus on some assignments.  They've each been given opportunity for input to what they'd like to cook and when and we've come up with a very workable plan:

Monday:  roast chicken, vegies (Miss Mischief)
Tuesday:  pasta carbonara (Miss Sunshine)
Wednesday:  nachos (Miss Sunshine)
Thursday:  osso bucco, mashed potato (me)
Friday:  chicken & rice noodle stir fry (Miss Mischief)
Saturday: honey soy chicken, rice, vegies (me)
Sunday:  homemade pizza (Miss Sunshine & me)

Anyone want to do a semiotic analysis of texts/images and how they create meaning?  No?  I guess that means I'm on my own!  I think a cuppa before bed might be the way to begin this one.

Menus, Learning and Balance

I've just realised Thursday is well on its way out and I've not posted a thing since last week.  I wonder how that happens?  Let's begin with the week's menu plan!

Monday: chicken schnitzel, vegies
Tuesday:  tomato and bacon pasta
Wednesday:  sweet & sour pork, rice
Thursday: lasagna
Friday:  osso bucco, mashed potato
Saturday:  roast chicken, vegies
Sunday: chicken wonton soup, salt & pepper calamari

I had two thigh fillets left on Monday night so I put those aside and made my nephew's curry coconut soup again, and with glass noodles that made a perfect lunch for me for two days.  I'm going to have to plan out lunches a little more carefully next year.  Miss Sunshine is already looking forward to having access to things like a kettle, microwave and sandwich toaster at school.  She is sure to become quite inventive after enduring 11 years of sandwich eating.

I've spent the day with Dr Seuss today.  It began with an assignment task description.  I thought I was going to use 'The Cat in the Hat', but after a day with him I've decided the 2003 movie version really isn't all that appropriate for Year 2 students - thanks very much Mike Myers.  I think I've settled on 'Horton Hears a Who' instead.  It is a beautifully engaging story with themes that are really appropriate to 7 and 8 year old's.  The second assignment requires us to create a unit of work around the text/movie so it needed to be wholly appropriate!  Besides that, the movie is gorgeous.  I've seen bits of it - I need to get a hold of a copy to watch it.  Did you know you can view 'A Cat in the Hat' in its entirety via YouTube?  Amazing.  I wish that one had been appropriate.  It would have been so much simpler!

I've also learned to use my 'snipping tool', something I thought was a HP feature but apparently it's a Windows 2000 gadget.  It makes copying an image from anywhere oh so simple...a wonderful thing in the midst of complexity in other areas of life.

 screen shot from the 2003 movie 'The Cat in the Hat'

I suspect the coming few weeks will be filled with the frenzy of preparing for an exam and assignments, as a full time study load demands.  With that frenzy comes a lack of balance in life that just seems to be necessary for a short time.  I think I need to re-institute plans for the girls to cook dinner.  They've gotten out of it so far this year.

What do you do to help keep your equilibrium when you have no choice but to be out of balance for a while?

Put Your Glasses On

My youngest student comes out with some hilarious off-the-cuff comments from time to time.  Little kids come out with some great one-liners and part of what makes them so funny is that they often have things quite upside down and don't realise it.  I had one such moment this week.  My student was enamored with a book about sharks, which had plenty of pictures of sharks which were labelled with captions identifying what kind of shark they were.  One page had a shark approaching a shark cage, and the caption was to do with the cage, not the shark.

Student:  What shark is that?
Me:  I don't know, it doesn't say.
Student:  No, what's that shark?
Me:  The words are talking about the shark cage, not the shark.  It doesn't say what the shark is.
Student:  Yes, but what shark is it?
Me:  [read the caption].  See, it talks about the cage.
Student:  Put your glasses on!

Because in the mind of a 7yo putting on glasses, that help you see, will help you read things that aren't on the page.

I wish!

Direction, Conclusions...and probably other stuff!

Pork & Apple Pasties - discussed here.

Thanks to your wise and insightful comments, a conversation with a good friend at church and a great deal of thought I have finally come to a conclusion about the issue of tithing.  Jodie made the point that we have a responsibility to support our local churches, and she's absolutely right.  I feel  comfortable with the place at which I've arrived.  It feels pretty good actually, not to feel paralysed and fearful about the whole matter.

I've also been giving some thought about the types of things blog readers like to read about.  It would also be kind of nice to have a plan, of sorts, so that a whole week doesn't go by without me having gotten to the end thinking "I couldn't think of a single thing to share".  That usually happens because my brain is so full of Uni stuff...which is really only interesting to fellow B.Ed. students!

Recent conversations with my youngest brother have made me ponder the idea of posting a series about parenting.  After our chat yesterday I realised that I've been there and learned stuff that he's just having to deal with.  And like me a way back then, he's struggling with how to go about parenting his beautiful girls in the best way possible.  Surprisingly, I realised I know stuff about that and in my work I've developed some practical, useable resources that can help him.  How cool is that!

So, regular commenters and lurkers alike, I'd love to hear from you.  What would you like to read about?  What information do you want to learn about?  Is there something I do that you think you'd like to learn how to do too?

Menu Plans, Fellowship ... Blessing

Last night was a very exciting evening for me.  I've had lots of computer problems with my laptop recently (a vital piece of technology in my life!) which resulted in my having to take the whole thing back to factory settings and start over.  It was rather traumatic for this computer dummy.  Since then I've not been able to figure out how to make the laptop talk to our wireless printer.  A source of great frustration on my part.  This week I could bear it no longer.  Uni requires a great deal of easy connectivity!  My solution?  Invite some friends over for dinner - both of home have degrees in computer science.  These lifetime, childhood friends took great pity on my pleas of desperation!  The outcome?  After 15 minutes my computer was functioning as it should.  And then we gathered around an Asian-style feast - home cooked.  The children were ever complimentary (as these children always are of meals eaten here) and I insisted that in this case their father was the one to thank! 

How truly blessed to have precious friends who willingly share their wealth of knowledge and expertise!

Miss Sunshine was suitably impressed too.  Her favourite Yum Cha dessert made its way to her dinner table at home.  My SIL had a recipe for this mango mousse/jelly in one of her many cookbooks, which I perused while we were in Queensland.  I wrote that one down and it was well worth the effort.  I'll post it sometime soon, because if you're a mango lover you'll love this one!

Our meal adventures continue around here.  Glass vermicelli noodles (made from mung beans) are my experiment for the week.  My menu reflects and idea.  A desire.  I've yet to find a recipe to match, although my nephew's favourite curry soup could be adjusted to suit.

Monday:  Ricotta fritters, vegies
Tuesday:  Tomato & bacon pasta
Wednesday:  Captain crunch chicken, vegies
Thursday:  Pork spare ribs, rice, vegies (this might end up being the lasagna we didn't have last night!)
Friday:  Glass noodles with chicken curry
Saturday:  Chicken schnitzel, vegies
Sunday:  Homemade pasta with creamy mushroom & bacon sauce

Thank you to those who left comments yesterday.  I appreciated hearing your thoughts, and I was quite relieved to know that my intuitive response was not outrageously inappropriate!  Sometimes we just need to know that about ourselves!