School Time

While the Festival rages on nightly on Main Street, school continues. As one that has labored in booths and tents on the Main Street venue, I know that many school children are down at the carnival till way after 10pm.  I've seen little princesses in their gowns, trouping through the streets, following their parents as they chat with their friends.  I've seen little people running through the festivities after it officially closes down for the night.  And living on one of Mitchell's busier streets, I've heard kids whining as they get in their cars, from way too long of a day.
I did wonder when we first moved here, how in the world the teachers handled the overly tired, overly sugared  students the whole week.  And up until a few years ago, the teachers would have to administer the infamous, statewide ISTEP tests on the same week!  Whew!
So as I went off to school today to tutor a fourth grader and as I ventured out yesterday to do a craft with the first graders, I girded myself.
Pleasantly surprised, I saw no craziness.  I saw calm classrooms with moderated teachers.  I saw schools used to the 64 years of Persimmon Festivals.  I saw the professionalism of the teaching profession first hand.
It is a joy to work with these educators.  Having been a die-hard homeschooling mama, praise like that does not come easily.  But I have been won over by the Mitchell School System.  The freedom to home school is still very important to me, but the cohesiveness of a well run system is vital to our children.  And as a parent, I appreciate it when it is done well.  Thank you, Mitchell Teachers!

(By the way, speaking of homeschooling, have you used Elmer Brook's, Do it with Dominoes, for your early math curriculum?  Excellent for confirming those important number facts with lovely bone like tiles, so good for the visual, audio and kinesthetic learner!  My little girl in fourth grade is clicking really well with this technique! Highly recommended by old moms!)

Expo Experience!

What fun I had Saturday!
I saw an abundance of pregnant bellies that belonged to mamas that are passionate about being mamas.
I saw many little ones toddling around, exploring their world...
I had the pleasant companionship of my boss, Eldest/Admin, Wonderful Man and The Wonder of Miss Vivien.
Two of my Pretend Daughters were there; one to present her Birth Story to the gathering and one to come and see what Pretend Mama was up to. And to bring me a glorious bouquet of daffodils. She presented them to me, sheepish that she had no vase. As our Vulcan Mind Meld would have it, I had brought a vase for the flowers that I forgot in my yard. Simpatico, yes?

Most of my children photos were blurry.
Now why would that be?
Most of my 2G's photos are taken on the run....
I got a quick shot of Mr. Grant with his mama prior to her speaking...

I got a quick shot of Cincinnati Pretend Daughter, my Flower Benefactor, with another Pretend Grandson, Will. They even brought Pretend Son in Law, Jason, with them....
Wonderful, huh?

A section of my display table...

And my Miss Grace, sporting her new hairstyle and daddy purchased dress and sandals.
She is a character and melts my heart when she calls my name; and she reserves names for just special people....A dolly...

And need I tell you how full my heart was when Miss Viv made her appearance? She was the best PR I could have, promoting her Grammy's, Viv inspired products....My muse....
We walked all over, smiling at all the attendees, greeting, spreading her gregarious cheer....

Good experience, lovely day....

Busy Thursday

How does a Busy Thursday start?
1. Head off to school to turn Loving Tree into Wishing Tree.
Stop first at the library to get several St. Patrick's Day books to share with my Favorite First Graders.
(One little boy even complemented me on my new haircut. Gotta love first graders.)
Have each one of them tell us the wish that they had while they put up their Lucky Shamrocks on the Wish Tree.
Break your heart. 'I wish my brother lived with me'...things like that...

2. Turn into Nurse Ratchet to help Crazy Dee back to Crazy Health.
First stop: New Diet.
Big long list for her hubby so that we can implement immediately a heart healthy diet.
CD just happens to love veggies and fish so we are good.
Take her blood pressure, make sure the meds are ingested, stick her finger to test blood sugar and go hide all the Girl Scout cookies.
Prepare a fiber/iron/cholesterol helping breakfast cereal for tomorrow morning.
Make sure she's taking 'laps' around the house after each bathroom visit.
Arrange her multitudinous floral arrangements so that she can see them well from her vantage point.
Make sure my Nurse Hat that I made for the occasion is where I left it and out of reach of eager grand children's hands.

3. Tuck CD in carefully and back to the elementary school to pick up my little friend Lily for an evening full of seven year old activities:
a). Long walk with dog.
b). Get a fire going so that she can cook hot dogs for part of her supper.
c). Prepare the real supper which she ate as well. And a large apple, some grapes and I was impressed. Whew.
d.) Make snicker doodles. Eat a lot of the batter to boot. Don't you think mixing the dough with your hands just feels better? Certainly more fun when you can lick your fingers! What a girl!
e) Search storage for more tempera paints but ending up only using the blue that we could find. If you only got one color, blue is a good choice.

f.)Pack up the cookies and the little Paddy's Day pin I made for her while she painted my dining room blue and off I take her to her home where math problems await.
Math Problems are not allowed at her friend Debbie's house.
Just fun. Not that math isn't fun, Daddy Mike- Math Teacher. No offense.

Sigh.
My kind of day....
Full of friends, crafts, laughing, children...
Thank you Lord.....

Time to Backtrack

The day before Thanksgiving, before setting the table, making the last minute grocery run and before the last of the progeny came home, it was time for a little Thanksgiving craft at the elementary school.
Once a week, I volunteer at one of the many first grades.
I love helping out the very proficient first grade teacher, making copies, cutting out, tearing out, stapling or whatever else I can do to help her concentrate at the task of stretching these wonderful little kiddo's minds.
I love observing, listening and chuckling quietly to myself over some comment made by the usually uninhibited seven year olds.
Even on a day that was a bit willy nilly, I made sure that I took the time to be there to help Crazy Dee make necklaces for the pretend Native Americans in Mitchell's elementary.
A hoot as usual.
Worth every minute of it....
I am thankful for little minds that soak up knowledge and share their thoughts and emotions freely. I am thankful that some of them have school as a refuge to their harried lives. I am thankful for skilled teachers that truly love their students and spend an inordinated amount of time preparing for teaching them.
Having homeschooled all of my kids for a great deal of their schooling years, it is refreshing and comforting to know that bastions of learning exist like this particular teacher's class.
Next to Lovely Wife, she is one of my favorite teachers....



And since I have your attention, can I just share more Vivien stories/photos?
My little girl is very discerning.
Her eyes and hands latched on to this painting, done by her doting mother several years ago.
The bright colors and thick texture appealed to her good design sense..
Interesting, isn't it, that she was so drawn to only one of my paintings of the many in my home, and it was one done by her mama?

And here she spent some time watching the outside, while contemplating a good stand up...
Her little face melts me like nothing else....

Onward to Christmas, sewing for gifts for my faithful customers, decorating and otherwise enjoying this festive season....

Sabbath Auction

Had a wonderful time of worship Sunday morning.
Had a nice diet-type lunch.
Then, we went on to different type of 'religious' experience....
A SUNDAY auction! Unheard of around here. This means, Hubby gets to come with. With his wallet....and truck and back.......
What an amazing, amazing auction.....
Four hours of standing and being out bid and out bidding some pretty rabid Lawrence County crafters.....
Some things went goodly priced.
Other things went surprisingly high. One jewelry box full of costume jewelry sold for 245.00. Nearby attendees verbalized what I was thinking; What did I miss in that box? One small box of hankies went for 65.00. And on it went.
Pleasant weather. Fun auctioneer. Grand company with the hubby.
A good day... This sweet little guy was in a whole pail of similiar creatures. All magnets of some kind.

This sweet set sold for a good price of 22.50....

I truly loved this.....I could hear my girls and girly-in-law having a royal hoot about this....Then watching who was going to bid on it! A few other things were noteworthy as well: A milking pail with the words, CALF-A-Teria....Laughed hard to myself.....then a large book of crafts called: Safety Pins in 3-D.........

According to the auctioneer, Mrs. Hill, the owner of this abundant collection, was in her 90's when she passed from this world and by the looks of it, she was probably a bit peeved not being able to take it all with her........It certainly appears that she was planning on crafting into eternity....

Do you think local stores in the 60's had any crochet thread left? And yarn....Was there indeed a shortaged caused by Mrs. Hill??

This wide, vast assortment went on the whole length of her property.

The poor auctioneer was overwhelmed by all the teeny little thingys that were boxed up and he had no idea what they were......Standing back a bit, I got terribly giggled watching this sewing gaggle of women, bobbing and bending over allllllllll these boxes, searching for gold......We all looked liked a bunch of chickens and hens pecking at our finds.....

A fun, fun truck full day...

Rest in peace, Pauline Hill....Your things are in good hands.....