Friday, February 13, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my bloggy friends!

Yesterday was a Friday--so that means it was Finish It Friday! Today is Valentine's Day, so that means yesterday was also Friday the 13th~ So I guess the question becomes, does that mean that it is supposed to be a good day, bad day, or just another ol' day like any else. Are you a person who suffers from Paraskevidekatriaphobia? Don't ask me to pronounce it! And I don't think I fall under that phobia anyway! It is people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th! Now I know that superstition says that bad things fall on the that day, but good grief! I can't believe that people would be so afraid of Friday the 13th that they would not go to work, not drive, won't operate machinery, etc. But I'm seeing where there really ARE people in the world that way. According to David Emery there may be as many as 21 million people in the US that are afflicted with paraskevidekatriaphobia! And many of these 21 million people won't go to work, drive, eat in restaurants and most wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date.

For me, it wasn't the best of days, but it definitely was a pretty decent one. We had our classroom party, A Celebration of Love for Your Child. We invited parents and grandparents to join us in the class and we all had a party! We showed off all of the projects we had finished before the party--of which I'll show you here as well! We had a good time making all the things that I will be showing. Some of the ideas I got from Make 'n Takes and some from One Pretty Thing. Do I remember where I got what? Of course not! And some of the things just came up out of my own (and my assitant's) little pea brains! And all of this was to wrap up our unit on Valentine's so I guess you could say that I was able to have a successful Finish it Friday as well! LOL

Our little ground hog friend here is just pompoms, beads and a plastic cup. And unfortunately, he saw his shadow on Ground Hog's Day. That means 6 more weeks of winter. UGH! But he was so cute, we just had to make him!

Chinese New Year ended on February 9 with the Festival of Lanterns or Parade of Lanterns. Did you know that it was a 15 day celebration beginning on the first new moon of the year and ending on the first full moon? I didn't either. Did you know that RED is the color of the Chinese New Year Celebrations? Did you know that not only do they have the parades, fireworks and dragon dances that we all have seen at one time or another that traditionally it is a 15 day celebration of family, reuniting families, celebrating their ancestry, being with family members, etc.
It's interesting to me that the Jewish religion has a similar practice with 8 days of Hanukah. The African Americans have the same practices withe their Kwanzaa 8 day long celebrations. But the "general" American public--and yes that does include all of those (us) that don't celebrate the other three holidays listed, don't have but one day at Thanksgiving to celebrate our families and our ancestry, one day of loving and kindred spirit and love for our families at Christmas--and oh yeah, let's not forget the Mother's Day, Father's Day and Grandparent's Days where we only acknowledge one person on each of those days.

What's wrong with the rest of us? What's wrong with the rest of the civilized, commercialized, economically strained world? Why can't we see that there is a need for remembering our families, remembering where we came from--and I don't mean what country or nationality, I mean what was the family we came from. Do we remember of the stories grandma or grandpa told? Were they even around to tell them? Would you recognize your great grandparents in pictures if you saw them? Do you know what they did for a liiving? How did they make it through World War I or World War II or the Great Depression? What did they or could they have told us to help us NOT be in the economic strong holds we're in now? Did we listen or just hear those tales? OK so I've gotten off another totally different tangent--but an important one I think. Maybe you can share a something of your thoughts on this or at least tell me if I'm nuts or not to even wonder about it. (OK don't tell me I'm nuts, everyone already knows I'm nuts!)

ANYWAY, these hanging Bee Mine mobiles was one of the most fun things we did. The original idea was to print the hearts with the letters on them and the two bees and string them together. Well, that was all fine and good; but I didn't want to have to use up all that ink by doing that 6 times! So we printed the bees; but none of the letters onto the paper. We then cut out the hearts--and made enough hearts to have 2 bees, a spacer heart and then to spell out BEE MINE. We used stamps and paint to do the lettering. Then we decided the construction paper wasn't sturdy enough and we had all of this old floral wall paper sitting there waiting to be used. So we once again sat and cut out hearts (60 of them to be exact--except we miscounted and there were actually about 70 cut in all). We glued the wall paper to the construction paper and then strung them together. We added a bead and bell at the end to keep them from blowing too much and then hung them from the ceiling. They look so pretty as the different letters twirl this way and that from the air of the air conditioning unit or when the doors are open. As you can see, I don't have any LESS of a colorful classroom than I do house! One day I'll take pictures of the room and take you on a tour around there! I'll be willing to bet you've never been in a classroom quite like mine!

This was one of the most time consuming projects we--ok, DH and I did all the work on these. It was just too cool of an idea NOT to do. I can thank my assistant, Micki, for coming up with this idea. This is the international sign language sign for "I love you." We took old knit gloves, stuffed them with poly-fill stuffing, tacked down the middle two fingers and tacked around the thumb so that it was out straighter. We wrote "I love you" in fabric paint on the felt hearts and then sewed them to the glove's palm. It is therefore something that if my orally fixated students need something to chew on, they can chew on this. It can be washed and dried. And whenever they have it, they will know that someone loves them! I can't believe that as much as I HATE hand stitching, that I sat and sewed six of these at the cuffs and all that I just wrote! That in itself should tell me how much I love these kids.
And finally, I want to show you a picture of one of my students with her uncle--who is currently her legal guardian and I forget and call him her dad most of the time. I'd show you more, but this is the only parent I have permission to post a picture of. This is Lyndsey and John--at the party on Friday. I don't suppose that they were having just a little bit of fun at the party. Nah, neither of them were, I can just tell by those sad faces! NOT!!! LOL

So try to have as good a time this weekend as Lyndsey and John did at the party. And remember, you can choose your friends, but God chooses your family. So remember them when you're talking to Him and thank him for giving you a family--even if you don't think its the best one. At least you have a family and a family here in the blogosphere that thinks of you and loves you.

But one of the BEST things that happened to me yesterday--and I didn't find out about it until this morning is that I finally became a WINNER in one of the drawings, give aways, pull a name out of the hat, what ever you want to call it! I am the PROUD new owner of Barb's UGLY QUILT GIVEAWAY!!!!
Now you tell me, is this an ugly quilt?
or is it the PRETTIEST ugly quilt you've ever seen?
I think it is beautiful personally--and since I won it, I guess my opinion counts the most in this case!
It is made with Samoan batiks and I think it is fabulous!
Thank you so much, for making your beautiful (ugly) quilt! I absolutely love it. And thank you for making me be a SOMETIMES winner instead of a "NEVER" winner!

12 comments:

a good yarn said...

Hi Shelly! It's Ann your swap partner for Darci's swap. What a terrific blog you have. I think it's fabulous that you come from Biloxi! I'll email you soon about colour/pattern preferences. Have a happy Valentines!

Cheers...Ann :)

Missy said...

Happy Valentines Day! Congratulation on your win. I don't think it's ugly either.

Linda said...

Congratulations on winning the quilt! I am rather jealous! LOL
Happy Valentines Day!
Linda

Simone de Klerk said...

Dear Shelly, It is so wonderful to read your story about your class and what you did. They and you are so lucky! And congratulations with your prize!!! I think it really belongs to you, such nice bright colors. Have a lovely Sunday!

Jaya P said...

'wow shelly, what a long tale you have'! (guess the quote)

hmm, to write a comment, i have to read your post from the beginning.. friday the 13th- really? people are afraid of a date on a calendar? must be all the horror movies they saw as kids.
where i'm from, we have 2 different calendars, one the gregorian calendar and another that was traditional, . so my baby has 2 birthdays..one the "english" date and the other on the lunar-based traditional calendar. so it does not make sense that someone is afraid of a day:)

your class party..wow. the crafts..the groundhog really looks scared.so cute!

family values..well my theory is, in the old days, people did not have tv so in the evenings, they sat around the fire, told stories real and make-believe,and thus bonded. here now, our entertainment isnt based on the immediate family, we have a whole lot of people who are paid to entertain us..on tv. also, there are people who arent paid but still get to be a part of our lives, like the bloggers and website contributors. so the family ties have become weak.(yesterday, when my daughter came to tell me something, i said 'just a min. let me hear what he's saying on tv'...and i had a revelation..some guy talking on tv is more important than my kid standing right next to me? where are my priorities??)

hey, youre not nuts, there are a lot of people who are thinking about this now. the sad part is, it will take another 20 years for this message to reach the general public.

your bee mobiles sounded like a lot of work..they are so sweet.plain printer paper is sturdy enough.. just cut two hearts together and glue them back to back with the thread in the middle. the bell idea is good..i had made window mobiles with this tutorial: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/valentine/3dhearts/

thats a good site for easy crafts.

those ISL gloves are great..and of course, the extra trouble you take is part of the gift..right?

and now to the end part..oooh thats such a pretty quilt! and matches your house colors ;)

have fun!

Barb said...

I need your address.....pleeeeeaaasssseeeeee

Anonymous said...

What a delightful blog you have. Sounds like you totally enjoy your job. Bless you dear.

Natalie said...

YEAY!!!! it must feel so good to win. I, sadly, am still a never winner but I am holding strong to hope :) I do love the "ugly" quilt. Batiks are always so beautiful.

I love the projects you did with the kidos. They are super cute and I can see that everyone is quite busy.

Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

Sonja said...

What a UGLY QUILT! NOT!!! Love the colors. And I love your "I Love You" hand. Now I know what to do with misplaced gloves.
Keep up the great work with your kids, they are very special like all kids are.

Kris said...

Wow! Lucky you! I think it's a gorgeous quilt! All of your Valentine festivities look so fun, too. You've had a busy week!

Kristina said...

What a great post! Your projects are amazing!!! I love the party picture, she looks like such a sweetheart! What a great Uncle! I actually really like the quilt! Oh, and you're totally NOT a NEVER winner because you won something on my blog too, but don't say anything because I haven't announced winners yet! :)

Jennifer said...

Check, check, and double check. We are BIG on using bibs; always have been. Kaitlyn had a good 40-50 bibs as a baby and I felt like we were always running out. We still use them (the bigger the better) and even put a towel over her when she eats meals in her bean bag. It never fails though I still find stains. =(

I actually bought some fabric a couple days ago for the Simple Sunday Dress; it's in the washer now. Aimee' was going to send Kaitlyn some stickers, but sent the pattern to me instead. I was so blessed when I opened the email. I had been waiting for the pattern to go up on YCMT so it would be saved in my library for when we move. Anyway, I'm going to make the dress. I'm searching (casually) for the perfect Easter dress material to make with the Simple Sunday Dress. I'm going buy Aimee's Easter basket pattern and make Kaitlyn a complementary basket too. However, I think I will make it small because I'm sure Kaitlyn will just use it as a purse. =)

I'm really not sure why, but after we arrived here I bought a big tub of OxiClean. I say I'm not sure why because since being married (5 years) I've only bought it one other time. I've been adding it to every load. Yesterday I put some of it directly on a dress and scrubbed a spot with a toothbrush. I'm not sure if it will come completely out, but it sure looked a lot better. I've only washed it three times since she wore it for the first time and got a big black stain on it. Actually the stain was my fault. It's the dress she wore to the zoo and the stain got in it when I had to pull her out of the tube.
~Jennifer