Hooray!

Tomorrow is December so cookie season will officially begin. Hooray!

Surprise

Just after finishing Thanksgiving dinner my husband's pager went off; the Mackinac Island Fire Department was being sent to the Mackinac Island Public School due to smoke in the building. Thankfully, it wasn't a fire but steam from a malfunctioning boiler. The fire department went back to the school on Sunday afternoon, again for steam. Everything has been fixed now, but the kids and I sure were thankful for our extra day of vacation.

I used my extra time to shop Lands' End's 60% off sale, make a giant batch of Scottish shortbread, make a batch of Spritzgebäck (German spritz cookies), felt a pile of wool sweaters, and to start putting up the Christmas tree. 

Halloween 2022

Halloween this year was different as there were no mama-made costumes; both kids kind of did their own thing with what we had on hand.

My son 3D printed and painted a version of this mask, while my daughter created her own Dr. Horrible costume. Everyone thought she was a Ghostbuster, but she was using my Proton Pack as his Freeze Ray, so it wasn't surprising.

(Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible)

This year's candy haul was 17.6 pounds (about 8 kg) for my son and and 8.4 pounds (about 4 kg) for my daughter. It may seem like a big difference, but my sone and his friends covered quite  bit more ground than my daughter did. K and I just hit the houses close to home.

Home!

It felt so good to come home! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time with my family and I'm thrilled to be able to help, but I missed my family. And my bed...

Small World

After my sister-in-law got home from work today I popped out to do a little thrifting. 500 miles (about 800 km) away from home and what do I see at Goodwill? Not only did I find this Mackinac Island sweatshirt but I found Round Island Lighthouse as well.

Sadly, no ceramic Christmas trees, but I'll keep looking...

Unusual

Since J has gotten out of the hospital, she has been sending me out each day to do the shopping. Today's list called for: yogurt, relish, an onion, batteries, skim milk, 2% milk, cups, hotdogs and a bag of Caesar salad. It felt so strange grabbing the little cart when I enter the grocery store. I'm use to my carts looking like this:

 

But that's what happens when you only make it to Wal-Mart or Meijer once a month. To be honest it has been kind of nice to "run out to the store." For me shopping usually takes all day, so popping out to the shop and being back home within an hour has been a nice treat.

On the Mend

My mother-in-law came through her surgery like a champ; now has a Gor-Tex repair to her aorta as well as a new aortic valve. Well, new to her; its former owner was a pig. 

The first couple of nights were loud and filled with pinging machines all night long. (She was hooked up to about eight different gizmos that all "pinged" at slightly different pitches.) But today her condition was downgraded (or is it upgraded?) and we moved to a lower care floor. Three of the five IVs were removed and she has been off all narcotics for 24 hours now. At this point, she only has the heart monitor.

Now that the heavy drugs have stopped she is much more herself, which is wonderful to see. I'll tell you, if you live near Indianapolis, this guy is the doctor to see if you need a valve replaced or an aortic aneurysm repaired. The care my mother-in-law has received at St. Vincent's Ascension Hospital was top-notch! 

The best news is, there is a good chance she will be discharged tomorrow. She'll still need help for several weeks, but things are moving in a good direction!

Heading Out

It was a beautiful morning to catch the first boat (even if it was a slow boat.) Today I am heading south to help my mother-in-law. She's having open heart surgery tomorrow and needs to have a family member in the hospital with her. Everyone else was either unavailable of out of leave time, so I get the honor of caring for her. (I mean that seriously - she's been wonderful to me.)

Hopefully I didn't forget anything. Leaving eight days worth of teaching plans for a substitute is a daunting task. Luckily, my mom is subbing for me. As a retired teacher, this isn't her first rodeo so that made things much easier. And, I suppose, I'll only be a text away if I did forgot something.

So please keep me in your thoughts today (as I make the eight hour drive to Indianapolis), and keep JB in your thoughts for the next few days as she has surgery and recuperates.

Halloween Fun

I like celebrating holidays in my classroom, but I try to do it in the most academic way possible. (You know, there are only so many days of school and there numerous standards to teach - even more for me since I teach multiple grades.) So, my holiday parties generally involve a Breakout activity. They may involve a lot of prep, but the kids love them. 

Each group of students begins with a puzzle. Working together to solve that puzzle gets them the combination to the next box, which contains their next puzzle. One by one they solve the puzzles, and hopefully "breakout" and solve the problem.

I can't think of a better way to teach / practice cooperation and problem solving skills! (And, of course, eating snacks and having fun.) Most of the puzzles I use come from Breakout EDU, though theirs are designed for one big group to work on together. I've found working through a series of locked boxes in small groups works better for me that having the entire class working together on one puzzle at a time. In my experience that allows the kids who struggle a bit with problem solving to sit back and let the other kids do all the work. When they work in pairs or small groups, it allows all of the students to actively participate. This year they were able to unlock the boxes and save Trunk or Treat. Yippee!

Happy Halloween

We had a glorious Halloween on Mackinac this year. It was so warm I only needed a fleece, which isn't the norm for northern Michigan. I hope your Halloween was every bit as wonderful.

Really?

Time for another episode of Liz's Pet Peeves. Fair warning - I'm going to nerd out.

These Halloween decorations drive me crazy and I mean CRAZY! 

Spiders, members of the arachnid class, are invertebrates; they have exoskeletons. They do not have endoskeletons. Octopuses* are mollusks - another invertebrate. Neither arachnids nor mollusks have backbones - or any bones for that matter.  And yet someone thought these decorations were a great idea. Sigh.

I realize that people shouldn't base their scientific knowledge on Halloween decorations, but little children see these before they are taught animal classification. A four or five year old isn't going to know any better when they see this and make an unconscious mental note. Which will then have to be untaught in the future. How about, instead, choosing animals that actually have skeletons.

And while we're at it, let's only include animal parts that are actually part of the skeleton! A chicken's comb, wattles and tail are not made up of bones. These actually kind of make me cringe. And I'd buy them. I'd have a whole bunch of them around my classroom if they were even remotely accurate. 

Ok, rant over...

*Yeah, I googled it just to makes sure I was correct.

It's the Little Things

We adopted four new "teenage" hens in June and recently they have started to earn their keep. Last week, for the first time we got this beautiful blue-green egg. I think it is from one of the "Twins;" (two nearly identical brownish-grayish chickens with poufy cheek feathers.) 

I just love having all those different colored eggs on the counter.

Can't Put My Finger On It

The face my bread dough reminds me of something, but I just can't quite put my finger on it. Tell me, what do you see when you stare into the eyes of my dough?

Done

I just got the message that my son's FAFSA has been accepted. Thankfully, it was not nearly as much work as I'd been lead to believe. I'm not sure how they calculate what families can afford to give their children for college, but their number and my number aren't anywhere close to one another. Regardless, it's done and I can cross it off of my list.

Memories

My dad's blue jeans and a few of his button down shirts have been transformed into a blanket. Nothing fancy, more utilitarian - just like him. 

I miss him. Not every moment or every day, but regularly. Part of me wants to set a place for him at the table on Thanksgiving. But I worry; will that honor him or just remind us all of his absence? And what's right for me, might not be what's best for my mom. Sigh. It's hard to know what to do. 

 

Time to Adult

A certain young man turned 18 recently. 18 is a very special birthday so it was one of those "get out the good china" kinds of celebrations.

For an important celebration such as this one, one desert just wasn't enough. The newly minted adult got both of his favorites: lemon meringue and pecan pie.

My "baby" is now an adult, which is hard to believe. I am so very proud of the human he has become and I can't wait to see what awaits him as he moves into the next chapter of his life.

Caught My Eye

As I was walking to the post office after school one day this week, turquoise caught my eye. It's not a color usually seen on Mackinac's shores. Upon closer investigation I discovered it was a piece of line, probably lost from one of the ferries. It was a lovely pop of color on an otherwise dreary day.

Sad Day

 

My daughter lost her little buddy today; she came home from school to discover that her pet rat, Sylvester, had passed away. Her other rat, Lucas, had to be euthanized this summer, so today was not a surprise. Despite it being expected, it didn't make it any easier to say good-bye. He was a good little rat and he will be remembered for his wiggling whiskers and how cute he was when he nibbled on Cheerios. 

Fall

Fall has hit Mackinac and it has been a delight. There is a chill in the air and the fall flowers are out. Fall on Mackinac, is by far, my absolute favorite season.

Pet Peeve

My youngest and I were in Mackinaw City recently and I noticed this business in the Mackinaw Crossings Mall. When I saw their signs, my heart sank. Not because I have a personal problem with psychics, tarot cards, or mysticism, but because I have an issue with people who don't have their signage proofread.

 

 Here's a close up of the windows:

I suppose it is possible that the owner did have the design proofread first, and the proofreader missed it. Either way, correctly using an apostrophe to form a possessive is introduced in second grade, revisited in third grade, and then should be mastered. Third grade!

Common Core State Standards

English Language Arts

Second Grade

(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2.C)

Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.

Common Core State Standards

English Language Arts

Third Grade

(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2D)

Form and use possessives. 

So many adults make this mistake and I know it is taught and reviewed repeatedly. (Well, I know it is reviewed repeatedly in my school.) OK, I get it, people make mistakes, I do too; trust me - I do.

Here's a few more from around town:

The problem isn't with "Jose's." That is correct - Smokey Jose owns the place, so it should be possessive. But, what does the taco own? It should just be "tacos" plural (as in more than one taco,) instead of "taco's" possessive (as in the taco owns something,) or "taco's" contraction (as in "My taco's too hot!") That last one would be considered slang, but it would be OK in quoted dialogue. 

This one's not too bad:

Mary's and Michigan's are correct, but what do the HGTVs own? 

This one needs some serious help:

I see these errors everywhere!

When I find signs like these around town, I usually take pictures so I can show my students at school. We play "Spot the Mistake" since they are fifth and sixth graders and should be able to find them.

How about you? Do you have a pet peeve? (I hope it isn't people who silently correct the grammar of others!)