Snow Days...

Not one, but two snow days! I cannot believe it either. But there are some serious perks of living in southern Kansas City and work in Northern Kansas City when winter weather comes around. Although I must admit that I love every snow day I have had, whether deserved or not, I will probably be tired when June comes around and we will be making up 5+ days of school...but until then, cheers to days off!

Today Jenni and I ventured out to Shawnee Mission Park with Malachi. We hiked the trails, climbed the tower that overlooked the city, climbed upon fallen trees over the streams, and skated on the lake...don't worry, we took some precaution!

Here's a glance! It was great to be outdoors and enjoy the scenic beauty....

we climbed up a tower to overlook the countryside/city....

Titantic?

We came, we saw, we conquered (the tower)

Malachi following the leader


Just chillin'

and of course, we had to take a risk and walk and dance upon the frozen lake...don't worry, we took a few precautions!

Food Signatures! Check this out!

You are what you eat, so eat well.

A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called 'The Doctrine of Signatures' was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater.

Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures:

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye…and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Grapefruits, Oranges, and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

Eat right and live well! This is definitely God's design!

Lenten Reflection: Ash Wednesday

I will try to post after conferences tonight

The Start of Lent begins with a snow day....

Although I didn't expect it to actually occur, and although we will be adding another day to the end of the school year, I must admit I am happy to have another snow day. I can't believe we actually had school cancelled, but I am grateful!

Sorry mom, I guess I am one more up on ya!

With my day off, I plan to get caught up with school work, prep for parent-teacher conferences (which were supposed to start tonight), get caught up on things around the house, and hopefully make it like a retreat day by going to Mass and Adoration since it is the start of Lent.

This Lenten season I have a couple of resolutions. One of my goals is to post some of my Lenten reflections on my blog. My intention is not only to share these, but also to hold myself accountable to Lenten meditation. Hopefully I will begin that today....until then, may the Lord bless you and protect you this Lenten Season.

DODGEBALL!

Nothing like a blast from the past! I just joined a Dodgeball league through Catholic Challenge Sports. CCS is affiliated with the young adult group I am involved in. This past Saturday was the first of a 7 week league. I knew it would be fun, but I didn't realize how much fun it would be.

Playing the game brought me back to middle school. Then the congratulatory high fives afterwards brought me back to high school basketball games.

I guess what surprised me the most was the following two days where I could hardly walk! It is amazing what muscles the game of dodgeball requires!

I had a great time and look forward to the games ahead. I hope to have some action shots of my teammates and friends to post later in the season!

Play ball!

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER?

Some of these are more true for me than others, but for all those teachers out there....enjoy...this gave me a good laugh on Friday

Jeff Foxworthy's Take on Teachers

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You walk into a store and hear the words 'It's Ms/Mr. _________' and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period .

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.

8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.

9. You want to slap the next person who says 'Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off.'

10. You believe chocolate is a food group.

11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.

14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.

17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a 'good choice or a bad choice.'

19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils

20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.

Snow Day #3

So yesterday before work I turned on the news and watched the weather...there was word that we may receive a few inches over the evening. When I arrived at work, one of my colleagues said, "Snow day tomorrow?". I replied, "Don't jinx us!". Although I am not sure that I wanted one....the only reason is that every day that we miss we have to add at the end of the year. However, once last night rolled around, I got the snow day bug and kind of hoped for a day off...but honestly did not expect it at all...

However, just in the event that there was one, I left my email up last night so that when I awoke this morning I could see if school was cancelled. I checked...we had school...or so I thought...and so I jumped into the shower. Checked just in case when I got out of the shower, and to my surprise, SNOW DAY!

I have to admit, I am glad. It's always great to get an unexpected day off...

It has been a great day...I went ahead and stayed up....so by 8:00 I already had my planning done for Friday's lesson. Then I went to Mass, took care of things that I keep putting off due to lack of time, went running, caught up on this blog, and now I am about to go see my former roommate Katie and her husband and son. They have asked me to be the Godmother of their second child. So tonight I am going to go to their house for dinner, play with Joachim a bit, and then go to Baptism formation with Msgr. Krische.

It has been a great day, and a great way to almost lead into the 3-day weekend...I must say, teaching has it's perks!

Have a great snow day, no matter what you are doing!

P.S. - Don't worry mom, I have on the Snowman Socks in celebration!

New Year, New Semester, New Miss D...

Well, not really. Over Christmas break I had some time to reevaluate last semester and consider some things I would change for the new semester. As much as I am not sure if I completely agree with having semester courses in high school, I do like that fact that I get to live as though I am starting my second year of teaching within my first.

This semester I am teaching Geometry. I really like geometry, but it is definitely a change from Algebra. I can see that many of my students are struggling to switch gears and use a different part of their brain. I am actually there with them. I have found it difficult to switch gears, although I am enjoying the challenge.

I think what I am going to enjoy most about teaching Geometry this semester is that it is more visual and I can attempt to be a little more creative with my lessons. Time will tell...

The semester has started off well. We are about to complete our second full week of school. I feel like we have already been in the groove for awhile, but I definitely feel refreshed from break.

I came into my classes with 70 new faces and 10 familiar. I asked the students I had previously to hold me accountable as the new Miss D. Basically the only changes I am trying to implement are consequences for excessive talking in class and for confiscating cell phones. I am now over the fear of washing them ;)

Hopefully this semester will bring forth more funny anecdotes that I can share with you and give you a good laugh. Right now it is business time and I am still trying to get to know my students.

I think this will be a great semester, and I am still impressed with my colleagues that surround me.

I will share more as time goes one, but I will leave you with the corniest joke that I said to my students the first day...please excuse my lame humor!

What did the acorn say when he grew up?

~ "Gee, I'm A Tree!"

Some random shots of 2007

Here's just a collection of random shots....a few from Christmas in St. Louis with the Kirkwood gang (courtesy of Jessica) and a few from a game night my roommate Stacy and I hosted (courtesy of John)....note the artistic Jenga shots inspired by John...we were striving to become the new promotional pictures for the Jenga box....

Game Night...

get ready for ....


the big loser...but at least it's a nice action shot!

Then a little Cranium...

Christmas in Kirkwood, with the ol' crew...

Jessica Green and me

Kelly Watters and David Godfrey

Rick, Aubrey, Nathan, and Kevin

New Year's Celebration

The Catholic young adult group in KC is up and thriving. They hosted a New Year's Bash at one of Kansas City's trendiest art lofts, the Arts Incubator, in the Crossroads District of downtown KC. I extended the invitation to Robyn and Tim, and to my surprise they came along with Tim's brother and girlfriend, and Tim's stepsister and boyfriend. There we joined several of my friends for a night of dancing and celebrating the coming of the new year! Here are some pictures, mostly "courtesy" of my friends...

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S....12:00am!

Happy New Year's to you! Cheers to 2008!

The St. Louis Basilica

"My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations"

~ Isaiah 56:7

This is my favorite place to retreat to for prayer in St. Louis. If you have never been to the Basilica, it is a must...It is home to the largest collection of mosaics and has beautiful side chapels. I invite you to visit!