Taking students shopping

Image found here

Today I took a few of my students on a quick Halloween supply shopping trip with me during my prep period.  It was the first time in a long time that I've taken any of my students out of the building and I was pleasantly surprised by how great they were.

I have to admit that taking students on field trips is one of my big fears because I never know how they're going to act.  At least if they're in my own classroom and they act up, I'm the only one that has to deal with them!  But our shopping trip today inspired me.  Maybe I'll have to give field trips a chance...  And it sure was fun walking around Meijer with a shopping cart full of pumpkins and four high school students.  It definitely brightened up my day and made me remember what I love about my job.

Book review: Les Miserables

A few weeks ago I celebrated the accomplishment of finishing reading Les Miserables by posting it as my Facebook status.  I thought it was definitely an accomplishment that needed to be celebrated because 1) it was the longest book I've ever read and 2) it took such a long time to make it through.  But both of those things make Les Miserables sound as though it's a tough book to get through and while it did feel that way at times, I have to say that I really, really enjoyed it.

Image found here.

While it felt long because there were some extremely descriptive parts that had very little to do with the plot and seemed to drag on and on (I don't think I'll ever need to read another word about the Battle of Waterloo), I actually liked that Les Miserables was a book that I was invested in for a long time.  I felt like I really got to know and care about all of the characters in a way that I haven't with many other books.

I originally started reading the book so that I could see the movie that's coming out on Christmas day.  When I started reading, I knew almost nothing about the storyline.  Though I'm a huge fan of musicals, I've never really liked Les Mis and I haven't actually listened to all of it or seen it performed.  The fact that I didn't know what was going to happen ahead of time kept me extremely interested.  The book had so many twists and turns that kept me guessing at what was going to happen next.  (And also so many characters that I had a hard time keeping some of them straight.)  I actually got so excited about what was going on in the book a few times that I started explaining the plot to Andrew, which he tolerated remarkably well considering most of my plot explanations took about 15 minutes...

Overall, I would definitely read this book again and recommend it to anyone who's willing to commit to reading it.  I will admit that there are several parts that I found incredibly boring, but I was able to make it through those parts because I knew that something spectacular was sure to happen after that.  And I was not disappointed.

I finished sewing my Halloween costume

I haven't sewn anything in years.  I used to sew much more when I was in high school, but that was because my first job was at Hancock Fabrics.  I think it's a rule that you have to get into whatever you're selling when you're working retail or else you'll end up bored out of your mind!  So I found myself buying fabric while I worked at the fabric store.

Anyway, my Halloween costume (which I'm not telling anyone at school about until they see it on Wednesday is little dead riding hood.  The inspiration came from two places.

This picture.

Found here

This pattern.

Found here.

For my cape, I used a set of red sheets that I got at Goodwill for the material, which was cheaper than actually going to a fabric store and buying that much material.  I changed the pattern slightly by making it a little longer and not lining it.  (I figured it's a Halloween costume.  It doesn't really need to be lined.)  I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

Fall break!

I made it to fall break!  Today I slept in because my wonderful husband got up with the whining dog.  However, my wonderful husband also forgot to turn off his alarm so I woke up to it at eight.  That's still sleeping in an extra hour and a half so I'll take it!

After spending some time around the house, I drove to Plainfield to go to lunch with my friend Laura.  We went to an Indian buffet appropriately named Favorite Indian Cuisine.  It was so good!  I enjoyed every single dish I tried, but I have to say I'm partial to the paneer masala because paneer's something you only get in Indian food.

Then it was over to the dollar store so she could pick up cleaning supplies for her new house (she's closing on it tomorrow!) and I picked up some stuff for decorating my classroom for Halloween.  I found some really good stuff that seemed even better because each item was only a dollar!

This year my students are really into it.  They have planned more ahead of time this year than any other year.  Our theme is going to be abandoned asylum complete with specimen jars full of blood, brains, intestines, and other scary items; a fake body that's going to fall out of the ceiling and hang itself; students dress as former asylum patients laying on tables; a student sitting in an electric chair; and an operating table with me as the doctor operating on a patient!

We have a general plan and some of the supplies gathered, but we still have to figure out how to make an electric chair.  At this point we're thinking using my office chair and tying a students arms down to the arms of the chair and having them wear a bowl that's covered in tin foil with wires sticking out of it.  Other suggestions?

One more day

I know I've been completely missing from this blog but that's because I've been a bit overwhelmed.  I'm happy to say that I only have one more day of school until fall break (!!!) which I'm hoping will give me enough of a break to get me through to Thanksgiving and then until the end of the semester.

It doesn't help that Halloween, which is the biggest celebration day at my school, is coming up.  I'm in charge of the student government, and they are the ones in charge of the celebration.  Too bad that I only have a few of my student government students who seem to care about what we're trying to do.  At least those few are really helpful, so hopefully we'll manage to make it through...  I know that I can at least make it through until tomorrow afternoon!