Home Sweet Cubicle

You saw it first here. Now have another look at my workspace. This is the look my students saw if they came to our Open House and toured the offices. There is still work to be done, such as posting photos that students have sent me, but it's a comfortable place to work now. Without further ado, here it is: Daisy's Virtual Classroom.

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Moving to Milwaukee in a Big Truck

Due to last minute planning, the rental truck was quite a bit bigger than we needed.

Did I say big? How big was it?

It filled the driveway. We barely had room for La Petite's Saturn.

Did I say it filled the driveway? Look out for the trees!!

Did I say it Filled the Driveway?

Hold your breath and suck in your stomach while you squeeze past.

Did I mention the truck was Much Bigger Than We Needed? Here is the load. That's all of it.

Big or small, truck or trailer, they headed out to the highway and got the move done.

Meanwhile, I stayed home and made pickles.

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Kitchen Before and After

I do enjoy my summer and fall Saturdays. The Farmers' Market downtown, my own garden yield, pulling it all together in the kitchen to feed my family nutritious and delicious and locally-grown foods... Saturdays are inspiring and motivating and very satisfying days.

Then come Sunday mornings. Last weekend I was preparing and canning dill pickles until just after ten at night. I cleaned up what had to be done immediately, and I left the rest for morning.

If you doubt me, let me assure you: my kitchen really is that small. Most of the time it's a great kitchen for cooking and baking. Once in a while, like weekends in August and September, I find it feels a little bit cramped. I'm not sure the pictures really show how much of a chore I faced when I got up Sunday morning. My three goals for the day: clean the kitchen, clean the kitchen, and then watch the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Houston Astros (I'm a positive thinker that way).

Well, I did it. I not only cleaned the kitchen, washed the large pots and pans and mixing bowls, I also reused the water from the hot water bath canner, moved the canner to the deck to dry, put away all the now-clean dishes, labeled all the pickles jars, and more.

I took inspiration from the now-visible refrigerator magnet of the racing sausages, pushed the on button for the dishwasher, and relaxed in the den with Amigo to watch some baseball.

Final scores: Daisy 1, Kitchen 0. Brewers 7, Astros 3. All in all, a good weekend.

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Name that bakery item

I left my labeler out on the table.

La Petite had too much time on her hands and decided to play with it.

In case there is any doubt, she made sure we knew what was for dessert after opening the gifts.

She didn't label the coffee.

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Knitting Philosophy

source unknown: seen on Plurk

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It's Grandma's. It's all Grandma's.

If you can't read it well, it's Grandma's Saloon and Grill. Look up above; grandma's portrait is flanked by two cows, mounted on the side of the outside wall.

Well, that's that. Grandma clearly owns the place.

I must admit, the ice cream from Grandma's Boxcar was delicious.

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Hotels - a home away from home

I enjoy a place with character: more than just a set of beds in a room that's a clone on a hallway of more clones. Do you recognize the style of the room numbers? They're old post office box fronts. We had one like this in Sister Bay Wisconsin before the Post Office upgraded the the newfangled boxes that opened with a key.

Must love a hotel that has a deck opening onto the Great Lakes - or at least onto a bay that comes out on Lake Superior. It was windy, cool, and totally gorgeous.

All in all, it was a great place to lay our heads overnight. Amigo demonstrates below.

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Baby Girl Discovers Shoes

Is this not the cutest expression ever? Readers, I challenge you; give me a caption for this photo. Leave it in the comments. All captions must be as adorable as she is, or at least as cute as the shoes. Got it? Go!

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It's summertime again!!

There was celebrating all around! Cartwheels, cheers, shouting in the hallways!

And that was just the teachers!

One talented fourth grader left me this memento. It's a rather decent likeness! She left out the gray streak in my hair, but that's okay. I'll take it.

I hope she and her classmates all have a wonderful summer.

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A chair is just a chair

A chair is just a chair....

... unless Chuck repaints it, antiques it, and cuts a hole in the seat so it can become a planter. This chair was destined for the dump; we rescued it off a curb on garbage day.

I ask you, my green readers: is this upcycling, repurposing, or just great?

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Closed minds

Seen on the way to a graduation ceremony:

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How cold was it?

Our April showers can be snow showers, but it's not this cold.

Not that cold. Seriously.

But if you don't like the weather, you know the saying: wait a day.

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If you don't like the weather, wait a day.

I looked out the window last week and saw this.

Good think I hadn't planted any herbs yet!

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I'll wear my necklace if you'll top my pop.

In a fine example of upcycling, a nearby charter school made bottle cap necklaces to sell as a fundraiser. I bought a daisy, of course. It's just my style in so many ways.



This is the back. We've asked around and Hubs even did a cursory Internet search, and we have no idea what kind of bottle this cap adorned.

A cone-head style guy saying, "Pop My Top." Well, readers, ideas? Is this a regional item? A soda/pop bottle, or something else? I'm listening -- chime in!

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March Madness ends for this team

For once, the robo-calls made sense. "If we win tonight, bus reservations and tickets will be on sale from 8-9 AM on Saturday morning." "If you'd like to buy a t-shirt to support us in the State tournament, please stop in the school office!"

The student body was not lacking in spirit!

Grammar, maybe. English teachers, can you help with this one?

Each door was painted in school colors, expressing their excitement. The elementary school down the road sported a big sign congratulating their "alum" on the team.

They lost on Friday night. The team played well; the opposing team spoke highly of them, complimented our players on forcing them to change their defensive strategies in order to pull ahead and then stay there.

Win or lose, the school came out in support of their basketball players and coach. The memories of the 2010 tournament will be theirs forever.

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Spring and garden, I'm ready!

My backyard may look like this:

But inside, I'm thinking of this:

Seeds! Spring training! Brewers baseball, beans, and basil.

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Babies and cats, all in a day's visit

Signs that there's a baby on board -- booties, special beaded flatware (every baby needs art in her life), relaxing CD (harp music).

Yes, those are Green Bay Packer booties. This little angel may live in the greater Chicago area, but she's part of a Packer fan family. We'll make sure she's dressed appropriately.

Packer slippers are not so rare in my house, nor is a laptop computer. However, this is a scene not seen in our home: the Cat Top computer.

Notice how brother (dressed in his proper green and gold to watch the Packers defeat the Seahawks) takes this all in stride? The cats demand their place, and they will not be denied. Well, unless the baby needs feeding or changing.

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Plurkers in Pictures

Ah, my Plurk friends. They cheer me up when I'm down, help keep me up when I'm already feeling pretty darn good. Together, we are a network of friends, professional colleagues, and more.

We share our accomplishments: "earning" a badge for having an empty inbox --

-- or building a house of cards, er, sorry, I meant a castle of hotel room keys.

We share Good Morning greetings --

-- and say good night.

Here's hoping you wake up to the smell the coffee or other delicious aroma, enjoy your friends' notable and not-so-notable achievements, and sleep like a baby tonight.

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Rear Window - and Squirrel?

While I was hiding in the bathroom on a snowy day, this little furry creature came running up the lilac bush right outside the window. I laughed out loud - so loudly I gave away my hiding place and Amigo called to find out what was so funny.

The nimble furball with the long tail then tried to get to the roof. Why? No idea.

My new little fuzzy friend then slipped and slid down the tree, eventually grasping a branch for dear life. At one point even the tail was wound around the branch for balance.

Finally, the small furry one found a secure perch and stopped for a snack. By this time, I was enjoying its presence so much I didn't mind that it was nibbling on my lilac buds and branches. In a snowstorm, food is hard to come by for the urban wildlife.

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Welcome to the world, baby girl!

Welcome to my newborn niece, Audrey Kathryn.

La Petite thinks she looks like a burrito in this picture. Honey, it's called swaddling.

Here she is, thoughtful already.

"So, Mom, have you given any thought to my world? Stick to organic cotton and fewer chemicals in my baths, and I'll grow up healthy and strong. And cute, too."

And last, my baby brother is now a dad. Wow.

Look at those cheeks. Is she not adorable?

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