Random Stuff

These photos have nothing to do with this post. They're just here for fun. As you can see, I actually have TWO dragons living in my art room, a mother (Lucy) and child (Sparkle).


Anyhow...
I've come across a few really cool things lately that I'd like to share, in case you haven't seen them yet.

The first is the one I'm most excited about. I found the link on another blog, and I've searched EVERYWHERE to try to find the blog again that posted this. If it was you, let me know; I'd love to give you credit for this awesome discovery.

It is a sketchbook project - when you sign up (for $25) you choose a theme. Then you are mailed a Moleskine sketchbook, to create in, based on the theme you've selected. You can draw on the pages, or totally transform transform the sketchgook, as long as it folds back up into the original sketchbook dimensions. I'm signing up and selecting my theme tonight. **I just signed up!! My theme is "science project gone wrong"! Sounds like fun, doesn't it?** The completed sketchbooks are all sent back, and the project culminates with a traveling show, which goes around the country in galleries and museums. I'm excited because the show is scheduled to be in Brooklyn during February vacation. I love to go to NYC during my February vacation week, so that means I'd be able to actually see the show.

So, bloggers, if you sign up to participate, let me know and I'll look for your sketchbook when I'm there in February. Anyhow, here's the website so you can see all the details: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

This next website is really adorable: http://blabberize.com/. Check it out for a dose of silliness. It was previously shared in a post I encountered on this blog: http://artmuse67.blogspot.com/

Here's Ethel the sock monkey - - another photo just for fun...

Someone at my school shared this following website with me, which uses letters to create animals, and could be a good lesson motivator: http://www.bemboszoo.com/Bembo.swf

And finally - YIKES - I've been chosen again for:
The honor has come to me from Kathy at http://cottagegardenquilter.blogspot.com/. I think she was especially noticing my post about the crocheted coral reef, which didn't raise too much interest from readers otherwise. As a former SCUBA diver, I thought the crocheted coral formations looked so much like the real thing that I was blown away by it. But anyhow, I'm digressing... Kathy also has an art teacher blog, which you can find at: http://gallery2404.blogspot.com/ , and I'm honored that she picked me out. Thanks, Kathy.

Now, since I've gotten this award before, I hope Kathy doesn't mind that I'm not going to give it out again to a bunch of bloggers. I don't want to drive you all crazy. But I've been listing blogs I like alot anyhow, and you can see them on my sidebar as well.

But I will comply with the award requirement to list 7 things about myself, and I'll try to list 7 things I didn't say last time.

1. I'm barely 5 ' tall and I don't wear high heels, so I'm usually the shortest adult in the room. So I'm used to climbing and standing on top of things in order to reach what I want. Which is not such a good thing because I'm a real klutz.


2. I'm overly opinionated and I guess sometimes don't know when to shut up. It's a problem, I know, but I don't see it changing any time soon.


3. I love playing Scrabble, mostly with my son, but since he's in college and will graduate this spring, the opportunities are few and far between. :-( I like words.


4. I love to proofread (how weird is that?) and I find typos, spelling, and grammatical errors everywhere. I'm really embarrassed when I find them on my own blog.


5. My first 8 years of teaching were as a high school art and photgraphy (silver photo) teacher, and my 9th year was as a K-12 art teacher (a challenging job). I've been teaching elementary art ever since then (since 1985) and I love it.


6. If you read my prior post, you know I'm chocoholic. I have other vices too. I stay up too late at night and don't get enough sleep. EVER.


7. I believe you can never have too many pairs of earrings. I feel naked if I forget to put on a pair of earrings in the morning. Other jewelry is good too.
   

Thanks again Kathy for recognizing my blog, and I hope you'll understand why I didn't hand it out to other bloggers again this time. Here's the link to my previous response to this honor, if you want to see who I selected to pass it to: http://plbrown.blogspot.com/search/label/blog%20award

Don't eat the cupcakes!

Hello, my name is Phyl and I'm a chocoholic.

That's important to know. This Friday at school, after my last class of the day was over, I sat down (tired) at my desk and got to thinking how much I'd love a piece of chocolate.

Into my room came 2 adorable kindergarten boys, one wearing a birthday crown, both beaming as they held forth a tray with one vanilla cupcake, iced with thick chocolate icing and colorful sprinkles on top. It was the very last one, and they wanted me, Art Teacher, to have it. I thanked them, gave them stickers, and sent them on their way. I looked at the chocolate frosting and thought about what a bad idea it is to eat all the food that kids bring you.

And this time of year starts the worst (or best) of it, as anyone who works in an elementary school would know - holiday treats for each holiday from now till New Year's, with moms trying to outdo each other by sending in the cutest, sweetest, most gooey treats imaginable, enough for everyone in the class, plus the principal, the secretary, the music teacher, and of course, their favorite person, Art Teacher, who never says no to anything chocolate.

But do you really know if they are safe to eat? So you look at the kid, think about his clean (or not so clean) clothes and hair, and whether that reflects on what his home is like. And you know that by now all the kids in the class have eaten the cupcake, and nobody has died from them, but the truth is, really, you know you should NOT eat the cupcake. (Besides, I am having a lot of trouble trying to lose 10 pounds...)

So back to the cupcake with the chocolate frosting and sprinkles. My chocoholism was raging, the birthday boy looked shiny and clean, so I decided I'd take a bite off the top, get a mouthful of chocolate frosting to deal with my addiction, and toss the rest. I dove in, and got a big mouthful of chocolate, when the voice of a 5th grade teacher yelled from the hallway "PHYL!!!! DON'T EAT THE CUPCAKE!!!!!!" Uh oh....

Seems she had witnessed the boys DROP the cupcake, top side down, on the stair. Believe me, there's no "5 second-rule" for food dropped on elementary school stairs at the end of a full day of school. Playground dirt... need I say more?! She said to the boys, as they picked up the cupcake, "that's not OK to eat" and they said "yes it is!". I suppose she was in the hall on the way to pick up her kids at a special, or to make a copy or something , so it took a moment before she realized they were bringing the cupcake to ME. Hence, the lag time before she yelled her warning.

Needless to say, I did not swallow, and did not eat the rest. I did take a better look at the cupcake before throwing it away, close enough to see a piece of hair and some grit embedded between some sprinkles. Luckily I seem to have an iron stomach, and I'm alive and laughing and able to tell you this story.

I wish I could tell you it cured my addiction, but all this writing about chocolate has made me want some. I think maybe I'll go break into a bag of Halloween candy. After all, it's all wrapped, right?!