I am a Pinterest Enthusiast and a Teacher

I am working with the local chamber and presenting a class on Marketing with Pinterest.
This has been a fun project.

I've "met" some really great people including Beth Hayden  who sent me a copy of her book

to review and I have to say, Well done! Beth has an amazing knack for distilling information down to its essence. Her advise is practical and easy to follow. She offers case studies and insights to help you succeed with Pinterest. Look for Beth's books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple iBooks.
For my class I have developed a checklist and am going to include it here for you to print. Be sure and leave a comment if you download it and find it useful!

Building "My" Better Blog

Well followers, I have been blogging for a year now.
**Insert Fan Fare**

Photo Credit

I've learned a lot. Here is a list:
1. I have learned that I really like writing.
2. Blogs are a great place to find information. It is the NEW word of mouth ;)
3. I have learned how to add buttons and create a header in Word (Thank you SITS!)
4. I have learned that my 15 year old reads all my posts and enjoys her anonymity.
5. I have learned that to continue growing, adding readers, and improving I need to post something everyday!

So, here is day #1
Let's see how long I can keep this up!

My Top 10 Favorite Things About Summer Growing Up

Inspired by: 

1. Swimming in the backyard pool whenever we wanted
2. Riding bicycles miles and miles back and forth with my Best Friend Julia
3. At least two weeks at Lake Tenkiller = water skiing, jumping off cliffs, eating junk food, hunting crawdads, more swimming, reading, and sleeping in a tent (away from my Dad's snores)
4. Church Camp (Falls Creek)
5. Vacation Bible School (aka VBS)
6. No Homework
7. Wearing cut-offs and a swimming suit every day
8. Going barefoot
9. Knowing chores had to be done before Mom and Dad got home and waiting until about 30 min before to do them
10. Long days and not having to be home until dark.

Wish I could bring back those days for my kids :) Sigh. 

Lake Tenkiller Oklahoma

Robots!

At Masterpieces this week there was a visiting professor. He taught them how to make a robot that moves toward the light.

Here is a video of it in action: P is so excited!

Next week is the last week. Thanks Lenore and Dr. Brown for inviting us!

Sweet boy.

The Library I work at is hosting a 6 week program called "MasterPieces" 

The program is a partnership between the University located in Norman, OK and the Southwest Oklahoma City Library.   The program is presented by staff, Professors, and students enrolled in a directed project for course credit. Here is what the purposed format looks like:

Objective: Provide a weekly program for approximately 15 at risk tweens focusing on music, art, fitness and cooking.

•          Timeline-    Six to eight week program beginning in March,  Friday 4pm-7:00p
•         Audience  -   Utilize Moore Public School media specialists to help identify at-risk tweens
•     Send letters inviting identified tweens to the program
•        Cap program at 15 tweens

•        Possible Format -  Four topics over eight weeks (two weeks per topic)
•    First week have a presenter
•          Possibly partner with OU students to present
•         Athletes, musicians, artists, etc.
•    Second week have tweens do activity
•     This activity would be planned by SLIS student(s) (School of Library and Information Services) 
•         This format would give students experience in planning and implementing a program as well as coordinating a presenter

P is a tween but not technically an at risk tween and does not go to school in the Moore area but his mother DOES work for the library and the Department Head for the Children's Department loves us so...He's in like flinn...

The first week they planted tomato plants and this week they are building a robot! 

Last week they learned about service and created items to go to soldiers over seas and a senior center visited to talk and read with the kids. 

P was such a kind little gentleman one of the library staff came to me in tears. 

I had to check this out for myself. Here's a pic:

They ate him up! He shook hands and acted like a perfect gentleman. My heart grew three sizes that day.

Isn't it great when our kids surprise us and act like we teach them stuff!?!

(Robot pics to come :) )

Technology in the Classroom

I was recently asked to write an essay about technology in the classroom.
This lead me to think about how technology is affecting our children and how they will interact with their future and what is our role as parents and teachers to influence this type interaction?
I currently work in a public library and see very small children clicking away on the children's computers complete with touch screens. Did someone sit down and show them how to make the games work? How about smart phones? There are countless videos of very small children playing with iPhones, iPads, Androids, PSP, DSi, Wii, Xbox and the list goes on and on. Are they born with this knowledge? Do they absorb it in utero through some sort of osmosis? What about children who do not have access to technology outside of schools?
I love change, I love challenges, I love to learn new things, but I also love correct grammar, teaching my children to use logic and to think for themselves instead of believing the first piece of information they are presented with, and I love polite manners. All this is to say; I believe our children are exposed to this technology from birth, like verbal communication and reading facial expressions. It is our responsibility to engage and introduce our children/students to technology and instill the necessary values to ensure they are still capable of face to face communication and that they have the tools to move, create, produce, and communicate in this new 21st century world.

Watch this video I found on you tube Engage Me! and tell me, do you let your elementary school student blog, podcast, vodcast, or even text? Should we? Should schools require this or should be left as an option, like a report or a presentation?
Please, tell me what you think.

Learning to Blog or What I've figured out so far...

I started this blog as a New Year's resolution last year...in July :) 

Since then, I've learned about posting my own pictures, done some book reviews, and a few confessions.

I've played with the design, learned how to use Picasa to create a custom header via Pinterest but I'm still trying to figure out things like:

Adding buttons  

image found here See How We Sew  

Making tabs work- my blog is a jumble of posts and themes and I would like to organize them (I am a librarian after all) 

Searchable key words

Copyright rules for posting images found online...?

The overall design

I am a DIY'er and would love to figure it out but I am also not above asking for help. If you are in the same boat check out Whimsical Blog Designs  Kate is offering a custom blog give-away. Check out her site, look at her beautiful portfolio and let me know what you think. 

And keep your fingers crossed, if my blog design suddenly changes into a dynamic Mama Kat style of amazingness, you will know I won! Or figured out the entire enter-web mess :)

Sciencie Birthday Party...cake FAIL

 H wants to be a Forensic Scientist when she grows up so for her 10th birthday we did a science birthday complete with an exploding experiment called "Elephant Toothpaste", green fizzy punch, and a cake with test tubes, petry dishes, and beakers made out of rice crispy treats to top it....That was the plan.
 Of course most of my ideas came from pinterest.com here is a Link to my birthday idea board.
The experiment went off very well. The girls were thrilled! They each had a lab report to fill out. It was funny to see which girls took this part seriously and which didn't (H didn't)

 

This is what the cake was suppose to at least resemble:

Before I reveal the majesty that is my version I would also like to show you the middle of the cake:

Cool, right! The how-to is also on my pinterst board.

Back to the cake decor...
We started with rice crispy scupltures:

Starting to look a tiny bit suspect...but wait til' you see it icied, it is sure to get better, right!?!

Wrong!
and I am well aware of what the blue TEST TUBE looks like...

I sprikled edible sparkles on it and we cut right in...
Tasted good anyway  :)

Hooray for cake fails!

Art for the additions.

 I love Pinterest.  I am not completely obsessed...Pinterest doesn't seem to have an app for androids so I don't look at when I am away from the phone. 
That is were I got the grrrrrreat idea to do homemade art work for each of their bedrooms based on the theme they (with guidance) chose. 
Here is a link to my pinterest page: Pinterest

Here we go:
P's room: Sports
We started with Baseball

Big D painted this by looking at a picture and sketching then painting.

Amazing right!?!

Here's What P and I did together:

Cute right!?! Now we need to add Football and sounds like Soccer is coming soon too!!!!!

Here's what we did in H's Room.

She wanted "Horses" I really detest the 70's brown and green version or the pretty pretty princess version of this theme.  I found this on Pinterest (of course)

This is our version: 

Do you see the princess chandelier...still a little princess... :)

Each family member made one for her room.

We used paint and fabric with modpodge, buttons, bits of trim and lace. Our herd isn't as well populated but I am hoping we will continue to add to the family (of horses, only horses).

For J's room we went with Super Hero. Big D did some amazing painting for this room too. We also had some help from M and Big J's (now ex) girlfriend.

This is a city scape and below the super hero's are shining on the walls...get it?

So that's the project. What do you think?

THE addition

We moved into our house in November 2010.

As you know we have 5 children between the two of us...there are three large bedrooms in this house.  Did you hear that? Dunt, dunt, duuuuuuuun.... we had to figure out how to make this large, wonderfully located, house fit our family.

First we put up a temporary wall in the large front room/ formal dining room. The biggest boy got those fabulous digs.  This would have probably worked for the long haul but we really wanted to let each child have his/her own space.

So, built out the garage.

I looked at space planning sites online and found this one: Planning Wiz  There are several on the inter-webs so don't stop until you find a free one that makes since to you.

I had some decisions to make. Who would get the garage rooms? What is the best arrangement for these rooms?

Regarding question 1. It would be easy to put the oldest children on the other side of the house but then the two little boys would still have to share ANNND the oldest two could almost come and go at will...

I did spend a large amount of time trying to make that work. I hated the idea of the little ones being to far away from us but I really hate wasted space. Passionately.

So after messing with this plan for a while I decided it would be a better use of space to put the three little kids in the garage with a playroom than the two big kids.

Here's my logic. The little kids don't hang out in their bedrooms. They play together. Sooooo if they only need space in their rooms to change clothes and sleep those rooms can be rather small thus leaving space for a playroom. 
Sleep in the bedroom, play in the playroom.


Here's what that arrangement looks like:

We ended up opening the wall between the formal dining area and the garage to allow a pass through. This makes the addition feel like part of the whole house and not an afterthought.

We kept the colors pretty neutral except, of course, for a beautiful Robins Egg Blue on the wall you can see from the front room.

The little kids love their rooms. No big kids allowed. They share their toys for the most part but they do each have thier own shelves to store personal toy items. 

We added artwork along a theme for each child. More discussion on that topic in the next post.

We put a television and the VCR/DVD combo in the playroom so they can watch kids stuff when friends are over.  The original door to the outside had a window in it which let's tons of light in and the space is airy and bright.

Here are pictures of the process.

Big D (He is 6 foot 9!)

My Brother-in-law and Dad were there to help.

We put their drawers and closets under the beds to conserve floor space. This one is for P

Big J painting trim in H's room

  

J's bed is lower. He is younger and it seemed safer. Wait till you see the art word Big D did for his room!

The next time I do constuction I'm going to dress for pictures. We are discussing the deconstruction of this part of the wall.

Taking the wall down in the Formal Dining Room.

There's that pretty blue! Love it!!!

Chalk board paint

Pictures of the finished process coming soon...I can't believe I don't have any today!

Fool disclosure

Have you ever been hit in the face with a piece of information about yourself and thought, "WOW. I totally missed that about myself!" ?

I attended the Women of Faith conference with my Mom and Sister (from the "What's Wrong With Her" post) in Oklahoma City, OK.

Where on the first morning Patsy Clairemont talked about Proverbs 29:11 NIV "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." but she said her and woman.

That's when I had my "WOW. I totally missed that about myself!"  moment.

Now, I was raised in church. (Hilltop Baptist, Norman OK. Halla) I do not use the word "Fool" lightly. 

The  Biblical Definition of Fool is often used for a sinful, wicked or immoral person who will not obey the commands of the Lord. The fool acts contrary to biblical wisdom in his choices and behavior. He follows his own inclinations and desires. The fool prefers to enjoy the immediate, insignificant pleasures of the here and now to obeying and serving the Lord and being rewarded in eternity. A person who is a fool despises wisdom and instruction. A person is a fool who despises wisdom and instruction.

Since my early adult years I have consciencely tried to not to lie or be a part of untruth. I think I have always been my authentic self.  In that desire I thought that full disclosure was the way to go.

I am a librarian and information is power. If I know something and you don't, how can you make the correct decision? How can I if I don't know how you are feeling about a situation?

So with that in mind, I have been very open about my thoughts and feelings, and truely expected that from those I deal with on a daily basis.

Imagine my chagrin to find out I have behaving foolishly this whole time!

I would like to take a moment to apologize to my family (current and ex), friends, and co-workers for this mistake.

The more time I spent thinking about this incredible revelation, the more events make sense.

See, I really really really thought I was just engaging in no-punches-pulled dialogue. I did try to use tact as often as possible but it turns out I was just making a fool of myself.

So, guys, I am really sorry for my fool disclosure attitude.

I pray that God help me learn to keep my mouth shut.

I found this online:

I also pray my daughter M learns this lesson earlier than I did.

Hi there...It's been a while or Love, Loss, and New Beginnings

First off, I would like to say how sorry I am that it has been so long since I last posted.
To leave with such a sad post is not very thoughtful.

I was truly surprised at how sad I was/am at Charlie's passing, I don't know why, he was a part of my life for over 13 years.

When someone in the house (of 7) calls someone the wrong name the other person would answer back "Yes Charlie". It was our thing, he was part of the family, the first time I said it after he passed, I went to my room and cried.

Another interesting aspect I hadn't thought of was how lonely Dickens our cocker spaniel would be while we are away at school/work...

Dickens sleeping on the couch

Definitely a doggie shaped whole in our home.

Seeing how sad Dickens and I were, Big D decided to take matters into his own hands and visit Second Chance.
Being a very thorough organization, they sent him home to get Dickens before letting him choose a new friend and surprise me.

We brought Dickens back, let them meet, and we brought home "Lady" a 5 month old Boxer mix, complete with the pouty lip but without the clipped ears and docked tail.

She has been the perfect addition.

She and Dickens play, play, play all day.
She is great with the kids
And her wiggly tail makes me very happy.

Goodbye Charlie

This week we lost a long time friend.
He has been our constant companion for the last thirteen and a half years.
He was known as Charlie, Char-Char, Charlie-Barlie, and Ottoman Dog.
He hated baths, loved to chase cars, was patient with the babies and puppies along the way.
He was happy to the end with his sweet doggie smile.
He drifted off in his sleep.

Goodnight Sweet Prince. You are missed.

Surprise!

Thanks to all who were involved! I was totally surprised. AND I gave Big D a really hard time all week trying to figure out family plans, etc.
So thanks again. Love you guys.

BTW you can't tell from the video but the house looked great!
Love Alicia


Somethings that hit me...
1. O. M. Gosh. I walk and sound like my sister.
2. I am very gullible. Didn't suspect a thing. Seriously.
3. Sorry Big J, but you really should have chosen trig or history, I am a librarian after all :)
4. I am very loved.

Be AWESOME instead.

Some words of encouragement.

Dean Martin Video here: Ain't that a Kick in the Head  

Lyrics here:

How lucky can one guy be;
I kissed her and she kissed me
Like the fella once said,
Ain't that a kick in the head?
The room was completely black
I hugged her and she hugged back.
Like the sailor said, quote,
"Ain't that a hole in the boat?"
My head keeps spinning;
I go to sleep and keep grinning;
If this is just the beginning,
My life's gonna be beautiful.
I've sun- shine enough to spread;
It's like the fella said,
"Tell me quick
Ain't love like a kick in the head?"

Like the fella once said,
Ain't that a kick in the head?

Like the sailor said, quote,
"Ain't that a hole in the boat?"
My head keeps spinning;
I go to sleep and keep grinning;
If this is just the beginning,
My life's gonna be beautiful.
She's telling me we'll be wed;
She's picked out a king size bed.
I couldn't feel any better or I'd be sick;
Tell me quick, oh ain't love a kick?
Tell me quick, ain't love a kick in the head?



Found this on pinterest





This one too!

Now. Go and be Aweseome...and bring your A game.