Goodbye to Basketball

The high school basketball team had their last home game Friday evening.  I think Meg is rather glad that the season (and cheer practices) have come to an end but I rather enjoyed attending the games.

I took a couple of quick little videos to share.  Meg is the tall blond in the back left.  She's fairly well hidden in this first video since she is the back spot for the left group.

You can see her a little better in this one.  

She's a bit undecided as to whether or not she will try out for next year's football cheer squad.  Of course, I'm secretly hoping that she does.

Snippets

Today's entry is total randomness.


Take for example this snake spearing contraption that Randy fabricated on Sunday. This coming weekend is open season on pythons in the Florida Everglades.  He and his buddy didn't have any luck two years ago but that was then...this is now.

For my northern family and friends. this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning.  It was indeed just a slight bit brisk.

It isn't often that I get all dressed up for a cocktail party.  It's even rarer that I ask to have my photo taken.

Being somewhat self-conscious I played like my kids and made some silly faces.

I have got to do something with that extra chin.  Anybody have any experience with cool sculpting?






If you ever wondered just what online PE looks like here's a sneak peek...

She has to submit videos of her doing different exercises.  She scored a 97 for her first semester. We haven't received Jasmine's grade yet.



Finally I'll sign off with this cute video snippet of Fin.  It really gives you a great sneak inside his fun little personality.

Thanks for visiting!

A Very Nice Surprise

I was in the midst of editing a few photos for today's post when something in this morning's email caught my eye.  The subject line read "New Substitute Teaching Rates in Martin County."


We are pleased to announce our new substitute teaching rates for Martin County Schools as of January 1, 2016.   Associates degree or 60 Semester hours hourly rate $11.50 or daily rate, $86.25; Bachelor’s degree hourly rate $13.00 or daily rate $97.50; Master’s degree hourly rate $14.00 or daily rate $105.00; Doctorate degree hourly rate $15.00or daily rate $112.50.


Given their former rates of $9.76 per hour (for Associates, Bachelors and Masters degrees) and $10.25 for certified teachers, this not only represents a significant increase, it also recognizes those of us with higher degrees.  Truth be told, I'm flabberghasted.  (I was totally expecting to read that I was getting a fifty cents an hour increase.  Seriously.)

As you all know, I do not sub for the money.  In fact, with what our county paid, I continued to refer to subbing as "volunteering."  I enjoy the kids (well, about 90% of them...just being real) and because I only accept jobs from Meg's former elementary school I considerate it "paying it forward" to the teachers and staff that taught and cared for her so well during those crucial years.  The district has finally wised up to the fact that there aren't many souls like myself who would even consider doing such a thing.

Case in point, last Friday I substituted in a kindergarten class of eighteen 5-6 year olds (tell me that wasn't work!) for which, under the former rate, I would have made just over $68 before taxes. Trust me when I say that, depending on the class, there are some days when I'd wished I'd given someone else $70 to take my spot. LOL!!!

Anyway....all of this to say "I GOT A RAISE!"

Will it make a difference in my life?

No.

(To put it in perspective...the pay scale just went from my 1986 hourly rate of $9.76 to my 1990 hourly rate of $14.00.)  

BUT, it will make a huge difference in the lives of other overworked and underpaid substitutes. It will also attract a new pool of qualified (key word here) substitutes which in turn helps the teachers.   Baby steps, for sure, but it's progress and it's great that the district has finally stepped up.


Footnote:  Randy says he's quitting his job(s) and expects me to work EVERY day.  :-)   Sure thing, hon.







 

Like Father, Like Son

One of Jay's nicknames was (and still is) Garbage Gut. The kid would eat anything and everything, rarely ever leaving so much as a morsel on his plate. (or mine, for that matter.  LOL!)

When he was four we visited an Italian restaurant.  He asked the waitress how many shrimp came with the meal.  When she answered "six" he, without pause, said "I'll have the spaghetti."  No more kid's menus for him.

Later, in grade school, he asked to take his lunch because "the hot lunches aren't big enough."  He started packing his own lunches and let me tell you, he could have bought four cafeteria lunches for the price of what went into those home lunches.  LOL!!

I have a feeling little Fin is going to follow in his daddy's footsteps.  In fact, I've already started referring to him as "Son of Garbage Gut."  This little guy does an awesome job of eating despite the fact that at 13 months, he is only just now cutting his first teeth.  It's amazing to see how much he can fit in that little belly of his.

Case in point.  I snapped this photo last week while visiting.  During this meal he ate an entire tilapia fillet, several raspberries, not quite a whole Clementine orange, about a third of a banana and a nice sized scoop of macaroni & cheese. Every so often he would share with Marley (their border collie) but more often than not, he was just teasing her.

This photo sent to me earlier this month cracks me up.  Believe it or not, this is from the kid's menu. The bowl contains fish nuggets, baked rather than fried. He didn't finish this all off by himself but I imagine he made quite a dent.

He also loves to shop for food.  

As a kid, Jay would watch The Frugal Gourment on PBS and present me with a shopping list for something he wanted us to make.  To this day, he still enjoys cooking and I often get recipes by email or food photos by text.  I think it's a safe bet that Fin will have his own Pinterest account before long.

My Latest Projects

One of my newer projects involves documenting our monthly book club(s) selections .  To keep it simple, I'm using We R Memory 4x4 albums and two stamp sets from Kelly Purkey.

My BCB album (the group down south) includes three pages for each month...the book cover, my review/comments and our monthly group photo (which I am not including here.)  Here are a few examples from that album...

My local book club selections are housed in a separate but very similar album. The only real difference is that it includes a group photo at the beginning and only two pages per month.  I also use a different KP stamp set for my review.   

I'm geeky, I know, but these little guys make me very happy.  I'm even happier now that they are both up to date.  

My next post will likely contain photos of Fin.  I'm headed to Orlando this afternoon so his parents can have a night out with visiting friends.  Grandma (me) needs to get up and out early tomorrow though because, get this, she has an evaluation with an orthodontist.  You see, Grandma (me) is a clencher and her favorite dentist has finally convinced her to get her bite corrected so Grandma (me) doesn't end up with false teeth.  Yeah, sometimes it's not so fun being (me.)  

December Craft Projects

Before we get too much further into the new year I'd like to share a post on the crafty projects I completed last month.

For my girl besties and "down south book club members" I created small packages of handcrafted holiday gift tags.  I made approximately 25 individual gift packages throughout October, November and December.

Here's a closer look at some of the contents...

I had a lot of fun with these.  There's a lot to be said for cute projects that can be completed quickly and easily!



Also on my December crafty to-do list were the "infamous" Christmas cards. These were also a lot of fun to create however they were not quick nor were they easy."  Two different versions went out this year.

There was Beachball Santa...

and Surfboard Santa...

My crafty friends will already know this but underneath each of these cards was an average of one hour's worth of work.  Multiply that by 45 and you can see why these didn't go postal until mid-month.  Each of the elements was handstamped, die cut and then handcolored with Copic markers. The front panel was die cut (so as to get the pretty faux stitching) and then blended with inks to achieve the beach and the sky background.  As final embellishments, the sunglasses were covered with Glossy Accents and the the fur of his cap was sprinkled with glitter.  As is often not the case when I mass produce cards, I still loved this design all the way to the end.  That said, next year's cards will be clean and simple.  *smile*

(In addition to the above cards I also participated an online class which netted me a few other great holiday cards (not shown) which I gave to tutors, coaches, online friends, and of course my Julie Helpers...aka, my wonderful cleaning ladies.)


My third and final December project turned out to be more of a chore.  (I'm chalking that up to the guilt I felt by not being able to spend as much time on it as in year's past.)  Yes, I'm referring to my 2015 December Daily album.  This is my seventh such holiday album and while I'm not totally in love with the final product, I am in love with the fact that it is DONE.

Here are a few snippets from my 6x8 album...

Add in muliple overnight trips up and down the state, holiday shopping and baking, Christmas parties, two bookclub meetings, holiday photo shoots of friend's families, basketball games, homework help, etc, etc, etc, and you can see why I had absolutely no problem taking down all of our holiday decorations on December 26th.  I was soooooo over it.  LOL!!!  And now that my December Daily is finally complete, the craftermath that was JulieWorld is all cleared away and ready for January projects.  :-)

My 2015 Year in Books

Goodreads.com is what I refer to as a "Facebook for book lovers" and I've been an active member since 2011.  Each year thereafter I have set a goal for myself to read 40 books annually.  Interestingly enough I read exactly 37 books in each of 2012, 2013 and 2014.  This past year I kicked it into high gear and sucessfully finished 41 books which earned me this cute little badge of honor.

Yay Me!

My goal for 2016 is 45 books.  It's going to be tough but I'm always up for a good challenge.  If anyone reading wants to follow/friend me on Goodreads, my screen name is JulieP.  I'd love to see what you're reading.

The formatting isn't pretty but here's what I read in 2015...

really liked it

it was amazing

it was amazing

really liked it

it was amazing