mosaic madness

Well, my love for mosaic has been set aside for the last month (or so) all due to an ugly little pig. I found a cheap little cement pig that I thought would be cute to mosaic for someone's garden. I used some of my cutest plates in my best color finds and yet, I still hate it. I've been obsessing over working on a tight 3D surface, but in reality the grout covers all the crap that you don't want to show. Anyway, I ran across this site tonight and realized that I need to do less hunting for plates (usually about $1 each!) and more hunting through the garbage. I want broken off angel wings and metal lids and broken barettes and deputy badges... Earlier this week, the fabulous Kim led me here. I LOVE this work. Anyone wanna party?

Magic 27

Today is the 27th and we've got 27 days left in the school year. Yippee! Summer, do-do-do-do-do-do, ah Summer-Summer. (Sing to the tune of Sugar-Sugar)

get cooking

Did you see the falafel recipe in yesterday's paper? It's on my (very short) list of ones to try. I didn't really know what they were until I tried them (and loved them) at the Highland Grille with the lovely Anne Marie and Haller. They were a little different than this recipe--black beans and deep fried, served with a pinapple salsa...yummmm. But this one does look a BIT healthier!

4 servings
1 can drained garbanzos
3 green onions
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
1/4 cup of cilantro
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp red-pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Put everything in a food processor. Pulse until everything is chopped and beginning to come together. Form mixture so that it's golf-balled-sized and plop them on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 18 or so minutes.

Serve it up on a pita with lettuce, tomatoes, cucs, and olives.

Funny like a frog

Well, I took Monday off because of my sore throat and now I have absolutely no voice at all. Yesterday I tried to play on my students' sympathy to get them to do what I want, but they just thought I sounded funny. "..funny like a frog". Tonight after school, I'm hoping to catch up with my new Principal over at Irondale High School. She sounds really nice on the phone and the "grapevine" around here doesn't say much about her. Usually no leaf goes untouched. What could this mean?
In other news, I just finished Margaret Atwood's new book. Very Sci-Fi, but I liked it. Any suggestions for a new read?
We just did a little re-arranging around the house to spruce up our front porch. Afternoons are LOVELY in there, especially when the sun is starting to set. I've been dragging projects out there lately and having heaps of fun embroidering like crazy. I'll post pictures as soon as we replace our dead, stupid camera.

On Saturday, Zander and the boys from Big Time Attic will draw their hearts out for the 24 Hour Comic Marathon. It's all part of the Cartoonist Conspiracy, and at the end of the event each participant should have finished 24 pages of a comic. Now, I couldn't do this, even if I tried really hard. Or, more accurately said, mine would look like crap and I would be found sleeping in a pile of inky drool begging for my bed-sweet-bed. But if anyone wants to join me for a portion of the Grumpy's portion of the night, let me know. I'm always game for a portion of tater-tots.
In other news, I had a wonderful weekend. It was refreshing, inspiring, fun, full of really good food, and basically just really great. However, this morning I woke up with a sore throat and it's getting worse. Is this fate staring me in the face and just begging for a four day weekend? And really, who am I to argue?

Bite Me

Today I was over at Crafty Planet, ala Ask the Gnome's recommendation, and I saw the cute little cross stitch kits by Subversive Cross Stitch. I have so many favorites, but the one I could most see hanging in my house was the one that said "Bite Me." I didn't buy it because it was $12 and that seemed a bit steep for something I could figure out how to make on my own. But it really does sum up my mood lately. Here is my rant: OK, typically I like to be the one that rolls with things, makes things work, takes one for the team to keep the peace... blah, blah, blah. It's difficult for me to admit but I am SO PISSED OFF these days. At least my pissiness has nothing to do with home or friends, but instead... work. I was informed on Thursday that the job I was guaranteed last week didn't really exist. Whoops, sorry! On top of it all, I was really getting excited to plan a World Cultures curriculum. My lovely union has instead secured me a job at the high school. They don't know what I'll be teaching, but they do know it's art, and they know I'm one of those weird art people, and they especially know that I don't coach football, so bye-bye. Anyway, I took a personal day on Friday and did only things that make me happy. I sat outside on the porch swing and played with Boo. I ran. I did a little sewing. I went to Anthropology and made plans to rip off their cutey ideas. I ate at the Whole Foods deli. I bought some wine at the Byerly's sale. I put together a new recipe while drinking that wine. I snuggled up on the couch and shared a little of that wine with Zander. I gave myself a pedicure. Then today I went for coffee with a dear friend and scored some good stuff at Unique Thrift, which is also an Ask the Gnome recommendation. I'm feeling better. I'm getting a little bit excited for a change. I'm thinking of the little voice inside my head that comes from the lips of my mom, "This will make you grow."

Cucumber

Yesterday a happy-go-lucky 2nd grader popped in my classroom to tell me some really important information... "Hey Mrs. Cannon... I've got your number. Cucumber." And ran quickly out of the room to catch up with his class. Classic. Very similiar, but not quite as good as the student from a few years ago singing, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." only to add, "your chestnuts."
Always on the hunt for cheap stuff, I ran across this site via littlesomethings. I especially love the clock and the fruit bowl.
Tonight we're staying in. I finished up my overalls-turned-hippie-skirt. Lots of decorative denim stitching involved. I've also got my monster softie well under way. There's nothing quite like embroidering on an ugly little monster while watching the infamous Tenacious D.
As an art teacher, (and soon to be World Cultures teacher) I feel that it's my proud duty to make it out to some of the Walker's opening events on Sunday. I'm really excited to see it, but I think the place will be absolutely mobbed.

World Cultures???

OK, I'm so glad it's Friday... I'm especially glad that I had a large portion of the day off, and I could hang out in my back yard smashing plates. I need to smash plates today. I finally got news from my union, and yes indeed, I do have a job for next year. 80% art teacher and 25% world cultures teacher, all at the middle school. (Yes this equals more than full time, but I'll jump over that hurdle when I get there) I'm bummed. I like teaching elementary art. Kindergarten day is my third favorite day of the week. You guessed it, Sat and Sun come first. Anyway, I need a day or so to get used to the news and then I'll get excited. But today, smashie-smashie-smashie. There is an upside to my anger. (That movie is pretty good, by the way) I'm glueing all of the plate pieces onto a smallish cement pig. I haven't worked on a 3D project yet, so I'm a bit challenged, but having fun.
In other news, I think Zander and I are going to try and make the deadline for this project. Anyone else wanna try it? Come on, you can't go wrong with monsters.

parent-teacher conferences

Today and tomorrow there will be no classes held at Turtle Lake Elemenatary. Instead, students stay home and play video games while the rest of us chat up their parents. Most people don't "schedule" a conference with the art teacher, but instead just drop in. This usually makes for an easy day for me except when they drop in at a strange/awkward/personal moment. Like when I'm pulling my underwear out of my butt. Or when I'm just skipping out to use the bathroom because I've once again waited too long and pee is starting to come out of my ears. Or when I'm trying out a new project so I can have an example for the students, and people come in like, "You get paid for this??? Wow." I do have 3 conferences scheduled today, and I anticipate another 6 or so to stop in. So 9 5-minute conferences should be just about right for 8 hours, eh? Actually, I'm behind on other things (like leaving a SAFE walking path from the door to the desks) and cherish any time interrupted or otherwise, to get my stuff together!

stickers

As you know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to decorate. I hope my house continues to gradually change on a continual basis. But when I see something SO cool that SO won't go with a thing we've got going on, I'm tempted to scrap everthing and start over. I won't, but I'd sure like to work in something like a few of these stickers. I found them while browsing around here.

Bummer

Alright, the bummer is that our wonderful and EXPENSIVE camera that we bought just two years ago is toast. Yup, it's a goner. Until we can replace it, I'll have to rely on swiping images off the internet to spice things up around here.
The opposite of bummer is that I got my hair cut. My friend Melissa cut it for me and the two blunt steps on the back of my head are gone. Melissa works at SunBearSpa in White Bear Lake. I know it's a haul getting there, but it is so worth it. She is wonderful. If you're one of the lucky ones that didn't see how horrible my hair was, it's only because I was so ashamed that I wore pony tails almost every single day of the past 3 months.
The other opposite of bummer is that Becca Cannon was just in town and we got to hang out all afternoon with her. I know that I'm becoming a sort of cliche about this, but we took her to Suzi's. On the deck, and it wasn't even too smoky. The patio is looking very tiki-ish and cute right now.
In other news, tonight I'd like to fangle a pair of my old overalls into a jumper. Sort of like how people (like my Mom) used to convert jeans into jean skirts. Any advice or links to walk me through it?
Last night we watched American History X. It came out (Ed Norton) when we were in Japan, so I hadn't heard anything about it. It is such a brutal movie, but I just loved it.