Without further ado...

First of all, Gold Stars to all for your time, sharing, and patience in me getting my act together to post the winner.  It was another one of those days... BUT, IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!

 

 Is my girl cute or what?

 Hmmmmm... Who shall it be?

 And...

 The

 

Winner

 

IS...

 

 

 Theresa!!!

So, my girl was sooooo happy to do this, we decided to pick two more names for a little somethin'. She yelled to the class after all of this, "I am going to be on Mrs. Wise's blog!"  I know the boys looked at each other and said, "What's a blog?"

19- "Kim at "Field of Dreams"

 27 - Patty "Miss Carrotcake" (Inside joke... Sorry!)

So, my dears, if you would be so kind as to email me your addresses, I would be ever so happy to mail it out to you!!!

Hugs and love to all of you!

Heather

thecountryschoolmarm@gmail.com

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:4-5

FYI...

     Okay, I must preface this to say that my student will pick the winner first thing tomorrow. 
     I wanted to do it at the very end of the day so as not to be using instructional time really. 
     Well,  let's just say, when you play a review game for a test that is tomorrow that they have known about for 2 weeks, and NO ONE knows the answers, and kids start discussing that they HAVEN'T really studied yet (This is one on about 15 countries of Europe- capitals and locations, and the Islands of the West Indies- capitals and locations.  It isn't something you can cram!) They had flashcards, a map, a game on our class website.  When a student tells you that the capital of Puerto Rico is the United States or the capital of Spain is France, you just want to cry.  Just to be fair, they did start this with the sub, but they have known, and we have reviewed it! So, we did not get a chance to pull a name. We were having a "talk".

     But, the game is afoot.  The pieces are in play.  All of the hundred little slips lie resting in their basket ready for an 11 year hand to wrench one out.  If it has Cheetos crumbs on it, I apologize.

Here is a teaser... Yup.  Those are the slips...

That's all, folks... At midnight!

 

     Well, it's here.  The last day of my giveaway.  I must say AGAIN, truly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you took to share and read others' stories. I really think we should gather them up in a book. But thank you all! If you are interested in entering, I need to have all stories posted by tonight.  You can find the original giveaway page HERE. There may be a few gold star questions to finish it off, you never know!

     Midnight is the cutoff.  I will then write your name on as many slips as you have "gold stars".  Then, I will put them all in a basket and have one of my dear students draw a name.  I will post the winner tomorrow night or Friday morning.

In other news...
     Today was an interesting day.  I have been burdened by my students coming in each day and their conversations just continually revolving around celebrities and video games (ones with lots of shooting).  It has affected their concentration, even how they treat teachers and other students.  It exemplifies the verse, "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."  What are we filling our minds with?  This includes me. So we talked.  It was a open and honest talk. They talked to me about the shows they watched to just get my opinion on what I thought of them.  My one dear boy confessed that playing video games was affecting his prayer life because he couldn't concentrate on praying.  He just wanted to think about his video games. We decided to challenge ourselves, as a family, to work on these obsessions.  Play games less, avoid television shows or music that are dishonoring to God, and to reduce how much we focus and talk about these things.  So, we came up with the challenge: At lunch, at down time, whenever-what good things can we replace these other conversations with?

My dear boys in their "Book Club".  They are reading The Twenty-one Balloons by William Pène du Bois.  I love that book!

     After lunch, my students came back all excited.  They told me they decided to start book clubs.  They asked me for recommendations of books that had multiple copies.  What I loved was how the boys worked together and how they were the most excited! They even shared how they were encouraging each other.  This is all exciting, but I know it is not an easy fix.  I am asking for prayer that my students (and me!) rely on the Holy Spirit to help them in this area.  Our goal right now is to avoid these topics through Friday.  I know it is a hard task for them.  It is hard for me as well.  But I am scared by how tv, clothing, movies, and video games are desensitizing our children so that as they grow older, the things that are so contrary to God's Will become easier and easier to accept. I just worry. I would love any advice, prayer, scriptures for this adventure.

Thank you, dear friends.  For listening and caring... I love you all!  Have a good evening!

Heather

From the Couch and from the Desk!

 

Yup.  Good words when you have the flu and feel stir crazy from sitting around.  My dear husband made sure that I stayed resting.  But I did do some crafting whilst I rested.  Watched the whole first season of Downton, watched Emma, and watched Little Dorrit.  Sometimes, God brings colds and flus to slow you down.  I needed a slowing down and a break from school.  The "rest" came at a perfect time...

From the Couch...

When my fever and headache was at its worst, I watched Pride and Prejudice with the sound off.  If you have a favorite movie that you have watched many, many, many times, it is fun to watch it in different ways.  You can turn off the sound and see if you can remember the lines.  Or, you and a friend could make up your own words to the movie.  My favorite this time was to concentrate on a character I don't usually pay attention to.  I watched Mary.  I must say, I wasn't disappointed.  Maybe it was the fever, but her expressions were hilarious.

Did a little stitching and rug hooking....

Been inspired in decorating to incorporate a bit more Valentine in my decor.  I am liking the green, red, and black  The little lanterns are cheapies from Goodwill.  I am thinking these will replace the Santas on my shelf on the landing (Yes, my Santas are still up!  Ugh!).

Did some painting.  Found this angel at Goodwill.  It had no detail, just painted mustard.  She needed personality.  I am not sure about how I painted the wings. I don't know if I am feeling the love for the butterfly wings.

Stitched a pillow.  It is based on a free pattern from Pinterest. It is a free pattern from Madam Chantilly  I stink at stitching on linen, but I love linen (Hence, no close up.  Don't you dare enlarge it either!). I botched the pattern, so I had to adjust.  Apparently my counting skills are not what they should be (Shhhh...).

The back of the pillow.  It is not yellow, it is a plain tan background.  The light is giving it a weird color!

From the Desk...

I'm back in the saddle again...

This is what my desk looked like after returning. Piles of papers and work to be graded. Yea.

Yup. Need it...

What shall we do next week?

My purple pen stash.  My signature color is purple.  That is what I grade with.  I don't like red pens.  The kids grade their papers with red, so, mine stands out. Do you think I have enough pens? Really, I lose half of them during the week. I walk around with them and set them down somewhere!  They make their way home eventually...

I'll need this for those piles of work the students completed while I was sick...

My lamp on my desk.  I would love to sit on this little porch.

New desktop picture.  I sat down at my desk and realized it was still a fall picture.  Ooops.

I am learning that silence and waiting gets a class's attention more often than a raised voice. My dad made this plaque for me. I say it in my head. A lot.

My student, Jack, colored this for me. I asked him what was going on with the one squirrel.  He said that he thought that the picture needed some color. LOL!

Sure did need this during having the flu! Love old Burt...

The kids are loving this book.  Got it at Goodwill for $.50.  They are really short and encourage listening and critical thinking skills. Fun, fun!

My student decided he wanted a little variety with his slippers.  I informed the rest of my students that I was going to make them wear the ladybug slippers if they kept forgetting to wear their own slippers... Socks? Shoes? No service.  Okay, service but wearing THESE beauties!

Feels like... (drum roll please) 1 degree!  Yippee!

SNOW!

Time for a nap! 

Thanks for stopping by! Thank you for your prayers and well wishes while I was sick!  It means so much! 

I am looking forward to making the rounds and catching up with all of you!

Don't forget... the giveaway ends this week! I am still hiding gold star questions in that post!  Please  drop by and read others' stories! Watch out for those gold stars!

Blessings and Love!

Heather

Hi! *Cough*- Get out your Lysol...

     Well, they've gone and done it.  They've given me the flu, those rascals.  Well, this will be quick because the heads a'poundin' and hands are achin'...

     First off, thank you so much for your participation in my "50+ Followers Giveaway" and your Farm Show captions! I have enjoyed reading them!  I am trying to comment as I get energy, but I wanted you all to know how much I appreciated the time you all took to comment.  Your school stories have warmed my heart and made me just bust out laughing.  Some of you were quite the stinkers!

     Oh, I noticed people have been saying that they are having trouble getting pictures to load on Blogger. Is anyone having problems getting others' blogs to load correctly.  When I click on one from the feed, it loads just the post with no other pictures or sidebar items.  But, if I go to the top, and click on the address and just reload it, everything shows up.  I don't have to do this with anything but blogs.  My own even loads weird.  Some of the side bar items are suddenly ginormous!!!! Errrr... Methinks we all need to have a kindly sitdown chat with Mr. Blogger.  

     I found some random pictures on my Ipod that I have been meaning to post. They are quite random, but hey! That's how my head feels!

Warm blessings and hugs!

My "snuggle nurse" taking a break from taking care of me. Sound asleep.  Snoring.  My husband took good care of me too.  Took the day off to care for me. Made me soup.  Then, our microwave died.  Guess it got the flu.

Husband's Christmas present from my brother. It's a nightlight, but Steve thought it would look great on my prim tree.  Every New Year's Eve, my brother and sil come over and we watch A Christmas Story.  We have been doing this for years. Years.  He has only been married for the last two. So, I made a test this year.  I just copied and pasted questions from the internet (ones without answers- I am not a cheater!).  We had to take the quiz, switch tests between families, and then grade them as we watched. And rather than just put the number wrong at the top, in true teacher form, my brother and I automatically calculated the average and letter grade as well.  Steve and I got a C.  They got a D. Hah!

The Noah's Ark birdhouse is a gift from my SIL.  Isn't it adorable? I have it by the tree still (Yes.  It is still up.).  I am trying to think of the best place to put it.  It is definitely an anchor piece.  I think I need to drill a hole in the back and light it.  What do you think?

I found this tin Noah like 3 days after getting the present.  I found it at Good Will!  How perfect is he???

Weather for next week (almost 50 today, by-the-way...)... Guess which day I have recess duty? Ugh.

Well, thanks for stopping by and looking all the way to the end... Reward? Gold Star Question is up! Now, go Lysol your computer. :)

Heather

Gold Star Opportunity...

Want extra points for the giveaway?  See what Gold Star question is up!  Remember... 1st person to reply to THAT comment gets the gold star!  Ready? Set? Go!!!!!!

50 Follower Giveaway!

A teaser and a reminder...

Here are just some tidbits from my trip to the Farm Show!

PUMPKIN funnel cake with a "dollop" of cream cheese icing!!!! It rocked.  Until I finished it.  Then, it felt like that in my stomach.  Ugh.

This is dedicated to Granny Trace'!  I have to find a way to share the video of this one.  I laughed so hard! You would have to see the video to see why I was laughing so hard! But to help, some lady passed me and said, "That chicken reminds me of Tina Turner!"

 Thank you, thank you all for your fun comments for my Giveaway!  I get so excited when I see there is a new comment!  I can't wait to read the story!

There is a gold star question for the day!  Remember... First reply gets the gold star!  Reply to that comment (Makes it easier for me to keep track!). Thank you all for your participation in the Gold Star questions!  Lots of good research out there!  I am proud of you all!

Blessings, friends!  I will try to get those Farm Show pictures up soon!  I am off with my parents today- my dad came up with the idea to seek out all the thrift stores within our area... Hmmm.  This sounds like quite the adventure!

Heather