New Blog for "Restore the Room" at Bent School

Here's a new blog I created to pass along information on plans for restoring the 1st grade room at Bent Elementary school... http://restoretheroomforkoch.blogspot.com.

The room is coming along quickly... Painting, flooring, rewiring. It will be completed more quickly than originally planned, which is AWESOME. BUT, that means we need to kick butt on collecting money for Mrs. Koch's gift card for the School Shoppe. We don't want them to move into a beautiful new classroom with no supplies, decorations, books, materials, workbooks, carpets, pictures, bulletin boards...

The other big plan is a bookfair at Barnes & Noble on Sunday, March 15th. It usually takes 6-8 weeks to plan a bookfair, but B&N is stepping up and making this happen much more quickly. Vouchers (they kind of look like coupons) will be available very soon (downloadable from the "Restore the Room" blog, here on my blog, will be sending by email, available on Facebook, handing out at schools in the area and at groups and to friends and to family... The vouchers will need to be brought in that day and given to the cashier at the time of your purchases in order for a portion of the proceeds to go to Mrs. Koch. What we're REALLY hoping is that people won't just purchase books for themselves that day, but buy books for Mrs. Koch's class. When that happens, the kids win on both ends... They receive new books from friends/relatives AND Mrs. Koch receives a portion of the purchase to buy MORE books.

Also, the REALLY cool thing is that these vouchers can be used at ANY Barnes & Noble store in the nation on that day. If you live in Florida, you can take the voucher into a B&N and a portion of your purchase will go to Mrs. Koch's class. SO COOL!!!!! If you live in Indiana, you can take the voucher into a B&N and a portion of your purchase will go to Mrs. Koch's class. SO AWESOME!!! If you live in Chicago, you can take the voucher into a MEGA B&N and a portion of your purchase will go to Mrs. Koch’s class. SO UNBELIEVABLE!!!

So we're really hoping that between the donations being received this next week for the School Shoppe gift card (PLEASE donate if you are able by contacting Laurie at lauriesexton@verizon.net) and the Barnes & Noble event on Sunday, March 15 Mrs. Koch will be well cared for.

I read on Facebook tonight about a church near Bent School that is taking up a special offering for Mrs. Koch this weekend... I LOVE IT!!! Thanks Mark Savage!!!

Almost there

99,997 ... Almost there.
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Classroom Fire at Bent Elementary School

Many of you are already aware of a tragic event that took place at Bent Elementary School Saturday, February 21st. For those of you who aren't aware... Bent Elementary School was broken into and a classroom was vandalized and a fire started. Due to this senseless act, Mrs. Koch and her 26 students have lost all their materials and supplies for teaching/learning. The class has been temporarily moved to the music room at Bent School unil their room can be restored. (For more on this story see The Pantagraph)

However... the loss for Mrs. Koch and the students is significant. Mrs. Koch has been teaching for 25 years... She had accumulated a tremendous amount of materials, resources, books, supplies, etc. for her teaching. Student records, lesson plans, portfolios, pictures, bulletin boards, carpets, etc. have all been destroyed. Daily worksheets already copied for the remainder of the school year, workbooks and reading books are gone.

Many tears were shed on Saturday and Sunday when the tragedy was reported to teachers, parents and students. But, when I took Savannah to school on Monday morning (she asked me to walk into the school with her)  I was very impressed with the setup of the "music condo" (what Mrs. Koch and the students are calling their temporary home). Wall decorations, pencil/crayon boxes on every desk, computers... it appeared to be a completely supplied classroom. Mrs. Koch was smiling and eager to start their day.

However, there is a lot missing from this classroom and it's an incomplete learning environment... The parents of the students effected by this incident want to make sure the environment, supplies, resources and materials are returned to normal or better as quickly as possible with as little learning loss to the students and burden to Mrs. Koch. But, we're going to need some help in doing this.

Two things are being organized:

1. Collection of donations for supplies, materials, resources and room decorations through a local school supply store
   
2. Bookfair/gift card purchases through a local bookstore
   

All of this is having to be planned quickly due to the complete loss of supplies, materials, resources and books. Like I said before, we want to return the classroom to as normal a learning environment as it was before, or better. Mrs. Koch had 25 years invested in her classroom... she had the "daily operations" down to a loving routine. But that routine has been severely interupted.

As we finalize the above plans I will pass on the information for how the community (and beyond) can help.

The Stethoscope

Self Portraits

I don't like to take photos of myself, but... when I need a subject, I guess "I'll" do. Did these today while working on some Photoshop self-taught lessons:

Butter Bunny

Tumnus loves to throw his own toys... And sometimes they end up in some pretty funny places. Luckily he's yet to break anything. Today he topped all previous throws by landing his bunny from a triple pike into the butter tub that was sitting out on the kitchen counter... SO GROSS!!! And of course, I was getting ready to use it to butter my pancakes. Needless to say I did some scraping before I used it.

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Doin' the HM Thing On the Wii

I love watching Savannah play her Hannah Montana game on the Wii... She really gets into it! And of course, she REALLY likes to shop for her in the game, too. Imagine that... A girl that likes to shop :-)
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Full cup

Sometimes I fill my cups a little full... Which can make HOT coffee a little dangerous to drink... Hmmmm, there's a good illustration in there somewhere.
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Recent Photo Shoot

Last week I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot for Doug Rutter, our teaching pastor at Eastview. I haven't done very many photo shoots, so I feel a little awkward at times... sometimes I'm just not really sure what I want for a pose or a "look." Or if I do know, I'm just not sure how to ask in a way that's clear and doesn't sound absolutely stupid and/or embarrassing.

And then there's the editing... WOW... so much to learn, remember, write down, save, re-save, re-re-save, delete, OOPS I accidentally deleted, retrieve from "trash," etc. I won't bore you with all the details, but at times I feel very overwhelmed with Photoshop (if you've used Photoshop, and especially if you've tried to learn on your own, you TOTALLY understand what I mean)... and then all of a sudden it clicks. Then I'm on to the next project "lesson" and within 30-minutes I'm feeling like I've taken two-steps back. But, with a little perseverance and patience (a couple of disciplines I tend to forget to use) I've taken three-steps forward. I definitely feel like I'm in school again trying to learn photography and editing, but I'M LOVING IT. 

So, anyway... here's a slideshow of the "finished" photos I gave to Doug (not sure yet if these are the final products or not).

If any of you have comments & criticisms on the photos, PLEASE SPEAK UP by commenting to this entry below or on the photos themselves at flickr.

Daddy-Daughter Lunch Date

This week is Savannah's "Special Week" at school, so I picked her up and took her out for lunch at the restaurant of her choice... Of course, she chose McD's.

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Citrus Bloom

Woo hoo! First bud on citrus tree since it's heavy winter pruning. Now THAT makes me happy :-)

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Blue Tongue Disease

Ewwwww!!!
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My 25

There is a phenomenon sweeping the nation... or at least Facebook. Everyone has been posting "25 Random Things" about themselves. I was getting "tagged" almost daily for awhile... meaning I was being requested to post my "25." Well... I ignored them all. And, reading them had no interest to me... until I finally read a friend's the other day. I thought I knew him well, but most of his "25" I wasn't aware about. So, I read another friend's. And another's. And another's. And another's. Ok, I don't know everything about my friends that I thought I did. Then I wondered... what do they really know about me?

At first I was going to just refer everyone to my blog post "Notes About Self" from January 2008. But, then I thought... I wonder how fast I can think up a fresh "My 25?" So, I started typing and I whipped it out in less than 10-minutes...

1. I don’t like to hold other people’s babies
   
2. I love coffee… black coffee
   
3. I love looking at and shooting black & white photography
   
4. I ate my buggars when I was a kid
   
5. I like listening to a baseball game on the radio
   
6. I think about my sister Caryl every day since she died in June, 1986
   
7. Watching someone eat with their mouth open disgusts me
   
8. I hate guns
   
9. I like pasta, pork, chicken, pastries, chocolate, seafood, ribs, eggs & bacon, grilled sandwiches, white rice, Italian food in general, popcorn... but HATE casseroles and cooked vegetables (except corn)
   
10. I love celtic music, celtic dance and celtic history
    
11. My favorite stuffed animal growing up was my panda, oddly named “Pandy”
    
12. I’m shy and introverted
    
13. I’m a thinker, dreamer and starter, but I have trouble finishing
    
14. I want to write a book called “Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Gardening”
    
15. My favorite singer of all time is Frank Sinatra (Yes, I cried the day he died)
    
16. I can get caught up in details sometimes
    
17. I’m not a Republican, I’m not a Democrat… I’m a Repubocrat or Demoblican
    
18. My favorite radio station is 720 WGN
    
19. Music (need I say more?)
    
20. I want to travel all over Italy & Ireland
    
21. I’m scared of the dark
    
22. I love to eat out
    
23. I can waste time very easily
    
24. I don’t like high, open small places
    
25. I want to learn to sail & own a sailboat 
    

Well... now that I've proven my #23, I guess I should get back to doing something productive.

Favorite 2009 SI Swimsuit Pic

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Birthday Re-Celebration

Nothing like re-celebrating your birthday for a few days with birthday cake leftovers... Yummy!!!
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Everyone Say "Cheese"

Hmmmm... I guess little Bobby doesn't like cheese... Or at least he didn't like his lunch.

**No, I didn't take this picture and I have no idea who these kids are... found at www.funny.com**

Frog Thaw

48-hours ago this little guy was completely covered with snow and the water was frozen. Now... He's spittin' water again. He's seen better days, tho... His bottom lip and jaw broke off this winter due to the freezing/thawing... I forgot to take out him and his pump out last fall.
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Loved this Super Bowl Commercial

100th Day of School

Does anyone else my age (or there abouts) remember the 100th day of school being such a big deal?
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Healthy Lunch

Ok, so with the years adding on, so are the pounds... This meal should help a little. Until we hit Buffalo Wild Wings tonight :-)
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The Forgotten Souls Cemetery

On Monday, January 26^th I was sitting down to read the Sunday Pantagraph. I seldom ever read our “paper” newspaper anymore because I receive most of my news online, by radio or by TV. I was quickly flying through the paper when an article grabbed my attention… it was about a “poor farm” that use to be located a few miles south of Bloomington. After reading the article I immediately began researching more about this “poor farm” by internet and by contacting the McLean County Museum of History. With their assistance I was able to learn a few more specifics, but more than anything I wanted to know more about and how to get to the cemetery. All that remains of the “poor farm” is the cemetery, the superintendent’s house (now the residence for the family farming the land) and a water tower built (I think) mid-1900’s.

After waiting a couple of hours, I finally received a call from the county and I was granted permission to enter the cemetery for the purpose of shooting photographs. So off I drove on the back roads south of Bloomington... I parked at the county’s animal shelter and hiked a ¼-mile across a cornfield towards a large area of weeds. The closer I got I started to see the cement markers jutting out of the snow...

About 25-feet out from the edge of the cemetery I just stood and stared… I felt a tremendous amount of sadness overcome me. Here lies the forgotten souls…

To see all photos from this shoot click here.

Windmill... Again

Windmill... Again, originally uploaded by M A S Photography.

Still playing with the windmill pictures from my drive around the "wind
farm" east of Bloomington the other day.

Geico Commercial

While watching TV during lunch today the Geico commercial came on showing the two cavemen walking from their motorcycles towards the two women. When they glance over and see a Geico sign with cavemen on it they turn around disgusted, get back on their motorcycles and drive away... Much to the disappointment of the women waiting for them.

Andrew turned to Laurie and with a straight face said, " I don't like that commercial because it insults cavemen."

Gotta love the thought process of an overly sensitive 8-year old boy.

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Da Bears!!!

Wearing my team's colors proudly on Super Bowl Sunday - no matter who's playing.

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