One Year With Rosie!!

The name of my blog is "My Pug Rosie" and I realize that I have yet to actually write about my pug Rosie. It has been a year since we welcomed our first ever dog into our home. She was 5 months old and I found her on the Uncle Henry's website. Her owner was working long hours and felt she wasn't able to devote the time "Bella" (Rosie's old name) required.

It took quite the convincing by my daughter and myself to get the two men in the home (my husband and son) to agree to getting a dog. I have always considered myself to be a cat person. Whenever the conversation went to dogs, my husband an I would scoff at the idea; BUT, I would always say, that IF I were to get a dog "someday" it would be a pug. That "someday" always looked long ways away. Last summer I was bit by the "pug bug" and started looking at rescue sites and breeders of pugs. My husband thought I was crazy and was not happy even with my new and unexplainable whim.

To make a long story short, we did take Rosie home. It was a lot of work at first trying to adjust to a life with a dog. Having a dog is a huge responsibility and requires a lot of work. Our cat is pretty self-efficient and has been with us for almost 19 years now!!!!!! (She is an "old lady" who was not please with our family's new addition. She can still out run and jump the new pup though.) At the end of the first week with us, my 9 year old daughter asked if we could give Rosie back. She wanted the pup so bad but the adjustment was hard.

It has been a year now and we are all madly in love with our pug Rosie. My husband and 15 year old son will do "doggie talk" and pet her lovingly. My now 10 year old daughter was talking about how much she missed Rosie when the pup went to stay with Grammy during Homecoming week (we were at school until late every night). I don't think any of us could really imagine NOT getting her a year ago.

She is one cute pug, if I don't say so myself. She is silly and lovable. She makes lots of noises: snorts, sniffs and snoring ones. My ten year old daughter just hosted a "One Year with Rosie" anniversary party for Rosie and invited several 5th graders over to help celebrate.

So, there was some information about my pug Rosie!!!!!!!

"Hey, you dang woodchucks! Quit chuckin' my wood!"

There is little time to watch t.v., but somehow I do catch some commercials. GEICO has been running a new series of ads that draw on popular sayings and rhymes. My favorite had been the little piggy who cried "wee, wee, wee" all the way home. Tonight I saw the woodchuck one for the first time!!!

****** I had to take the video clip out because it would run on its own EVERY time you went to this blog. **********

I teach Economics to 12th graders and it is a required course for all students at our high school. It is not easy to get students into a topic like economics but I try to get them to realize it is all around them. Commercials are a great example. We discuss the economics behind t.v. ads including: how the ads match who the networks think are watching (no beer commercials during Oprah or feminine products during football); the affect DVRs and online watching has had on the whole system of t.v. ads; and just overall cost of an ad according to the possible viewership and ratings of a given show (cost of a Superbowl ad vs. an ad on during a 2am show of "Friends.")

It is also important for students to become more aware of the economic psychology of consuming all these ads. I try to point out when the purpose of an advertising has worked on me, like when I see a Pizza Hut ad at 4pm and all of the sudden I want to drive to the nearest one for dinner. It is a form of Consumer Literacy! I know I will remember GEICO for a long time!!! Darn it, I hate it when "the man" has succeed with his ad! I'm still not a customer yet!

Multitasking Mama!

Multitasking is something that, as a mother, I am forced to do quite often. Take tonight for an example; I was cooking steak and baked potatoes for dinner, cooking spaghetti and sauce for a meal later this week, getting some laundry into the wash, checking my Google account for new blog entries, listening to the news and thinking about what I would blog about tonight. (Some evenings there are even more tasks to try to juggle during the same limited time period.)

PBS Frontline did a show titled "Digital Nation" this past winter. The show examined how our ways of living, learning and working today are being altered through technology. We as a society do benefit from technology, but these new and growing digital abilities have also opened new doors to issues and problems that must be confronted. One of those issues is the growing dependence of multitasking.

The episode brought together college students who talked of their multitasking habits of texting, listening to music, doing homework, and checking email ALL AT THE SAME TIME. A MIT professor in the video said these digital distractions (in and outside of class) are making our students less productive, not more and there are studies to prove it. I see this in my own classrooms and in the outside world.

As far as my efficiency tonight while multitasking, my spaghetti was a bit sticky, I forgot the potatoes in the microwave for a bit, the clothes sat in the wash longer, I missed some of the details of the news I was listening to, I forgot to turn off a burner and I was getting frustrated while trying to open some things up in my Google Reader (having to stop every so often to stir something). I got everything done, but if I was able to put more of my focus on any one task (or at least a few less) I bet I would have had faster results AND spaghetti that wasn't sticky!

Where or where has my reading time gone??!

School has started so my "free time" to read for pleasure has been cut drastically short. This summer I have enjoyed reading different series in Young Adult fiction. My reading genre tends to lean towards adventure/fantasy/magical. Of course the kings of the genre are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books. The Twilight series is one that I have no plans on reading (no offense to those who read and loved it). Teen drama is what I see everyday at school and whether a vampire or werewolf are involved or not, it just doesn't interest me. (I have read Interview with a Vampire and like it a lot, but it is definitely not a Young Adult book.)

Here is a quick list of the series that I have been reading:

* Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. All adventure and no fantasy/magic in it. I read eight of the books and really enjoyed each one very much. The story focuses on a young teen who, along with his close friends, become an apprentice. Each teen become an apprentice within different areas of the castle based on their own interests and strengths. As they become adults, they excel in their chosen fields and find themselves having to save the day (several times).

* The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley. Two young girls who think they are orphaned go and live with a grandmother they didn't realize they had. They learn they are relatives of the Brothers Grimm family whose job is to watch over a community of fairytale character who are real but living in disguise in the world. There are nine books and the two girls are very empowered and how they deal with missing parents and life is very real. There is a good balance between the idea of fairytale characters and intense adventure.

* Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan. I have only just started this book. The movie was fun to watch so I thought I would try the books. So far it has started very different then the movie did and I look forward to see how else the movie altered the story.

* Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I have not read any of the three books in this series, but it has caused quite the stir in our school since introduced by an English teacher last spring. She had her English 10 students read the first book and students from all grades have been wanting to borrow the next books like crazy from her! Many of the staff members have read the series and also seem to have enjoyed the books just as much. Facebook comments where heavy when the third book came out only a week or two ago. Any book that can get so many teens reading a whole book in a weekend must have something good about it.

OMG! This week was HOT!!

This week at school was very hot and humid! There is always a hot day or two towards the end or beginning of a school year. But this time it was FIVE straight school days of hot and humid! I give my students a lot of credit because they were not doing much complaining at all. The second floor of the school was allowed to keep the windows open all night to get some cooler air in, but it was of little help.

I know that there are a lot of people who may feel little sympathy for our sticky & sweaty week at school. I worked in a warehouse one summer and it had no air conditioning. There are many who work outside all summer with no air conditioning. So why should I be so soft? Because I had a room full of teenagers who I was trying to teach economics and U.S. history to. "Never let them see you sweat" went out the door. The teachers and students all were great and did what we needed to do, but I am positive that ultimately our students were able to only absorb so much learning while huddled around the one box fan that was blowing warm air.

Teaching and learning are affected by many things that are out of our control. As a teacher, I have learned that one must be good at "going with the flow" of things. (Such as a possible five day heat wave.)

(photo:weblogs.sunsentinel.com)