BulgingButtons

Not bad for a fat girl


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Love Those Boots

Love the style

Love the style

I’m super excited to post about something totally frivolous and silly. Boots. In my former life as a person who lived in the Great Lakes region, there was nothing silly about boots. Boots were a necessity, and, like most people there I had good ones.

Over the years, I had L.L. Bean boots and Timberland boots and various other boots to keep my tootsies dry and toasty warm. That is not an easy task when you’re plunging your feet into snowbanks and slogging across slushy parking lots. Those boots had to WORK.

Now, however, I have no such issues. I don’t need boots. I live in the desert Southwest. Oh, sure, hiking boots (you know, for those challenging hikes I’m always taking), but real boots? Nope. But what about fashion?

Fashion? Boots? Fat woman? I’ve heard that it’s possible, but I wasn’t convinced. That is, until last year when I happened across a really cute pair of ankle boots at Lane Bryant. They were hip. They were fun. They were comfortable. They were reasonably priced. They’re currently in my closet.

I really like those boots. I wear them and enjoy them. I even feel pretty stylish in them. Who would have thought?

Then today, something really odd happened. I went shopping. For clothes. Bras, to be exact, if you must know. Why is that odd? Because I seriously dislike clothes shopping, thank you very much. I was alone, though, and had some time between appointments, and found myself near a Lane Bryant store, so I stopped in.

As I felt myself being pulled to the legging display, Alma, the sales associate, welcomed me and informed me that the entire store was on sale for 40% off. Really? 40%? That’s pretty good, I thought, as I grabbed  a pair of leggings to try on. I continued to wander the store, and spied a great looking pair of boots. Real boots, not ankle boots.

They would look great with the leggings, I thought. They would be perfect with a skirt, I thought. They would be useful on my upcoming winter vacation, I thought. They’re 40% off, I thought. They’re currently in my closet, getting to know the ankle boots.

I love these boots. I love that they’re stylish, that they didn’t cost a fortune, and that they’re comfortable. The thing I love most, though, is that they’re made for women like me. They have an elasticized panel in the back so they can be easily worn by women who have a little (or a lot of) extra calf to cover. They are the first boots I have worn successfully in years.

The last time I went looking for a pair of real boots I ended up buying a pair that was too big and slouching them down since they wouldn’t go over my calves. I was desperate since I was heading to snow country, and time and budget limitations forced me to settle for those awful boots. I donated them as soon as I returned from that trip. Not this time. This time I have a beautiful, stylish pair that I can enjoy. Thank you Lane Bryant, you made my day.


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A New Way of Looking at Old History- A Social Studies Success

Real live student samples

Real live student samples

This afternoon I had the pleasure of teaching a social studies lesson to my fourth graders. I like social studies. I like history, geography, civics, economics, and all that fun stuff. Well, at least on a fourth grade level.

I do especially enjoy history, though. I actually majored in it in college. American Social History around the turn of the century, to be exact. Of course, at that time, we didn’t say WHICH century. Yes, I’m that old. I’m fascinated by the advent of industrialization and how it affected social structures. I have an interest in the development of child labor laws, and I could go on and on about Jane Addams and Hull House. And don’t even get me started on public education, that’s a whole day, at least!

In my experience my students have always loved history too. They just need good story tellers to keep them engaged. Today, I was lucky. Today I had a good story to tell. I started with the Mexican American War and ended with the Gadsden Purchase. In half an hour. Yep, it was quick.

I’ve taught this lesson before, but today it was different. Today my brilliant colleagues handed me a Thinking Map that they had created on Friday while I was jet setting. It was a flow map (sequencing the events) with a few multi-flow areas (explaining causes and effects) thrown in for good measure. It was GENIUS! I was immediately taken by it, and couldn’t wait to use it with the kids.

Off we went with our social studies text, on which I elaborated as necessary. Every few minutes we added more information to our maps. Sometimes we discussed causes of events, and put them in their appropriate spaces, other times it was effects that we analyzed and noted. The kids were even more into the lesson than usual, and they really started to GET it. The information was organized in such a way that it was visual and really made sense to them.

What a delight for a teacher to really feel like her students are not only grasping new material, but are excited about their learning. I’m so thankful to my colleagues for developing and sharing this way of organizing the material. It turns out that even history can be made brand new.


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Learning Curve

I’m on the road, so I’m using an iPad to blog. Let me tell you, it’s way different from typing on the computer. For one thing it has predictive text, so I’m typing far fewer letters. Still, it’s slower, since there’s no real keyboard.

Then there’s the issue of not knowing how to add an image. The iPad functions really differently than my laptop, and it’s a Mac! I know how to find images,but putting them where I want will have to wait until I get home.

Finally there’s the issue of publishing. Yesterday I thought I had published my post, but when I looked this morning it wasn’t there. I’m still counting it for NaBloPoMo though.

I’m looking forward to getting home and returning to my familiar computer and routine, but sometimes it’s good to try something new, just to push yourself a little.