theinfamousmissbeth

Snow on the lower east side We recently returned from a family visit in the beautiful "garden state".  That's New Jersey for those of you who don't know. We had a great time baking cookies, preparing and sharing an awesome Thanksgiving meal with family and friends, decorating the Christmas tree, and watching Hallmark Christmas movies. I discovered if you've seen one you've seen them all. And even though they all strongly resemble each other, you can't stop watching.They're like a train wreck, you can't look away. But I digress. We also did a little shopping, attended the town Christmas tree lighting and dined in a cozy pub. Aside from the biggest perk of NJ (family), there is another and that is the opportunity to "go into the city." New York City that is. The Big Apple. Although we missed our train into Manhattan, had to reschedule our tour time of the Tenement Museum, got pelted in the face with sleet, and perhaps, worst of

Lately, I have had a lot on my plate, as they say, and one of those things is dealing with the death of my dad. He died at the age of 99 years, 10 months, and 6 days. Family members were deep into the planning of his 100th birthday party  with invitations already printed, talk of a big cake versus 100 cupcakes, ordering decorations, and every member of the immediate family, both near and far, making plans to attend. As many of you know and have experienced, there is a lot of "stuff " to attend to after a loved one's passing. Going through personal belongings, paying bills, closing accounts, and notifying family members and friends just to mention a few. Among the "stuff" I found were some cartoons he  had saved.  Two of them were of a philosophical nature and the other a political  view. Or perhaps he just found that particular one funny in these unsettling times. I'm still thinking on that one:) The doctor is in and Lucy is using sports analogie

Okay, here goes. Every year I wait with great anticipation for the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights to hit the shelves. And by wait, I mean if I see them in the middle of September I get really pumped up. But, as you can see, I bought my first box a week ago in the middle of August ! I feel like I have sold my soul to the devil! I don't even "decorate" for the "seasons". Well, that's not entirely true. I do put up a small seasonal door decoration and maybe a seasonal flag. I put up a Christmas tree, but never before Thanksgiving and I am still shocked to see Halloween decorations in stores in August, Christmas decorations in September, and Valentine's Day items in December. But apparently, I am behind the times because in the last week I have spotted two disturbing "articles" on Facebook. (Why I keep looking at FB I have no idea). Anyhoo, one of these articles seems to be encouraging people to put up "Halloween trees." Ap

Today I am posting a letter that I would have received from a new preschool teacher, if any new preschool teacher had written in for my advice. Which no one did, but I'm giving this advice anyway. Dear Miss Beth, I am a "brand new" preschool teacher and I feel like I have no idea what to do! Other teachers are telling me how to decorate my room, how to arrange my schedule, and even how to watch out for so and so's sibling because apparently the whole family is "weird." While I appreciate the advice, I'm not sure I should follow it, especially the part about the "weird" family. Help! Sincerely, Misty Fied. Dear Miss Misty, I am honored that you chose to ask me for my advice. The first thing I must say is....Don't Panic. I can say this because I come from a long ancestral line of "panickers" so I know your pain. This might come as a surprise to you, if you're not a regular reader of my blog, but most of my advi

It seems that every time one turns around, there is an article or blog post about the best names (apparently in the whole wide world) for your new baby. Some have been popular for years and are still being used, some are "old-fashioned" names that are making a comeback, some are of foreign origin, and some are, in my opinion, "out there." As in Landscape is not a name for a baby, just saying. With that being said, a new baby was recently welcomed into our family. She is, of course, adorable and everyone is smitten with little Madison.  According to the Urban Dictionary the top definition of her name is " A Madison is overall sweet, beautiful, smart, and caring." That's pretty impressive! And I'm sure our little Madison will live up to her name! Now in our family, there is a tradition, of sorts, to use Elizabeth as a middle name for our new little girls. Originally, there was talk that Madison would be added to this list that includes her

Haiku is a short Japanese poem used to evoke images.  It follows a strict form of three lines, with a 5-7-5 syllable structure and they quite often create images of nature, emphasize simplicity, intensity and directness of expression. There is a program I found that allows you to enter random words and then it generates a haiku for you. I thought "well, that's easy."  I did that, it came up with something really strange, so I decided to give it a try on my own. Here goes:  Autumn leaves fall down, children run, jump, squeal, fall, hide Teacher smiles broadly Winter winds blow hard, Inside children run, squeal, climb Teacher smiles faintly Spring flowers bud, bloom, grow Children laugh, mud puddles call Teacher hangs on tight Summer break arrives Children sing, dance, draw, grow, leave Teacher quietly cries That's all for now. Check back later!

There are a few things in this life that I just don't "get." When I say I don't "get" it, I mostly mean that I really don't see the purpose of said item, rule, etc. or I just don't see the need for such a thing. The first thing (and these are in no particular order) that I just don't "get" is: zombies. Are they dead, alive, seriously injured, do they need to seek medical intervention or what? They seem to do a lot of wandering about and a lot of folks seem to fear that at any moment they might join forces to form an apocalypse. They do get a lot of media coverage through movies and television so I guess they've got that going for them. Believe it or not, there is actually a show on A&E called Zombie House Flipping. The house, as you might guess, is in serious need of intervention and a group of people take on the challenge of rehabbing it into a livable habitat. They are not zombies. They appear to be just regular peopl

I was on my way upstairs at the library when I met up with a mother and daughter coming down. The little girl was probably 10 or 11 and was on my side of the staircase. The mom told her to move out of the way, which she did, and I continued up as they continued down. A few seconds later as they reached a place that I am assuming the mother thought I couldn't hear her, she said, "Honey, that was an old lady and you need to be considerate." An old lady! Well, I have to admit I wasn't all that insulted, because after all, I have reached my "golden years."  Besides that, being an old lady isn't all bad. For one thing, I get to enjoy a fabulous granddaughter and adorable great-nieces and nephews. I am enjoying retirement and, in fact, I am writing this post while cuddled up with my pups! One of the first books describing the relationship between children and "old people" that I came across several years ago was Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Pa

On the eve of the anniversary of Dr. Seuss's birthday I thought I would write a short poem. It goes like this: You were a strange one Dr. Seuss, You wrote a bunch of gobbledy-gook. As many, even most of you readers know, Dr. Seuss wrote such classics as Green Eggs and Ham,Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, and my all time favorite, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. For those of you who know me, my favorite comes as no surprise. Anyhoo, on with the post because I really want to talk about children's books that can help with language development and allow children to "play" with language. Leslie Layman, interested in all things related to early childhood, equity, access, and play has written, " Learning language is one of the most exciting and difficult tasks that young children achieve." She goes on to say, " Children practice language skills by imitating what they hear. Infants babble, toddlers begin forming words and short sentences, preschoo

 Oban, Scotland. Well here we are at the end of the first month of the new year. In the past, I have made a "one word" resolution for the upcoming year. However, this year I have decided to take the advice I often gave to teachers and follow it myself. And that advice is: do a "two week cleanse". What, you ask, does that mean? Well, as usual, since you ask, I'll tell you. When I was called upon to go out and help preschool teachers, one of the most frequent requests was for help with classroom management. You know, that's the term used for corralling a large herd of cats dressed as young children into some sort of organized chaos. That's just my definition, there are others. In one classroom I visited, a fairly new teacher stated that she was having trouble getting the class of twelve three year olds to sit still at circle time for, oh let's say, thirty minutes. My first unkind thought was, "When will they ever learn?"