theinfamousmissbeth

Quincy the Coonhound passed away, Thursday, July 12, after a long battle with Cushing's Disease and heart failure. He was 12 years old. Quincy was a good boy. He had an engaging smile that spread from one coonhound ear to the other. He also had a howl that only a mother (and dad) could love. He enjoyed "taking the sun" on the deck and eating. And although he rarely showed excitement on the outside, I know that he was excited on the inside as he ran at the dog park with his sister and spent time with his dad at the coffee shop. Along with his parents, he is survived by his sister, Gracie, and his little brother Joe Cocker. He was buried between two red oak trees planted by his dad on the grounds of St. Scholastica Monastery. He will be missed. Quincy had a wide range of interests. Quincy sharing his space in the car with his sister. Quincy and Gracie waiting for a treat. (I'm pretty sure). P.S. Quincy came to us from the Ah...

 In the title of this post, I used the word fascinating. However, I probably should have used a different word. Because the articles I saw weren't as fascinating as they were just plain weird. #1 An article declaring that eating boogers may be good for your health, didn't even merit a read. After all, the many years I spent in the early childhood classroom cured any curiosity I might have had regarding boogers. I do have to admit that I have known many "booger eaters" and apparently they have grown up to be productive citizens. #2 An article on how to find the pet rat that fits you and your family did catch my attention for about 3 seconds.  I often read articles about how to select the right dog breed for your family, although I don't know why since I already have 3 dogs and they seem to be just right for me! I did not, however, read this article since I am not now or will ever be in the market for a "pet rat." #3 Woman glues dead bugs to e...

Bell Tower on Saint Lawrence River, Montreal Bumpy and I recently returned from a trip to visit our neighbors to the north. Let  me start out by saying the weather was great and there were no major problems!   Always a good thing. (Smiley face). We visited Montreal, Knowlton (in the eastern townships) and Quebec City. And even though this part of Canada is French speaking, we had absolutely no trouble understanding people and had no trouble being understood. Because.....every single person we had contact with was bi-lingual!  Once they knew we spoke English, they immediately switched from French to English and things went along as usual. I'm thinking that non-English speakers that come to the U.S. are not as lucky in finding someone to speak their native language. (Just a thought). We, of course, being mono-lingual probably appeared lame, although no one made any mention of it. People were sooooo polite and helpful. They would actually stop...

"Just watching" in Edinburgh. Yogi Berra was a major league baseball player. He spent most of his career playing for the New York Yankees. He was a catcher and went on to be a manager and a coach as well. He was also known for saying some pretty unique, sometimes strange and/or confusing, things. One quote attributed to Yogi was "You can observe a lot by just watching." I tend to agree.  You not only can observe a lot, but often times you can learn a lot by just watching. One of the requirements of my former job was to observe. I observed grownups working with and teaching young children and I also observed young children playing and learning during their day at "school."  I was called to a child care center to observe a classroom of young three year olds.  They were having some trouble with transitions (pretty common with that age group) and wanted to have some suggestions/advice about how to handle these times in a more appropriate way....

Sometimes, advertisements for early childhood teachers include the statement, must love children. While I suppose that is admirable, why don't the ads ever say, must appreciate children? For example, you must appreciate that infants learn through all of their senses.  This includes through taste. As in, every single thing that comes within their reach goes into their mouth!   A note: And you must appreciate they may even use that mouth to investigate another child's arm or even your shoulder! You must appreciate that even the youngest infant in your care needs to be talked with, sung to, held, rocked, and snuggled. Most importantly, their cries need to be answered. It's the way they communicate with you. You must also appreciate that even very young infants need to be free to move. Keeping children in swings, cribs, or an exer-saucer/walker contraption doesn't allow them to stretch, reach, roll over, scoot, crawl, pull up and "cruise" the fu...

If you have ever been a classroom teacher you know what I'm talking about. For those of you that haven't been a teacher I will try and explain the phenomenon that I call "collecting crap." It seems to come naturally when you are a teacher. Every thing that passes through your hands or you find in the junk drawer or see sitting unused at someones house or see behind a store or shop "wants to be saved" just in case it can be put to some use in the classroom. Especially in preschool classrooms that are set up in learning centers. Those centers require a lot of stuff! I don't know if it's just me or not, but I seem to still have the urge to collect. Even though I have been out of the classroom for several years, I still find myself thinking, "This extra wrapping paper would look good on a display board or I wonder if anyone would want these bottle tops for a loose parts basket." So, one day while I was cleaning out extra office s...

Way back in the late 1980's, I was attending a staff development workshop. We were gathered in the media center ( that's what they called the library), listening to someone, I don't recall whom, tell us all about something, I don't remember what. However, I do remember the bell ringing three times. Everyone looked around and wondered why the bell would ring when school was not in session. Then it rang again, three times. By this time, some teachers were getting up and heading for the hallway to see what was going on. This was about the same time someone realized that the signal for an "intruder in the building" was the one that was identified by three short rings of the bell. Soon sounds of trash cans being overturned and thrown and loud voices telling these intruders to leave were heard. It turned out that the intruders were teenagers out looking for trouble, for lack of a better term. There were no injuries to anyone, but it was a scary situ...