Friday, November 20, 2009

Santa Train

Tomorrow should be fun. We're taking Jensen on a "Santa Train" trip tomorrow in Roaring Spring, PA. It's going to be an hour long train ride and then we get to have snacks and meet Santa Claus! Jensen will be so excited to do this. He just adores going on train rides. I'll post some pictures this weekend. Here's some information about it in case you're interested.

The Santa Train, sponsored by the Horseshoe Curve Chapter of National Railway Historical Society, will run at 10:45 a.m. and 1 and 3:15 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 28 between Roaring Spring and Martinsburg.All trips will depart from Roaring Spring, travel to Martinsburg and return.Guests will get to travel with Santa and hear holiday music provided by local church choirs.Tickets are $14 for adults and $8 for children ages 3 to 12. A ride in the caboose is $20.All tickets must be purchased in advance.Information: 695-1428 or 943-5321.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Made My Request

Well, I did it. I made my formal request to be moved back to the Foreign Language Department. I wonder when I will hear back from my administration if I will be going back or not.....the waiting part is awful. I have never been a patient person as most of you well know.
We have an opening in French. There won't be another position in probably another 15 years. My heart will absolutely break if I do not go back into this position. I wonder if I could talk to my union about this and see if there's any stipulation in our contract that would enable me to go into this position, no questions asked.....
I have appreciated the opportunity to teach computers. I sure did learn a lot about technology in these two years. However my heart will always be with teaching foreign languages and cultures.
Wish me luck.......

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Book Excerpt

Here's an excerpt from the book we're going to be in. It's going to be released next month! Cool!

http://issuu.com/digby/docs/wefeelfine_excerpt

Monday, November 09, 2009

20th Anniversary of Berlin Wall

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. Here is my blog tribute to the Berlin Wall. I was last there in 2005. This is what is left standing of it.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Parties

Jensen is getting invitations to parties now since he's in school. I just don't feel comfortable allowing him to go to these parties when I don't even know the families. Is it irrational of me to feel like this? Maybe I'm just a weird mother....who knows? In today's age I just feel that I can't be too careful with my son. If I actually knew these families then I wouldn't have a problem with him going to their parties.
Part of me feels like such an outsider with his school. Most of the mothers are stay at home mothers while I work full time. It's like they're in their own little clique. I hate this kinda shit, really. It's like reliving high school all over again.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

We Feel Fine


On December 1st We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion, will be released. They finalized the date for the launch party. It will be on December 5th, in New York City. I can't remember if I blogged about this before or not, but here is what Amazon.com describes the book as:


"Product Description
In this dazzling exploration of contemporary human feelings, digital whiz kids Sep Kamvar and Jonathan Harris use their computer programs to peer into the inner lives of millions, constructing a vast and deep portrait of our collective emotional landscape. Armed with custom software that scours the English-speaking world's new Internet blog posts every minute, hunting down the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling," the authors have collected over 12 million feelings since 2005, amassing an ever-growing database of human emotion that adds more than 10,000 new feelings a day. Drawing from this massive real-world stockpile of found sentiment, We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion presents the best of the best -- the euphoria, the despair, the passion, the dreams, and the desires that make us human. At turns touching and thought-provoking, humorous and heartbreaking, We Feel Fine combines the words and pictures of total strangers to explore every corner of the human experience. Packed with personal photos, scientific observations, statistical infographics, and countless candid vignettes from ordinary people, We Feel Fine is a visual, fiercely intelligent, endlessly engrossing crash course in the secrets of human emotion. Are men or women happier? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? Is beauty the bridge between happiness and negativity? How do our emotions change as we age? What causes depression? What's sexy? What's normal? What's human? We Feel Fine finally provides a way to answer these questions that is both quantitative and anecdotal, putting individual stories into a larger context and showing the stories behind the statistics -- or as the authors like to say, "bringing life to statistics and statistics to life." With lush, colorful spreads devoted to 50 feelings, 13 cities, 10 topics, 6 holidays,5 age groups, 4 weather conditions, and 2 genders, We Feel Fine explores our emotions from every angle, providing insights into and examples of each. Equal parts pop culture and psychology, computer science and conceptual art, sociology and storytelling, We Feel Fine is no ordinary book -- with thousands of authors from all over the world sharing their uncensored emotions, it is a radical experiment in mass authorship, merging the online and offline worlds to create an indispensable handbook for anyone interested in what it's like to be human. "

Penguins Game

We're going to a Pittsburgh Penguins game tonight. I think Ron said that they're playing Minnesota. Should be fun.

Facebook

I know I don't spend as much time on Blogger as I used to. You can catch me on Facebook much more often. Send me a friend request: Valeri Chronowski Korber

Making Halloween Treat Bags

Jensen had a blast making treat bags for his Pre-K class!!!









Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Funny Jensen Comment

Jensen asked my Dad, "Why do you have cracks on your face?" How could you not bust out laughing from a comment like that one? Jensen is just too funny sometimes!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pre-school

Nothing exciting going on here in the household tonight. We're going to make some treat bags for Jensen's Halloween party on Thursday. Tomorrow is a bit busier so we figured that we'd get them done tonight.

Jensen still isn't too "thrilled" with going to his new pre-school. He always asks if he can go to his speech school instead. He always complains of his pre-school being "too loud". I wonder if this is due to some sort of sensory issues that he may have.....who knows, really?????

I've mentioned before that Jensen is a picky eater. Well, when he's at pre-school he never eats anything or drinks anything besides water. All the other kids sit there and enjoy juice and a snack while Jensen sips on a cup of water. We're not permitted to bring in a special snack or drink for Jensen. I personally think this is utter bullshit. He has food issues due to his cleft palate. He can't handle anything acidic like juices. He's had dental surgery and has had several front teeth pulled so he has difficulty eating certain "tough" foods. We asked kindly if we could bring in a daily snack like a pudding cup or a banana for him, but we were told "no" to our request. I feel so bad that Jensen is left out during this snack time. But we have to follow their rules, no matter how incredibly stupid they are. It just really pisses me off, though!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Jensen's Halloween Costume 2009

Jensen is going to be a dragon this year. Isn't he just adorable???

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

What Jensen is Currently Digging

It cracks me up sometimes just knowing what our four year old is into. He is obsessed with Nick Jr. Every single day we watch cartoons from this channel. It's quite sad that I know all the characters from Wow Wow Wubzy, Yo Gabba Gabba, Ni Hao Kain Lan and so many others. Actually, I don't mind watching them with him.
Now toy-wise he's into a bunch of different things. His favorite thing is still his toys from the CARS movie. He wants everything his hands get a hold of, I swear! He's also into Transformers. I've never been a Transformers fan so it's hard for me to be enthusiastic about his obsession with them. He still loves big trucks, airplanes....if it has wheels, he loves it!
We read a couple of stories every night. He enjoys CLIFFORD books a lot. He also enjoys a lot of the Disney classics I have in book form.
DVD-wise he loves MONSTERS VS ALIENS. I was going to save it for Christmas, but I decided to give it to him when he was sick last month to boost his mood.