642 Things to Write About

During our weekend in Salt Lake City, I found a new book.

I'm going to use it for a while on my blog.  I've used a few other books or writing prompts before but none like this.  It looks like I'll be making up as much {or more} as writing facts.  I haven't written fiction since junior high school, at least.  Maybe the last time I wrote a pretend story was elementary school.

It feels good to write, and it's fun to make stuff up.  I'm certainly not a writer or an author of any story that should be seen by the public, but I'd like to try this.

642 Things to Write About

What Can Happen In A Second

Things that really can happen that fast:

• a baseball gets from the pitcher and is hit by the batter
• a snail moves 1 cm
• 2.4 babies are born
• 79 stars vanish from space

Things I think happen that fast:

• Toby gets up the stairs
• Jake makes me laugh
• I get out of the driveway after hitting the garage to avoid Jake's glare
• Daisy does all the tricks she knows to earn her treat

Things I wish happened that fast:

• I fall asleep
• I could prepare dinner
• I could fold a load of laundry
• I could take a shower and have my hair done
• I could get a Chicken Critter Salad from Texas Roadhouse

Ghetto Pinterest

I found this idea for a bulletin board in one of my magazines and I really like it.  I'm trying to decide if I'll use it directly on a wall or if I'll use it on a cork board.  Hmmm....  Think of all the color options....  I like the way they used yellow on yellow but my bedroom is white, and will stay white until we move.  It would be fun to use in there somehow.

I call this my ghetto pinterest because I just scanned the pages I liked and then emailed them to myself.  I'm kind of a dork.  If you're lucky, and I see something I think you'll like, you'll be the proud owner of a ghetto email of your own.  I have now changed Katherine's name to Katherine Moss.  You're welcome.

Hero Report

This afternoon, Abbi and I got to read a HUGE list of people she could choose for her Hero Report.  It's a big assignment and she's going to have to do a lot of reading and work.  We went through the process of elimination but it took a LONG time because she loved everyone.  She really loved the baseball players, the scientists and inventors, and Roy Rogers.

Abbi's top three choices were:

Bill Cosby

Susan B. Anthony

Jackie Robinson

The whole list was great but I really liked her last list we edited.  It will give us a good list of reading for snow days.

Susan B. Anthony - equal rights for blacks and women

George Washington Carver - found many uses for plants

Roberto Clemente - baseball MVP

Bill Cosby - advocate for children

Walt Disney - founded the Disney Empire after many failures

Ben Franklin - inventor and scientist

Martin Luther King, Jr. - equal rights

Abraham Lincoln - helped end slavery

Rosa Parks - "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement"

Beatrix Potter - authored the tales of Peter Rabbit

Jackie Robinson - first black baseball player

Roy Rogers - cowboy and singer

Harriet Tubman - escaped slavery and helped 300 others

George Washington - could have been king but valued democracy

Ida B. Wells - civil rights

When Abbi told Jake she couldn't pick Jackie Robinson because he was black, Jake was so confused and tried to clear things up.  Abbi meant Jackie Robinson's name was highlighted {so it looked black on our copy} and that meant the teacher doesn't really want the kids to pick them.  The names that were highlighted have already been studied in class this year.  It was funny to watch those two figure out what the other one meant.  I knew all along but it was funnier just to observe.

So, who did Abbi pick?

Today reminded me of a book that caught my eye during a 24 hour trek from Florida to Utah, a few years ago.  It has an awesome list of people and was very interesting for the short book that it is.  Abbi has now claimed it as her own and is loving the page about Dr. Suess, who, to her astonishment, is a real person.

screen-free week

We need a break.  We need a break from Diego, from Veggie Tales, from Star Wars, tablets, and computers.  We need to interact more together.  We have books to read, new magazines full of ideas, toys, science experiments, not to mention the cooking and cleaning.  The kids and I are taking a screen-break.

7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day for a week.  We'll start tomorrow and go until February 8th.

Here is the list of things we came up with to do instead of movies and computers:

I'm sneaking in some screen time for myself during the two weeks because I'm the mom and I want to.  Mostly, because if we want any clean clothes or if I want to walk on the treadmill, I have to have the TV on.  I'm just that kind of girl.

equal rights

Core Knowledge curriculum for the second grade has a unit called Civil Rights.  Abbi has been learning about Abraham Lincoln, Cesar Chavez, and today, Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Each night, we practice reading the Gettysburg Address.  I don't know how I made it all through my public education and a bachelor's degree without ever reading the three paragraph Gettysburg Address.  Abbi is supposed to memorize it for the assembly next month when the second grade recites it.  She is doing so well with the words she has never had to use before but we may be a ways from memorizing it.  I'm going to memorize it with her for support, although, I've never been able to memorize anything.  {I did memorize the Articles of Faith when I was 12 years old and Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants with my singles stake.}

We've been talking about Abraham Lincoln, a lot.  It's fun to have those conversations and to remember things I haven't thought about in years.  I'm glad she has other people from history to think about because since September we've been talking about George Washington Carver.  I guess that's because Abbi admires his involvement with peanuts.  She lives for peanuts.

While she didn't have a lot to say about Cesar Chavez yesterday, she had a LOT to say about Martin Luther King, Jr.  I love how closely she pays attention during history.  It's Abbi's favorite part about school, in addition to lunch and math.

While Abbi reported what she learned about equal rights she said that white people and black people called each other names.  I was relieved when she said they called each other 'trash.'  She showed me a picture of the drinking fountain that white people used and the drinking fountain that the African Americans used.  Abbi didn't understand why there way a problem because groups because of how they looked.  She was astonished by it.

Today, the idea that people are different because of how they look was introduced to her.  I feel bad that she has that in her mind now.  On the other hand, I feel proud that she never had come up with that idea before, on her own.  Abbi was satisfied with the fact that Heavenly Father created all people and He loves every person more than we could ever imagine.  I hope that truth sticks with her and that she will always be astonished by the idea that people can be separated by the way they look.  What a good girl.  I'm a happy mom.

Maybe the equal love and acceptance of others is getting better with every generation.  Here's to hoping.