kgrp

Monday, April 28, 2008

cleaning out my understairs

what is an understairs, you might ask? well… the understairs is what i call the area beneath the staircase… sorta self-explanatory, except most people don’t have one. i think most houses tuck some enclosed storage under the stairs or the stairs is right next to the garage and you have a diagonal wall hanging inside the garage itself, or something like that. i’ve even seen 1/2 bathrooms tucked under there. however, mine is different in that i have a very open staircase. each individual stair stands alone, like so:

this open space has somewhat turned into a storage unit of sorts for us girls… we keep our water bottles there, our Christmas tree was there along with the pile of gifts and other holiday stuff. a pile of bags that we keep just in case we need to use something stays nearby… and frankly, i just got sick of it all and decided i’m gonna stop being a lazy bum and i’m gonna clean up one part of my house every day.

today, as my inaugural day at ‘keeping house’, i decided to rid the house of all storage items under the staircase. i might end up turning it into a reading nook or something, but the first step was to clean it. see? (photo courtesy of my phone… so it’s not the best quality)

the only thing that is still there is the water bottles… mostly cuz i don’t know where else they will go. i might just invent a curtain or something so they can be there without being seen… also, i will have to hang the mirror on another day, since i don’t have the tools or materials. the most important thing, though, was that i cleaned it and vacuumed it and i’m happy =)

as for my project for tomorrow, i think i might tackle the linen closet, which closely resembled the storage unit of understairs. both hallways will be clean!!

i like my new get-things-done attitude! =) let’s hope now that i’ve told the whole internet i’ll be accountable to you and keep it up!!

Posted by kgrp on 04/28 at 06:40 PM
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

interwrite pads for school!!

when kat was my roommate i was always amazed/impressed with her wacom tablet and her ability to use a pen and tablet and draw on photoshop…

now that i’m a teacher in an underperforming school, we have an extra budget for improving teaching, and we just bought several similar tableats, called interwrite learning tablets, for the math classrooms. connected with the lcd projector on my computer, it’s almost like taking my overhead projector all over the classroom, all the while reducing the glare, and increasing portability which means i can have a constant eye on my students.

what i mean is, i can take the tablet and walk all around the classroom. i’m not tied to the overhead projector nor the white board. i can be amongst the students and monitor them and get instant feedback, and also give instant feedback to students as they’re taking notes. and anything i write can show up on the projector!

when i’m done doing notes, i can save the file and print it out for students that were absent, so they can have the notes and examples available to them at any time. potentially, i can even respond to student’s emails when they’re absent, and i can attach the notes. coolio.

mostly though, i’m just happy that i’m not tied to the front of the classroom. the students will mourn my newfound mobility because they won’t be able to text anymore while i’m not looking!

now if i can only get some practice at writing on a blank tablet....

i suppose i’ll have to practice here at home! let’s see how well this thing works with photoshop!! =) =) =)

Posted by kgrp on 04/23 at 05:11 PM
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

the bachelorettes meet again...

i’ve never really had girl friends all my life… i was more of a tomboy, and even though my friend group had girls in it, and i’d have a female best friend, i have always been one of the boys. i guess it’s because i’m the type that makes friends through activities - like volleyball, basketball, playing pool, poker, and anything else active. and also cuz the girls i grew up with just liked to gossip and i didn’t like being pulled into all of that.

i remember guys asking me if i had any girl friends i could recommend to them and i’d have trouble thinking of someone…

i’d call up my boys when i didn’t have anything to do and ask them to play sports or board games or come over to eat… and any girl firends i had were always with their boyfriend or lived out of town.

and that’s why i can say without a doubt that living with the GT bachelorettes was a life changing experience. i ended up with 3 sisters and we shared shoes, clothes, and relationship advice. it wasn’t always the easiest living like that, possibly because all of us had only grown up with one brother each. but perhaps that’s also why we were able to bond so well with each other.

now that we’re all living apart, we former roommates get together and have mini-reunions as close to once-a-month as possible. it’s sorta nice to have a group like this that can come together and share where we are in life.

the last time we met was at Christmas when we exchanged gifts. i think we charmed the rest of the groups around us - everyone around us was laughing and in good cheer and having fun watching us take pictures with each other and exclaim loudly over all our gifts.

this time around, though, we tried to get a booth table on the side but they stuck us in the middle of the restaurant! 2 tables for the 4 of us - and 6 dishes! hahahaha.... man-oh-man you shoulda seen the looks we got all night long. and it wasn’t Christmas so all the other tables had no idea why we were in such a good mood or why our table was filled with raucous laughter!

here’s kat and shelia on the other side of the table

and a picture of me with rita on our side

we ordered a ton of food (see how it takes up both tables?)

and then ~~santa claus~~ rayme showed up at the end of dinner bringing gifts!

we remind me of my parents’ get-togethers - we’re loud, we laugh, and we take forever to leave a restaurant!! here we are outside the door still talking outside the restaurant

and then we moved to hang out next to kathy’s car still talking, and playing with her skateboard. seriously. just like my parents would do. talk near door, migrate to outside the door, migrate to outside the cars, migrate to inside the cars but talking with the windows rolled down… hahahhaha…

we finally decided dessert would be at the 7-eleven across the street, where we saw this sign that aptly described us =)

and we bought one container of ice cream and split it between all of us, eating in the parking lot. you’da thunk we were all high school kids hanging out there on the skateboard scarfing down one shared container between the 5 of us =) the guy at 7-eleven was eyeing us warily - we couldn’t tell what he was thinking about seeing the 5 of us walk in the way we did!!

as usual we hung out for quite a while and i totally enjoyed =) it’s really nice to have girl friends i can count on!!

Posted by kgrp on 04/22 at 04:58 PM
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i scream for ice cream!

i remember way ben and jerry’s free cone day back in the day when i was in high school… we’d go and get in line in the afternoon with a ton of my classmates and we’d just eat our cones while waiting in line for our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th free cone of the day!

i haven’t done it in years because there isn’t one close to me anymore, but their free cone day will be april 29 this year!

at least there’s a baskin robbins near me, because not too long ago they decided to participate in free cone day as well… usually a day or two before or after ben and jerry’s. they have ‘upgraded’ to 31 cent cone day, i suppose cause they have to do something with 31, even though they have wayyy more than 31 flavors now.
you can support your local firefighters by buying a 31 cent ice cream cone

while looking for the stores near me that are doing “free” ice cream day, i discovered that haagen dazs has joined in the fun as well!!! on may 15 they’re giving away a free cone of either cinnamon dulce de leche or sticky toffee pudding! man… both flavors sound good to me!

so… come join in the fun! get some free ice cream!!

once again, me and free food! =)

Posted by kgrp on 04/22 at 03:25 PM
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photoshoot in east highlands ranch

so kat and i wanted to do some photoshootin’ and i invited marlene to come along so that we could have a willing subject as we tried out our cameras and practiced being behind the lens…

but kat had to leave early and we postponed the photoshoot…

and then i ended up hanging out at marlene’s house anyways, so we took a walk and snapped away with our little point-and-shoots. not as nice pics as if we had kat’s DSLR but it was still fun being out in nature and somewhat active.

here are a few of the pics…

marlene on the bridge above the creek bed

on a log in the creek bed under the bridge

pocahontas wandering past the plants

a ladybug in the reeds in the lake

and a duck just past the leaves…

i had a bit o’ trouble climbing the tree in a skirt

so i just took a picture standing behind it…

purple flower

grass

and then we sat watching the sun set at the end of the walk. it’s crazy to think this is all near her house. what a great HOA!

we’re gonna try it again with a “real” camera and ready for more photoshooting creativity when kat is around =)

Posted by kgrp on 04/22 at 12:03 AM
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

planting the camote outside

a little over a month ago my parents came to visit and my dad decided to plant my camote leaves in the ground. i wasn’t sure if they were ready for it, but i let him plant some of them while i kept two of the cuttings in the plastic cups.

they didn’t grow so well out there, and i decided to buy a spade and a cultivator and i tilled the ground, digging it up and turning it over and aerating it. basically, i was prepping the soil to eventually plant my flowers in it. well.... the next day i came home and noticed that i did such a good job of it, the ground looked nice and combed evenly. it wasn’t until later when my roommate told me the gardener dug up my plants that i noticed that he had noticed my work and redone it, in the process killing the remaining two leaves that were still in the ground. oops!

well, my dad came over this last weekend and wanted to check up on the camote plants, and he was surprised to see that they had disappeared. he noticed all my other healthy plants inside and wanted to plant them as replacements as well. he took the sprouts off of the tuber that was still sitting in water - basically snapping them off the potato and leaving the rest of the shoots intact.

here’s shoot #4 being snapped off

he then went outside and dug holes and stuck the roots in

i tried to take pictures without flash but it was rather dark out - you can see him working in the background

and here are the plants after i watered them today. the one closest to the door is the only one that looks a little wilty - everything else is strong and standing tall. i think it’s good that this time they have a healthy root system -and- a healthy bunch of leaves - it’s not one leaf and a sprouting root this time. i don’t know if it’s the position (it gets the least amount of sun) or not, because the leaves that were planted there also wilted the fastest. but it sure looks like i’ll have a healthy ground covering of ready-to-cook-talbos soon!

Posted by kgrp on 04/15 at 12:55 AM
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Sunday, April 06, 2008

spring break 2008!

being a teacher is somewhat a weird profession because of all the holidays and breaks we have, and the inability to take vacations at other times. sometimes that means i get stuck at home on vacation when everyone else is working, and sometimes that means that my friends go on vacation while i’m working and i’m unable to take time off. however, when you have friends that work in the school system, it can all work out beautifully. and even though i’ve been home for a whole month not working, i still had a spring break during which there were no students at the school, so i -had- to take a vacation. darn.

well, marlene, shyla, and i were all able to take a cruise together this spring break. we pretty much just sat on the boat and relaxed and ate unlimited food. it was nice not being cooped up at home all the time, and it was nice also to be able to walk around in the sun without being too strenuously active, which was perfect for me. the salty sea air was definitely nice too, and it cleared up my breathing a bit. i should’ve taken a cruise while i was home sick! eating well and resting in the sun - just what the doctor ordered!!

anyways, here are some pictures for you to enjoy:
me, marlene, and shyla at dinner