2014 STAAR Released Tests

I haven't had time to really look at them yet, but plan to do so soon.  The 2014 STAAR Released Tests are here for you to download.  I uploaded them to my Box account.  You can download the PDFs or go to the TEA Website and download all the tests from there.  Here they are for your convenience.  Just go to the Link 2014 STAAR Released Tests and click.  Then download them to your computer.
https://app.box.com/s/dfknivv5yuniprihe159
STAAR Link

Johnny Football Overload

Is anyone out there on total Johnny Football overload?  I thought it was bad last year, but this year's coverage of a back up quarterback from the Cleveland Browns takes the cake.  Johnny Manzeil won a Heisman trophy two years ago and didn't win a national championship.  He didn't even come close. He wasn't on the best team.  He played pretty great for a red shirt freshman.  Ever since that time, all you ever hear, when it is football season or not, is Johnny Football.

Last year he had a decent, but no spectacular year as well. Not well enough, however, to deserve all this hype.  I am way passed tired of it, in fact I get quite nauseous hearing about this quarterback competition.  Please!  Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and more do not get even 1/4 the press that this unproven quarterback does.  If he was all that and a bag of Baked Lays, then why hasn't he surpassed a no name quarterback from the Cleveland Browns?  He is Johnny Football after all, and he should be flying around with his brown cape. Instead Johnny Football is notorious for taking photos and uploading them to Instagram. Drake, The Beevs, Gronk and other are his boys.  He is notorious for making stupid decisions such as showing his money signs when drafted and with those same fingers flipping the bird to the Washington Redskin's bench.  To tell you the truth, I can't wait until he gets popped by some crazed linebacker or layed out by someone like JJ Watt or Jadeveon Clowney.  He needs to get his clock rung a time or two so that he can come down to earth and actually play a quarterback instead of Paris Hilton.  What has he done in the NFL?  Nothing. Nothing! Nothing! He has a lot to prove in a league that is serious with the hits. He better be good to his O Line and eat with them or he will be eating his lunch of grass and dirt.  Johnny Football Overload indeed!

Where Did The Time Go? Now

Wow!  What a day it was today and it is not over.  It is 9:00ish at night and here I am reflecting on my day.  My daughter marched off to her last year in High School.  Now she is officially a senior.  She drove off without a hitch.  I guess I didn't take in that moment.  I didn't slow her down and ask to take a pic and post it on Face Book.  This was the first August in 17 years that I didn't cart her off to the babysitters or to school.  I guess I didn't get all emotional and think about it too much until tonight.  I thought back and reflected on the years gone by, as I drove my daughter and I through Chickfila.  I asked her, "Where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday we were coming home from the YMCA volleyball practices."  I have the plaques on my wall.  They are too numerous to count, the plaques for volleyball and basketball.  Elizabeth placed them on my wall. She neatly displayed one side of the wall with volleyball and reserved the other wall for basketball.  Sometimes I stop and look at those photos on the plaques and wonder, "Where has time gone?"  To the right of the plaques are the lined marks in different colors that measured her height through the years.  Red, black, green, blue and purple lines decorate the entrance to my bathroom.  Then I look at the hallway and there it is, the round circle made with black crayon.  Elizabeth's wall art of a three year old just stares me in the face. I ask, "How does time go by so stinkin' fast?"  It just isn't fair for any parent.  It wasn't fair for my mom and it is certainly not kind to me.  Yes, I know I must let her fly and I do, but not so stinkin' soon!  Where did the time go?

Hip Hop Abs Revisited

Just wanted to post before it was too late in the evening.  I just finished my 50 minutes with Shaun T and Hip Hop Abs!  I haven't completed this exercise regimen in quite some time.  Glad I sweated through it!  Feeling great.  Day one of my exercise regimen.  It takes two weeks to make it a habit?  I will write about it tomorrow.  Hip Hop Abs Cardio Groove!  Love it!

I don't know if you have seen this funny grammar video by Weird Al or not, but if you haven't it is worth watching!  Karen Justl shared that with me today.  I saw it back in July when Kelly Gallagher shared in one of his tweets.  Without further adieu, Weird Al:

Derek Jeter

I just watched the new Gatorade commercial about Derek Jeter.  I thought of how it would be a great way to talk about expository writing.  I really respect Derek Jeter and so I loved the tribute to his legacy at a New York Yankee.  I wanted to include this tonight.

Derek Jeter, Jeter, ter....

Flow

Flow...oh how did I seriously get flow in the chapter entitled Why did Warren Buffet Prosper?  Susan Cain defines flow as: is an optimal state in which you feel totally engaged in an activity--whether long distance swimming or songwriting, sumo wresting...in the state of flow you are neither bored nor anxious and you do not question your own adequacy. Hours pass without you knowing. It is activity for its own sake.  You could be absorbed for days.  This happens to me.  I don't ever want to get out of the flow because it feels so good to be locked in.  This happens when I am blogging or writing poetry. I went to see Alma Flor Ada, the Spanish poet extraordinaire. She gave a workshop on Spanish poetry and then we wrote some of our own poem in Spanish.  She started us off and then I was hooked. I was literally engulfed in what I was doing.  For the next 5 hours, I didn't pay much attention to anything else but crafting the poem about my daughter.  There was lunch, but I don't remember much about it. I kept thinking I had to get back or lose the words and idea.  I didn't want to break the flow.  Then I had to attend a workshop in the afternoon.  I attended and sat in the chair while a nice woman talked about teaching poetry and ideas to help.  She was more like the teacher in the Charlie Brown classroom. I didn't hear her, because I was in the flow.  I kept on writing and thinking and writing.  When I arrived home, I got on my desktop computer and went to my blog Just Write Baby! and then kept going amid the tears.  I wrote and recrafted and wrote and recrafted until I got it just write.  Then I posted and shared with my daughter what I had wrote about her.  Of course I sent it out and my native Spanish speaking friends helped me with a few things and I edited it over and over and then revised a bit more.  Was I ever proud of it!  It just came to me and flowed.  Did I write it for a reward?  Hardly, I wrote it because it needed to be done.  It had to come out.  When the spirit moves, you have to move with it or never have that idea be realized.  So that brings me back to my introvertedness.  It is easy to post online.  You don't know who is reading, but there are people who do read.  I have no problem posting my work.  It is a joy, especially when I get in the flow.  The problem I have is with people I don't trust or feel truly know me. I cannot, without reservation, express what I think and feel around them.  I trust the small group and the people that I have spent time getting to know.  The people where I feel safe.  When I am around those that I do not have a strong rapport in a bigger setting, forget about the flow.  I get uncomfortable and need to find a place to feel safe and me.  In those instances, during meeting and what not, I tend to search out a 1 on 1 situation or small group, to survive and maybe thrive.  I might just cocoon into my notebook.  As of late my doodles look like art and if I were a tatoo artist, I would be in high demand and filthy rich.  You should see them.  Being an introvert is a gift!  Can't wait to get into more flow and now I am searching out the opportunity!

Getting Back To It!

Getting Back To It!

By Maureen Ucles

I am getting back to it!

Getting into the groove

Going back to where

I belong

Getting back to  it!

Returning to my love

Seeing possibilities

Infinity and beyond

Getting back to it!

Excitement is in the air!

No more dragging my feet

Making excuses

Fleeing from the scene

Moving, grooving,

scampering,

Back where I belong

Back to it

Getting back to  it!

Cannot wait to breathe

Breathe it in!

Fresh air

clear my thoughts

emotions running wild

Home again

Life's my friend

Getting back

Back into the groove!

Getting back to it!

Chance Meeting at Abydos-There's No Place Like Home!

I exited the main conference room to put my certificate of attendance in my bag. I had just attended the Abydos Conference in Dallas, Texas. I was in a hurry to put it away and make a mad dash down the escalator and into the cold, cold parking lot.  As I was putting this certificate away, a nice lady came up to me and asked me if I was author and creator of a blog. I thought she must have me mistaken for someone else.  I asked, "You mean the blog Just Write Baby?"  I wanted to make sure that I wasn't mistaken for someone else. Then she commented, "I always pictured you as being short." I laughed.  "Fat chance," I thought, being that I am six feet tall. She continued, "You are really tall!" By that time, I knew that she must not have confused  me for someone else and that she was familiar with my photo from Just Write Baby. The photo is a partial head and torso shot. "Wow!" I thought. "Someone really appreciates my blog!" I was pleasantly surprised and excited that she liked reading my blog. I often wondered who really reads my blogs and what they think. Every now and then I will see some comments from people. Some of that time the comments are from people that I know. This time, it was someone that I didn't know. Wow! How cool is that, right? Triple cooled beans!

This nice person introduced herself as Dorothy. She would not allow me forget her name because she said, "Just remember my name like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz!"  She was right. Name associations definitely work for me.  I didn't forget her name, which for me is a major miracle.  I am very bad with names. I forget people's names all the time or I tend mix them up horribly.  It is now 10:24 pm and I haven't forgotten Dorothy yet! Woohoo! I knew I had to get this post out tonight. I have to strike while the iron is hot and my memory serves me.

Tonight I would like to give a shout out to Dorothy from the Abydos 2015 Conference. I am shouting out to Dorothy from the escalator. You made my day today in a very special way. It is not everyday that I get to meet someone who actually reads and enjoys my blog! What an exciting experience! It made my day, week and month. Again, thanks Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, it was a pleasure to meet you.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home! For me, this blog is my home. I don't always spend the time that I would like posting more frequently. You reminded me that this blog is my place and my home to record my writing, my thoughts and  my reflections. In short, this blog is my refuge from the snow and the craziness of life! Thanks Dorothy for reminding me of that today!  Hope to hear from you soon.

Funny Scapegoat Commercial from Geico

My life is simple. Very simple. I just want to laugh. When I want a good laugh while I watching TV, I  look out for the Geico commercials. I love the camel/hump day commercial, the analogies commercials...as a happy as a witch in a broom factory, as happy as a . . . I especially love the new one with the scapegoat. After the manager of the peanut butter plant witnesses a disaster in the making, he asks, "Who is responsible for this?" The workers immediately blame it all on the "scapegoat".  The scapegoat is a real goat with an attitude.  This scapegoat is so hilarious in this commercial.  The producers of this commercial get a close up of the goat talking some smack with the female worker. This comical part leads the audience to infer that Rick, the scapegoat, has said something very offensive to the female worker. The lady gets miffed at the scapegoat's choice of bleats. This worker is then ready to throw down and start a brawl over the goat's words. It made me chuckle.  I cannot wait for the next commercial from Geico! What will those witty minds come up with next?  Cheesy and hilarious! Great combination! Love it!