Cheese or Dessert

It's the day after Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.), otherwise known as Black Friday. No school for me (so my school experiences from last week will appear next week), so that means summer schedule, and that means quiz. 

This one is fun. Is it a cheese, or is it a dessert? 

Cheese or Dessert

While I knew quite a few of these, I did not know all of them. I got 22 out of 25 or 88%. I made a couple good guesses, and I made a couple not-so-good ones, so that total is higher than what I actually knew. 

Take a shot, and let me know how you did in the comments. Good luck.

13 Netflix Christmas Movies

It is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. (and I have the week off, so my subbing stories have been saved for next week), and I have been trying to think of a good topic for today's list. (This is a Thursday 13.) Then it hit me. Tomorrow is Black Friday and the start of the holiday buying season. Why not a Christmas theme? 

So, today, I went on Netflix, searched "Christmas" and listed the first 13 movies to pop up. Descriptions by IMDb. Snark by me. (Believe it or not, I really do like some of these types of movies. But I can't take some of these descriptions seriously.) 

1. Jingle Bell Heist 

At the height of the holiday season, two strangers team up to rob one of London's most famous department stores while accidentally falling in love. It really worries me that this is the first thing that pops up for my search. What does Netflix know about me? Why would they think this is what I'd enjoy?

2. My Secret Santa 

Taylor disguises as Santa at a resort to fund her daughter's ski lessons. Working with the charming manager Matthew, she finds holiday cheer and a chance at love amidst challenges. I do not think I'd enjoy this one. I can just see this being all sorts of awkward. 

3. The Night my Dad Saved Christmas 2

When Santa vanishes during a chaotic Christmas, a quirky actor tries to replace him. A father, his teen son and special friends must rescue Santa to save Christmas. Two? You mean to tell me that this is a sequel? They made one already and it was popular enough to justify a second installment? 

4. Champagne Problems

An executive travels to France to secure the acquisition of a renowned champagne brand before Christmas, but her plans are upended when she falls into a whirlwind romance with a charming Parisian - only to discover he's the founder's son. The roommates watched this one the other day. I made dinner in the kitchen while it was on. I think I've seen enough.

5. Last Christmas

Kate is a young woman subscribed to bad decisions. Working as an elf in a year-round Christmas store is not good for the wannabe singer. However, she meets Tom there. Her life takes a new turn--that seems too good to be true. Not a bad premise. Maybe this would be a good one to knit to.

6. Christmas with the Kranks

With their daughter Blair away in Peru, Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip Christmas altogether until she decides to come home, causing an uproar when they must celebrate it at the last minute. Ah, finally one I recognize. I haven't seen it, but this one has been around for a while (starring people you know). 

7. A Merry Little Ex-Mas

A separated couple tries celebrating one last Christmas together with their kids before their divorce. However, the husband's new girlfriend joins the festivities, causing tension and chaos during the holidays. Oh no, I know exactly how this one is going to go, and I haven't seen a bit of it.

8. The Christmas Chronicles

The story of sister and brother, Kate and Teddy Pierce, whose Christmas Eve plan to catch Santa Claus on camera turns into an unexpected journey that most kids could only dream about. With Kurt Russel as Santa. Maybe...

9. A Sprinkle of Christmas

Libby, an up-and-coming baker, has opened up her storefront business just in time for the Christmas season. Trying to get everything off the ground, she finds herself in a heated anonymous online feud with Peter, an A-List actor, after (hiding his real identity) he gives the bakery a scathing review. At the same time, in real life, Libby takes on a game-changing side-gig: catering cake and confections for Peter's brother's high profile holiday engagement party. Neither realize they're already in a fight with each other. I worry when IMDb doesn't have it's own description for this. 

10. No Sleep 'Til Christmas

A bartender and a businesswoman find that they have only one thing in common: insomnia. Oh no. Interesting title, and the description is interesting... But I think I should stay far away from this one. 

11. Marry Christmas

After finding love, the Wright Brothers (Joey and Matthew Lawrence) unwittingly schedule weddings for the same day. A sibling rivalry ensues for the right to wed their brides on Christmas. That title is making me cringe. 

12. Klaus

A simple act of kindness always sparks another, even in a frozen, faraway place. When Smeerensburg's new postman, Jesper, befriends toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions. Animated. Maybe. Doesn't look terrible. 

13. Our Little Secret

Two resentful exes must awkwardly spend Christmas together after they learn that their new partners are siblings. Interesting setup. Could be okay. But I doubt I'm going to risk it. 

Scheduling Ahead

My normal blogging routine is to write my blog posts on Sunday. I may get a post or two done ahead of that, but for the week, I have things finalized on Sunday. 

Except this week. (I took a lazy Sunday and read all day. It was nice.)

I am writing this on Tuesday. I am going to schedule this to post Wednesday. 

If you're on Blogger, you probably already know how to do this. When you open up a new post, "Published on" is right there in the Post settings sidebar. 

If it's not open, just click on the arrow. (It's usually open when you open a new post.)

"Automatic" will be selected, and the date and time will be the current date and time. As you can see above, I've clicked on "Set date and time". Then I selected the date on the calendar thingy. (If you want to go ahead months, use the little arrows next to the month and year at the top.)

Once you've selected the date, you can select the time. (You can select the time first.) Just click on the time, and a wheel with all the hour and half hour times will pop up. (You can type in a time instead.) 

And that's it. Type in your post as normal, and then hit "Publish". 

It'll show on your posts screen as "Scheduled" with the day it's scheduled to go live. And that's it. It's ready to go. 

Now I need to go and get Thursday's post ready... 

The Redistricting Fight

On election day, California voters had one thing on the ballot, redistricting. Because of what they did in Texas. And then Texas' redistricting got overturned in court. For now. We'll see what happens when the case gets to SCOTUS. 

In case you haven't been following, today I'm posting a video with one of the lawyers explaining what's happening. It is over 30 minutes long, but it has some interesting bits. (It also has the requisite "like and follow" bits as well as a couple ads.)

Some good things are happening. More bad things, but sometimes it'd good to hear about what's going right. 

Sidetracked

Last week I did make some progress on eldest nephew's sweater, but when it was time to find a take-along project for my Saturday out, I realized I couldn't take it. 

I have about two and a half inches before it's time to start the neckline, and that's something I'd rather puzzle out at home. (Yes, I have a pattern. But I've been knitting straight for a while. Reading and binding off and counting happens now, and I need to be able to focus.) 

So, time to pull out the beanie...

Not too far from finishing this one. If I focused on it this week, I'd probably finish it. But, I want to focus on the sweater neckline. (What the beanie will look like finished, different colorway.) 

I rather like the double yellow band. I'm glad I left the error. 

The beanie posts:

• The Next Projects
• Observable, Perhaps
• Well Travelled

Check Writing

(A very rainy) Friday. Sixth period. Special ed business math. 

They're seniors, and a couple of them had been in that weird long term special ed I covered in February/March. They did their warm up, and then I explained that they had a check writing test. 

"Check writing? This is a math class."

Once I passed the paper out, it made sense. They were balancing a check register, and then they had one bank check to fill out. They're doing a unit on banking.

After that, they watched some videos on savings accounts. These were each about five minutes long, and they talked about IRAs, mutual funds, bonds, and retirement. (It's an interesting series on PBS: Two Cents.)

It's cool when I'm in a class where they're doing something that I know they'll need in the future. They might not actually write checks, but the will need to know how to keep track of the money in their bank accounts. 

Easy class. Easy day.

(Last week was only a three-day week due to the holiday. That means it was kind of slim pickings for blog fodder.) 

Phantom Cramp

Thursday. Eighth grade English. 

I had covered this about a month ago (and I have covered Ms. R's class many, many times), so I knew what I was in for. I also knew that her co-teacher was going to be out. The night before I made a silly wish. "Wouldn't it be great if Ms. S was subbing for the co-teacher?" 

Guess who ended up subbing for the co-teacher? 

It made for a way easier day. 

Third period. The class had just finished their warm up, and I explained their assignment. They had chosen a story or article the previous week (there were a limited number of choices, but they did get to pick amongst them), and Ms. S and I had passed out the stories to the students. They were to annotate the story they picked, and then they'd have questions to answer about them. 

While they were getting started on the assignment, Russell "fell" out of his chair. He was lying on the ground, not moving, just lying there. 

Ms. S and I conferred. She remarked that Russell should probably be kicked out of class. I concurred. Having known Russell from the art class, I knew that his behavior wasn't going to improve. This was the perfect excuse to send him out. 

Ms. S called another classroom to find him a spot. Russell complained. "But I have a cramp!"

Uh huh. Sure you do. 

Ms. S escorted Russell away. And when she returned, neither of us had to deal with his shenanigans for the rest of the period. Bliss.

Did this scare the rest of the class? Of course not. But at least they mostly read quietly. 

I do not kick students out often enough. There's a part of me that wants to give them one more chance. Maybe they'll actually "be good", which is what they always promise when I go to assign a consequence. The thing is, they never do. They just get worse.