Recent Mathematical Acquisitions

I love math.  And I really love teaching math.  If you didn't know that, you are now learning some very fundamental information about me.

Recently I have gained some lovely additions to my collection of math books and other math paraphernalia.

The first object is nostalgic in nature.  It is a DVD version of Donald in Mathmagic Land.  I already own the VHS version, but let us face the fact that VHSs are becoming archaic.

the VHS cover

In fact, when I hunted down a copy of this treasure only a few years ago, it was just available in VHS so I bought it anyway.  I happened upon it a couple of weeks ago online and was delighted to find that it has now made its way to DVD.  Whew!

the new DVD cover

I am happily instilling a love for this movie early in my own children as we gained a love for it early in our childhood.  The package arrived from Amazon around noon today and Matthew has already viewed it four times.  

Now for the second acquisition, and the story of how I obtained it.  It is a never-before-used Calculus (sixth edition) by Larson, Hostetler, and Edwards.  Beautiful.

This is the same edition of the calculus book that I used in high school.  And the same one that my siblings all used in high school.  I happen to prefer it to all other calculus books that I have encountered - and I have encountered many in my day!  Memories of Mr. Haldane's calculus class come flooding back.

And now for how I got ahold of one.  Last weekend I helped one of the math teachers at Wendover High clean out her classroom.  There were relics in there from over 15 years ago.  It was amazing.  (As a side note, sometime I will blog about what we found in Joseph's new classroom when we cleaned it out last August.  You'll like it.)  I was digging in the back of a cupboard and, buried beneath much garbage, was this jewel.  Three circumstances surrounding this book allowed this beauty to make its way home with me that day.  The first is that there are three more editions of this book that have been published since this edition so it is not particularly "current" in terms of high school textbooks.  Second, Wendover High does not even offer any math class above Algebra 2.  No Pre-Calc and definitely no Calculus.  Third of all, the teacher I was helping was going to throw it away.  Thus, it is now in my possession.  I am not sure that I can express my joy at owning the beloved tome.  Ahhh!

This post is largely to incite jealousy among my siblings.  But don't worry, I'll let them borrow them if they need to.

Yippity Pippity Yoo!

Jesus admonished us to let our communication be "Yeah, yeah; Nay, nay" (see Matthew 5:37). But leave it to children of mine to not be satisfied with simple "yes/no" answers to questions. My cute Matthew, for example, has inexplicably begun a phase in which he always uses the much more creative title phrase to indicate an affirmative response to a question.

Me: "Matthew, did you go potty before getting in bed?"

Matthew: "Yippity Pippity Yoo!" (You have to imagine him saying it in his high-pitched, sing-song voice, and making the above face)

It's adorable!

So, can you guess how he answers in the negative? (for example - "Matthew, did you just hit your sister?")

You guessed it - "Nope-ity Pope-ity Noo!"

It's so cute I almost can't stand it.

Friday Night

What does your family do on Friday night? Oh yeah? Well our family cranks up Garth Brooks's "The River" and dances around the kitchen like wild monkeys.

Beat that.



P.S. No that is not a tattoo on Matthew's arm. I know we're a wild and crazy family; but we're not that wild, and not that crazy. Besides, I would hope that if Matthew ever did get a tattoo, he would have better taste than to select a WHS (Wendover High School) Wildcat paw-print as his body-art of choice.

I Love This Girlie!



Where's the Girlie?



There she is!



This girlie is just too much fun!

Do I Have Something in My Teeth?

Many, many years ago my family happened upon a clip from one of the Ace Ventura movies where Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) has asparagus hanging from his mouth. He asks, "Do I have something in my teeth?"  We thought it was hilarious and reenacted it often at the dinner table.

While this obvious caricature of having something in your teeth is funny, it is not always quite so funny when it happens in real life and no one informs you of the offending object.  To help with these situations and others like it my family has developed some code words to clue in a loved one without cluing in everyone in the room.  "Asparagus" and "Brussel Sprouts" are code for "You have something in your teeth."  Or for the more mortifying booger exposed, "Bats in the Belfry" is the hint that should encourage you to wipe your nose very carefully.

This week I was substituting at the high school for one of the math teachers, something I do about once a month.  About 20 minutes into one class period, after I had given a lesson and been walking around helping students for awhile, one young man says from across the room, "Miss, you have something in your nose."  I reached up to wipe it off and asked if it was gone and it wasn't yet.  It took a few tries before the booger was eliminated from general view.  This entire time the whole class is watching me.  I asked if it was there the whole time I had been teaching.  He replied in the affirmative.  The poor girls in the class were so distressed for me that they kept denying that it had been there at all and whispered to him that he shouldn't have told me because it was embarrassing for me.  However, I had the booger in a tissue to prove it.  I was extremely flustered and trying to act like it was no problem but above all I was really glad he had told me so that I didn't walk around for the rest of class like that.

"Bats in the Belfry" discreetly whispered to me would have been a better way to handle the situation, but he didn't know the code word.  I genuinely thanked Fernando for informing me of the problem.

If you ever see a problem with my teeth, nose, zipper, or otherwise potentially embarrassing predicament, please tell me.  Even if you don't know the code word for it.  I will thank you.

Dead Weasels

Today Austin walked into the office where I was working on the computer, silently watched what I was doing for a minute, and then, without preamble, calmly and matter-of-factly said - "daddy, you're a dead weasel!" - and then turned and walked out of the room

Your guess is as good as mine . . .

The Nectar of Life

Need I say more?