A New Identity for Clever Karen

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you may recall that around this time last year I found out that I was going to be teaching 5th grade. It was an unexpected and a totally new teacher assignment for me. Being a new fifth grade teacher seemed to consume every moment of my life last year and I did not find much time for many extracurricular clever pursuits or the time to blog about them.

Well, my life as a teacher has taken another interesting twist. I was asked to return to my position teaching K - 8 technology in the computer lab - a job that I always loved. But in early August, I was also asked if I could fill in for our art teacher, who had a stroke, and teach elementary art. Now, I have never taught art, other than what I have done in my third grade classroom. But hopefully, all my clever genes will serve me well in this new position. I spent several weeks in August cleaning and organizing all the materials and treasures in the art room. Now I am busy finding all kinds of interesting project ideas for the students to create.

So I'm not sure if I am going to have much time for Clever Karen blogging over the next few months. But if you are interested, you can check out my new tech/art blog Pixels and Paintbrushes. There isn't anything much there yet, but I promise there will be lots of clever work from my students throughout the school year!

Back to School!

My life has taken a huge shift over the past couple weeks. For the past 8 years I have been teaching K - 8 students in our computer lab. I found out a few weeks ago that I am being moved into a 5th grade classroom. I have never taught 5th grade before so my days have been pretty consumed with getting ready for the start of school on Wednesday!

So if you are a regular reader, just wanted to let you know why I may not be posting as regularly over the next few weeks. I will try on weekends to set up a few things to auto post during the week, but the posts may end up being short and sweet! I will probably continue to use my iPhone to do some quick postings. I have lots of pictures of restaurants and projects stored up from the summer, so I will do my best to keep the blog active. I know I will need this escape from the world of teaching, but I fear all my clever energy will be focused on fifth grade for a while!

Clutzy Karen

I have been thinking about renaming my blog to Clutzy Karen. Ah yes, I have had an unfortunate adventure which has put a crimp in all my creative plans for spring.

Last Tuesday I received a lovely used blue bike. I had this fantasy of having a bike and riding to the farmer's market or library or coffee shop. I thought it would be a great way to get a little exercise and save a little on gas. Sounds like a charming plan, right?

By 8 pm that night I had managed to fall off that charming bike while trying to make a turn onto the sidewalk. I had already ridden a bit around the neighborhood, but lost control on my second ride. Fortunately a friend was with me, I was right by my house, and I didn't seem to be too badly damaged. Just a sore elbow which hit the pavement, but I still could bend it.

However, during the night the elbow became so swollen and painful that I could barely bend it. I had scheduled Wednesday off of school as a personal day, and had planned to buy flowers for all the gardening I had planned to do over the weekend. Instead I sat in waiting rooms, got x-rays, and saw an orthopedic doctor who let me know I had fractured a bone in my elbow!

Fortunately, I don't have a cast, just a sling. I need to keep moving it to get my range of motion back. The pain is getting better. Unfortunately I can't lift, push, or pull. And it is my right arm.

So my gardening will be severely limited this season to things I can do left handed. I think I can plant a few pots and hopefully I can get any friends that stop by to help me move them into place. Also, this puts a crimp in some of my blogging plans - it is very hard to take pictures with your left hand when the button to push is on the right side! I'm finding other things that are difficult to do as well - eyeliner and flossing are two that come to mind!

I'm not sure how long my arm will be out of commission. But I do have a few pictures that I haven't blogged yet and I'm sure I will find a way to use my point and shot camera. But just wanted to let you know where I've been hiding the last few days!

Top 10 Signs that You're Not Sitting in the Cheap Seats (Caesars Windsor Club)

1. You arrive at the Piston's basketball game and have a reserved parking spot. The first spot. Right next to the door. With your name on the sign saying it's YOUR spot. (Well, actually it is Ernie and Walt's spot, but they were kindly letting us use it for the night.)

2. You walk about 10 steps from YOUR parking spot to the private entrance to the Caesar's Windsor Club. Someone opens the door and greets you.

3. There is a private elevator to the club level. You don't have to walk up the stairs. Or even push the elevator buttons. Stan the Elevator Man pushes the buttons for you.

4. You are greeted (again) as you walk off the elevator. Someone hands you a Piston's Yearbook and THEY DON'T ASK YOU FOR MONEY TO PAY FOR IT. They also put this classy little wristband on your wrist to show you belong in the "Club." (Well, at least for a few hours.)












5. The club has food. Lots of food. All kinds of stations. Fruit, salads, cheese, meats and veggies, all cooked up nice and fancy. My favorite was the Buffalo Chicken Pasta.

6. They also have a wood fired stove cranking out nice crispy pizzas.

7. They have cookies for dessert. (hmmm, that actually is disappointing, just some crummy little cookies.....)


8. Oh, we get to watch a basketball game, too. Our seats are only half way through the alphabet - row N. We can actually read the numbers and names on the player's uniforms without binoculars! If we were a little bit closer we might even be able to read the words on their tatoos!

9. Re: crummy cookies - They saved all the desserts until HALFTIME!!! Of course! Ice Cream and plates of fancy cookies and cakes and key lime pie. And chocolate covered strawberries!

10. Back to the game. The Pistons lose, but we are so well fed we barely notice! It's a good thing that Stan the Elevator Man pushes the buttons for us to go back down and we only have to walk 10 steps in the cold to get back to our car.

Thank you "Ernie" for the tickets - it was quite the treat!!!!!!

The Drum Roll, Please!

Well, I promised a little drawing this afternoon for the earrings for my Bloggerversary Giveaway. Thanks for all of your comments - I often see regular views from certain locations and I finally discovered who all you were! I printed out all of your nice comments, folded them neatly, and put them in a basket.


And then reached in.


The winner of the pearl earrings is Melissa, my missionary friend from Austria, who blogs at this website. Melissa and I used to teach together and is a (fairly) new mom!


And the winner of the quartz earrings is Nedra, a talented educator that I met on plurk.com. We often "chat" about ideas and issues related to using technology in the classroom. I just discovered when I went to her teaching blog that it was her bloggerverary yesterday! So this is a fitting present for her.

Ladies, I will be in touch to get your addresses (or you may email the info to me). This was so much fun I may have to do it again!

Bloggerversary Giveaway

Well, it was one year ago I decided that I wanted to experiment with blogging. Instead of doing something that directly related to my job as a educator, I chose to focus on my life away from school. I love reading pretty creative blogs, and I like doing creative projects, and taking artistic pictures, and thus "Clever Karen" was born. I didn't know if I would run out of projects to share, but 263 (!) posts later, I still am finding stuff to show to you. And it has motivated to keep using the gift of creativity with which God has blessed me. Thank you to all who have read my ramblings and have let me know that they have enjoyed having this little peak into my creative life.


In honor of my "Bloggerversary" I am going to do a little gift giveaway. I have 2 pairs of earrings that I made just for a couple of my lucky readers! One of them is quartz squares with bronze colored beads (above) and the other is fresh water pearls with tiny crystals (below).

If you are interested in having one of the pairs of earrings, just leave one little bitty comment. Yes, I know some of my friends read this, but never comment, so hopefully this will motivate you to be brave and learn to comment! Pardon the teacher in me coming out, but this is all you have to do to comment:

Scroll down to the bottom of this post where it says "comments." (There will be a number in front of word "comments.") Click on the word "comments." Another screen will open.

Type your comment in the big box on the new page. (Not the box on the left - that is just a screen shot of what will be on the new page.)

Then click on the dot next to Name/URL.
Type your name in the box by Name. First name is fine.
You don't have to put anything by URL (unless you have a website that you want me to know about).

Then click "Publish Your Comment."
The comment will be sent to me to approve. It won't appear unless I say it is ok!


On Sunday afternoon I'll do a little drawing of the names of everyone who commented and announce two winners. I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone who is lurking and from those new friends I have made who regularly leave comments! Good luck!

Getting out of a "Jam"

Do you notice anything unusual about the view out my back door? Is something missing?

A few days ago it was my birthday. I was trying to keep this fact a secret, but I am sharing it now because it adds to the pathos of the story I am sharing. I spent a nice evening with a friend who treated me to dinner and a movie.

I arrived home around 9:15 pm. I opened the back door and brought my purse and the leftovers from my dinner into the house. Then I remembered that my laptop was still in the trunk of my car. As I headed back to the garage, the back door slammed very hard behind me. I got the laptop, returned to the door, and pulled on the handle. The door wouldn't budge. Nada, nothing. It was jammed shut. With my purse, and keys, and cell phone inside.

My cat sat on the rug meowing at me in an irritated fashion. I hadn't fed her yet. She was quite annoyed that I wasn't getting her dinner.

I thought that maybe it was the latch that was stuck. Fortunately I had not put the winter storm door in yet, so I finally used the screw driver to rip a hole in the screen so I could get at the latch. But the latch worked fine. Somehow the door had gotten jammed in the frame. I would have just ripped or removed the screen, but the screen is covered by this metal lattice. And my screwdriver didn't fit into the tiny screws that held the lattice in place.


I was too embarrassed to bother my neighbors again (I had gotten locked out in the summer, too, when I replaced the main door). Finally I remembered where a spare car key was hidden. I drove to my friend's house, she came back with her tool box and a flashlight, and we finally unscrewed the metal lattice and removed the screen. So I could climb through the opening in and out of the house.

So that is how I am entering my house - through the opening in the screen door. The door is totally jammed tight, and I won't have time until the weekend to try to figure out how to fix it.


Not the way I wanted to end my birthday, but it makes for an entertaining story at least!

Feasting with Friends

Having a summer time feast with my friends Sally and Scott has been an annual tradition for many years. Way back, when they moved into my neighborhood, we discovered we shared a fervor for food, travel, education, books, and our faith. At some point I started inviting them over for a once a year gourmet grilled meal where I went all out with trying to be fun and creative with my cooking. Since they moved out of state, I don't get the chance every year to have them over for a feast. But this summer they were in town for a short visit and I have spent weeks mulling over what the menu would be and days shopping and cleaning and cooking.


Over the next week I will share lots of food and recipes. I think I have enough new things to fill at least a week's worth of posts. But here are a few pictures from their visit.

Sally dressed the girls up in cute white outfits to take pictures in the garden.

The girls got to play with the doll house. (And with the cat. And I introduced them to Webkins.)

Raspberry nail polish!

We ate and ate, Lots more about the food to come!

Fireworks, Food, and Fun

Well, did anyone miss me? I've been gone for the past week out west, for a wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, and Las Vegas. (I had set up a few quick entries to auto post while I was gone, so there would be a few new things while I was gone.) Stay tuned - over the next week I will share some of the wonderful things we did and saw.

However, on my first day home I got a call from friends inviting me to join them in downtown Detroit to watch the Target Fireworks from their office buildings.



We met downtown early and had dinner at the Loco Bar and Grill in Greektown. Good typical Mexican food - we had chips and dip and nachos to start. I had a chicken chimichanga which was perfectly crispy and covered with just with right amount of sauce and cheese with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole on the side (so you could add the right amount to each bite). Totally didn't think to take pictures because I was starved!

Then we strolled through Greektown and picked up some dessert to go at the Astoria Bakery so we could have a little treat to enjoy while watching the fireworks. So many choices! I got my favorite which is a coconut macaroon bar coated with chocolate on both ends. Yum!



My friends gave a tour of their offices in the Comerica Building and the Ren Cen. It was fun to get a view of the city from above. We settled in one of the offices to watch the fireworks. I've have never been able to see them from such a high perch and it was great. What a view! Here you can see the river and the three barges from where they launched the fireworks.




I've made a little video with a few clips from the evening. Unfortunately we didn't think to bring a radio so we could have the music that goes with the display. The music on the video I added from musopen.com which has a nice collection of copyright free classical music. Hope you enjoy this 2 minute virtual firework display!

Ah, Sweet Summer!

Sorry there wasn't much blogging last week. I had to take a deep breath and dive into all the end of school tasks. I walked out on Friday afternoon with that wonderful awareness that I have 2 sweet months ahead to fill with all kinds of clever fun!

And this will be one of my favorite spots to relax this summer. Our school librarians gave me a stack of childrens' books to read and I also sit here with my laptop. Probably I will even write a few blog entries from this cozy corner.


What else is on my to do list besides reading and working on my laptop? A trip out west. Digital scrapbooking. Trying to make some projects from my stash of fat quarters and vintage sheets. Testing new recipes for a big cookout feast for friends. Keeping the garden looking nice. Shopping. And I have tons of cleaning to do and some maintenance and painting around the house. And a list of things to start preparing for next fall and the start of school.

But most of that will wait for a few days. I just want to do a little bit of nothing and enjoy the sweetness of summer.

Snow Day Slippers

I have been waiting a month to try these slippers on! My friends gave me a "Snow Day" box for Christmas. I already tested the tea and biscotti (couldn't hold out for a snow day) , but I waited until after the happy phone call early this morning to put the slippers on. I plan to spend the day wearing them, drinking pear ginger tea, and listening to this music CD purchased with a gift card to Borders that was also a part of the snow day box. (Click here to listen to a preview of the soundtrack online.) And after I clear the driveway I plan to do some digital scrapbooking - something I haven't had time to do for a while.

By the way, yesterday someone at school was talking about wearing your pajamas backwards to get a snowday! And then last night on Twitter someone else said that kids wear their pjs inside out! So which one is it???!!! And how come I never heard of this until yesterday???!!! I've been missing out all these years! So did I wear my pajamas both backwards AND inside out last night? I'll never tell! But we did get a snow day!

Winter Wonderland

I woke at 5 am to THUNDERSNOW! Yes, lightning and thunder in a snow storm, a sure sign that it is snowing heavily. By 10 am we had a good 7 to 8 inches, I'd say. I bundled up and powered up my snowblower, which (as you know) I did test out yesterday! I got half the drive done, and was zooming down the sidewalks so I could do the neighbors' walks. I was praising God for the person who invented the snowblower! Yes, and as I finished the neighbor's sidewalk and returned to my yard, the snowblower stops blowing snow. The engine was running, but the blades that turn to pick up the snow weren't moving. Alas! No more snowblower, which I had been blessing and praising just moments before! So I finished the rest of the driveway by shovel.

That's what I get for eating Christmas cookies for breakfast! I guess I need to burn off some of the calories for those cookies (and all the other Christmas goodies that I baked yesterday and have been nibbling on ever since.) Anyway, stay tuned. Recipes for some of the goodies will be coming soon!

Winter Storm Warning

Well, get ready. Starting around midnight, the snow will start in earnest, and will keep going all day tomorrow, or so they say. Six to nine inches! (If this were a weekday, it would be the perfect recipe for a snow day!) I've actually tested that the snowblower is working, and I have plenty of baking, wrapping, and finishing of presents, so if I have to stay in all tomorrow, I won't mind. So stay safe and warm!