Snow Goose Festival and Topaz Internment Ruins

Lately each weekend Doug and I have been doing activities that we call "choose your own adventure." The name is based on books that were around when we were kids where the reader chose what would happen next and turn to a specific page number to continue the chosen adventure. Our first adventure was to Delta to the Snow Goose Festival. During their migration from Southern California back to Northern Canada, the geese stop at the local reservoir for a much needed rest.

After visiting the lake, we went to a Mexican restaurant which had beautiful murals on the walls.

Down the street was the Great Basin Museum where I got entranced by the ancient TV.

On the way back to the car we saw a map at the city park of how to get to the site of the historic Topaz Internment Camp. After about a twenty minute drive we arrived at a sage brush field with a sign posted at the corner. We wandered around and saw the ruins.

On the way back to town we saw some snow geese in a farmer's field.

I think we chose a pretty good adventure for the first time. It was a long day be we saw some really cool things. If you have any suggestions of adventures, let me know in the comments below or through email.

Cardstock Boxes

My late great-aunt taught me how to make these boxes and I thought I'd share the fun. 

Although these are quite small because I started with a 6x6 piece of cardstock, you can start with a much bigger square for bigger boxes. If you want a bottom and top to your box, just cut a second piece of cardstock a little bit smaller than the first and slip the smaller one inside the bigger one once the boxes are complete.

You will need: 

a square piece of cardstock (paper is too flimsy for anything but practice)

a ruler

a pencil

scissors

glue or double stick tape

a hard surface for folding

a hard instrument (like a bone folder) to make sharp creases

Start with a square piece of cardstock.

Turn it over. Then draw a line in the middle from one corner to the other.

Draw one the other direction too.

You will end up with an "X" in the middle of you paper.

Fold a corner to touch the center of the "X." Make very sharp creases; I used a bone folder.

Repeat on the opposite side.

Then fold the third corner to the center.

And repeat with the final corner.

Fold the right side to the center.

Repeat wit the left side.

Unfold, then fold the top and bottom toward the center.

After folding each side to the center your box should look something like this.

Unfold completely and cut along the sections I have marked with pencil.

After you cut, your cardstock should look like this.

Fold the two points that have more material toward the center.

You will end up with two pointy flaps on each side.

Bring them together.

Press them toward the bottom of the box.

Bring the corner up and fold it over those pointy flaps.

Get everything snug inside this fold.

Press the triangle into the center with some glue or double stick tape.

Repeat joining the pointy flaps on the other side.

Fold over the corner.

Make it all nice and tight.

Tuck it in, glue it, and Ta Da! your box is complete.

I made three boxes with similar prints of cardstock.

This is my first in-depth step-by-step tutorial with pictures. Please let me know in the comments

if you try this, how it works, and what could have been more clear. Thanks!

One Step Closer

On Saturday, October 19 at 3pm I took the Praxis test for English content knowledge. To be able to teach in my lovely state I had to get at least 162. When I left the testing center I was nervous. It was hard for me to tell how well I had done. Today I logged on to the official website to get my score. The test is 130 questions but the questions are weighted differently and they throw out some questions. It's a pretty crazy scoring system and there's basically no way to figure out if you passed based on raw scores. On the score report sheet it says "Possible Range Score" 100-200 and next to that my score: 197! I'm officially one step closer to being a certified English teacher.