Storytelling Week 14:

Dear Diary:
There is a frog in my bed. I repeat, there is a FROG in my BED. And, I'm not allowed to move it! This is so stupid. And all because I dropped my ball in some water. You see, I was playing with my ball, you know the gold one that I love, and I dropped it and it just happened to fall into the deep, murky water. I was devastated, and this frog asked me what was wrong. I told it and it said it would fetch the ball under some conditions. I was desperate for my ball so of course I said yes (I barely even heard what he asked for). He brought it to me and I ran home elated. Then at dinner, I heard that dreaded awful sound. A plosh-plosh and then a knock at the door. There that darned frog was expecting his repayment. I tried to just push him away, but papa forced me to let him in. Then, as I had so stupidly promised, I had to let him sit next to me and eat off of my plate. After all of that, I then had to bring him upstairs and put him to sleep on MY pillow. Ugh, this is so frustrating! Well, I guess I better try to get some sleep anyway. I better not get warts from this darned frog!


Dear Diary:
I was so excited when that frog left this morning! I thought my problems were over as he was gone all day! But then, at dinner, I heard that plosh-plosh and then a knock at the door. That stupid frog was back and we did everything all over again. Here's hoping he leaves tomorrow and never comes back! Goodnight for now.

Dear Diary:
Well, it was round three today. Once again that frog left in the morning and I was tentatively happy. But at dinner there was that plosh-plosh and then a knock at the door. I really hope this does not last much longer. I am starting to wish I had left the precious gold ball behind. Goodnight.

Dear Diary:
Oh my goodness gracious, you would never guess what happened today! That stupid frog woke up this morning and transformed into a hunky prince. He told me that he had been under a spell and my letting him stay the three nights broke it. We are going to his KINGDOM tomorrow to be wed. I'm going to be a princess! Papa is so pleased and I cannot wait to live in a magnificent castle with the prince of my dreams. I am leaving this diary behind so that others can learn our wonderful story. But now, I am off to marry a prince!

By Walter Crane

Author's Note: I wrote this series of diary entries based on the story The Frog Prince. I really love the story and decided that it would make for really funny diary entries from the princess's perspective. I also liked the idea of her leaving the diary behind when she starts her new life. She is just conceited enough to want her story everywhere. The plot of this story runs rather parallel to the original story, this was more a change of format than a change of anything plot related. I hope you enjoy my rendition of The Frog Prince.

Bibliography: This story is based off of The Frog Prince from Fairy Tales by the Brother's Grimm. Because this is a collection of stories by Project Gutenberg, there is no reported author to credit.

Reading Diary Week 14: Brother's Grimm Librivox

These are my thoughts on the stories in the first half of the Brother's Grimm Librivox unit. These stories come from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm which is from project Gutenberg.

The Frog Prince: This story was actually not that dark for a Brother's Grimm story. It was close to the story I know of this title. Overall, I enjoyed it, though the ending is a little too perfect.

Rapunzel: I had not realized until now just how much of the plot of Into The Woods came from the Grimm's Rapunzel story. I realized Rapunzel and her prince were in it, but I did not realize how well the baker and his wife's story also fit in. It was fun to read this and compare the similarities and differences.

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: I do not think I had ever heard this story before. It was equal parts adorable and morbid which is an odd combination but somehow that worked well. I enjoyed it.

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage: The idea of this random collection of creatures and sausage living together greatly amused me. The story overall was quite morbid but in an ironic and therefore digestible way.

The Travelling musicians: I liked that all of the characters in this story were not in their prime but still managed to make a good end of life for themselves (albeit at the expense of the robbers).

Clever Elsie: This was an odd story. I did not really understand it and did not particularly like it. Overall definitely not my favorite.

Briar Rose: This is a story I know many versions of rather well, including this one. It was nice to refresh my knowledge of the story though as it is one that I always enjoy.

By Walter Crane

Famous Last Words: Week 13

I wanted to use this post to talk about a struggle that I have every semester. I have issues with mental health that usually result in me falling behind at some point in the semester and then I have to race to catch up at the end. Every semester I say that I am not going to let myself have that problem and so I do not talk to my professors about it thinking I can keep it from happening. But then I inevitably fall behind in at least one class, usually two, and I then feel like I cannot talk to the professor after the fact because it would sound like making up excuses. So here I am again at the end of the semester, and I am in fact catching up in three of my classes right before graduation. In grad school I hope I can swallow my pride and talk to professors ahead of time. I think I have finally learned my lesson and will be able to do so. At least I hope I have. Which is why I am writing this post so that I have a documentation of my realization that I can look back on to remind me. Hopefully having a concrete sample of me telling myself to get over my pride and do the thing will help me be convinced to do it.

On a lighter note, I am super excited for the end of the semester because I get to graduate! It took a lot of work to still be able to graduate in four years with honors, and I have almost done it! Despite all of my setbacks, I am going to walk that stage on the 14th which is so exciting and I cannot wait for that to be accomplished. So thanks to this class for helping me finish up my last semester and tackle some problems I have. This class has been more than I could have ever hoped and I will recommend it to any and everyone every opportunity that I get.

Graduation Cap

Learning Challenge: Pomodoro Technique

Since I did a tech tip for the google timer this week, I thought I would do the pomodoro technique for my learning challenge. This technique has you select a task to work on and set a timer for 25 minutes. You then work at the task until the timer goes off and then take a short break (I chose 3 minutes). Every fourth time you take a longer break. This is actually really helpful for me and I really love it! So glad I tried it! Sometimes I found that I needed to shorten to 15 minutes because I was having trouble focusing, but it was okay because after my break I got right back to work. So great!

Pomodoro Technique

Growth Mindset Memes

For this challenge I looked through some fantastic growth mindset memes and picked out my favorite:

Laura Gibbs and Cheezburger

I chose this meme because I really love the imagery of active curiosity. It makes me think of digging in sand or climbing on your tippie-toes to discover something which I think is fantastic. I love the idea of curiosity requiring action because true curiosity really does spark energy!

Google Timer Tech Tip

So I did not know you could use google as a timer, but you can and it is super useful! I think I am going to start using timers as incentive. As in if I work for 30 minutes I get a 5 minute break and then use the timer to keep track. I think this could help my productivity by structuring how often I get breaks and how long they are so I can get back to work!

Storytelling Week 13: The Fox and the Stork

Author's Note: This story is based off of the tale "The Fox and the Stork" from the La Fontaine unit. I did not change the plot at all really so there is no need to summarize that here. What I did do however is something I thought worthy of mentioning before reading the story which is why this note comes first. Every single word in this story is only one syllable! I got this idea from the storytelling style random generator and it was so fun to do! I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a way to do their last story next week. I hope you enjoy this monosyllabic version of "The Fox and the Stork."



Once there was a fox and a stork. The fox would oft' play tricks on the stork, but the stork would just turn a blind eye to these antics. One day the fox got up to his rude ways once more. He made a call for the stork to come eat a late day meal at his home. The stork much to his own shock said yes 'fore he knew what he did. So, at dusk he set out for the home of the fox.

Fox took stork's cloak and led him to the heart of the den. There they sat and had a short chat till fox said "I will get the meal." He brought out two bowls though they could scarce be called that for the depth was less than an inch. Each bowl held a bit of broth. The fox set down the bowls and got down to his meal. He used his tongue to lap up the thin soup. But the stork, try as he might could not get even one sip. His beak was much too long and his tongue much too thin. He tried and tried but got not one drop. When fox was done with his food, stork left with his tum left void. Though he said not a word of his woe to the fox.

By John Rae

The next day, stork made a call for the fox to come eat at his home. The fox was glad to say yes to the stork. He thought it might be good to see stork's house to help him come up with a new trick close to home. When the fox got there, stork sat him down in the nest. He then went and came back with one tall vase and then one more. The best smell came out of the vase as the two braced to start the meal. The stork then used his long beak to peck at the food in his vase. He ate and ate and ate. The fox, though, could not get his nose through the top of his vase. Though he tried he got not one bite. He left the meal most stung, while the stork was most pleased.

The fox had a void deep in his gut where a nice meal should have been. He was not pleased at all with what had gone down. And that fox thought twice 'fore he pulled any more tricks on that wise old stork.

Bibliography: "The Fox and the Stork" is from Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks by W.T. Larned (1918)