Halloween Through the Years

For Your Sheer Entertainment, I thought I would pose some comical pictures of my past Halloween's. Feel Free to laugh and enjoy.

Me in 1989 at my aunts house as a bunny....not really sure why I'm crying, lol!
1990, my sis says I look like a mischievous tiger, lol!

1992 I believe, in my pre school parade waving at my mom!

1993 as Jasmine. It was really cold, so I had a sweat shirt under my costume andII hadn't really worn make up before, so I was afraid to put my lips together and mess up the lipstick.....must have been afraid to blink too which is why my eyes are that wide!

My sister, Emily's First Halloween! She was the cutest cow!!

1996, I am Pocahontas (not really sure what's with the mask) and Em is Big Bird...a very small Big Bird.

Me and my Poodle Skirt in 1997, got to dress up for school! :)

Gotta Love Home Made Costumes! I'm Candy Buttons and my sis, of course, is Minnie Mouse.

Here's the last pic, from about 2003. My Sis is a Witch and I am a Show Girl!

Hope you enjoyed laughing at these blast from the past pics!

Happy Halloween!!

A Big Disney Halloween to All!

The True Disney Fan wishes one and all a Safe and Happy Halloween!

"Its Halloween-loween everybody
Let out a scream
Yea its Halloween!
Its Halloween-loween everybody
Its Halloween
Give a Scream its Halloween!"

"When hinges creak in doorless chambers, And strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls Whenever candlelights flicker Where the air is deathly still That is the time when ghosts are present Practicing their terror with Ghoulish delight!"

"This is Halloween, everybody make a scene Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright It's our town, everybody scream In this town of Halloween"

"I want to scare myself!"

"Boo To You!"

"Hurry Back.....Hurry Baaack be sure to bring your death certificate if you decide to join us make final arrangements now. We are dying to have you."

The Disucator: Creepy Creeps with Eerie Eyes- A Descriptive Writing Lesson

Do your students need to practice writing descriptively? Why not use the holiday to your advantage? Follow this fun lesson plan to have the children talk about their own Haunted Mansion.

Subject: Language Arts
Grade: Can be adapted from Kindergarten through 5th Grade
Estimated Time: 40 to 50 Minutes

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to

• learn describing words
• be able to describe a haunted house
• write a paragraph about haunted houses

Materials:

• Haunted Mansion book and audio (can be found at http://www.mousevinyl.com/content/haunted-mansion-disneyland-records)
  
• Access to a computer and projector (if this is not available, the children can take turns watching it on the computer or the teacher can just read it out loud to them without showing them the pictures)

Procedure

1. Ask the students what they think a haunted house looks like. Ask them what a haunted house has in it and what makes it a haunted house.
2. Write the descriptive and key words the children say on the board
3. Show them the Haunted Mansion book
   
4. Have the children write for 15 to 20 minutes about a haunted house they visited or a haunted house they would make. Make sure they use some descriptive words that are on the board and were in the Haunted Mansion story. (For the younger grades, you can have them draw a picture of their haunted house instead of writing about it and the writing samples can be from a couple sentences to a paragraph or story. Allow the children to be creative, let the ones writing even draw a picture of their haunted mansion if there is time for them to do so.)
5. When they are done, allow the children time to share their writing/picture with the other students

This is a fun activity to work on children's writing skills and descriptive thinking, plus it gets them in the holiday spirit! Feel free to use the descriptive words that are given in other fun holiday ways, including a word search, crossword or even a Halloween themed Hangman game!

Thank you to www.mousevinyl.com for the awesome Haunted Mansion book and audio used in this lesson.

Check out www.teach-nology.com/web_tools for an excellent Word Search maker among other great teacher tools.

Until our next lesson, class dismissed! (And a Happy Halloween!)

A Shiny New Addition for Disney Weddings

Disney has found almost every way of making everything needed for the ultimate in Disney weddings. But now they are reaching out to a new area they have not entered before; pre-wedding! How are they doing this you might ask. Why, by designing the very thing that begins most all wedding plans-the Engagement Ring!

Yes, Disney now has its name on a selected variety of rings and bands designed by none other than Kristie Kelly, the designer of the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Dresses! She has designed gorgeous rings, inspired by the princesses, just as her gowns are. You can find her designs on Pascal Mouawad's website by clicking here.

There is a catch to these rings though. According to www.luxist.com, the rings are semi-mounts, which means that the center stone of the engagement rings are not included in the price, which alone are $1,200 to $6,000. To pay for the ring, then to have to pay for the stone on top will make the ring a pretty hefty price once it is together. See luxist.com's article on the rings by clicking here.

The price may be steep, but if is what you really want to show your lifetime commitment to the one you love, then it is yours for the taking! What will Disney come up with next??

The Disucator: Decorating Disney Style

Before the lessons are planned, before the students even walk through the door, there is one thing that a teacher must do: Set up their classroom!!

Decorating a classroom is a time consuming but fun task, and even though there are some things that teachers must have in their rooms, there is plenty of opportunities to make it your own and show off your passions. If your passion is Disney, here are some ideas to create a Disucator's classroom:

• Collect the small stuffed animals and put them on your desk, bookshelves, and window ledges around the room. Swap them out throughout the year for the holiday stuffies to get your classroom in the holiday spirit.

• Have Disney pictures on your bulletin boards to add some thematic fun! Look for specific bulletin board ideas in future posts of The Disucator.

• Small snowglobes, statues or action figures can be placed almost anywhere in the room. The new sensation, Vinalmation, is good to place around the room as well.

• Need some cubby or locker name tags? Try using the Mickey Mouse paint samples you can get at Home Depot. You can also get a paper punch at your local craft store or scrapbooking store that makes Mickey Heads and glue the Mickey head to index cards for name tags.

Do you have any more ideas? Send me an email at lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com with your idea or just leave a comment on the blog!

Until our next lesson, class dismissed!

New Doctor-Old Medications

Tuesday the 13th, I went and met my new rheumatologist. She is at Christiana Hospital in Delaware. I admit, I was upset not to be going to the children's hospital anymore, but one must move on when they hit the age of 21.

What made me miss the children's hospital the most was the change in exam rooms. In the old hospital, there were butterflies painted by some of the children on the ceiling tiles and colorful posters, including ones with Mickey Mouse, in the rooms. At this new hospital, there was not much color and on the walls of the rooms, there were posters describing the disabling process that RA takes on the body, including this one terrible poster that showed the joint damage that happens to hands over time and I could not look at it because seeing what may happen to me someday upsets me and is something I do not want to think about right now. I just want to focus on what I am doing now and keeping myself the way I am right now, dwelling on the future and what may happen does nothing for me.

The doctor herself was very nice and I am quite excited to be going to see her! She explained everything well and did not cause any pain during my exam at all! She is definitely a good doctor to go to and am looking forward to my follow-up in 2 months.

Why do I have a follow-up in 2 months? First is because my doctor is pregnant and she wants to see me one more time before she takes her maternity leave. The second is because we may have to decide on a new medication to start me on. The short of it is that I am having problems getting the Enbrel because of the insurance plan that I have and I may not be able to stay on it. This really stinks because this medication was making me feel better than I have in years. Right now I am not on anything, this is the first week of being on nothing and we are gonna see how bad I am in the next couple weeks. Depending on how fast I decline will decide what the doctor prescribes me just to keep me going until the appointment. After that, we will decide what route to take next. If everything works out, I will be on the Enbrel once again and everything will be fine. If this does not work out, we are looking at 3 options. 1-Another type of shot just like Enbrel (Humira, Symphoni...) 2- A 3 hour infusion every other month (the medication begins with an R, but i keep forgetting the name of it) and 3- Back a step to the Methotrexates! My goal: Avoid the Methotrexates at all cost! It all depends on what happens in the next few months, so we shall see.

How am I feeling right now? So far, not much pain, I have just been feeling a bit run down, but this could also be because of school. The next couple days are going to be pretty cold here, so that will be a test on my body for sure, but we shall see what happens. I will keep this blog posted with what happens as this process continues.

Hidden Mickeys: a Fourth Edition of Scavenger Fun!

Looking for something to keep the children entertained while going from ride to ride in Walt Disney World? Looking for some fun and a great competitive experience on your vacation? Look no further than the newest edition of Steven Barrett’s award winning book series Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Walt Disney World’s Best Kept Secrets, with challenging and exciting Mickey hunts!

You may see this book and think “4^th Edition? Is there anything really different from the first 3?” and the answer is a big YES! I happened to have the 3^rd edition already, so I did a side by side analysis of the two books. I found that the first chapter, which is all of the rules and explanations for the Hidden Mickey hunts, were completely alike! The only reason the 4^th edition has two more pages in this chapter is because the “Contributors” to the book have two more pages of names than the 3^rd edition. It is no wonder there are so many more contributors because there are so many more Mickeys!

That means that the rest of the book, including the extra 31 pages, are all brand new Hidden Mickeys!! And BOY are there a lot of new Mickeys! I found several examples during my analysis in the first hunt through Magic Kingdom. Near the beginning of the hunt, you are told to go to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and in the 3^rd edition, find 3 hidden Mickeys. In the 4^th edition, you are told to look for an incredible 14 Mickeys on Pirates! That is 11 new Hidden Mickeys, just on one ride!

I have always found the layout of these books to be very fun and entertaining as well! The way that the hunts are set up (taking you around the park and on many major rides, telling you when to watch the parade and when you should eat and suggestions where to eat) really allow you to see a lot, find a bunch of Hidden Mickeys and have a great time! The thoroughness of the layout as well simply amazes me! How all of these Hidden Mickeys were found I will never know, but it is something amazing! I also like that the hunts are organized for each park, and then separate hunts for the resorts and for the non-park places, such as Downtown Disney and the water parks.

As a huge Disney Parks fan, I give this Hidden Mickeys book two thumbs way up! Get it to keep your children entertained. Heck, get it to keep YOU entertained! I know that’s why I have it! Next time I am down in the parks, you can bet you will find me with this book wide open, rushing off to the next ride!

For information on purchasing Steven Barrett’s Hidden Mickeys, go to your local bookstore, bookstores online, the Walt Disney World Resort or visit http://www.intrepidtraveler.com/.

For information on other Steven Barrett products and the press release on his newest books, visit http://www.theotherorlando.com/hm4.html.

The Disucator: Incorporating Disney into your Classroom

So, as you may or may not know (depending on how far you have read into my blog), I am an education major at Neumann University in Pennsylvania. I have wanted to be a teacher for many many years and I am so excited that my dream is less than 2 years away!

Ever since my love of Disney has grown, I have been thinking of ways to incorporate Disney into the classroom. I want to be able to share my passion with all of my students. I was not able to really think of many ways until this semester. My field experience has me out every Thursday for 8 weeks, all day, teaching and interacting in classrooms. The classroom I am in, a 4th grade room at a nearby catholic school, could not have been better picked for me! My mentor teacher is a huge Disney fan and is helping to give me ideas of how to incorporate Disney into the classroom! Learning from her has been so much fun and has given me a lot of ideas on my own! With having all of these ideas, I have decided to spread the knowledge and share with all of you the ideas of how to turn your classroom into a Disney fun-filled environment; how you can become a Disney Educator, or a Disucator!

I will be posting all the different ideas that I come up with here on my blog under the heading and tag of "The Disucator". I will have everything, from behavioral tactics, to decorating ideas and even some actual lesson plans that are filled with Disney fun while still fitting in with the general educational standards (I will be looking at the Pennsylvania State Standards as a base for educational guidelines, individual state and country standards may be different, but I will try to give a general category where you can find which one of your standards the lesson falls under.)

I really hope that everyone will enjoy this new series of my blog and if you have any feedback about the lessons, please let me know! Send me comments, let me know if you try the lesson, if you like it or not, if you would use it in your classroom, if you would enjoy the lesson or even if you have any ideas about lessons that you would like me to post about! I would love any and all feedback! And not just feedback from you "Disucators", I would love to know what parents and kids think of these ideas as well! Leave a comment on the post or send me an email at lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com.

Until our next lesson, class dismissed!

The Disney Fun Just Keeps on Comin'!

First, I got to do this great Disney radio show called Imagine the Magic on my University radio station, every Monday at 4pm EST. Then, I got the position as the Social Media Admin for Celebrations Magazine! And now, as if my luck could not get any better, some more pixie dust heads my way in the form of the Sorcom Review on Sorcerer Radio.

One of the live DJ's on Sorcerer Radio, Chris Reid, was doing two shows on SR, the Tiki Room Morning Show and the Sorcom Review. Unfortunately, his schedule became very busy and he was no longer able to broadcast both shows during their regular times. So in the last week, major changes have come to the Sorcerer Radio Schedule, including the change of the TRMS from being 5 days a week to being just 1 day a week for 2 hours, every Friday. What is taking the place of the TRMS Monday through Thursday? Why the other live shows on srsounds.com of course! DW_60 with Jeff Davis is now every Thursday at 8 am EST and his new show, SRN Top 10, which lists off the top 10 songs for the week on Sorcerer Radio, airs every Monday at 8am EST. Backstage with Krystal is Wednesdays at 8am EST. This leaves the Sorcom Review. Chris could no longer broadcast this show, so who could they get to replace him? Why who else but the girl who filled in on the TRMS the one day that Chris was sick a few weeks ago....what was her name again??...

Yep, that's right! I am the new host of the Sorcom Review, bringing you the news from the Sorcerer Radio message boards and playing your favorite Disney music at 8am EST every Tuesday. I will talk about videos, trip reports, community birthdays and big stories that are happening on the Sorcerer Forums as well as let everyone know how they can get involved it the community.

I am so grateful to Sorcerer, the owner and head honcho of Sorcerer Radio, for letting me become a part of his great community and family of DJ's!!

So make sure to tune in every Tuesday at 8am EST and for the replay at 7pm EST for the Sorcom Review! Send me any requests and comments to lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com. And check out all of the other great programming that is on Sorcerer Radio as well, just visit their website at www.srsounds.com. From there you can enter the chatroom, the forums and get lots more great Disney information!

Hurray for lack of medications!

I just wanted to write a quick little entry for everyone who has been following my health issues over the last few months. As of this past Thursday, the 1st of October, I am no longer on any pills! No pills to take at breakfast time! This is the first time in over 5 years, since I was diagnosed, that I have not had to take a pill. I just have the weekly injections now, which have been going pretty well! Finally, all has seemed to settle in my health world, and I am so glad for it!!