Heather In Progress

Mad Men

2012-01-15T22:21:00.004-07:00

Last night I dreamed about two mad men. One with a blue box, one on a ship.

At first, The Doctor (Tenth) was with a bunch of people trying to get them to safety. It was like I was there among them, but also watching the show, like you do in dreams. There was an awful lot of running involved... seriously, a lot. He had on his blue suit and red Converse, my favorite look for him. (No coat, though.) I don't remember much else than that.

Then, the way dreams do, things changed a little and The Doctor was suddenly Captain Jack Sparrow. His is a somewhat different style of running, but now we/they were fleeing a big building, a great big old hotel. I think it was burning down or being attacked or something? We ended up on the beach between the sea grass that led up to the hotel and the waves. It was night.

That was all, really. Two of my favorite fictional characters, two of my heroes. Both quite mad. Brilliant at times, but very, very daft at others. (Texting and scones.) And since there was really no point to this post at all, here are two videos about my darlings running.

Captain Jack Sparrow's signature panicked run:

And a whole song about how much running is involved for The Doctor's companion:

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2012-01-01T19:52:00.007-07:00

In 2011:

I turned ~~a quarter of a century old~~ 26 OHMYGOSH why can't I remember how old I am???
I finished my first year of teaching -- 8th grade Language Arts.
I spent my first summer completely free from any job or obligations... and it was wonderful.
I built a blanket-and-pillow fort in my living room and spent the whole day in it--twice.
I dyed my hair purple for a while. Then black, to cover up the purple and be an adult again.
I hosted a Harry Potter party, a Star Wars party, and co-hosted another HP party and a beautiful candlelit Edgar Allan Poe party.
I sewed things.
I knit things.
I crocheted things.
I wrote 50,000 words of a novel for the 7th year in a row during November's NaNoWriMo challenge.
I had a couple of outdoor tea parties with my wonderful knitting group, Weekly Fiber.
I rode my bicycle, Mabel (although not as much as I would have liked to).
I wandered the Farmer's Market several times, although I only ever bought peaches and a delicious ham and cheese crepe.
I lived on almost nothing but Ramen and beans for a week at a time, several times.
I got a cat, and we slowly got used to one another.
I spent way too much time on Facebook and Pinterest (which probably contributed to the minimal blogging).
I spent a fantastic weekend in Denver with my husband, who whisked me away for a birthday getaway of rich food, a funny play, lots of walking, and even a little history.
I had some really spectacular fails as a teacher, but some really great wins, too.
I became obsessed with 1920's fashion, hair, makeup, and music.
I helped plant grass in our tiny back yard.
I spent my fourth Christmas without my little brother, Logan. Miss him every day.
I became very discouraged about ever getting pregnant after a heartbreaking miscarriage in 2010, then angry with God, then resigned, then at peace that everything will happen in his perfect timing.
I said goodbye to some wonderful 8th graders, and was holding the door wide open for others to leave.
I welcomed a new crop of 8th graders, who seemed so small and strange at the beginning of the year, and how are now just "my kids" (although they are still certainly strange).
I grew a little more distant from some friends and a little closer with others.
I read a lot of really good books and a few crummy ones.
I hosted a nice little New Year's Eve party last night with board games, snacks, and good friends.

Goodbye, 2011! You were a good year, a hard year, a memorable year.

In 2012:

I will spend less time on the computer and more time reading books.
I will purge useless/broken/unwanted/unused stuff from the house.
I will write at night in my Book of Days planner/journal at least a few lines about that day.
I will be a better housekeeper (which will hopefully be easier to do with less Stuff).
I will be a better listener and not an interrupter or a wait-until-you're-done-talking-so-I-can-say-what-I-wanted-to-say-er.
I will pray more.
I will write more--more letters, more blog posts, more journal entries, more stories, more poems.
I will find a lesson plan format that works for me and I will plan in advance as well as I am able.
I will remember that I am not teaching Language Arts, I am teaching people.
I will not dwell on the past any more than I can absolutely help.
I will Skype loved ones that live far away.
I will love this year.

Welcome, 2012!

Poe Night

2011-10-25T18:37:00.013-06:00

Welcome to the (first annual?) Edgar Allan Poe Night, co-hosted by Ann and Heather at Ann's house on the evening of 21 October, 2011.

For you literary types, you can play Spot the Allusion. We have bits from "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Raven" (several times over--you may find a [paper] bust of Pallas over a doorway if you look very closely) of course, gifts from the Poe Toaster (the mysterious man who visits Poe's grave every year on his birthday), and "The Fall of the House of Usher."

There were also black paper cutouts of rats lurking around the walls from "The Pit and the Pendulum", Ravenwood red wine, blank bookmarks to decorate with fake quills (red Bic pens with black feathers taped on top), plenty of old books, lots of candles, plates with quotes from Poe's poetry, prose, and criticism written on them, mismatched wine glasses, banners made from fabric and pages from an old, falling-apart book containing some of Poe's stories, illustrations from that same book adorning the table, wonderful food, and even better company. The whole thing was conducted solely by candlelight.

We played True or False with facts about Poe's life and works, and everyone learned a little something. Someone read a poem that reminded him of Poe and someone else read the poem from "House of Usher." Thanks very much to my friend Ann for hosting; all I did was bring decorations the day before and help set the table earlier that evening. Everyone had a wonderful time, and I can't wait to do it again, whether it's another Poe Party next October or a night honoring another author in a few months!

New Dress and (better) New Hair and New Grass

2011-07-10T17:42:00.009-06:00

There was still quite a lot of dye left on my hair even after washing (and washing and washing) it out, so in the pictures I took the night I did it, it looked almost black. Well, after another good washing, the extra dye is gone and you can actually see the purple!

I made a new dress.

It basically looked like a shower curtain at first what with the ruffle at the top and the length, so I added the sash and halter tie. Much better.

I wore this to the Farmer's Market on Thursday evening. I got a compliment on the dress and several on the hair. One little girl who was riding her bike down a side street with helmet, training wheels and all, practically screamed, "Mommy, purple hair!" as I stepped down an alley to Main Street. It made me giggle.

The fabric is from a vintage sheet I got at Salvation Army or Goodwill or a yard sale. It's been so long I don't remember. Last summer, I made a drawstring backpack out of one of the pillow cases and some turquoise fabric.

Twirl! Always required after making and trying on a new dress.

You can also see our new grass, which is about a month old now. It still needs to fill in some spaces, but so far, so good! I'm just waiting for our water bill, which is sure to be massive. Although if this rain keeps up, maybe not!

New Hair

2011-07-05T17:05:00.009-06:00

If you know me at all, you probably won't be surprised by what you're about to see. I got my hair cut quite short again (it was still short, but it had grown out for nearly three months), then made another change.

Bleach on

Bleached!
(I look like I belong in an anime....)

Purple hair!

This is how I usually wear my hair.

It's not very very purple. It actually turned out almost black, and is only purple in certain lights or at certain angles. Maybe as I wash it and it fades a little, it'll be lighter and more noticeable.

Sometimes I wear my hair like this.

Thanks, Mom, for being my hairdresser! I don't have to look like a teacher for another month and a half, so why not, right? I love it!

Autograph Book

2011-06-25T15:09:00.015-06:00

I went to 5 or 6 different yard sales on the way home from knitting group this morning. AMAZINGLY, I only bought stuff at three of them, though I totally made out like a bandit, especially at one! I've been looking for some very specific things, which I might start showing you after a bit, and I did not let myself look at any clothes (er, except I did buy a Cheshire Cat t-shirt and a pretty wrap skirt, and I coveted a couple of fur coats but didn't buy them). I could yammer on about the other things I got, but I'll save that for later. Today I want to tell you about the autograph book.

An autograph book is a little book of blank pages in which a person collects the autographs of friends and acquaintances, although they often also contain little notes, poems, rhymes, jokes, or even drawings.

I like how she added "Sunday" before School-day Memories, and wrote the name of her teacher, "Brother Wilcox" instead of the more typical year she graduated from that class. It's also got her address, which you can bet I will be scoping out soon, if possible.

This is the autograph book of Annie Lillian Lambert. I know her middle name, even though it isn't in the autograph book, because I also bought her 5-year diary, which was sporadically filled out for 1943 up until July 16th, with three entries in 1944. (The diary, the autograph book, and a really cute 1930's children's book I got for $1 all together.) In the diary, she mostly wrote about the parties she went to with friends, receiving letters from various boys, who drove her home or who she sat next to on rides around town (and what a "swell guy" the beau of the moment was), and the occasional prayer meeting at church or test at school.

The first handful of pages appear to be filled in by visiting preachers, maybe at revivals or just from gentlemen who came to preach at her church. I know sometimes "back in the day," nearby towns used to swap preachers for a Sunday. After that, the rest of the pages (and there are many!) are written in by Sunday School friends. There are also quite a few from people she met at a church camp called Pinecrest (written "Pine Crest" in the book) Camp in Palmer Lake, Colorado. A Google search pulled up The Historic Pinecrest, a lovely place to get married, with a chapel, an event center, and a lodge. Only the chapel looks like it might be remotely "historic," but I couldn't find anything more about it. Either it's a different place altogether, or it's undergone a lot of remodeling since 1945.

"May 28, 1944

Dear Annie,

Cows like punkins
Pigs like squash
I like you
I do by gosh!

A friend
Ruth Rupe"

There are several Rupes in the book; I assume they're siblings and/or cousins around Annie's age.

"June 11, 1944
Grand Junction, Colo.

Dear Annie,

Annie is your name.
Grand Jct. is your station,
Flearting (sic) with the boys
is your chief accupation (sic).

Sgt. George Gray
&
Bertha Whitesel
&
Flora Rupe"

I wonder where she met these folks! I'll bet she was very excited to spend time with a Sergeant! And who are Bertha and Flora, and why did they feel the need to sign the same page but in lead pencil as opposed to the blue pencil George signed with? Just friends being silly after the fact, or were they really there and just used a different pencil?

"Aug. 16, 1945

Dear Ann,

When you are kissing your sweetheart,
Out by the gate,
Remember, love's blind
but the neighbors ain't.

Your friend at Youth Camp,
Carlene Alexander"

From the 1944 diary entries, I'm assuming she's at least in high school from all the talk about "driving around" and "he drove me home!" Was she really that big a flirt and that boy-crazy? Or am I just getting a small part of the story--the things she thought were important and wanted to write about and the things her friends wanted to remember and tease her about.

Many of the preachers and some of the friends or acquaintances wrote well-wishes and exhorted her (one even used that word, exhort!) to live a life for God, that she would be a blessing to others, that the Lord would bless her, that God needs her talents, and so on. Reverend C.E. Myers from Osborn, Missouri, at a revival in Grand Junction on May 6, 1944, wrote Rom. 11:33 on his page. The verse is, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" John H. Kane of Anderson, Indiana, (camper, preacher, or friend?) recommended Annie memorize 1 Cor. 10:13, as "It will help you much." That verse is, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Lila Mae (with whom Annie spent many days and nights, according to the diary) wrote "In your fruitcake of friends, remember me as the nut!" after her little note, but she wrote it upside down and added in the corner, "Ha! ha! I made you turn upside down." There's also some sort of code on the edge of her page. I'm sure they were very close friends with lots of inside jokes.

There are several references to the colors of the pages, usually in rhyme (these are only a couple): "I'll be polite and write on white/ And save the yellow for your fellow." (Lila Mae) "I'll write on yellow 'cause it is mellow" (Myron Hogen/Hagen?) In the book there are white, yellow, pink, and blue pages. I think this must be typical for autograph books because of the rhymes, which the folks who signed must have memorized and written often in various autograph books. One person named Lowell Ely (maybe? water smudged it) wrote around in a spiral, "Some people write up some write down Just to be different I will write around." Bertha Whitesel (who may or may not have known Sgt. George Gray!) added to the end of her cute poem, "Yours till the Mississippi wears rubber pants to keep its bottom dry." I also saw "Yours til the butter flies," and, "Yours till the popcorn balls."

I'm sure this is WAY MORE information than any of you really wanted or certainly needed, but I just love this whole thing! I understand the thrill of being a historian or an archeologist, now. You only have so much to work with, but by putting pieces together, matching up handwriting, finding out information on places, dates, and names, and using a little imagination, you can put together a picture of someone's life decades or even centuries in the past!

Did any of you ever have an autograph book? What are some memorable things you've seen in autograph books or yearbooks? What sorts of things did you used to write?

Wii Fit

2011-06-16T15:13:00.003-06:00

I got the Wii Fit out today for the first time in probably more than a year.

A small part of it is guilt that we spent all that money (Wii, Balance Board, and game) a couple of years ago and never use the dang thing. Mostly, though, it's that I hurt. I hurt when I wake up in the morning, I hurt when I sit in my desk chair, I hurt when I curl up on the couch with a movie. Notice how all those things involve not moving. There's my problem. So I'm going to start moving again.

During the school year, I'm standing up and sitting down a million times a day. I'm standing at the front of the classroom, I'm walking up and down between the desks, I'm perching on my stool, I'm walking to the office, the library, a classroom for meetings. I'm bending down to see a student's paper and edit with him, I'm stretching up to pull the projector screen down.

Since school got out, I've ridden my bike once (a whole 2 miles, woo) and taken two or three walks with the dog and/or husband. Other than that, I've been in front of my computer, on the couch, in bed, or on the floor in my Luxury Tent. All this non-activity on top of my scoliosis means... I hurt.

I don't want to hurt more than I already do, so I started out with only 15 credits on the Wii Fit. (Each exercise gives you a certain number of credits, usually just one or two per activity.) I'll work my way up to 30 where I was before, when we first got the Wii Fit and I was doing it every day. I do mostly Yoga and Balance, with a little Strength and a little Aerobic.

I also intend to ride my bike at least a couple times a week. Walks are okay, but kind of boring unless I have the husband to talk to. Taking the dog is a pain because she's, well, stupid, and gets all tangled up around our legs, pulls ahead, pulls behind, etc. One of my goals this summer, though, is to teach her how to take a walk nicely, so we'll keep working on that.

Don't get me wrong, though. I still fully intend to read a lot, watch lots of movies and TV series (huzzah for instant Netflix!), sew, and waste time on the internet! I love having summers off!

Knitting Tea Party

2011-06-11T17:30:00.009-06:00

Today was Knit In Public Day. The library hosted a get-together on the front lawn, and a lady from the yarn shop downtown came as well. (And handed out coupons. Evil woman. I saw everyone from our little group at the yarn shop right after the library thing was over!)

Our knitting group, Weekly Fiber, meets Saturday mornings at various coffee shops to chat and knit (or crochet or embroider or hand sew or whatever--mostly knit). We assumed this event would just be a "come set up your lawn chairs wherever and chat" kind of thing, so we decided to bring a table and chairs, and I brought my fancy antique tea cups, tea set, coffee pot, and cloth napkins. That way we could still get our usual caffeine fix! One lady also brought muffins and scones.

It ended up that the library had a display of knitting books, chairs, and an awning... on the other side of the tree where we had room to set up in the shade. We felt slightly anti-social, sitting apart, but we enjoyed ourselves, and several people came over to say hi.

Melissa, Ann, me

After a while, a woman and her just-out-of-college daughter joined us and enjoyed some tea and conversation. It was a lovely morning with perfect weather! We're all very glad we went.

***

Last week when I lived in the Luxury Tent for a couple of days, I got on a 1920's kick and researched fashion, shoes, hairstyles, makeup, food.... This website was a great help (and makes me really want to go to that event)! Then, of course, I decided to sew my own 20's dress. It wasn't just flappers! Very few women wore fringed dresses, headbands with feathers, and rolled down stockings. (There were no fishnets unless you were *gasp* in a burlesque show or similar.) However, long strings of beads were popular with everyone!

I liked the look of the boat-neck, kimono sleeve dresses, and rather than sew on trim, I wanted to do embroidery. I didn't use a pattern, just traced a t-shirt for the general shape, measured the length I wanted it to be, and made it a little extra big to begin with--it's easy to make things shorter, but rather harder to make them longer!

I had the dress mostly "built" in a day. Over the next few nights, I did the embroidery, starting out with the little flowers on the sash (which were pretty wonky, but it's not really noticeable), then doing the ones along the neckline and bottom hem.

The neck facing was the most fiddly bit. I ended up hand-stitching a little of it because I had to fudge it to make it work, but I think it turned out fine.

The skirt is in four panels: the front and back are flat and plain, and the two narrower panels at the hips are gathered. The embroidery pattern (which I made up) could be little four-petal flowers, like lilacs.

I call this dress the Lilac Garden Party Dress.

Summer To-Do List

2011-06-05T15:41:00.001-06:00

And there's room at the bottom to add more! I'm excited!

Luxury Camping

2011-06-03T20:28:00.013-06:00

It's a good thing I didn't discover Pinterest.com before school was out! I think I've spent two or three hours there a day for the last three days! The first day, I kept finding pictures of beautiful makeshift tents--you know, blankets, pillows, a few dining room chairs, maybe the sofa, maybe a clothesline. They looked so lovely and cozy!

From weheartit.com

I love the bike used in this one!

From sassyone129.tumblr.com

From tumblr.com

Well, yesterday I made my own, and spent most of the day inside it.

There's an antique pink chenille bedspread over the ironing board and two chairs, and a quilt top given to me through a friend of a friend stretched over to the sofa.

Tea (green jasmine) and scones (homemade lemon cranberry), The Thief Lord, and Marie Antoinette on the laptop. Not all at once, of course.

I put a lamp inside at night. I love how it looks all lit up!

Sune really liked it.

I highly recommend making your own luxury tent on your next day off! With a couple of folded-up blankets on top of the rug, plenty of pillows, a lap desk for the computer, and a roll-out bamboo mat to set tea and such on, it was perfect! Make it extra special by using the "good" dishes and a fancy tea cup; I did!

P.S. If this looks weird, is hard to read, or isn't working because you read it as an RSS feed, please leave me a comment. I'm trying uploading photos through Blogger....

Letter to Teacher

2011-05-25T21:27:00.003-06:00

Dear Mrs. N________,

I wanted to write this letter to you to thank you! You have helped me understand literacy, and grammer alot more! I dont want you to proof this because I want it to be a surprise! Im sorry for me being talkative, and noisy during class, but that's just my personality. I'm not going to be here on Friday to say goodbye to you. I'm really going to miss your fun, and wierd style! But your style is a good wierd, because it makes you look like you dont care about peoples thoughts. I'm gonna miss you!

From,
M__________

May 25, 2011

Verbs

2011-03-12T21:33:00.004-07:00

Today I...

-rode my bike 11 miles--5.5 out and 5.5 back--all along the riverfront trail.

-smelled cows, horses, hay, stagnant water, and weeds--and loved it.

-wondered why geese not in water always hang out in pairs.

-envied the kids in a house I saw with the coolest tree house ever.

-watched a hawk swooping low over the brush, looking for lunch.

-felt a beautiful March breeze on my skin under a translucent blue sky painted with all shapes and sizes of clouds.

-closed my mouth whenever I saw bugs in the air.

-sneezed my head off... but not until I got home.

-read a chapter of The Clockwork Three on a bench before I headed back (and finished it later this afternoon).

-wobbled into the house at the end of the ride and collapsed on the sofa.

-realized I'm going to need a padded bike seat cover if I'm going to do this again.

*Photo taken today on my phone - a smiley face on C 1/2 Rd.

Christmas Song

2010-12-15T21:46:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorites, though it's not (I don't think) very well known.

I love the harmony and the simple lyrics. And the Irish accents!

Tea Party

2010-12-08T20:35:00.003-07:00

I'm going to give my students index cards with the sentences below on them. They'll each have one card, and each card will show up about 3 times in each class since there are multiples. Then they'll mill around and talk to as many people as possible, like you would at a tea party, reading what's on their card out loud and hearing what other people have on their cards. After that, they'll talk at their tables and try and come up with the basic story-line. This is before reading any of the story.

Based on the following snippets, what do you think the story will be about?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents.

Life is made of up sobs, sniffles, and smiles.

Something fine and rare and sterling

“Please, God, make him think I am still pretty.”

just to see him pluck his beard from envy.

her face had lost its color within twenty seconds

“Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”

He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Well?

...

........

It's "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Go and read it if you haven't before. It's a lovely Christmas story and definitely a classic!

We'll be talking about theme and doing some other things to understand/comprehend and remember the story. Hopefully it goes over well!

Hello again!

2010-12-06T00:26:00.004-07:00

I haven't posted anything for nearly two months, and I can't think of anything much to say right now... so here's a little bit of an update.

There are two weeks left in the quarter. Ten days. Ten days left with a bunch of 13-year-olds who are slowly losing their minds as Christmas break approaches. Pray for us all, that we survive! And, more than that, that we actually learn some things, too.

For a number of reasons, some legitimate and some stupid, our finances are extra tight right now. Therefore, I am going to make most of our Christmas gifts this year. I was going to clean off my sewing/crafting table this weekend, but I watched movies and knit ALL DAY yesterday and ran errands and planned and graded for this week of school today, so it didn't get done. Maybe if I do it incrementally in the evenings this week, it'll be ready for crafting this weekend.

Matt has had a sore throat/sniffly nose/horrible-sounding cough for over a week now. Thank the Lord I haven't caught his cold! (I'll probably get hit the very last week of school.)

Oh, if anyone reads this on Facebook or through an RSS feed or something similar, I have a little widget in my sidebar of my "favorites" on etsy.com. If I see something cute that I like, I add it as a favorite so you, too, can see cute things! It's a fun website where people can sell their handmade items, and it's a lot of fun to poke around on. You can search by craft, key word, or even color! They also have lots of treasuries and collections of similar items (and the collections are put together by sellers, buyers, and people who work there), as well as interviews with artists and articles on a variety of topics. Check it out if you haven't!

It has hardly snowed here at all this winter, and, indeed, has been pretty pleasant all around! During the week of Thanksgiving, we had lows at -3 overnight and highs of about 15, but other than that, it's been sunny or a little cloudy and around 40-50 most days. This is fine with me, since it means I might be slightly less sick of winter than I usually am come February. It is always nice to have a white Christmas, though, and I'd be fine with another snow day this December like we had last year!

I am about to start book 8 of the Anne of Green Gables series. I re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows right before we saw the movie. At school, I'm almost done with Inkspell. I'll probably read Voyage of the Dawn Treader for the 234th time before the movie comes out. I just started Edgar Sawtelle, though I might come back to it later as I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it right now. I'm going to start reading a kid-ified version of Treasure Island to my students, and might read the real version of it myself. I'm also thinking a little bit about reading the original Tarzan, just because. Thoughts? Suggestions?

What are your plans over Christmas break, if you get one? (Or even if you don't, you brave souls who are in retail or other professions who have to work Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, New Year's Day, etc. etc.) I plan to read a LOT, knit almost as much, and hopefully watch as much Doctor Who: Season 5 as possible. Oh, and SLEEP IN!

Drip.

2010-10-11T21:02:00.001-06:00

Mini-lesson tomorrow on writing in the second person ("you" instead of "I" or "he"), and general fun creepiness for October and the fast-approaching Halloween. Students will choose a phobia from the sheet they've been working on (using the dictionary and another source to utilize prefixes and roots to find the meanings of phobias!). The following is the model I wrote.

---

Hydrophobia

Drip.

What was that?

Drip.

That sound, that maddening sound.

Drip.

Water. There is water on your floor. Water falling from the ceiling into a puddle on your floor, an ever-growing, slickly wet puddle of water.

Drip.

Each sinister drop adds to the puddle, creeping closer and closer to your safe, warm bed.

Drip.

Your toes curl. You clench your fists in the bedsheets. You squint your eyes shut, but that does not drown out the sound.

Drip.

Frantic, you cover your ears, palms pressed tight, eyes still shut, but you hear it even still.

Drip.

In your brain.

Drip.

Driving you mad.

Drip.

One...

Drip.

drop...

Drip.

at a time....

...

DRIP.

Thinking about NaNo

2010-09-30T22:01:00.003-06:00

This just popped into my head today. It'll be October in a few hours, which to my brain means it's time to pick out a new little notebook, buy a nice new pen, and start planning for NaNoWriMo for the 6th year in a row.

The young woman in this snippet is Bernice Sophronia Philomena Greenwater, but if you didn't read her story from 2008, don't worry about it. If you did, I'm sorry it's rather... darker... than her usual adventures.

-----

In a dense and shadowed forest, there walked a young woman, determinedly. Twigs cracked beneath her worn brown leather boots, the laces knotted back together in several places, and she breathed on her hands now and then in an attempt to warm them. She wore a long man’s coat that was much too large for her; it was of some thick, sturdy material, tan on the outside and lined with something warmish and cream-colored inside. There were two splashes of a dark reddish black on the coat: one on the right sleeve, the other near the hem on the same side.

Her hair was in quite a disarray and very dirty, but with a few stubborn pins still holding most of it up. The girl’s tattered maroon skirt snagged occasionally on a bush or fallen branch, but she would just tug it free and walk on, doggedly, no light in her normally shining brown eyes. Now and then she stumbled, which would snatch her attention momentarily back to the present, rather than allow it to stay in the past where it had dwelt for some days now.

The young woman sniffed, gasped in a deep breath, and sniffed again. Then she shook her head as if talking herself out of something. The blur of tears in her eyes made her stumble once more, and this time she fell. She caught herself, hard, on her knees and the heels of her hands. Her knees would merely bruise, but her palms were now scraped bloody from a sharp stick on her left and a lichen-covered grey stone on her right. Biting back a sob, the girl rose slowly to her feet.

She studied her hands a moment, then bent to undo the bottom three buttons of the long coat, which ended at her knees. Her fingers trembled and struggled, but she was very careful to touch only the buttons and the smallest bit of the coat with her fingertips, making sure no more blood would mar the coat. Once she could see her skirt, she wiped the dirt, pieces of dead leaf and twig, and blood gingerly from her palms with the maroon cloth. Then, again with her fingertips, she buttoned the coat up again, smoothed the pad of her thumb lovingly over the fabric of one sleeve, and trudged on in the deepening twilight.

Big Rocks

2010-09-06T19:46:00.002-06:00

I've posted this at least once in my online journaling career, but I think it deserves another look now and then.

It comes from here, but I've pasted it below so it will be saved on my journal if anything happens to that link.

***

Big Rocks
Author: Brian Bartes

We're so busy focusing on "urgent" matters, we don't make time for the "important." A simple plan can change this. I was on vacation recently in Florida with my wife and children...

As I sat at the edge of the pool, watching my kids swim, I thought about what a blessing it was to be enjoying our wonderful time together. The time that we shared that day, and indeed during the entire time we were on vacation, was very special.

As I reflected on the importance of “family time”, I was reminded of Stephen Covey’s story about “big rocks.” Here’s the story:

In the middle of a seminar on time management, recalls Covey in his book First Things First, the lecturer said, "Okay, it's time for a quiz." Reaching under the table, he pulled out a wide-mouthed gallon jar and set it on the table next to a platter covered with fist-sized rocks. "How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?" he asked the audience.

After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader said, "Okay, let's find out." He put one rock in the jar, then another, then another--until no more rocks would fit. Then he asked, "Is the jar full?"

Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit, so they said, "Yes."

"Not so fast," he cautioned. From under the table he lifted out a bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel slid into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the seminar leader asked once more, "Is the jar full?"

A little wiser by now, the students responded, "Probably not."

"Good," the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to bring up a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar. While the students watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more he looked at the class and said, "Now, is the jar full?"

"No," everyone shouted back.

"Good!" said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it into the jar. He got something like a quart of water into that jar before he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the jar is now full. Can anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this? What's my point?"

An eager participant spoke up: "Well, there are gaps in your schedule. And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life."

"No," the leader said. "That's not the point. The point is this: if I hadn't put those big rocks in first, I would never have gotten them in."

In both our business and personal lives, we have big rocks, gravel, sand and water. The natural tendency seems to favor the latter three elements, leaving little space for the big rocks. In an effort to respond to the urgent, the important is sometimes set aside.

What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? A large project? Spending time with your family? Your health? Your finances? Your faith? Your personal development? Your dreams?

Make a list of your big rocks. Then make a plan to ensure that your big rocks are put first. Block out the time in your schedule for those activities. Amazingly, the other stuff still gets done.

Periodically reflect on how you’re doing. Are you putting your big rocks first, or does gravel and sand and water dominate your life? If the big rocks aren’t getting in, what will have to happen so that they do?

When you’re planning your month, your week or your day, and even when you’re making specific decisions during the day, refer back to your list of big rocks. Then, put those in your jar first.

I have a job!

2010-07-24T23:22:00.002-06:00

No pictures yet, no posts about sewing or family, but... I have a job! Finally! Eighth grade literacy at a middle school just a few miles from my house. I only had a half-hour phone interview with the principal while he was out of town, and sent him my resume, recommendations, etc. and... he hired me! I'll be getting contract information by email soonish, and will probably go for new teacher orientation around the 14th of August.

School starts (with kids) in less than a month!!!!!!! I'm kind of feeling like "Now what??" but... I'll figure it out. This is what I've wanted and worked for basically my whole life and now it's finally here. I'm excited, terrified, grateful.... And I'll keep you posted!

Waiting

2010-07-11T23:49:00.002-06:00

I have many things to tell you about and many pictures to show you to illustrate the stories, but *deep breath* my computer got a virus of doom a couple weeks ago and Matt had to wipe it so I had to reinstall every-bloody-thing and haven't put GIMP (photo editing software) back on yet so I can't resize the photos to upload them to post them here and tell you all the wonderful stories! (I didn't lose anything from my computer, thankfully.)

I will only say that the reunion weekend was so much fun, that I've been sewing a ton of stuff (mostly out of sheets from Goodwill), work is still pretty good, and I have jury duty tomorrow.

What about you? What has your summer been bringing you? What have you been bringing to it?

8 Things Friday

2010-06-24T22:17:00.007-06:00

1. I have a major tan line on my neck around the collar of my work t-shirts and, I kid you not, from my braided pigtail that was blocking the sun for all of about 15 minutes, maybe, yesterday. For once, I forgot to sunscreen my neck. Need to wear a halter top and my hair up this weekend, or something, to even things out!

2. On the upside, 15 minutes in the sun without sunscreen = BROWN Heather!

3. My big family reunion (mom's side) is in ONE WEEK! I'm so excited to see aunts and uncles and cousins and such that I only see once or twice a year, or less. It's Friday through Sunday next week, and I'll go down Thursday after work to stay with my parents. Then in the middle of July, my two girl cousins that are a little younger than me are coming to stay at my house for a few days!

4. Incentive to get the guest room cleaned up, for reals. We STILL haven't got the bed on the frame yet, which is a priority this weekend. Then I can stick a bunch of classroom stuff underneath it and free up the floor again, clean up/out the chest of drawers, etc.

5. On that note, does anyone in town want two nice framed Van Gogh posters? They don't really "go" with the blue and pink floral quilt and stuff, now. Cafe Terrace is really big, maybe 24"x36", and the other one is long the horizontal way, about 12"x24", and matted. It's got Cafe Terrace, Starry Night, and Starry Night over the Rhone Both have black frames and are under glass, and you can have them both for $10 OBO. I think I spent about $80 on all of it back in the day when I first got them. /end of ad/

6. I'm thinking about taking Sune to the dog park tomorrow. I want her to be more socialized with people and dogs, and I think she would love to play with some dogs her size. They have a little fenced-in area at the edge of the "big dog" dog park for little ones. I took her to the Farmer's Market Thurday night and she did all right. She growled at a Boston terrier when I was holding her, but otherwise seemed just fine and very interested in all the smells and things happening. She even nicely said hi to a couple of little dogs, though one was a cranky old mini poodle that snarled at her. And she's getting better about strangers petting her. Anyway, wish us luck at the park!

7. I thought it might be fun for my summer camp kiddos to play around with some embroidery, so I got out a couple of hoops and some muslin scraps and did some practice stitches on the three small ones to teach them with; the big one is for doing it "for real." We'll see how that goes today. Hopefully they won't fight over who has which one and is stitching what on blah blah blah.... Kids fight about the most ridiculous stuff. They made tents by draping sheets over the desks and chairs yesterday, and one girl was crying because she couldn't get under a table with two other girls (and there was no room!)

(This is the same girl that bounded up to me on the playground when I got there yesterday and said, "Miss Heather, I was a sacrifice!" with the biggest smile. They were playing some kind of "get chased by the monster and scream a lot" game.)

Anyway, I got out a hoop and some muslin for myself, too, and have been stitching little flowers and stuff. Haven't done it for a while, it's nice. :)

8. I also started a feather-and-fan kind of pattern of a crochet blanket. Yes, okay, laugh at me for starting a blanket when I still haven't finished the very simple knitted shawl I started over a year ago. In my defence, crochet goes faster, I already have several skeins of yarn for it (pink, blue, and cream for the guest room), and it can be one of those projects I pick up and do a row or two on while watching a movie. I'll post updates when and if there are any.

Blessed

2010-06-19T20:25:00.003-06:00

This week, I got paid to:

play card games
color pictures
play foursquare
hang on the monkey bars
talk about solar energy and then
make sun tea
start a compost bin
read picture books aloud
make miniature books
fold origami
read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle aloud
string beads
eat lunch outside
get a tan

Aside from the occasional fit or conflict between kids... I have a pretty sweet summer job.

P.S. Did you notice the new look my blog has, those of you who might read it through RSS?

I took pictures!

2010-06-16T07:11:00.003-06:00

With a real camera, even, not just my phone!

This is to show the progress of my tan. It's more pronounced than this, really, so to help you see it I outlined the white parts on my right foot with purple. And yes, I'm putting on sunscreen every day.

Yesterday afternoon, I wanted a little decaf coffee and decided to make it nice. I got out one of the lovely tea cups I have and my nice sugar and creamer. (Sugar cubes, even!) Unfortunately I didn't have anything nice to put the coffee in (and didn't want to wash my tea pot) so it stayed in the ugly coffee pot. All of this on a tray next to me on the loveseat, plus the first Lord of the Rings book, made for a pleasant half hour. I totally understand why people used to take afternoon tea. (By the way, one sugar cube makes that size of a cup of coffee exactly sweet enough.)

They played Mary Poppins (the movie) at the old downtown theater last night and I went with a friend from my old writers' group. At first, I thought of dressing up as a character, but decided to go a little steampunk instead. I've had the shirt and purse so long I don't remember where they came from; the shoes and knickers are from Goodwill and the hat from the dollar store a few years ago. I got the suspenders on clearance at Claire's, the socks from... somewhere (they're cabled!) and I'm wearing Bernice's locket, if any of you remember her. Around one wrist is a "leather" bracelet with a gold ring in the middle, and on the other I wrapped around a length of leather used for a necklace. You can sort of see the leather gloves sticking out of the front pocket of my purse, and I tied on three ollllld keys with a bit of hemp string. It was fun to dress up like this, since I haven't in... forever... and it was great to see the movie in a theater: to hear little kids laugh at the silly parts, everyone crack up at the ceiling tea party, and then clap at the end of the movie.

Some Things I Have Been Doing Lately

2010-06-07T06:56:00.006-06:00

taking walks

making scones

mopping the floor

playing fetch with the doggie

buying stuff at a yard sale for my classroom

buying stuff at a yard sale for a friend who gave me money with that express purpose, because she knows I'm so good at it

riding my new bike to work (about a mile) and just around a little

(Her name is Mabel)

reading The Fellowship of the Ring

doing Wii Fit yoga, strength, and balance (I get enough cardio at work!)

going to knitting at a coffee shop (and mostly talking with a little knitting)

being on Facebook

crocheting this collar

typing letters on my typewriter

watching the new Joshua Danger video

(I know some of the people who made this! When they are super-famous I will say I knew them when....)

sleeping in a little

laundry

having a weird, slightly scary dream about icky aliens

going out to dinner with my husband (we had a coupon!)

going to a birthday party and managing somehow to match my outfit to the wrapping to the present itself:

wishing I could sew

not wanting to clean the sewing table off

sweating a lot (at least 100 degrees for the high today!)

What are some things you have been doing lately?

Another speed update

2010-06-03T06:18:00.003-06:00

1. My summer job at the day camp has been interesting, trying at times, exhausting (running around, playing basketball, kickball, sitting on the floor, breaking up fights, soothing fit-throwers), and generally all right. Fun and nice, at times. Hopefully we'll all (counselors and kids) settle into a rhythm soon and get along just fine.

2. On that note, if you have any kid crafts and/or games, tell me all about them! We have themed weeks, and coming up is Summer Olympics and Environment Awareness. Of course, not all the crafts and games have to go with the theme. Our youngest is 6 and our oldest is 11. It's hard to find stuff the little ones can do that won't bore the older ones!

3. The backyard is tilled, but still just dirt. If we ever have money again, we really need to get sod and sprinklers set up. Stupid not having money.

4. My grandparents found me a queen size bed frame for FREE! I have enough bins and crates from a retiring teacher that I can stack up with a tablecloth over them for a nightstand. I got a lamp from my mom. Once I clear up the last of the classroom stuff I'm storing there, the guest room should be quite nice! :)

5. This is all I have time for right now! Off to work.

Bittersweet

2010-05-27T07:09:00.004-06:00

Boy, am I glad school is out! Thank the Lord! I made it! Thank you, everyone, for your support. For listening to (or reading about) me whining, for saying "You can do it!" and "It will be worth it!" and "You will be great!" and "I know you will get a job!" Honestly, I am so glad I will never have to see a few of those kids again! No more waking up at 5:30 five days a week (although I'll do that occasionally for the summer job). No more dressing up in heels and skirts most days. I don't have to wear makeup all summer if I don't want to! I won't have to send anyone to the office, or shush kids while they're reading, or make them learn about adjectives for three months! Goodbyeeeeeeeeeeee!

****

No more dressing up in heels and skirts! No more full makeup in the mornings! I won't have a desk with my cute sticky notes on it and my bulletin board with pictures students drew for me. I won't write the schedule on the whiteboard every day or fill out my planner with them. I put my blood, sweat and tears into this year! (Blood = so many paper cuts!!!) I spent more time with those kids and teachers than with my husband! They were my family! And I'm so sad about never seeing most of them again. They are such cool, funny, interesting, brilliant kids. Some of them will be our doctors, nurses, lawyers, actors, inventors, video game makers, artists, bankers, librarians, authors, teachers, and dentists. (Some of them will be our oil field workers, construction guys, burger flippers, and Wal-Mart greeters--also valuable vocations.) They will get their braces off and drive cars and go to prom and someday be real people! I feel so valued and lucky to have been a small part of shaping them. And I will still think about them very often and remember the funny, awesome, stressful, and touching times with them and wonder how they are doing. I hope that, very occasionally, they remember Mrs. N for a little while, too. Hopefully I taught them just one thing they'll use or treasure or enjoy. Hopefully I made a little bit of a difference.

****

P.S. I wish I could show you pictures of the rafting trip on Tuesday! But I can't legally show pictures of other people's kids. I might have to post one, though, with the faces blurred out, because it's great....

Some Lists

2010-05-23T23:49:00.003-06:00

Things I Am Not Allowed To Buy At Yard Sales This Summer
-yarn
-fabric
-sewing patterns
-buttons (unless they're really really cute and/or vintage. they don't take up much room, okay?)
-books. at all. period. (unless it's Pride and Prejudice, because somehow I've got a little bit of a collection going of different editions) (or unless they're classics that I've specifically been looking for)
-another typewriter, no matter how cute it is or how cheap. the one I have is enough.
-knitting needles
-clothes. at all. period. even though I have an 18 inch high stack of clothes to give to Goodwill.
-shoes, unless they are the perfect gold sandals I've been looking for since last summer
-did I mention that I'm not allowed to buy books? remind me, if you see me at a yard sale. I literally have NO ROOM for any more. I don't have enough room for the ones I do have.

Things I Do Need To Buy At Yard Sales This Summer
-frame for a queen bed (guest room)
-nightstand (guest room)
-lamp (guest room)
-curtain rods (various rooms)
-sliding glass door doggie door insert thing
-the perfect gold sandals I've been looking for since last summer

Things I Might Buy At Yard Sales This Summer, Depending On Price, Quality, Etc.
-a bike, depending on how close my summer job ends up being to the house, since I might ride there
-things for my classroom (assuming I get a job for this fall) like posters, maybe a couple of fake plants, perhaps a desk if the school doesn't have a good one, file cabinets, and so on
-Gunne Sax dresses, since I seem to have good luck finding gorgeous ones in good condition for cheap
-violin sheet music, perhaps. (I really need to call and get a teacher.)

What do YOU want to find at yard sales this summer? Is there anything YOU'RE not allowed to buy?

8 Things Friday

2010-05-21T06:02:00.004-06:00

1. I've had a terrible cold the last few days.

2. I'm finally feeling better!

3. I know this because I want coffee again, and it never sounds good when I'm sick.

4. The coffee I make has been gross lately.

5. Is it just old, or do I need to clean out my coffee maker, or what? How does one clean out the coffee maker?

6. I'm having a tea party at my house with my best friend tonight.

7. Because she is moving to TEXAS in a few weeks! Wahhhhhhhhhh!

8. I guess I better get to school. Three more days after today!

Update letter

2010-05-17T06:18:00.003-06:00

Dear Reader,

I have 8 days of school left. EIGHT! My duties are now those of a glorified student aide, which is honestly just fine with me. I'm making copies, cleaning, organizing, and getting portfolios of the students' work together.

I had an interview last week, but as I haven't heard back, probably didn't get the job. There's nothing more I can do, job-wise, but wait for calls for interviews. Pray!

I train for my summer job next week, and start June 1st. I'll be working at a daycare run through the city rec center. I think it'll be fun!

We still have not started our garden. Does anyone in town have a tiller they'd like to loan us for a day?

I appreciate that you're still reading this, although it's been a month (exactly) since my last really dinky post. Hopefully I'll have lovely things to write about here all summer.

How have YOU been? What are your summer plans? Are you going anywhere exciting? Anywhere boring? What kind of books do you think you'll read? Will you lie out in the sun? Take the dog for walks? Sleep until noon? Get up early and accomplish many things? I miss youuuuuuu!

Love,
Heather

Dressed up

2010-04-17T10:05:00.003-06:00

When I went to see The Producers at the college theater a couple months ago:

Dressed up with Megan to see Alice In Wonderland:

(My hair was way better both nights than it looks from the pictures, I swear.)

If I...

2010-04-11T22:00:00.000-06:00

If I had a Volkswagen Beetle,
it would be cherry-red
and a convertible
with a black ragtop
and black leather seats
although I'd put covers on them,
plush, with ladybugs.

With a scarf in my hair like a headband,
I'd carry a wallet in my back pocket,
phone in my front,
and keys clipped to the belt loop
of my low-rise faded jeans.

I would invest in the perfect pair of sunglasses
and wear cheap Old Navy flip-flops
and little tank tops
that flashed my tattoos when I slid behind the wheel.

My hair would always be stick-straight,
even just out of the shower,
and I wouldn't ever think of
waxing my eyebrows or
painting my toenails.

Occasionally, I'd introduce myself as
Summer
or Lisa
or April
just for fun
on those long road trips
where you stop at the same gas station
every time,
see the same family in a silver minivan
at every scenic outlook.

Big silver heart earrings
would flash in the sun
along with my white, yet crooked, smile.

If I had a cherry-red
ragtop convertible
with black leather seats
and ladybug covers
(and fuzzy dice in the mirror!)
Volkswagen Beetle.

200th post

2010-04-08T21:07:00.003-06:00

Dear Sune,

Stop being so freakin' adorable. I just want to throw the squeaky giraffe for you over and over again instead of doing work. You look so earnest when you "ask" me to play!

Love,
Mommy

___________________

Dear Dog Next Door,

SHUT UP! There is NOTHING out there to bark at, and even if there is, clearly you're not doing any good since it's still there! Seriously, my husband is about to go over there and offer you hamburger with rat poison in it or something.

Much frustration,
Heather

___________________

Dear April,

Can you be over, now? If you're over, that means my portfolio and my 4 units will have been turned in and I won't have to worry about them anymore. That means I'll be three weeks closer to the end of the school year, and maybe, just maybe, the weather might be somewhat more predictably decent.

If you're not going to be over, then at least go really slowly so I have loooootssss of time to work on these big projects, okay?

Thanks,
Frazzled Student Teacher

___________________

Dear Husband,

I love you sooooooooo much! You are amazing for cooking, cleaning, shopping, and bill-paying during these last few really hard weeks. You've put up with me crying for no reason, encouraged me, and done all of this without complaning. I owe you this summer and will make it up to you!

Love love love,
Your wife

___________________

Dear Students,

I'm totally not jinxing it or anything, but you've been pretty good the past couple of weeks. Keep it up, eh? Much more enjoyable days for everyone, all around.

33 more days!
Mrs. N.

P.S. I really am going to miss you when this year is over, as amazing as that may seem to you. I might even get a little teary the last day, just to warn you. Please come back and say hi when you can. That's what teachers live for.

___________________

Dear Coffee,

I love you with a loyal and undying passion. Never leave me.

Yours,
Heather

Dance-off #4

2010-03-21T00:09:00.000-06:00

I just love him.

Gardening

2010-03-18T19:02:00.004-06:00

I have nothing new to tell or offer you today, or not just now at least. I do, however, have a question: How do I start a garden? It is getting to that time of the year, and I have no idea what to plant or when or how to take care of it or ANYTHING. I live in southwestern Colorado; other than that, I can't tell you about the dirt. Our backyard is freakin' tiny and faces West, so it really only gets half-day sun. The only things I really want are a couple of tomato plants and some herbs like rosemary, mint, and basil. Other than that... things that are easy to grow/hard to kill, yummy, and won't really make much more than two people can eat and/or freeze. (I'm don't want to can stuff.)

Help! If you have any good blogs or websites to recommend, or just plain ol' advice for a first-time gardener, please leave comments here!

I wrote a poem

2010-03-16T06:02:00.003-06:00

So, clearly the "poem a day" thing didn't last too long here. I went back and tagged the early posts with "poetry" in addition to "poem a day," as well as the successive randomly-posted poems, too. Poems by other people are tagged as "guest poets."

Here is one I wrote for my class of 7th-graders for our Africa unit. They've read and researched about some pretty hardcore stuff, both on the internet and in books, and in poem form. I consciously included specific figurative language like similes, onomatapoeia, and sensory detail; also, I used some different line breaks and punctuation to show them the possibilities for writing poetry are nearly endless.

Famine

My tongue is swollen,
my throat as dry as the desert all around me.
When there is water to drink
in careful, slow drips,
it only makes my insides twist and cramp
until I hurt too much
to even cry.

I am small,
too small to fight for food.
Other children, bigger children, shout and push and
scramble to pick
specks
of
grain
out
of
dung,
or a flaky tree root
from the earth,
(earth: Mother,
betrayer)
and gobble them down.
I only watch and wither away,
my belly growing bigger each day.

My parents: dead.
no prayers or spells
or medicine
(if we could buy it)
could have saved them.
My sister: dead.
I carried her everywhere,
her little legs too tiny,
like dried twigs,
to walk.
One day her rattling breath stopped, and
I put her down
and didn't look back.

What would have been the point?

I am a bubble on the surface
of a cup
of water,
dirty and sickly.
A bubble too small
and insignificant
to notice.
I live only a moment,
then

POP

I am gone.

Dance-off #3

2010-03-07T12:30:00.003-07:00

From Shall We Dance?

Love it, love it! Less impressive dancing (but way more impressive costuming--the feathers!) here in Top Hat, one of my favorite musical songs from one of my favorite musicals.

Dance-off #2

2010-02-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else want to participate?

Dance-off

2010-02-24T05:50:00.003-07:00

Meet Me At Mike's has been taken over by her friends for a couple of weeks while Pip is busy-busy-busy, and they started a "dance-off" between the two of them by posting YouTube videos of dances on the blog. Inspired by this, I challenge you, dear readers, to a dance-off! Post videos of whatever dance tickles your fancy, whether it's from a music video, a "how to" with steps and instructions, something from a musical, or one of those silly viral videos everyone's seen.

Round One:

Who will challenge me?

When I'm 64

2010-02-20T11:18:00.006-07:00

Guest poets again today!

When I'm Sixty Four

by J. Lennon, P. McCartney

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
Birthday greeting, bottle of wine.
If I'd been out till quarter to three,
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?

You'll be older too,
Ah, and if you say the word,
I could stay with you.

I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fire side,
Sunday mornings, go for a ride.
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?

Ev'ry summer we can rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight
If it's not too dear.
We shall scrimp and save.
Ah, grandchildren on your knee,
Vera, Chuck and Dave.

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say,
You're sincerely wasting away.
Give me your answer, fill in a form,
Mine forever more,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?

***

I sang this to Matt (and a bunch of other people!) in the kareoke room at our senior party, held in the Elks Lodge and put on by seniors' parents. I think it was casino-themed. After a false start and a bit of a shaking voice, I did fairly well, I think. It's been one of "our songs" since then.

<3

From left to right, it's bass, "guitar" (which seems to be playing the clarinet, or whatever that wind instrument is), and drums, with the words for the singer going across the top. We're.... not quite that good at our Beatles Rock Band yet, but it's still fun!

Hero's Journey

2010-02-15T11:30:00.004-07:00

The same story
has been told a thousand
million times.

The young hero on a quest,
friends at his side,
or hers.

Whether she's really a princess
raised by fairies or farmers,
or the son of a dead king,
or just a kid with an interesting scar
or a sweet tooth,
the journey is always one
of self-discovery.

How much can he take?
How much can she trust?
How much pain can he bear?
How much loss?

One friend (sidekick) turns betrayer,
Maybe one becomes a love interest,
one is the steadfast and loyal companion
always,
always.

Seems the wise mentor always dies,
or at least goes away,
and there's always a point
when the hero is alone,
utterly,
to make her own shaky, head game-y way
for a while.
The reunions are so satisfying.

Destroy the magical ________,
Defeat the evil _________,
Save the __________,
Overcome darkness with
love
trust
friendship
light.

And they always do.

And we read it again.

Happy Sappy

2010-02-14T09:40:00.001-07:00

Just some Valentine's Day sappiness for you!

I love my principal

2010-02-03T21:34:00.002-07:00

Said in the staff meeting today: "I know it's at that point in the school year where you maybe start to wonder... would jail really be that bad?"

This IS a Test

2010-02-02T21:52:00.001-07:00

Hmm, poems? What poems?

***

I'm giving this to my 7th graders tomorrow to prove a point. We'll see how it goes.

***

Read the directions all the way through before completing any tasks.

1. Put your name on the paper, but not the block.
2. Draw a smiley face in the top left corner of this paper.
3. Underline all the e's in this sentence.
4. Underline all the e's in #1.
5. What is the name of your favorite pet, past or present?
6. How long have you lived in the house you are currently in?
7. Circle the number seven.
8. What is your favorite color?
9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
10. Cross out your last name and write your first name instead.
11. Draw a frowny face in the bottom left corner of this paper.
12. What is your favorite animal?
13. Fold the paper in half and put it in the top right corner of your desk, then get out your Independent Reading book and read.
14. Go back and only do 1, 7, 10, and 13
15. Thank you for participating – please read directions!

Jan. 25

2010-01-25T21:57:00.003-07:00

This is your brain:

This is your brain after
instructing,
reminding,
nagging,
encouraging,
scolding,
prodding,
shaping,
teasing,
coaxing,
and maybe even
teaching
12-year-olds all day:

(Or is that just my brain?)

Jan 24

2010-01-24T19:48:00.006-07:00

Guest poet again!

***

Extraordinary Machine

I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes
And
I certainly haven't been spreading myself around
I still only travel by foot and by foot, it's a slow climb,
But I'm good at being uncomfortable, so
I can't stop changing all the time

I notice that my opponent is always on the go
And
Won't go slow, so's not to focus, and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide, as long as
They go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable, so
He can't stop staying exactly the same

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day
You deem me due to clean my view and be at peace and lay
I mean to prove I mean to move in my own way, and say,
I've been getting along for long before you came into the play

I am the baby of the family, it happens, so
Everybody cares and wears the sheeps' clothes
While they chaperone
Curious, you looking down your nose at me, while you appease
Courteous, to try and help - but let me set your mind at ease

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

Do I so worry you, you need to hurry to my side?
It's very kind
But it's to no avail; I don't want the bail
I promise you, everything will be just fine

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

-Fiona Apple

***

This is actually a song (and a really great one), but is also poetry, I think.

Hope you enjoyed.

Jan. 23

2010-01-23T20:49:00.003-07:00

A Vintage Handkerchief

Hours and hours
of miniscule stitches,
roses of x's
pink buds of knots.

A scalloped edge,
leaves of pale green,
nimble fingers,
an art forgot.

Jan. 21

2010-01-21T22:28:00.004-07:00

When the fields sprout green,
that's when I'll be home.
I got a job to do,
and a man's gotta roam.

When the rows grow tall,
that's when I'll come back.
You got a lot of work to do,
so you better not slack.

When the hills turn to gold,
I'll be back then.
You just sew my shirts,
and get the corn in.

Fields a cold winter white
Your shack a hot light.
My heart warmed by the sight.
I'm leaving tonight.

*****

Buh, so much for one poem every day. Not going to try and catch up, though. This was just the Killer Week of Grading Doom. I'm still behind, but we had conferences tonight (making for a 7am-7pm workday), so I'm not doing ANYTHING productive tonight. In fact, I'm heading to bed here in a bit. YAY FRIDAY TOMORROW!!!

Jan. 16 and 17

2010-01-17T08:35:00.006-07:00

This Is Just To Tell You

I have eaten
the banana bread
that was on
the counter

and which
you were likely
saving
for a snack

Forgive me
it was fantastic
so soft
and so rich

***

I like your crystal flakes,
your icy piles of snow,
but my heart is gonna break
Winter, please go.

I like some chilly days
with cocoa and a novel,
But the cold just stays and stays,
as I sit inside my hovel.

Take off with your ice,
leave with your cold mornings.
Your season, Winter dear,
is getting awfully boring.

Jan. 15 Late

2010-01-16T17:36:00.004-07:00

by e. e. cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

***

I made a Wordle out of this a while back. I love how this poem sounds. If you didn't read it out loud just now, go back and do it.

Today's poem coming later tonight.

Jan. 14

2010-01-14T19:55:00.003-07:00

I swear
this zit has roots
that reach to my jaw bone.

Every movement of my bottom lip
stretches the skin of my chin
and puts pressure on the
tiny volcano.

Jan. 13

2010-01-13T22:18:00.004-07:00

Am I sad?

Maybe I have SAD.

Never outside
(daylight hours are spent
in school,
at a desk or
on my feet
in a cold carpeted room),
and I keep forgetting
to take my vitamins.

No amount of Cute Overload
or IMMD can make me cheery.
Smile, yes,
but I'm faking it
til I can feel it.

Heaps of bad news
tumbling over me,
like truckloads of rusty nails,
aren't helping.

Two more days til the weekend.

Gonna break out the
emergen-c
(or at least snorgle
a fuzzy Pomahuahua).

Jan. 12

2010-01-12T21:45:00.003-07:00

sheets of ice
and crusted snow,

bleak
hardly begins to describe it.

destruction and death,
on scales large and small;
loss and sorrow,
lives changed forever.

my unruly classroom
doesn't seem so important
anymore.

this was a hard winter day.

Jan. 11 Late Poem plus The Dark Side

2010-01-12T05:55:00.005-07:00

I forgot to write a poem yesterday until I was lying in bed at about 11:00, so instead, here is one of my favorites:

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Maybe I'll do this once a week or so, post a famous poem instead of writing one. It'd give me a little break, expand the literary horizons of my readership, and hopefully prove as some inspiration.

---------------------

In other news, I have gone to The Dark Side. Yes, it's true, alas. I feel like such a traitor.

I have learned....

to crochet.

Da-da-da-dada-DUM-dada-DUM.

Maybe it's not that drastic, but I've been a knitter for almost six years. I never really liked things made from crochet--just didn't like the texture of crocheted fabric. It looked like the 60's, and nasty acrylic yarn, and just tacky. Honestly, I was a little snobby about it, thinking knitting was much superior, and that crocheters were taking the easy way out (for lesser results, at that). But if the book I bought is any indication, I am now a Happy Hooker.

I've made 7 granny squares already (not counting the two practice ones) that I'm going to crochet together into something cool. You'll just have to wait for pictures. There are also several projects in the above book that I'd like to make. That purple skirt, and the pink shawl, and maybe one of the shrugs.

Oy, I'd better get to school. Look for another poem later today (unless I forget again!)

Jan. 10

2010-01-10T23:23:00.001-07:00

I've never had
a matching set
of flannel pajamas.

The kind where
the top buttons up
and has a collar
and silk piping around
the cuffs and down the front,
and the pants are elastic waisted
and cuffed also.

These have snowflakes,
hearts,
X's and O's,
and zig-zags,
and are in winter colors
with some pink.
Very January.

Someone have a sleepover
so I can show these off.

Jan. 9

2010-01-09T23:50:00.003-07:00

They say a new year
is a clean slate,
a blank book.

But how can you
forget
your past
and start all over again?

A new bit of slate,
maybe,
another handful of pages
crammed into the book,
but not a total fresh start.

You add on,
you grow,
you revise and try again.
Experiences and background shape us.

I didn't start on
page 1
on
January 1st.
I started on about
page 8,866
or so.

8 Things Friday

2010-01-08T06:06:00.007-07:00

1. I survived the first week back at the middle school! Monday was a teacher work day, so we only had the kids four days this week. Tuesday was about five years long, but each successive day went a little quicker. Kim and I kind of team-taught this week, but starting next week for 8 full weeks in a row (right til the end of 3rd quarter, actually), it's all me, baby. Here we go!

2. I really wish I would either GET this cold, be miserable all weekend, and get over it, or NOT get this cold, and be done. I'm tired of a little bit of a drippy nose, a little bit of a sore throat, occasional coughing.... Make up your mind, you stupid bug!!! It's been a week!

3. Casual Fridays at the school make me feel weird. I have exactly one pair of jeans that's comfortable to wear all day and still look good. So to school, and almost everywhere else, I wear skirts and dresses, or dress pants/khakis. Today I wore an old pair of Matt's jeans that he bought in the wrong size but didn't realize til he'd worn them (squished) for a while, so it was too late to return them. They're comfy, yes, but not the most flattering jeans on me.

4. Why do guys' jeans get REAL POCKETS? I can fit my whole hand in the front pockets of those jeans! Yet girlie jeans have leetle bitty pockets about two inches deep--they don't hold anything, and it's lame. Not fair! (I went to Goodwill this afternoon and got 2 "new" pair of jeans--nice ones!--for $5 each! Yay, now I have girl jeans. Even if the pockets suck.)

5. Here are really bad pictures of our new bedroom:

The walls are a little more tan than orange in real life, and the curtains are dark brown but look blue because of the sun coming through them. Matt's aunt amazingly knitted us that blanket for a wedding gift.

Obviously it needs some work--accessories, for sure--but I'm really pleased with it! I think the floor Matt put in all by himself looks awesome! I think my painting job of the walls, ceiling, and trim (as well as the back of the door, which is dark brown like the trim) is also awesome! If you have any ideas about how to make it look like the cabin of a steampunk airship captain, let us know!

6. Goals for the rest of the school year (I'm not saying the whole year because, well, one thing at a time; I'll set new ones for the summer, then again for the fall):
a. go to bed earlier
b. spend more time with Matt
c. eat less junk
d. keep the house a little cleaner

Nothing huge and drastic. I just want to make small improvements, a little at a time. And mostly I want to survive this semester, so the less extra stress I put on myself, the better.

7. I really really like this comic, Copper. Especially this one and this one (hmm, see #6 above). It's about a boy and his dog, and the magical, imaginary worlds they spend time in together. Cute, funny, touching... sometimes all three at once.

8. Poem:

Ugh, such a long week.
Friday now, and I'm tiiiiiired.
You get a haiku.

A Seventh Grade Boy's Afternoon

2010-01-07T21:03:00.003-07:00

Sit at desk.
Get up, sharpen pencil.
Kick friend on way back to desk.

Sit at desk.
Drop pencil.
Nearly break chair
leaning over to pick up pencil.
Apologise to teacher when rebuked.

Sit at desk.
Tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Tap.
Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap!
Apologise to teacher when rebuked.

Sit at desk.
Excavate draft from folder.
Scribble in margins.
Poke friend with pencil.
Mark on other friend's paper with pencil.

Sit at desk.
Wriggle,
lean chair,
hum,
hum louder,
apologise to teacher when rebuked.

Get up.
Move desk against wall
with back to friends.

Sit at desk.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap-tap.

Sit at desk.

Start writing.

Jan. 6 Poem With Photographs

2010-01-06T19:14:00.004-07:00

Handwarmers

1

2

3

for a fellow teacher's daughters.
(My first commission.)

Snips and slivers and
shavings of
white fluff-dust
tickling my nose--
all for pom-poms on a hat.

Sock shopping,
dollar bin digging;
I love Michael's.

Finally come home
to a fluffy, fuzzy fox face;
Frantic, frenetic hopping,
happy, high-spirited yips.

Jan. 5 Poem and First Day Back

2010-01-05T23:23:00.004-07:00

Yards of yarn.
Click-clack-click.
Knitting needles
swoosh swiftly up and down.

A cup of cocoa,
cozy socks,
and a ruby red robe.

Winding down like a sleepy watch,
like a ball of yarn
unrolling itself across the rug.

___________________________

Yesterday was a teacher work day, which went well. We didn't get a ton of stuff done, but we did get some projects and copies done, and plan out the next two weeks of literacy, and I'm feeling less panicky than I was during the last week of break. We'll be wrapping up some things we've been doing for at least the next three weeks, so it's not like "Heather has to come up with a whole month-long unit SOON," which is what I was concerned about.

Today was the first day the kids were back and it was... long. Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. Hopefully the following days go by a little quicker, and at least it's only really a four-day school week. This week, my mentor teacher is taking first block literacy, I'll take second block literacy, and we'll kind of team-teach third block geography. Then next week, it's all me, baby. For eight weeks in a row, I have to be "lead teaching" by myself--that means the planning and grading, too, for the most part. She'll still be there for support during and reflection after classes, and I'll have her and the other 7th grade literacy teacher to help plan and such, so I'll be fine. I'm just sure I'll come home exhausted every day, at least until I really get into the swing of it.

After that, it's CSAP time (Colorado's standardized test that all school kids after 3rd grade have to take), and I'll kind of back off to let them do that. Then it's 4th quarter, towards the end of which I can go around and observe at other schools to broaden my horizons, and then... I'll be done! This is the general, far-reaching plan.

Having finished my hot chocolate already, I think I'll knit for just a little while, and then get to bed.

Jan. 4

2010-01-04T21:35:00.003-07:00

Shiny buffed floors and
pine-sol smell
in the school hallways.

Dragging desks back
across clean carpet.

Blindingly white boards,
pristine cafeteria,
and still snow.

Building and staff alike
brace themselves
for the return of the students.

Jan. 3

2010-01-03T14:47:00.003-07:00

I used to think
that any female
incapacitated
by her monthly visitor
was a wuss,
and how bad could it be?

I understand now.
Sometimes,
being a woman
sucks.

(Thank you,
Lord,
for ibuprophen.)

A Poem A Day

2010-01-02T21:36:00.007-07:00

We'll see how long I can do this. Gives me an excuse to post something, at least. And today you get two, since it's the 2nd and I only just decided to try this.

***

A Winter Haiku

icicles like death
glinting in the midday sun.
don't walk beneath them.

***

There once was a teacher from Colorado
Who during her break had to go
To Lowes for paint
And brushes and ain't
She tired now so to bed she'll go.

***

I'm really bad at rhyming.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T11:12:00.002-07:00

The year two-thousand-and-nine was a tough one. I went back to school and had to deal with late nights of homework and learning new (sometimes scary) things. We bought a house and found out more than we ever wanted to know about mortgages, loans, and working on something that's entirely ours (and the bank's). We dropped down to one income, since I've only worked a few shifts here and there since July, due to the massive amount of school stuff I've been doing.

But here we are, at the end of another year. I also met some great people who are interested in English and young people and teaching, like me. I had some great experiences with "my" kids at the middle school where I've been student teaching. I love our home, and I love that we finally have our first dog together.

It's been hard, it's been tiring, but I'm happy.

Since Matt has a cold and our company can't make it due to yucky weather over the passes, we're going to take it easy today and tonight. Have a fun and blessed 2010!

And go read this post, since this sums things up more nicely than I can at the moment.

Little Letters

2009-12-29T14:15:00.004-07:00

(Borrowed from Jen, who borrowed it from someone else....)

Dear People Who Make Paint,
Could one of you invent paint that only takes one coat for full and complete coverage? That would be really swell, thanks.

Dear Ibuprophen,
Feel free to kick in any time now.

Dear Winter Break,
I would be much obliged if you would slow down a bit. I've had about four days of doing nothing, and would like maybe four more, but with home projects and playing catch-up, my prospects are not looking good. So if you could throw a few more days in there, I'd really appreciate it.

Dear Christmas Dinner,
Thank you for turning out so well! I was quite pleased with the outcome, as were my guests.

Dear Sune-puppy,
Thank you for being my comic relief. I am enjoying spending days at home with you, and I think you are enjoying the lap provided when I watch movies.

Dear Husband,
Thank you for all your love and support the past two semesters (and always), and especially the last few weeks through all this holiday and house issues hoopla. I heart you.

~~Dear~~ Mister Heater,
Don't ever break and flood the upstairs bedroom again, or else.

SNOW DAY

2009-12-08T08:09:00.002-07:00

I don't think I've ever had a snow day in my life! I may have called in to work a time or two because of bad weather, but never had an official snow day! No finals today, (after I made two pots of coffee to bring to our "Breakfast and a Final"), no middle school! Just get to stay home and leisurely work on my last couple assignments, put our kitchen back in order now our fabulous new countertops are installed, and get the Christmas tree and decorations set up! :D

December 1st

2009-12-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

This song has been making me happy since I rediscovered it on one of the Christmas albums on my ipod.

Happy December, and Merry Christmas!

TA-DA!

2009-11-29T18:14:00.002-07:00

Well,

I did it again. For the 5th year in a row, I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November.

And this year... this year...

I did it in 29 days!!! I don't think I've ever finished a day early. Indeed, I think the earliest I've finished is about 8 hours before the 11:59pm deadline on the 30th, and sometimes I cut it even coser than that. Also, considering I only actually wrote about 12 or 14 days out of the whole month, 50,001 words in that amount of time is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself!

The word count validator on the website, used to prove you really did write that much, is always a little off from the word counter I use in MS Word, but I was surprised by how MUCH it was off this year! Word said I had 50,117 words when I stopped this evening; the website told me I had 49,999!!! So I went back and added freakin' TWO MORE WORDS, for a total of 50,001 (or 50,119) words. Woohoo!

I don't really like my story, and I don't intend on doing anything with it after this month is over. I don't even know if I'll add anything to it tomorrow, since it's technically still November. Rather than the feeling of "Yes! This is great, I want to actually finish the story!" like I've had the last couple of years, I'm feeling more like, "Ughhh, thank goodness this is over!" Oh well.

To celebrate, here is an excerpt, a sort of fairy tale within a fairy tale:

*

When Sleepy was very small, barely able to walk, his father, a woodsman, crossed through the garden of a very powerful witch, and took something from it. (This was the second time in just a few days in which I had heard about a woodsman being married, but I did not remark upon it at the time.)

Sleepy's father had gone into the village to buy such things as sugar, a bolt of fabric for his wife to sew into a new dress for herself and new shirts for him and their boy, and some eggs, since chickens did not last long among the beasts in the forest where they lived. He brought smoked and dried bear meat to sell, along with the skin and teeth. Laden with his new purchases, he headed back through the village, along the way passing nearby the castle which lay in the center of the town. There was a high wall all around it, but as he had taken a less-traveled road in order to avoid much of the market day foot traffic, he found himself privy to a view inside the wall through a tall, iron gate. The gate provided a view of a beautiful lush garden filled with every fruit tree one could imagine, and more types of flower than the woodsman could name. In the center of the garden was a beautiful apple tree, laden heavily with the reddest, juiciest-looking apples he had ever seen in his life. His mouth watered just looking at them.

His wife baked the finest apple pies in all the land, which was part of the reason he had married her. (Some of the other reasons were her apple-red and apple-round cheeks, so full when she smiled, and the way her long, dark hair waved its way down her back like the waterfall he had seen once in his travels as a young man; and some of the other reasons were not fit to repeat in earshot of company, though he would whisper about them into his wife's ear now and then, and her apple cheeks would grow even fuller and redder as she giggled.) However, the scrawny little apples they could gather near to their cottage on the edge of the forest did not do her baking justice. These apples in the garden, the man felt sure, would make the finest apple pie out of all the fine apple pies his wife had ever made.

Driven by greed and hunger, Sleepy's father put down his pack and squeezed himself through the iron bars of the gate. (He was very slim from eating little and working long and hard in the forest, felling trees which he dragged into town every few weeks to sell.) He filled all his pockets with the lovely red, fleshy apples, then caught up the tails of his shirt in front and filled that as well. On his way back to the gate, however, he was stopped in his tracks by a beautiful young woman. Her eyes were as pale and cold as the ice on the peaks of the mountains far to the north, and her skin paler still. Her white-gold hair streamed out behind her like a cape, and on her head sat a thin, silver circlet.

"Why have you taken the apples from my uncle's garden?" she asked haughtily.
The woodsman stammered and stuttered, too dumbfounded with shock, and by her beauty, to answer properly.

"Come here," said the young woman, and the woodsman found himself stumbling toward her as though she had flicked a fishing hook into his flesh and was pulling on the line. "Give me the apples," she commanded, but the man was frozen by her gaze. She took an apple from the basket made by his shirt, and brought it up to stare intently at it. Her pale, thin lips moved as she whispered, in words the woodsman could not understand. They were musical and deadly and intoxicating all at once. Then she kissed the apple and placed it back with the others.
"You and your family shall pay for your greed and theft," she murmured, and when the woodsman blinked, she was gone.

He returned to his cottage at the edge of the woods, hardly knowing what he did or seeing anything in front of him. In a daze, he emptied his clothing of apples, unable or unwilling to answer his wife's questions about where they came from. He dandled his young son on his knee as his wife baked the apples into a pie. Her greed, too, was raised by the sight of such perfect apples, and she could hardly wait to taste the pie.

Mouths watering, the couple stayed up late into the night, waiting for the pie to bake. The aroma, sweet and spicy and tangy, filled the cottage til they could hardly stand it. At last, the woodsman's wife pulled the pie from the oven. Its crust was sugar-sprinkled and the most perfect light brown color. Steam rose from the vents, driving them mad with hunger. The little boy had fallen asleep long before, but they woke him to taste the pie, which they both felt sure would be the best thing any human had ever tasted.

The woman put three steaming slices on three plates, and everyone was seated around their small, wooden table. Without a word, the woodsman and his wife devoured their slices, then each had another, and a third, til the whole pie was gone. The child, however, was so sleepy that he only took a bite or two before falling fast asleep with his cheek on the table.

As the woodsman and his wife sat rubbing their full bellies and licking their lips, something strange began to happen. Thick brown fur, long as a handsbreadth, sprouted all over their bodies. They began to grow in size until the chairs on which they sat collapsed beneath them in piles like matchsticks. In horror, they watched each other as their faces elongated, their ears migrated to the tops of their heads, and their teeth grew long and sharp. Their fingernails sprouted into thick, black claws, as did the nails on their toes. Their skin rippled and shuddered as their bones and their insides changed and grew. They were covered in a thick layer of fat. They were full-grown grizzly bears.

At the same moment, their eyes fell upon something in a basket by the stove. One last, shining red apple. In their haste and greed, they destroyed the cottage, knocking over the table and the bed, smashing the remaining chair to tinder, tearing down the thatched roof. They fought each other to the death for that one, beautiful apple. Finally, bleeding and broken, they both fell to the floor and died.

Their son, too, had turned into a bear, but since he had only a taste of the cursed apples, he had not been filled with rage and bloodlust, but cowered, whimpering, in the corner. As the cottage burned down around him, he cried out in a little bear voice and ran off into the woods.

Another side effect of eating only a bite of the pie was that during the day, he returned to his normal human form. Miraculously, he stumbled upon a cave of bears during his second night in the wild, and miraculously, the mother bear accepted him into her family, consisting of the father bear and two little babies about Sleepy's size. He grew up with them, eating berries, fish, and whatever else the bears found for him, even nursing at the mother bear's teat when he was still very small. He learned to climb trees with his bear brother and sister, how to catch river trout, how to ignore the stings of a thousand bees when in pursuit of the sweetness inside their hive. He did all these things as a bear and as a human boy.

The wizard said the bears must have seen him as two different beings, a human that went away during the night, and a bear that went away during the day. One day when he was about seven or eight human years old, the wizard found him wandering the woods and took him in to heal the cuts and stings he had sustained. When he woke in the night to find a huge bear slumbering in front of his fire, he investigated, following Sleepy to the place he very faintly remembered as coming from. The story of his parents, he divined from talking to the inhabitants of the town nearby and by a couple of spells. (He did not expound upon how, and I did not ask.) Sleepy had lived with the wizard and his fairies ever since, and they all did their best to educate Sleepy on how to be a proper young man, though not very much of it stuck in his fuzzy bear-brain.

*

Not the best thing I've ever written, but I wrote it fast, and it gave me almost 1,500 more words. Though a good half of the story could probably be trashed, I did have some fun writing it, and I like saying that I've won NaNoWriMo five years in a row! :)

Hello again

2009-11-24T05:53:00.003-07:00

Today is my Friday, sort of. I'm only in school two days this week (both schools) because of Thanksgiving break. It won't be too much of a break, but oh well. Wednesday I intend on catching up and (hopefully) even getting ahead in my NaNoWriMo novel. I'm at just over 36,000 words right now, and by the end of today I should be at 40,000, so I'm somewhat behind. (I did write a little over 6,000 words on Sunday, though, which was awesome!) Most of the story is trash and I don't think I'll do anything with it, but for the last week, it's at least been fun to write. I'm making new characters and my MC is seeing new places, and I always love writing description.

I've also been knitting a lot (not at the middle school, but in my college classes), and I currently have 6.3 pairs of wristwarmers knit up (but not sewn--bleh, don't like that part much). I'd like to sell them at the vintage store/art gallery downtown, but if they sit there for a long time and don't sell, maybe I'll open up my old Etsy store and see how they do there. They're all diferrent sizes, colors, and patterns, and by "patterns" I mean stitch patterns. I didn't actually use patterns for any of them, just invented them off the top of my head depending on what kind/color and how much yarn I had. Most of it is leftover little balls after I finished knitting socks, though some of it is from various other projects. All of them are at least partially wool, for warmth and because the shop doesn't seem like a place that caters to people who would like cheap acrylic.

Totally rambling now. After today, I have to be on (the college) campus four more days, and two of them are for finals. AUGHHHHHHHHHH! In a way, I'm really glad, but I'm also kind of freaking terrified. There's still a lot to do between now and then, but I'll get it done! As for the middle school, I have 15 more days, though of course not much will get done the last couple days before Christmas break. I have my last observation on the 9th, and I'm using the lesson plan I wrote for another class, so whew! One less thing to worry about.

Matt and I will be back in our hometown for Thanksgiving with my family, then we both work all weekend. Black Friday I'm working just over 9 hours, while Matt works 12. ICK. (But yay for him, he gets commission!) Then Saturday for both of us, and likely Sunday, too. Freakin retail. I'm glad we have jobs, but we will both be soooo glad when we don't have to go through this ridiculosity every holiday seaason.

So let's see, writing, school, knitting.... That about sums up my life these past few weeks! No promises, but I would like to post here more over my breaks. We'll see how that goes. (Need to work on a new header, too.)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-04T23:44:00.003-07:00

Buh-guh-uhhhh...

2009-10-24T23:07:00.005-06:00

Goodness, it's been almost a whole month since I last posted, and that wasn't even a real post! (No, I was not able to recover those six pages, but I got over and and wrote them again. *Sigh*) I'm so busy all the time, and when I'm not busy, I'm either playing catch-up on all the stuff I've missed while I was busy (grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry) or chilling out so I can function the rest of the time. Those of you who know me "in real life" see me occasionally on Facebook; those of you that don't... well, you're probably not even reading this blog anymore because of lack of updates!

Since it's late at night and I can't phrase anything in an interesting way, I give you a little update, in the form of a list.

1. School (college classes) is going all right. I'm not able to keep up with all the reading, but the papers and projects are going just fine, and I like being in class because of the discussions we have. Very interesting (nerdy, English-y, teacher-y) stuff.

2. Other school (middle school) is also going well. Parent-teacher conferences were Wednesday night and all day Thursday, but I'll save my ruminations on that for the reflection journal I have to keep for one of my education classes. If the entry is any good, and would make any sense to someone not in my classroom, I might post it here.

3. Halloween is in a week! My second-favorite holiday ever. I sort of invited myself to go trick-or-treating with a friend and her kids (two of them, 4 and 7) because no one I knew, to my knoweldge, was doing anything fun on Halloween to which I was invited. Anything in town either costs to much, is overrun with old people (like the charity masked ball) or involves heavy drinking at one of the "clubs." No thank you. So I will be Snow White and traipse around with (I think) a princess, a bottle of glue, and a guy with a sword. Yay!

4. NaNoWriMo is also coming up! Yes, I'm going to attempt it despite all my crazy business. I may not reach 50,000 words (for the first time in five years! *wince*), but I do still want to write something during the month of November, and try to make at least some of the write-ins. What is my novel about? Look at my Halloween costume! Yes, another retelling. (Two years ago I did a modern-day Pride and Prejudice, which turned out... eh. All right. Still unfinished, so apparently not good enough to continue after November.) I'm not sure where I'm going with it, but at least I have sort of a plot and a handful of characters.

5. Yes, we've lived in this house for 3 months, and I still cannot see the top of my sewing table. There's always so much to do (especially when it comes to cleaning) and so little time to do it! Luckily, I don't have to sew anything for my costume. I just miss it! I'd love to make even a pair of PJ pants, or hem a curtain, or something! Until the day when I can get to it, though, I'll content myself as best I can with knitting (much more portable, doesn't take up nearly as much space) and other random crafting. (I'm fashioniong a poison apple for Halloween, and I bought stuff to make a Fall wreath for the front door, too.)

6. Sune is wonderful and adorable, of course. She had a bath tonight and is all fluffy and pretty. If she wasn't a mutt, she would be a lovely show dog, I think. She just... makes me happy. I want to snuggle her all the time. (Geeze, if I'm this bad about my freaking dog, how bad will I be when I have a real kid of my own?)

7. This coming week is Red Ribbon Week (sort of like Spirit Week is for high schoolers, but with a "Say no to drugs!" theme) at the middle school. Each day has a themed dress-up day, and I'll try to take pictures of my outfits during the week. It's like a whole week of Halloween for me, so you know I'm thrilled!

8. (Hey, this is Thing 8! Could this count as an 8 Things Friday, just a day late?) I miss blogging. I do little mini-blogs (micro-super-mini!) on Facebook, but it's just not the same. Maybe I could start doing some Wordless Wednesdays like some of my blogging friends, and a Linktastic Thursday/Sunday/Whateverday. That's minimal-ish writing effort on my part, but still some form of blogging and communication with all three people still reading this thing. We'll see, I guess!

Please, please help - Computer problem

2009-10-03T18:01:00.003-06:00

Please leave a comment or email me if you know how to do this, or could talk to someone who does. I emailed myself something from school, then opened it today and wrote 6 more pages. However, instead of clicking "Save" when I did "Download File" file from my Yahoo mailbox, I just hit "Open." I typed and typed, and hit CNTRL-S occasionally. It looked like it was saving (the little mouse thingy went round and round). Then I closed it and restarted my computer. Obviously it is nowhere to be found because I'm an IDIOT. WHERE IS IT? Is there any hope of finding it? Restore? Temp files? Anything??? Or shall I do an afternoon's work all over again? Please help! I'm going to go to the corner and cry now.

8 Decades Friday

2009-10-02T06:30:00.001-06:00

Yes, you read it right. Not 8 THINGS Friday, 8 DECADES Friday.

Last Sunday, we celebrated my Grammie Joan's 80th birthday.

She was a school teacher (elementary) for thirty-some years, I think, and seems to have taught at least a full half the population of the tiny town where she's lived for fifty-something years. Many people that came were taught by her, as were their children.

Dean of Women at Quincy College in Illinois. Mother. Teacher. Rancher's wife. Grandmother. Catholic. Friend. She was and is many things, and is well loved in the community and by all her family.

Happy 80th birthday, Grammie!

Happy Friday!

2009-09-11T22:18:00.001-06:00

Yes, I'm alive. See you in June when I can have a life again! :P

For now, here's a very confused puppy:

I hope your weekend is less stressful than his.

Why I want to be a teacher

2009-08-26T21:56:00.002-06:00

This got a little derailed, and it's a little scattered, but this is the first creative thing I've written for months, really, and since I'm very short on time and pretty short on blog post topics, here is the first journal entry for one of my education classes.

Why do you want to become a teacher? What’s your story?

I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. There were brief periods where I wanted to be an optometrist, an orthodontist, or a botanist, but never very seriously. Since I started playing school with my dolls and stuffies, I knew I wanted to teach.

Did I always want to teach middle school? Heck no! My first two years here at M___ State were spent as a secondary education major, emphasis in English with the intent to teach high school. However, I then decided to get my BA in English Writing instead, then go on to graduate school for my masters (or maybe doctorate) and teach college writing classes. I thought that was the place to be; the students want to be there (they’re paying for it, after all, or at least mom and dad are!) , and once I had some seniority and got “dibs” on the upper-division classes, I would be teaching my kind of people: English freaks. The kind of people who get really excited about word origins and semicolons, and who have conniptions when a sign in a store is misspelled or improperly punctuated.

However, I didn’t go to graduate school the year after I graduated from M___, nor did I go the next year. (Long stories.) Totally bummed and not wanting to work in retail the rest of my life, I started looking at *PBL programs on the Eastern Slope, since M___ no longer had one for secondary, just elementary. However, with the current economy and difficulty in finding jobs, my husband, Matt, and I were a little scared to move to Fort Collins/Boulder/Denver/wherever with nothing to move to but college and more student loan debt.

Serendipitously, a man from the PBL program came through my checkout line at work one day last winter and we got to talking about teaching, teaching programs, and PBLs. I found out he worked in the PBL program at M___, and said, “Well geeze, I wish you guys had it for secondary. I have to move all the way to Denver next fall!”

“We do,” he replied. “We’ll be starting it back up this coming year.”

That changed everything! Matt and I could stay here at the jobs we knew and tolerated; he could work while I did this “intensive” program (and is it ever!) and in one calendar year, I would be a certified teacher!

When I got my placement for my pre-internship and internship, I made a face like I’d just tasted rotten lemons. Seventh grade? Twelve-year olds five days a week for nine months? Really? I wanted high school students! Since I wouldn’t be teaching at the college level, they were the next best thing, I thought. More mature, and developed enough that they didn’t need to be babysat like the junior high kids.

The more I thought about it and talked about it, though, the more I chatted with the principal at W___ Middle School and my mentor teacher, K__ D____, and the more I started reading the novels 7th-graders read and thinking about the sorts of things they do, the more excited I got! I couldn’t wait for my online summer classes to be over, as interesting as they were, in order to get to the good stuff. I can’t explain it; it’s like this desire to be with middle school kids suddenly welled up in my heart and flowed throughout my whole life.

The kids are awesome. They’re hilarious and gross, and the boys have that just-becoming-teenagers-and-not-used-to-sweating-so-they-don’t-shower-much boy smell, and the girls are all about lip gloss and Twilight books, but I love them all. Standing at the doors every morning, watching them rush past me yelling, jostling, and giggling, watching them slam their lockers and then open them right back up to get the pencil they forgot… I just want to hug them all! They’re these little miniature people (though some are bigger than me!) who are learning who they are, who they want to be, what they want to do. My husband refers to them as “larval humans,” and while he doesn’t mean it in a nice way, I think that’s a fairly accurate description. Not to get all gooey-sentimental, but they’re still inside their comfy being-a-kid shell. They’re mushy and awkward and messy, growing into someday butterflies. And I love that I’m a part of their lives right now, that I get to watch them metamorphose into beautiful, brilliant, unique creatures.

God bless the elementary teachers. They do more babysitting even than I do (which is still a lot!), and they have kids in the “caterpillar” stage—worming their way through letters, sounds, words, through addition and subtraction, through lining up for recess and tying their shoes. I’d be fine doing daycare for the littles, but trying to do that and teach them stuff? No thank you. And I’m sure they feel the same way about middle school teachers—they wouldn’t want to touch those kids with a ten foot pole. (Sometimes, neither do I, so I can’t blame them.) But this is where I’m supposed to be. I can feel it. And hopefully, this is where I’ll be next year when it’s time to get a real teaching job, and the year after that, and the year after that.

*PBL: Post-Baccalaureate Licensure; basically you have your Bachelor's in something, then add the education credits on to become licensed to teach in that content area.

8 Things Friday

2009-08-21T21:17:00.008-06:00

1. It's been a little while since I've done one of these! Over a month, actually; not since July 17th. I'm hoping to get back into it now that I'm more on a schedule.

2. Didja see the new banner? I think it's very fitting to where I am in my life right now. (Actually if I was being more accurate, it would also have a picture of the college, the middle school, and a huge stack of books and homework, but I thought three pictures was enough.)

3. I'm finally learning where all the light switches in this house are, and which lights they turn on. For the living room, the stairway, and the loft, there are two each, which is helpful, but was also a little confusing. And so far I haven't turned on the garbage disposal when I meant to get the kitchen light, so that's good.

4. This has been a long, long week, but at the same time, it's flown by! I've done SO MUCH, and I'm SO TIRED in the evenings even with going to bed early (since I wake up at freakin 5:20am). I'm going to enjoy my college classes, and all but one are Tuesday-Thursday, which I like. There are only two classes a week, but longer ones so it seems I get more out of them; also, more days in between (on the weekends) to do homework! I have a 1-hour class on Wednesdays only because it's the content part (English) of my "Methodology Practicum" class. There's also "Integrating Literacy in the Classroom," and "Teaching Speech and Drama" (which is taught by one of the drama profs, and is therefore wacky and different from a "normal" class).

5. Kitsune had her first bath (from me) the other night.

It was a very sad, sad thing.

She shivered and was generally a total Pomhuahua. (Pomeranian+Chihuahua=Pomhuahua.)

However, after the bath when she was all fluffy and slightly damp, she went CRAZY! She ran laps around the coffee table, panting, and she chased the heck out of her tail! I laughed so hard and so long my stomach was sore!

6. This is all out of order, but as I said (and will be saying for the next year), I'm tired. Here is my "first day of student teaching" outfit:

The curious doggie was not part of the look, though I think it really adds a little extra something.

7. 7th-graders are INSANE. I swear. They're crazy and funny and gross and silly and immature, and their little brains do not quite work the way adults' do. Something that seems so simple (fill out this worksheet about where stuff is in your geography book) is really NOT. It takes 45 minutes and still only a few kids out of 25 get it all the way done because of all the "I don't know"s and the screwing around. I knew this already, but I didn't really know it. Now I do.

8. I'm not whining, I'm really not. I wasn't actually that frustrated at them today, it was just... a learning experience. They can't help it; they're twelve years old! It's not like they go to school every day thinking, "I'm going to be really difficult, and not follow instructions, and not listen to anything in order to annoy the crud out of my teachers." They're just... twelve years old. They're still trying to turn into real people and they don't think about things like getting their pencils from their lockers, or staying in their seat for a whole hour, or putting their names on their papers.

But they're amazing kids. Just reading through some of the "All About Me" papers (just what it sounds like, but for the teachers only, and it's also used as a writing assessment to see where everyone is at) was so cool. Friends are very important to the girls; food is very important to the boys. Pets are important to everyone. It was interesting to read their descriptions of their families; how they said their parents were divorced, how they told about their siblings. I'm looking forward to reading them all, if I can.

SLEEPY NOW. *Zonk*

San Diego 2009 - Part 2

2009-08-17T20:59:00.004-06:00

We left off on Tuesday evening at Croce's Jazz Bar, and now resume our tale Wednesday morning.

Pretty flowers outside yet another thrift store.

After that, we went to Hillcrest, off of University Avenue (oddly enough, it's near the college) for another "famous" thrift store (or at least it got good reviews online). We parked just outside "Wear it Again, Sam," a vintage clothing store. (That's not the one we were looking for, but it was a fortuitous parking place, since we got to check it out!) I stepped inside and I swear, it was like I Love Lucy all around, from the men's shirts to the purses and hats to the bathing suits to the dresses. Sooooo much prettiness and cuteness! Unfortunately everything was overpriced, even the things that were in bad condition, i.e. had rips or runs or broken zippers. *Sigh* But very fun to look.

We had lunch at Pizza Fusion, and everything there is eco-friendly, biodegradable, free-range, and organic. Our waitress was covered in tattoos and was kind of a friendly, dippy hippie sort of person. Here is the bathroom sink:

(I took a picture of the nifty bathroom sinks at Quarter Kitchen, too, but they turned out bad so I didn't post them. I'm weird, I know.) I'm pretty sure it was made from bamboo, and at the bottom of the mirror, it says "This person is helping to change the world." Awww.

We hit Buffalo Exchange after that, and if we weren't so tired and footsore at that point, we could've spent a lot longer inside. I tried on a ton of stuff but everything either didn't fit, or was ugly on me. All except a cute black pencil skirt, yay! I'd been wanting one for teaching this fall.

If you've met my mom, this will come as little surprise to you: we went and got her nose pierced that afternoon. :D We punched "tattoo" into the GPS to find a place and drove just a little ways, went in and met a hairy, tattoo'd dude, and were told to come back in half an hour. After having a coffee and pastry at a cute French place, we returned to Swell Tattoo Co.

:D Didn't hurt, didn't bleed, she didn't even tear up.

After that, we went home, exhausted.

Thursday was our last day in San Diego. We hit Ikea in the morning, wheeeeeee! I love love love that store! I'd never been in one before, but everything in it was just like our house is decorated. I wanted to buy all of it! And so cheap, too! Eventually, when (if) we have money, we might be ordering some smaller things from the website.

Brittany, this is for you and your Ikea food pictures! We split a chicken wrap and an order of French fries. I had apple juice and Mom had some sort of sparkling peach stuff. Yum!

After lunch, we drove to the Natural History Museum for the Body Worlds exhibit. It was very cool and I'm very glad we went! It was like walking through a giant science lesson, but in a good way. I went back and forth between, "Oh my gosh, these are real people. Ew. Dang." and "Wow, this is so awsome! Look at that heart cross section/those blood vessels/that embryo/those muscles!" If you have a chance to go, I recommend it.

Lovely avenue between the science building and the museum proper. Don't know what was down it, but it was sure a photo opportunity!

Thursday after work, Lori drove us an hour and a half-ish back to Jenna's apartment. We watched What Happens in Vegas, which was better than I'd thought it would be: hilarious and cute. Lori then drove home since she had work the next morning, and Mom and I slept on the hideaway in the spare room, and the couch in the living room, respectively.

The whole trip, Mom and I had been dying for El Pollo Loco. (Oh my gosh, that website just made me so hungry for it! It's soooo good!) It had been years since either of us had had it, since there aren't any in Colorado. So on the way to the airport (Jen came back on her lunch break to take us), we drove through and got combo meals. Deciding it would be too messy to eat them in the car, and thinking it was only a half hour, anyway, we waited til we got to the airport. After checking our bag and getting our tickets, we started toward... well, a freaking huge line. And at the end of that line was the security checkpoint, past which you cannot take food. So yes, we scarfed down as much as we could, since we had to get in that line and we couldn't be late for our flight.

(Good grief, I really needed to cut my bangs that whole time we were there, they looked like crud!) (And I like Mr. "I'm not paying attention to the silly tourists taking pictures of their chicken" behind me.) Here I am with our carry-on junk on a cart, eating grilled chicken, tortillas, beans, and rice, as fast as possible without getting sick.

And then, finally, we were on the plane home. After the stress of the huge airport, both of us just read and dozed a little. However, I had to take one more picture.

I think our carry-on bags are so indicative of our personalities. Heather's is handmade, vintage-looking, pink, and comfy. Donna's is patent-leather, zebra striped, and accented with lipstick-red and silver chains.

Good trip.

San Diego 2009 - Part 1

2009-08-14T22:50:00.010-06:00

The trip immortalized forever in a wholllle lot of pictures! Oddly enough, a lot of them are of food, but I'll only show you a couple of those. (We did a lot of eating. It was great.) I took about 80 pictures and whittled them down to 21.

Mom and I left here about 9:30 on Friday night and the two-hour flight got into LAX about 10:45--California time. (The trip home was "three hours" long because of the time change.) My cousin, Jennifer, picked us up at the airport since she lives about half an hour away, then we drove straight down to my Aunt Lori's house in San Diego, about another hour and a half. We arrived at Lori's about 1am and promptly crashed into our respective beds. Mom and I had their toy hauler/trailer in the driveway to ourselves, which was super nice.

Here is the view from their huge picture window in the living room. Across the bay you can see the Sea World fireworks go off about 10 every night.

This is how we spent the first half of Saturday. It was amazing. Once we were finally dressed, we went to CostCo, since we'd made great plans of wonderful things to cook and eat that week. After dropping all that off at the house, Mom and I took Lori's car to the beach for a couple hours while Lori and Jen (who can go to the beach whenever they want since they live there) hit another grocery store for a couple more things. We came back and had a yummy dinner: a salad of greens with grilled chicken, fresh raspberries, carmelized walnuts, and raspberry vinagrette. Uncle Jeff was on a boat fishing with friends, and my other cousin, Curtis, was at his cousin's house, so we could have a super-girly dinner.

Sunday we had a "tea party" breakfast with orange-chocolate-chip scones, two kinds of tea, and yogurt-fruit-granola "parfaits" in martini glasses, then the four of us went to the swap meet. Sooooooo much shopping, and all for super cheap! I got a top and a dress for $12, the parasol for $2, a bunch of earrings for $5, a purse and matching wallet (the same exact set I'd been pining for from Icing, but I paid $8 for the set instead of $30!), lots of hair stuff, new sunglasses... I don't know what all else. Jenna also got a big rug for her new apartment for just $40, and Mom got two pair of shoes, a hat... Yeah, there was major shopping.

Snack time! (Jenna and Lori)

That night we had a nice dinner with the whole family, as well as Curtis' really sweet girlfriend, Sarah. We watched Holes, which I hadn't seen in forever. It's still wonderful! :) (Please read the book first if you haven't seen the movie! They're both great, but of course the book is better.) Then Curtis played a new song he'd learned on his 12-string. He has a minor guitar addiction, and by "minor" I mean he has about 6 all over his room.

Jenna got up early Monday morning to head back to Orange County and work, booo. Mom drove Lori to work so we'd have the use of her car all day (and she caught a ride back with Jeff). Then we hit the thrift stores--hard! One called "The Buff" was supposed to be awesome, but was mostly full of cheap-o Halloween costumes and castoff 90's clothes, though I did find some dark turquoise, velvet, high-heeled shoes with rhinestone buckles on them! Up the street was "Thrift Trader," where everything in the store--t-shirts, skirts, movies, CDs, jackets, everything--was either $5.99 or 4 items for $20. We made out good there!

I got this top, as well as a bunch of cute WWF t-shirts and a black cropped jacket that will be good for teaching. Mom got a bunch of CDs.

We then made our second Starbucks stop of the day for a little pick-me-up before heading to AmVets, a huuuuge thrift store the size of a warehouse. (All the proceeds went to support veterans, yay.)

Mom did not get the overalls, I just wanted a picture of her in a thrift store, too. She did get a tablecloth, and I got a couple of dresses and a pair of brown patent-leather peep-toe heels. I've been needing good brown shoes!

Exhausted, we returned to Lori and Jeff's and put our feet up!

The next day we went to the Gaslamp District, which is full of historic buildings such as:

Pretty, huh? Also, gas lamps! Although of course they're electric now. We spent pretty much that whole day in the Horton Plaza Mall, again, shopping til we dropped. (Why I kept wearing high heels, I do not know. Oh right, cuz they're cute. Beauty is pain.) We finally rested our feet at Quarter Kitchen, the restaurant of the Ivy, a fancy-ish hotel. There I met, in person, Jen from Somewhere Knitting! We've been internet friends for around three years now, I think! She lived about two hours south of San Diego, and since she would be moving back east a couple of weeks after and we would likely never get the chance to meet again, we decided to have dinner that night!

It was really great to talk to her face-to-face, and I'm so glad my mom could meet her, too! (They'd been Facebook friends for a while; somehow they remind me of the other.) Jen, thanks again so much for driving all that way to see us!

This is the most amazing braised beef I've ever had, it just fell apart in your mouth! Tiny carrots, tiny potatoes. The restaurant was so fancy that the portions were leeetle, but we got two appetizer-entree-dessert orders and shared between the three of us; it was just right.

Like I said, Mom has fond memories of Jim Croce and his music from her high school days, so we went to his restaurant and jazz bar to check it out and buy a souvenier. (He died in a plane crash years ago, so it's not really his restaurant, but anyway.) It wasn't quite what we were expecting; there was a very loud band in one corner (good, though!) and the "gift shop" was a locked glass case in the back by the restrooms which contained a few box sets, some DVDs, and some t-shirts. Oh well. Mom got the 30th anniversary box set of two CDs and a DVD of live stuff, and took a picture with the bouncer! Then we took the trolley back to the depot (we'd taken the bus into the District, so we got both experiences--the trolley was a lot faster--in order to not mess with and pay for parking downtown) and drove a couple of miles home!

This is a very long post with a lot lot of pictures, so I'll wrap it up for now. Part 2 coming soon! (Hopefully tomorrow.)

P.S. New banner up top, RSS readers!

Meet Kitsune

2009-08-11T21:04:00.006-06:00

Hi!

Hi hi! I'm Kitsune but Mommy and Daddy call me Sune, it sounds like Sooooni. They say "Sooni Sooni Sooni!" to try and get me to come to them, but I don't pay very much attention to them sometimes. But sometimes I do, and then they get really happy and pet me and say "Good dog" and "Good girl" a lot, and I like that, especially when they scratch my back. You know what else is really good? When Mommy scratches the back of my neck under my collar and gets underneath all my long hair, that's reeeeeally good, yeah. I almost fall asleep sometimes when she does that.

This was me the first day at my home. Mommy and Daddy took me from my other Mommy. She was a nice old lady in a little house, and I had FOUR other little dogs to play with! Wow, it was really fun! Other Mommy loved me and petted me, and she fed me canned food with real chicken in it, and it was soooo yummy. So yummy! Mommy now and Daddy, they only feed me dry chunks of food and I don't like it that much, but I guess if I get hungry enough I'll eat it. Mommy gets mad at Daddy sometimes for feeding me too much of the canned food. She says it's a treat--oh, I know that word!--and it's expensive, whatever that means. I think I should get canned food all the time, but I guess I'm not going to.

Anyway, Other Mommy took me away from some people who weren't very nice. I was in a cage a lot of the time, and there were other big dogs that made me nervous, and no one took me out and played with me, or brushed my pretty hair, or fed me very much. They made me shy and scared, and I don't really like to be picked up or left by myself, but I'm getting lots better every day! Mommy and Daddy love me sooo much and they cuddle me and tell me how pretty I am!

I like to lay with my legs stuck out behind me, and it makes Mommy laugh but it's comfy! But I don't lay down for very long. There are sounds, and I have to see what the sounds are, and sometimes there are food sounds and I reeeeally want to see what THOSE sounds are! And then I lay down again. Sometimes I think I smell something, but then I don't. I snuffle all around the whollllle house, but I hardly ever find anything good. That's okay. I lay down some more, until I get up again.

I have a little toy, it's soft and Mommy calls it a giraffe, whatever that is, and it squeaks when she squeezes it, but I don't make it squeak. I like to pounce on it, pounce pounce pounce! When Mommy hops it around on the carpet. And I fetch the giraffe too, but I'm only sort of good at that. Mommy says we'll work on it. She also says we'll work on "sit" and "stay" and "lay down," but I'm not so sure about that.

Oh I forgot to say, my name means "fox" in Japanese! I guess Mommy and Daddy really like Japanese stuff. They say I look like a little fox when I'm snuffling around in the tall weeds in the backyard. It's fun! There are lots of smells out there. There is a big dog on the other side of the fence, but I haven't met it yet, and it never barks at me, which is good, because I would bark at it! Bark and bark! But I don't.

I forgot to say I'm a mix! One of my doggy parents was a Pomeranian and the other was a Chihuahua, I don't remember which is which. Oh well. I am soooo pretty! And also I am two years old, so I am not a tiny baby puppy anymore, no, I am very big and grown up! But sometimes it's fun to still act like a puppy. That's okay too.

When new people come into my home, I bark at them too! And I shiver and sit on Mommy or Daddy's lap, and they pet me and tell me to be nice. And after a while I sniff the new people and they try and pet me and I run away, but a while after that I walk across their laps on the sofa or come and lick their fingers, and it's okay. Sometimes they give me TREATS! That's really good.

Well, I'm gonna go cuddle with Daddy for a while. I sit on Daddy's lap and watch the big boxes he looks at, they have neat pictures and the pictures move and that's fun! Mommy watches boxes with pictures, too, and it's fun to sit on her lap and watch the pictures! And lots of times she takes out a very little box and it makes clicking noises while she looks at it, and it looks at me. It's weird. She says I move too fast. Oh well.

Okay byyyyyyeeeeeee! It was nice to meet you!

Oh hi! Hi! It's me again. Mommy says she is posting a video, and she hopes it works, and it "takes a while to load." Okay, sure Mommy. Here is a video of me being cute, which is what I do all the time! Also, there is sound. Also, it's not a very good video. Mommy needs more practice.

Hiiiiiiiii!

2009-08-06T14:48:00.003-06:00

I'm back! I'm here! Home, my very own home! It's full of boxes and bags of STUFF (man, we have a lot of stuff) but it is ours.

San Diego was great! I'll make a post soonish with lots of pictures and tell you all about it. I got a ton of stuff from the swap meet and various thrift stores, and great memories with my mom.

We are all moved in, totally and completely. The carpets in the old apartment have been cleaned, and we turned in our keys. Hopefully we'll get our deposit back soon. :)

There is a scratch on the inside of this mug that looks just like a smiley face. =) Like that.

My head is full of so many things right now (one of them being caffienated iced tea) that I'm a little ADD.

Off to visit family for the weekend; it's my grandma's birthday, and my mom's two sisters are coming out as well. Monday is new teacher orientation, as is Tuesday, then Wednesday starts the teacher work days. By the 19th, I will be with students in "my" classroom! AAAAAAAAAAAACK!

I mean YAAAAAAAAY! Yes, that's what I meant.

Um...

2009-07-18T23:48:00.002-06:00

...I think I made it worse.

8 Things Friday

2009-07-17T22:16:00.007-06:00

1. We picked out and bought the paint for the new kitchen, as well as all the other supplies! :) Go here, click on "Warm Reds," and type "Tomato Red" into the search on the right side. It looks horrid on my monitor, sort of pinkish and dull, but it's much nicer than that, really. I'm trying to think of something in real life to compare it to... Maybe a bit more orange than geraniums, and a little darker.

As a reminder, here's the kitchen:

Keep in mind the new countertops will be medium-grey with speckles. The two walls you can see, as well as the third wall facing the living room, will be painted. Did I say the new theme for the kitchen is "sushi"? :D I think it will be so cute! I want to make a rag rug from old t-shirts that looks like a sushi roll (green on the outside for seaweed, white inside for rice, and pink in the center for salmon or whatever). Any links to sushi-themed fabric, knick-knacks, pictures, or kitchen doo-dads, if you happen to come across them, would be appreciated!

2. Now for plans for the sewing room! I might clip a few aprons onto a pretend clothesline on the wall, or hang them on pegs, but the rest I want to pin onto curtains and replace the lame sliding closet doors with those curtains! They'll look like they're almost made out of aprons, but I can still take the aprons off at any point and not damage any if I just use safety pins. I might also sew/pin doilies and hankies in the blank spots between aprons and make it really patchwork-y, we'll see.

I got a couple of nice wooden hangers on which to display my pretty vintage dresses. I hate that my Gunne Sax, my 60s homecoming dresses, and a few other neat ones, are just hung in the back of my closet and are worn either never or very rarely. Why not treat them as art? I'll put a couple hooks or pegs on the wall and rotate the dresses on hangers depending on what I want to see.

If I could find some decent-looking wig heads, I might put some of the vintage hats on them; HOWEVER, 1) having heads in my sewing room, especially at night and when it's dark, might freak me out out of the corner of my eye and 2) I'm not sure I'll have enough free horizontal surfaces (like bookcases or shelves) on which to put them. So the hats might go on the wall, too.

After this, if I have any wall space left (one wall is mostly sliding glass door, the other is mostly closet, and there's the door into the room in another wall), I might do something like this with a few of my favorite/most meaningful fabrics. Cute, huh? I got about 8 wooden embroidery hoops of various sizes at the Goodwill the other day for really cheap, too.

Oh, and I want a vanity in the sewing room. With just my sewing table and desk, there should be room. It would be so nice to have all my jewelry, makeup, and hair stuff in a place where I can sit down and get ready in the morning, with a nice little table, stool, and mirror. I described my ideal vanity to Mom--white, sort of curvy, with rounded edges and maybe moulding?--and she said it was "French Provincial." Lovely!

3. Good grief, are we only on three? All right, here's another picture:

Yes, it is a picture of a dirty, rather linty floor. But do you know what floor it is? It is the floor of the current craft closet! YES, IT HAS A FLOOR! I have discovered it! The overflow pile of laundry is GONE (it all fits in the hampers, now, and holy cow do we have a lot of clothes!) so you can SEE the FLOOR! If I'm ever not running around doing stuff for the new house/moving, or doing school, I could actually get in there and sort through stuff and pack stuff! CRAZY!

4. More pictures! The other day for lunch, I turned this

into this

Appetizing, no? :P It was quite delicious. The addition of a banana helped to disguise the spinach taste completely, and the strawberries and pineapple plus OJ, made it very yummy! I will give you a tip, though: don't have this much fruit in one day, two days in a row. I'm just sayin.

5. SEVEN DAYS TIL SAN DIEGO!!!

6. Speaking of which, does anyone who knows San Diego have any fabulous places we simply must visit while we're there? (July 24th-31st) So far we have: one day of thrift stores, one day of the Gaslamp District, maybe one day at the swap meet. We'd like to visit the beach at least a couple of mornings/afternoons (not all day) and just lay around and read and be bums. :) Also want to hit the Jim Croce restaurant/shop because my mom has fond memories of his music from her youth, and we might go Coronado Island Hotel. We're not that interested in Sea World (been there, done that), nor do we want to drive far at all since we'll be borrowing my aunt's car while she's at work.

7. Goodwill is made of awesome! I needed new jeans that fit and weren't holey, and a hoodie that met very specific requirements (none of which my other 537 jackets had), and ended up getting not only classy wide-leg jeans and a lime-green hoodie, but the embroidery hoops mentioned above, white sandals (strappy, high-heeled) that I like a lot better than my current white sandals, two comfy knit dresses about knee-length, and a really 80s-looking cotton floral dress that I think is cute but might be a little tacky/lame in 2009. Don't care, I wore it anyway. Oh, and also our Christmas cards for this year because they were cheap, and a hot pink sheet to make into a dress/skirt/whatever. I need to quit buying sheets for fabric until I use up a few that I have! All that for just about $34!

8. If you could recommend one book on pregnancy/childbirth, what would it be and why? I want to get a few in the near-ish future to start looking ahead and considering all my options.

This is not for the faint of heart

2009-07-12T21:53:00.003-06:00

Beware the pictures below! They are of a fruit-and-greens smoothie, but the color and texture is somewhat... well, it looks like someone already ate it, let's just say that.

Are you prepared?

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Mmmm, looks delicious, right? I sort of used this recipe, but not. Before I tell you how I made it, though, let's go in for a close-up.

Brown, with colored flecks in it. Fabulous.

So I filled my blender about 2/3 full of baby spinach, just fluffed in there, not squished down. Then I added maybe 1/2 a cup of orange juice, and 6 or so strawberries, leaves cut out and then cut in halves or fourths. The strawberries were past the point of being yummy on their own, but they tasted just fine all blended up with everything else. To that I added 12 chunks of canned pinapple chunks and a tablespoon or so of the juice. It took a little shaking of the blender to get all the spinach leaves down in there, but I managed to blend everything up nicely. And there was a super-healthy lunch! (I think. I know canned fruit has more sugar than regular fruit, right? But at least it's still fruit.) I wish I had a banana to throw in and thicken it up a bit, but it was fine like this. I just had to put it in a coffee mug so I wouldn't have to look at it through a clear glass!

Cheers!

8 Things Friday

2009-07-10T21:50:00.003-06:00

1. It's late and I'm not in the mood for blog-writing, nor does my brain work. Let's see if I can get 8. (Look, here's 1 already!)

2. Good gracious, I have a lot of clothes! I went through and culled another whole garbage bag full today, which will be taken to Goodwill. There are also a few house things (decorations mostly) that can go, and probably some shoes, bags, and maybe even some crafty stuff, if I can ever get into that closet.

3. Here is the plan for the near near future, when I'm not doing school: 1) clear all the clothes off the top of the chest in the bedroom 2) get the laundry off the craft closet floor (and hopefully washed and dried and put away) 3) get into the craft closet and start putting fabric into the chest 4) get into the rest of the crafty stuff and start putting it in bins and tossing what I don't need anymore. (Ha, like I need any of it. But you know.)

4. All the books are packed, as well as most of Matt's computer and video games, his shot glass collection (we're not boozers, they're just good, cheap, portable souveniers from places we visit), and most of the decorative "doo-dads" in the living room. Once I grab some more newspaper, we can pack the wine glasses and good dishes.

5. Blah blah blah, packing, blah, moving, blah blah new house.

6. My brain is not working lately. I can't think of the words for things several times a day, which is frustrating. My typing gets worse, then better again. At least the crick in my neck finally went away. Oh, and also I'm scatterbrained and say random things.

7. I like ice cream! And summer! And lookit the neat bookshelf thingy in my sidebar!!

8. Ow. Time to sit on the couch and read som Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

8 Things Friday

2009-07-02T23:46:00.008-06:00

1. I was going to say that this (8 Things Friday) seems to be one of the constants in my life lately, but that's not quite true. There are plenty of other constants, like school, work, laundry, school, grocery shopping, and school. Maybe a better word would be "habit" or "routine." I was posting a bit more often a little while back, but then life kept happening (and kept happening) so I'm back to once a week. Well, once a week is better than nothing. I don't know that I have enough stuff to post about more than once a week!

2. Since life keeps happening, I haven't been cooking much at all. Since we can't live off McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Panchero's, but I don't have time in the evenings to make a "real" dinner, we're reduced to packaged stuff. It's not much healthier than fast food (and believe me, my face is protesting in the form of zits, yuck), but it is cheaper. Still, I spent about $20 more on a week's groceries than I usually do. Packaged is cheaper than fast food, but more expensive than actually making it myself. *Sigh* Moving blows. When I'm not at work or doing school, I've been doing stuff for the new house. We need quotes on a new swamp cooler and kitchen countertops (the sellers aren't replacing either before we move in, but giving us a monetary stipend--or whatever it's called--off the price of the house to replace them ourselves), there's a lot of paperwork to do and read over, a lot of calls to make... I gotta delegate some of this to Matt. I want input on the counters, but he can get whatever the heck a/c he wants! I'm not fussed about how he handles the torn back door screen, either.

3. I guess this should be another number now. New house! Matt's dad did the inspection, and all was well (but for the things mentioned above, which we got sorted). We just paid a butt-load of money to have it appraised (seriously, why is it so much for a dude with a clipboard to walk around the house and write stuff down??), but since we paid first and last month's rent when we moved into this place, we only have a little bit of rent this month. (It's gone up since we moved in two and a half years ago, which is why we're paying some rent.) However, we will have to buy spackle and spackle stuff to patch the holes where we wall-mounted the TV, and we'll have to get the carpets shampooed by a professional. This all costs money! The good thing is I FINALLY got my Summer alottment (i.e. student loans--apparently we're "too rich" to qualify for government grants anymore) so that will help, too.

4. Pictures, you say?

The front; we're in the middle of a line of townhomes, in a sort of U-shaped area of townhomes. There's a little "park" area off to the left of this picture, between two of the buildings.

Front door opens onto the living room, and up the stairs. New Pergo floors! (They need a little patching up, but oh well.)

Dining area. Don't think we're going to keep our huge table and chair set; might get a little two-seater bar-type set, or something, eventually.

Look at the new stainless steel appliances! The built-in microwave! The glass-top stove of awesomeness!

Loft area upstairs where Matt's computer and stuff will go. The rooms are bathroom, bedroom, bedroom.

Out of my sewing room downstairs is the little backyard. Privacy fence, yay. Also waaaaay overgrown grass in some spots, and dead grass in others. We won't replant/fix/get flowers until next summer, since it will be August by the time we're settled in, and who the heck knows what the weather could be like at that point?

5. Other than house-buying, nothing exciting has been going on. My calves are finally about done being sore from last weekend. We moved our friends DOWN two flights of stairs, and UP one flight into the new place. OW OW OW. And, let's see... yup, very little news. Counting the days til the San Diego trip! So glad I have something to look forward to at the end of this month!

6. Did I say I was knitting a pink shawl? I am. It's 84 stitches wide, alternating stripes of seed stitch and garter (and the stripes are 12 stitches wide) so it's rather slow-going. There are also a BILLION little mistakes that are bugging the crap out of me, but I'm trying to let it go. When it's finished and on, with pretty fringe hanging from the short ends, no one will notice. But gosh dang it! I've thought about putting stitch markers between the stripes so I don't start doing the next pattern too soon or too late, but I don't think I have 6 of them! Usually I just use a little loop of knotted yarn, but I'd probably just knit those into the shawl on accident, so I'd need plastic ones. Just little circles. Hmm, maybe should make a trip to Michael's or something. I'm a skein and about a 6th into it, and I'm thinking it will take about 6 skeins total. I have a ways to go. If I remember, I'll put pics of the shawl up soonish.

7. I wrote most of this last night and then forgot to post it, so I'm going to rush through these last two in order to get it up while it's still Friday. I'll have to do some editing, I'm sure.

8. Can anyone think of a good way to display about 16 aprons, 8 or so vintage hats, and about 21 pair of vintage gloves? They're all going in my new sewing room! (For the aprons, I thought putting them on a "clothesline" on the wall would be cute, but I'm not sure about the hats and gloves. Gloves could go in a basket or box, and hats could hang on the wall, but that's not terribly interesting.)

The gloves and hats. The three pair of gloves separated on the left are the ones I'm not keeping. The rest, I need a place for.

8 Things Friday

2009-06-26T08:33:00.003-06:00

Quick post before the day begins.

1. New header! Go look, if you read this through RSS! (Or, you know, don't. It's not that wonderful, it's just not the same one I've had for the past three or four months.)

2. We're going to look at our new house again today! :) And take pictures, and measure things, and imagine where to put everything, and what colors we want to paint, and lots of other stuff! My mom and grandma are coming, and Matt's dad is coming, too. He's an engineer and has built lots of houses, and supervised the building of lots of houses, so he'll do a sort of pre-inspection-inspection. Mom and Grandma just want to see it! If I can, I'll put pictures of the place up early next week. If not, you'll see them in the next 8 Things Friday post.

3. So, Michael Jackson died yesterday. I'm not particularly sad, though I'm sad for his family. It's not like he was this great, charitable, kind person or anything. It's just kind of weird to think about. His Wikipedia page is already all in past tense. I know Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett died the same way, but they're from a different generation, so I don't even know what to think about them.

4. We're off for the weekend to help friends move, and celebrate a birthday while we're at it. It's pouring rain here, so hopefully the weather will be nicer by tomorrow, since the birthday party is a cookout in the park!

5. I need to find out when I can buy tickets for the midnight release of the Harry Potter movie, and when/if they're letting (making?) us camp out like they did for the last one. Please, won't someone in town go with me? Both my HP friends moved far far away and I neeeeed to keep going to the midnight releases! Who wants to hang out all day Friday, the 10th (I think) and read books and play games and chat and be silly, then stay up ridiculously late to watch a really freakin' awesome movie? I know you do!!! Let me know!

6. I had some cantalope for breakfast. Yummmm. Speaking of fruit, this smoothie recipe looks intriguing, but I don't think throwing cantalope in there would be too delicious. Maybe when I get some strawberries again, and toss a banana in, too.

7. Since Mom closed the tea parlour, she gave me all the vintage gloves and hats she had for people to wear if they wanted to dress up for a high tea or a birthday party. With the gloves I already had, I have something like 20 pair now! And that's after making myself give up three pair. (Along with a few of the hats I didn't love, they'll serve in a trade at the vintage shop downtown that I like, so maybe I'll get a new dress or something!) I also have about 8 vintage hats from about the 60s. I don't think I'll wear them very often, but they will look super cute hanging on the wall in my sewing room in the new house!

8. Yes, sewing room! Instead of making the downstairs bedroom into a tv/game room, we're just going to keep the tv and stuff in the living room, put Matt's computer in the loft area upstairs, and I will take over the downstairs bedroom with my crafty stuff! This will also finally give me a place to hang all my vintage (and non-vintage) aprons! (Instead of in the kitchen, which has a new theme: sushi!)

Off I go!

New Home

2009-06-24T12:31:00.002-06:00

In case any of you aren't on Facebook (Megan, I'm looking at you!), here is the news: We are buying a house! A townhome, really, but it will be OURS, our very own first home! It's three bedrooms and two bathrooms with new pergo floors downstairs and new stainless steel appliances. It also comes with a stackable washer/dryer (which we might replace eventually since it's kinda dinky, but at least we won't have to pay quarters every time we do a load!) and a teeeeeny tiny little backyard with a bit of a patio. We'll get a dog soonish after we move in, yay! Our closing date is July 22nd (I don't know where I got the 20th from, FB peeps who'd seen that) which is LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY!!! We're hoping to be entirely out of our apartment now by August 3rd, a little less than two weeks after we close. Do-able, right? (Since I'll be gone for a full week at the end of July.) Hope so!

Anyway, there's the latest happening in our life. *Happy dance*

8 Things Friday - Topical Version

2009-06-19T15:51:00.003-06:00

1. New: I need a new, more summery header for the blog. I also need a new picture of me in the sidebar, since I've had bangs for three months and have not taken a decent picture of myself since we had that one done in December.

2. School: It is still here, oh yes it is.

3. House: Financial stuff is falling into place, and we have our top three choices! We want Matt's Dad and my mom to look at them if at all possible to get a couple other opinions from people who have done this before, and of course everything will take a really long time, but it looks like we could actually be in a new house by the end of the summer! (I forgot my camera when we went house-shopping on Tuesday, but was too busy looking and writing notes to take pics anyway, sorry.)

4. Health: I have been doing pretty well eating more fruits and vegetables lately. When we're out of fresh fruit, I often have canned in the house, and we always have orange juice and milk. I'm proud of myself! :)

5. Work: I'm starting part-time hours after next week. Whew! I'm going to work no more than 3 days a week, though they'll be long shifts so I get a decent amount of hours. That will give me a few days to JUST do school (hopefully take my laptop to the library, which I haven't done since the first week of school), and a day or two to do house stuff/errands. I think this will work out MUCH better.

6. Crafts: There have been none, and this is sad. At Weekly Fiber on Wednesday, I did start making some plastic bag yarn (which is just what it sounds like) and attempted to finger-crochet a piece of "fabric" to turn into, perhaps, a shopping bag, so we'll see how that goes.

7. Summer: I'm not going to say anything about the weather today so I don't jinx it.

8. Happy Father's Day on Sunday! What are you doing for/with your dad this weekend? Matt and I are going to my parents' house for a bbq with Matt's parents and my grandparents, which will be nice. Unfortunately we have to be back for my meeting at work (another one!) that night at 8:30, but at least we'll see everyone for a few hours.

I don't like cooking. Or do I...?

2009-06-17T12:44:00.003-06:00

I realized today that I actually do like cooking, though I've been protesting for years that I don't. What I don't like is that I rarely have time to cook, and cook well, so I'm forced to throw together the same handful of easy, boring-ish meals over and over. That adds to the idea that I don't like cooking, since not much that I make turns out that great, anyway. Yes, it's (almost) all edible, and even yummy at times, but spaghetti for the third time in a month... eh.

I don't see this changing any time soon. Even though I'm going down to part time at work soon (hopefully by the end of next week, since that's how far out the schedule is right now), I still have lots and lots of school this summer. I start at my middle school on August 11th (12th?) to help out my mentor teacher with set-up, and the week after that, the kids get there. The way it looks, with me on campus at the middle school four days a week, and at the college campus at least four days a week, with the evenings and weekends devoted to homework for my college classes, and grading papers and doing lesson plans for my middle school class... I don't think I'll be cooking too many spectacularly involved meals for, well, a while.

I am a huge fan of the crock pot. I also like casseroles: cook some rice, some meat, throw it in a pan with some sort of cream of ____ soup and some veggies, and call it good. Grilling is also nice, since Matt does that part, I nuke some instant mashed potatoes and some frozen veggies, and it's dinner. I could probably make spaghetti in my sleep, and there's always the standby of meat- and/or cheese-filled ravioli with sauce from a jar. Since there's just two of us, if I manage to make about four real meals a week, we can live off leftovers the other few nights. And I've even been trying to get us to eat healthier lately, too. I'm excited to check out the weekly Farmer's Market this summer for fresh produce, honey, etc. Currently, not too much comes out of a box or a jar pre-made, though I don't beat myself up if that's my only option, at times.

And I've come to accept all of this. I have other priorities, for sure. But someday, far, farrrrr in the future (maybe; we'll see, I guess), I might actually have time to plan cool meals for my family. When that day arrives, I hope I still enjoy it. I think I will.

8 Things Friday

2009-06-12T20:26:00.004-06:00

1. Oh my gosh it's Friday again! How does this keep happening? It was Sunday, then suddenly Wednesday, now the week's almost over! I guess I've been busy enough that time is just zooming on by!

2. Which is good, because at the end of July (a month and a couple weeks away!) I'm flying to San Diego with Mom to visit my aunt and cousin for a whole week! You can see the ocean RIGHT THERE from her living room picture windows, so I'm sure we'll spend a couple days at the beach. Also shopping (maybe the swap meet), hanging out and watching movies, and maybe a touristy thing like the aquarium or something. I'm so excited!!!

3. School is going well. It's kind of a lot, but I'm getting used to it by now. Not this coming week, but the next week, we go in for our second face-to-face, i.e. three days on campus all day long. Then four weeks more, the last face-to-face, and I'm done with summer semester! The first day the teachers are on campus at the middle school where I'm student teaching is August 11th or 12th, and the kids get there on the 18th. Of course I'll be there with the teachers to set up and get things ready. I'm getting excited! (Can't remember if I said, but I've been placed in 7th grade. Wish me luck!)

4. We're looking at houses, finally, on Tuesday night. Not just driving around to see the neighborhoods and possibly peeking in windows, but having appointments and seeing inside and with a realtor! Woohoo! If they let us take pictures, I'd love to! Then I can share our favorites with you, as well as keep track for our own sake.

5. I saw the cutest bike ever tonight while I was driving! It was light blue but the fenders, the middle of the body, and the seat were patchwork! Literally painted patchwork like squares of cute vintage-looking calico! I WANT IT! (Matt said, "You didn't ride the last bike you had!" and I said, "But I would ride this one! And take it for walks and give it baths and feed it, I promise, pleeeeease?!") I'm sure it was super-expensive at some fancy bike shop, but holy crap! So cute! I could probably do something like that to a bike, someday, if I ever get a bike again.

6. Let's see, crafty news... I've been doing baby shower gifts, one per week, for the last three weeks! (Actually I still need to do Haley's blanket, but I'll do that Sunday.) So nothing new with the charm squares quilt I was doing, and I'm DONE with baby hats for now! (I have a good stockpile of them for future baby showers, too.) I'm knitting a really simple shawl out of a nice rose-pink, kind of heathered, wool yarn. Just Patons from Michael's, nothing fancy. It's seven "stripes" going vertically, alternating seed stitch and garter. Really simple, so it's good to do while watching movies or yakking at knit night. I also want to make a very simple (geeze, I'm all about simple crafting lately, I guess) dress or two from this pattern. It's more of a square neckline when it's on; I've made it before several times for Ren faire outfits, and once for a nightgown. I'll make the sleeves short and draw elastic through the ends so they kind of puff up a bit, and put a drawstring or sash under the bust for an empire shape. Maybe some trim or a ruffle at the bottom hem, about knee-length or slightly shorter. I have a light blue sheet (from Goodwill!) that would be great for that, and maybe a circle skirt or something too, and heaven knows enough other cottons I could use. It's just finding the time!!

7. The first Downtown Farmer's Market of the year was yesterday, and I worked til close (i.e. 9:45) so we didn't get to go. I'd really like to go this Thursday, though! The zucchinni should be starting to get good, ooh, and watermelons! Also it's nice to just walk around and listen to the music, since they usually have at least one live band/performer. Also: free samples! Yummm!

8.Come onnnnnnn, Summer! I'm done with this whole overcast, chilly-ish, sprinkling on and off crap. Be sunny! Be hot! I know I'll whine about being sweaty and all, but after the stupidly long Winter we had, and the weird, hot-then-freezing Spring, I'M READY!

Hair and Stuff

2009-06-10T23:56:00.007-06:00

Tried something new the other day with my hair. I think it turned out kinda cute! I just washed it that morning and put it up in clips to sort-of dry, then did the rolls and put the rest in a side-ponytail that afternoon. Would've been cuter if the ponytail was a little curled, or at least not the usual bushy craziness it is right after washing, but oh well. (I did the same style for work the next day after sleeping in rag curlers; much better.) It actually stayed in pretty well, too, despite moving around a bit and being out in the wind a little. I think a combination of damp + spray gel works well to keep my hair in a style.

Whooosh!

Arty pose

One just for fun:

I wore this to Jen's baby shower (the one having twins), to which I brought these:

Both prints are 100% cotton. The green with ladybugs has solid yellow flannel backing, and the yellow with ladybugs has green solid flannel backing.

Hats I started when I first learned about all the pregnant ladies last winter. There are little leaves at the top; someone at the shower said to stick these hats on them, put them in orange, and call them pumpkins for Halloween!

I made great big calendars for June and July to keep track of my work schedules and Matt's, as well as school deadlines, trips, and holidays. I'm not referring to it a whole lot just yet, but I do like having both our work schedules in one place so we can plan things.

Third time in the space of a week that I've posted! Who knows where the insanity will stop??

Whining about whining

2009-06-06T22:43:00.003-06:00

Wow, two days in a row! Craaaazy!

I just had to whine about something: whiny people. Yes, I realize this may be counter-productive, perhaps even a paradox. But it's been bugging me, and I have to get it out.

I am so tired of people who whine all the time. I understand that crap happens, and sometimes a little whining is justified or even needed. I get venting occasionally. But what I don't get are the people who just whine all the dang time. "I don't want to be herrrrre," at work, or "I'm just so busyyyyy all the time!" "I never seem to catch a break." "I'd be happy if I could just have one normal, stress-free day."

Guess what? It's called LIFE. Stuff's going to happen to you, and you're not always going to like it, and you can't do anything to change that. What you can change is your attitude about it. I know you'd rather be at home playing video games or watching movies with your friends, but you have a job, and you need to fulfil the requirements of that job, i.e. having a good attitude and getting your stuff done. If you don't want your job anymore, I know a lot of people (9.4% of the country at last count, I believe) that would love to have it. If you don't want to get paid for something you agreed to do, then go home and let someone else take your place. You know what? I don't want to be there, either! It's work! If it wasn't work, they'd call it happy-fun-time! But I make the best of it. I smile at customers, I hum when I dust, I make jokes with my coworkers. When someone says something negative, I do my best to brush it off. When something screws up or doesn't work right, I try to fix it or wait til it works again.

Everyone is not out to get you every moment of every day. Bad things do not happen to you because you're cursed or you're unlucky or because you've done something to deserve them. Bad things happen to everybody. So if you think you're special because your life is harder than anyone else's, you are wrong. It's not. All the people I know who whine constantly have a bed with blankets and pillows to sleep on every night. They never miss meals for lack of food (just busy-ness). No one regularly beats them or abuses them. They can vote, they can walk down the street without worrying they'll be shot or blown up at any second. They have amazingly excellent lives, but because someone said something not-nice about or to them, or because times are tougher than they'd like, they seem to be unable to ever say anything positive!

And I don't understand why! You can choose to be miserable and whiny and negative all the time, and wallow in your own pity party. Or you can choose to see the glass half-full, to smile, to look forward to the good things as you endure the hard things. Why would anyone choose to be miserable? It's just beyond me.

8 Things Friday

2009-06-05T08:53:00.008-06:00

1. Oh my goodness. Once again, it's been a week since my last post. I hate only posting once a week! I want to talk to you all more often than that and (hopefully) you want to hear from me more often! I just feel like I've barely had time to breathe this last week. Taking my online classes has been an adjustment, for one thing. When I'm at home and feel like I could/should be doing other things, I'm doing school work. I spent most of yesterday in the library, and that was great! I got a lot done, I was alone in my little area most of the time with free wireless so I could watch the videos with my headphones on, and text Matt now and then. It was just... a LOT of school. Secondly, whenever I'm not doing school or errands (grocery shopping, laundry, dropping off rent check, etc.) I'm at work! Though I've requested, after next week, to only close til 9:30 once or maaaaybe twice a week. Hopefully I'll work no later than 5 or 6 the rest of the days, then I can go home, make dinner and take a little break to eat it, then do school for a couple hours. And hopefully on my days off I can get a fair amount of school done, then relax the rest of the day. (Pshh. Yeah, we'll see how that works out.)

2. I've been down to totally decaf coffee the last couple weeks--one cup per morning--and today is my first day with no coffee and black tea instead. I've been sort of missing that little caffiene jolt first thing of the day, but since I eased off full-strength coffee slowly, I had no afternoon withdrawal headaches! And I'll still have coffee (decaf mostly, but regular when I need it for early meetings and such) occasionally. Eventually, I'm hoping to get "down" to some green and/or red tea, maybe white, because I do like drinking something hot and cozy in the mornings. Just green/red/white tea will be better for me!

3. Baby shower #2 is this Sunday! I need to run to Wal-Mart or somewhere and grab about 12 cloth diapers for a game (probably "guess the melted chocolate candy in the diaper") and then to give to the mommy because she's going to use cloth diapers. Also need to make HER babies' blankets (this is the one with twins) and finish the hats (need to do the leaf on top of one and weave the ends in on both). I only have a little four-hour shift tomorrow night, so I'll get that done in the morning.

4. I want to start walking again! It's summer and nice out in the mornings and evenings, and I miss it! (So does my aching back!) Again, I have some major time constraints, but I'm going to just say twice a week for a walk. If I can do that, I'll be happy, and if I can do more than twice a week, great! I also do want to start back up with my Wii Fit (once more because of my poor back and hips and legs). I'm going to say three times a week for that, though more would be awesome. Hopefully once my work schedule gets a little more reliable, that will be a possibility.

5. To help with all of this, I want to get a big sheet of posterboard and chop it into halves or maybe fourths, and make monthly calendars. One thing I keep wanting to do is have my work schedule and Matt's in one place so we can plan things. Also trips and holidays and such, and especially school work! I think if, at the beginning of each week, I sit down and figure out exactly what I have to do--how long the videos are, how much research and how much plain reading--I can break it up into managable two- to -three-hour chunks, and have it all laid out. Hoping to get that done tomorrow morning, too!

6. I don't want you to think that I'm super-overwhelmed with school, or that I'm getting discouraged. On the contrary! Here's part of an email I sent my mom a few days ago:

I'm just feeling like this is really where I want and need to be, FINALLY. THIS is what I'm supposed to do with my life. From my few days on campus in class, it sounds like a constant challenge. Yes, it will be stressful and frustrating at times, and I won't always know what to do or how to do it. But all my retail jobs have been, after about six months, "Okay, now I know everything there is to know about working at (store). Ummm, now what? I'm bored." So I quit and found a new job! With teaching, it won't be the same thing every day (to an extent--the schedule and the kids will be, but the material won't). It will be a constant challenge--and by challenge I guess I mean "brain exercise"--to plan lessons and grade papers and figure out what way of teaching and learning works best for what kids. I like leading, I like problem-solving. I like doing little extras (even at work now) to stand out and improve the place I'm at. I just feel completely at peace with this decision, and thank the Lord that things worked out the way they did. Yes, I cried all day when I didn't get accepted to grad school. Yes, I'm sick of retail. Yes, living in Denver/Ft. Collins/Boulder would have been fun and exciting and different. But I love where I live now, and I really think I will love being a middle school or high school English teacher.

So don't worry too much about me, okay? This will all be sooo worth it, and I'm so excited to learn everything and see everything this next year!

7. I watched Taken tonight and it was really good! But (very mild spoiler in the brackets, don't read if you're easily influenced by other people's views on things) {{it seemed to end really abruptly. Like action action action... it's over!}} But other than that, ooooh! I heart Liam Neeson, and the whole thing was very suspenseful and exciting.

8. I am watching some Gilmore Girls now to calm down. I'm on the first disc of Season 6; only one season left after this! :( However, I did just buy the first two seasons of The Tudors on a really good sale! So even though I borrowed Season One from a friend a while back, maybe I'll get into that again. And then Matt bought Season One of the original Star Trek series, and the bits and pieces I saw while he was watching it were somewhat amusing, if entirely ridiculous. (Apparently we're big fans of buying whole TV series on DVD.)