Sunday...it's early Sunday morning and I'm sitting at my computer. The garden is being watered--it really needs it, I'm having a cup of coffee, and thinking about my day.
I'm looking forward to lunch with my friend, Mary Beth. She is hysterical and I wish we lived next door to each other. I have to go by work to pick up a couple of things I need to work on for this week. We are having lunch near there so that's no big deal. I have to do some laundry today, but I don't mind doing laundry.
I started working on a fabric basket last night as a prototype for a knitting basket that I want to make for mom for Christmas. I think the sides are too high, but that's why I make a prototype. Other than that, I like the way it is coming along. I made it with the scraps and leftover squares of plaid men's shirts that I made some baby quilts out of a few months ago.
At some point this month (within the next couple of weeks) I would like to make a small pumpkin quilt to hang on my door or somewhere in my classroom. This requires actually organizing the fabrics I have and going through them since when I moved my quilting machine into a different room, I didn't EXACTLY organize everything the way I should have. And by "didn't EXACTLY", I mean didn't at all. Just piled bins up in the quilting room. No bueno. Maybe I will work on getting that stuff organized in some way, although I really have to think about how it will work best. I have A LOT of fabric and supplies. My plan is to ultimately have twelve small wall hangings--one for each month to display on my classroom door.
I may do a little knitting also, I have a market bag about halfway done. It's so mindless to work on, and I love having "a project". I can't remember how I did the attached I-cords though, so I guess I'll be visiting YouTube soon. I have learned so much from watching YouTube. The educational value of YouTube is amazing. There's a lot of crap on there too, which can be fun, but anytime I've needed to see something to understand it (like knitting an attached I-cord, or knitting on double-pointed knitting needles, etc.), there's nothing like YouTube. You can replay it as many times as you want to, which is a bonus.
I'd like to cook a nice dinner tonight--I haven't cooked in a while. When Kaleigh isn't home, I don't really like to cook for myself, so I usually make something easy, but we like to cook together when we can. She likes to cook more than I do, but it's nice time to spend together.
Gotta go move the sprinkler.... (cue elevator music)....
Back. I guess I'll go putter around a little bit, and decide what to cook for dinner. Have a wonderful day.
Later...
I've worked out plan B for pictures on my blog. Not an ideal Plan B, but something that works for the time being.
Anyway, my class did an awesome job reinforcing colors and color recognition during the last couple of weeks. Each day, we focused on a different color--did some art (different methods each day), looked for that color in our classroom and on the playground, practiced writing the letters in that word, read lots of books on the subject of color and did some other fun things too. Below are some photos of the color portfolios that each child made.
That's it for now.
Today I did something nice for myself. Car repairs (a dead battery plus two crappy tires) made me cranky this weekend, so I went to Barnes and Noble, and browsed around the bargain tables and found a book that I've been wanting to read. It's called Peace and Plenty by Sara Ban Breathnach (sp?). I also got myself a bottle of wine, which I NEVER do, and I'm having a glass right now. When I finish this post, I will go take a nice hot bath, have another glass of wine--that's about my limit--I'm a cheap date-- and go to bed and read my book. It's by the same woman who wrote Simple Abundance, which is one of my all-time favorite books. I wonder if I had that on my list of faves.... hmmm. I think a pedicure will just round this weekend out nicely.
My school also had a field trip today to Green Meadows Farm. It was fun, and the animals were adorable. I also shared brownies with all the people at my table, so that's another nice thing I did. I'm not really known for sharing chocolate. I have pictures, but I finally figured out that my camera issue isn't the camera at all, it's the SD card thingy in my computer. So that's why I can't upload pictures--I think I have plan B all ready to go though. I'll check back in tomorrow and see if I have that worked out. Update.... I have it worked out....
I've been thinking about Christmas already--I want to get some stuff started so I don't feel so overwhelmed this year with making presents. I've been doing some looking around online for nice things to make. Last year I knitted market bags, sewed some bags, several Christmas tree skirts, and some potholders out of antique quilt blocks that I had. I also knitted a bunch of stockings, which I think I will do again this year too. I'm looking around. Any ideas are welcome....
Today my good deed was to make sure my assistant was able to go to a meeting that she wanted to go to. She missed out on some fun, but I think she needed a little break and this was just the ticket. I would hope I would always make sure of this for her, but the truth is, she very rarely wants to get out of the classroom, and always is a good sport when I have to do other things (like professional development and presenting at conferences and stuff). I think I should get her a nice gift.
Not a lot happened today. My class went on a field trip, which was fun. Other than that, my good thing today was that I called my mom and told her I love her. I know I don't say it enough, and she gave me some encouragement--I hope I gave her some too.
I promise to write a real post this weekend at some point....
I bought my assistant a cookbook that she's been coveting. I think that qualifies. She's pretty awesome and I don't always have the time to show her that I think that. So this was an easy one.
Car battery died. My car has been pretty good since I bought it, no major problems, but cars are truly money-sucking propositions, aren't they? Between car payments, insurance, maintenance, gas, tires, UUUGGGHH! I don't even like to think about it.
My sister gave me a lift home from work, and we had dinner together, which was nice--we don't do that enough.
Had a lovely conversation with my daughter Hillarie last night. I really miss her.
That's it for now...
Today I offered encouragement to someone who is having a difficult time. I can't really go into it too much, but I just tried to reassure them that things get better, and you just have to do the best you can until that happens.
Quick and dirty, I know.
Going to the bookstore tonight. I hope everyone is having a great day. I am.
My camera issue will be resolved this weekend and I will get on some pictures of SOMETHING to post!
Well, today I babysat for my daughter-in-law because she needed a break--but that doesn't count as my good thing because I made the rule that it has to be something I wouldn't ordinarily do. But it was fun--my granddaughters are pretty awesome.
What I did as my good thing was to accept someone with an open mind. I usually don't have a problem doing this at all, but we have a new director at my school, and I'm (and others as well) a little nervous about what she's like and how things are going to change. Right now, we all have a lot of autonomy within our classrooms and are free to try different things (this is very unusual) and this could change. Anyway, I decided not to be reticent about her coming and see it as a gift--she's surely smart enough to see that what we are doing is working. She's a very nice person from what I've seen so far, and we had a nice talk about the school. I feel a huge connection to my school and it's a very personal place to me. I knew the day I started working there that I probably wasn't ever going to leave there, and I told my boss that I hoped she liked me because I wasn't going anywhere.
I have a date tomorrow, which is a very pleasant thing to look forward to. I usually find dating awkward at best and sometimes downright unpleasant, so this is a nice change.
Tomorrow is my last professional development workshop--then things can settle down at work a little. I feel like I'm hardly in my classroom these days. When I am there, I'm trying to prepare for something coming up--and I'm really looking forward to my class' pumpkin project. We have a lot of fun with it and document all our work into a portfolio for them to take home at the end. They love it and their parents love it. Sometimes I am struck with a genius idea....not often, but when it happens, it's a beautiful thing.
