Holiday Weekends. . .

Holiday weekends--who doesn't love them?  There is just nothing like having an extra day to do whatever you want.  Kaleigh has been at a friends for two nights, so I've had some really quiet "me time".  I think I needed it.  I ran a few errands, and worked on my quilt, made some plans,and just generally sat with my thoughts for awhile.  Very nice.  I've been thinking about some changes I want to make in my life, and this is difficult for me.  Last night I made some roasted vegetables for my dinner, they were really good, I think I should eat that kind of thing more often. 

I've decided to move some things around the house, mainly in my bedroom.  I need to clean out my closet, and move a chair in there.  Get rid of some clothes, and generally organize stuff.  Wow, I'm even boring myself. 

I think I'll cook a nice meatloaf and mashed potatoes today for Kaleigh and me.  Also, I need to go to the fabric store and get some yellow 30's reproduction fabric for my quilt.  Kaleigh will want to go with me to get that, and maybe we can stop at the bookstore for a frappe. 

Musings on Friday. . . and Books

I know, I know.  Weird for me to blog on Friday, but I'm feeling it, and I'm not one to go against my feelings.  It's rest time in my classroom, and the Winnie the Pooh theme is playing in the background (one of my all-time favorites), and I'm just inspired. 

I've finished a couple of books over the last few weeks and I want to talk about them.  the first is called The Dirty Life, by Kristin Kimball, about a big city writer who was writing an article (and thinking about a book) about sustainable living, and she goes to meet an organic farmer, falls in love with him, and moves to the country to help him run his organic, whole food farming co-op.  VERY interesting.  I highly recommend it--it's very entertaining, and real.  A true story. 

I'm now reading the new Sookie Stackhouse book, which is not very good.  I keep forgetting who the characters are, and it seems like a lot of nothing going on.  Not a true story.

I'm also reading a new sustainability book called Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskins.  I AM LOVING THIS BOOK!  Just what I want to read.  They are living a sustainable (within reason) life in the suburbs, and are full of practical advice on how to do it.  If you have any interest in this subject, I think this is a super-worthwhile book.  I am just never going to go "off the grid" and live without electricity or have a huge farm or anything like that, so this is exactly what I want to know.  A true story.

This weekend I'm going to relax.  Maybe clean my closet out.  Who knows.

My assistant, Mrs. Jones was out for a week, and I don't think I was EVER so glad to see anybody in my whole life.  My class was out of sorts the whole week.  We are back to our regular routine. 

Working diligently on my quilt.  I think I have about seven blocks completed, and several started--it looks AWESOME!! 

I took the posterboard "bodies" down from the wall in my classroom this week, always a sad day for me.  My classroom looks naked now.  Will work on ideas to fill up my big board this weekend. 

Playing with an idea. . .

I am seriously thinking of opening up my blog to the universe--how can I know if I have anything of interest to say for the masses if they never see it?  The one thing that stops me is... let's face it, we all know my stalker will be all over this.  I have so enjoyed the abjurring (sp?) that I'm finding it hard to think of opening myself up to this.  Of course, I know she monitors my facebook account carefully, but that is different, as this is so PERSONAL.

I've been destressing (which is not easy these days) by hand piecing a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  So far I have four completed blocks put together, and several partial blocks.  Pictures below.  Not sure if this is really helping my stress, but I enjoy it.  It will probably take me a year to finish.

Whenever my life feels a little out of control, I kind of return to simple, quiet things that I love to settle myself down.  Quilting, reading, working in my garden, etc. always work.  The sale of my quilting machine apparently is not going to go through, after screwing around with this woman since January!  JANUARY!  This is May, for god's sake.  Financially, this is bad for me, and Kaleigh and I have been planning what to do with this extra room, so that's out the window too.  Maybe I should just start up my quilting business again.  Will think about this. 

Work is crazy, as usual.  I keep asking myself if I'm EVER going to feel like I've got it all together.  Like I can relax.  Add to that, I have to start thinking about going back and finishing my Master's Degree, and I'm having trouble with that, since it doesn't really mean a raise or promotion or anything.  It will make me more marketable somewhere else if my life comes to that.  I really can't imagine adding one more thing to my day, though.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day.  I guess I'll go to bed early and read awhile, and get up early and putter around for awhile before we go have dinner with Mom and the fam.  I need to go to the store tonight and get the stuff I need to cook for tomorrow. 

This Week in Review. . .

This past week was kind of a bust up until yesterday.  My foot started hurting on Monday--I have gout, which is an OLD MAN'S disease, for god's sake--90% of cases are in men--why do I have to be so special?  Anyway, it flares up every now and then, and I'm still trying to figure out what is causing it to happen.  I don't really eat the things that they say cause it, but I know I don't drink enough water because it's hard for me to always be leaving my classroom to pee.  Anyway, it just got worse and worse, and on Friday, I mostly stayed off it.  Also, on Friday, my two work study girls, who are two of my favorite people in the world, got really upset with me, and I would NEVER do anything on purpose to hurt their feelings, so that was super-unpleasant.  We had a tear-fest in my classroom on Friday.

My identity has been stolen AGAIN.  This time someone used my debit card numbers (not the actual card) to charge $700, which caused a bunch of my own charges to overdraw my account.  It will get sorted out, but it takes time, and meanwhile I have no cash, and no access to cash.  Sucks.

Yesterday (Saturday), my class planned a field trip to Leu Gardens, which was wonderful, and we will definitely plan another one next year. It was so gorgeous there, and reasonably priced.

This is a picture of the vegetable garden.  I immediately threated to squat (by that, I mean move into) in the garden house, and just live with that garden in my front yard.  Then I thought, wait a minute, I HAVE a front yard--couldn't I just do that in my front yard, and save all the packing?  It was all I could do to refrain from picking the cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash.  The only thing that stopped me was the little sign that said that they donate all the vegetables to local food banks, so I couldn't feel good about picking things.  The herb garden was pretty spectacular too.  And. . . look at that beautiful composter next to the porch.  Need I say more?

***TANGENT ALERT***   Okay, so I'm at Leu Gardens and I'm really considering this vegetable garden, and we all know I have hippie tendencies as I'm "maturing", so I'm really thinking about having a garden like this.  Can I do it?  It's a lot of work, and I'm intrinsically lazy, but this is really PULLING me.  And most of the work is up front.  Some of you know that my dream is a to live on a hobby farm, and this would be an interesting start.  Living a sustainable life (within reason) really appeals to me.  Of course, if I did do this, I would need to get a really bitching rocking chair (or two) so I can sit outside and look at my work.  ****Thank you for attending this tangent--it's now over.***

My gorgeous work study girls came on Saturday too, and Mrs. Jones so we took this picture together.  I am so going to miss Rachel, who is on the right, she is graduating.  Of course, I'll miss Trina too, but she will at least still be with us in the fall.  I can't believe how emotional I am over this.  It's kind of stupid.

Naturally, my foot took a beating walking all over Leu Gardens, so I'm in a lot of pain again today, but it was totally worth it.  Kaleigh and I will be visiting Leu Gardens again.  Maybe even volunteering there would be good.

I'm sitting at my computer listening to my dumb dog snore on the couch.  She misses Kaleigh so much when she spends the night with a friend.  My coffee this morning is really good, which is weird for me because my coffee usually sucks.  I'm using the word sucks a lot lately. 

This is a picture of Kaleigh on a bench at the gardens.  She looks so cute!  I am so proud of my kids.  Not sure if I've said that lately.  They are all such amazing people, and not just because they are mine.  I include my beautiful daughter-in-law in the group too.  I wish I could spend more time in the same room with them. 

Last night I had a little anxiety, probably over my bank account, but I was thinking about a lot of things. I did get a good night's sleep, and I have a very relaxing day planned, so I'm feeling better this morning.



Monday Night. . . late. On Writing.

It's late (as if that wasn't clear from my post title), and I can't sleep.  What's wrong with me?  My mind is stewing, brewing, and percolating an idea.  This is my real curse.  Once I start to think about something, and I mean REALLY think about something. . . plan it, embrace it, internalize it. . . then I can't let it go.  My mind works with it until it becomes something--sometimes what I envisioned, sometimes something really different, but something--and I dream it, and taste it, and roll it around in my mind until it does. 

I've been thinking about an article I want to write for an early childhood education magazine about connecting outdoor learning and play to the curriculum, and yesterday I went out to lunch by myself and the outline sprung from my head almost exactly the way I want it.  And tonight I sat down and wrote the darn proposal.  Again, it sprung from my head, almost complete.  I've never known anyone else who does this kind of thing--should I be troubled by it?  To be honest, it does trouble me, mostly when the idea is stewing, because it seems like I am procrastinating and I'm NOT a procrastinator, and I don't want to be seen as one, but the stewing time is necessary.  I guess I don't mind the work springing from my mind full-grown though.  Tomorrow I will share it with my coworker, and see if there's anything she wants to add or edit.  Rereading it might not be a bad idea, but I know my mind, and when this happens, I'm always happy with the result.

I love an idea burst.  Sometimes I have those, and they are pretty amazing.  It's like a switch in my mind turns on for a period of time (usually weeks) and I have all these amazing ideas, and I can barely keep up with them.  I keep a notebook in my purse, so I can write them all down, and actually be able to find them later when I need them.  When I was quilting (as a business) they used to last a long time, but I don't get them as much anymore, or maybe I just don't notice them as much, because I'm so busy. 

Well, I better go to bed, 4:50  a.m. comes really early.

Books, etc.

It's Sunday, which has become my unofficial blogging day, I guess.  This weekend has been absolutely nuts, so tonight I am going to take it easy, make a nice dinner for my daughter, niece, and nephew, maybe read a little bit, and just relax.  Dinner is actually already made (lasagne, salad from our garden, homemade salad dressing, garlic bread), and ready to throw in the oven, so no work there.  Lesson plans done for this week, laundry done and outfits laid out ready to go for the week. 

I am working on an article for an early childhood magazine about the importance of outdoor play, connecting curriculum with outdoor play, and how our school does this now.  I'm not usually a procrastinator, but I do need to stew about stuff for awhile before it gels in my head, so I've been thinking for awhile about it.  Wrote a kick-ass outline today at lunch.  Inspiration struck over tableside guac at Amigos--what can I say?

This week is the Week of the Young Child, so we have a lot of special activities going on at school.  We also had our Spring Carnival on Friday, and I won two prizes--admission for four to Congo River Mini-Golf, and a $25 gift certificate for Outback Steakhouse.  Yea Me!  I haven't won ANYTHING in 8 years, so I was due.  And as we all know, I am cursed with a competitiveness that defies reason, so I always feel a need to win.  Something. 

I bought two books today at the bookstore--A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  I think I will love them both.  Book reviews to come. 

I read a book a while back that was really interesting to me, and I keep meaning to share it, but it hasn't seemed like the right time, but since we are discussing books, here you go.  The book is  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  For a year, she did all the things that are rumored to make you happy, i.e. make more money, take time to smell the roses, and anything else she heard about.  She then analyzed if these things actually do make a person happier.  Interesting concept.  The book itself is very interesting, and the methods she used to keep track of what she was doing and how it made her feel are fascinating. 

About me. . .

I was thinking about blogging (I know, I do a lot of THINKING and not a lot of DOING), and I decided I would just blog about myself and my own interests today.  So here we go. 

I collect miniature crackle glass pitchers.  Love those little babies, I even have a purple one which is pretty rare.  They are reasonable to buy and are really pretty on a windowsill or on the quilt rack that used to hang over my couch.  I've been collecting those for about 15 years.  I don't really buy them anymore, unless I see something really unusual, but I do love them. 

I also collect milkglass, especially hobnail.  It's the most common of all the milkglass, and I just can't resist it when I see it at a yardsale.  I don't even know how many hobnail milkglass lamps I have in this house, even though they ALL have to be rewired because they get too hot.  I just adore them.  I found two at a yardsale not too long ago, that the woman at the house told me that she got when she turned 16 (50 years ago) and she redecorated her bedroom.  Her mom bought them with greenstamps.  (I LOVED GREENSTAMPS!)  I knew that they were meant to be mine.  True story.

I never intended to collect these, but I also have a collection of paperweights.  They are really pretty, and sometimes I rearrange them.  It started when I was in Hawaii, and I went somewhere touristy, and wanted to buy my ex-husband a gift, and couldn't find anything manly, so I got him a small paperweight with tropical fish in it (we used to have a salt water tank in Hawaii), and then I saw them everywhere, and people got them for me for gifts too.  ( And yes, I was petty enough to take the original one with me when I left the DB).

I also have a little collection of rocks.  All colors and shapes, but I am especially fond of heart-shaped stones.  Mostly crystals. 

I think henna (on hands) is beautiful.  I would like to learn to do it one day. 

I don't know what my favorite food is.  There have been a lot of different favorites, but I do love chocolate. 

I have some quirks.  I know this about myself.  For one thing, and I've discussed this before, I have a THING about my bed.  Love clean sheets.  If I didn't think it was crazy, I would wash my sheets every day.  I'm not exaggerating, EVERY DAY.  I love nightgowns.  Cotton nightgowns, not the t-shirt kind of cotton.  I love shoes, especially red shoes.  This only occured to me recently (thank you Mary Beth), but I'm glad I know it now.  I also like purses a lot.  Particularly satchel type purses.  Small is best.  I hate to sleep with socks on.