Memorial Day

Taking time to remember friends, family, strangers, and their families who have served our country.
Thank you.

Hubby is Retired

When did my two beautiful children grow up!?

They used to be this big

And this big.....

Hubby had his retirement ceremony on Friday. We had a great lunch with lots of friends and cake!

Someone cleverly swiped this picture from hubby's Facebook page and made a great cake.

And cuz It's Just What We Do, we like to take the piece right out of the middle!!

Catching Up

Hi! Yep, still alive. A dear friend called last night and in the course of the conversation apologized for not calling much, but said that she reads my blog to keep up with us. Oops! I've been so delinquent here she's way behind, and so are you! One of the problems (excuses?) is that I love to put pictures. Well, with the moving and the wayward child moving back in, classes, new job, yada, yada, I just haven't been as diligent. This will be a catch up post, nice and random, just like you like 'em!

Here is some delicious new fabric I got to make a quilt for a Christmas present. At the rate I'm going, it will be for *next* Christmas.

Yesterday, we decorated pumpkins at school. We used pipe cleaners, yarn, sequins, fabric, googly eyes, markers, and hot glue. Ouch. I think they turned out really cute.

We did our dress up/fall parties last week. Michael Jackson showed up.

A friend of mine gave me this series of books a looong time ago. I finally dug one out a couple of weeks ago and devoured it. If you like quilting, you might like these books. Harmless, easy-to-read. Thanks, Sherilyn!

My son is taking art this year. He recently completed a drawing of the Kool-Aid guy. The bottom is the original, the top is his version. Nice job!

Hubby showing his dark side.

I found a pretty mushroom in one of my plants.

We found a snake in the yard.

Earlier this summer hubs taught me how to put up a fan. Boy, were my arms tired, but it's always fun learning something new. Thanks, honey!

I also have been teaching one of my classes. I love it. By the end of this semester I'll have 21 hours. Only 500 more to go. Kidding, but it feels like it.

We've also used our fireplace. It's so much fun, I love it!

My job is getting better. Don't think I'm cut out for it, I like the babies with more severe disabilities, but I do love my hearing impaired kiddos.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!!

This is How I Operate

Those of you that have been with me for awhile may remember this post from when I first started blogging.
This is the 'desk' I've been using at summer school (we're in the home ec. room). The funny thing is, my sweet friend who shares the desk with me is neat and tidy~see right side of desk. Not one thing out of place. Mine is, obviously, the left side. Yep. Someone else works in there with me. I'm not making this up.
It's how I rebel. And it makes me happy.

Spring Break

Well, it is my first official day of Spring Break. I have a really long (really) list of things to do.

Here's what I hope to get accomplished today:
1. Work out
2. Work on school stuff for about 2 hours
3. Take my sewing machine to another place to see if we can get it fixed and stop by Hancock's for fabric for two baby quilts I need to start on. Deposit checks, send off my taxes, go by the pharmacy
4. Practice my cello that hasn't been touched in approximately three years
5. Start cutting the quilts
6. Wash my car

I'm a list person. I like to write things down so I can cross them off. I've even been known to go so far as to write it down *so* I can cross it off! Yeah, I know....It's just what I do.

On another note, a dear friend has started blogging! Let's welcome her! I say she's a dear friend. We haven't talked in ages. I am a terrible friend, but she is one of the sweetest, kindest, most positive people I knew. I don't think I ever saw her upset about anything. And she's pretty. And she has two *sweet* kiddos! Ok, I'm starting on number one now. Have a great day!

Stress

Stress is my new friend (again). I know everything will work out the way it's supposed to. But we have quite a few changes that will be taking place in our lives in the next few months. Actually, I'm OK with this now. Tuesday I needed a Valium.
Hubby and I were talking tonight and he said "You and I are 'supposed to' people." We do things because we're supposed to. He's right, and it's an interesting phenomenon that all people aren't like that. And honestly quite infuriating. It seems to be becoming more rampant, anyone else notice that? My daughter is definitely not a 'supposed to' person. My blood boils when I think about it. But I'm not going to get off on that.

p.s. The guy says there's an electrical problem with my sewing machine and it's not worth fixing. It's not even a year old. He said he'd be happy to show me some machines in their shop. Yeah, I just bet he would! He said this about my last one. We're going to go get it and pack both of them up and get a second opinon. No, I haven't finished the pants yet. And all I have left are the cuffs. Too busy reading the last Harry Potter.

Wordless Wednesday

Leather Tuscadero

I have this thing about funny words. Sometimes a random word or phrase pops into my head and I repeat it throughout the day, kind of like Elf saying "Francisco...." I always thought Leather Tuscadero from Grease had a great ring to it. I was kind of talking about this with my son the other day because he has to chose a song for his English class to analyze. I won't tell you what he thought would be a funny one, but it's by ACDC. Not appropriate. I was thinking more of songs that have a meaning to them, so I came up with The Flight of Icarus, by Iron Maiden. He thought that was funny. He kept saying "Flight of Icarus...." like Will Ferrell. Other things I find interesting or fun to say are: liaison, module,Tom Bombadil, quixotic, Uruk Hai, sagacious, Hedwig, rubric, oh there are hundreds more I'm sure of that I can't think of right now. Maybe I'll add them in the comments as I think of them and I'll actually have a lot of comments on a post and I'll feel all special! What words do you like to say?
Speaking of special....I have been nominated for a couple of awards recently. I don't mean to take my ball and go home, but I've decided not to participate in awards. But, consider you, my reader, nominated. If you would like to participate, bop on over and get the button from one of these two lovely ladies!

Stuff White People Like

I know, I know, it sounds offensive. I thought so, too. It's a book, and it's funny. A friend of mine gave it to me to read. There are 150 things that white people like, and I have laughed many, many times. It is more for the upwardly mobile well-off young urban generation of white people, but it rings true nonetheless. These are ones that apply to me (like it or not): 1. Coffee, though I'll take my plain ol' Folgers, thanks. 18. Awareness 29. 80s Night...while I've never been to an "80s Night" in the sense he is referring to, I love the 80s. 37. Renovations 39. Netflix 40. Apple Products (well for me just the iPod) 43. Plays 49. Vintage 54. Kitchen Gadgets 55. Apologies 62. Knowing What's Best for Poor People 64. Recycling 66. Divorce 70. Difficult Breakups 81. Graduate School 90. Dinner Parties 103. Self-Deprecating Humor 108. High School English Teachers 110. Trying Too Hard 121. Reusable Shopping Bags 128. Avoiding Confrontation 131. Following Their Dreams 132. Not Having Cash 138. Books 140. Glasses. I don't currently wear them, but have in the past and am considering doing so again. 142. Hardwood Floors 145. Cheese 146. Therapy 149. Self-Importance.

So, according to this I am 15% white contrary to what my daughter once told me which was I was the 'whitest' person she knew. Most all of these, however, apply to my brother-in-law. I'm betting he's at least 90%! It's a funny read and an eye opener, as well. Enjoy!

Crayons

One of my favorite small pleasures is crayons. They make me
happy. I needed to feel a little happiness yesterday.

What I like to do when they are all still nice and sharp is to dump them all out and 'organize' them. It's just what I do.

Of course, there's always the dilemmas. Do you do them rainbow fashion? If so, where do black, white, and the browns go? I'm sure there is an artist out there that can tell me how I'm 'supposed' to be doing this.

I like to start with black, then move to gray, white,
then to the browns.


This was a box of ninety-six! So I also ran into the problem of does Brick Red come before or after Maroon? What about Periwinkle? Is it purple or blue?

They have cool names now for some of them. Remember a few years ago when Crayola had the new crayon naming contest. So now we have Macaroni and Cheese and Purple Mountain's Majesty.

WordFUL Wednesday

This was going to be a Wordless Wednesday because I have 5,673 things going on in my mind, but not really wanting to sit down and hash them all out. Then I saw this post responding to a letter that was written to Pepsico from the AGBell association. I was annoyed. Then I started to get really mad. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I thought, boy, I have something to write about now!! But, because it's just what I do, I had to let it all mill around in my head for awhile. I went to the gym to pound it out. As I am riding the bike listening to a soaring soprano thinking there are never any good solos for us altos, I began wondering what about all of this hullabaloo has gotten me so upset. This isn't my fight. I'm not Deaf, deaf, or Hard of Hearing. My children and family are hearing. I started to realize that what infuriates me is the injustice of it all. The oral/manual debate among the deaf community has been raging since 1868, or maybe forever. My little mind can't even begin to speak to it, but of course, I have an opinion. Meanwhile, O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion~Contralto Aria came on my iPod and I thought~ah yes, a beautiful alto solo...But back to my rambling...
I have worked with children who, because they have a cochlear implant, there is NO sign language allowed. I worked for months (yes, I'm probably exaggerating a little to make my point) to teach this first grader the concept of big and little. We walked around finding things that were big and then another day finding things that were little. One day, he drew a big giraffe on the board and a little giraffe on the board. He had it! What a glorious day! All of that is fine....except that this child, 7 or 8 years old, didn't have any language. There is an important distinction between speech and language. It reminds me of the scene in Mr. Holland's Opus when the boy and the mom are in the kitchen and he's crying and pointing because she doesn't know what he wants and when the dad comes in the mom says "I just want to be able to talk to my son!" (I'm sobbing by this point)
There is no right answer, there are many communication methodologies out there and they all have pros and cons. But this is a very devisive debate. People on one side generally choose not to see the points of people on the other and innocent children get caught in the middle. OK, well, what I'd really like to say is that the people on the oral end of the spectrum usually chose not to see the redeeming qualities of total communciation or bi/bi. And so I said it. I'm sure I'll hear from someone about that.
I feel like doctors sometimes just implant kids and leave the parents to hear from someone else this is not going to magically make their child a speaking/listening child. It takes years of Auditory Verbal training to be successful, and it doesn't always work. The most successful little girl I ever met with an implant was 5. She was in a mainstream Kindergarten class with no assistance, but her mom said "When her implant is off or broken, she is still a deaf child." They used sign language before the implant and for a little while after it was turned on. The child functioned beautifully, but parents were realistic.
My heart went out to the guy in the post referenced earlier. He'd probably want to choke me if he knew that. He had a hard time, by his own admission, growing up Deaf. He doesn't want his child (if the child is or becomes deaf) to grow up in this world with the way people think.
I guess it would be too much to ask that we just all get along, huh?

Tangle Toys

I found these awesome little beauties at the Wal-mart check out stand. I have about ten of them now. They're so much fun to play with on long trips, during long faculty meetings, long movies, long blog posts...I get bored if I'm doing at least two things at once. Because it's just what I do, I checked them out online. Richard X. Zawitz (isn't that a great name!?) came up with these delightful creations as a model for a sculpture he was trying to build. I made a $36 purchase from the website. My favorite one, which I don't even see anymore was called the Tangle Ball....it was like 3-4 little ones put together, but I guess one of my students decided they needed it more, because it's GONE!! The nerve.....

I don't care for the big one, but it does have some interesting textures.