Life Lately

It's been a while since I posted.... We've been busy, but we haven't really been doing anything. Let's see... what have we been up to...

I tried a few new recipes, chicken tortilla soup, a sweet and snappy chili, and shrimp Alfredo with mushroom, and they were all amazing.

I have fallen in love with avocados. I mash avocados with chopped tomato and red onion, then mix in a little salt, and I am in heaven--I could eat the whole bowl every time I make it if Mike didn't insist that I save some for him.

The number of mosquitoes has finally dropped so it is once again enjoyable to walk the trails through the wooded area near our house. Mike and I went on a walk last night--I absolutely LOVE this time of year, the leaves are changing, the temps are cooler, and did I mentioned the mosquitoes are finally starting to die down.

I have a great class this year. I absolutely love my job!! Anyone who knows me knows I love my job. I am amazed all the time at what the kids learn and say. When the year started I wondered to myself how the kids make it so far by the end of the year, but they do, and my kids are already on their way. The kids have already begun reading books and writing sentences, and both are things that they weren't able to do a month ago.

Now after explaining how much I love my job, I am going to say that today was not a good day, and you will have those. Since the first day we have been talking about good choices and bad choices. Today there were a lot of bad choices--way more than normal. At one point I felt like giving the kids my crazy eyes and yelling, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" But of course I didn't, I just stayed calm and firm and let them know that their choices were bad choices. Every teacher has these days, and today was mine.

I have conferences next week on Monday and Wednesday (I think.. maybe its Thursday--I better check on that). I really don't mind conferences--I like talking to parents, and they go really fast because they are one right after another... the only downside is not getting home until 8:30 and then having to go back 11 hours later and teach again--I just end up feeling exhausted by the end.

The political people came knocking a few weeks ago to see if we were going to vote. I told them that I probably wouldn't in this election, and somehow the man talked me into signing up for a mail ballot--it was probably the most annoying mistake I have ever made. The candidates call all the time--seriously, all the time. I get several calls a day from candidates. I never answer them, so they leave prerecorded voice mails. We keep getting mail saying who we should vote for. I understand that I am an American, and this is my job, but to be honest, I don't want to deal with all the "I say this,and I'm the best candidate because..." and the "They are bad because" campaining that gets thrown at me all the time. I will make a choice based on research, not annoying phone calls.

And the new TV seasons have started... I am watching Biggest Loser on Tuesday and 30 Rock and The Office on Thursdays. We only get one channel--NBC--so we are limited to what we watch. We talked about getting cable again, but really, I just want to spend as little money as possible. I want to save for a house, pay off my car, and focus on bigger goals. We have Netflix, and that keeps us entertained for $9 a month--I think that's pretty good.

So there you have it. A bunch of brief updates about our lives. :)

More Owls

I kinda went nuts on the Owl Quilt this weekend. Since yesterday, I have finished the applique--all 16 owls and 4 trees! My machine was a champ!

These are all my owls (and yes, I know the picture is sideways--it's the right direction on my camera, it's the right direction in the file on my computer, but for some reason when I upload it, its sideways. I've done it 4 times--still the same sideways picture. Its staying that way, I guess)

These are the trees for the center.

Lazy, Rainy Sunday

It's finally cold enough for the Slanket! The cats love it!

Owl Quilt

Last April, my friend Amy and I took an intro to quilting class at the Quilting Connection here in Ames, and I absolutely loved it! While we were taking the class, Amy asked the instructor if they offered any applique classes, and they did--and they happened to be making this adorable owl quilt called Hooterville.

So Amy and I signed up for the class and took it last May. But during the summer, even though I had all kinds of free time with summer vacation, I just didn't feel like quilting--something about making blankets in a 90 degree room doesn't seem right or comfortable to me. But now that the weather has changed to Fall-like, and I suddenly have a strong urge to begin quilting again. So here is the progress I have been making on the owl quilt.

These are all the completed owl blocks that I have so far.
Here is a close-up of one of the owls.

This is an uncompleted block that is ready to get applique-ed (if that's a real word) next to one that is done.
These are uncompleted and completed trees for the center of the quilt.
When I have it completely done, I will post the pictures. This one may take more time though--my sewing machine really doesn't like the zigzag stitch I am using to applique--it jams a lot, but I love love love this quilt, so I keep working on it.

Charles is so lazy...

Enjoying the open windows on the cat shelf.He loves to lay on his back and sleep like a human.

SSSSSOCTOBER!!

New months are always a big deal at kindergarten. Lately we have been focusing on finding words with the same beginning sound, so when I introduced September, I asked if they could think of any other words that begin like SSSSSSSSSSSeptember (and yes, I carry out the sounds forever when I am trying to get them to think about sounds.)

First girl I call on says "stars," "Yes, ssssstars does start like SSSSSSeptember!"

The next kid I calls on says "Sammie," "Yeah, SSSSSSammie does start like SSSSSSeptember!"

The next kid, who has been waving her hand in the air, has nothing to say when I finally call on her. I say "Think hard, what begins like SSSSSSeptember?" Her face lights up, "SSSSSOCTOBER!!" She was so proud of her word I say, "IT DOES! SSSSSSoctober isn't a real word, but if it was, it does begin just like SSSSSSeptember!!!"