It's not nice to make Mama angry....

I have a son with disabilities. Physical and visual. He is a permanent wheelchair user. He is legally blind. I believe that he should attend the high school in our district along with his peers. And he does. I believe that the school district should make the necessary accommodations so that he can attend classes. And the do... sort of. The high school he attends installed lifts in the stair ways so that he could access the building. The building is old and has multiple levels that don't quite match up where the new additions were added onto the old building. I understand that nothing can be done about that. There are 2 lifts. One to the old part of the building and some levels; another to the new part of the building and different levels. He cannot access the entire building from one lift. They do try to arrange his class schedule so that he isn't on the first floor and then the second using one lift and then the third using the other lift. Oh, by the way, to get from the second floor to the third floor he has to go down to the first floor and over to the other lift then up to the third floor. As you might imagine, this takes time. At least 10 minutes. They let him leave class a few minutes early so that he can get where he needs to be before the other students are released and filling up the stair ways. School has been in session for 4 full days. The first day neither lift was working. One is now working, one still is not. The stair climber is also not working. The lift company has been called. Parts are ordered. My son is CRAWLING up and down the stair while a teacher carries his chair for him! What!? Are you kidding me!? My son came home from school the first day and told me about the problem. Thought it would be fixed the next day. No. Second day he says they are coming the next day to fix the lifts. Didn't happen. On Sunday I saw the principal at a school function and we discussed the problem. I understand he has little control over the lift company not coming and parts not arriving, etc. He told me he would be looking into the stair crawler; he had not been made aware of it not working. According to my son, that is not true.
Today I called the school to find out if the lift had been worked on. No. I asked for a call back from the principal who was in a meeting. He just called me. Lift people not coming until Friday. He said he would understand if I wanted to keep my son home until the lift was working. What?! I do NOT want to keep my son home; I want the school the accommodate him! And, I really don't think it would be too hard. Two of the 3 classes he is crawling to are Study Skills (study hall) and Homeroom (another study hall). I cannot believe that I had to suggest to him that possibly, could they maybe move him to another classroom for that, or could the whole class go to the cafeteria. Come on! The other class is a math class. How hard is that to move? It's not like it is science lab with equipment that cannot be moved. I am sooooo mad! I really feel that someone - SOMEONE - should have been looking at his schedule and figured this out - his special ed teacher who he has Study Skills with, his vision instructor who is there 4 days a week, the math teacher who is carrying his chair. Someone should have noticed this.
It makes me feel bad as a person to have to make this kinds of phone calls. To stand up for my son. To tell them to do the right thing. To have to ask them to move him to a different class. I do not like confrontation. It is very hard for me. It makes me mad that the people who are suppose to be looking out for him are not. They are not doing their job. They KNOW what SHOULD be done, but they wait for me to make them do it.
Plus I work for the school district. I am in a different building but still in the district. I feel that I am in a unique situation because of that. I try to be cooperative and understanding but this is just not acceptable. I understand they don't control the lift company. I understand the custodians cannot fix the lift. I understand that the lift company kept saying they would be there the next day. But I still think they should have had a plan. This is not the first time he has had to crawl up and down stairs. When he was in middle school there was a situation that forced him to have to crawl the stairs. I kept asking if they could move his classrooms to a floor he could access. They refused. It took surgery (unrelated) and a letter from an very appalled physician to resolve that issue. I cannot believe that anyone would be expected to go through the things my son has had to with this school district. I have said before and still maintain, sometimes it seems like the district works harder to NOT accommodate him than to accommodate him. It is so unfair what parents of special needs children have to go through for their kids. What so many parents take for granted, we have to fight for. And, I . am . tired. I just want my son to be able to go to school and get an education. And, to not have to crawl up stairs.
I'll stop now. Sorry for the rant. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Design Wall Monday...

This is what my design wall has looked like for the last week...


You can see on the right what I have done on the Shining Stars. I am still at a stand still on those. The other blocks are Rainbow Memories Kit from Keepsake Quilting provided by my hubby. I have been using those to fill in when I have a few minutes. They require careful planning! The fabrics are Daiwabo Selection for E. E. Schenck Company. It starts out one color gradually changing to another in the middle then back to the other color on the opposite side. LOVE the colors! Not sure of the placement of some of them in the blocks. I have decided to make the blocks they way I think they should be and make changes after I am done. There seems to be enough fabric to be able to do that.

On Friday, my parents came for an overnight visit and we went to see Ricky Skaggs and his Kentucky Thunder band. They played some bluegrass and then some of his old country songs. It was very nice. We had great seats, only a few rows from the stage. I really enjoy that toe-tapping music!


A friend of mine asked this spring to make 2 baby quilts. Her daughters were expecting babies a month apart this fall. I said sure. Things got busy for her with an ailing parent and we didn't get to fabric shop until early August. We saw some panels at Joanns and Hobby Lobby that she liked and they had coordinating pieced fabrics to go with them. She plans to give them to them at Christmas, no rush. Well, one of the babies decided to come early! 2 months early! Everyone is fine and he is doing well. She still is waiting until Christmas, but I have decided I better get busy. The parents are decorating the nursery in a Safari theme so this panel will work well. And, it is partially pieced! I made borders with the coordinating pieced fabric and am using minkee type fabric on the back. It will be so soft and cuddly. The other baby is a girl. I will post that one later.

Design Wall Monday...

Today was the start of the new school year for faculty and staff. I am 'staff' - a teacher's aide. Today and tomorrow are filled with meetings, information, introduction of new faculty/staff, etc. The students start Wednesday. No more sleeping late, days filled with quilting, or whatever, for me. It all comes to a grinding halt. By the time I get home from work I am tired and have household/family stuff to do - supper, laundry, cleaning, etc. I still am able to get some quilting in on the weekends, but not as much as in the summer.

I attended a birthday party for a friend's mother, her 70th. She recently became a resident in a nursing home and it was requested that there be no gifts since she shares a small room with a roommate. I made her a fabric card that I thought she would be able to have out in her room.

I am working on 2 baby quilts for the same friend. 2 daughters each having a baby; one in September, one in October. The October one decided that today was a good day to come into the world. Mother and baby are both doing well. That top is ready to be quilted. I will post a picture when it is finished. I haven't started the other one yet.

I got this guy hung up this weekend. I had mostly finished it a while back but just got around to binding it this weekend. He is now hanging in my kitchen. I will probably regret that but I have decorated my kitchen with roosters so that's where he fits!

I have stopped working on Shining Stars. I just need a break from them. I finished all the blocks for Strip Around the Block. I need to get fabric for the setting triangles, borders, binding and backing.

Just to show how busy I have been this summer, here is a picture of all the spools I have emptied.

Design Wall Monday...

On my design wall this week...

I am STILL working on Shining Stars blocks. I am really getting tired of this one. I how is looks as it is coming together, but I just want to be finished piecing it.












I am also working on Strip Around the Block as sort of leaders/enders between the Shining Stars blocks. It is coming along nicely.










In between sewing I have been over run with yellow squash from the garden. Yesterday I made pickles and relish with it. I have made bread and butter pickles with cucumbers, but have never done that with squash. Also, a first for any kind of relish. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Even with all that I still have a box full of squash and haven't been to the garden to see what is out there today. I am afraid to look! :) Notice the one on top that is 2 fused together. I have gotten about 5 like that this year so far. I don't know what causes it, but it seems like there are a lot on the vines. They are growing fast and so close together.

Visitor

We have a visitor. A couple of weeks ago a pigeon showed up on the farm. It didn't seem to be afraid of us, but also didn't seem to be able to fly. The next day the bird was standing in the middle of the road. My husband caught it, which wasn't too hard since the bird didn't fly away. We put it in a pet carrier to keep it safe and gave it some grain and water. I had noticed it has bands on its legs so I got on-line to see what I could find out. I found some information and e-mailed the address listed. I live in Illinois. The information suggests that the bird is from Iowa. The response said to contact ______ and gave me a phone number. When I called that number I got an answering machine so I left a message. This was on a Thursday. When I didn't hear back from that number I decided that person could be away from home for the weekend and decided to continue to care for the bird. On Monday afternoon I still had not heard back from them so I left another e-mail letting them know I had tried to contact that person. The response was another phone number. When I called that number it was not the person it was suppose to be. He said he gets calls a lot for the other person. Sent another e-mail. Got 5 more numbers to try and a suggestion that if the bird seemed healthy to release it. I released it. It is still here. We have taken to calling it Homer - as in homing pigeon, it was my son's idea. :) I don't know if the bird is male or female but we keep saying 'he' when referring to it. Anyway, Homer makes his way all over the farm. He hangs out in the shed where hay is stored. He hangs out on the ramp railing, the steps, the swing, under the trees, all over. I think he likes it here. And, I don't see him fly. We worry that some creature will get him. Hopefully he can fly and will be able to get away from anything that could hurt him.


Oh, and just for fun here is a picture of some of my flowers. :)

Design Wall Monday

On my design wall I still have....

Shining Stars. I am beginning to feel like this is a never-ending project. I thought I had enough blocks made only to find out I did NOT. Have to make eleven more. Not a big deal, except that I had put the fabric away. Still not a big deal because it is handy to get to. I am just getting tired of working on this one.














So I am working on another one at the same time! This one is called Strip Around the Block by Carol Morrissey. My wonderful husband snags the Keepsake Quilting catalog when it arrives. He picks out some kits he likes and I get them as birthday and Christmas gifts! Lucky me. And, we tend to like the same things which makes it even better.

You can see in the pics that I am using mini design boards. I need to make some more. They really help me keep things organized.
I saw the tutorial at Bee In My Bonnet. She has some great ideas. Go check it out.

Shining Stars progress

Even with putting up corn I have been able to get some sewing done. I continue to piece blocks for Shining Stars.

I also finished another Quilts for Kids project. I used my own stash for this one. I had this cute kitty fabric that I thought a little girl might like.

I added green (my favorite!) and turquoise 4-patch blocks. A thin border in purple and a larger border from the kitty print. The kitties are the backing also. I quilted it with a loop-de-loop and small hearts with a variegated blue/pink/purple/green thread. I think it turned out cute.

We Interrupt This Program...

My summers are usually filled with lots of sewing/quilting. I work as a teacher's aide during the school year and usually don't get a whole lot of anything else done. After work time and weekends are filled with the normal household stuff like fixing meals, laundry, the usual cleaning, resting, and a little sewing/quilting/knitting! So during the summer I work like a maniac to get as much sewing/quilting done as I can. And, then along comes....



My husband LOVES corn. My son and I like it, too. So every summer we get some and freeze it so we get to enjoy it throughout the winter. This year we put up 32 dozen ears. We husk and clean it. Then I blanch it and cut it from the cobs with a great little gadget called a Kernel Kutter. I have a nail stuck through a round wooden board (from a craft store) that is placed inside a Tupperware container - I think it is a cupcake holder. That contains the kernels. I put about 3 cups of corn into freezer bags, smush them flat, letting out the air. Then I stack them in the freezer.
Yummy!