October 8th Week

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Monday: No school for me because of the Columbus Day holiday. Husband needed to get mineral blocks for the cows so we stopped for breakfast at the restaurant that we think has the best biscuits and gravy. Yum! When we walked into the restaurant we waited several minutes to be seated. While we waited two gentlemen who were finished walked up to the register to pay. The four of us were standing there when the cook poked his head out of the kitchen. Quickly the waitress came scurrying out. She wasn't too happy, seems cook interrupted her smoke break by telling her there were FOUR people waiting. There were, but I guess the two gentlemen didn't count since she said "Oh, there aren't four people here, you already ate". She complained about having to stop her break when she seated us, when she brought our food and when we paid. I am not a smoker so I find it hard to understand that need. 

I finished the alterations to the first surgery cap I made for my SIL.

I am trying it on here. 

And, I have 

cut out 

finished another surgery cap. 

This is one for her to try since I altered the first one a little and made a new pattern from that. This colorful cat print was also used in a baby quilt I made for her daughter 25 years ago. I wonder if she will notice. 

I will get them in the mail tomorrow.

Edit She did notice! 

Once I get it perfected (they did fit perfectly) to her liking I will start making ones with the fabric she provided. 

Tuesday: Family drama continues. My poor husband is so stressed with trying to 'fix things' that were done incorrectly decades ago. It amazes me how one person can cause so much misery and stress for those around them.

Wednesday: Work drama continues. 

Students, staff, it is never ending.

It was a rainy day, but this is what I saw on my way home...

The picture does not do it justice, but, the sky was beautifully blue. The rain clouds were moving out and fluffy white clouds and sunshine were moving in. I tried to enjoy the moment and forget about the day.

Thursday: The weather was sunny, but has turned cold with strong winds. Students came to school today in flip-flops or sandals. I am warm blooded (thanks menopause that is never ending) but even I needed a jacket today. And, speaking of menopause, I have been dealing with the effects of it for about 10 years. Just when I think the horrible hot flashes are ending, they come back with a vengeance. I tried hormone replacement therapy, but didn't get much relief and decided the cost wasn't worth it.

Friday: Still cold, but the rain held off until after recess. I am so thankful for that. Inside recess is hard! These kids need to be outside where they can burn off that excess energy. I know some of them were cold because they had on sandals and shorts! Parents, summer is over! 

Dress your child appropriately or at least in layers that they can take off if needed. The heat is not on in our building yet, and won't be for a few more weeks.

Then this afternoon this happened..

...you can imagine the excitement this caused!

Saturday: I have a long list of things I want to get done this weekend and I don't feel like doing any of them. It is still chilly, but now the sun is shining. 

I need to get outside and do some tidying up. I moved some plants into the garage Thursday evening because there was a frost warning. Glad I did because we did get frost. And, I have lots to do inside to keep me busy all day.

Turns out I was just feeling restless all day and could not settle on doing any one thing. I got some house chores done and knit several dishcloths, but that's about it. My mom and I both find the dishcloths make nice little gifts along with a nice lotion or bath gel at Christmas and I usually make around 40-50 each year. I have 37 right now so I need to get some more made to hand off to her at Thanksgiving.

Quilt Retreat is coming up starting the 25th so I went through my projects to see what I can take to work on. I feel guilty starting more projects.
 I feel like I should finish things that have been started. But I really want to start something new! Most of my projects are at a stage that don't make it practical to take to retreat. Some need more fabric, some just need borders cut, some just need quilting. I usually plan to take 2-3 projects and I still haven't settled on any. I might start something new. Sometimes there isn't enough room to really spread out to cut with a larger cutting mat and ruler so I would like to have the fabric cut so I can just start sewing. I need to settle on a couple of projects and start getting them ready.

Sunday: It was our bi-weekly trip to the farm store and W-M this week. Last week it was Aldi. We like to go early in the morning since there are fewer people out at that time, but we have noticed the last few weeks that the shelves at each store are not fully stocked. We end up leaving without at least one item on our lists. And, at the farm store making the popcorn is a higher priority than the customers waiting to check out. Oh well, guess that shows where I rate.

Week of October 1st

Monday: No word today about the lunch issue. I think I will just start taking my lunch. I stocked up on some packaged salads and fixings to make my own this weekend. Last year Husband bought me a Stanley thermos for coffee or hot tea that I think will work well for soups when the weather cools off. I also have stocked up on trail mix, nuts and other snack type foods.
There have been things going on at work that I find distressing and frustrating. I feel like some of the changes being made are not benefiting our students. Besides academics many of our students need to learn social skills. Social behavior is something that we have been told to work on this year, even building time once a week for teachers to work that into classroom instruction. But, I feel like it isn't being reinforced throughout the day. Something happened yesterday that added to my distress about it. My principal was instructing a co-worker and I about some changes she wants us to make during lunch dismissal and recess that I don't agree with. My co-worker responded in a way that totally threw me, opposite of what her and I have been talking about for weeks. I feel like I can no longer trust or believe her.

Tuesday: Dentist day. Looking forward to getting the tooth fixed, but nervous about the procedure.

2:00 - Tooth is fixed. I was so nervous about needing a root canal, but the hardest part was keeping my mouth open that long. It is a lengthy procedure and when he told me there are three roots  to the tooth my heart rate might have skyrocketed, but I had not discomfort. I love my dentist for that. He always makes sure I am comfortable.
As a treat after going to the dentist I visit the women's clothing resale shop in that town. I always find lots to try on, but usually only a few garments end up fitting well. Today was a good day. Ten items, 5 20% off.

Three tops with 3/4 length sleeves and a sparkly sleeveless blouse, a pair of burgundy corduroy pants and a pair of light twill pants.

The dark blue fair-isle knit cardigan, a light gray zip-up hoodie, a embroidered red zip-up fleece, and a light weight, long sleeved denim shirt for my mom. I like buying resale items because I don't care if I am wearing the latest fashion, usually these clothes have been laundered so I know they won't shrink or fade, and occasionally I find something that is new - like the corduroy pants, they still had the original tags on them.

My work area, where I spend about a total of 1 1/2 hours of my day, is very warm all year round. The hallway/lobby area, where I spend 2 hours of my day, is cooler (sometimes cold) in the winter since there is a wall of windows. Then I spend about an hour outside for recess and PE so I need layers. These tops and jackets will work well. We are encouraged to not wear jeans, but we don't have an enforced dress code. While leggings are acceptable, I am not comfortable wearing leggings in public, but most of the other staff do. So I was very glad to find the pants. I have a hard time finding pants that fit me well.The last pants that I bought for work are really starting to show wear along the hem lines. They will probably become capri length pants next Spring.

Husband is about to finish harvesting for this year. He finished beans last week and has been working on corn.

He will likely finish this field, the last one, today. He still has the field work to do - chopping stalks and working the ground. Our Texas relatives are suppose to be coming this weekend and want to 'help'. Since this isn't something they know how to do I am concerned that they won't be much help. Maybe the husband can mow my yard! That would be a great help to me.

Wednesday: Crops are all out, field work has started. Very windy today.

Thursday: So glad today is over. It is a Friday for me since there is a Teacher's Institute day tomorrow (aides don't work, also don't get paid). I need a break. There was much disrespect - hitting, pushing, spitting, belching in my face (intentional), food and lunch trash on the floor, peeing on the bathroom floor (again, intentional), pulling on hoods, throwing of rocks, jumping on the bus seats. And, that was only some of the issues I faced today! Windy again.

Friday: Technology is great...until it isn't.

Our computer has been dying a slow, agonizing death for a while now. I used to think it was bad internet service, but we switched providers this summer on the recommendation of several of my friends who were very happy with their provider. Well, we had good days and bad days of connectivity (is that the right word?), but after the last week of mostly bad days I began to think it was more than the internet connection. Especially when I could still open websites with my tablet. Our computer is over 7 years old. We got a new one today. All the data was transferred from the old one and we are up and running. Turns out that I think the problem was mostly the old computer. I haven't had any issues with connection since I got this one up and running. I was able to get Internet Explorer up and going and found all my husband's bookmarks, but so far I am unable to find mine that were saved in Firefox. But, I had saved a lot of them to my tablet so that will be ok. Rainy off and on all day which put a stop to the field work. That's ok, though, Husband needed a rest.
Of course, getting a new computer did not improve our TV reception.

We have an antenna, no satellite service. It seems we lose the signal right at the good spots, but hardly ever during the commercials. We just aren't ready to pay for TV service. My son got a Netflix subscription when he lived at home. We had bought a smart TV without really meaning to, but we liked the picture display and the price was good. Anyway, apparently you can have accounts (or whatever they are called) with one subscription. I have been catching up with some shows I like to watch, but had missed the beginning or several episodes - Father Brown, Dr. Blake, Miss Fisher. For some reason I like the British shows.

EDIT: We are learning and getting more comfortable with the computer everyday. And, it is very clear that the problem was the computer, not the provider.

Saturday: I attended a local quilt show with my quilt buddies. We always have a good time. The show was well organized with many beautiful quilts. I only took two pictures...

I have been working on a 365 Challenge for a while. I keep thinking maybe I should just finish something with the blocks I have completed and just be done with it. Then, I see one in person and am inspired to keep working. I was admiring this one and mentioned how lovely I thought it was to the lady standing next to me. Turns out she was the maker of this quilt. We had a nice chat.

I took this one to show my husband since he likes the red, black, gray, white color combination. I does think it is a nice quilt.

Sunday: A lazy day. Dreary and rainy. I am just puttering around, not really settling on any one thing to work on even though I have several projects I could be finishing. I finally decided to sort some of my saved quilt/knit/craft patterns. This is something I have been wanting to do to better organize my sewing room anyway.

I like to sort by project - Knit Binder - scarves/hats/mittens, sweaters, ornaments, etc. Quilt Binder - scrappy, Log Cabin, Stars, Patriotic, etc. You get the idea. I had printed some patterns that needed to be inserted into page protectors, sorted and inserted into the binders. Good to get those put away. Makes it much easier to find what I am looking for.

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A Weeks Worth

Please visit Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

I just can't post every day. It's too much for me to do so I am going to try to do a weekly post with some highlights from each day.

Monday: Last Thursday I got a call letting me know one of my aunts, my Dad's sister, has passed away. The visitation was Sunday, the funeral today. I had to miss the funeral because of an urgent dental appointment. Last week a tooth started bothering me. It had been a little sensitive to cold for a while, but not bad. Then it got a little worse so I called my dentist and made an appointment to have it looked at. The next few days it got much worse, bringing tears to my eyes at times and waking me up at night. I need a root canal in a tooth with a crown. Yippee. He gave me prescriptions for an antibiotic and a pain reliever/anti-inflammatory. They called it in to my pharmacy. 45 minutes later when I went to pick it up I was informed that their system was down and would be at least another hour before my prescription was filled. I decided to go back later. I called before I went back, the system was still down. I was pretty frustrated. Shouldn't there be some kind of back-up plan, a Plan B, for those types of situations? Well, I got a call a little later letting me that the system was back up and my prescriptions were ready. Thankful they called and got the first round of meds in.

I picked up my bag for the exchange from my friend who leads the group. I had to leave early during our meeting on Saturday to meet by family for lunch. It will be interesting to see what fabrics are in this bag! I always enjoy seeing what other people choose and how it all comes together as we go along.

School is still crazy. At least I think so. My co-worker that does one out of the six bathroom breaks (new for her this year), PE and Recess duty thinks things are getting infinitesimally better. OK, maybe. But usually by now we are much more into a routine. She told me she doesn't know how I have been able to handle doing three classes twice a day. Ha! This might be partly to blame.

It's hard to tell, but that is the moon setting this (Monday) morning. It was red and full. I don't care what anyone says about the full moon not affecting behavior, ask any one who works with young children, it does!

I am making surgical caps for my lovely sister-in-law. She recently got a new job that involves her being in the OR. She likes the more fitted caps and asked me to make her some. She had already bought the fabric. There is no pattern so I had to make one. We did a test fitting on Sunday.

Her favorite one is on underneath the test cap. My mock-up fit well, except that the side band needs to be longer. She likes the cap to cover her ears since she has several piercings in each ear that the hospital wants covered up.

So those are Monday's adventures. I should have just posted that, I guess, since it was wordier than I planned!

Tuesday: No pictures. My tooth feels ok, now that I am on a good pain reliever. I am not looking forward to a root canal, but my mother keeps telling me it's no big deal. She has a high pain tolerance. Let's hope I do too.

We got a little rain, but not enough to keep Husband out of the field.

I wish I could have gotten a good picture of the full moon this morning. It was big and round, but the sky clouded over before I got my act together.

Wednesday: This was the moon as I left my driveway at 7:30 AM headed to work.

Explains some of the behavior today.

Here is my hummingbird feeder.

Those little birds are so fast. It was gone by the time the shutter clicked.

My tooth seems to be feeling ok. I can eat and drink normally, but I can tell it needs to be fixed soon.

Today I heard one of the teachers say that they feel like the behaviors worsen each day of the week. I had been thinking the same thing. I think on Monday the behaviors are good because they are still recovering from the weekend. By Wednesday, they are starting to get tired of it all, maybe. I just know that this is the longest it has taken for students to learn the 'rules' and routines.

Thursday: Another crazy day in Kindergarten.

I received a Facebook message just as I was about to walk out the door to go to work this morning. A relative of my husband asking if I could make a T-shirt for her daughter who is graduating high school this year. I didn't have time to respond and Facebook is blocked at school so I was going to respond to her when I got home. Near the end of the day, one of my busiest times, the secretary said she texted her and asked me to text her back. I am doing bus duty at the end of the day so I am busy trying to make sure all the students get on the right bus. Parents are also picking up at this time which I am involved in also. As I am standing by a bus dealing with a bus issue she walks up, gives me a big hug and proceeds to tell me she Facebooked me and asked the secretary to give me a message and she hadn't heard back from me. I tried to explain to her why I hadn't as I pull away from her and proceed with my job. I also told her that I was sorry, my day is jam packed and I hadn't had time to respond to her, and just too busy to take on any more projects and knew I wouldn't be able to finish the quilt in time. I did recommend another person and told her I would get that phone number to her after I got home. I did and she says she is sorry to have BOTHERED me and didn't mean to OFFEND me (she used capital letters) and was really hoping that a family member could make this quilt and her cousin just loves the one I made for her (two years ago when I wasn't so busy)! I wasn't offended or bothered, but I was annoyed. I was trying to do my job. I felt this woman was pushy and showed a lack of respect for me by interrupting me at work, especially when it was clear that there was a problem on the bus. She has had nothing to do with us, ever, we don't talk, text, or anything else. And, now I am going to overthink this whole thing all evening. Grr.

EDIT: I mentioned this exchange to the secretary since the person wanting the quilt implied that they are good friends and the secretary told me to not waste a minute thinking about it. That she is a needy, spoiled person who has always gotten everything she wanted, doesn't work and doesn't know how have patience or how to handle being told no. That makes me feel a little better. I feel like making a quilt for her would have added more stress than I care to deal with.

On a happier note I tried to get a picture of the beautiful sunset last evening. I don't know if there is something different with the atmosphere or I am just paying more attention, but fall sunsets seem to be more vibrant. But, they are hard for me to capture with a camera.

 

The colors were beautiful, but I just get a glow.

This one was taken a few minutes later.

This one is more to the north through the screened window.

Again, beautiful colors that don't show well.

A few minutes later.

My phone decided it needed the flash, but if you can get past that the sky was so pretty.

Again, too much of a glow, but you can see my solar angel to the left, hummingbirds in the center and lampshade slightly to the right. It's a lampshade with a solar light removed from the stake and the bulb part inside the lampshade. I twisted some wire around the top of the shade to make a hanging loop. I wish it was brighter, but it is still pretty. (Pinterest idea, not mine)

Last one of the evening. The sky was much more purple, orange and red than it shows.

Here are day time pictures of the lampshade.

 

Friday: Thankful to see the end of this week.

I have always eaten school lunch, and pay for the entire year at the beginning the first week of school. I like school lunch, most of the time, and I like not having to remember to bring a lunch or fuss with heating something up. We were informed this week that the cost of adult lunches has gone up by 80 cents and they went back to the first day of school and deducted the new amount from our accounts. I am not happy. Yes, school lunch is pretty inexpensive but when I asked our cook if MY portions were the same as the students she said she was told to serve staff the same portion size as the students. We are feeding kindergarten students in my building. I don't think I should have to pay 80 cents more for the same amount of food that kindergarten students are served. Even if I am served the same amount as the high school students I would still have to pay 50 cents more than they do. I don't mind paying the adult cost, if I am being served adult portions. I really wouldn't mind having the option to pay a lower price for the student size portions, although most days it isn't enough and I am hungry by mid afternoon. My principal is checking into it. Stay tuned.

The weather was very pleasant today. Just right temperature, slight breeze. It got very windy and considerably cooler in the late afternoon. Rain is in the forecast for every day...EVERY DAY... next week. Heaven help me, I don't think I can survive a week of inside PE and recess.

Saturday: I am determined to do what I want to do, at least part of today. 

I have finished my whole cup of coffee today. Here lately I have only been able to finish about half, if I am lucky because Husband is farming. He needs a ride back from the field after taking the wagons out with the tractor and needs me to bring him back for the combine. I don't mind, but he finishes his meals much faster than I do and is ready to go before I finish my coffee. So this morning instead of hopping into the shower while he did chores I sat and played on my tablet while I finished my coffee. Then he came in to tell to wait ten minutes after he left with the tractor to come pick him up. 

 So I did...

...in my PJs and slippers! Ha! I knew no one would see me so why not?!

Now I am debating whether or not to mow the yard. I also have some other outside work I would like to do, but it is a chilly day here. It should warm up later, though. After I get the housework done I am looking forward to having a day to myself. Husband will likely be farming until early evening, unless he has a problem. Or we get that slight chance of rain predicted. Otherwise, I am on my own. Aaahhh, peaceful quiet. I am looking forward to it. Let's see, what should I do first? Relocate some furniture for the sewing/guest room redo, work on the Exchange block, redo SILs surgery cap, fuse the T-shirt blocks, work in upstairs room, work on Flag afghan, mending/alterations, some hand quilting. Maybe another cup of coffee, then a shower, then...

I decided to take a walk around the yard to see what needed to be done.
Brrr, it's chilly and windy! I won't be working outside today.
I did get a picture of this...

It's not fully opened yet, but it is beautiful. I love this color!

Here is yesterday's bloom and a bud that will probably open tomorrow or the next day.
There is one more bud that will probably open in 4-5 days and then I think this plant will be done for the year. The leaves are pretty so I will get to enjoy them for a little while.
Edit: I did work a little in the upstairs room, got more organized in the sewing/guest room, and did quite a bit of crocheting. I am almost caught up to where I was before I had to rip out.

Sunday: This is our weekly shopping day. We like to go early in the morning before most people are out and about. This week was a farm store/W-M week. It was a frustrating time at the check-out. There was a person checking out with quite a few items, a person behind them with only a small hand basket of items (we let him go in front of us because he had so little), then us with quite a bit and at least two people behind us. Guess how many lanes were open? One, the one we were in. They did finally open another, but that is just ridiculous, in my opinion. I feel like we are being forced to use the self check-out lanes, something I refuse to do. Not because I can't figure it out. Because that takes away jobs from people who need, them, again, my opinion.
AND, why do they double bag items? If there are so many items in the bag that there needs to be TWO of them why not just put fewer items in two different bags? Still using the same amount of bags. Also, might be easier (less heavy) for a person to carry. Just my two cents. Other than that it was a nice day.

Something New and a Redo

Sunday is our shopping day. This time it was to the farm store and W-M. We were almost done when husband said, "The last one! You need this." I have seen these before, but wasn't willing to pay the price. This one was less expensive and probably not as well made, but it will work for me. My husband is so encouraging and understanding about my quilting. It went together easily and quickly. It also got filled quickly!






I finished my block for the Exchange. I had some trouble getting it to fit together before realizing the HSTs needed to be trimmed to 2 inches. I am not sure I like it, but that may be influenced by the fact that I had trouble putting it together. I had trouble getting seams and points matched to my satisfaction and had to redo most of them several times. It looks a little wonky/wrinkly in the picture, but I promise it looks better than this in real life.
 



The original was done in Christmas fabrics. The block is Arrow Crown.












I picked up the Flag Afghan again yesterday evening and decided I was not happy with the look of the color change carry over with the blue and red/white. So, I ripped back to where the blue started and made a slight change in the way I was doing the color change. 

I did the ripping out last evening after Husband went to bed. He doesn't like to see me take things out. I just let the yarn pool on the floor around my chair.  This morning he said, "What happened?!" and shook his head. I will get caught up again, it may take a while, but I am much happier with the way it is looking.


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Edit: Blogger is making me crazy. My post looks good, then I publish it and it doesn't look like I expected. I try to fix it, but it still doesn't always come out they way I want. Oh well.