A rather embarassing moment

Yesterday, I went to pull out a microwaveable dinner as part of my lunch at school. Unfortunately, the plastic wrapping on top was loose, and I ended up getting heated sauce on my hand. Um, yeah. The foods teacher got a second degree burn from a microwaveable meal. What's wrong with this picture?

I keep dreaming about updating my blog, but I don't know that it's going to happen. When I first started, I had big dreams about being one of those fantastic teachers on top of everything. Our first semester is ending on Friday, and I think that just surviving has become my main goal. I guess I knew intellectually that my first year was going to be hard, but I don't think I realized how physically, emotionally, and psychologically draining it is to be a teacher. It makes me appreciate my own high school teachers even more!

Progress

I built my two bookshelves (okay, fine, I just assembled the pieces together), and I am slowly working to unpack boxes. I prepped a lesson on food safety and sanitation tonight; is it any wonder that I had an apple for dinner? I washed it off very well, just in case. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving. Anyone up for declaring all of November as a holiday?

Once upon a time

Once upon a time. . .
I could find my digital camera
I had more than 3 outfits unpacked
I could walk through the living room without tripping over boxes
Dinner was slightly more involved than nuking a Lean Cuisine meal
Ah, for the good old days.

Please pardon the long blogging absence. In my limited spare time, I am working on getting my apartment set up. I have most of my belongings (in boxes) moved in, and I'm spending a lot of time sleeping at my apartment. My sewing machine is out and my kitchen is mostly unpacked, but alas, I haven't had any time to sew. I shall let that travesty speak for itself. :)

The story of my life

Questions

The most common question I am asked these days, aside from "Can I use the bathroom" or "Can I go get a drink" is "How are you doing?" In all honesty, I feel like I'm dog paddling like crazy just to stay afloat. Apparently, that's the name of the game for new teachers, but it's pretty exhausting. Add to actual classroom teaching meetings, gradings, planning, and writing exams, and I'm feeling pretty swamped. I might try this weekend to put up something more interesting, but for the moment, I'm just concentrating on surviving. I made it through student teaching and a master's thesis; surely I can handle this, right?

The Staples of Life

I finished my first week of new teacher orientation. Let me tell you, there is a lot that goes on before students EVER arrive at school. The highlight of the week (or perhaps the low light, I suppose) was when I managed to put a staple in my hand. I was replacing the staples in the stapler on my desk, and I pressed down at exactly the wrong moment, so instead of going into my bulletin board, the staple went into my palm. It bled and everything. I do hope this incident isn't indicative of how the year is going to go. At any rate, my classroom is slowly coming together, my lesson plans are coming along, and I'm mentally gearing up for teenagers. I'll keep you posted.

Are we there yet?

I'm off with my family to go visit my grandparents. I probably won't have Internet for a while, so for the next two weeks, no news is good news. We've already driven across North Dakota, but I fear Montana is going to be full of "are we there yet" comments. Seriously. How much bigger can this state get?

I'm finishing projects again (and have a bit of news, too)!

I've been busy for the past few weeks. Here's what I've been doing:


Picking lots of these off of our raspberry bushes and, amongst other things, turning them into
these:

.

I've also been finishing Works in Progress projects, including these two goodies:


A crocheted baby blanket

and



another quilted table runner. The funny thing about the runner is that I had pieced the top and gotten the layers all ready to assemble when I (for some reason) put it away briefly. I have been looking for this thing for several months, and when I found it the other day it was in with my serger. How did it end up there, instead of with my other quilting projects, you might ask? Your guess is as good as mine.

Here's a close-up of the fabric.




I love this runner pattern. It starts with a striped fabric, and has only 5 seams. I think I'm going to have to make some more. It's a good thing I'm trying to finish projects, not start them; otherwise, I think I might have to go in search of cute striped fabric. This particular runner was a test to see how I liked the pattern; I can honestly recommend it highly.

Oh, and don't worry--you probably won't get many more finished project updates from me for a while. I'm finally going to start having real news to post. You see, in the middle of writing lesson plans, class syllabi, and completing new teacher orientation, I don't think I'm going to have much in the way of free sewing time for quite a while. Yup, it's officially official. I have a full-time job for the coming school year. I actually interviewed for it in June and received the offer at the beginning of July, but I was waiting for the actual paperwork to be all signed before I formally announced it. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited. Nervous, anxious, thrilled, excited, and scared out of my gourd, but looking forward to it, nonetheless. Anyone have any brillant lesson plans s/he wants to share with me? :)

Comic Relief

Have you seen the Pickles cartoon lately? I got a kick out of them (as did certain members of my family, especially those who happen to be allergic to the fabric store). Please click on the pictures; I can't figure out how to enlarge them without distorting the whole thing.

More of secret project revealed

The aqua quilt gets its closeup.



Taking advantage of the backdrop our new fence provides.



Red quilt hanging.

Both quilts together.

My dad wanted to do these quilts as part of the family reunion last year, but since I was defending my thesis two days after the reunion, I didn't make it to that one. Not to worry, the shirts stayed put, and I just upped my completed project list. :)