hope springs eturnal...

i have just applied for three more positions...who the heck knows what will happen, but i cannot give up.  i know i have a job starting january (at the college where i am currently employed), but the three positions for which i just applied also begin in january...yikes!

oh, well...i have also applied for a few positions that do not begin until august.  and all shall be well.

another image that makes me smile (it has been around on facebook for a while - just saw it come up for the 2nd time yesterday)

 

enjoy : )

 

peace.

well...

one of the guys i work with just got a FT job.  i am frustrated...i am applying EVERYWHERE that it fits and still...nothing.  i guess he applied to the same school 4 times and 4 is the charm...sigh.

i am not giving up, but i am feeling discouraged. 

on the other hand, i am still really LOVING my job. i just wish i could have the more security of FT (including the ability to get a flu shot for less than $30).  i am having a good time getting the information to/from my students and seeing that they are learning and also enjoying the process of learning.  we did a DNA-thing that included twizzlers and marshmallows : )...also, we were able to "see our DNA."  This is one of my favorite labs of the semester.  and we are winding down for the semester.  i know i need more labs and i need to think about getting this stuff on-line.  the dean would love to have it 100% on-line...i am not 100% sure that would be possible, but i think we could probably work something out...i guess that is a goal i need to do ASAP.

ok...finished with the frustration of the day...not as frustrated as i was yesterday, because i talked to the guy who got the job...it is also not a job for which i would have applied (anatomy and physiology)...it will all be good.  i know it deep down, i just am READY NOW!  ok.  breathe...

done for now - more later and more fun.

this makes me laugh...i love beaker : )

peace : )

it is getting to be that time of the year...

it is coming up to thanksgiving again...guess this happens every year, huh?  waiting for the OSU-Michigan game, too...six years ago mom died.  it *is* getting easier, but still sad...and trying to figure out some new traditions.  this year will be home and hanging - gonna have two sets of exams to grade, but it will be low-stress and the movie The Life of Pi is coming out on that wednesday. sounds like a plan to go and see some movies and then come back and grade - just going to have to get through all the B.S. surrounding thursday and friday.

classes are crazy - i am further behind than i have been in the past...it will happen, too.  i will be teaching three classes next semester - i hope to be better at timing - i will have two 112 and one 111...one of the 112 and the 111 are 4-days a week 1.5 hrs/day = sweet!  i am hoping that we can increase the numbers of labs, etc.

i am *still* applying for jobs...and still breathing through the process...some are more-easy to apply to, some are are real pain in the fanny.

Peace for now. 

ok...photos

first - the kittens have "disappeared" i think either by adoption (what i *want* to think); or by being eaten by some random raccoon or dog - there have been some stray dogs in the area and it is possible they could not get away fast enough; or hit by a car on our street (highway 17! - posted 55mph [ha!]) - tough as that is to hear, that is why we have indoor-only cats.  there are mean people out there and starving animals that need to eat, too...that is why i urge people to 1) have only indoor cats (they eat a lot of small animals in the "wild," even if they are well-fed), and 2) spay and neuter your pets...it is amazing the number of babies one female (dog or cat) and her offspring can have and it can be absolutely devastating to the small wildlife in the area.

ok, after that "awesome" introductions...so i promised photos of the totes - they are soon to be on the way to CO and my sister Meg...but here are some of them (a total of 15 bags were sent and a total of 17 totes were made):

the "Grain" one is one of my favs

just for meg, et al.

i am offering to make some for meg and her work - if someone has a specific bag they want to have done, i will do that - they need to be clean and dry and then it should not take long to get the totes out.

this last one is going to be sent to my friend kay at Chocowinity Chicken Sanctuary  she does a lot of good for chickens and they live a full and healthy/happy life at her place (or some of her friends').  

i am offering to make some of these for her (they are not hard, as long as the bags come to me clean [smile]) for the sanctuary - they are a 501(c)3 non-profit and she has a chicken named Doreen that is an Aruwana (i think this how it is spelled) they are know as the "Easter egg chickens" because they lay green-blue eggs...and she looks like the two brown hens on the package...and i have gotten some of her eggs (thank you Doreen!)

anyways - now there is a quilt i am working on - it is a remnant quilt from mom. she did 4/20 of the cats and i have done the other 16 - i need some more fabric (gasp!) - we don't have any fabric that goes with it at this point - want a medium-light cream (beige - fonda says).   mom did the top 4 - they are not the same as the bottom 16 and they have different colors between their ears : ) but that color was purged quite a while ago and so we have had to "make do" and i think we are doing ok with it...the hard part will be appliqueing the tails - oh well, i guess that is what i will be doing when i should be preparing for biology class...(haha!)

ok- now it is past midnight-thirty and i need to go to bed - so good night and peace.

wow, i need to get a handle on posting again...

i am in the middle of summer-doldrums...classes start in 16(!) days and i had a job interview last thursday to start next monday...assuming that because it is tuesday and they have not called, i did not get the job. oh, well...experience, etc.  sigh. 

so i wait...

the kittens shown in the last post have all disappeared - the woman up-front (feeds the kitties) said they all disappeared one-by-one and her favorite kitty (a ~1.5yo boy named fluffy) is missing as well.  now if she will just get the momma neutered...the toms (blackie and boots, brothers) have been fighting for the attention of thump (momma) and i wonder if she has gotten pregnant again, but it has been so hot, i have only seen boots recently...he hangs out under the cars to stay cool.  and, i have not been spending too much time outside, but i will be mowing tomorrow - early, if it is not too wet.  it has been really hot (temps in the high 90s/low 100s) and with high heat indices...but i think it is only supposed to be in the high 80s or low 90s tomorrow...the grass really needs to be cut and the guy who usually dose it has not shown up for a while and i do not have a phone number for him...so it goes to me.

and wait...

our kitties have been good - spot (mom's old cat) has been having a bit of weird stuff happening - a few times we have seen her "acting drunk" and it has scared us to the point that we took her to the emergency vet - she was acting normally 45 min later and we had not gotten in to see the dr, so we went home - she was hungry and ate fine and was irritated that we kept her secluded overnight. took her to the normal vet the next morning and they cleaned her ears (dr. saw something that "might have been a tumor" or wax) - it was wax.  took some blood (all OK).  and called it "idiomatic-something" which really means that they see if often enough for it to have a name, but have no clue as to the cause...she suggested OTC Dramamine - but spot has not had an incident since then, so there we sit. franklynn has still been "chasing the kitties" and we get irritated, but really there is nothing we can do...i just try not to let him chase spot, everyone else is able to put up with him or fight him, but i guess that is a problem with a young cat (~4yo) hanging out with the old geezer cats (~13yo)...he just wants to play and the girls can't seem to figure out what to with him - webster plays for a while and then is done.

working on some quilts (finishing up one mom started) but now i need some more fabric (darn) because what we have just does not work right.  got it about 1/2 way of the machine-sewing parts done, then there are some applique parts to do (not nearly as quick an activity).  then i have some unfinished projects that i found again (sigh) and i have been making some totes for my sister meg - feed-bag totes...the totes are made of modern-day feed bags - they are woven-plastic and i have been having quite a bit of fun making them.  i keep seeing more of this kind of bag around, as does meg - she said she is sending some chicken-feed bags - i am looking forward to those - i made one for my sister elizabeth from the black oil sunflower seed-bag i had here and i will post photos soon - i need to take them first (haha).

so...that sounds like a good place to stop - i will begin the feed-bag process again and then i will photograph them before sending them back to meg and post the photos here ASAP. 

what a better way to end the summer-doldrums?

peace

wow, has it been that long??

i am surprised to see that it has been so long since i posted - classes are over and things are going into the summer...i am heading off to Colorado to visit family - niece margo is graduating from high school. i am looking forward to seeing everyone - it has been several years since i have been out there - i guess it was when my sister elizabeith and her then fiancee had a bit of a party there - i got to meet james for the first time and i guess that was7 or 8 years ago - they got married @ las vegas with two friends as witnesses...

since that time, my niece and nephew (and all of us, too) have aged a few more years and they have moved to a place in sedalia where the horse can live, too - and a few goats and a new horse...what is in my mind is probably nothing like what is there in reality - i will find out in two days...i wish fonda was going with me, but she is staying home a looking after the kitties...sigh.  she has never been to CO and i wish she could see the mountains, but i also worry about her and the possible altitude difference between sea-level and one-mile-up...some day...

we have had at least two hummingbirds at the feeder and there are four kittens making a home in the grass-catcher bag of the lawn mower...this is 100% my fault for not putting it in the shed, but it is very cute to see them there:

two boys, two girls - they hiss and spit like crazy, and are even making themselves big at us - they are still less than a pound each!

this one is my favorite (a boy):

and, no! we are not going to adopt any of them, they are just cute and we are trying to get them not to be so feral - momma is willing to be within about five-feet of us, but not any closer.  they have been up next to the house for about a week and we have NOT named them - all is well : )

the woman who lives up front is the one who is being responsible for them, she is planning to get the kittens to a shelter after the first of the month, and get momma spayed (i hope that happens SOON!, already the boys [her brothers] are sniffing around her and hanging out)...she would like to keep the boys, but the "girls have gots to go!"  she is willing to support the colony, but no more kittens! (i feel like i have won at some level - she got the first momma (tulip) spayed, now only one daughter remains (thump) - and then we just have boys spraying everywhere and looking funny with their big heads)

OK - that is enough for now...i will post pictures of the most recent quilts done on the next post : )

peace.

end of the semester soon

semester ends in:
2 thrusdays.
2 mondays,
1 tuesday, and
1 wednesday
...what am i going to do with myself then? no clue. 

we are wrapping up the topics - i am behind by about a chapter for bio112...bio111 is 100% on-time for me - i would have liked to have an extra week, but i really want them to have a chance to present the topics they have been researching...i am tired...can't wait for a break, but i am going to miss the gang : )

still waiting to hear from the most recent temptation of FT work - sounds like a perfect fit/job...maybe i am coming across too strong about the fun i would have for the job...and maybe i need more "trench" work before i can get my "dream job"...this has been a lesson in patience - i have never really had to interview formally for a position and this has been a challenge and i am feeling some extremes of highs and lows with each contact...i am trying to breathe through it, but it has been a challenge...i know it will happen, i just do not know how long i want to (can, monetarily) wait...

peace!