thinking...

today was Mom's birthday...sigh...thinking about her off and on all day...

thrusday is the last day of the semester (!).  i have signed my contracts for next semester and i am looking forward to break and then starting thing all over again...i have got to ask how to make sure the semester don't run together and make me think i have talked about something that we have not covered yet...i am sure it is just as frustrating to the students as to me...wow.  there has to be a trick some where, huh?  i will ask around.

 i have been making pocket kitties (and a pocket puppy) from The Red Boot Quilt Company (http://www.redbootquilts.com ) she is AWESOME and has some really cute patterns - very heavy on the applique, but a lot of fun and really cute.  i can't wait to make more - so far i have been working with fake-fur and "minkie" fabric and they are really cute, but they were originally devloped for "flat" fabric and they are still cute...they have a built-in kickstand : )  their tails : )  i will make more and post photos as i take them...she has also posted a pattern for a cute bird (free!), so check out her blog at the above address and you can find a link to her store for patterns in paper and pdf format - the pdfs are pretty cheap...be aware that she is in Australia and therefore a WAY different time-zone than us here in North Carolina : )...she will contact you back ASAP... she is fun and nice and neat and she has a very dry sense of humor (based on email conversations and blog-reading)...hope she is really a nice person, she is very creative...

anyways - here are the photos of the first Kleber pocket kitty... front and side (showing kickstand) - they are only about 3 inches tall               =^..^=

ok...the end of the semester can't come fast enough, but is coming too soon...and then the crazyness of the holidays and all that jazz...wonder if we can go on a blackout of all the crazies? probably not, as some of them are our families (haha!). 

wishing that one of my students had not doused their study-guide with a blob of perfume of some kind - it is 3 feet away and in the middle of a stack of papers ~1.5 inches thick and i can still smell it!  wow!  thank you that i do not live with that student!

ok - enough for today.  missing mom, overwhelmed by the end of the semester, and a friend in the hospital for a reason we are not sure of yet (thoughts and love to her!), and then to add to that: all that i need/want to do...sigh...all i can do is keep breathing : )  and remember the what the white rectangle on the back of my care *used* to say "the only constant is change" (from Mom)...

peace.

hope springs II

well, i have an interview tomorrow afternoon (via Skype)...we shall see...i am not even sure i want the job, but it sure would be fun (in Maine, teaching a VERY small group of girls) and i know i would learn A LOT... 

at the same time, i am still applying for other jobs - in IL - who knows, it sounds like an awesome place to work (big community college) with tenure options...as well as NC, PA, etc.

who knows...

just a little up-date

and a cool sera-eye picture - i swear she was not crabby, she was on my lap : ) (taken with my iPad).

peace

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!

wow! can't believe the semester is almost over...

i cannot believe the semester is almost over! soon to the release of summer - that may not be all that relaxing...i am still stressing over finding a job - applying, but not hearing anything - just need to be patient things will happen as they need to happen. and *if* i get offered a FT job, then we need to worry about moving! (yikes, it will not be easy, huh?)...

anyways - thinking about summer
 *travel to CO for my niece's graduation (ticket is booked and i am getting excited and ready to go) - i will be staying at my sister's house (probably in dad's motor home [smile]) and patting some horses and goats, including three new baby-goats born last night - they are cute! and i will be seeing my nephew and other niece and dad and both sisters and my sister-in-law (brother is not coming)...should be fun and not too stressful (i hope [smile])
 *travel to OH for visiting in-laws and catching up with friends in the area - plus probably bringing back one granddaughter (she turned 13 this winter and we made a promise to the kids that they could come and visit after they turned 13) we have had one so far, the grandson didn't want to travel that far, oh well. 
 *quilting (i am working on a gift right now) always
 *working on cards and other forms of art
 *watching too much TV
 *watching the grass grow
 *watching some of my plants grow (the fringe tree "fringed" [flowered] again this year and it smells good, and the hydrangea is growing well among some others)
 *mowing the grass (maybe)
 *working out at the gym - because i need to do that (sigh)
 *twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the school-year to start again
 *oh, and working on the NSF-ADVANCE grant newsletter, website, etc. for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sciences. - This has been a neat program and it will probably prove to take more time than i expect and i also plan to take the information to the next job...and maybe try to become a member of the consortium at a new job to try to continue to promote women in STEM disciplines. 

so...maybe the summer will not be as boring as i think, but i still think i will be chomping at the bit for classes to start again in August...i have finished two quilt tops, one runner top and will post photos later - and of course i am working on the graduation gift for my niece that will be posted after she gets it : )

oh, and i want to leave you with a photo of sera (the *big-girl* kitty) and *happy Friday the 13th!*

(the final one is sideways, of course...)
peace!

been sick...

been sick and actually had to cancel class two days last week - man, that was bad! - i really missed teaching and now we are really far behind - sigh.

anyways - haven't had much time for quilting - just working on school-stuff and still looking for FT employment - been a bummer so far, but i am having a good time here at BCC and in NC (i LOVE NC!), but, i have been applying all up and down the east coast and a little bit inland - do not really want to go out west - but i guess i will if i have to.  and fonda says she will go where ever i go, so it can't be that bad, right?

life is good, minus the small version of the snot-monster i have hanging out in my head - but even that is shrinking and my voice is losing it's raspiness, OH, and fonda and i have been accepted into the BFIT program at the college's fitness and aquatic center - we start tomorrow - they will give us a gym membership for 12 weeks and teach us how to do the machines and help us with some nutrition-classes, etc.  i am excited and a bit scared to do this, but i am glad we are doing it together.

i have lost a few pounds in the last 2 months (probably, really because i was sick and wasn't eating like i should have been in the last week or so)...so i guess that is a start.  and my bathing suit still fits and hasn't started to deteriorate too much - so, i should be able to swim through the BFIT program.

ok, i will know more tomorrow and will keep you informed (eventually) and without a cat attached to my hand making it hard to type.  wren is currently *lying* on my left hand and making it really hard to shift or anything - but she is *so* cute...(big eye-roll) : )

peace

sewing for school 4

OK...so...where was i?

oh, yeah, electrons...and then attaching them to atoms - here is a preview of my carbon atom with only five valance electrons - you can see the snap where the other electron will go once it is attached to both the hydrogen (white [1proton/1electron]) and the carbon (black [6p/6n/2e interior/4e valence])



(note about colors: hydrogen is usually depicted as a white sphere, carbon as black, oxygen as red, chloride as green, and sodium as various colors - purple is the one i chose)

and the (almost) completed methane molecule (CH4 = one carbon and four hydrogen atoms)...



the hydrogen atoms (i wanted them to be more round, but now they just look like little white potatoes - sigh) without any indication on them yet...



water (H2O - one oxygen [8p/8n/8e total] and two hydrogen) indicating the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the oxygen and indicating the covalent bonds that hold them together.



a close-up of the oxygen atom (there are six valence electrons and space for two more once the hydrogen get hooked up)



the chloride and sodium atoms stuck together in the ionic bond that forms after chloride steals the electron from the sodium... [17p/18n/17e @ nutral chloride] but becomes an anion --> 18e and negative one charge.



a close up of the sodium ion [11p/11n/10e --> positive one charge] showing where the 11th electron was before chloride was so rude as to steal it (smile) (up-side down = "above" the "P" you can see the snap piece).



so that was what i did over my holiday break...and i get to use them on tuesday - we shall see if it helps the students understand what the heck i am talking about...

peace

Fishtail Cottage: Gorgeous Bracelet Giveaway…

Fishtail Cottage: Gorgeous Bracelet Giveaway…: “ From Our Hands to Your Home ” has offered to give away one of Fishtail Cottage’s followers a bracelet of your choice!  Which one would yo...

sewing for school 3

electrons, electrons everywhere!

from this mess of embryonic electrons:


i used the way to braid 4-strands from "http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/11/how-to-weave-paper-ball-ornament.html"> to start the process of making electrons:





after a few rounds i added a bell (electrons are negatively charged and i think they must sound bright, like a bell...)



then...at the end, there are these tails...i ended up super gluing them to strand under it




now, here is the pile of embryonic electrons along with some of the completed ones...


now to attach the "female" part of the snap to the electrons and the "male" part to the atoms and i will have my bits!! (i still need to make four more electrons - sigh)

peace

sewing for school 2

sew...i have made two chlorines (~7.5" square), five carbons (~5.5" square), two sodiums (~5.5" square), four oxygens (~5.5" square)...



now fluffed, with half of a hydrogen for size-comparison...




a pile of un-made hydrogens (~3.5" square)...



and a bunch of embryonic electrons:


more later : ). peace

sew IId...

i made the 25-patch blocks (i decided to make it 8x7 = 56 blocks...and here they are - all 56! (i am glad i reduced the number)

looks like a mess, huh? but they are really all there, i swear : )

details of one block:


now: for the 9-patch blocks - i have 23 done of the 42 that i need and i still do not know what i will use for the between-the-blocks fabric...it has to be tone-on-tone or something subtle like that - i just have not taken the time to search the stash for something appropriate...gotta' finish the 9-patch blocks first : )

i still think the 2" squares are having "fun" and multiplying when i am not looking - i have decided to put them away for a bit and focus on school-related stuff for a while...on that note, check back tomorrow (or some time soon) and you will see the update on the sewing for school project...i have a few electrons to make still, but it is progressing well - but i need more *stuff* (bells and snaps) to make the additional atoms - but i will work on those later (like over the summer, if this works out the way i am hoping it will) i am just happy to have one set for now and we shall see... : )

oh! i went to see the girl with the dragon tattoo and it was *very* like the book - complete with uncomfortable sex-scenes that were hard to read about and very hard to see...glad i didn't go with my dad or someone like that - though they may enjoy the movie, too, it would have been very awkward to see that with them. if you have not seen it, i would recommend you go and see it while it is still in the big-screen and not wait until it comes out on DVD.

the only problem i had was that there was 20 minutes of advertising and previews before the movie began - it was supposed to start @1:50pm and it ran for ~2:45 - i had to go to the bathroom! and we didn't get out until almost 5:00. i was irritated by all the commercials before the movie (for TV shows, cars, Coke/Diet Coke, etc.). do we not get enough of that at home? i guess one captive audience is as good as another, huh? sigh. i guess that is something i have missed by being poor and not going to see the movies, huh? not missing too much, but i do enjoy seeing some movies in large-scale - Harry Potter would not be the same on my laptop or something like that.

ok! enough rambling - peace and happy new year!