Ladyjanet's blog

2011-10-02T14:30:00.003-05:00

Thought I should ask the people who live in my house to guest DJ, at least once. For form's sake anyway. so Matt, my son and housekeeper (until he's gainfully employed anyway) is today's Guest DJ.

1. Diamond Eyes- Boom-Lay
2. Bring Me To Life- Evanescence
3. Shoot to Thrill- AC/DC
4. Enter Sandman- Metallica
5. Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue
6. The Village Lanterne- Blackmore's Night
7. Fire Woman- The Cult
8. Runaway Train- Soul Asylum
9. Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
10. Devil Woman- Cliff Richard

Umm... ok. My son appears to be a rocker. I recognize one of these songs. Think I'll go take some Geritol and have a nap. I'm feeling old.

2011-10-01T01:03:00.004-05:00

Next up on the All-Star DJ list....wait for it.....Lori. A woman who cusses on my level, stitches better than I do, and will someday use the proper needles for sock knitting. With some help from Guitar Hero and Lou, her wonderful husband, here's her top ten:

1. Go Your Own Way, Fleetwod Mac

2. I've Gotta Feeling,  Black Eyed Peas

3. Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel

4. Jesus He Knows Me,  Phil Collins

5. Moonlight Shadow, Mike Oldfield

6. Mad World, Gary Jules

7. Hey Mr. Tambourine Man,  Bob Dylan

8. Love Story, Taylor swift

9. Break Away, Kelly Clarkson

10. Time Of Your Life. Green Day

Great songs!

oh- and sorry about the Shatner...but I just had to. Here's the real thing.

2011-09-28T10:04:00.002-05:00

Today's guest DJ is Liz, the most Normal person I know.Her blog is at http://www.myideaofnormal.blogspot.com/ and be warned that she has a wicked sense of humor. She also made me my very own TARDIS but that's another story.
Sooo... heeeeere's Liz!

1. Ball of Confusion, Temptations

2. Sleigh Ride, any version (Carpenters, Jonny Mathis, Herb Alpert, Boston Pops)

3. Back Home Again, John Denver

4. Dream a Little Dream of Me, The Mamas and Papas

5. Eleanor Rigby, Beatles

6. It Is Well with My Soul (hymn)

7. Mr. Sandman, The Chordettes

8. Back in the U.S.A., Linda Ronstadt

9. Under the Boardwalk, The Drifters

10. My Everything, Barry White (‘cause I liked how they used it on “Ally McBeal”)

Great list, Liz!Looks like a Hopeful Romantic lives in Normal.

2011-09-27T18:08:00.000-05:00

So my super guest DJ is my friend Nancy, who loves music, mustangs and mmmmm....chocolate.
And while I love her dearly, her favorite song is my most hated. To prove my true friendship, here is Miss Nancy's list unedited and without comment from me...

1. Hey Soul Sister- Train
2. Love Hurts- Heart
3. Valentine- Martina McBride and Jim Brickman
4. Remember When- Alan Jackson
5. Unchained Melody- Righteous Brothers
6. I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston
7. Drive- Alan Jackson
8. Let It Be Me- Everly Brothers
9. Looking for and Echo- Kenny Vance
10. If Today Was Your Last Day- Nickelback

My comments (hey it's MY blog) I agree with a few, and I like Nickelback, but seriously Whitney over Dolly? A country fan like you?

Thanks Nancy, and you'll always be my friend despite this irrational love of Train.

2011-09-27T15:54:00.001-05:00

So here's the beginning of something. Maybe it will continue, maybe it won't. Like so many other things.
Inspired by Sam Neill's Two Paddocks Blog I'm going to post guest DJ's top ten lists. Since this is my blog, I'm going first.

1. Turn the Page by Bob Seger- I hear this song all the time driving home from teaching, and when I'm tired, this is exactly how I feel.
2.Fire and Rain by James Taylor- I've always loved this song, but it tore me up after my father died. I'm glad I can listen to it again.
3. Imagine by John Lennon- If my life has a theme song, this is it.
4. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen- It's QUEEN! Who doesn't love Queen?
5. This Old Guitar by John Denver- John Denver got me through high school. My guitar got me through so much more.
6. Symphony No.6 by Beethoven- I love it all but the link is just part of it. Music that makes you think of the outdoors is fine by me.
7. Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin- just because I love the whole big band era.
8. Matthew by John Denver- I named my son after this song. Don't judge me.
9. Diary by Bread- the eternal lost love song. I love everything Bread did, but this one makes me wish someone had a crush on me like this. I wouldn't have broken his heart.
10. Desperado by The Eagles- I could listen to this on an endless loop.

So I see most of my songs are a bit melancholy. Maybe I'll do the perky songs some other time.

July 9, 2011-

2011-07-10T02:06:00.016-05:00

In twelve hours I had more fun than I've had in ages! First A grand adventure to Hammond Indiana with Randy, my partner in crime. We decided weeks ago that we would get tattoos together. Well, the day came, and there we were...looking through Tattoo portfolios at a very trendy upscale and expensive tattoo parlor. Well, if I was going to get a full back dragon tattoo, I might consider this place, but we were after something simple and affordable. And we didn't want to make an appointment for September to come back. Not kidding....a two month wait. And the place looked like a dental office. well a dental office covered with tattoos, but still.So off we went to the next place. We used the intergoogleweb to do some research beforehand, so we had three places checked out. We were very happy at the second place- it was clean, a bit dark, small, and perfect. We had brought our designs with us, and got a very reasonable deal. I gave them an idea for my ring tattoo, and the artist drew up something very cool that I really like. It will probably fade a bit, being on my finger, but that's fine. Subtle and small tattoos are what I'm looking for. I got a foot and finger tattoo and Randy went for the studly bicep.

After our artwork, we were off to the Horseshoe Casino. My not-so-secret famous crush, Craig Ferguson was doing stand up, and we had tickets eight rows back. Randy took some amazing photos while I just totally zoned on Craig. First, he's funny. He can make me laugh until I cry, and second, he just makes it all feel so intimate. One look, a raised eyebrow, a simple mouthed "I know!" makes you feel like he's talking right to you. **sigh** huge crush. I met up with one of my tweeps- Fanny57 (waves) and just missed meeting up with several more. I wish we could have gotten one large group photo, but maybe next time.

Thanks Randy for taking all the photos. over 200 of my very own craigy images. wOOt!

What a great idea!

2011-01-19T12:26:00.002-06:00

http://ht.ly/3GpDt

small personal towels to use instead of wasting paper towels. Cleaner, and you know what it's like to use those blower things that don't work and you just give up and wipe your hands on your jeans anyway?

Save the planet and be utterly cool.

And we all know how important it is to Don't Panic, and always take your towel....

what I'm thankful for...

2010-11-28T23:54:00.003-06:00

That this holiday is over. I've been home for four days.

So this two line journal thing... is supposed to free me and make me happy. ummm...

I've posted more often. That's good.

I've said less. That's probably good too. Brevity is the soul of wit.

But sometimes life is ordinary, and I can't see blogging about ordinary, even though ordinary is relative.

But my relatives aren't ordinary in any way. They are all exceptional. Some are exceptionally brilliant, some exceptionally self righteous, some exceptionally kind, some exceptionally selfish, some exceptionally uncommunicative, which is exceptionally OK with me, in some cases.

See, I like the whole stream of consciousness thing going here. I can't do that with two sentences, unless they are exceptionally long.

So I was thinking the other day- I do that sometimes- usually not at work though- that we have become a generation of journalists. We blog more than we would ever write. I have lovely journals started thirty years ago with about five pages written in. I seldom write anything anymore. Everything is electronic. Well, we have a wonderful tie to the past with all the journals of pioneers, surveyors records, letters and written artifacts of the past. it would be wonderful if all this information on the intergoogle will always be there, but what if it isn't? I files saved on 5 1/2" floppies. I'll never be able to get it. I have stories on disc for my word processor that was pre-DOS. I tweet poetry all the time. Will twitter always be there? Sometimes it's not there now. Should I just resign myself that what I have to say isn't important enough for posterity. Well, that's the truth, but I may say something of value someday.

Is someone printing a hard copy of the intergoogle and the tweetybox? If you are, out there then do me a favor. Fucking lose Farmville, OK?

November 22, 2010

2010-11-22T22:43:00.002-06:00

I say I work better under pressure, but I don't.

I lie and tell myself the ends justify the means.

Is truth important when lies are kinder?

November 20, 2010

2010-11-20T22:04:00.002-06:00

Saturday. So maybe I should just make these weekly two sentence journal entries...

So the holiday is coming. I really don't care. I think I've decided that holidays are kinda phony. If you don't really spend time with your family all year, then why get all sentimental about them at the holidays? I have completely done away with christmas. No more gifts from me , because I'd rather send gifts when I want, when they are needed, and not when someone else tells me that I have to. My two sentences have become a paragraph, and not what I intended, so....

1. Some people thrive on drama, and have the capability to self manufacture in case of a shortage.

2. I loathe drama.

two line journal three? four? whatever!

2010-11-15T22:58:00.002-06:00

So I'm supposed to remember crap? Is this three or four or seventy seven? Who cares...

today's journal

I saw a junco and downy woodpecker discussing feeder protocol when I came home from work. Then a chickadee flew in and made a final judgement.

Birds are smarter than humans.

more one line two line journals

2010-11-12T00:23:00.002-06:00

today- November 11, 2010

Many things are ending, short term projects, longer term projects, and soon, the biggest project of all, and I'm feeling relief, no stress, and very calm.

This is wonderful.

two sentence journal last three days

2010-11-04T23:01:00.002-05:00

Tuesday- 11/2 This was election day.

Most people are reasonable, but there are those for whom being right is more important than being gracious.

Wednesday- 11/3 day of preparation

if you have a lot to do, and are very tired, you can get everything done if you break everything down into very small steps.

Thursday- 11/4 it all pays off.

Getting everything done means I can attend a conference with people I like before I even meet them, with no stress or worries, and true relaxation can start.

One sentence journal

2010-10-31T00:05:00.002-05:00

I was poking around online and found something called the Happiness Project, or some such thing.

One way they said to have a happier life was to journal every day, but only do one sentence. I don't know how this can make you happy, unless you focus on the best thing that happened to you each day. I doubt I'll focus on the best each day, but I think that I'll try some kind of two sentence journal. Sentence one is just he one thing that I did that day. Kind of a reference point for me. The second sentence will be how I'm feeling because of it. I don't think happiness is ignoring what makes you unhappy. I think happiness is learning to deal with the bad things without it ruining everything else about your day.

And two sentences aren't much. Life is going to be getting very busy for me very soon.

so here the first two sentences:

1.) I traveled to Iowa for Uncle Fred's 90th birthday party today, and got to visit with family for a few hours.

2.) I am truly grateful for my friends in my life, who have become my real family over the years.

à bientôt!

This old guitar

2010-10-19T22:42:00.003-05:00

I play the guitar. This might be news to my friends, but probably not too surprising. When I was 14 my Dad bought me cheap guitar, used, for Christmas. It was black. I played it until my fingers bled. I played it so much, every waking hour, I wore the wrapping off the strings. I learned everything John Denver wrote, then moved on to Neil Diamond, and then started writing my own very bad songs. I used to fall asleep playing that guitar, wake up with it in the bed, and play again. I could play both parts of Dueling Banjos. My boyfriend (now husband) could play all of Stairway to Heaven. He still can. I played into my twenties. Then I got busy working, paying bills, getting old.

I still had that same old guitar. It got old too. The varnish cracked. Bits fell off. Strings broke and were never replaced. I asked my husband to fix it for me, but it really wasn't worth it. He bought me a new one, all shiny and blond, like a trophy wife. I played it, we played together sometimes. He played it. It's a good, nice guitar.

Then for some reason known only to him, my Dad bought himself a guitar. Dad used to have a gorgeous Martin Archtop guitar and I picked on it when I was about 10. Learned my first song on that Martin. Proud Mary. It had only two chords. That's good, because that's all I knew. I have a tape of my Dad playing and singing that Martin and he sounds like Hank Williams. That's Senior, the really good one. At 70, he bought a new guitar so I could teach him how to finger pick. Dad had arthritis in his hands, but was determined. He had lung cancer, and I think this was on his bucket list. I never heard him play the new guitar, or sing "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry" in a way that always made me cry.

Now I have Dad's guitar. I'm still very busy paying the bills, running here and there, but sometimes I have to pull out that guitar. It usually starts with a song on the radio that I used to play. Tonight it was "Mr. Bojangles" and Dad's guitar had to come out, get dusted slowly, like a gentle waking caress with a my hand, and it had to sing me another song. My fingers are getting a bit stiff, and I don't have the calluses anymore, but the fingers and the guitar still remember. After a tune-up, a few plinks to warm up, that opening riff for Mr. Bojangles was still there.

Dance, Mr. Bojangles, Dance.

And my old, broken guitar? I see it every day, in the corner of my bedroom. I know the music is still in there, even though it sits silent. I'll probably never play it again, but I don't have to. I can still hear Dad being so lonesome he could cry. The music lives in my heart.

This old guitar taught me to sing a love song

taught me how to laugh, and how to cry.

It introduced me to some friends of mine, and brightened up some days,

and helped me make it through some lonely nights.

What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night.

-This Old Guitar by John Denver

Thanks John. Thanks Dad.

Stitches Midwest

2010-08-19T01:08:00.002-05:00

We left home with all the glee of schoolchildren on a snow day. And it only has gotten better so far. After a fast drive up with only the minimum amount of road construction allowed by law, we first stopped at Inspired Needle in Lemont. We weren't planning to, but we were a bit early for lunch, so why not? I found some new scissors and a black sheep measuring tape. Seems very appropriate somehow... baaaaa.

Lunch was outstanding at Old Town cafe in Lemont- an amazing Black Forest Schnitzel, spaetzel and sauerkraut for me. On to Knitche in Downers Grove and some pre market yarn fondling. I got something specifically for a couple projects. And started a new pair of socks tonight.

We got to Schaumberg, checked in, and started exploring. We found the check-in for our conference- we are at Stitches Midwest. Bought some conference bling- and decided out Knaughty Knitters mascot- "tink" was going to be a kangaroo. There are way cool T's here with a knitting kangaroo on the front, and Tink sounds a bit Australian, don't you think? G'day, Tink!

So it's getting late, and everyone else has gone to bed. I'm in this awesome lobby, with music, a fireplace, artwork, fountains, and not a soul in sight. Yeah, it's about 1:30am, but even so....

I'll be tweeting from the conference with a #stitches hashtag. If you have no idea what that is, then don't bother- you are probably not reading this either....

First class at 1:30 tomorrow. Backwards Stitching.

Knitting badges

2010-08-15T01:52:00.002-05:00

thanks to Cast-on.com I have earned some Knitting badges:

The McGyver 1 badge for using an unusual object while knitting. Bread ties as stitch markers was probably my first.

The McGyver2 badge for using knitting objects in unusual ways. Yup haven't we all used knitting needles to get at something that needed poking, finding or scratching? And not to mention using yarn as dental floss? Oh yeah.....

Proselytize Knitting Badge- for representing knitting in a good light. Well- I do what I can, but typically knitting represents me in a good light.

Can be an Asshole When it Comes to Knitting Badge. I have only one thing to say--Don't even start with circular needles- okay! Oh yeah, and American style may not be as fast as continental, but it is the RIGHT way.

Knitting Under the Influence Badge -Nuff said...

I Will Crush You With My Math Knowledge Badge. Math I know, gauge I can figure, and if I can't I'll just have another drink.

Knitting Has Caused Me To Seek Medical Attention 1 Badge.- Ok- I probably should have had that needle in hand from car accident thing looked at, but I'd like to think the doctors would still be laughing at me, and it healed OK.

Sizzling Sixteen- spoilers!

2010-07-07T16:14:00.003-05:00

I only have a few minutes, but I just wanted to get a new blog post in. I just finished Janet Evanovich's Sizzling Sixteen. I liked it better than fifteen. Good plot, lots of hot Ranger action, and I love the threesome of Lula, Connie and Stephanie working together. There;s just one problem. I feel a slight unease. Maybe it's because Stephanie is feeling the same thing. I wouldn't be too surprised to see this series end soon. With the office being firebombed, everything is up in the air. I could easily see Steph going to work for Ranger, Morelli getting jealous, she finally makes a choice one way or another, and either way, the tension is gone, life finally gets down to business and Stephanie grows up and moves on. The required car gets destroyed, Grandma goes to a couple funerals, there is a few chases, laughs, and I had to read it in one sitting. It was still compelling and funny. not as good as those middle ones 7-10, but well above 15.

And in knitting world? The socks that were on the needle that went into my hand in the car accident are done. It seemed like they took forever! A new pair is well on the way to being done.

And in the world of Craig Ferguson? I continue to be truly infatuated with the sexy scot. I know all my friends are getting tired of hearing about him, but I can't help it. Lucky for me, I'm not alone. There are a few hundred thousand of us who follow him on twitter, and you can find several of us tweeting together every night while we watch the show. I keep my lusty thoughts in the volcano.

Hot! But it's only June

2010-06-13T23:52:00.002-05:00

It has been hot, hot here. June isn't typically over 90 degrees, but we've already it it. Bleh!

Haven't finished any books recently, haven't finished any knitting or stitching recently, although I have a scarf, socks, and about three cross stitch pieces all being worked on. Summer school started and time is now a luxury I don't have. Good and bad crap has been happening but then it always does, and I usually come out the better in the end so let's just say fertilizer has been added and with luck a healthy crop will come of it. But for whatever or whomever is delivering said fertilizer- I have enough now, thank you, and you can stop delivering.

For some reason, I've been swearing more lately. Well, I blame Craig Ferguson's cussing bunny, Sid. OK- It's not Sid, it's me. I have to be careful because if I drop an F-Bomb in class, well let's just say that that particular garden has had a bit of over fertilization last week and doesn't need any more. (Yeah, in trouble again...) I really don't know why, but a good swearing has been feeling really satisfying. I stopped swearing when the son-child was born, and never really took it back up, but now...#(%($&^#()$*+!#$(*!+ is becoming commonplace.

Along with that, I've been having trouble sleeping. That's because I'm becoming a Woman Of A Certain Age and I guess insomnia is part of that. I cut out the Dew for about a month, and it didn't help. So here I am, after midnight,hanging out on the Interweb, knowing I have to be at work tomorrow grading papers at 8:00 for my 10:00 class that should be going hiking, except the forecast calls for rain. I really don't care- I'm going to take them anyway.

Oh well, I'm going to try to go to sleep, and maybe I'll dream about swearing and get it out of my system for the day.

Book Review- Between the Bridge and the River-Craig Ferguson

2010-05-31T22:43:00.002-05:00

Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson

First- I'm a huge Craig Ferguson fan. I must say that right up front. I have read his other book (American on Purpose) and have reviewed it down below. This book was written first. To make this simpler, because I'm going to reference both books- Between the Bridge and the River will be BTBATR and American on Purpose will be AOP.

BTBATR uses a few situations found in AOP, so if you enjoyed Killer Ducks on acid and depressing Scottish schools that encouraged beatings, then you will see them again. BTBATR gives some of Craig's life experiences to several different characters, so after reading AOP, this book has a bit of familiarity. If you read the books in the opposite (probably correct) order, you would get that "behind the scenes" feeling you get with the special features on a DVD.

BTBATR follows four people: two American brother Saul and Leon who grow up abused and run away from their group home to fall in with a snake handling religious tent show; and George and Fraser, two Scottish boys who grew up as friends then parted ways around 14 or so. I recognized Fraser as a reflection of Craig, and see George as who Craig would have been if he had made other life choices- staying in school, going to college, being boring and respectable. These three stories intertwine, voyage apart, then come back together in tangents, tangles, and then meet in dream sequences. Yes, there are dream sequences, near death experiences, a ghostly Carl Jung, and an overt view of religion as a soulless money making business, and a covert pondering of religion as personal spirituality.

BTBATR is not a light summer read, but it's one of those books you think about later. It's clever, downright funny in parts, but don't expect to laugh through it. There are small bits cleverly placed to keep this from being too heavy. And those of us who are fans will recognize 100% Craig touches. There are the occasional asides where you hear Craig talking directly to you, explaining something in the book. There are parables. There is sex. Blunt and direct, no euphemism-type sex. Funny, sad, touching, mechanical sex. The way it really is.

This book is even better if you are well read. There are references you might not get otherwise. The current references that needed to be changed to stop lawsuits are worth looking for- like Peephole Magazine. Craig Ferguson describes this book as "dirty.' I don't think so. There is a lot of sex in it, and it's described as these men would. It's honest. This is a book about redemption. That's honest too.

Ahhh... back outside!

2010-05-07T12:43:00.002-05:00

There's just something about going outside,without a coat, boot, gloves... While I love winter, there's an ease about spring. I just love taking kids out around our pond, and this spring has brought fishing, exploring, snake hunting, and duckling rescuing all back with a rush! The prairie is still being a bit shy, with only a few Golden Alexanders peeking into bloom. Like it knows May sometimes brings enough cold to make flowers shiver at night. I know how exciting the prairie is going to look, but my young visitors...not so much excitement as wariness about bugs, field mice, and spiders.

There's two types of group that come to campus for greenspace tours. (Well, being totally honest- they come for the Challenger Learning Center, and I'm just the glorified babysitter while the other half of the group discovers comets or walks on Mars or something MUCH more exciting than "oh, this plant will look really cool in two months.") Yeah- so back to the two groups. There's the "raise their hands when outside, never leave the path, can you turn off the wind" group. Then there's the herding cats group that I just follow and explain whatever they've discovered. One group, I do all the talking, hope something gets through, and don't bother telling jokes. The other- as long as no one falls into the pond or eats poison ivy, it's a success, and they usually like my jokes. The ones that stay with me learn whatever I decide to tell them. The ones who tend to wander away learn whatever they want to learn. I'm good either way.

If I'm tired, I like the drag and brag group. I can do this in my sleep, which is good because they are asleep as well. The herding cats group keeps me on my toes, with lots of "What's this?" and "I found something!" and "Can I eat this?" I get tired, but I'm energized by them as well. The problem lies when I'm all WOOHOO let's go hiking and I have an "Outside is icky" class. Or if I'm tired because I stayed up way to late mooning over Craig Ferguson and I have a class of Lewis and Clarks ready to go explore the wilderness. Today is rainy, so we all stay inside and talk about bottled water-

Which reminds me- If you have the chance see the documentary FLOW. Guaranteed to get you pissed off at the World Bank and privatized water suppliers.

Time to go babysit another class- Oh I mean educate young minds about evil bottled water...

Earth Day!

2010-04-24T12:43:00.005-05:00

I spent Earth Day outside, taking a class hiking around the prairie. Can't think of a better way to spend the day! I used to get all excited about having an "event" for Earth Day, but since I've become more of an "Every Day" type, I notice that I feel happier when I'm fighting the good fight. Kind of like when your boss catches you working on something really hard...that feeling of doing what needs to be done every day instead of one day kinda gives me a warm green glow.

So Happy 40th Earth Day! and Happy Living on the Earth Lightly Every Day..err..day.

So what else is going on? Not much, except being very busy taking kids outside or teaching them about the evils of bottled water, and teaching adults how to make informed choices about the environment, and helping other people do the same, it's been a very green semester. And I love it! Every day brings a new adventure. Last week middle school students got to see a hidden duck nest, saw a snake swimming on the pond, found the remnants of a rabbit (all fur, no guts) picked up three bags of trash, ate some mustard greens, saw hawks, swallows,and turkey vultures, and learned that geese are never, ever pettable.

Next week- fishing adventures start. I hope to be very, very busy this summer getting kids and adults outdoors.

In the world of knitting, I've finished another pair of socks and signed up for a knitting conference near Chicago in August. A new pair of socks are going on the needles today. I'm going to use my bamboo yarn this time. They should be very soft and pretty.

The finished socks:

Oh yeah- Craig Ferguson and the Robot Skeleton Army ROCK! Just sayin'

Entrelac Pillow

2010-04-11T23:01:00.004-05:00

Here's my latest knitting finish->
Entrelac pillow from www.knitandcrochettoday.com free patterns

And a close up of the entrelac, which is easier to do than it looks.

The back of the pillow is a simple stockinette in the green.

This just in!

2010-03-01T15:56:00.003-06:00

Finished last night- Mohair and sparkly gold shawl. Sparkly gold is fiber from India brought back by a friend.

Knitting again....

2010-03-01T09:44:00.006-06:00

It seems like I spend more time knitting than stitching these days, but that's OK- I seem to like whatever is in my hands at the moment the best. I've been working through the Fearless Knitting Workbook, and becoming...well...fearless!
Here's a couple more of my finishes:

And some stitching:

Top and Bottom of a HUGE bellpull.

American on Purpose- Craig Ferguson

2009-10-29T12:39:00.003-05:00

Just finished this book. It was GREAT! First of all, I stay up way too late just to watch Craig every night. I loathe Letterman, so I flip over after Conan. (The move by Conan to the Tonight show was perfect IMHO- Now I can see both the Irish- American and the Scottish-American and since what's his whosit who took over Late Night is dumber than dirt I never have to choose who to watch.)
Now, about the book-

Craig (if I may call him that) is honest and open about his, ummm... bad life choices. He doesn't lay the blame anywhere but where it deserves to be. He's witty and open, and if he wasn't married, and I wasn't married, and he was closer, I might be tempted to lead him astray. His joy at becoming American is refreshing and reminds me that it is a Good Day for America. His deep sadness over his parents' deaths is heartfelt, not self pitying. And his stories of his youthful (and not so youthful) misadventures are downright funny, especially if it's not you waking up missing large chunks of your memory.

I just want to ask one thing.

Craig- why didn't you write this book 40 years ago, so I could have found out that there is a nickname for Janet (the name I've always hated) and lived my life as Netta? I can do Netta. But not now when I can't even get people to use my Maiden/Married last name. I can't confuse people even more. **sigh**

more knitting

2009-08-25T15:59:00.002-05:00

Finished two pairs of socks this weekend- the Knitalong Monkey socks from www.knittingdaily.com and a pair I just made up from bits of other patterns. The top is crocheted (which went really fast) and the bottom is knitted.

Book Review- Grass for His Pillow- Lian Hearn

2009-07-26T13:31:00.002-05:00

Great second of a trilogy. I don't know how well it wold work as a stand alone book, since I can't go back and unread the first, but this is an excellent growth book. Both main character have a voice here. Takeo learns to improve his skills, learns about treachery and gets a girl pregnant. Kaede loses Takeo's child when she hears he's dead (not true) almost dies herself (Takeo is told she is dead) and then decided it's time to decide her own fate. She becomes very strong and decides that using the horrible, slimy, rich, menacing neighbor will do it. Of course once Takeo and Kaede learn that the other is indeed alive, all bets are off and in a very unsurprising turn, they are together at the end, both wiser, stronger and better prepared for the wars ahead for being apart. Immediatly started book three- Brilliance of the Moon, because I just have to know what's going to happen. I know they are going to win, but I'm sure there will be many adventures, twists, beheadings, intrigue and Tribe assasinations to come.

I guess I forgot....

2009-07-01T09:38:00.001-05:00

Nancy and I finished our stitchalong last week! I posted it on facebook, but forgot to here... sooo.... drumroll....

This will probably be framed and donated to the EEAI MEEC auction. (www.eeai.net)

15 books

2009-07-01T08:32:00.002-05:00

Over on facebook this is going around- list the first 15 books that come into your head.

1. Finger Licking Fifteen (reading now)
2. Grass for His Pillow (interrupted to read #1)
3. The Sparrow (best book ever)
4. A Thread of Grace (same author- so that was next in the brain fog)
5. Forrest Gump (because I was just telling someone how horrible it was)
6. Island of the Blue Dolphins (my favorite as a kid)
7. My Side of the Mountain (another childhood favorite)
8. The Egg and I (still hilarious after 40 years)
9. The Handmaid's Tale (the last Atwood I read- a favorite author- which reminds me of...)
10. Cat's Eye (also Atwood)
11. Whip Hand (The book that started my love affair with Dick Francis)
12. Angela's Ashes (because Dick Francis is English and that reminded me of Irish Frank McCourt)
13. Angels and Demons (just saw the movie so that's floated up from the depths)
14. The DaVinci Code (because if Angels and Demons)
15. The Lorax- my first "green" book

These are not my favorites now, or books that I can't live without- but the question was list the first 15, and those surfaced first.

The best books ever would include Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Fahrenheit 451, and loads of others that are just now floating into memory... but that list is for another day.

week 3- october sky stitchalong

2009-06-08T09:20:00.002-05:00

Week 3-
Nancy and I are on on week three of our stitchalong, and I'm about 2/3rds done. I'll see Nancy tonight so check her progress. Next week, the last row and the beads, and I'll be ready to frame. (Oh stop laughing- I do actually get stuff framed once in a while!) I think I may donate this piece to an auction for my favorite non-for profit (EEAI- www.eeai.net), I'll just have to see.....

Just ramblings

2009-06-04T09:38:00.002-05:00

So the kitten has a new home. She'll be out of the rain and cold, and there's no danger of her being eaten by a coyote (my biggest fear) so I'm very satisfied. We miss her (even after only a week) but things are much calmer. Our two cats are getting along much better, probably that shared enemy thing, but I don't expect that to last.

DH-- Oh where to start...
His car broke down. The timing belt broke, and maybe he bent the valves. So I told him weeks ago to take his car into the shop to check the belt because it was making noise. Did he? When it would have only cost a few hundred to replace a belt? Oh no- so far it's about $700+ and we haven't even talked valves yet. **sigh**

man rule #1- things don't heal. You have to fix them. (ie- the water heater, the kitchen sink, the bathtub knobs, the crappy floors, the car.) Saying you are going to do it is not the same as doing it.

man rule #2- If you do what your wife says, you will get sex. (always need an incentive)

man rule #3- If you ignore your wife, she will bitch at you. Forever. You may still get sex, but you won't get those extra perks you like.

That's all to say....

maybe....

Yeah, for now.

School has started and I have great classes! I haven't taught since last fall, so my patter is a bit rusty, but with three classes, I'm getting well rehearsed. I just love teaching in the summer. Things move along and the students seem to work better together because they see each other more often. And I go outside more, which I really like.

visiting kitten

2009-06-02T09:57:00.003-05:00

A kitten has adopted me. She's only a few months old, and very sweet. She just showed up and loves to follow me around the yard, pouncing on grass, her tail, any bird that tries to eat from the platform feeder (unsuccessfully so far). No one in my neighborhood has reported a missing kitten, and Sparks and Merlin are NOT amused by the invader living on the deck. I refuse to take her to the pound, so I'm trying to find a home for her. Yesterday she hid all day and it was stormy, but this morning she was back and hungry!

Stitchalong update-week 2

2009-05-29T08:46:00.003-05:00

Week 2- Nancy and I agreed that we could do the top row this week, so here's mine- minus the beads.

So... how's it going on your end, Nancy?

Book Review- Across the Nightingale Floor-Lian Hearn

2009-05-22T12:00:00.001-05:00

This is the first of a series, and I now have to get the rest! It's supposed to be a "fantasy" location, but yeah, it's ancient Japan. Excellent story, wonderful characters, even if there some mystical love of honorable suicide woven throughout. It's a quick read, but just right for summer! I passed it along to the men in my life. This is right up their alley- fighting for honor and ninjas who can disappear. I can totally see this as a movie and a video game.

Stitchalong week one

2009-05-20T12:03:00.006-05:00

So my stitching pal Nancy and I are working the same pattern at the same time. We are doing the October Sky Sampler by Elizabeth Foster.
This week:
Neither of us could count the stitches around the border from the pattern. Oh the pattern is very clear, we just talk too much to count, which greatly amused our stitching group. I thought it was 97, Nancy had 84, and it was 87. So guess who stitched 97 stitches before she recounted? Yup. Rippit, rippit the first day.
We agreed that we could finish the border before we meet again.

Here's the photo of our first night (two hours) work.
Be prepared to be underwhelmed. See there... two little lines of stitching.
More to come!

Tough day today

2009-05-07T09:17:00.003-05:00

This year is a bit better than last year. It's the 2nd anniversary of my father's death. I still miss him every day, but I don't get teary much anymore. I still get very emotional when I watch something about someone dying of cancer. Even just dying is hard, even though I know we will all do it some day, and I'm ok with that. Well, I'm not trying to rush it or anything, but I'm not deluding myself that I'm going to pluck harps and walk on streets of gold.

So in thinking about Dad, I think about all that has changed. Not much, really. I still get up every day and go to work. I still work in the garden, go to school, wish I was closer to my family but don't do anything about it, wished I exercised more and ate less, and don't do anything about that either. Should my life have changed? Should I have had some kind of epiphany and now only do good works, feed the hungry, make a difference- and be insufferably devout about something? Well, that hasn't happened yet. Maybe yext year.

So Dad, if you are out there in the ether somewhere- I miss you, and I wish you were still here to play cribbage with and talk with and annoy me with trying to save my soul. Your lilac tree is blooming in my backyard. Your old alligator is in my front yard, looking the worse for wear with his broken nose and missing tail, but I'll keep him until he disintegrates into concrete rubble. I still use your hammer. Your photo with the missing hair from chemo is over my desk, and you are smiling next to Matt. And I think of you when I hear Johnny Cash sing "Ring of Fire."

And especially when I hear "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry."

And then I do.

Book review- The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland

2009-05-06T14:49:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed this book. It seems like it took forever to read, but that was because of demands on my time, not because the book was boring.

I hadn't heard of Emily Carr, but the title alone was enough to get me to read this. The story is compelling and her artwork is beautiful. After reading this I went online to see the works mentioned in the book. I really got a feel for her work, her life, and her spirit.

Each chapter is headed by the name of a tree, and other than Ms.Carr liking trees, I don't see much of a significance in that. There's a bit of a time issue. I got disoriented from one section to the next because of a time jump.

four out of five for subject and expressiveness.

Wonderful weekend in Utica!

2009-05-05T09:45:00.003-05:00

I have a HUGE group of stitching friends, there must be well over 20 of us now, and we decided to have a stitching retreat at Grand Bear Lodge in Utica, Illinois. That's in Northern Illinois, on the Illinois River, very close to Starved Rock State Park. We left Friday morning in five cars- 14 of us. First stop- Welcome Stitchery in Crystal Lake, IL.
I belong to an online yahoo group for stitchers, and one of those members lived close enough by to meet up with us Friday morning. (Hi Gillian!) It was great to meet an online friend, and now I wish I would have gotten a photo of the event. We had a great chat, and we'll have to get together sometime for coffee, maybe the next trip up.

Second stop was for lunch, in Rockford at the Machine Shed. OMG! The food--- here's hint for eating at the Shed- order dessert first, eat it, and then if you have any room left, order something off the appetizer menu. That's a full meal. If you get a dinner or sandwich, fully plan to not be able to eat at least half of it. Split the sandwich with a friend, and order the sweet potato fries. The coconut cream pie has been renamed "the better than sex pie" just to give you an idea.

Third stop- Needle and I in Rockford. They were wonderful to us, as usual, and gave everyone in the group 10% off, just for coming up! We made it worth their while- with several people spending over $100. I was very restrained... and only spent about $50. There. The first time.

Then to the cabin....Gorgeous! In the woods, birds and tree frogs and room for all of us to stitch, eat, talk, sleep (but not much of that done) and late into the night we all seem to get a bit punchy, giggly, and hyper-caffeinated.... Well I was chugging Dew all weekend, except for the short wine break, so that might explain some of it....

Before we came home, several of us went back to The Needle and I. We had a show and tell at the cabin, and there was just some stuff other people got that we just HAD to have too. I'm set for the next ten years now.

All I can say is that for 14 women to go away for the weekend, we are all still friends, still talking to each other, and are planning to do it again. We have a long list of improvements for the next time, like chair pads, and we will all bring our stitching lights. And perhaps a salad some time during the weekend, because eating mountains of junk food and sweets really takes its toll. I'm trying to flush the caffeine out this week, just to get back down to my two a day habit level.

I didn't take any photos, but I hope to get some from everyone soon, and they'll be here, on the facebook page and on our stitching website.

and there was a bit of culture shock when I got back to work. What? Work? I want to stitch and eat more....

Earth Week!

2009-04-28T09:59:00.002-05:00

Earth Week? Oh there's way too much going on for just one day.
Let's see...
Last week I attended the opening of our Green Institute, which included a dedication to Chad Pregracke from Living Lands and Waters, who is an alumni here. Then I took a class out into the Greenspace for a couple hours learning about biodiversity and picking up trash. They gathered two HUGE bags (we use 55 gallon trash bags for the greenspace) and three smaller ones just in our walk out and back. Then I planted some pin oaks and taught a couple people to use the tree bar, so more were planted later. We took a couple plugs of cord grass from the wetlands and transplanted them into Heartland Park. Friday I had some student help posting signs on all our classroom recycle bins that it's OK to mingle the recyclables. We only have one bin in each room and it's for everything. Students are so used to sorting their recyclables, that if there's paper int he bin, they toss their bottles in the trash. If they see bottles in the bin, then paper goes into the trash.

This week is a second waste audit on Wednesday, the two days of giving away free trees, magnets, veggie burgers, selling raffle tickets and having a good time at SpringFest.

Friday is the beginning of a weekend retreat with about a dozen of my closest friends, stitching, shopping, eating, stitching, eating, and maybe a little sleeping...

Battlezone- water heater wars

2009-04-08T16:23:00.002-05:00

So I live in a "manufactured home." Yeah, it has wheels under it, but they haven't been used in about 20 years. Everything in a "manufactured home" is built out of the cheapest crap imaginable, nothing is the same size as a regular house, and everything is twice as expensive to replace. Which has to be done often and repeatedly. This week.... water heater wars... ~ Da duh DA! *insert dramatic music here*

About a month ago I discovered a spot of wet carpeting in our bedroom, suspiciously close to the wall which separates our bedroom from the outside water closet thingy that is where our water heater lives. (It's like having your water heater on the back porch but oh so much classier.) Me to DH: I think the water heater must be leaking. DH to me: no I think rain is leaking in the vents in the door. me to DH: well can you check? DH to me: grunt

Last week the floor was so wet it was starting to swell. Now if you have ever experienced a "manufactured home" then you know that the floors are made of something that resembles pressed paper. One toilet overflow and the floor of the bathroom swells and then falls through. Since the bedroom floor had now been wet for several weeks, and I was imagining my dressers falling right through, I stopped walking around my side of the bed. That meant that to get into bed I had to crawl over DH diagonally from his feet up to my pillows, pull back the covers and get under without touching the floor in any way. Great fun if you are young and newly married, but when the bed is for sleeping and not sex, which happens around 20 years later, it causes much late night grumbling.

Well there was enough grumbling about me crawling over his legs, and me bitching about sucking up water out of the carpet (every night with a really loud rug cleaner) that DH checked the water heater and found water running out the bottom. It was Saturday--time and a half for plumbers. We waited until Monday. By then, there was water, water everywhere. And the plumber? Well only one company in my town who services "manufactured homes." All the fittings are different, they cost more, and you can't just run down to Ace Hardware and get them.

This is where the war started.

Plumber guy (PG): I only take cash or checks from people in trailers because they have cheated me in the past.
me thinking: checks? charge cards are safer, you must be trying to hide the money from the IRS. Well, when we replaced this nine yeas ago it only cost about $350. It can't be that much more.
Me out loud: So can you give me a price range?
PG: $800-$900 if we don't have to do any special plumbing.
Me: ACK! WHAT????
PG: We'll we have to "insert BS plumbing crap here" and then there's the "more plumbing crap" but I have to look it over first.
Me: DO we have to wait until Monday?
PG: it will be fine, just put towels around it.
ME: great! see you Monday.

I have a friend who's husband is a plumber. I asked about this guy. He said he was crook, but if I told mentioned his name, and that he was coming over to check out the work then he might gouge me on the price, but at last he would do the job. Great choice-

Monday:
I get a call about 10:00am
PG: Well, I have bad news. We have to "more plumber crap" and it's going to take a bit longer. And it will be $1000-$1100.
Me:
Me:
Me: Are you sure?
PG: Well, I didn't realize it was an outside access, so I'll have to bring the ladder. (I SWEAR this was his $200 excuse!)
Me: Well I can't very well say "Oh no, I don't need hot water" can I?
PG: We'll get to it this afternoon, and if we run over 5:00 I won't charge you overtime.

Swell, what a guy.

Me: mind if I have my friend Mike C. come over and look over the work, just to ease my mind. I really don't know anything about plumbing. (I wanted to add "Ms. Scarlett" after that, but just couldn't bring myself too.)
PG: Oh, You know Mike?
Me: Why yes. He's too busy working at *** to do it for me, but we've been friends for years.
PG: Did you tell him I was doing your work?
Me: Of course!
Pg: Umm.. Sure I don't have a problem with Mike looking at it. (This was obviously the biggest lie since he said "Of course I love you" to his high school sweetheart just before getting into her pants.)
Me: great! I'll see you this afternoon.

Now, I wanted to be there when the plumbers arrived, so I went into work early that morning and left early. I was home by 4:00- boy I hope I don't miss them!

6:00pm- some barely out of high school kid shows up. He hooks a hose up to my water heater to drain it, and asks me to shut my water off. (For those who don't know- in a "manufactured home" there's only one water shutoff, underneath, in the dark, near the meter, to everything. And animals live under there. I sent my husband.

A few minutes later Goober and Cleatus show up. Junior leaves. I have to go to my weekly night out with the girls which is sacred and not to be missed. (And since we now have no water, I need to go somewhere to have a pee anyway.) I leave a signed check (on my personal account, where all the money really lives) for DH to fill out when presented with the totally outrageous bill.

I get home and find:
A water heater (the old one) next to the driveway.
The box from the new water heater in pieces and laying all over my front yard.
All the insulation we had carefully put around our water heater closet pulled out and on the ground in the back yard.
Their drain hose running across the back yard.
And a bill for #1192.00 blithely paid for our of my checking account by he who shall remain spineless.

Tuesday morning:
I call the plumber guy:
Me: I expected you to honor your estimate, outrageous as it was. And I did not get an itemized bill. I want to know where you got these numbers. Oh yes, and my yard is trashed. And I am not on city services. I have to pay for trash pickup. No one will pick up that water heater.

PG: well we had to "insert more plumbing crap" but I'll honor your estimate. And I'll come by to clean up your yard.
me: Did I mention that I'm on Angie's List? There will be a review of this job on there.
Pg: I'll call you back with the itemized bill, and I'll have your yard picked up this morning.

Call a couple hours later from PG:
PG: I left a refund check for you for $142.00 at your house, and everything is now picked up. The bill was $522.73 for the water heater, and $174.87 for pipes parts and the permit. And I had to put in a gas "blah, blah" valve. And you had seven hours labor at $455
Me:(being quite calm, I thought) Seven hours? they arrived at 6:00pm and were done before dark at 8:00.
PG: well one guy had to go pick up the water heater at the warehouse, so he started at 5:15.
That's 5 hours at $91 an hour, and that was without time and a half. Goober and Cleatus are worth $91 an hour?
PG: well, I decided to take off and extra $50 from the estimate of $1100, so that's why you are getting a $142 refund.

Notice he used the top estimate, not the bottom, and tossed me back $50 clams. And I had to call him back to clean up their mess.

Oh yes, There will be an Angie's List on this one. And if I see one drip....

And in my mail Tuesday? A $150 water bill for one month. That's about 4 months worth of water leaked via my bedroom floor apparently. And now I have a floor to replace. That's going to be the next war.

Spring Break!

2009-03-10T10:06:00.003-05:00

Yay! Spring break! It's so nice and quiet here with the students gone. I could bring in my knitting and work on it, but there are SOME people who think I should work at work. Well, OK, most people think I should work at work.
DH is home with pneumonia, DS has lost his voice (which is good considering the argument we had yesterday)and has an earache (and I hope it was from me yelling at him).

It's sugaring season again, and I've been spending loads of time out in the woods showing kids and parents how to tap trees. The weather has been a bit rough. Really cold one day, rain, thunderstorm and hail the next, the 60 and sunny the next. It's very spring-y here.

No trip to New Mexico this spring. DS is in college and I don't want him to miss classes, and I can't leave until my college spring break, and, of course, those breaks are different weeks. I'm planning to go to New Mex for Thanksgiving, and to go to a stitching retreat. Don't know what DS will do with himself for a couple days while I'm stitching. At this point, I don't really care. Ds managed to get himself fired after three weeks at his new job. He said he was kidding around and something got taken out of context about him saying he was "going to slap somebody." Well, I think there was probably more than that, but he's not talking. Jobs aren't just laying around for hte taking. He needs to keep one if he wants to make payments on his new car, which I cosigned for. **sigh**

Well, back to work. Time to spend some money.

2009-02-16T12:30:00.005-06:00

Just a few minutes while I'm on my lunch break. My head's killing me and I think I had a great huge hot flash this morning. Small price to pay for no more periods. Well there are those wild chin witch hairs that grow about a inch overnight, but other than additional plucking, that's livable too.

I still have no energy for classwork, which I what I should be doing now. I think it's just grad school burnout. Of course if I listen to those drug ads I'm probably ready for a collapse- "Are you tired? Do you have thoughts of inadequacy? Does it feel like you just can't get everything done? Then here- Have a pill!" Jeez! And the pill will make me gain weight, lose weight, my hair will fall out, I may commit suicide, have a heart attack, weakness in the knees, get leukemia, scurvy or Beri Beri.

I did get a lot done last week: I wrote a grant for an Urban Bird event, I did 3 telenet conferences working on a state wide Master Naturalists program, I got recertified as a deputy voter registrar, I subbed three classes, I took a couple hours off, and I finished my reading for my class yeasterday.

Whoa- EMTs with a stretcher just went by my office. Wonder what's up?

Knitting- working on a pair of cashmere socks in chocolate brown. I don't have enough yarn to finish them (stinking lying patterns!) and the place I got it at is out. Will try again later in the week. Got some chunky yarn to make some boot socks with.

Stitching- will have one challenge piece done shortly- The Green Earth

all that's left is the big green swoosh at the bottom.

My second challenge is this Teec Nos Pos piece. I've got some of the upper left corner done. Just started, really.

Well, back to work!

2009????

2009-01-21T13:30:00.004-06:00

So what happened to 2009? Last thing I remember was coming home from New Mexico for thanksgiving.

I've been knitting. YAWN very exciting, right? Well, I'm hooked on socks. I've made about 5 pairs now. My first pair was a real disaster, second a bit better and they are looking pretty good now. Other than that- back to school for my last semester. Grad school couldn't be over soon enough for me. I'm so burned out! I'm still excited about my field (Environmental Studies) and love teaching when I can get it, but I just want to get on with life.
Big day yesterday- The Inauguration. WOW! What a great speech, so hopeful, positive and what a great honesty. Very refreshing since the evil empire has been overturned. And I see today that all "questioning" at GITMO has stopped. Why not move all of the "prisoners" to W's ranch in Crawford? They are his guests, let him deal with them.

this year:
--I've bought my carbon offsets- I'm carbon neutral for the year.
--I've been taking the bus and leaving the car at home. I moved my car into an empty driveway across the street and DH panicked and thought my car had been stolen. tee hee.
--The kitten is now a year old and bigger than the older three year old kitty. Pictures to follow if I can get them to quit fighting. It starts as play then he gets rowdy and she whaps him.
--My stitching challenge was completed last year and I have two new pieces to finish this year.
--I'm turning... well, less than 50. How did I ever get so old, and even more bizarre.. how do I have a kid almost 30 and a husband that can eat off the senior menu?

back from the void

2008-11-10T14:33:00.002-06:00

Wow! It's been months, but I have about 30 minutes right now with vary little to do, so now that I've wasted 5 of them getting my password out of google, I can catch up.

August- nothing much- started my second to last semester with a data analysis class. I'm not excited about it, but the instructor is good and I can manage to get through it. Why is is that I either get a great instructor in a subject I'm diffident about at best, or a crap instructor in a subject I'm excited about? I did get lucky and have a great instructor in a great class a couple semesters ago and I just loved teh class. Water Pollution...sigh... those were the good old days.
Speaking of the good old days- I had my 30th high school class reunion. The drunks in school haven't sobered yet and the cliques are as strong as ever. Blah- there was a choice of beer and water to drink, and some little finger foods. I got that (wow) and a can koozie for my $20.

September-I trained to become a certified interpretive guide. now I can point to trees properly, get kids lost in the woods with authority, and say, "why yes you are the best group I've ever taken out" with total sincerity. With that, school, teaching and life- no time for anything.

October- took another trip to Buffalo with my BFF. Two hours after we got there her mom collapsed and we spent the week around hospitals, pacemaker surgery, infections, an ankle sprained while trying to use the bedpan, oh the usual vacation stories. I came home and BFF stayed for the rest of the month.

November- Ahhhh... All caught up. So I'm planning an excursion to New Mexico in a few weeks for Thanksgiving. DS is now laid off with a brand new car and brand new car payment. (Oh joy) I was an election judge for a very busy election, and have become used to taking 4 week vacation every year to recover from my life.

I've started taking public transit and BFF suggested I do a Bus Blog. I have a notebook I carry with me on the bus and I should have time eventually to get it in here. Now it's off to check on my new snake- a gorgeous little fox snake named Buddy. He's living in my classroom, loves to be held, and has a baby mouse sized bulge from his weekly feeding this morning. He's just a cutie!

Cheers!

July 14th

2008-07-14T09:31:00.002-05:00

Well time flies when you are busy doing nothing, I guess. This summer has mostly been teaching, reading, stitching and relaxing. I'm teaching two classes during the summer, and have been subbing a lot, so teaching seems to take the lions share of my time. I really like summer school, and, of course, my students are the most insightful and brilliant. All due to my teaching (ahem!) no doubt.

I haven't been travelling much this summer, but I want to make a trip to Iowa (when it dries out) and I need to plan another trip to New Mexico around Thanksgiving. I want to get to Detroit one weekend, but my Sis who lives there is off on vacation right now in Wisconsin, so there's not much point.

The new kitten got neutered last week, and he came home with fleas. DH was picking them off with tweezers and we ended up giving both cats a bath. That was quite an adventure. It was only the kitten's second bath ever. I just wash the cats in the bathroom sink, and DH was trying to help. Well, the bathroom is very small, hot, and not really big enough for two people and a wet howling kitten. DH got scratched just watching! I was fine. I'm tough and can hold a cat with one hand and wash with the other. Big Sister cat didn't make a peep when she got her bath. She's my kitty, and is much better behaved. Little Brother cat--- well, he's a terrorist dressed in fur.

Completely different topic- why do people talk on their cell phone about personal things in public places in LOUD voices? I'm sitting here in my office and down the hall about 50 feet is a lobby where students can hang out between classes. I can hear every word about this woman's divorce settlement, because she's talking to her soon to be Ex, complaining about how their original agreement won't work now because she's $1000 a month short on bills, and it's his fault she's behind on her bills, and she borrowed $1500 from her parents for her lawyer (which I guess he's supposed to pay) and ..... She's practically yelling into her phone. Now I've heard many, many phone conversations from students in the hall, and most of them start with "What are you doing?" "I'm waiting for class to start." "Well call me back later." you know- earth shattering intense, totally mind numbing conversations.

But about once a day I'm treated to a breakup (The best was the woman who said "You let that STANKY thing in my bed when I was at work!" to her EX who apparently was seeing someone else in his free time- someone "stanky"- and she yelled at him for about 15 minutes before she yelled "What do you mean we never talk! We are talking NOW!") or a make up (gag! "You know I love you snookums!") or a hookup ("I got your number from Steve at the bar. I think you are so hot!") Bathroom conversations are the worst. I'm sorry, but sitting in there, minding my own business and in the next stall you hear "so how's it going?" and you wonder- do I answer? Why should they care how I'm doing in here? Then they continue their conversation on the phone, and you are so glad you didn't answer because even in a stall, you don't want to look like an idiot. Then you have to do the timing thing to either wait until they are gone, or try to beat them done and get out before they appear, so they might know there was an idiot, but they won't know which idiot.

On another topic- movies:
I watched "Shopgirl" last night with Steve Martin. What crap! First of all there's Steve doing voice overs because obviously we (the viewers) are too stupid to figure stuff out. ("She decided that *this guy* gave her what she most needed, real love, while I never would." or some such bull. Okay- I can figure out her motivations- they were these- She didn't stay with the rich guy (who paid off her $36,000 student loan for her, but said he didn't love her and didn't want a serious relationship) because not only did he cheat on her with some old friend of his (who seduced him with a nasty line about how he could just lay there and do nothing during sex, "just like in Thailand" where apparently he had had the same experience with a professional) but he wrote her a letter about the cheating incident and then sat there next to her while she read it. That makes him 1- a coward, 2- a self centered bastard and 3-so out of touch with her that he didn't care. Why tell her about a one night stand unless he wanted to trash the whole non-relationship thing they had going (he said he wanted something casual but then called her all the time, flew three hours in a private jet just to see her, bought her expensive gifts, and then there's the whole student loan thing) or deliberately hurt her because if he was really sorry, he would have bought her a nice bit of jewelry, never told her and NEVER done it again. (guys- we don't want to know about these things. We want you to learn from it, and suffer in silence about the filthy horrid thing you did.) All together this move was a waste of time, and I'm glad I Netflixed it because if I had paid to see this in a theater, I'd have been extremely pissed.

Summer is here!

2008-06-14T14:02:00.002-05:00

I can tell, because I get really busy. Here it is Saturday, and I'm sitting in at work (better web connection) registering books and blogging instead of enjoying the great outdoors.

so- I'm going to go home and sit out on the deck and read a bit. I gave blood today, so no heavy lifting. I'll probably garden tomorrow and do some housework, maybe take a bike ride, but today- relax, relax, relax......

Just a quick note

2008-05-05T14:21:00.003-05:00

As if I can just do something quick....

Well, back from another trip, this time to lovely Niagara Falls. Trip highlights:

Niagara Falls- Oh my! this time I went on the US side. We walked out onto islands in the river right above the falls! Very cool! Photos to come.
Meeting Morsecode- it's nice to "know" someone, but it's fun to meet them in person. Morsie and I have known each other for quite awhile, and it was great fun to acually meet.
Roycroft- this is an area where they do loads of Arts & Crafts style pottery from the Art Deco period. I saw some beautiful work, and of course could afford none of it, or want to risk it coming back on the train. I did get a very neat pair of glass earrings with gold leaves on them.
Shopping! There are loads of great independent shops that have been around for generations- Chocolate, used books, knick knacks all very fun. I got a smiley ball for my antenna that says "Buffalo- Where it helps to have a sense of humor"
Eating! Tim Horton's of course (where I really confused the counter girl by asking for a half dozen of TimBits chocolate and a half dozen of TimBits in Honey Dipped- I ended up with about 20 in all!) and all sorts of great food.
Meeting new people- I went with a friend from Buffalo, and met her aunts, uncles and cousins and several of her friends there. Her Mom was our hostess, and I was very spoiled. I had to be very stern to pick up a check now and again.

It was a great trip- another Amtrak Adventure. No pillows again, and there was a way too friendly guy across the aisle who was either chatting us up or snoring like a buzz saw. (My friend said he was also farting all night, but as I was further away, I didn't get that bit of excitement.)

Next grand adventure!

2008-04-03T15:37:00.003-05:00

So I'm already planning the next adventure. I friend and I are going to take the train to Buffalo to visit her Mom. I'm hoping to meet up with some BookObsessed members, and get away from work for another week.

I really do love my job, but since I can't roll over any more vacation, and I'm being forced to take it, well, I guess I've learned to like it!

I'm also managing to avoid writing a paper due in three days. Cap and Trade carbon reductions and senate bill 2191. Yes, it's as interesting as it sounds. Which is why I just can't get into it. I have two more classes and my project to be done with grad school and I have NO enthusiasm for finishing. I'm going to slog thru and finish. I just want to get it over and move on with my life. I'll work on my paper tomorrow, maybe tonight. At night I just want to spend time with my DH. I don't get to see him often because I'm usually off doing something else. I emailed the groups I'm working with in a town about an hour away, and told them not to expect to see me for at least two months. I was driving there two time a week average, and just can't take the time away from my paying job for my volunteer work at the moment. I hope they are fine with it. If they aren't, well, life goes on. They can't drag me 60 miles.

So- reading has become secondary in my life, but I'm reading the first in a series- Diana Gabaldon's Lord John series. I loved the Outlanders, and these are much smaller and faster reads.

Ignoring my paper also meant that I paid more attention to my needlework, and I finished a 4 year project. (Well, I started it before grad school, so shouldn't I finish it first? Sure! Perfect reason to ignore the paper.) The pattern is here but mine looks a bit washed out compared to this. Over 46,000 stitches-56 colors, most of them shades of gray.

I also finished a Hardanger piece, very pretty blue on blue. I'll try to post a photo later.
Now I'm working on a Navajo rug pattern I got in New Mexico, and a HUGE bellpull with loads of blackwork, that is also an older project I want to finish this year. After seeing the Navajo women weaving, I want to take it up again, but I have NO room for a loom, and just can't justify another hobby.

more photos

2008-03-24T23:18:00.003-05:00

In the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque- This is the view from the top of those spiral stairs in my last blog, down to the path below. Under the stairs was nothing. My sister, in the stairs photo, had to close her eyes to climb up and down. She was very brave to offer to go back up the stairs for the photo.

This is a Navajo artist (left) with my son, who painted a wonderful painting of five Kokopellis on a piece of limestone. It's just gorgeous, and Matt bought it for an amazing $25. This was taken at White House ruins in Canyon De Chelly.

The "two owls" near First Ruins in Canyon De Chelly.

Me, on a rock, at Antelope House, Canyon De Muerte. You can just barely see the antelope paintings over my head.

At the bottom, where the canyons meet. (De Chelly and Muerte) This is close to where we got stuck in our 4-wheeler. Another tour pulled us out.

All in all, our vacation was wonderful. The train ride down was a bit noisy, with kids out on spring break, but there was a room on the first level of the train that for some reason had all the seats removed, so the kids used it as a playroom, and us non-parents enjoyed them playing elsewhere. We saw a heard of elk and antelope, and a huge fllock of wild turkeys. I was on the lookout for a roadrunner, but I never saw one, even when we were told "Ohm they are all over the place." Right. All over except where I was. We walked along a canal my nephew likes to fish in and saw gunea fowl and quail, loads of ravens, and heard some red-winged blackbirds.

In the morning we hiked up to the 10,000 year old burial cave, and then went to santa FE for lunch and serious jewelry shopping. Serious as in from the Navajo, on blankets, around the town square. I got DH two decorated guitar picks, one from a guy who claimed he made them for Steve Miller. I beleive him. If he would have said Bruce Springsteen, I might not have, but Steve Miller is beleivable. I got several pairs of earrings, and Matt got two sand paintings. He's started collecting tiles, and these go very nicely. Below is a photo of his two sand paintings and the Kokopelli rock from the artist above.

At Canyon De Chelly we stayed at Thunderbird Lodge, which was once an old trading post. The rooms were nice, but the bathrooms were NOISY! Just flushing could be heard from both sides, and if someone was in the shower, you had to close the door or it could easily wake someone up, like me, who was exhasuted from all the hiking and spending.

We played rummy that night, and I lost miserably. Must have been the altitude. Yeah, that's the reason.

The 4-wheel tour of the canyons was a bit expensive, $200 for the six of us, but it was totally worth it. There were other tours, but this one got us all in one car, with no strangers. Our guide was excellent, even getting stuck didn't bother him. Without a guide, you can't go into the canyons, and without going into them, you can't see anything. The second day there we drove around the top rim and got photos looking down. We stopped at the Hubble Traing Post on the way home, and, of course, did some more shopping. (There was shopping IN the canyons too, where there were more Navajo selling jewelry and art.) I saw the most beautiful pot, all hand carved, and I just didn't have the money to get it, and I would have had to carry it home on the train. But I'll probably always wish I had bought it.

We were trying to get to Acoma Pueblo on the way home, but it was just too far of a drive to make it before it closed. Well, that's for next time. We managed a short trip to Old Town Albuquerque before we jumped on the train for home. My nephew loves trains, so he got to come aboard and look around. Still more shopping from, you guessed it, Navajos at the train station. All in all, I got 7 pairs of earrings, two pairs of socks, three T-shirts, several magnets, bookmarks, a pen and a keychain for me, and some gifts for family and friends.

The next great adventure? A trip to Buffalo, NY by train with my good friend, and hopefully a large meetup with the BOs.

Today? Back to work, slogging thru emails, realizing I only have two weeks to write a 10 page paper draft on cap-and-trade carbon credits, and several pages of revisions I promised to do on the watershed plan by wednesday. Oh yeah. Back to the grind.

Back from New Mexico!

2008-03-23T17:57:00.004-05:00

OK- So we went to Arizona, too. This is Canyon De Chelly in Arizona. We took a tour with a Navajo guide and got to see Anazasi ruins and cave paintings. It was truly breath taking!

I can heartily recommend De Chelly Tours if you go. The owner, Des Yazzie, grew up in the canyon and explored the ruins as a kid.

We also hiked up the Sandia Monutains to a cave where a 10,000 year old burial was found. We had to climb a spiral staircase to get to the cave that just kind of hung over the cliff. This is my sister on the stairs and my nephew Tanner and me in the cave.

We were well sunburned, totally broke, but we had such a great time!

Almost time for vacation!

2008-03-13T20:15:00.003-05:00

I just can't wait! in 36 hours I'm on the train and off to another wonderful week in New Mexico. I have 125 4th graders tomorrow for and annual science event, which is fun but exhausting. Then home to pack, get last minute items together and saturday am... on the train. Right now the plan is to hike around Albuquerque Monday, go to Santa Fe tuesday, then to Canyon de Chelly, Arizona wednesday and thursday. Friday at 1:00 we are back on the train to come home.

I plan to take lots of photos. Stay tuned for more adventures.....

Whew! What a day!

2008-03-06T23:48:00.003-06:00

I was going to have a nice day off. Well, there was something that need my attention at school. So into work I go, get a lab set up, then home to take the new kitten to the vet for a quick gender check. (It's a Boy!) He cried the whole way to and from the vet. About 45 minutes of howling from a tiny kitten! Back to school in time for lunch. Great timing. Played Mahjongg, lost. Then off to get a cut and a perm.

Home in time to convince DH that a male cat was perfectly fine. (He wanted a female.) and since he has an M on his head, he needs an M name. Oh, we had some silly ones, but he ends up being Merlin. (DS suggested Moonbeam, but that was too sissy for a boy.) Primo Cat Sparkle is not thrilled with the alien, but she's doing better. Or was until I accidentally touched her butt, when she was staring at the invader. She jumped, howled, took off down the hall and is now back to hissing. **sigh**

Then this evening I went to a talk about cap and trade carbon credits. Yup, about as exciting as it sounds, and the friend I was with knew more than the guys making the presentation. It did make them come over and talk to us after the presentation, and we got some good information and traded some websites. It was kind of cool to talk to people trying to do something about global warming. I have to write a paper on cap and trade, so I got some good leads and quotes.

Back home, kitten hates me. I think he remembers who took him on the car ride. He's very bonded with DH, which is good. I can have the old kitty, he can have the new one.

Farewell February!

2008-03-03T00:10:00.002-06:00

Whoa- what happened to February?

I had the greatest time friday. I went to a Recource Day in Springfield, where a bunch of environmental educators got together to share ideas and who is doing what. I got loads of info about IDNR programs, col stuff happening all over the state and after a forgettable lunch (ok but not fantastic) I got a behind the scenes tour of the Illinois Natural History Museum and Research Center. OMG! When you walk into the first room- like a warehouse with rows and rows of shelves, the first thing you see is a pair of stuffed African Lions, with an elk next to them, and two standing grizzlies. Peek around the elk and there are two Dalls sheep, assorted wild boars, and a wall full of African antelope heads. Look up on the shelves- fox, squirrels raccoons, bobcats, and about 20 rabbits look down. We were all quiet, just in awe of all these mounted animals, and someone says "and they all come to life every night."

This place holds everything that is not on display at the museum, which is all the research specimens and all the non-native animals donated from Grandpa's trophy room. Birds, even an eagle, and skeletons of everyhting imaginable. When we walkied into the bone lab, they had the pig skeletion wrapped with Christmas lights. We asked how often they found them that way. They have 95% of all the native plants in Illinois in their herbarium. And the rocks! Oh the rocks! Beautiful specimens, huge fluorite crystals (the Illinois state mineral) and fossils on top of fossils! It's funny, but Illinois has no dinosaur fossils, but we have mammoths and tons of sea fossils and plant fossils. I could have just roamed for days, opening drawers, poking in boxes. Amazing, simply amazing. I'd love to have some of that for our school.

so here's my daily rant- I'm taking an online class, and the instructor has been MIA for a couple weeks. Then he shows up, claims the flu (like he only has to get to a computer for 5 minutes to post a "keep on going, I'm sick" message) and puts up a lecture and then announces a test. Well most of the material on the test we covered 7 weeks ago, with no discussion or input from him, period. He said te test was going up friday. Friday, no test- not unusual, because he always says something is up when it's not. So I went into work Satuday to catch up on my work for friday, and thought, Oh I'll down load the test and work on it at home. He had said something about it being an essay test he would post and we'd have a week to work on it. So what did I see Saturday? The test is online and I hvae until Sunday at 2:00pm to take it! He never says which Sunday, but typically these are online for a week. Since he doesn't say, I have to assume that he only is giving us a day and a half, over a weekend, to take this exam. And it's timed- 69 questions (4 essay) in an hour and a half. That's not bad except it takes about 30 seconds to submit each answer, not uncluding the time to read the question, decide on an answer, maybe check the book or notes to be sure (all online tests are open book) so it could (and did) take about 65 minutes for the multiple guess/ TF part. Once you pick an answer, you have to click save, wait for the saved box to pop up, close that box, click on the submit button then "yes" on the "are you sure" box, brcause once something is submitted you can't go back and change it. Then there were the essay. He said he wanted a "good sentence" for each one. Well, I'm sorry, but a sentence is seldom enough. I know this stuff very well since it's the same thing I'm teaching a the college level. ( I teach undergrad 100 level non-major introductory science lab and this is a 400 grad level majors class and I think my class is harder.) I only had 4 minutes left when I finished. And this online test had no "restarts" which means once you start you have to finish. If you get booted mid-test, too bad. You are done.

I almost emailed the instructor twice, telling him that he was an idiot, but much nicer, of course. I almost posted a note to him as well, but didn't do either. This isn't my class, and he's going to have to learn how online classes work. I'm just planning to ream him on the eval. I've onnly really done that once before, adn it was the same thing- any instructor who goes MIA for more than a week, and doesn't answer questions (even "Since we are behind, when are our assignments due and what should we be reading?") gets the wrath of RockWoman! I just keep thinking- I could sooooo do this better. Example- we have powerpoint lectures to listen to every week (well we get them about every other week whhich is why at week 8 we are only starting chapter 5) and during the lectures, he voices over the slides. He has a boring voice, tells the same joke every lecture, and worst of all YAWNS during his own lectures! Over and over he's yawning at us. So how easy do you think it is to stay awake? C'mon... at least re-record the clips you are yawning through!

Well, that's my rant. Seems like that's all I do. At least here. But friday were were talking, hugging, eating and I just love getting together with my EEAI pals.

And two weeks from today, I'll be in New Mexico! VACATION!

Why can't I stop complaining!

2008-02-26T22:06:00.004-06:00

Teacher from hell sent me a flaming email right at about time to go home today. The computers in her lab weren't working, and she had to spend time "tinkering" with them instead of teaching. Well do I look like ITS? She wants "someone" (ME) to check the computers before every class to make sure "the software works." Well the software worked on 7 of the 9 computers. What was her problem with them? there was no desktop icon. The students had to start->programs-> program they needed. The other three computers? I have no idea why they didn't work. They did two weeks ago because I checked them myself. Did she call ITS? no. Did she call me? no. She just bitched and flamed an email to everyone, including my boss and his boss, and probably the teacher's union rep as well. So I stayed after work about three hours and got two of the computers working. I had to stop because a lab was coming in, or I'd probably still be there.

And then she had the nerve to complain about broken equipment when it was HER STUDENTS who broke it, and I very clearly told everyone to watch their students carefully so the equipment wouldn't get broken. And her most recent complaint other than the flame? That a one page-two sided lab was stapled backwards to the instructions, so her students had to ***gasp*** turn the freaking paper over! afater I gave her two copies to proof (which she has lost and is on #3- but claims I never gave them to her). Last week she was gone, drying out from her prescription drug problem. She did two weeks at Mayo last fall for the same thing. And she rants and raves and acts like I'm the one with the problem?

Usually ranting makes me feel better, but not tonight.

On to better things. I'm going to read some of my homework, to get ready to turn in an assignment Thursday, and try to relax before I have to go to bed. I'm going in early, if I can manage, and get back to work on the computers. The good thing? I have thursday away from campus- more tree tapping with 4th graders, and friday I'm meeting up with some of my treehugging friends for some professional development which includes a behind the scenes tour of our state natural history museum. Can't wait!

more tree tapping

2008-02-23T22:29:00.000-06:00

Feb 23, 2008

Another fine day in the woods tapping trees. This time it was families and scout troops. It was fun, maybe not “whee I'm bungee jumping” fun, but more like “what a good day” fun. More of a half adult-half kids group, and there was one group of teenage boys. They might have been from a group home or something. They had some trouble tapping the tree, and I told the the brownies that came out earlier did it in about 2 minutes- it probably took them 4 or 5. Then we couldn't get the bucket on because the spile was in too far, so we tried to get it back out and it broke off. We just looked at each other. Umm.... gee... what do we do now? Well one of the long time sappers dug it out with his leatherman's tool. I wasn't the only one (although they gave me a really hard time about it) . The group broke four today. Spiles are just tubes made out of pot metal, so they are pretty cheap and apparently break when really cold (and tapped with w hammer). There were loads of photos taken, and the TV station came out, so maybe we'll be on the news. It finally got warm enough that the sap was running a bit today. Some of the trees we tapped in the morning had sapcicles by the last group at 4:30.

Today I soloed the same part I shadowed two days ago. I really like doing it myself without someone watching over me. I like presenting material my way, with my examples and my jokes. The other presenter does a great job, but she's her and I'm me.

So nothing else is new and exciting, Tomorrow is homework. The MIA instructor has posted( said he had the flu) and now that we are two weeks behind, he said not to get all excited about working ahead. Apparently some chapters will be dropped. I don't know what's going to happen. I was really looking forward to this class, but so far it's Earth Science 101- definitely not a 400 level class.

Peace.

In the snowy woods today.

2008-02-21T22:42:00.001-06:00

February 21, 2008

What a wonderful day! Freezing cold, outdoors, in the woods in a snowstorm, showing 4th graders how to tap sugar maples. It really was fun. First I “shadowed” someone who has given the mini talk on tree structure and a “build a tree” activity for several seasons. I probably could have winged it, I've done the same talk myself, but different people do things differently, so I watched and listened. I get to do it on my own on Saturday for about 9 hours.

It works this way:
“Hi kids! This is how a tree works, here's a giant tree cookie, here's the Xylem, here's the phloem....yada, yada. Now lets make a tree! Ok- nice a frozen yet? Into the woods! Let's pick out our tree.. where should we drill the hole?” It's really fun and fourth graders are great. The are still enthusiastic, and even though it was only about 20 degrees and snowing, they were very engaged and I only had a few whiners. Most of them wanted to stay out and tap more trees. Of course my feet and fingers were cold by the end of the day, but a day in the snow in the woods is 100% better than a day in the office. It's a strange thing. Standing out in the sugar bush, with snow falling and 20 degrees, I didn't feel a bit cold. I was about as bad as the kids, and more than willing to tap more trees.

Took a night off from homework. I have a couple articles to read. One instructor has been MIA for about 2 weeks. The other class is only demanding about every other week, so I can work a week then just read a week. I need to catch up a bit, because I 'll have an assignment due in a week and need to read this and next weeks readings to do it. Tonight I managed to read a large part of a book for the Reading Divas exchange. I spent yesterday ordering books I didn't have and digging out books I did for all my exchange commitments for the rest of the year. March, April and May are going to be BUSY so if I can get this all done and out of the way, that's one less thing to worry about.

Calm and warm tonight. 1.5 inches of snow today and more coming tomorrow. A snow day would be fine with me.

Peace.

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-20T22:15:00.000-06:00

Feb. 20, 2008
I was supposed to go out to Sugar Grove and take a class through the wonderful world of sugaring, but it was freezing ass cold today, and the school canceled. I have another tomorrow, when it will be slightly less cold, but still in the high 20's. This weekend is an event for the community sugaring, and it's supposed to be int the mid 30s, which should feel pretty nice after the cold we've had.

I read an article online about a Pastor who is trying to get people to stop complaining. He gives out purple bracelets and every time you complain you move it onto the other wrist. If you get to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for three weeks, you get a certificate. He said most people take months to stop complaining. What's so wrong about complaining? There's more wrong with being passive and going along with the herd. There is a difference between whining and complaining. Whining I can do without, but complaining is often very relevant and leads to solutions. If you don't complain, then everything's ok, right? I hereby vow to complain more, to stand up for all those who think passivity is good, and that we should be sheep. Frankly, that whole shepherd/sheep religious thing just sets me way off.

Speaking of religion, I found a book today when I was out feeding my habit. It's “the Little Book of Atheist Spirituality” by Andre Comte-Sponville. So being a loud and proud Atheist, I thought I'd take a look. I'll review it here as I read it. Oh I like this. It's divided up into three sections: Can we do without religion? (Um... yup- better than with I think), Does God Exist? (nope. Sorry- he's a figment of our collective superstition and refusal to accept the responsibility for our actions- God's will and all that crap) and Can there be and Atheist spirituality? (Depends on the definition.) Interesting so far...

Full lunar eclipse tonight. Last one for about three years, so I had to go out into the freezing night and look. Magnificent! The moon was in full eclipse, with a wonderful red glow. That is truly spiritual. Seeing nature in all its glory. I know why it happens, I know when it happens, I know when it will happen again. It's not magical or holy. It's science showing off, just like buds in spring and whispering soft snowfalls. I find it beautiful because I choose to, not because some old man in a long white beard (who is a Packers and Cowboys fan at the same time, apparently) has made it beautiful. Beauty is paying attention to the common and the uncommon. It would be the height of egoism to think that some supreme being made something as beautiful as a red eclipsed moon simply for me to enjoy, or to send me a grim warning, or to predict a new king, as has been declared in the past. It happens on a predictable cycle and it's beautiful because I'm there to appreciate it.
Peace.

I'm Back!

2008-02-18T23:42:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about bloging again. Life was rough last summer, but things are getting a bit smoother now. So what's been happening? Loads. Things on my mind? Sure.

Rant for the day.

A few days ago, a student walked into a college c;assroom at Northwestern Illinois University. NIU is about 2 hours from me. Working at a college, and having this happen so close, I can only expect some kind of response from work. Here it is-- we are all supposed to go stand outside by the flagpole (in freezing weather) for a 10 minute "vigil" and we are signing a banner to send to NIU. Well, won't that make them feel better? Won't that just help? WTF!!?? My office is on the ground floor, first one in, easy acces for any CRAZY MAD EVIL GUN TOTING WACKO!!! Are we planning to lock the outside doors, or maybe suggest teachers lock their classrooms? How about even having ID cards displayed? Anything? Last communication from higher up was that the locks on the classroom doors will be changed to push button locks. Now teachers have to lock and unlock the doors with a key. So you could open your door without unlocking it, and then close it and it would be locked again. Now instructors will have to push a button in to lock a door. That makes us more secure how? Every instructor has a key.

So we have a meaningless gesture to NIU, who could use maybe some help with councellors or with some useful discussion about how to make campuses safe, and a meaningless change in "security" to keep us safe. It's going to cost some money to secure the campus, but it could be done, and we aren't safe until we do.

sad news

2007-05-08T00:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm online so late that it actually happened yesterday. May 7, 2007 my father died. I was lucky enough to be with him for the last day. I spent the morning alone with him so my step mom could go to church. She had been missing it since Dad was too ill to go, and I told her I'd come down to stay with Dad. I'm so glad I did. My step sister called to tell me how worried she was, and asked if I could stay and help a little more. I visited Dad a few days before and knew how bad he was getting. The hospice told us it would be about three weeks, and it was about one. Dad wasn't responding to us at all on Sunday. On Sunday night, a friend who is a nurse came by and helped us roll him over, and she got a nod when she asked if he was in pain. We had stopped giving him his medication, and he was taking some pretty heavy pain meds. We gave him some morphine and he nodded when we asked if he felt better. We rolled him back and settled him in for the night. My step mom wanted to sleep in the bed with him as she had for over thirty years. She kissed him goodnight and he kissed her back. The only real response we got from him at all. I tucked him in and told him not to steal all her covers. He gave a little nod. I told him that I loved him and would see him in the morning. He tried to say something, but it was just too much for him.

In the morning he was gone. He was still warm. The hospice nurse came, and then the funeral home. when they took him away they left a red rose on the pillow. That started us crying all over again, not that we had really stopped. We spent the day cleaning. We just wanted to stay busy. Once we got going, the rug got shampooed, the whole house dusted and vacuumed, the bathrooms cleaned and the floors mopped. We were exhausted, but the day went by quickly. My step sister drove from about 6 hours away and got here just as the work was about done. She's a bit of a weeper too, so we all started up again.

They've gone to bed hours ago, and I'm supposed to be studying for a final in a couple days. Some things can't be put off, and Dad was very proud of me working on my masters degree. He finished high school at about 30 at night school, and I'm the first to go post grad in the family. He came to my graduation from college and was just as proud as could be. I was hoping he would see me get my MA, but another year was just too much for him.

Dad was something special. he married my mom at 16. They had four kids and divorced after 21 years. Then he married my step mom, who raised me through the hell of the teen years. I miss my Dad so much, but I also feel like I'm going to be losing a mom. She's going out west to live with her youngest daughter, and where she and dad lived for so many years. I understand why she's not staying here, but I know I'll probably never see her again once she sells the house and moves. She'll be halfway across the country. They've been close enough to share holidays with for the last few years, and I've tried to drive over at lease once a month just for a visit. Dad was a bit jealous because we get along so well, a lot like mother and daughter, and we share many of the same hobbies.

These next few days are going to be very hard, but I can get through. What am I going to do- NOT get through? My brothers are pretty far apart, and my sister is fairly close geographically, but distant emotionally. This could be the end of the family. We only ever got together to see Dad. We were together last weekend just for that purpose for the first time in about 10 years.

I'm feeling massive self pity- I miss Dad. I'm going to miss having a family around. All this weeping won't make Dad feel better, and it doesn't really make me feel better either. Dad was very devout, and there's been a load of praying lately. Most of my family is as well. I'm an atheist. Dad knew it, but was kind enough to not bring it up. He never pushed me to be anything, but I think he would have killed the fatted calf if I would have been "saved." Well, I can see why people turn to religion. It's easy to say all the bad things and bad choices you make in your life are part of "God's plan" and that those soothing "He's with God" saying are easier than finding something non-cliched to say. Dad smoked for the best part of 60 years. He died of lung cancer that spread into his bones and emphysema. If he would have quit smoking or never started, he would be alive today. Simple. No "God's will" in that. Why would it be any one's will to have Dad suffer the way he did? He was only 72, and his father lived past 80. He was healthy otherwise when he found out he had cancer. He could have had 10-15 more years. Good years. Am I angry at him? Not really. I'm not really angry with anyone. I'm just sorry that he was taken too soon by an illness that he could have avoided.

I think I'll try to study some more. Maybe another 1/2 an hour, then off to bed. The family will be descending tomorrow. First my brother, then another step sister flying in. Then another brother coming later. Then we are going to go see Dad one last time before the cremation. I might go home Tuesday night to see DH and DS. I miss them right now. Then I have a test to take and come back for the memorial on thursday. Then back home and I think I'll take friday off too. I have a second final to take before Sunday.

OK- enough rambling. Dad would kick my butt if I was slacking off.

Blogging as therapy?

2007-05-01T22:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't blogged since February, and Dad was still in the hospital. He's dying now. We heard today that it will be about 3 weeks, but Dad said that he thought he was dying last night. I think that attitude is everything, and if Dad thinks this is the end, then it will be. My brother is visiting him (from Georgia) but is going home in the morning. I'm taking as many days off as I can to spend time with him. School is about over, and I have a million things to do- I need to hire two new people for summer, 2 or 3 for fall, and I just can't seem to get it done. With three labs to move this summer I'm going to be incredibly busy, and with some serious time management, I should be able to get everything done, and still take a class. DH is already grumbling that he never sees me anymore. I think DS would just as soon I was gone, because all I ever do is rag him about things. I shouldn't have to ask a 27 year old (who is still living on my dime) to pick up his dirty clothes or take out the trash. No one had to tell me at 27, but I had a nine year old to look after.

So I should be working on something, but instead I'm blogging and bitching, and feeling sorry for myself, which isn't really like me at all. Maybe this will help-
List to do before bed:
Start laundry
pick up crap
do dishes
laundry into dryer
work on TMDL

OK- I should have about an hour- It's 11:00pm now.
Let's see if I can do some of this.

Feb 10, 2007

2007-02-10T22:51:00.000-06:00

Well it's been awhile since I had time to blog. Dad is still in Indy. He's in a different hospital now and has grown quite confused. They are stopping all his chemo treatments, just giving him pain medication and treating the pneumonia, and that's it. The "make him comfortable" decision was made. I think he was below the proper level of oxygen for several days and it has affected his brain cells. He was telling me that his pocket knife was made of plastic instead of metal. now I know he didn't have his pocket knife in the hospital. Maybe he meant his dinner knife. Anywhoo, he's in a small hospital now for physical therapy to get his strenght back. He was in bed for three weeks straight, and can't walk or even stand. They are saying that he will only be there a few weeks and then will get to go home. He called me tonight and for once didn't ask if I was staying at his house. My brother (the pain) was there. Dad wants nothing more than for us to make up, but he doesn't know why we stopped communicating. Bro was such a shit to his ex-wife and threated his daughter so badly that she eventually changed her name and moved away just to get away from him (the daughter, not the ex). Well, I took his ex's side and he knows that I know that he's been telling lies to the familyabout his daughter and his ex. I haven't told anyone, except when our mother said something about how J wasn't a very good daughter to her mother. Then I couldn't hold it back. I told Mom that she was a wonderful daughter. Her mom (the ex) was just diagnosed with MS, and J came home from college every day (over an hour away) just to drive her mother (who was having double vision from the MS) anywhere she needed to go. I told my mother that I would love to have a daughter as good as J, and that Jerkface Bro was lying. (He even told Mom that J had a drug habit because of her mother! Totally absurd!) So Dad wants nothing more than for us to makeup. He even gets teary about it. Well, it's Jerkface that threw out all my cards and gifts to the girls for birthdays and holidays (without opening them) for years, and it's Jerkface who pointedly talks to my son and not to me at family weddings, etc. He tried to uninvite me to his daughter's wedding, but I told him I was invited by the Mother of the Bride, and would be attending as her guest. I'll tell Dad that we are all made up. He won't really know the difference. He can die happy. Jerkface- well, I don't really care if I don't ever talk to him again. I have plenty of brothers. (Jerkface also told his daughters to call my husband "Uncle Zero" because he was a nothing.- Any wonder why I don't care for him?)

So Jerkface and his new(ish) wife (she's OK- but not really my kind of person. She, like Jerkface, are very concerned about keeping up with the neighbors. I've kind of decided that there are better things in life.) are visiting with Dad today. I'm driving down tomorrow, but they should be gone by then. They live about 7 hours from the hospital. It's about 2.5 hours for me. I'll drive down for the day, then come home.

Well, other adventures have been going on. Our pipes froze up and we were without water for five days. We got everything repaired and back on today. It felt so good to take a hot shower. We were making do with snow melted and heated on the stove for "camping baths," hair washing and toilet flushing.

At work, Dr. PITA has been on the warpath for two weeks. She has been raging at my workers, and finally I insisted that the higher up do something. I was pretty firm about it. Tuesday the AD will be doing some kind of "official disciplinary action" in response to her inappropriate and unprofessional behavior toward me and one of my staff. It will be a rough few days next week. When she's embarrassed she lashes out and just shreiks. Personally, I think she's mentally unbalanced. This same thing happened about two years ago. In between she was over medicating for real and non-real medical conditions. She doctor shops until she gets a prescription, then goes to another DR for another prescription and takes them both. She was having seizures and thought she had a heart attack in class. More likely a panic attack. She had to go to a clinic for two weeks in the fall to "get a new prescription regimen"- that means to get dried out. When she was overmedicating she walked around in a fog half the time. It was quite nice, actually. Now she's back to her bullying ways, and I'm just not going to stand for it. She thinks anyone without a PhD is inferior.

Well, this has been quite a bitch session, but I do feel better. I guess that's what's really important. LOL

Back from Indy

2007-01-28T00:08:00.000-06:00

Dad was transferred to Indiana University Hospital Friday. DS and I drove down tomgo to Indy with my step mom. She was just a little nervous about driving in a strnage city. I drove her to Indy and DS followed in my car. I'm tired, but glad that Dad seems to be better. There had been such a change in the last two months, that this could very well be the begining of th eend. They've stopped treating hime for the bone cancer until they can get his pneumonia cleared up.

I've asked DH to quit smoking, and I'm going to ask him again. I don't nag, but every time I see what smoking has done to Dad, I can't help thinking that DH will be going thru the same thing in about 10 years.

So My bbirthday was spend driving to hospitals. We didn't go out for dinner as we had planned, adn we didn't really get to celebrate it at all. Dad didn't remember at all. (Well, he remembered a few weeks ago before he got sick. He sent me the cutest kitten card.) The lack of oxygen has really affected his memory. He was much better when I left today.

Off to bed so I can get caught up on my homework and housework in the morning. Some things still have to be done.

Just another day

2007-01-23T19:40:00.000-06:00

I seem to have a case of the blahs today... Maybe it's not sleeping well, or maybe it's an upcoming birthday, maybe it's just iron poor blood... I don't know.

I'm keeping caught up on my homework, but i'm only in the second week. I think we'll be buying a new desktop computer, but I want to file taxes first. Better not spend money the government wants to "liberate" someone.

I just talked to Dad and he sounds much better. He asked me to help with his taxes (even though he couldn't remember what month it was) and he's felling a bit better and thinks maybe he can go home next weekend. He remembered me telling him I was going to come down this weekend. I think I'll take a couple hours off Thursday and go see him. Matt's off and would like to go to so I'll spend my birthday driving to Danville.

Well, this isn't getting my 20 pages read for the day......Back to water pollution....

Dad's back in the hospital

2007-01-21T21:19:00.000-06:00

Dad is back in the hospital, very grumpy and wants to go home. He's got emphysema, has been battling lung and bone cancer for 2 years, and now has pneumonia. He's not getting enough oxygen, and it makes him weak and dizzy. He hasn't eaten for the last few days (that doesn't help) and will hardly get out of bed. Two years ago he was remodelling a house. Now he has to rest to stand up.

At the hospital, the doctor asked if he had a living will. He does. He's about and hour and a half away, and I wish I could just go sit with him, even though he probably wouldn't want me to. I called him Friday to ask if he wanted me to come down for a visit. He said that he didn't want everyone to think it was time to come and say goodbye. I told him I just wanted a regular visit, like we usually have, not a big farewell scene. He laughed and said to do it next week, since he just really wasn't feeling all that great.

I'll call him tomorrow evening to see how he is.

It's midnight and I'm online??

2007-01-20T23:53:00.000-06:00

Ok- so one of my clueless neighbors has an unprotected network and must just leave it on all the time.... so is it MY fault that my laptop trolls for connections and makes them without telling me?

So now that book relay is no more, we are building a new home. I think most of us have found our way back, but I really miss the blogs, so if anyone is out there.... and if there's a way to do "friends" pages here, I'd love to be able to hook us up to make this all easier to find each other's blogs.
There I thinks I have to know...
What's Karen knitting?
How's Ace's curling?
How are Sand and the Stud muffin getting along?
How is Marlene? Did she get blown away in the storm?
Am I bold?
Pyan and Rosie-- are you doing ok?

so the only reading I'm doing is for classes and three grad classes are pretty rough, but somehow they are all covering the same thing right now. I love my "Just a Theory" book. It all about why theories aren't guesses- and directly debates evolution and creationism. I can't wait for some poor misinformed soul to ask "but isn't that just a theory?" **evil laugh**

So here's my big story of the week-

For the last 12 years or so I have been a part of Heartland's Environmental Club. I formed the club as a student and was the first president. Then about 7 years ago I became an advisor when I started at HCC full time. The other advisor has kind of been my mentor since I started school, and we've always worked well together. The club is the oldest and best known on campus.

So- last week, one of the other earth science faculty "declared" himself an advisor to the enviro club. I've pretty much been running things for the last few years- the other advisor was gone for a year after 9-11 (air guard) and when he came back, he just left it all to me. This other guy- we'll call "Lazy Larry" is doing a promotion portfolio. Now faculty can ask for faster promotions if they show they deserve it- in 3 years instead of 5 years (when you get one no matter what). To get a 3 year promotion you have to turn in a portfolio tha shows you have done "substantial" additions to your duties- be on committees, do faculty inservices, be club advisors, that kind of thing. Now Lazy Larry has done NOTHING since he started three years ago. Portfolios are due March 1. (Lazy Larry walks into a classroom, sits his ass down , turns off the lights and reads powerpoints to the class. Unless he's showing a video. Or having me walk them out in to the greenspace for a lecture on biodiversity.)

So when he "declared" himself advisor- he really used the word- first I was pissed- who the f**k does he think he is? Then I got even, which is much more fun. The email I sent back to him (and the other advisor, and our assistant dean, and the guy in charge of the clubs at HCC) which went something like this:
Lazy Larry,
I'm SO glad you are willing to help out with the club! I'm going to be so busy with grad school that this really helps me out- Spring is the perfect time to take over- there will be Earth Day activities to plan, Arbor Day, Springfest, and the greenspace cleanup day. The website needs updating, so you can take care of that, and you need to fill out paperwork with Joe [the guy who oversees the clubs] and send a representative to the student senate every month. Now [the other advisor] is the only one who can sign the checks, so you need to coordinate everything with him.[these two guys seldom even speak to each other- bad blood there.] And since you have never actually BEEN to an enviro club meeting, ask [the other advisor] all about it. He can fill you in.

I got back an email saying that he was going to be very busy working on his portfolio until March 1, and wouldn't be able to do anything until then. (the sound of fear and backpedalling?) And then he'll be busy developing a new class for the fall. Oh yes, and he would love to work on the webpage but doesn't have access to it.

Email 2 from me-
Lazy Larry,
Since earth day is April 22 [which I doubt he knew] you'll have PLENTY of time to gear something up after March 1. And if you find yourself in a crunch doing all the work days [this guy has never walked out to the pond to my knowlegde-he did drive out to water and over fertilize a tree until it was dead] then just ask [the other advisor] to help. I'm working with ITS to get you access to the webpage, and you have already been put on the HCC website as advisor instead of me.

in other words- you asked for it pal, and you got it. He thought he was going to get a free ride and something for his portfolio...no sirree... he thinks he can take over MY club?????

There's nothing he can do in two years that I can't fix in two weeks. And he won't get a dime of money. Not without my say so- because the other advisor (who thinks I may have lost my marbles) wants me to keep the checkbook because he'll lose it. (again.)

bwahahaaaaaa

A new blog for a new year

2007-01-17T15:17:00.000-06:00

I've been blogging on another site, which has for some reason gone down, so I need a place to vent. The only nice thing about the old place is that many of my online friends were there too, so we posted to each other all the time. Well, they may find me here or not, but iether way, I need a place to vent from time to time, and this is as good as any.