Well, I have been out of school for 2+ weeks and still have not blogged...ridiculous!
Highlights of the last month:
caving with outdoor club
end of the year fun in class
last day of school
finishing cleaning my classroom
lifeguarding again
deMeng class in Topsfield and Todd Farm Flea Market
3rd wedding anniversary
offer accepted on house
14 more shirts to the artisan gallery in noho (all the rest sold)
cleaning bedroom closet
lots and lots of ice cream
starting camp again (but only part time)
rarely working mornings
first bike ride of the summer
I'm not quite sure where the last two weeks went. I worked some and definitely slept too. But the art has taken a back burner as I obsess in my imagination about the house...sigh, the house. So much work but so pretty and very exciting. Due to the house on the horizon I am trying to organize and purge the apartment of needless crap. But I really should be doing art because thinking about the house too much makes me crazy. I have so many projects started that need love and attention. I will post more as I move along.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
To Do List...through the end of the week
- Buy house
- Plan and prepare for 3 field trips
- Plan, cook for, and host 2 parties
- Finish giant art piece
- Finish year-long Community Service Learning project
- Prepare PP presentation of inquiry project
...this is ridiculous.
- Plan and prepare for 3 field trips
- Plan, cook for, and host 2 parties
- Finish giant art piece
- Finish year-long Community Service Learning project
- Prepare PP presentation of inquiry project
...this is ridiculous.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
When do I get the house?
This is what I just asked Ben in my half asleep state...long weekends are great, but they make going back harder.
But we did go see a wonderful house last week. It floats in my dreams as I pray it doesn't disappear like one. It is a small cape, last house on a dead end street where you can park and hike the mountain that it is on the side of, views across the valley, 1/2 acre of sunny undeveloped land abutting a farm, room to expand, character and uniqueness, and in our theoretical price range. All that stands between us and the house is 6 months of reserve funds (about $9,000) that we only have to keep until the closing. Interesting system. Easier than a 20% down payment, but still not just sitting around. So we are brainstorming and hoping and praying.
After seeing the house we went camping for 4 days. Very nice and much needed break. Only 2.5 more weeks of school! YES!!!
But we did go see a wonderful house last week. It floats in my dreams as I pray it doesn't disappear like one. It is a small cape, last house on a dead end street where you can park and hike the mountain that it is on the side of, views across the valley, 1/2 acre of sunny undeveloped land abutting a farm, room to expand, character and uniqueness, and in our theoretical price range. All that stands between us and the house is 6 months of reserve funds (about $9,000) that we only have to keep until the closing. Interesting system. Easier than a 20% down payment, but still not just sitting around. So we are brainstorming and hoping and praying.
After seeing the house we went camping for 4 days. Very nice and much needed break. Only 2.5 more weeks of school! YES!!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
So much to post...SHIRTS
Last week I brought 14 3/4 length sleeve shirts embellished by us to the Artisan Gallery in Northampton and the owner of the store LOVED them. It was so exciting and uplifting. She tried one on and loved it. So here are some pictures of them before they went off to be loved by others and pictures of the beautiful tags that my mom helped me with.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Happy May Day!
This is the beautiful May Basket that my swap partner, Heidi, made for me! Flowers and lots of collage goodies! I was so excited. I've already used some of it. Everything was wrapped up in pretty little packages with beautiful tags, which were very inspiring. Thanks, Heidi! And many thanks to Kari for hosting!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Post for Misty
I wrote a comment in response to a post by Misty and I wanted to share it because it is a lot of what I have been thinking about lately and kind of sums up my day:
I wonder similar things often about children. I teach 8th grade science and my students can irritate me with their irrational behaviors and brighten my whole entire grey day with their jokes and antics. I love them in the end and with 110 of them they all balance each other out (at least this year). Their sense of time is fairly warped and the things they are so completely certain of I see as shifting sand or the ocean itself.
I printed out your post a few months ago with the picture of you and your son and the quote about children laughing more than adults. Ever since you posted that I have been thinking about it and noticing why my students laugh. I will sit at my desk just staring at them trying to figure out why they find each other so incredibly funny. Every little thing is unbelievably hysterical to them. They are 13/14 and they think the world is at their feet and they don't care one bit about the rest of the world. It is so hard as a teacher to get them to comprehend more than their world. And in turn this means that their problems and crisises completely drown them. That is hard to watch and even harder to save. But the joy they have is something to learn from. So why do adults who laugh have to be incorrect and insane? I don't know. All I know is that I have as much to learn from my students as they do from me.
I wonder similar things often about children. I teach 8th grade science and my students can irritate me with their irrational behaviors and brighten my whole entire grey day with their jokes and antics. I love them in the end and with 110 of them they all balance each other out (at least this year). Their sense of time is fairly warped and the things they are so completely certain of I see as shifting sand or the ocean itself.
I printed out your post a few months ago with the picture of you and your son and the quote about children laughing more than adults. Ever since you posted that I have been thinking about it and noticing why my students laugh. I will sit at my desk just staring at them trying to figure out why they find each other so incredibly funny. Every little thing is unbelievably hysterical to them. They are 13/14 and they think the world is at their feet and they don't care one bit about the rest of the world. It is so hard as a teacher to get them to comprehend more than their world. And in turn this means that their problems and crisises completely drown them. That is hard to watch and even harder to save. But the joy they have is something to learn from. So why do adults who laugh have to be incorrect and insane? I don't know. All I know is that I have as much to learn from my students as they do from me.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Lost in Monday
I had to go back today. I had to sit at my desk working and wondering why on earth the students were coming down the hallway 2 minutes and 30 seconds before they were supposed to. But I did leave at 4:15 and sit in the sun for 1 1/2 hours reading and working on a project for a class I am taking...while drinking esselon herbal ice tea. Now I really need to sleep...it was painful to wake up this morning. I guess I only got 5 1/2 hours last night.
Anyway, while I like pondering my sleep patterns it is not that interesting. I had a fabulous vacation and I can't believe I didn't post more...but I actually got sucked into posting on everyone else's blogs. I found many more this week that I added to my feeds...so that now after 2 days of not checking I had 20 posts to read and distract me from my work. hehe
My mom came over tonight and we cellophane wrapped our May Baskets for Kari's swap. My first swap and it was so much fun. I got that done but didn't actually complete any of my other goals...besides a good martini. But I made headway and that was important and mostly fulfilling. I am trying to feel fulfilled even without perfecting every last detail and finishing everything. But I still have the scary last step of bring work to a gallery and seeing whether they actually want it. Well, I have other things to worry about first. Like this whole personalized education project I am working on. I post on a private blog with others involved but I think I will copy some of those posts over here soon because they are becoming more reflective of my work in the classroom. Which of course is something I have blocked out of my mind for the last week. Oh, but it will be over before I can fully process it!
Anyway, while I like pondering my sleep patterns it is not that interesting. I had a fabulous vacation and I can't believe I didn't post more...but I actually got sucked into posting on everyone else's blogs. I found many more this week that I added to my feeds...so that now after 2 days of not checking I had 20 posts to read and distract me from my work. hehe
My mom came over tonight and we cellophane wrapped our May Baskets for Kari's swap. My first swap and it was so much fun. I got that done but didn't actually complete any of my other goals...besides a good martini. But I made headway and that was important and mostly fulfilling. I am trying to feel fulfilled even without perfecting every last detail and finishing everything. But I still have the scary last step of bring work to a gallery and seeing whether they actually want it. Well, I have other things to worry about first. Like this whole personalized education project I am working on. I post on a private blog with others involved but I think I will copy some of those posts over here soon because they are becoming more reflective of my work in the classroom. Which of course is something I have blocked out of my mind for the last week. Oh, but it will be over before I can fully process it!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tears...Inspire Me Thursday
This is part of a larger project for the May Basket Swap, but I liked the connection to tears and thinking about tears as watering growth in our lives.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Updates!
I have neglected to post about the various art I have been working on. Now I can't quite remember all that I was going to post about but here is some at least.
This is quite old. These are the sweatshirts I embellished for "the girls" for Christmas. Now I have two that I am working on for myself.
I added more workspace to the office my husband and I share, with the help of my mom. It is very full right now but getting lots of use.
I also added magnetic boards to hold all things inspiring and put in a sparkly lamp from Ikea.
Then yesterday we added a wire line (mom had picked it up for us a while ago) across the work space to hang shirts on. There was nowhere else to store them as we work on them and who wants to buy a wrinkled shirt? This way they look cool and I can keep the different patterns and color combos separate. Say hello to the first b+j greene clothing line (no pun intended, but oh well).
Lastly, some of you are anticipating a book to alter coming to your door in the coming months. My goal is to get it shipped out by the end of the week, but here is what I have done so far. It is a work in progress.
This is quite old. These are the sweatshirts I embellished for "the girls" for Christmas. Now I have two that I am working on for myself.
I added more workspace to the office my husband and I share, with the help of my mom. It is very full right now but getting lots of use.
I also added magnetic boards to hold all things inspiring and put in a sparkly lamp from Ikea.
Then yesterday we added a wire line (mom had picked it up for us a while ago) across the work space to hang shirts on. There was nowhere else to store them as we work on them and who wants to buy a wrinkled shirt? This way they look cool and I can keep the different patterns and color combos separate. Say hello to the first b+j greene clothing line (no pun intended, but oh well).
Lastly, some of you are anticipating a book to alter coming to your door in the coming months. My goal is to get it shipped out by the end of the week, but here is what I have done so far. It is a work in progress.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
One More Day
Just one more day...can I take it? I don't know, honestly. Migraines and dizziness have plagued me the last few days. My back hurts right now and my head is fuzzy. Time to sleep. But wait, I came on here to celebrate the coming of April vacation, not whine. Yay! A solid week of whatever I want to do. Goals? Get out the Women of the Opera collaborative altered book (I will post pics before I send it off to Pepita). Get shirts screened and put where they can be purchased. Get back to pursuing a mortgage, etc. Oh...and I should post about the rusty bike seat one of my students found. Good list...lots of fun things! Can't wait. I just have to answer 100 annoying questions and sit through watching the same video 5 times tomorrow. *sigh* ...but first...sleep!
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