Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet....

Happy Halloween everyone, and what a B-U-TI-FUL night it was! Wow----considering Wisconsin temps were plummeting in the 20's earlier this week, tonight was a perfect 60 degrees for Trick-or-Treating. We headed out at 5:30 (after taking almost an HOUR to get ready.) I mean, really!!!! How much makeup does Dad need to PUT on a girl?!?!?!?!? ;0)
I tell ya, we have enough candy to last for a YEAR! I didn't think of taking a picture of the entire load of candy we arrived back home with!

We had a Witch








...an angel













... and a Raggedy Anne













and a VERY dirty tub at the end of the night (that still needs cleaning. I guess that is what weekends are for, huh?)


The girls are in 'mom-n-dad's' room right now, relaxing with a movie. I would be pretty confident saying they are probably sleeping by now----but then again, they DID do their share of eating their "load" tonight, so........

Hopefully all your Halloween endeavors were safe tonight.
Happy Friday.

Enjoying an evening, relaxing--eating apples

*propping up feet*
Well folks----no quilting tonight; no teacher work tonight; I'm just kicking back, tummy full of the wonderful Caramel Apples we made tonight as a fun family project, and I'll be digging into my Quiltmaker magazine I picked up at the grocery store tonight. I am tired and want to just relax----and will hopefully be heading off to bed at 9:00 tonight.

I needed to run to the grocery store tonight to pick up some mints for the State testing our 7, 8, and 10th graders will be taking over the next few days and next week. While there, I came across a bag of caramels and couldn't resist the idea of making some caramel apples, so........ we did :0)



















There was plenty of caramel left in the bowl to cut up some apple slices for cleaning it out :0) GOSH! Why is that so good???!?!
















Caitlyn didn't care for the caramel (She is NOT my child!!!!), so we simply peeled a plain apple for her to eat while we enjoyed the sticky-yummy-sugary caramel :0) Yes----even MOM enjoyed them!!! (Silly Dad grabbed the camera and shot a pic of me without knowing) :0)
















Dad and Candace were goofing around with the silly hat too! My goodness----my DH GUARDS that hat with his life!!! He wears it in the garden all the time! It's QUITE the fashion statement!

Well folks, not many words tonight, but lots of fun family pics. I'm tuning out and off to relax with a quilting magazine.
Happy Monday!

Teacher mode----will it ever be done?

*sigh*
I'm taking a break! Since 8:00 this morning, I have been in 'teacher-mode.' First on the agenda was to grade a student's Pre-Calculus test (that he took on THURSDAY!) I felt extremely, extremely "BAD" when he came to see me on Friday, wondering how his test went. This is a bright student and will "make it far in life," so I really felt I let him down by not doing my job in an adequate, timely manner.

Next on the agenda, analyze/grade/edit/improve on the Pre-Calculus Math History Research Project papers. Thankfully, there are only 11 students on my roster. Sadly, only SIX turned in a rough draft Friday---NOT GOOD for the other five. I spent right around 20-30 minutes with each paper; checking Internet sources, checking for plagarism, etc. I am insisting on APA Citing format (rather than MLA, which the English dept uses). So I have found myself giving many examples of how to properly cite using APA format, rather than MLA. I think I may have to take 20-30 minutes of classtime tomorrow discussing this and giving examples. The final draft is due on Friday. Another sad issue---for one of my students, unless he does some drastic rewriting, his paper will receive a zero and he will need to be reported to the administration for 100% complete plagarism. OH DEAR! Seriously-----90% of his paper is WORD FOR WORD from Wikipedia. Oh golly! Wikipedia of all places!!!!

So, I think that brought me right to 11:00. THEN, the next item on my agenda was to fill out and write an application reference letter for one of my "girls" to MIT!. Words CANNOT express how special this lil'lady is! She was one of my vball girls the last year I coached---she was a freshman. I've had her in Algebra (8th grade) and Pre-calculus last year. SERIOUSLY---this is a student that doesn't come along very often! I AM NOT an elloquent writer, so I have spent that last THREE HOURS drafting and redrafting her reference/application letter. I want it to WOW anyone who reads it so they really know what this girl is like! What a gem!!!!

Okay-----now off to some QUICK lesson planning for this week so I can hopefully get downstairs within the hour.

Thankfully, DH took the girls shopping with him-----between making breakfast and lunch, I was getting delayed with all my agenda items. So now I should be able to fly without the lil' distractions :0)

FUN, FUN scrappy progress today!!!

I knew it had been a while since I blogged, but I really thought I tuned in at least ONCE this week...
sorry-----

I managed to finish up Isaac's Blue Heaven this week. The blocks went together VERY quickly, finishing at 12"x12" each. I slapped on some borders to wrap it up (I THINK that was Thursday night), measuring 3.5" wide finished. So, if you do the math, that makes this quilt right around 55"x67". This is going to be gifted to a Jan's son, Isaac. Isaac was adopted when he was a baby and is the same age as Cassie--2nd grader.

So now, ALL three quilts to go to Jan's children are finished....(well, the TOPS are finished)

We had Masha's Wonky Nines (completed at the end of August, 2008). Masha is in 5th grade right now; she is one of Jan's adopted Russian children. She currently is competing in gymnastics at the local club and being "promoted" to the next level after just about every meet.




We had Andre's Out of this World (completed October, 2008). Andre is in 6th grade and is also one of Jan's adopted Russian children. He is a soccer fanatic; basically a born athlete in almost every sport. Both Andre and Masha were from the same orphanage in Russia; they became Jan's children three years ago. :0) Wow---does Jan have some stories to share!!!!





So FINALLY, I can begin on Jan's quilt! Quite a while ago, I was browsing through some old (1990's) quilt magazines and saw this BEAUTIFUL "jewel" scrap quilt. I had it marked, knowing I was going to make it SOME DAY. I recently pulled that stack of magazines out again, seeing the jewel pattern, and I KNEW it was going to be perfect for Jan.

Jan is going through some very difficult family times right now, and she flat-out adores her children. (I know that's a dumb comment, because what parent DOESN'T love their children??!?!?!) psht----I'm a teacher; and I see some very sad "families" because the children come second to the parent's wishes.

Anyway, when I saw the pattern, the wheels started playing in my mind and I decided that I would use all the scraps from the kids' quilts to make hers. This morning at 10:00, I started cutting away and power-sewing strips and half-triangles. I now know what Bonnie meant when I read her words----they said something similar to .... "I love scrap quilts; seeing all the different styles and designs of fabric being placed in the sewing machine." Although all the kids' quilts are somewhat scrappy in their own, Andre's and Isaac's still got to a "boring" stage of sewing because of the redundant colors. Side note: Hmmm.......maybe that's why Derek's Storm at Sea is STILL waiting to be completed-----ugh

Anyway---Jan's Family Gems was begun today, and I have LOVED every second of seeing the blocks come together. I would end one stage (creating some 4-patches) and would need to go on to the next stage (creating HST's) and then needed to go to the next stage (sewing together) because I was just DYING to see part of the finished product. After taking this picture of the first 10 blocks, I deliberated about the final size of this quilt. Minimum: 4x6 layout (that would be 48"x72" before any borders), but I probably will use a 5x6 layout (60"x72" before borders). So, 5x6 means 30 blocks. I have 10 completed, so I'm 1/3 of the way there :0)

In fact, I was somewhat of a "bad mommy" at lunch time because I didn't want to stop. It's a good thing that Cassie is getting older and knows who to work a microwave :0) She made hotdogs for the other two and herself; and they all also helped themselves to a bowl of cereal. I hope you all can understand and not call the "bad mommy police" on me. DH has been cashed out in the bed for most of the day -- I TOLD him to. Yup---yup---I did! I told him to just take the DAY OFF and kick back. 15 minutes later, he was zonked (that was at 11:15). He JUST crawled out of the room and is having a snack next to me right now.

I'd love to head back downstairs right now to whip out some more blocks. HOWEVER, I'm off to shower. DH and I are going to have "somewhat" of a night out. We all (DH, myself and girls) went to the girl's Regional Semi-final volleyball game last night and our girls won. Prior to last night's game, DH hadn't had intentions of going to tonight's Regional Final, BUT he's a lover of volleyball and last night's game WAS exciting!!! He was "itching" to see the Final's, so I told him I would line up a babysitter. So, we're going to go the game---just the two of us---(well, sorta!) I called up Jan and told her our girls won, so she's going to head up to the Final's too. Jan and I coached volleyball together for seven years which is where we really built the awesome relationship we have! She was my mentor; and BOY, I respect her immensely!

Alrighty folks----have a wonderful night/evening/day.
Happy Saturday

TatorTrot Half-marathon

Yup.....as if 26.2 miles wasn't enough last week :0) Weeks ago, I was contemplating running this Half-marathon with Julie once she informed me she wasn't able to make the Full Marathon (which was last Saturday.) AFTER having run the Marathon last weekend, I told Jules I MAY only run the 5K while I cheer her on for her Half; and then by midweek, I was even toying with the idea of not running at ALL since I hadn't run all week. However, after speaking with her yesterday and hearing that she had absolutely no goals in mind and the SHE hadn't been running much either, I figured......"what the heck! It's only a Half!!!"

So, I enjoyed digging through my closet for the "perfect" outfit today :0) Both Jules and I wore our Whistlestop performance shirts from the 2006 marathon (we LOVE this shirt!!!) and she wore her "traditional" black shorts, however, I pulled out the baby-blue runners that I hadn't worn for a race yet. AND, ya gotta love the knee socks, right?!?!?!?! What a hoot! BUT, they really did serve a purpose today----it was chilly, and *sigh*....yet again WINDY!!!! I haven't checked, but I'd beg to say that wind was blowing 15-20 mpg with some gusts pushing 30+! Ugh!

We coughed up the big bucks (ALL for a really great cause--"Boys and Girls Club") and we set out to enjoy the day-----Jules's boyfriend came down for the race too and was our cheer section and photographer for the day. I apologize about the darkened and slightly grainy photos---I had the aperature set too high! Oops! I figured it should be set high since it was so sunny out, BUT if all the shots were closeups, this setting would have been perfect. However, Jamie kept himself at a nice distanct (OFTEN "sneaking" up on us, hiding on the edge of the woodline.) But we kept smiling throughout---not really pushing ourselves too hard---holding right around 10:30-11:00 min/miles and walking all the aid stations :0)

We finished in 2:23:18, definitely not a World's Record, but it wasn't our worst time either :0) Each of us have run a 2:28 (both on the stinkin' Paavo Nurmi Course!!!!)

So, I've already relaxed with a nice bubbly hot tub soak (nope---no real hot tub here, just a BIG bathtub with jets) :0) Candace and Caitlyn were giving me puppy-dog eyes to jump in the tub with me, so we all spent 40 minutes playing in the water before realizing that we all had turned into raisins. Now we are relaxing with Wow-wow-Wubzy and an afternoon snack of Apples and Cheesey Balls :0)

"Out of this World" done---onto the next one...

Finishing up Andre's quilt came to be quite easy. It was a fun, controlled BRIGHT scrappy quilt---twin size. The top will be added to my brother's OTR and Masha's Wonky Nines pile, awaiting when I need to get into a "quiltying frenzy" to finish all of them up. I finished up Andre's early in the evening (well, if 8:30 is considered early----it is when you don't begin until 8:00). And OF COURSE, Derek's Storm at Sea is FOREVER calling at me from its location on the carpet---still awaiting to have all the rows sewn together. *shudder* There is just SOMETHING about it that has become a nagging child pulling on my pants leg and I keep putting it off until I "feel like working on it." I KNOW that time WILL come----I will be patient.

So, I figured I'd take a little time to piece together some of my leader-ender square-strips that had been collecting and growing in the basket on my table. I was AMAZED to see I already had enough to complete 6 entire 6x6 blocks for my Scrappy Irish Chain. Slowly but surely I think this baby will get completed so it can be donated to my mother's church for Christmas.


Finally, since those blocks didn't take too long to piece, I figured I might as well jump right in to the next quilt on my C'mas list. I'd been searching and searching for the "right" pattern, and I STILL don't know if it's the right one, but....it'll have to do! Isaac's My Blue Heaven was begun tonight, having completed 3 (of 20) blocks. These blocks go together rather quickly, and the quilt will too since these babies are 12 inches!!! I have been setting aside my blues, knowing I was going to use them for Isaac, and I was finally able to find a PERFECT opportunity to use up the basketball and baseball "starry" remnants I had from making Zach's quilt last C'mas.

However, alas, it tis time to hit the hay.
*chuckle*...nothing like using Shakespearien terms along with some slang redneck terms :0)

Happy Friday (ALMOST!)

It's Friday tomorrow?!??!? ALREADY?????

yup...it's been one of those crazy hectic weeks where time has simply FLOWN by. Seriously, if time keeps going like this, my kids will all be graduated, and I'll be a retired grandmother in no time!!!!! *chuckle*

Blogger is a bit slow tonight for me for some reason, so I'm not going to bother with pics right now. It's almost bedtime for the girls; we're relaxing with some fish crackers as a snack and watching the Backyardigans on Noggin. I love the music on this show :0)

I found a few moments last night to get downstairs----didn't really know what I wanted to work on, but ended up cutting some borders for Andre's Out of this World. Hopefully I'll finish that top tonight by putting the final borders on once the girls are tucked away in bed. I've already written my Pre-Calculus test and key for tomorrow, so my official work is finished for the night. Now I have "play" work time :0)

Maybe I'll tune back in later tonight with an updated pic of the completed top :0)

Relaxin' with some quilting

This afternoon after arriving home and updating the blog with the marathon results, I decided to head downstairs to see what I could get done while actually having some energy. I actually didn't mind tackling sewing Dereks' Storm at Sea rows together. All the rows are now sewn individually, and I was able to sew a couple of the rows together before needing to come up to make some dinner.

After dinner, I headed back downstairs to rearrange the carpet area. I lost interest in Derek's quilt for the moment, so I wanted to lay out Andre's Out of this World blocks. I also was able to sew all of his rows together (after snapping this shot) before heading up here to update the blog. DH is breathing down my neck for me to get my biscuits to bed!





I thought I'd share some comments and a pic from Keri (pictured right) about her's and Pam's Half-marathon

here we are! we made it-- 1:57 and still smiling :) we made our second annual debut with great buddy gene harrington and joined up with his son andy and our superior friends around 8am. a beautiful day to run, tho, as amy said the trail was a bit soft from all the rain making for extra leg work. pam and i used a whole bunch of energy leaping back and forth during the first 3 mile shake out; we underestimated and started way too far back. after a bathroom break at mile 3 we were on our way for the rest of the morning. we were so surprised and so happy to see jill, megan and leo at mile...where was that?? we got so excited by the surprise that we used up all of our reserve jumping and squealing with excitement. SO SO worth it. how did they know we needed them right then and there??

we were both welcomed into the finish by our boys and stuck around for amy until it started to rain. we were so close to seeing you come in amy!! great job on the run--so glad casey got to greet you :)

I responded back to her with....:

*laffin*
HEY---have you ever noticed "backgrounds" in pics you've taken????

How 'bout that half-naked hottie to the left background of Pam!?!?!?!?
*giggle*

GREAT JOB! 1:57 EVEN after burning up your energy hoopin'-n-hollarin'
How are the legs today?? Seriously, if my toe wasn't so sore, I actually COULD manage an EZ 3 miler right now :0) It took awhile for my stomach to settle down and stop crampin (it seems ANY mileage over 10 makes my innerds jumble up and cramp) :0(

Thanks for the effort of hangin around. The rain hit me just before mile 20---another lady who played "tortoise and hare" with me for a mile was currently in front of me, looking up, wondering the same thing I was----"where in the HECK is the rain coming from?" Seriously---I didn't see cloud in the sky. As I passed her, I asked her that exact thought, she just laughed and said it might not be all that bad to wash away the stinky sweat from her body. At least she was still able to chuckle at that point of the race.

And her final response this evening:

okay, so i had to go back and look at the photo--dude! i remember his shorts! and, there was a lady running the full--that i laughed with pam about--who had the SAME shorts! perhaps they're married?? or, just both happen to have, e-hemmm, really good taste :)
i was just glad to see that we both look like we're not in pain but were completely exhausted!

my quads are sore today. every time i go to bend down i am reminded of yesterday. i was spoiled with hot tub jets as bryan and i took the boys to a hotel for the night. we even (humbly) took down every last bite of a LARGE pizza from Coops...followed by a French silk pie from Perkins--thank god there was still a full half left when it was all said and done. i was asleep before 7:30 for the night :) my husband was/is a rockstar....totally took over kids and me. now home and back to reality :)

so sorry about your little toe :( read your blog and saw pics. painful looking....tho, with the weather, you could probably wear sandals tomorrow!

i'll check in tues when i'm back at school :)
get rest!
k

Just figured there were a good couple of chuckles there worth sharing....

Night all