Does it ever end?

I can't believe everything that has happened since I last wrote. I went to my Technology Academy day and learned a LOT! I now know how to use the "Inspiration" program software to create graphic organizers, how to do lesson plans on Excell, and I have a web site for school, and also know how to keep the department web site updated since I'm now the dept. head.

The next day I went down to a friend's house and she taught me how to paint on fabric. It was really fun to do, and she has me hooked. I created three pieces of fabric to use in a challenge quilt for the Ladies of the Lake quilt show at an art gallery. There is a watercolor painting that we were to use as inspiration and do something to interpret our own vision. I will be doing the November sky at sunset, over Lake Michigan. Now, we face East to the lake, so the sunset is behind, but the sky can be absolutely beautiful over the lake to the east. I have wanted to do something with that for many years, and this challenge seemed to fit. I made three pieces, one for "sky," one for "water," and one for "land." I need to make a new "water" though, as I feel mine is too blue. It needs to be more steely gray. My friend is so talented and I felt honored to experiment with her. WE also did some sun painting, which is putting something on the fabric as it dries. Whereever ther is something on it the image appears as lighter on the finished piece. Way cool! We tried some fern fronds that I brought down. I stayed over night and we went to her church for a salad supper (yum!) and then I helped her clean up, along with others. A woman, who was in the group who put on the supper, had died and her wake was that night. We helped so others could leave and go to it. I washed and/or dried dishes for a couple of hours. My good deed for the day. =-) After we got home we watched the weather since we found out that there were tornadoes heading towards us. It kept heading right at us until right before it got there and then it turned south and missed us. Pretty scary. We were prepared to go in the basement, but didn't have to, although her two daughters went down there for awhile. The next day there were shingles all over the neighborhood. This was probably from houses in a sub division that was demolished in Stoughton. Debris was dropped all the way north up to Appleton!

When I got home DH and I went up to our trailer and had a relaxing weekend. Even though it is relaxing, I am not home to do anything! I haven't been able to get at my machine quilting! I do make DJ blocks up there, and last weekend I made a bracelet with beads.

I've been doing things at school. I spent a day at a "data retreat," which sounds like fun, but it isn't. It is a day to look at test scores and also at the questions that many students got wrong to see what kind of questions they were so we could give them more practice on those. Most were analysis questions where they either had to read a passage and answer questions based on it, or look at a graph, chart, timeline, or map to do the same. Hmmmm, sounds suspiciously like WORKSHEETS!!!!! See, you drop somethig for more creative teaching and it comes back to bite you in the butt! I also met with my co-worker (and friend) to work on our presentation for the inservice day. I had a haircut one day, and I saw my therapist whom I still see once in a while to keep in touch about my depression. We had our inservice day on Friday and it went well. I felt a bit less prepared that usual, but it was still god. I think I felt that way because I have had so very much going on this summer and can't spend as much time on anything I do, and also feeling a bit nervous due to stress.

Friday night we went to the trailer again. I was so tired that I went to bed early. Sat. I got up and made a bracelet with beads! My first one. This one was using jump rings. They were pretty much a pain in the butt, but I did it. I still have to put a clasp on. I left it up there because I want to show the other up there. I also cut some fleece bead mats to give to the beaders up there. One camper showed us how to do the bracelet the week before, but I didn't have any supplies till I went to buy them last week. We also had Halloween at the campground last weekend. It was fun. Our "loop" of seasonals all got together and had a pot luck, and we wore costumes and then gave out candy. Two campsites went all out. One is the parents of the wife in the other one. They had stuffed "bodies" with gruesome masks on, and at the one right across from us they dressed up and sat or stood among the fake people and when someone would get close they would move, or talk and scare them. So many kids walked by us and never saw us because they were looking at the site across the street... or were running away screaming! We resorted to yelling, "We've got candy! We won't scare you!" Next year we will sit at the next campsite down! It was fun though. Only one child was led away crying and they felt bad about it because they hadn't seen that there was a little one there. Most were older kids who were having fun being scared. One adult sat with a "head" with candy in and stayed really still and kids would go take the candy out of the head bowl. Every once in a while she would yell, "Not that one!" and the kids would scream. They were laughing though. We just brought up some pumpkin lights and a scarecrow to put out. No time for anything else!

We left the trailer Sunday morning to go to a surprise 70th birthday party for DH's oldest brother. Hard to believe he is that old! But, I guess we are all getting there... it is better than the alternative! After the party we went down to Sheboygan to see dad.

Last Tuesday Dad had his knee replaced. I had been going down quite a bit to see him, and help mom if I could (at least with moral support). When I was down there last week dad was really out of it. He kept falling asleep and he was talking nonsense. Finally they took him off of that particular drug and now he is lucid. He was really scaring me last week, because he also had blood in his urine. He looked SOOOOOO much better yesterday. He is doing pretty well, and was even able to walk to the end of the hall with his walker and get his feet up on the bed by himself. Such an improvement!

When we went to see dad, however, we got the surprise that one of my sisters was also in the hospital there, one floor up! DS had fallen down her basement stairs, when she mistook that doorway for her bedroom in the middle of the night. She somehow dragged herself up those stairs and called her daughter. My niece took her to the emergency room and right now she is in ICU. She has a broken collarbone, three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a bleeding spleen. They are watching her to determine if they need to take the spleen out. They used to automatically take it out, but now they only take it out if they determine that it will not heal itself. It looks like maybe the blood in there is old blood and that she has already stopped bleeding. In that case her spleen will heal along with her broken bones. She is in really bad shape and she is in so much pain. It feels so frustrating to see her like that and not be able to do something for her! I will be going down there later today.

Toiday was going to be my quilting day, I promised myself last week. Well, the best laid plans... You never know what will happen. I hope to spray baste some baby quilts this morning before I go down to the hospital. That way at least they will be ready to quilt when I can steal the time.

I called for a Dr. appointment this morning. My right ear has been bothering me for over a month (when we were in North Carolina and Virginia). I don't know if I have an ear infection or a sinus infection, or if it is my TMJ, or any combination of, or all of the above! I had put off calling because I have been so busy, and also it hasn't hurt THAT bad, and I kept hoping it would go away! Alas! It didn't! I couldn't get in until tomorrow at 4. It is our first teacher workday, so I'll be attending meetings and working in my room all day and then heading over to see the doctor.

Well, I guess I had better get going if I am going to get anything done!