3-17-13

You wouldn't know, but this side of the yard was even more work than the other. There's a second set of steps to the right and I cleared out more honeysuckle and ivy than you can imagine. It's not anywhere near done. My hands are so sore and blistered even though I wore gloves.  The rocks you see here were not visible this morning.

3-16-13

I started working in the yard around 9am this morning. The mess was bigger than I imagined.

It was a beautiful day. I discovered a rock wall-- two of them, one behind the other, and cleared out enough vines to reveal the walls on the left side of the stairs.

Here you can see it better. Dan and I each put in about 4-5 hours of heavy work today.

3-15-13

Tomorrow we are going to do yard work and tackle all the vines and weeks and wild trees growing in this mess.
Today I worked hard on some articles I'm writing.

3-14-13

 

 

 

Happy Pi Day!
I hope Aza did something fun with her geometry students today.

Do you think the blue curtains would look good in the living room? We have ordered two chairs and they are a blue tweed.

3-13-13

 

Curtains!
I ordered these silk drapes from Pottery Barn.I think the color is good, but now I think we need to paint the window panels black like the kitchen.I'm going to photoshop and see if we should use this same color in the living room.

3-12-13

Long drive home. Slept in the back seat for a couple hours. Crocheted.

3-11-13

We drove out to the Lacassine Wildlife Refuge today.

A beautiful swamp, it is.

Here I am with my 91 year old grandmother--

She is quite spry for 91. Quite.

We went out to dinner in Jennings.

I worked on my afghan and went for a walk downtown. 

Vacation-- Spring Break

3-10-13

We went for a walk along the lake shore as a front was moving in. So windy. I got my finger in the photo, but thought it captured well the live oak, Spanish moss, and cypress trees. It rained most of the day. We watched old episodes of The Golden Girls tonight.

3-9-13

It took 8 hours to get here. We are in Lake Arthur, at my grandma's house. So many memories here. I guess I can't think of a place I can still go to that holds memories from so long ago. When we got out of the car in Grandma's yard I immediately was drawn back by the feeling of cool humidity and the earthy smell of moss.

3-6-13

Aza and kitten Lily had a snow day without power today. It was cold here in Alabama. I went to work and cried in my office between meetings.

3-5-13

Listen-- Do you realize?

Today my brother Coco died.

3-4-13

Sakura and I are trying a new migraine preventative. We read some studies that showed that this combination is effective. She ordered hers online, I found mine at the local health food store. We shall see. Today I drove to Prattville to observe a student teacher and had to leave after two classes due to head pain.

3-3-13

I finally got to hanging up artwork in my home office. Except for one cross-stitch Aza gave me,  it's all my artwork. I like to think of it as my gallery. There's plenty more room for more!

 

3-2-13

 

One thing leads to another.

This is a story about how I felt so good today I decided to REALLY clean the bathroom toilet which was leaking a little and yucky. Well, I cleaned it so well, it started to gush water. This bolt had come loose.

It was leaking from here. All over the floor. So we went to Home Depot and bought new toilet bolts and Dan replaced them. Then he overtightened the bolt, and the gasket blew. Back to Home Depot for another set of gaskets. Then.... one thing lead to another.

In the process of putting everything back where it belonged, this connection started leaking too. Now we need to go BACK to Home Depot and buy one of these.

 Oh, but the story doesn't stop there. The sink got clogged, we think, from rinsing rags in it that were full of little rusty iron bits. So, I said, "Go get the snake" and Dan did. Before he used the snake on the sink, he said to me, "You know, this is going to cause another leak, I just know it." I knew it too. I was afraid he would burst a pipe in the wall trying to snake out some bits of rusty iron.

He busted through the pipe under the sink.

Of course, it gushed brown sludge all over the floor and we had to run get a bucket and clean up the NEW mess.

Oh, this old house.

More trips to Home Depot tomorrow.

3-1-13

 

I actually felt good today. I cleaned up my office, went to work for a while, and thought about where to hang pictures.

2-28-13

My yarn order came in and now I can finish the afghan I started after Christmas. Today I had a really good morning meeting with ML and my friend whom I will call "My Friend" because that's what she calls me when she sees me. Then I got another headache and went to bed.

2-27-13

Today I was supposed to observe a student teacher, but I spent all day in bed with a migraine instead. I learned that I can take photos with my iPhone by pressing on the volume button, so I can take pictures one handed. I took this one from bed.

2-26-13

Spent the morning at Opelika High then got a migraine and spent the afternoon in bed with my crochet. I managed to teach tonight-- and had a great time. We had a guest speaker Skype in, we did some really funny peer teaching scenarios, and talked about motivating students.

2-24-13

I hung 5 of my paintings in my office today and it feels so much better. I have at least 6 more to hang in here. It will be my miniature gallery.

Dan bought us an umbrella for our patio. Now for some plants and other decor...

It's a beautiful day in central Alabama.
I got a lot done. We had dinner with Mom and Squirt built the first prototype of my gravity light design.

2-23-13

 

 

This is Dan's manufacturing room. He cuts, he solders, he glues... and assembles educational kits. The bed is a Lego supply warehouse. The closets are storage units. the corner bench is built in storage.

2-22-13

This morning I had some important but difficult meetings at school with students. Dan had to pick me up because afterwards a migraine set in. Squirt cooked dinner--- delicious grilled cheese sandwiches with avocado. He is so sweet.

2-21-13

Tonight I was a guest speaker in a graduate seminar. I noticed one woman had out her iPhone, iPad with keyboard, AND MacBook. Thought that was pretty funny. The class went well. Met some new people.

I observed three students today.

2-20-13

Mom's birthday party! We had a great time. It was a potluck dinner with her friends and we really enjoyed it. I brought shrimp étouffée.

I observed a student today.

Bought Mom a book written by a local woman whom I went to high school with. It's called Crossing on the Paris.

2-19-13

I got this goat sticker and found a cool place to put it in my office. Today I taught. The class didn't go so well, in my mind. But I got interviewed for a college magazine, which was pretty cool.

2-18-13

Dan has started receiving large shipments for his huge order of teaching kits. This one looked a bit busted so I photographed it. Monday Monday. Today I started an Edmodo site for kids in a nearby school to get math help from our students. I was in bad mood all day until I did this.

2-17-13

This is a really mundane photo, but it represents a TON of work. My office is still not where I want it to be, but I dragged this old filing cabinet in from the garage, loaded it up with files that had been stacked in boxes in the room since we moved in, and sorted through piles and piles of papers I had piled around. I recycled an entire grocery bag of papers. Once I get some artwork hung up it will start to feel homey in here.

2-16-13

We left today around 2pm after giving up on the conference. Cold, spread out sessions, low attendance... it was not an ideal conference to go to. But the 5 of us had fun and it was good to bond. We'll be working on a grant together for the next 3 years so it was good to get away and talk and plan. I'm sitting in the back seat on the way back. My friends ML and GB are up front.

2-15-13

Today was the first day of conference sessions, but I had a migraine and managed to help give a talk at noon, but then spent the rest of the day in bed working on my computer. We went out for dinner to celebrate our grant--- to a Mexican place I did not like at all.

2-14-13

I'm in Huntsville at a science education conference. I rode up with a group of Auburn folks. We got to the Space and Rocket center around 6:30 or so and heard a speech given by a Rocket City Redneck Guy.

2-13-13

 
Squirt turned 22 today!
We celebrated with Mellow Mushroom pizza   (Holy Shitake) and beer and for dessert, Moosetracks ice cream in chicken cups.

Today I went to an outreach conference at the university and made a presentation which went well. But the lunch that was served gave me a migraine so I had a rough evening... and went to bed early and in pain.

2-11-13

Before I even decided whether or not at accept the job here, I was talking with people about this grant. When I got here in July we started writing it. Today we got funded. It's a three year grant and the number you see is for year 1. This is fantastic news. I'll be teaching my curriculum to teachers all over the state of Alabama.