He lives in the WOODPILE behind the SHED

That title is much funnier if you imagine Chris Farley saying it.

Back in the day I mentioned rabbits acting funny. Dandy mentioned that she thought it was a mating thing. Lo and behold we have a cuddly baby bunny in our back yard. I think it's adorable. Chris wonders where the hawk is.

Today was my second day of teaching. So far, so good - all four students returned! I think the students will be great, it's the classroom that is the problem. There are two small chalkboards up front. One is nice, the other old and scratched up. The nice one is magnetic and the regular teacher used it by putting flashcards (with magnets glued to the back) all over it. She also placed the alphabet to hang over the old board. Soooooo, where am I supposed to write all of my fancy math equations (ok, we're actually only working on expressions right now) (and I wonder how many of you know the difference or care) (I know at least one person does)? So today I neatly took down half of the cards and placed them on the table.

This problem would be easily solved if they would only splurge on a SmartBoard. And if I worked full time, had a full class load and more students than I could count on one hand, well then I'd bring it up with the head honcho. For now, I guess I'll just make due.

PS My birthday is coming up and if anyone wins the lottery, you can buy me a SmartBoard. And a TI-84 Plus Silver in pink. Ha!

Christmas in August

I have three college friends that I try to get together with once a year. When we do get together we call it Christmas and it includes presents. It is getting rather hard to plan these events because I live in Ohio, B lives near D.C., R lives near Pittsburg and M lives in China. This year the event was at our house last weekend. R couldn't make it :( But M brought her boyfriend so I finally got to met him and Chris got some male companionship.

M and her guy showed up Friday night, so we all just hung out and watched the Olympics. It was more interesting watching it with an American who has lived in China for a few years and her Chinese boyfriend. I finally watched one of Phelps gold wins, and it just so happened to be the nail-biter finish.

Saturday we woke up and B arrived. We spent a few hours catching up (while Chris and M's guy dug up spirea in the yard) and we all went to lunch. Then we all walked around downtown, which I don't get to do very often. There are antiques, boutiques, a bookstore, pottery painting, coffee shop, etc. It was a gorgeous day out so when we arrived back home it was voted to play Wiffle Ball in the back yard, complete with ghost runners. And the girls did great until the boys pulled in a ringer from next door. It was the first time M's boy had played and I think we all had a good time, despite running in sandals.

Then was present time for the girls! (Xander was kind enough to loan me a 'Christmas tree')

I provided a thoroughly healthy dinner of beer-cheese fondue with bread and apples for dipping. Afterward Chris started the fire out back and we made s'mores. Yum! I woke up with a stomach ache in the middle of the night, but it was totally worth it.

B had to leave to get back to her guys (husband and baby), so M and I waited up to talk to R on the phone. It was great to hear from her but it was late and a long day, so I crashed that night.

Overall, I love this tradition. We don't do a great job of keeping in touch through out the year, but when we get together it's like no time has passed and I always have such a great time.

Sew no bags

The past couple of weeks I've gotten to sew a few different things. I'm learning! I've even helped my sister and Ikkin fix dresses.

So. Any guesses what this is?


Why, it's a clothespin bag! Obviously! And (in my best Rod Roddy voice) to go with that new clothespin bag is this fabulous new umbrella clothesline!

And also included in this Showcase Showdown is this, as yet unhemmed, sewing machine cover!


Gotta love the creative use of scrap material, right?

I totally would have modeled a sequin dress while standing next to everything, but Xander doesn't understand how to take pictures yet (only how to pose for pictures).

Emo Tree

We've had issues with what to do with the trees in front of our house. The one directly in front was nice, but it blocked the view of the entire house. The tree to the left I referred to as 'The Scary, Haunted House Tree.' They were both of the 'weeping' variety. They were both well established. What to do? We were thinking of chopping one or both. Fortunately, Chris talked to a knowledgeable neighbor who suggested how to trim both trees.

So this weekend Chris cleaned them up nicely. So now Scary, Haunted House Tree has become Sad, Tortured Tree. But it looks a lot better!

Chris found Sad, Tortured Tree was hiding a little secret. A perfect little nest was perched at the top of the trunk. Chris picked it up and showed it to me and set it back. It's still there after a big storm blew through here.

Five Year Plan - Check!

Yesterday Chris and I celebrated our five year anniversary. Yowza! My sister was great enough to visit and babysit while we went out for dinner and a movie.

Dinner was at P.F. Chang's. It's a sign of our relationship that I was the one to suggest Chinese food as opposed to when we first met and I refused to try any. All thanks to that handsome man of mine. I had Orange Peel Chicken, which was fabulous though lacking in vegetables (another sign of Chris's influence). Chris tried Moo Goo Gai Pan, which even I thought tasted bland. I also tried a Pink Bellini. I was all excited because I have loved bellini drinks in the past. They would have champagne and pear juice and would be a nice frozen drink. I must not have read the description very well, or else took creative license with the description. It came out as a tall, narrow glass of pink liquid. It was a little sour but, wow, did it pack a punch.

So we sat and chatted. On our anniversary, Chris likes to think "What were we doing right now five years ago." We discussed the apartments we lived in since then (oh the stories from that first apartment). And we basically enjoyed being out on a Saturday night by our selves.

Afterwards we headed to the movies to see The Dark Knight. When we went to buy the tickets I saw that there were six different rooms showing it. One was the Imax. Four were normal. The last, which was at the time we wanted tickets, had the letters 'AV' after it on the listing. I was curious what it meant. So I asked (and Chris rolled his eyes). Hey, I wanted to make sure I wasn't walking into anything weird. Like the movie time reserved for people who like to come in costume.

Well, the girl behind the counter didn't know. Actually she 'didn't remember.' So she had to turn off her mike and turn to the guy behind her to ask. Sadly, she had to interrupt his air guitar routine. And the answer was, shockingly enough, 'Audio-Visual'. I was confused by this because it seemed to me that all of the movies would be both audio and visual. But I refrained from asking because Chris was giving me the hairy eyeball. So my running theory is that we saw the non-digital version of the movie. And, quite frankly, the digital version of Two-Face might have been too much for me.

Afterward we grabbed quick decaf drinks and headed home. And by golly, we didn't get home until after 11!