Boring Update... or What's going on in wintermoon's corner of the world?
So - I know it's been a while since I really up
dated much, and I honestly couldn't say how much updating will occur in this post, either. I've been busy. Life is going and going and I sometimes feel like I'm just hanging on for the ride.
Woke up early this morning (before 7) for no apparent reason, but then I've been doing a fair bit of that since we moved. Seems my inner clock is getting a little more particular and has decided that on most nights 6-7 hours of sleep is all I need. So, here I am, wide awake, and starting to consider my plans for the day.
Craft Projects
I'm working on a gift that I'm hoping to finish in the next few days so I can a) put it aside until the appropriate gift-giving time and b) look at it and be pleased that it's really done and c) start other crafty pojects. I'm working on another gift that is no where near done, and I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'm having fun with it, so that's a good thing. I also went to the Joann's clearance sale a few days ago (thanks to a tip from liquidwoman) and got all sorts of pretties! I got fat quarters, and bolts of fabric (for quilting, garments, and whatever else strikes my fancy), fancy trims, notions, even some little "dry clean only" labels that I can put in items I make that are.. well... dry clean only. :) Now, I just have to find a place for the new stuff, oh, including the eleventy-seven skeins of embroidery floss. Oh, and I got some of that special plastic that I can cut stencils out of for quilting patterns and applique designs and stuff!
School Projects
My thesis is coming along very slowly. I have so many ideas in my head, but I can't seem to get them out in any manner that feels right. I'm so used to mulling over a paper topic for a while, and then finally sitting down and writing a draft that is almost ready for submission. I generally do some proofreading, a little polishing, and that's it. Only once or twice have I really revised a paper all the way through, with rewrites and moving paragraphs and adding big sections and deleting others. I know I'll have to do that with my thesis, but I'm not sure where to start because it's so foreign to me. When I write things that don't automatically flow well, I feel like I'm screwing it up and I should delete and start over, but I know that will never get my thesis done. I guess I'm doing better than some. I talked to a schoolmate yesterday who said that she fights with her thesis daily, hates it with a passion and that it's threatening to burn down her house and blow up her car! At least my thesis isn't that violent. Yet.
I'm also starting to get a little concerned about the fact that I'm supposed to be teaching this fall and I haven't a clue what I want to do. I have my Harry Potter assignments, but I've done those for two years, and I would like to see what else I can use. I need to go through the text book and start getting my schedule sorted out, pick out some essay topics/types and start writing the assignment sheets for them, decide on what external materials I want to bring into the classroom and how I want to use them, and get the files created for the online portion of my class. I plan to have the students accessing the campus online system (Web CT) on a regular basis. They'll find a continuously updated copy of the schedule there, all their assignment sheets as they are needed, additional reading materials, possibly quizzes. I'm also going to have them do journal entries and group discussions online. I'm hoping this will get some of them involved a little more, and allow more class time for other things. I probably need to get in touch with one of my friends and make plans to sit down with her to put the shell together. She's got 2 semesters of experience using Web CT for her classes. The fun part of all this is that I've got 1 1/2 weeks before vacation, and then 2 weeks after vacation to get this all done before our week of intense training, and then school starts. I really don't want to be working (much) during my vacation, but I'm sure I'll be doing at least a little in the planning stage or something. Ahhhh, who am I kidding... it'll keep my mind busy and that's a good thing, right?
House Stuff
Yeah, it's time to clean and tidy the house again, so a chunk of that will hopefully get done today and tomorrow. Also, we've got plans to try and finish some more unpacking before we leave for vacation. We've really done pretty well, all things considered, but it looks like we're going to HAVE to have another bookcase (or two) before we can finish unpacking everything we have in the office. This is even more obvious after picking up more books from both Gallatin and Clarksville. Even River has a box of books from Gallatin and she's already told me she needs another bookcase in her room. The question is, where would we put it?
jessofthebugs and her little flower came over last week and helped me plant some pretties in my flower bed and down by my mailbox. Some of them are doing great, and others, not so great. We have one plant out there that's really droopy and I'm not sure if she's in too much sun or not enough sun. I need to see if she's got a tag and try to figure that out. The lilies by the mailbox looked so pretty for a few days, but then we had a big storm and many of them lost all their petals. I pinched the bits of flowers off because I'm told that tells the plant to make more flowers. We'll see. The daisies look pretty good, and the vinca and relocated begonias are doing well. I've decided, however, that I don't like the windchimes on the short shepards' hooks. They don't get enough wind because they're too low. So.... the new plan is to return them to Wally World and exchange them for taller hooks. We miss our windchime noises. Oh, and my grandparents have this awesome set of chimes on their carport. It's a standard set of metal tubes, but they're really large and have this nice deep tone when they ring. I want a set, but since I'm told they're a couple hundred dollars, I guess I need to save up for them. You know, I think it would be the perfect thing to treat ourselves to after we get the fence up and put the roof over the patio like we're planning. We can hang them from the patio roof and enjoy them when we're out back. :)
Yard Sale
Silver_scroll is having a group yard sale on Saturday. If you live in the area, and you know me personally, then drop by and see if we have any junk that could be your treasure! There will be things from multiple families and I know we'll have clothes, electronics, books, home decor, and no telling what else. I'm also supposed to visit mom this week and sort through some stuff in one of her spare rooms, which could result in more yard sale stuff. Of course, that also means that between now and Friday night we need to get everything sorted, cleaned up, priced, place an ad in the paper, post it online if we decide to do that, borrow tables, rig something up to hold hanging clothes (no, we can't tie a rope between two trees because we don't have any trees), and - if we want to use the garage to allow for some shade to sit in, then we have to move some stuff out of it to make space. That gets my vote, because I think we can make use of the space in there better than the yard, and I know I don't want to sit in the sun all day. I was sweating like a mule yesterday and I was in the car!
Moving Furniture
It's time to find out about moving furniture as well. Sometime this weekend, we will need 2-4 strong folks to help move a bedroom set to Gallatin from Imladris, and then move another bedroom set and a piano to Imladris from Gallatin. stasiacat, if you could call and let me know about the BF's truck and availability, that would be great! If we can't borrow a truck and trailer and driver, then we're going to have to rent a U-haul. Either way, we still need volunteers, so if you're in the area and you're reading this, and you'll be available at any time this weekend, please let me know when you might be able to help. It will be much appreicated and I'll do my best to offer some short shoulder rubs and maybe some beer or something! :)
Return of the Sweetie
poetheather got back Sunday night from Origins, the big gaming convention in OH. She was gone for 5 days and I missed her oodles, but she's home now and that's a happy! I will say that while she was gone, I sorta took advantage of being home all by my lonesome (cuz River's at math camp) and did lots of crafting, watched more than a season of Buffy (for my thesis, you know), did some filing, stayed up late, did lots of sudoku, and generally just hung around the house. It's funny, but sometimes I just really love being home all by myself and doing whatever I want for a few days. I think I need that every once in a while. I did drag myself out to visit friends briefly and go to the closing fabric store on Saturday, and I did drag myself out to visit mom for lunch and hang out time on Sunday. Oh, right, and I did drag myself out at oh god o'clock Friday morning to do butch_lebeau's hair for her senior pictures. By the way, how did those turn out? I DO get one when they come back, don't I??
And if you actually read all that, more power to you! I was just typing and typing and finally realised how long it was getting, so I went back to add the cuts for flist friendliness. This brings me to my final comment for the moment. Many of you saw my post yesterday requesting that a meme be put under a cut. Some people did that, some people didn't (though perhaps they just didn't see the request. There was also some discussion and debate and confusion over which meme was causing the trouble. It seemed to be one particular meme at first, but then another one popped up that make everything even worse. Overall, it just frustrated me to no end and I avoided my flist all day in the hopes that it would be off the first page by this morning. Luckily it is, but I don't want to be frustrated by my LJ. I don't want to end up avoiding it because my flist page gets all screwy due to someone's badly coded memes.
That said, I'm requesting that all automated memes with code and pics, and any other images (and for that matter fanfic longer than a drabble) be put under an LJ cut. I've seen various other people make this request and remove people from their flist who did not comply, and I was in complete understanding of both actions. Now, if you can tell me why I feel like I'm being an unreasonable demanding bitch for making the same request, I'll give you a virtual cookie. That said, I may very well remove you from my flist if I see continuous posts that are not cut. It's just the polite thing to do, really. And if you ever notice that I've failed to follow my own request, please let me know so that I can fix it right away. We're all human - at least partly ;) - and we do make mistakes. I get that.
Okay, signing off now. Need breakfast. Ciao folks!
dated much, and I honestly couldn't say how much updating will occur in this post, either. I've been busy. Life is going and going and I sometimes feel like I'm just hanging on for the ride.
Woke up early this morning (before 7) for no apparent reason, but then I've been doing a fair bit of that since we moved. Seems my inner clock is getting a little more particular and has decided that on most nights 6-7 hours of sleep is all I need. So, here I am, wide awake, and starting to consider my plans for the day.
Craft Projects
I'm working on a gift that I'm hoping to finish in the next few days so I can a) put it aside until the appropriate gift-giving time and b) look at it and be pleased that it's really done and c) start other crafty pojects. I'm working on another gift that is no where near done, and I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'm having fun with it, so that's a good thing. I also went to the Joann's clearance sale a few days ago (thanks to a tip from liquidwoman) and got all sorts of pretties! I got fat quarters, and bolts of fabric (for quilting, garments, and whatever else strikes my fancy), fancy trims, notions, even some little "dry clean only" labels that I can put in items I make that are.. well... dry clean only. :) Now, I just have to find a place for the new stuff, oh, including the eleventy-seven skeins of embroidery floss. Oh, and I got some of that special plastic that I can cut stencils out of for quilting patterns and applique designs and stuff!
School Projects
My thesis is coming along very slowly. I have so many ideas in my head, but I can't seem to get them out in any manner that feels right. I'm so used to mulling over a paper topic for a while, and then finally sitting down and writing a draft that is almost ready for submission. I generally do some proofreading, a little polishing, and that's it. Only once or twice have I really revised a paper all the way through, with rewrites and moving paragraphs and adding big sections and deleting others. I know I'll have to do that with my thesis, but I'm not sure where to start because it's so foreign to me. When I write things that don't automatically flow well, I feel like I'm screwing it up and I should delete and start over, but I know that will never get my thesis done. I guess I'm doing better than some. I talked to a schoolmate yesterday who said that she fights with her thesis daily, hates it with a passion and that it's threatening to burn down her house and blow up her car! At least my thesis isn't that violent. Yet.
I'm also starting to get a little concerned about the fact that I'm supposed to be teaching this fall and I haven't a clue what I want to do. I have my Harry Potter assignments, but I've done those for two years, and I would like to see what else I can use. I need to go through the text book and start getting my schedule sorted out, pick out some essay topics/types and start writing the assignment sheets for them, decide on what external materials I want to bring into the classroom and how I want to use them, and get the files created for the online portion of my class. I plan to have the students accessing the campus online system (Web CT) on a regular basis. They'll find a continuously updated copy of the schedule there, all their assignment sheets as they are needed, additional reading materials, possibly quizzes. I'm also going to have them do journal entries and group discussions online. I'm hoping this will get some of them involved a little more, and allow more class time for other things. I probably need to get in touch with one of my friends and make plans to sit down with her to put the shell together. She's got 2 semesters of experience using Web CT for her classes. The fun part of all this is that I've got 1 1/2 weeks before vacation, and then 2 weeks after vacation to get this all done before our week of intense training, and then school starts. I really don't want to be working (much) during my vacation, but I'm sure I'll be doing at least a little in the planning stage or something. Ahhhh, who am I kidding... it'll keep my mind busy and that's a good thing, right?
House Stuff
Yeah, it's time to clean and tidy the house again, so a chunk of that will hopefully get done today and tomorrow. Also, we've got plans to try and finish some more unpacking before we leave for vacation. We've really done pretty well, all things considered, but it looks like we're going to HAVE to have another bookcase (or two) before we can finish unpacking everything we have in the office. This is even more obvious after picking up more books from both Gallatin and Clarksville. Even River has a box of books from Gallatin and she's already told me she needs another bookcase in her room. The question is, where would we put it?
jessofthebugs and her little flower came over last week and helped me plant some pretties in my flower bed and down by my mailbox. Some of them are doing great, and others, not so great. We have one plant out there that's really droopy and I'm not sure if she's in too much sun or not enough sun. I need to see if she's got a tag and try to figure that out. The lilies by the mailbox looked so pretty for a few days, but then we had a big storm and many of them lost all their petals. I pinched the bits of flowers off because I'm told that tells the plant to make more flowers. We'll see. The daisies look pretty good, and the vinca and relocated begonias are doing well. I've decided, however, that I don't like the windchimes on the short shepards' hooks. They don't get enough wind because they're too low. So.... the new plan is to return them to Wally World and exchange them for taller hooks. We miss our windchime noises. Oh, and my grandparents have this awesome set of chimes on their carport. It's a standard set of metal tubes, but they're really large and have this nice deep tone when they ring. I want a set, but since I'm told they're a couple hundred dollars, I guess I need to save up for them. You know, I think it would be the perfect thing to treat ourselves to after we get the fence up and put the roof over the patio like we're planning. We can hang them from the patio roof and enjoy them when we're out back. :)
Yard Sale
Silver_scroll is having a group yard sale on Saturday. If you live in the area, and you know me personally, then drop by and see if we have any junk that could be your treasure! There will be things from multiple families and I know we'll have clothes, electronics, books, home decor, and no telling what else. I'm also supposed to visit mom this week and sort through some stuff in one of her spare rooms, which could result in more yard sale stuff. Of course, that also means that between now and Friday night we need to get everything sorted, cleaned up, priced, place an ad in the paper, post it online if we decide to do that, borrow tables, rig something up to hold hanging clothes (no, we can't tie a rope between two trees because we don't have any trees), and - if we want to use the garage to allow for some shade to sit in, then we have to move some stuff out of it to make space. That gets my vote, because I think we can make use of the space in there better than the yard, and I know I don't want to sit in the sun all day. I was sweating like a mule yesterday and I was in the car!
Moving Furniture
It's time to find out about moving furniture as well. Sometime this weekend, we will need 2-4 strong folks to help move a bedroom set to Gallatin from Imladris, and then move another bedroom set and a piano to Imladris from Gallatin. stasiacat, if you could call and let me know about the BF's truck and availability, that would be great! If we can't borrow a truck and trailer and driver, then we're going to have to rent a U-haul. Either way, we still need volunteers, so if you're in the area and you're reading this, and you'll be available at any time this weekend, please let me know when you might be able to help. It will be much appreicated and I'll do my best to offer some short shoulder rubs and maybe some beer or something! :)
Return of the Sweetie
poetheather got back Sunday night from Origins, the big gaming convention in OH. She was gone for 5 days and I missed her oodles, but she's home now and that's a happy! I will say that while she was gone, I sorta took advantage of being home all by my lonesome (cuz River's at math camp) and did lots of crafting, watched more than a season of Buffy (for my thesis, you know), did some filing, stayed up late, did lots of sudoku, and generally just hung around the house. It's funny, but sometimes I just really love being home all by myself and doing whatever I want for a few days. I think I need that every once in a while. I did drag myself out to visit friends briefly and go to the closing fabric store on Saturday, and I did drag myself out to visit mom for lunch and hang out time on Sunday. Oh, right, and I did drag myself out at oh god o'clock Friday morning to do butch_lebeau's hair for her senior pictures. By the way, how did those turn out? I DO get one when they come back, don't I??
And if you actually read all that, more power to you! I was just typing and typing and finally realised how long it was getting, so I went back to add the cuts for flist friendliness. This brings me to my final comment for the moment. Many of you saw my post yesterday requesting that a meme be put under a cut. Some people did that, some people didn't (though perhaps they just didn't see the request. There was also some discussion and debate and confusion over which meme was causing the trouble. It seemed to be one particular meme at first, but then another one popped up that make everything even worse. Overall, it just frustrated me to no end and I avoided my flist all day in the hopes that it would be off the first page by this morning. Luckily it is, but I don't want to be frustrated by my LJ. I don't want to end up avoiding it because my flist page gets all screwy due to someone's badly coded memes.
That said, I'm requesting that all automated memes with code and pics, and any other images (and for that matter fanfic longer than a drabble) be put under an LJ cut. I've seen various other people make this request and remove people from their flist who did not comply, and I was in complete understanding of both actions. Now, if you can tell me why I feel like I'm being an unreasonable demanding bitch for making the same request, I'll give you a virtual cookie. That said, I may very well remove you from my flist if I see continuous posts that are not cut. It's just the polite thing to do, really. And if you ever notice that I've failed to follow my own request, please let me know so that I can fix it right away. We're all human - at least partly ;) - and we do make mistakes. I get that.
Okay, signing off now. Need breakfast. Ciao folks!