Flying leaves

It pays to be organized! Today I assigned a Scavenger Hunt to my students - - they could use the notes and any information recorded in their three ring binder. Everyday we write a journal about some high interest topic, and then we break it down for sentence structure, parts of speech, grammar, etc... SOOOO 44 points seems reasonable for a quiz on what they have anyway. Those that are consistently present and organized are acing the Scavenger hunt; those that aren't, aren't. Ha!!!!

Leaves

Last night Briana drove at night in the rain to Youth Leadership up at St Henry's. I didn't want to go home just to turn around to pick her up 90 minutes later, so I hung out in the CCD center while the kids went over to the church to learn the parts of the Mass. I set the radio to Fresh Air with Terri Gross and settled in to cut out all the pieces of another quilt. The same pattern on the green and purple circle quilt will certainly look different with rich hues of wine, ocre, and ecru. The circles are a muted green and off white. I am so excited to see how color changes the dramatic affect of this quilt. In any case there were 108 individual pieces, and, since I didn't have my rotary cutter or my mat, I had to cut all these out with scissors. I suppose this is how they did it back in the day. I finished up just in time for Briana to drive me home in the dark during a down pour. We lived. Yay!

Keeping up with my leaves

Okay, so I just finished posting all my grades into the electronic grade book!! Yea! That took about 1 1/2 hours. Now I still have 4 vocabulary quizzes and two sets of 5 paragraph essays to grade, but that's okay. I am still ahead of the game. Thank goodness for inservice and teacher work days. As far as household chores - - I'm as up to date as I can be. Briana and Don need to help a little to make this whole system work. I fell off my diet yesterday, mostly because I was totally frustrated with a particular boy. A twinkie, a coke, and a piece of chocolate pie later I still wasn't ready to get over my funk! SO I made a batch of Tollhouse cookies and some pecan pralines. I'm a little better now.
I have a pipe dream.
I'd like to live in Eastern Oregon some day. These are pics of bare land for sail. The property is between 3 and 40 acres with nothing but trees, rocks, creeks, and wildlife.




These are images of older homes and one newer home that are within our range. The are a little rough, but I think they would be cool to vacation in and eventually move to when we both retire. The neat thing about this are is that there are several places where one can dig for gold.





Sumpter is on the Powder River and the Crack Creek. Both of these pristine waterways have large known quantities of gold still in them. The Crack Creek had a 24/7 dredge in it for 50 years. The old dead thing is still in the middle of town. Look it up at
http://www.historicsumpter.com/sumpter-oregon-dredge-park.html

There is something so romantically western and cowboyish about Eastern Oregon. I absolutely love the big sky!

I'll keep dreaming!!

Today's favs

Fog, cold toes, cheddar, delicious sleep, my 16 year old, having to turn on the lights in the middle of the day - - Autumn!

October in my teeny tiny corner of the world

Today is October 3rd. For a Saturday, it's typical. Don has guard drill, Briana is sleeping, and I am planning a day that would otherwise be wasted on tv. I'll be turning over some of those freshly fallen new leaves out there.

First, I want to keep up with my chores. I have been very lazy this summer - - only doing what was critical. I have way less time now with school and all.

Second, and I have already begun this one - - I will keep up with grading papers. I have about 160 students this year - - all demanding and worried about grades and such. The pile on my desk can grow exponentially in a day.

Third, I want to lose some weight. I only want to lose about 5 pounds or so in my core. I am not sure how to do that since I am well beyond the notion that I will ever keep up with exercise. I know that for a fact. SO, the question is - - how do I lose my belly without crunches, running, lifting, bending, or anything else that requires exertion? Drink mega-green tea? Meditate on it? Pray for it? You see my quandary?

Fourth, I'd want to start some new quilting projects. I am finishing up one for Mom right now. I won't be posting a pic anytime soon because it is a Christmas present, so stay tuned until closer to December. I also have one for Stuart and Tammy planned out. In addition to that I have a felt penny rug I am putting together for me. That one has been a work in progress for about two years - - it is EXTREMELY tedious. Also, I need to assemble a huge one that I started for Scott and Vicki. The problem is that I started it before I got my new machine so the technique is not going to be the same. I truly doubt that it will make a difference, but it will bother me.

Now, for the last leaf - - Don and I are attempting to pay off all debt. So far we are doing well. I have paid off Davis-Greenlawn. The ING loan will be paid off this week. We have two other debts only - - Don's truck and this house.

All this is in order to buy a boat and/or a vacation/retirement house in Eastern Oregon. We have found some interesting areas that are really attractive and would meet our needs and desires. Please understand that the places we are looking at are not fancy log cabins or wonderful lakeside property - - we want to go rustic in the literal since of the word. Rocks, wood piles, windmills, wildlife. If you were to ever visit us, expect open air and dinner cooked over a fire. Bring your own sleeping bag and water. You might even have to shoot your breakfast!

Anywho, time is ticking into the future. I think I'll get started on laundry or grading or some other teeny tiny step on those amazing falling leaves.