Little Lady's Nursery

I think Little Lady's nursery is finally done! Now we just need Little Lady to show up.

Currently...

1. At our newborn care class.  I think I know how to hold this baby now  2. Bradley's steam punk accessory explosion  3. Bradley has the hang of it too  4. Making burp cloths   5. First snow!  6. I got my official mail in ballot. Voting is exciting!   7. Chenille explosion   8. Mitt Romney killing a small forrest in my mailbox   9. I love fall.

Loving: The weather! Who doesn't love fall? This summer was so hot and miserable that I will gladly take 60 and 70 degree weather.  I still have my own personal furnace going on so I haven't really pulled out too many socks or cozy blankets but it has been nice to pull out all my cardigans.

Reading: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  I picked up this book this summer but just never got to reading it.  It is a big book at over 800 pages but I think it is really good historical story of the building of a cathedral in the 12th century and the character development is really well done.  I dig it.

Watching: Fall shows are finally here! I just finished watching the season finale of Project Runway today (not sure how I feel about the outcome) and I am excited for the next all stars season.  I have also been watching Boardwalk Empire, Survivor, New Girl, and Bradley makes me watch the Walking Dead every week.

Thinking About: Christmas. Ya I said it.  I am excited and terrified of it this year.  I just don't know what it is going to look like with a tiny baby and I am wondering how in the world we are going to pull off Christmas shopping.  I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be getting gift cards or gifts ordered directly from Amazon.  It is also blowing my mind that I am going to have a child to christmas shop for! It is a weird thought.  Not that she is even going to know what is going on but it is just so unfathomable that I am going to have a baby to enjoy the holidays with!

Anticipating: This is a really easy answer.  I'm just going to do with the birth of my first baby.  This might sound terrible but I have no birth plan.  I have an idea of my preferences like I know I want my own pillow and music but that is about it.  Otherwise epidural...no epidural...c-section...I don't know.  I am just going to go with the flow at the time.  Our good friend is going to be our doula so I figure she will be able to help when the time comes.

Listening: I know I have said this before but I will get a song or two stuck in my head and then listen to it till it is dead in the ground.  Last week it was Sufjan Steven's Casimir Pulaski Day and the past few days I have been listening to Peter Bjorn and John's Tomorrow Has to Wait

Working On: This is just downright sad to admit but I am in between projects right now. I just finished up making a few more burp cloths for little lady.  Sadly I just don't have a whole lot of energy right now to do a lot.  Tomorrow we are picking up 30lbs of apples for a school fundraiser.  I have a lot of juicing ahead of me since I am going to turn the majority of it into hard cider.  Nothing more classy than a 9 month pregnant lady making hooch!

Wishing: I didn't live in a political swing state right now. The political adds on TV and mail have become really bad.  I dread going to the mailbox to see how many pieces of paper either candidate has decided to shove in my mailbox to see if it will change my mind about them.  Some are sooo incredibly ridiculous too.  My favorite so far was yesterday we got an anti Obama flyer with a picture of Obama next to the soviet hammer and sickle.  Are people really influenced by this stuff?

Left Over Fall

When was the last time you played in the leaves? Mine was last night.  I felt like a kid again.

Feeling Crafty

(the view from yesterday's evening walk)

Warm fall days are definitely over in Colorado and winter has set in.  I have been trying to take walks after work but it is so hard since it is dark by 5!...I can never decide how I feel about daylights savings. So I tend to gravitate to crafty projects and sewing more this time of year. Today I finished my wreath I have been working on for the past few weeks. I have had this idea forever.  It has just taken a little bit to get around to it. I also ordered these lights to eventually wrap around it but they are on backorder because just look at them! They are too cute!



 

On a side note I figured out where all the leaves go when the wind kicks up in the neighborhood. My house.

An Afternoon Stroll

Fall has finally arrived here and the last few days have been cloudy and rainy and lovely however when the sun showed up today I couldn't resist a walk by the creek that runs by our house.  It was also a good time to figure out this new iphone of mine.  I have only had it 4 days and I am not sure how I lived without it.

Setting Intentions

So this week has been somewhat of a negative one and I have found myself in lots of situations where people (mostly at work) are venting to me and in meetings about stress and how crappy everything is.  Its not that I mind, it is kind of something I am used to because I pride myself on being a good listener and people do tend to come to me to talk.  The hard part of this is not picking up the same negative energy and living in it as well.  I try to set the intention of my day every morning with the idea of "It is going to be a good day and if it is not I am going to try to just make it through and find the bright spots in it."  This seems to work well for me but I have noticed that this week seems particularly dark and when my students and coworkers have been venting to me I can hear the venom in their voice.  It has been startling.  

So I finally made it to Friday and I am going to make sure that today is good. No matter what.  I allowed myself to sleep in an extra 25 minutes because my first class doesn't start till later in the morning, got up, remembered it is "spirit day" at work so I put on my ugly but oh so comfortable "Poudre Soccer" hoodie...yes the school I teach at is called Poudre (Poo-der)...it is French for powder..anyway, made my way to work on a nice fall morning and set my intention for the day and then remembered I have a meeting with a parent about a behavior contract.  Crap.  Oh well, it is part of the job and it went really well.  I treated myself to some more coffee, picked up some grading from one of my classrooms and on my way back to my office the student I had the behavior meeting with stopped me and gave me a giant piece of cheesecake from his cooking class.  It lit me up inside. He is probably just trying to butter me up but a part of me hopes he realizes I am only trying ot help him succeed.  So in all I feel that today is going to be good mostly because I am willing it to be.  I am sure I will have to redirect students who are being off task, I probably will get more fliers in my mailbox about how school funding is being cut for next year and I am sure once this extra coffee wears off I will probably be a little tired but in all it is going to be a good day.

So I hope you have a good day and I hope if you are having a craptastic day I hope you choose to see and recognize even the little itty bitty bright spots that are there.
Plus here is me with an emu... and emu!!!!

New Music? Yes, Please!

When I was a kid it seemed really easy to find good new music to listen too.  Every Sunday I would tape 120 minutes on MTV, watch it the next day and then run out to the cd store and buy whatever new band I found that tickled my fancy.  Anymore it is hard to find new music.  I feel like I have to sift through bands to just find something really interesting.  So when I do find something amazing I feel inclined to share it.   I sound like a grumbly old man but being a teen in the 90s and MTV actually playing videos at that point in time it was sooo much easier to find good music.   Working with high school kids I will get the occasional student with outstanding music taste that will introduce me to really good current bands but that seems to be rare anymore.  I get annoyed when they don't even know who David Bowie is.  Oh well.  I guess that is why we have David Bowie Fridays in my classroom.

On to my new and exciting music!

Grizzly Bear.  My husband introduced me to this band.  I can't get enough of them.  They really grow on you and are perfect for the mellow sleepy fall weather.


Ida Maria.  A good friend of our played this for us the other night.  I was surprised because usually he listens to hard core screamfest music. I also can't help but love her awkward accent and raspy voice.


Fleet Foxes.  A student played this band for me at the end of last school year.  It is dreamy and nostalgic.