Charzard

 My son loves pokemon and this year wanted to be Charzard.  I was able to find the body of the costume on ebay, as a pajama outfit, but it was missing the wings.  So, today, I headed to the fabric store and hardware store and managed to make the wings in a couple hours.  Thanks mom and dad for teaching me that all things are possible with a little creativity, time and imgination.  A bit of trail and error and my son is happy with the results.

One happy pokemon, ready for Halloween!

the newest driver

Here he is, the newest driver in our house.  He got a 94 on the test, only failing to stop behind the line twice and to check carefully once.  No fatal errors so I guess this means he is safe enough to drive on his own.  My stress level is supposed to go down now, but someone needs to tell my brain this!

I went to the doctors today, found out I am crazy, need to cut back my work load and let other people do things for me.  My doctor even offered to write me a note to get me out of work.  I just wish she could write me a doctor's note to get me out of paying my bills.  She told me my boys should be cooking dinner every night.  She says dinner doesn't have to be fancy.  Um, hello.  We are non fancy people so we never have fancy dinners.

I am pulling out the old crock pot, dusting off the recipes and going to try and plan ahead some meals for the week.  I think with a little better planning around here, the stress level could go down a bit.

The first doctor I saw also prescribed a 'mood enhancer' because she thinks some of my issues are caused my hormones out of whack.  She gave me some anti-depressants and thinks that will help with some of the problems I'm having.  But, then I went to the headache clinic and that doctor told me to hold off while we try to work on the migraines.  Messing with too many meds at the same time doesn't let us figure out which one is helping.  All I know is I feel like I'm going crazy.  With teachers yelling at me and stealing my stuff, I sure could use a break.  It sure would be nice to only work half time and Thanksgiving break can't come fast enough.  I'm glad I had today off and Monday is only a half a day. 

I will be resting up this weekend, getting some much needed quilting time in, enjoying the beautiful weather and calling my dad to wish him a happy 82nd birthday.  Finding time for things I enjoy doing is very important right now.

my friend Sandy

My teaching assistant friend is a quilter.  She has been bringing me a few quilt tops to quilt up for her.  In exchange, she has been purchasing some new quilt designs for my robotic machine.  This morning. I'm stitching out a Christmas quilt for her mom with a snowflake design on it.  I just love that the machine can stitch away while I'm doing other things.  I also love that the stitching issues are fixes, at least for now.  Who knows what the next 5 minutes will bring :)

I'm also glad that I have a three day weekend!  I have two doctor appointments and my son has his driving test tomorrow so I have the day off.  It is also grading weekend, which means super busy, but that's ok, because I get a day away from the people who are driving me insane.  My co-workers have learned how to push my buttons by stealing my stuff, not setting up or cleaning up after the labs we do and generally just doing everything that is annoying.  Yesterday one of the teachers who took something of mine, lost it and then accused me of losing it, came in my room, yelled at me from across the room in front of my class and accused me of taking HER stuff.  In front of my students!  I was actually very calm and repeated three times that I didn't take her things.  What I wanted to say was that I don't take things without asking, unlike her.  And I don't lie, unlike her.  But, I was calm. 

I'm counting the days until she retires.  They haven't been able to fire her.  The good part about a teacher union is they can't fire you because you are old and expensive.  The bad part is they can't fire you because you are a bad teacher.  This is the same teacher who left chemicals in the sink that when they mix with water, explode.  You can probably guess, I didn't see them in the sink, turned on the water, and EXPLOSION!  If I was a foot shorter, I would have no face.  She denied leaving the chemical in the sink eventhough she was the only one using the chemical that year.  Nothing happened to her.  She also spilled chemicals all over another of my experiments and ruined it, right before I needed it.  I went to the vice principal on that one because I had proof that she was the one who did it and nothing happened to her.  The VP just told me to do a different lesson plan that day and make up a new experiment for the next day.  I cried.  She has yelled at me in front of my class before, nothing has happened to her when I told the principal.  To say that I'm frustrated is an understatement.  They just really can't do anything when it is her word against mine and they won't pt cameras in the building for proof.  They can't or won't take the word of 30 students as evidence either.  So, I grin, bear it and have migraines and pray that she retires sooner rather than later.

Then, I come home and quilt.

I actually quilted

 To keep my mind off things and to celebrate fixing my machine I quilted three quilts this weekend.  I'm having some more health issues with my uterus rebelling against me.  The doctor says I'm too young for menopause and doesn't know what is causing the troubles.  It may be a side effect of the migraine meds, what else is new.  I go in on Friday to the headache clinic, not that I'm expecting anything new to come of the visit.  Maybe if I just had more babies, my problems would all be solved.  46 isn't too old is it :)  I've been having so much stress at work this year with three new teachers there is always someone to help, something to set up or clean up.  I need to remember to take time for myself, my kids, my husband.  I'm learning to say no to some things, or at least trying.

We found out today that my husband's brother is having some major heart issues and had to close his landscape business.  He has been in the hospital two out of the last four weeks and has no health insurance.  He is living with his son's family now.  Prayers are appreciated for him.

I'm really glad I got my quilting machine working again.  It was a long, stressful struggle this past week, but watching the machine stitch away is relaxing for me.  Plus, knowing that the finished product will bring comfort to a hurting child makes me happy too.  I need happy.

I hope to be posting more days now that I feel more in control.  Writing is good therapy too.

so busy

 I've been so busy with school that I've been neglecting everything else.  Well, no more!  My quilting machine has been acting up and I finally broke down and said I need to order the spring that will fix the problem.  Problem is, the person who makes the spring says they no longer make it because it no longer fixes the problem!  Say what?  They say there is a different fix for the problem. Ok, send me in the right direction, I'm all about fixing problems.

Off to the hardware store to wander around to find the little metal pieces, a few bolts and nuts and I'm fiddling away.  At first, I tried fixing the metal pieces to the side of the frame, like this.  But then go back to the picture and see they are supposed to attach to the wheel, there on the right.  I moved them and the thing is stitching much better.  I don't want to declare it perfect just yet, but it is much better.

I thought part of the problem was because the backing fabric is painted.  The white flowers are thick, and so some of the skipped stitches most likely are because the needle isn't happy going through those flowers.  Maybe, but now that I have the bracket in the right spot, no more skipped stitches and it is the same backing fabric.

I sure hope I get the trouble fixed soon.  Although I have a ton of grading to do this weekend, I also have a ton of quilting to do.  I've been slacking on the quilting and need to get some boy quilts done.  I just know the Nurse Family Partnership will be calling soon and asking for quilts.  I have plenty of girl quilts ready, but not a single boy quilt is to be found.

While fixing my machine, I let the 50 pound beast rest on my arm.  It hurt, but I didn't realize that it was pushing into my arm hard enough to leave bruises and pinch off a nerve.  I still have nerve damage this morning that runs down my thumb.  Yesterday my thumb was completely numb all day.  Today the feeling is coming back a bit, so that's good news, but it feels like when you leg falls asleep and starts to wake up.  And the bruises look like someone grabbed me.  Who knew quilting could be so dangerous?