Quilt Top

The back is black with white polka dots. I'm not sure yet about the binding. It's all Mary Engelbreit fabric, but no "little girls." Anyway, it has been fun to do. I'm going to do as much quilting on it as I can before I leave, but then take it with me. I already sent the second quilt up, since I knew I wouldn't have room in my suitcase for both.

Ciao for now.

It's all over but the coughing...

I'm sure those of you who follow my health have been holding your breath to find out if I have actually recovered. Well, almost. Still a stuffy ear that I can't hear with, but that's a minor detail. I don't hear very well even when both ears are working!

I'm kind of excited getting ready to go to Richland, Washington to spend a few days with Leah. I think I'm spending too long (12 days) but we managed that much time together on our cruise last summer, so we think we can do it. She has some really fun things planned for us, including a concert and a quilt show. I am taking two quilts to be quilted. Don't know if we'll finish them both, but with two good days of Conference and her Netflix Instant Play Roku we should get a lot done!

I am realizing that my quilts all sort of look alike. I have several favorite patterns, it's true, and I seem to have frequently chosen similar color palettes. Even the one I'm just finishing for Nicole looks a lot the same. The fabrics are very different on the one I'm making for myself, though, so that will be nice.

It's Monday and I'm not still whining!

It's Day 3 of my medication and I'm not whining any more. I'm a little unstable because of my ear infection, but the pain is manageable and my only real problem is that I probably could sleep all day again today like I did yesterday! And i don't know that it's a real problem, anyway, since I'm not doing anything that can't wait a day or two!So thanks for being patient with me, my friends. My fingers probably needed a few days away from quilting, anyway!

Last night I watched the old BBC "Importance of Being Earnest" with Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. It was fun, but not the best version I've ever seen. I think there's one with Gwyneth Paltrow I need to check out.

It's already the Ides of March! How can this be???!!! And in just a few days, the first day of Spring!! I am really wishing I'd put in some bulbs last fall. This year I will do it for sure! Since daffodils, tulips and pansies are my favorite flowers, I should think I would make sure I had some every year. I try to hang on to winter as long as I can, but inevitably I must acknowledge that it's over. It's much less painful when I am enjoying tulips in the neighborhood, and some are coming out already.

Where in the world is Judy Stuart on Saturday morning?

Ummm, at the urgent care, that's where. Apparently my whining was not without cause. I have a roaring ear infection, which nicely pounds my head, of course, with every heartbeat, and scarlet red sinus cavities, hence the double dose of major headache. Unlike Libby, I don't really care that much about attention on my birthday. I want attention when I'm sick (in case you haven't guessed!) and when my visiting teachers come for their monthly visit. (And it ain't gonna happen with my current two sweet VTs.)

There's a wonderful rainstorm outside today, so I am tempted to just stay up and watch, but I plan to take a lortab and go out for as long as I can! Actually, when I feel like this, I am such a baby that I just want them to put me in the hospital and keep me drugged for a couple of days. I'm making up for all those times I felt rotten and had little kids that had to be taken of no matter what! Or a husband. You know what I mean.

I did my "brave" thing when I gave birth to six babies, most of them huge!!! It's just too bad my kids don't know anything about that. They just remember all my complaining when I was having multiple back spasms one time in Orem. Hey, they would have done the same thing under the circumstances. Next time just shoot me!!

I was going to do pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for my family. Today. Sorry, guys. Maybe mid-week!

I have a bunch of Netflix movies in my instant queue downstairs. I'll wrap up in blankets on one of the couches, and be in old-movie heaven!!

Dragging around but soon to be much better!!

I have spent most of this week trying to sleep off a bad cold. I think finally today I'm feeling better. Still a lot of congestion, but the headache doesn't seem to be so bad, and I'm just generally feeling a little better emotionally. I get so cranky and whiny when I'm sick! My only real responsibility now is teaching SS again this week. But the lesson is about Joseph of Egypt, a story I absolutely love and which speaks to me about so many principles that have been important in my life.

I did manage to go to two programs with grandkids. Madison was in a "traveling show" at her school; the fifth graders did songs and dance routines from the 70s, so it was quite fun for me. Brought back lots of memories, especially of Reed, Scott and LeeAnn during those years. Not that I wasn't already old in the seventies, but at least I knew the music! I couldn't believe the difference in the kids' sizes. Maddy, who I think is fairly tall, was about half the height of some of the other girls, who looked to me like teachers aides!

I remember my older kids coming home from elementary school one day in the mid-seventies, telling me they were going to have an "oldies" party, meaning the Fifties. I was shocked, since the 50s was "my time" and "just a few years ago." Well, now their "oldies" parties are the 90s! Unbelievable!

Tonight Echo's first grade classes had a "math play" in which the kids did songs and dances about numbers--counting, clocks, nursery rhymes, etc. involving numbers. It was very cute. It's fun to see how some of the kids just get so totally into it, and others don't engage at all. Last week I went to Link's school for a program, and it was the same way. Funny little people! One thing I can say for sure: I'm glad my days of teaching first grade are OVER!!!

On that note, I got some very positive feedback from BYU on the possibility of a part-time position there, except there is a hiring freeze for both full-time and adjunct faculty. It has felt really good to get such positive responses to my resume. Now I just have to wait and see. The one section the second block of summer at UVU seems pretty definite, but of course nothing is certain until papers are signed. As the professors there both told me, it will be pretty boring for me, given all of the high visibility and impact work I have done, but I find so many things interesting that I'll probably enjoy the students. At least for awhile!!

I meant to have Sandra come in and hold up Nicole's quilt top so I could take a photo of it to post, but didn't have the energy when the time came. I have to put the back on. It has ended up being fairly large, but I think it's very pretty. And I have started piecing the quilt top I want for my bed.

I will be going to Leah's on March 25, coming back April 5th or 6th, I can't remember which. Last year I visited her over Conference Weekend, and it was really fun quilting while we listened to Conference. This year I have two quilts to take up. I will probably mail them ahead or they'll take up my whole suitcase!

Sarah posted the most darling video of Eli and Charlie at their ward talent show. Her blog site is such a delight! I really appreciate her diligence with posting. I can't look at her site without grinning the whole time. Those 2 little boys are adorable. I don't often comment, though. I would quickly run out of superlatives! I would love to be able to go back to see them. I'll be in Indiana in June, maybe I can work something out.

Going Adjunct

Well, I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go to work, and the least onerous job I can find, I think, is as an adjunct instructor at UVU. I went over yesterday and talked to the coordinator of the Communication Dept. program and she asked me to teach a public speaking class the second half of summer term. So there I go! I have formally applied for the position. I should be able to get something in the fall, as well. It's a required course, so the book, syllabus, schedule, etc. are already determined. Shouldn't be too hard to do.

On Wed. I met with the dept. chair in business management and he introduced me to the person who coordinates their required communication class for business majors. She may ask me to do that class off-campus in Draper in the fall. So we'll see. It's not a lot of $$, but better than anything else I could probably find, and certainly better than substitute teaching!! Thanks to Libby and Ethan for getting me energized and organized with UVU info and incentives. They made it very easy by identifying the various contacts and suggesting approaches.

I also have applied for a couple of part-time positions at BYU, but I am sure than unless I make some contacts there with people I know, I won't have much chance of being hired. I'll see about that.

My resume would indicate that I can do bigger and better things than teach public speaking, but I don't know that I want to spend much energy. I would love to be involved with strategic planning, cultural changes, etc. but I think my time for that is past.

We have had a lovely snowstorm yesterday afternoon and overnight. It will surely all melt with 50 degree weather on its way, but I have enjoyed it for now.