Well I spent all day Friday and Most of Saturday... and most of it is done. I'm pretty happy with the results. Now if my singing sounds as good as I look...
I'll model it for you all when I finish the lacing on the bodice. Unfortunately I don't have an eyelet punch ($26 bucks is a lot to spend for 10 eyelets) so I'm going to find a different way to lace the front. (Unless you have an eyelet punch in which case call me asap)
Here are some pictures
The pattern I bought. I wanted to make the outfit on the left. I used green for the skirt with blue ribbon trim, a white shirt, and blue corduroy bodice.
Fred helped me cut out all the pattern pieces, and insert the elastic in the sleeves. He's thinking of making an outfit for himself as well.
Super Poofy!
The skirt turned out perfectly.
The back of the blue bodice. Sewing boning is difficult.
My mom wrote an excellent blog post about our camping trip. You can read about it, and see some great pictures at jkadvents.blogspot.com
Here are some additional pictures that I took.
Brice Creek Trail
As I was waiting for our belongings to dry out from the storm I was practicing my madrigals. During the song Merry Month of May, a butterfly landed on my music.
I'm very fortunate. Let me say that again. I am VERY fortunate. I work at a great school, with great people, who love and respect me. I look forward every day to seeing my students, fellow teachers, and my desk. Its one of two things in life that have ever worked out perfectly for me. (Ruben is the other thing)
This year I'm once again teaching the ERC class (Educational Resource Center) at Judson Middle School. My students are all middle school aged, but academically way behind their non disabled peers. (as in 2nd-4th grade level academically) Some have autism, some have genetic disorders, some have cerebral palsy, some have hearing or vision disabilities, and some have an intellectual disability.
As their teacher I'm in charge of curriculum design that is specifically created to meet their diverse needs. Every student has an individualized education plan, and I have to write achievable meaningful goals for them. I teach 4-5 different subjects every day, some to the entire group at once, but often in small groups. The only way having a successful classroom like this is by the grace of God, and Bob and Stacey. Bob Finicle and Stacey Schaub are the educational assistants in the classroom. They are incredible people. We plan together, laugh at our mistakes, each others mistakes, and sometimes even get teary together. As a team we are able to accomplish great things with a hard group of kids, with diverse needs, under difficult circumstances.
So at the end of the school year when the prospect of a long summer and long absence from each other we chose a date and marked our calendars, to get together for a back to school barbecue at Bob's farm. Stacey promised a reeses peanut butter cake, Bob promised delicious burgers, and I promised something side dish like.
So just as we planned back in June, on August 20 we met at Bob's to have delicious burgers. I brought grilled stuffed jalepenos, roasted cajun potato salad, and a tossed lettuce salad with spicy orange dressing. Stacey indeed brought a reeses peanut butter cup cake. We had a lovely evening catching up on summer events, sitting by the outdoor fire and enjoying a lovely summer evening.
The frog tank, with a tiny frog on the grass.
Ruben climbing yet another tree.
evening sunlight
Reeses cake (thankfully he didn't fall into it)
Fred pretending to eat the Reeses cake. Fortunately he didn't sneeze or drool. (I hope)
Ruben with Finn Finicle, one of the nicest dogs I've ever met.
Here are the pictures Ru took from his trip to the Rogue River and the jet boat
He went on Jerry's Jet boats, and did the 104 mile wilderness and white water trip.
The following narration is by Ruben:
About half way through the trip there we stopped by the elk area and see if we could get a couple good pictures. The only thing that made us come was the fact that there was some elk roadkill on the way and the one lonely elk that escaped its wild habitat and cant find its way back. Got good pictures though!
The dinosaurs are coming to attack!
When we got there the black and white dog was playing a game of pass the rock. the videos will all be on our YouTube channel SuperYouRu and that's where all the silly vids go.
A view.
That is one old boat dude
Starting off with the jet boat trip there is some happy birds!
Probably has diarrhea
more happy birds
look at my toes
Dats all folks... Remember check out the youtube channel!!!
Thursday I got my hair cut. I was debating what color/style to get, and finally as I was waiting for my turn in the chair I found a cute picture in a magazine. I asked Anne (Salon Redd) if she could make my hair look like that, and she said she could, so she chopped off 6 inches and started in with the foils. I was so happy when I got home and went to bed, I could sleep without being tangled up in hair. I washed it and it only took a minute. It dried in only a few hours. I'm liking the short hair thing. Its even kind of curly if I don't comb it when its wet.
On Friday I dropped off Ru with his dad. They were going to take a jet boat ride on the Rogue river. I was super excited for Ru and packed him lots of warm clothes. There were thunderstorms raging in the area.
I drove up to Woodburn to audition for a choir. Its a small group called the Salem Madrigal Singers. You guessed it, they sing madrigals. Elke posted an ad on Craigslist that they needed an alto. Here's a video she posted of one of their practices. Elke is the one closest to the camera. She's super nice.
I think I picked it up fairly quickly. I enjoyed the music, and the challenge, and getting to sing, and the nice ladies. I don't get a lot of lady time. I get my sheet music this week. The "Madrigals" dress in renaissance outfits and sing at gatherings. Super geeky fun :)
Saturday Fred and I cleaned house and set up the bed. I actually cried I was so happy to have it set up. I've never had a bed before, just mattresses on the floor. (nice mattresses but still...) We hung the Klimt print above the bed and it looked lovely there. I watched a zillion episodes of Cheers while I cleaned my room and the house. I love the one liners.
Sunday I had a headache and laid around till I felt better, then worked out hard. Ruben had lots of great stories to tell about his trip! A lady had bought him a hot chocolate, he saw a bald eagle, black bear, fisherman, and he had a fantastic time. I'll try to get him to write a blog post about it tomorrow.
Monday I went in to the doctor for a stress test and was pronounced fit. Fred and Ru were still in bed when I got home so I cooked them a delicious cheezy egg breakfast. We went for a bike ride around south Salem and stopped at the bike shop. My old Schwin is in dire need of replacement. Its actually dangerous to ride because you push on the pedal and sometimes you have a different gear, or it slips out of gear entirely. (Its a three speed shifter in the hub)
All the bikes at the shop were way out of my price range, but the employee who was helping us not only gave us a lesson on bikes, wheels, frames, spokes, brakes, and pricing, he also said he repairs bikes and although he couldn't sell it to me (due to conflict of interest, he did work at a bike shop) he had the perfect bike for me at his house that he had recently restored. I said that if perhaps the bike was on craigslist I might see the add and call him about it. He replied that he had a different bike on CL already. I looked it up and got his number. I'm going to meet him Wednesday morning, and perhaps I'll get a new (used) bike.
When we got home I made my favorite chicken curry over brown rice, and then we went to buy some hooks and have a key made for Ruben. It was kind of a rite of passage I think, for the boy to have his own key. We got our landline telephone hooked up too, so if he gets home before me he can call me to let me know he made it safely.
We went grocery shopping and I was just exhausted. I ate a bowl of cereal and went to bed.
We have quite a list of things to get done before I go to back to work, and Fred leaves for California.
This post is all about Emily's health so skip it if you aren't interested.
Fred and I are working on improving our diet before school starts. We are using an app called My Fitness Pal which helps track your calories burned, calories eaten, and most of the major nutrients like calcium, sodium, and vitamins.
I'm not really trying to lose weight, I just want my muscles back. All that time I was doing martial arts I was so fit and strong. Since I've moved to Salem I've battled mysterious illness and spent way too much time stressing at my desk. I lost a LOT of muscle, so much that going upstairs was tiring. I gained some nice insulation last spring as well. I eat a pretty healthy diet because I have insanely high cholesterol, I just love cookies.
A few weeks ago I got the Jillian Michaels workout DVDs, a heart monitor, the Abs diet book, and I started getting in shape again.
This doesn't make very interesting blogging however.
I've been to lots of doctors this summer having lots of tests ran on my heart, lungs, and head. Last winter and again on July 3 I have had a terrible chest pain which caused me to lose my appetite, energy, and put me in bed for weeks. I don't have asthma (my pulimary function is excellent) I don't have a heart problem (the ultrasound and the ekg were normal) Today I went in for a stress test. My resting heart rate was around 55 (marithoner said the tech) my blood pressure was below normal, and as my heart rate climbed during the treadmill test my chest pressure/pain symptom didn't get any worse. With my heart beating 171 beats per minute I was jogging up the treadmill hill and finally was ready to stop. The verdict from the stress test is that I shouldn't have any trouble doing anything, and my fitness level was somewhere between athlete and marithoner. After the test my blood pressure dropped a lot making me dizzy (this usually happens to me after exercise) and she said it might be good if I had a recovery drink like Gatorade.
So I'm going to continue with allergy testing, work on my posture, and keep up the Jillian workouts. I just hope the horrible crippling chest pain doesn't come back, and the pain and pressure I continually feel now just fades away.
Apart from running errands Ruben and I've been homebodys for a while.
I've been working on my abs, housecleaning, organization, deskwork, lesson plans, and watching Cheers.
Ruben's been working on Lego airplanes, stop motion videos, perfecting his belly flop onto the floatie, playing nerf guns with the neighbors, cursive writing, long multiplication (yea that was my idea), survival skills (watching Bear Grylls), and consuming sweets.
I finished staining my bed yesterday, I think today I may add a coat of something to make it shiny and indestructible. We are also going to plant some seeds for more lettuce and overwintering kale. The garden is awesome with the sunflowers about to bloom and a plethora of cherry tomatoes. The strawberries really are ever bearing as well.
The first bunch of pictures were from Mom's when we went to pick up Freddie last Friday. We stopped to smell the roses. Well just this one. The lillies were fantastic as well.
Fred watering Ru
I lost
Even though it looks as if Ruben is losing this particular wrestling match, he won by fart victory a mere 2 seconds later.
fresh peach cobbler
Stain complete
Before picture... I'm headed to the salon today
Ru's treat for hanging out with me at the doctor's office today (without whining).
