On Friday, I listed off a bunch of plans for the weekend. I thought I should post an update of how that all went.

• Remove the books from the bookshelves in the family room, in preparation for demo’ing it. Check. Took half an hour on Friday evening.
• Make progress on my 17 page paper. Other homework: work on portfolio, do assessment analysis, complete standards matrix. I’d like to not spend all of Thanksgiving weekend doing homework. Completed the standards matrix and glossary and posted both on my portfolio. Didn’t attempt the assessment analysis or the paper.
• Get the left side bust of the slip sewn (and potentially more, but I don’t want to be too ambitious). Sewed up left bust, then attached bust to front. Attached lace to back, then stitched up sides. Left: shoulder straps and hem.
  
• Go to Sherwin Williams to look at that paint (and maybe at their decorative finishes, which are not easy to see on their website). Negatory. Decided it would only take 5 minutes after work to grab the paint chip, so it got postponed.
• Bake a test pumpkin pie (with homemade pumpkin). I’m hoping to bring one to Thanksgiving dinner (but have not had confirmation on exactly what it is we’re supposed to bring), and I think testing that out would be a good idea, having only made pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin before. Also no progress here. I did pick out several pumpkin pie / bread recipes and some fudge recipes for Thanksgiving, and supplies needed to make these have been purchased. That’s something, right?
• Vacuum, clean the bathroom, other boring house tasks. Um, yeah. For yet another week, I have completely neglected cleaning my house, unless you count vacuuming in the basement after demo’ing it.
• Take pictures to share here. Really this is only half done. I took some of the pictures I meant to, and then forgot to take the rest.
• Take pictures of some more stuff to put on Craigslist. Done. Two bookshelves / DVD shelves sold, and the bench / shelf in the living room sold. Just the little table is still hanging around.
• Sleep. I’m always quite successful at this (though I did have problems getting to sleep and/or staying asleep, so perhaps I wasn’t all that successful. But I did sleep in both days.
• Go back to the place that installed the remote unlock on my car and have them disconnect the horn – I am really annoyed with that “feature.” Yeah, totally bailed on doing this. Just didn’t want to deal with it. Another day.
• Install the cover on the air conditioner (I think enough snow has melted that we can walk out there and do this). The cover for the grill arrived yesterday, a month before the estimated delivery date, and so we are now… 95% winterized. Just that hole by the deck that needs to be filled or partially filled, and the sides need to be boarded off from pesky raccoons. Air conditioner is sufficiently protected from winter. The deck is still in need of some love. So that gets us up to… 97% winterized. Yay us!

This next week is going to be rather fluid. I have a master list (in my head) of what needs to get done (and what I’d like to accomplish), but I think it’s all going to be played by ear. Tomorrow I’ll be doing my observation hours at the high school (instead of working), and I have class at night. I’m hoping to bake some tonight and Wednesday night, but we’ll see. Then there’s Thanksgiving, and all that homework, and hopefully a trip to visit and the boys (head’s up: I need some assistance with a wrap dress that I cannot seem to make sense of). I hope to avoid Black Friday shopping like the plague, and think that it might be time to switch out my “fall sewing projects” for my “winter sewing projects.” What do you think?

That’s what went down last night. We went over the pre-referral process, which was only quasi-useful (mostly because I assume, perhaps erroneously, that every district does it slightly differently and I’ll have to be initiated on the system in place when I finally get a job). After the break we went over “tips for getting and keeping a job.” I’m sure the undergrads found it useful, as most of them are about 20 years old and still living at home with their parents, and have probably never interviewed for a professional job. For those of us who have, however, there was nothing new. Dress, act, and speak professionally. Be punctual. Don’t make waves until you get tenure. Etc.

However, I’m now at the very end of that class. “Just” the paper, portfolio, glossary of terms, and standards matrix. Oh, and those volunteer hours (but I think I’ve got that all set up for next Tuesday).

There’s even less for my Tuesday class, now that our Assessment Plans are done and I finished my final exam (a week before it was due – oops!). Just the assessment analysis left, and taking the final exam (which shouldn’t be a big deal, since we’re all writing one, based on the exact same things – I’m guessing they will all be very similar).

So, I got home before 8:30 last night, which was awesome. has started taking a kick-boxing class (or something similar, involving gloves and it’s at a martial arts studio, and beyond that my eyes kind of glaze over), so he was gone and I had the house to myself. You’re not going to believe what I did with my free time.

I turned on my sewing machine.

I know!

I finally got the lace sewn onto the right bust piece of the slip I’ve been trying to make. Things did not go so well with the left side, and I ended up cutting out a second piece, which also went horribly. We’ll try again (with a third piece) tonight. Should I mention that this part is all step 1 of the instructions? I’m pretty sure that after this, it’s easy. (Gather bust, sew to main body of slip, sew up side seams, hem with lace.) My lace attaching skills leave something to be desired, but it looks pretty good regardless. No pictures, only because it’s dark out all the time now (all the time that I’m not at work, that is). We’ve reached that time of year when I need to remember to take lots of pictures over the weekend and then carefully mete them out over the course of the week. I’ll try to get back into the habit.

I also finished season5 of Star Trek: DS9. Thrilling, I know. Then I went back to watching Eureka, which is a fun little sci-fi show (set it modern-day America) available on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Unintentionally, I found a paint color for the basement that both of us could agree on. I wasn’t looking – I’d passed that torch since every color I came up with garnered a “meh” response. But, while catching up on some blogs, I saw a post on Remodelaholic, which was a repost from House of Turquoise, (which I think is a repost from Studio10, or maybe iet’s Decor Chick – I’m getting a bit confused) is listed towards the end of this post on favorite blue paint colors, and was used by M.O.D. in a kitchen. Whew! At any rate, between those posts there are enough photos to get an idea of how the color looks in different lights and rooms. It should look really nice with white trim and the white built-ins (OK, the cream carpet will look dingy for a few years, but that’s just going to have to be OK). Oh, if you didn’t want to click through to all the links, here it is:

Rainwashed from Sherwin Williams

However, you get a much better idea of the color from those blog posts – it’s not nearly as grey as that little sample appears. Of course, now we have to go to the store and see the color swatch in person, because 1) it’s prudent, and 2) there’s no way I want to use it if it’s actually that grey. We are not having a grey basement. (I might go for grey carpeting… I rather like that idea. But not grey walls.)

So… progress!

This weekend, plans are to …

• Remove the books from the bookshelves in the family room, in preparation for demo’ing it.
• Make progress on my 17 page paper. Other homework: work on portfolio, do assessment analysis, complete standards matrix. I’d like to not spend all of Thanksgiving weekend doing homework.
• Get the left side bust of the slip sewn (and potentially more, but I don’t want to be too ambitious).
• Go to Sherwin Williams to look at that paint (and maybe at their decorative finishes, which are not easy to see on their website).
• Bake a test pumpkin pie (with homemade pumpkin). I’m hoping to bring one to Thanksgiving dinner (but have not had confirmation on exactly what it is we’re supposed to bring), and I think testing that out would be a good idea, having only made pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin before.
• Vacuum, clean the bathroom, other boring house tasks.
• Take pictures to share here.
• Take pictures of some more stuff to put on Craigslist.
• Sleep.
• Go back to the place that installed the remote unlock on my car and have them disconnect the horn – I am really annoyed with that “feature.”
• Install the cover on the air conditioner (I think enough snow has melted that we can walk out there and do this). The cover for the grill arrived yesterday, a month before the estimated delivery date, and so we are now… 95% winterized. Just that hole by the deck that needs to be filled or partially filled, and the sides need to be boarded off from pesky raccoons.

That’s not really all that much, all things considered. Several of those are 5 minute tasks. Maybe I’ll be able to update you on Monday with a mostly crossed-off list. Hey, a girl can dream!

It’s not fun. It might be less fun than taking a test, especially if you’re writing a test for a grade.

For my assessment class, one of our last assignments is to create a final exam for our class. On the last day, we will each get one of our classmates’ exams to take. Our grade will be based mostly on the exam we create, and partly on our answers on the one we take (our teacher suggested 60-40, though it seems to be a bit fluid). The worst part? We have to include an answer key for our own exam, which means basically we have to take that test too. That’s the part I’m on right now, and it is no fun.

My assessment plan is due tomorrow, and it’s… 80% completed. Maybe 85%. I just have some descriptions of formative assessments to write, a 1-2 paragraph overview of the unit, and some polishing. Maybe 75%. I still need to acquire an assessment sample to analyze. I think that’s it for that class.

For my exceptional learners class, I have a research paper (that I’ve done the research for, technically, in that I’ve found the articles I needed and printed them off, and some of them have been read) and a portfolio. And some volunteer hours.

I am getting anxious for the end of the semester. As much as I have enjoyed my classes this fall (and I have, for a change), I want my life back. I keep reading blogs and seeing all the cool things people do with their spare time, pretty quilts and clothing and knitting and embroidery … I would like to do some of that too, please. I’d be happy with just a little bit. Sadly, I think my course load is heavier next semester (including a methods course that involves lots of classroom hours). (Silver lining: I get the summer off! Yay!)

So, this weekend was spent doing homework, obviously. Our power did go out briefly on Saturday afternoon. I was afraid I was going to have to leave the house and go to a coffee shop just so I could get my homework done (my laptop will only live for so long without power). Thankfully, it was only out for 20 minutes. We lost a major branch on on our locust tree and will have to call the neighbor to fix it. (He does tree maintenance for a job, and just put a sign out in front of their house with a phone number to call. That should be a fun call. “Hi, we need a branch removed from a tree, can you do that? Excellent. Just look out of your house towards the grey house next door – see that big branch? Yeah, that’s the one.” OK, that was a lot funnier in my head.)

There was bowling on Sunday night, which was fun. It was the first time I’d gone bowling when it wasn’t part of a youth group (or college) event. It wasn’t all that different, truth be told. I did score 396 over 4 games, so I feel really good about that. (96, 99, 96, 105). , , and the latter’s boy all had fun. , by the way, was looking hot! Running dozens of miles a week will do that for you, I suppose.

I took a break from doing homework (there’s only so long you can stare at the same assignments, not having any breakthroughs, before you need a change of scenery) to help clean out the walk-in closet in his office. It wasn’t his stuff – it was our stuff, and it all needed to go into the filing cabinets that we got for free. Well, a lot of it needed to get thrown away, too. Only one box left!

My grandpa starts dialysis this week, and is still in the same nursing home. There’s a meeting this week to discuss long-term care, which sounds promising to me.

I hope to have a new Facebook picture soon – I finally got new glasses and they should come in by Wednesday. That’s worthy of an updated photo, right? I’m still using one from our wedding, because it’s one of the more recent good photos of myself that I have. Blah. Did I always have an aversion to getting my photo taken? These days I usually feel like a big dork when a camera is pointed in my direction.

It is a billion degrees in my office, and on a day where I dressed for it to be cold (like it usually is). I’m not feeling well as a result. Maybe lunch will help.

I’ll post pictures from the big snow storm tomorrow (or tonight, if I need to procrastinate and avoid doing homework). I think I got some good shots.