so here are some photos of the gals who took my daytime sketch & crop class. you can see they are ALL hard at work on their layouts (well most of them are! LOL!) they got to make 2 - 2 page layouts, so they were trying to finish them all up with photos, journaling and embellies and such.

sketch & crop

just click on the photo, then hit slideshow to see the whole album!

we had a record HIGH attendance for the class - 14 in all! we had a great time! if you can crop during the day, you might want to join us in august.

I am PUMPED! (I never realized I would miss school so much after taking a semester off.)

My schedule:

MONDAY: work at the Writing Center from about 9-3ish. This is the best job I've ever had (I'm basically like a writing tutor), and I'm going to miss it so much when I graduate.

TUESDAY/THURSDAY: I got all my classes on these days!

• 9:30-10:45: GEL 230 - Prehistoric Life (getting in another random science class for my B.A.)
• 11:00-12:15: PSY 383 - Learning and Memory
• 12:30-1:45: ENG 236 - English Literature (some more modern stuff, I think)
• 2:00-3:15: PSY 340 - Studies in Personality
• 3:30-4:45: ENG 375 - Intro to Linguistics

That's 15 credits right there, even though I was only planning on taking 12. I was going to drop PSY 340, but I just can't get myself to do it yet. I think I may just go for it and keep all five classes. I should know early on if it's going to be too much for me to handle, and as long as I drop something within the first week or two, I can still get a full refund.

But if I don't take 15 credits this semester, I run a higher risk of needing to squeeze in 18 credits during my last semester if I want to graduate by December of 2009. If I study for a couple hours every night after Anna goes to bed, and add a few extra hours here and there over the weekend when my parents can watch her, I think it should be doable. I also hope that at least one of my professors puts a syllabus online before classes start so I can get ahead a little bit and take some of the pressure off. (Man, I feel like a dork!)

And what am I going to do with my life after graduation? I have no frickin' idea! (Well, I kind of have a vague idea...)

Because I love my Writing Center job so much, I'd really love to continue working with college students' writing -- like teach the freshman composition courses -- but that requires grad school. And grad school, of course, means lots of $$$$! But if I really want it, I can do it. I briefly mentioned the idea in a conversation with my mom a while ago, and she and my dad decided that they'd go ahead and help pay for it if it's something I really want. I think my decision will ultimately depend on my chances of getting a job afterwards (and if I can handle the possibility of living in my parents' basement for a few more years).

Other than that... maybe a copy editor for a newspaper or magazine? Last I heard, there's actually a shortage of newspaper copy editors. I'd love to get some experience at our school paper, but since it comes out in the morning, the copy editors work at 8 p.m. the night before. (Kind of hard to do when I have a baby and a 40-minute commute).

I'm sure I'll figure all this out in the next three semesters, so for now I'll just focus on how awesome this fall is going to be :)

Along with the damage it can cause to your body, it can also take a toll on your home life and your family’s home life. When you are constantly angry, you tend to take it out on those that are at your disposal. A family that has to walk on eggshells around one of its members can not be a happy and peacefully functioning unit.

The person feeling angry is not the only person that has to worry about stress. The friends and family of an angry individual may also be dealing with a tremendous amount of unhealthy stress. These individuals are also at risk for stress related illnesses and depression.

Try to think about the people you work with and the people you live with the next time that you feel an outburst coming on. They may be the source of your anger or they may not be. Your internal and external conflict may be causing bad side effects on you and your peers. Take a deep breath, step back from the situation, and allow yourself to come down before you overreact. You will find that not only are you happier but so is everyone around you.

By Carlos Todd, LPC http://www.masteringanger.com

Anger Management Institute of Texas is a certified Anderson & Anderson ® provider.

Anger Management Classes available 7 days a week in Houston, Texas.

Gregory A. Kyles, M.A., LPC, CEAP, CAMF
Director, Anger Management Institute of Texas
Diplomate, President of Texas Chapter
American Association of Anger Management Providers
http://www.ami-tx.com
http://www.ami-tx.org
http://gregorykyles.wordpress.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorykyles
http://www.myspace.com/anger_management_expert

I experienced a similar feeling yesterday when I first met Julie. I played it all cool while inside I was yelling "Famousbindingperson famousbindingperson!" I was much more relaxed today during the second day of Julie's workshop. Thankfully, I have returned to my normal level of spaz.

We started the day off with a collaborative art exercise. We were given 10 minutes to work on a piece that would eventually (maybe) turn into a book. After the 10 minutes, we had to exchange pieces with our table mate and work on her piece for 10 minutes. We repeated this for a total of one hour. We ended up with the piece we had started at the beginning of the exercise. My piece evolved into a map-folded form with a travel theme. We shared our pieces as a group, which was interesting. We were able to gain insight into how each pair of artists worked on their piece (it stirred the art therapist in me, all those interpersonal dynamics).

After completing the warm-up, we moved on to our timelines from day 1. We cut up our timelines into six 3.5" panels. Somehow, I managed to cut one of my panels 1/8" too narrow (meh). We focused on one event represented on each of the six panels and spent three minutes on free association writing. Afterwards, we reviewed the written text for each of the panels and looked for common themes. We were then asked to summarize concepts for each of the six panels, using specific details from the related events, if desired.

The free association part of the project was such a struggle for me. I should mention that one of the main reasons I am taking Julie's workshop is because I struggle with expressing myself through content in my books. I focus on blank books partially because it's safer - I don't have to take any risks by exposing what's on my mind. In some ways, I think I started blogging to help me with this issue.

Once the writing exercise was finished, we started working on the structure of the book. We learned that we would be attaching our six pieces to a Panel Book, a structure created by Hedi Kyle. To be honest with you, I had never heard of nor seen the form before. It is wicked cool. And I don't use the word "wicked" lightly. I am so making more of these. If you're aware of any books/references that have more information on this structure, I'd love to hear about it.

You can see the basic form below, before I attached my timeline panels. We will be working on these more tomorrow, so stay tuned!

My family came up for the Fourth of July, and it was alright. We explored a lot of Boston that I hadn't gotten the chance to see since I've been here, like North End and Chinatown (!!). We got some fantastic Italian pastries, got oodles of free samples, saw the fireworks, and I bought some sweet utensils from a shop in Chinatown that match my Hello Kitty bento. Only $3!

On Sunday, Jon and I got some takeout dim sum, which is not only the most fantastic concept ever, but it was quite delicious. We bought so much food, and all of it was gone by the end of the day. And since it was Jon's birthday, I let him watch the Wimbledon, which lasted for hours. I am such a good girlfriend, I know. Plus, I bought/gave him lots of other nice gifts, which included a batch of cookies. :)

Unfortunately, all of the food I've been eating has been making me feel incredibly insecure about my weight. I don't know - I feel like I've started to recover unintentionally. All of the stress from my summer program has been keeping my mind off of food and my weight. Plus, I know that once I do have the time to start working out again, the 5 lbs. I'm dying to lose will fall right off. Granted, I'll be underweight by then, but that weight is the weight I feel the most comfortable at. And this is where the insecurity comes in - here I am, weighing 5 lbs. more than I'd like to, and I'm just...unhappy. I feel like I'm failing, I guess, considering that this is the first significant amount of weight I've gained in nearly 2 years. I don't know - I guess 5 lbs. means more to me than it should.

Oh, and I FINALLY bought new panties today. I haven't gone underwear shopping since February (and YES, that is a long time, for me), so I popped into Victoria's Secret during my lunch hour today. Sadly, the one pair I really wanted had run out of smalls. On the bright side, I got a free tote bag. Bright yellow, and big enough for my stuff. ow, I can carry my ultra-feminine PINK bag instead of Jon's ultra-manly backpack. This alone has made my day. And I'm so going clothes shopping this weekend. I owe it to myself to add to my wardrobe.

Hell's Kitchen is coming on in 45 minutes, and that also will make my day. I'm rooting for Petrozza.

For my other two classes, last week and this week are midterm.  I took the midterm exam in Geometry and made an 88, but I honestly think there was a mistake in how the grade was figured.  The test was worth 300 points, and from what I remember, I lost 14 points for a couple of mistakes.  That means that I kept 286 points out of the 300, which means I should have made 95.  Add into this that the teacher mis-calculated the total points on one section of the test, and ended up giving each student 7 points to make up for his mistake.  With the extra points I should have had 293 points out of 300, which means I should have made 97.  I'm a little baffled where the 88 came from.  I could be forgetting a couple of problems that I got wrong, which is why I'm going to ask to see my test again tomorrow after class.

Tomorrow I take the midterm exam in History of Math.  I have no idea what to expect from this guy.  He's so vague, which I was warned about, but he's also extremely condescending, which just pisses me off.  I can usually overlook it, but sometimes it gets to me and I come home venting about what an ass this teacher can be.  He's very knowledgeable, which makes me wonder why he's an adjunct teacher at a podunk university and a full-time teacher at an even podunk-er junior college.  Oh well.  After this week, I have four weeks left of him and I'm done with one more math class to my credit and transcript.

My very first algebra teacher in college emailed me today.  She and I really hit it off and we spent quite a bit of time just chatting when I wasn't in class.  I think we're going to try to get together for lunch sometime before fall semester begins.  I haven't seen her in 2 years, at least, so it'll be wonderful to get together with her again.

As I was hanging around the computer all day yesterday while being available for anyone who had questions about the workshop going on right now at the Loom Knitter's Clique...I thought I'd use my time wisely, and back up a little bit.

Now, I have a confession...I have NEVER backed up any of my files or photos!!!   Well, I did try and back up my photos onto a CD, but there is so little space on those things that I decided to go the flash drive way...2 gigs should take care of all my essentials, right? 

Well, I was able to get all the important written files downloaded (of course all my looming patterns and files were the first to get copied, lol!) and I did manage to copy a lot of my pics...but every picture that has been taken with this little beauty...since about December of 07...and it's a ton...have not been backed up.   <sigh...>

I either need to purchase another little flash drive,

or maybe I should invest in this...

those 250 g's sound great!

Or...maybe one of these....?   What do you think?  Do you have a favorite memory device you like to use?  I'd really appreciate your feedback!  :)

Bethany~

In a strange way, I'm kind of disappointed. There was a sort of training session at 5:30 last night where we took a class session as mock English students from a girl they have teaching here regularly. I went anyway just to gain a feel for what it's like and to have a little bit of background in case I need to sub or what have you.

"Of course everybody has physical limitations and you can't go beyond them", the teacher explained during today's private. "

"I once saw in a video a nice leg wrap, all around the leader's waist, I tried again and again to emulate it with my partner for a show, and got upset because I could not make it, until someone told me that this woman's legs are 70 inches long. Mines are only 39 inches long, end of the story."

I'd like to see this video too, because up to now the woman with whom I've danced and who had the longest legs is probably Lorena Ermocida and within 70 inches you have the whole Lorena, not only her legs.

Kim made this raggy quilt last week in flannels, and she made it for herself - good for you Kim! I just love the random applique squares - don't you think thy add a nice touch of detail, and bring all the fabrics together?

And this is Megan's bag, made with one of Natalie Rosses new patterns. So cute and stylish, not to mention cool colours! (Keep reading to the end of the post for a give-away from Natalie.)

Now on to recent classes...and I did not take one picture durng Julie Nixon's Machine Quilting Class. Not one. But we all learnt lots (some of us didn't learn as much as we should have, so will be attending the next class!) I will be posting pics of some projects completed on the night very soon. In the meantime, here is a not-so-brilliant machine quilted cot quilt (way more practice required!!!) completed due to Julie's assistance, patience, and instructions.

Tom's friend is a Bunny made by Sue (ya gotta have a buddy who matches your quilt, right?), from another of Natalie Rosses patterns(she's such a clever girl).

And today was the kids beading class. It was a full-house, but very ably handled by our guest teachers, Kahlia and Ari. Thanks Ladies!

This is Charlottes finished creation - pretty and pink - can't go wrong with that combo.

Phew. So that brings us to our next give-away. Since we've featured Natalie in this post, I have a couple of funky notepads from her to give away. Leave me a comment about what your making at the moment, or what you wish you were making! And remember, we love to see your finished projects, so bring them into the shop, or if your a bit far away, email us a photo!

And according to our textbook (MKTG: Student Edition, by Lamb, Hair, McDaniel, Thompson South-Western, 2008, p. 3), marketing is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

I've seen some pretty hot debates on other blogs about whether marketing is appropriate for libraries. And I think I understand a lot of the reasons why we "hate" marketing: we hate the hard sell, the inappropriate product placement, the inappropriate products! -- and the sheer idiocy of much of the communication, aka advertising, that we see all around us.

And yet, I think this is a great definition to guide us in how we manage our libraries. Think about it:

• We need to genuinely create value in what we offer our patrons, what will really help enhance their lives - not just give them what we think they should have because it's the new hot think we heard about at a seminar, or insist on maintaining something they don't want because "you can't be a real library if you don't have ___________"
• We need to get the word out to our patrons that we've got what they want. As much as we'd like to believe people will walk through our doors because they should, the fact is there's a lot of competition for their time and attention and we have to get our there and let them know what we have to offer
• We need to deliver products of value, which relates back to the first bullet point: while our intentions are for the best, we often end up offering things not because we're focusing on our patrons first, but for our own reasons - we want to be cutting edge, we think all good libraries should be offering it, etc.
• We need to manage our customer relationships - look at our policies and procedures and make sure they enhance our mission, and that policies that were written who knows how many years ago are still enhancing the goals and objectives we have today
• We need to benefit the stakeholders. Taxpayers work hard for the dollars that support us, and they deserve the best value we can give them for their money.

Libraries should market. Libraries need to market. It's our job.

Our first exercise involved the expression of an emotion. We selected a piece of paper with three emotions on it and had to choose one. We then carved a rubber block to represent that emotion using shape and pattern. When finished, we were given 14 cards and had to print our image in the color of our choice, using orientation and position on the card as a way to further convey our chosen emotion. I had anxiety. I mean I chose anxiety for my emotion. In fact, I had anxiety about representing anxiety in a visual manner.

We then swapped prints with everyone else in the class. We were given a list of all the emotions and had to decide which emotion they were trying to express. Surprisingly, most people seemed to think that I was expressing surprise. It made me anxious.

Then we got back all of the images we had made guesses on. After seeing what the correct emotions were, we were asked to alter the images so that they better reflected how we saw that emotion. I immediately felt my art therapy background come blazing through my brain - how could I tell someone how to better express an emotion? Nonetheless, it was interesting to get everyone's feedback at the end, when we received our original prints back. I received a comment that my representation of anxiety was too controlled. It's my classic response to anxiety - I clamp down and structure structure structure.

The next exercise involved creating a personal timeline. We used a stencil technique called pochoir, which I have already forgotten how to pronounce, so don't ask me to do it. We didn't need to share the details of the timeline with anyone else - it only had to have personal significance.

The timeline had to include the following elements:

1. At least one line to represent the passage of time.
2. Events should be in chronological order.
3. At least one image of a traumatic event.
4. At least one image of a joyful occasion.
5. Use as much of the paper as possible, with little white space in the margins.
6. No representational imagery, but use an inner logic.

The kicker - we would be using this timeline later in the workshop, but weren't told how it would be used. Here comes that anxiety again.

Also...if you'd like to have a class in your home...I bring all the supplies...you invite all your girlfriends...and we make a party out of it...sound like fun?  Then send me an email and we can get something lined up.  The cost will be dependent on the project and supplies used.

I'll attach a few photo's of some possible projects ideas.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Charmaine

I wasn't there at Camberwell last week, but we were still in the Lindy version of the Rueda de Casino. Apparently last week they did a Coca Cola with a Cherry on Top, and I Iearnt what it was, but goodness knows if I can follow it on the social floor.

Dame

Basic tuck turn to the left and pass on to the next person.

Reverse Dame

Basic tuck turn, but lead catches follow in lead's left arm on 6, sends follow in opposite direction to the right, with palm back, on to the next person.

Dame dos

Tuck turn, send follow to the left, but skip the person next to you and send follow to alternate person. Interesting test of lead's accuracy with direction and follow's ability to, well, follow.

Coca Cola

Lead takes follow into a tuck-turn. Blocks follow's right leg with his left on 4, sends her to the right on 5, causing follow to spin off to lead's right to the next person.

Coca Cola with a cherry on top

Same as above, but lead catches follow with lead's right arm on 6 and passes follow to the left to the next person.

Revision: switches

Kick-ball change for the follows. Staying on toes makes it easier.
Tacky Annie moves for the leads.

Amoeba

All holding hands, leads and follows alternating. Follows do first 4 counts forwards, next 4 counts backwards. Leads do first 4 counts backwards, then next 4 counts forwards, therefore the 'Amoeba' effect.

Then leads take the follow to their right, and do this move that I CANNOT remember (BLAH!) that sends the follow back to their right.

Repeat amoeba.

Afterthoughts

Was good fun, and the repeated "DAH MAAAY! DAH MAAAAY!" yells cracked me up. Especially when Steph yelled out Dame 3 times in a row followed by a Reverse Dame. That got the flock bamboozled!

Level 3

Texas Tommy variations, and spins for the follows.

Texas Tommy variation 1

Lead switches follow's hand behind follow's back on 4 instead of 5, holds follow in that position for the rest till 8, goin in a circle. Keep frame and right arm strong to let follow know they ain't going nowhere.

Texas Tommy - indian rope

Continuing with the texas tommy variation 1, with follow's hand still behind back, a bit of a tuck turn, unravel follow until 'all the bits click together' in (Jamie's words), then up and around the follow's head, 'polishing the halo' above the follow, and as many spins as one desires. Helps for leads to keep their eye on the follow's hand.

Rotating rock step, something else

Damn all this terminology. Rotated rock step in cross-hand, lead ensures that follow is being sent out and around to her right rather than straight back.

Lead creates a dynamic flow, bring follow back to her left (his right) in a curve. Follow continues stepping through until her frame is near breaking point. By this time, this has created so much energy, that when lead brings his hand back to his left to spin the follow, there's plenty left to all the spins in the world. Almost.

Afterthoughts

There were more and I can't quite recall then now.

Anyway, I am thrilled that spins were in order this time. Again, great practice in maintaining frame, making sure that the arm doesn't flex beyond what's comfortable. And when arm's above my head, not breaking the barbie arm there, and keeping my hand before my face.

Apparently I appear to be resisting my lead's hand and spinning, hardening up rather than relaxing and letting the connection remain light and springy. Noted and noted.

By the end of the night, I was doing double and triple spins. And to think that a week ago, I couldn't even do one.

Plus for the first time, I didn't come away from a Level 3 class deflated, but with a sense of accomplishment. And was able to approach leads for a dance feeling relaxed, rather than with trepidation.

Man I love dancing.

anyhoo, today i have a gazillion pieces of shit to do that have nothing to do with the fun things i'd like to focus on. like booking my hotel room at the W in San Francisco for the last week in July so I can go to the Romance Writers of America national conference. i've registered! i've also registered for the RWA Passionate Ink Chapter, which is dedicated to hot and steamy romance, whether it's full on erotic or not. there's a PI party the week of the conference, so this shall be my chance to network.

i'm kinda scared but pleased. this puts me on the hot plate to finish my dirty porn novel. it's actually a high class escort porn novel, there's good grammar and everything, but you know, it sounds more dirty when i sleazify it, which makes me get a little ... excited.

i attempted to start an erotica writing group here in the South Bay but no one paid any attention to the last two calls on Craigslist except one lone lawyer who'm i shall attempt to guide. he sent me a chapter of his work and it's shite, it makes no sense, but hopefully we'll clean the mess up and make it worth reading someday. so he and i will meet for 90 min every 3 weeks and see where things go from there. i'll send him my stuff and hope for the best. it's probably pointless but it's good to get another POV on it. no, S, i'm not ready to share it with you yet, it is not up to par.

in other news, I've got 3 weeks left on my Excellence is No Accident psychology class. I'm behind on reading, but thank god the class isn't long. I'm now looking into taking writing classes online, especially for Romance, at the Gotham Writer's Workshop (I had no idea they existed, only just last night found out). They offer a paid mentorship program so I sent a query.

i'm falling asleep as i write this which is a sign i should stop. S, i am so fucking jealous of you and your FREE DAYS ON END. i could sleep all day if i wanted and go to the gym for 4 hours a day, like you! no fair! share!

During the holiday weekend, my wife got the urge to start de-cluttering the house. She looked around and she told me, she saw lots of stuff. It's easy to acquire stuff, but once you do, you get cluttered, and she decided a good de-cluttering was needed. Before I knew it, I was also starting to de-clutter some of my own stuff. I picked out books I no longer needed, cleaned out some of my old clothing and otherwise let go of some knick knacks that had no discernible purpose for me. The house felt larger after it was done and I felt less weighed down by stuff.

How about you? Do you feel like your life is cluttered up? Is there anything you are willing to let go of? How would it feel to have a life or a place that doesn't feel cluttered?

Reminder

My Free Teleclass, Three Methods for unblocking Your Creativity is coming up this Wednesday. If you're feeling blocked when you try to exercise your creativity, then this the class you'll want to take!

Three Methods for unblocking your Creativity

When: Wednesday July 9^th, 2008

5 pm to 6 pm (PST) 8 pm to 9 pm (EST)

Are you feeling uninspired in your creatively lately? Do you feel like your source of inspiration has dried up? In this class, I present three methods for unblocking your creativity so that you can get in touch with your muse, and get your creative juices flowing.

If, after the teleclass is over, you don't feel you've learned anything about how to unblock your creativity, I'll buy you and two of your friends a cup of coffee.

To join this class, register online

Also, if you live in the Portland Metro Area, in a little over two weeks I'll be starting up a bi-weekly class series at The Guiding Tree at 4831 SE Division St, Portland, OR on Opening Yourself to Wealth. If you're feeling the economic pinch, and want to get in touch with your wealth or you're ready to claim your wealth this series of classes will provide you the map you need to find your way to wealth!

Sign up for all four classes now and and get a 25% discount on the total cost of the classes. You'll only pay $90 (Save $30). If, after the first class, you don't feel you've learned anything about wealth and are dissatisfied, I'll refund you your money, except for the 20 dollar non-refundable fee.

Open yourself to wealth to manifest the life you want to live! In this biweekly course, I will show you how to open yourself to wealth so you can manifest a successful and happy life.

First Class: What You Think Is What You Produce

The thoughts you think and emotions you feel are powerful tools that you use everyday to determine your wealth or lack thereof. You will learn how to consciously take your thoughts and emotions and turn them into wealth generators that help you find opportunity in every situation you are in.

Come prepared to:

• Turn a scarcity mentality into a prosperity mentality

• Manifest your emotions into energy in motion that propels you to success.

• Recognize how your thoughts can sabotage you with reactions

• Create actions that enable you to find success.

Second Class: Naming Your Wealth So You Can Claim It

What is wealth to you? In this class we explore what the definition of wealth is for each of us. Wealth is more than just having money. Wealth involves discovering your quality of life and in this workshop we will name our wealth and claim it.

Come prepared to:

• Define what wealth is, so that you can name it, to claim it.

• Discover what a quality life means to you.

• Assess the sources and relationships that either bring wealth into your life or take it from you.

Third Class: Organizing Yourself to Success

In this class, we build on what we learned in the first couple of classes and focus on how to organize ourselves to create success. Organization begins in the mind, and ultimately manifests in the world around you. Organize yourself and find success.

Come prepared to:

• Create a statement of action to manifest your wealth.

• Use meditation to organize your thoughts and emotions.

• Develop a system for organizing your resources that works for you.

Fourth Class: Disciplining Yourself to Success

We look at the principle of “Where the Attention goes, the Energy Flows,” and apply it to our own routines to ask the question, “What can I do to generate the wealth I want to manifest in my life?”

Come prepared to:

• Direct your attention to maximize where your energy goes.

• Creatively develop a routine you can follow each day.

• Come away with a plan to manifest your wealth into your life.

Pay $90 if you pre-register for all 4 classes.

To register for the classes, call the Guiding Tree at (503)-239-7458, call Taylor Ellwood at (503)-869-0163, or register here.

When we got back from High Point, we went on to Pinehurst and watched fireworks at the Harness Track with Jessica.  It was a far smaller group than it had been last year since Amber is in Boone and Tad had to work (even though his boss showed up and looked all nice and relaxed).  It seemed like they had a few technical difficulties during the show, but it great otherwise.  I finally got to take a few pictures of fireworks.

I have decided to start working on my Life List draft.  I found a neat website where people post their life lists and cheer each other on, but it doesn't really do much other than just say what you're planning on doing over the next 50+ years.  I doubt the website will really stick around that long.  I think it will help me keep in perspective what I really want and what seems to be a passing whim.  At least I'd never have the chance to say "I'm bored."

Today at six is our first softball game.  It should be a lot of fun.  I'm not sure if I'll even get to play much besides batting.  Then again, I guess on a competitive team I wouldn't even be so sure of that.  I just want the chance to prove myself.  I hate that I always have to think of myself at the lowest rung and work my way up.  For once, I just want to be good at something. 

My class lists were finally posted at some point over the weekend.  My classes are (finally) much smaller.  I have 22 kids in my biggest class and 20 in my smallest.  It will be nice to have them evened out too.  My 2nd block class last year was so much smaller than the other two (25 and 24 versus the 18 in my 2nd block)  It made planning for the day so much harder since the smaller the class is, the easier they catch on to things.  I'm excited, though.  At least I'm getting closer to the school year and being back in the swing of things. 

Well, I'm off to change for the game!  Wish me luck!

For over 25 years Ellie Deaner has inspired thousands to cook in Massachusetts, through her easy and informative cooking classes and seminars, cookbooks, and television programs.

Please check out her website

Now allow her to inspire you…

I just sent out the third and final month of my Stampin' By Mail class featuring the Priceless stamp set. Thank you to all of my class participants. Your feedback has been great and I hope you enjoyed making the projects as much as I enjoyed designing them! This was one of my favorite cards from month #3! Please stay tuned for more upcoming Classes By Mail. And feel free to send me some requests as to which stamp sets you would like to see featured.

Before I blog about my life, I just want to remind readers of the contest that's on right now: Unique Storage Ideas! The person who has the best idea gets permanently linked on this blog. Click anywhere in this paragraph for more details!

As far as I know, my Journalism class starting this Fall is full. At least, that's what the school website said. I'm just a little worried because I can't seem to find any first tear Journalism students on Facebook. I've found several students going into their second year and have befriended them- but I have yet to find any of my own classmates. My residence roomie will probably be a first year Journalism student but we don't get our assigned roommates until later this month.

My Dell laptop (a red Inspiron that I've named Cherry Bomb) should be arriving this week. I'm stoked to actually have it in my hands and use it. The computer I have been using for many years (named "Peachy") is long past retirement age. So, getting a laptop before school was a very good decision on my part. I have a load of stuff to back up still but I've burned a few DVDs. I mostly just have my programs and some pictures to do.

As for everything else that is going on with me right now... it's all very dull and monotonous. I work five evenings per week, I blog, I play computer games, I go on Facebook, I sleep, I eat and soon I take the occasional dip in the pool. I'm going on a trip with my best friend later this month, so I'm pretty excited for that. We're actually staying at my residence overnight, since it serves as a hotel during the summer.

And remember that class sizes are limited to five to eight students. So sign up today and pay anytime up until the first day of class.

La profe m'ha donat un Kayser més, el #3 i aquest cop crec que s'ha flipat. Però ella és així, em posa coses que un dia dic que són impossible i que desprès, no sé com, ja les veig normals.