Busy as a Bee

Yep, that's me...I've been scurrying around like a little bee this week, attempting to get everything in order for this coming semester.

I've been on the phone a lot, trying to secure FETE (Field Experience for Teacher Education) placement for myself this coming fall, which has been a more challenging job than I had anticipated. Today the ball finally dropped when I found out I'll be working in a 5th grade classroom at one of the elementary schools right here near my house. I feel an immense sense of relief at finally having put this piece of the puzzle in place.

I've also been hammering a lot these past couple days, which has caused both my dogs to think I've lost my mind. I've been re-hanging the art work in the dining room, which I finally finished painting last week before leaving for the lake. The room is slowly coming back together, but it's still a mess so I'm holding off on a final image until I have it the way I want it. The other cause for my hammering is the recent addition to my fruit & vegetable kitchen art collection. Every year at the Ann Arbor Art Fair, I collect at least one piece from an artist who lives in Grand Rapids, MI named Carol C. Cline. She makes very realistic looking ceramic fruits and vegetables, which she mounts on wooden plaques she reclaims from old, dilapidated barns in Northern Michigan. Not only do I love these pieces, but I love the idea that remnants of old barns now have a home in my kitchen. I've been collecting from her for just about as long as I've been married, in addition to receiving at least one of these as a gift for my birthday each year. Now that I've got 18 pieces hung (excuse the bad cell phone images,) I think my collection looks pretty cool.


The watermelon has always been a favorite of mine, it was added to my collection a couple of years ago when I received it as a gift from my parents.


And here you can see most of my collection, though the picture is terrible. Before too much longer I'll have to move to a bigger wall!

I've also been keeping busy by doing lots of processing. Yesterday I spent an hour or so simmering the remainder of the peppers and tomatoes from my parents garden into bases for soups, etc. this winter. The peppers smelled lovely as they were simmering on the stove, I couldn't resist taking {yet another} photo.



By processing, I also mean processing of the photos from the recent wedding I did. Since I shoot most of my professional work in RAW format, that means I have to go through and "process" each image before it's in a usable format I can give to clients. This is a time consuming endeavor, but the RAW files allow me more control for exposure and tonal quality, which seems like a good trade off to me. I only shoot the really important images in RAW, but that still amounts to a lot of hours I need to spend on the computer post-shoot. Sometimes I get tired of the repetitiveness of the work, but overall this is a chore I enjoy.

Finally, I spent some time today catching up with Trisha, who's an old friend from my WCC days. Seems funny to refer to that as old since it was only a few years ago, but so much has changed for me since then that it seems old. Anyway...I had a great lunch with Trisha, who's in town from Florida this week. It was really good to catch up with her and reminisce about days gone by.

Finally, I rounded out my day with a back-to-school shopping trip to none other than Salvation Army, where I found enough great deals to make anyone happy. I got a pair of pants, five shirts, and two two-piece sweaters for $30.76! This will go a long way towards making me look presentable for my upcoming subbing jobs. So all in all, my last week of summer solitude has gone by in a fervor fitting for the end of summer. I'm still not ready to get back into the full swing of life next week, but I'm a lot closer than I was a few days ago! :)

For now I'm off to catch what's left of Barak's democratic nomination speech!

From Drab to...

...well not quite fab (yet,) but I have been spending a majority of my time these past several days painting our dining room.




Despite all the work involved, I actually enjoy painting projects. To me it's one of the simplest and least expensive ways to completely transform a room. Anyone who's been here can clearly see how much I also love color. To me there's nothing quite as boring as a white wall! We have a midevil gold (brown) living room, blue master bedroom, green guest room, purple/yellow guest room, peach bathroom, sunshine yellow kitchen, and now to round it all out, a cayenne pepper red dining room! I'm sure a lot of people would come in our home and feel threatened by all the colors, but for me bold is the only way to go...I guess it's in my nature! As for Michael, he's used to having to incorporate my ideas. There was a time when we might have fought about things such as what color to paint a room, but we've reached a comfortable agreement that if I'm willing to do the work involved, I also get full design privileges, he really is a great guy. :)

This room is the last in our house to receive any TLC from me, and also the room that seems to take the brunt of our lack of storage, (i.e. clutter) so it's been a big job. Day one was spent cleaning out and moving the varying pieces of bulky furniture we have, day two was spent taping and painting the ceiling, and yesterday and today have been spent painting the walls. Last but not least will be installing new curtains (a job I'm hoping Michael will tackle) and then, finally re-assembling the room, hopefully in a much neater fashion. Although I have enjoyed the small computer cave I've created for myself amidst all the chaos, I will be relieved when the room is no longer such a disheveled mess.

Out With the Old

At long last this ancient washing machine that's been in our basement for probably 32ish years will be going to the place washing machines go after they die. It's had a good run - I think it probably is original to the house, which was built in 1975. We've lived here since 2001, and up until this past September we couldn't complain.



But nine months is a LONG time to live without a washing machine! We've been carting clothes to the laundry mat or a family members house all this time and I am just ready to be done with that whole fiasco. After Michael and I did some shopping around this past week, I went to Home Depot this morning and made the coveted purchase of a new washing machine. The one I got is nothing super fancy, but it will do the trick, which is all that matters! I must say, I now have a whole new respect for people who live their lives between visits to the laundry mat!