wow, has it been that long??

i am surprised to see that it has been so long since i posted - classes are over and things are going into the summer...i am heading off to Colorado to visit family - niece margo is graduating from high school. i am looking forward to seeing everyone - it has been several years since i have been out there - i guess it was when my sister elizabeith and her then fiancee had a bit of a party there - i got to meet james for the first time and i guess that was7 or 8 years ago - they got married @ las vegas with two friends as witnesses...

since that time, my niece and nephew (and all of us, too) have aged a few more years and they have moved to a place in sedalia where the horse can live, too - and a few goats and a new horse...what is in my mind is probably nothing like what is there in reality - i will find out in two days...i wish fonda was going with me, but she is staying home a looking after the kitties...sigh.  she has never been to CO and i wish she could see the mountains, but i also worry about her and the possible altitude difference between sea-level and one-mile-up...some day...

we have had at least two hummingbirds at the feeder and there are four kittens making a home in the grass-catcher bag of the lawn mower...this is 100% my fault for not putting it in the shed, but it is very cute to see them there:

two boys, two girls - they hiss and spit like crazy, and are even making themselves big at us - they are still less than a pound each!

this one is my favorite (a boy):

and, no! we are not going to adopt any of them, they are just cute and we are trying to get them not to be so feral - momma is willing to be within about five-feet of us, but not any closer.  they have been up next to the house for about a week and we have NOT named them - all is well : )

the woman who lives up front is the one who is being responsible for them, she is planning to get the kittens to a shelter after the first of the month, and get momma spayed (i hope that happens SOON!, already the boys [her brothers] are sniffing around her and hanging out)...she would like to keep the boys, but the "girls have gots to go!"  she is willing to support the colony, but no more kittens! (i feel like i have won at some level - she got the first momma (tulip) spayed, now only one daughter remains (thump) - and then we just have boys spraying everywhere and looking funny with their big heads)

OK - that is enough for now...i will post pictures of the most recent quilts done on the next post : )

peace.

end of the semester soon

semester ends in:
2 thrusdays.
2 mondays,
1 tuesday, and
1 wednesday
...what am i going to do with myself then? no clue. 

we are wrapping up the topics - i am behind by about a chapter for bio112...bio111 is 100% on-time for me - i would have liked to have an extra week, but i really want them to have a chance to present the topics they have been researching...i am tired...can't wait for a break, but i am going to miss the gang : )

still waiting to hear from the most recent temptation of FT work - sounds like a perfect fit/job...maybe i am coming across too strong about the fun i would have for the job...and maybe i need more "trench" work before i can get my "dream job"...this has been a lesson in patience - i have never really had to interview formally for a position and this has been a challenge and i am feeling some extremes of highs and lows with each contact...i am trying to breathe through it, but it has been a challenge...i know it will happen, i just do not know how long i want to (can, monetarily) wait...

peace!

wow! can't believe the semester is almost over...

i cannot believe the semester is almost over! soon to the release of summer - that may not be all that relaxing...i am still stressing over finding a job - applying, but not hearing anything - just need to be patient things will happen as they need to happen. and *if* i get offered a FT job, then we need to worry about moving! (yikes, it will not be easy, huh?)...

anyways - thinking about summer
 *travel to CO for my niece's graduation (ticket is booked and i am getting excited and ready to go) - i will be staying at my sister's house (probably in dad's motor home [smile]) and patting some horses and goats, including three new baby-goats born last night - they are cute! and i will be seeing my nephew and other niece and dad and both sisters and my sister-in-law (brother is not coming)...should be fun and not too stressful (i hope [smile])
 *travel to OH for visiting in-laws and catching up with friends in the area - plus probably bringing back one granddaughter (she turned 13 this winter and we made a promise to the kids that they could come and visit after they turned 13) we have had one so far, the grandson didn't want to travel that far, oh well. 
 *quilting (i am working on a gift right now) always
 *working on cards and other forms of art
 *watching too much TV
 *watching the grass grow
 *watching some of my plants grow (the fringe tree "fringed" [flowered] again this year and it smells good, and the hydrangea is growing well among some others)
 *mowing the grass (maybe)
 *working out at the gym - because i need to do that (sigh)
 *twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the school-year to start again
 *oh, and working on the NSF-ADVANCE grant newsletter, website, etc. for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sciences. - This has been a neat program and it will probably prove to take more time than i expect and i also plan to take the information to the next job...and maybe try to become a member of the consortium at a new job to try to continue to promote women in STEM disciplines. 

so...maybe the summer will not be as boring as i think, but i still think i will be chomping at the bit for classes to start again in August...i have finished two quilt tops, one runner top and will post photos later - and of course i am working on the graduation gift for my niece that will be posted after she gets it : )

oh, and i want to leave you with a photo of sera (the *big-girl* kitty) and *happy Friday the 13th!*

(the final one is sideways, of course...)
peace!

been sick...

been sick and actually had to cancel class two days last week - man, that was bad! - i really missed teaching and now we are really far behind - sigh.

anyways - haven't had much time for quilting - just working on school-stuff and still looking for FT employment - been a bummer so far, but i am having a good time here at BCC and in NC (i LOVE NC!), but, i have been applying all up and down the east coast and a little bit inland - do not really want to go out west - but i guess i will if i have to.  and fonda says she will go where ever i go, so it can't be that bad, right?

life is good, minus the small version of the snot-monster i have hanging out in my head - but even that is shrinking and my voice is losing it's raspiness, OH, and fonda and i have been accepted into the BFIT program at the college's fitness and aquatic center - we start tomorrow - they will give us a gym membership for 12 weeks and teach us how to do the machines and help us with some nutrition-classes, etc.  i am excited and a bit scared to do this, but i am glad we are doing it together.

i have lost a few pounds in the last 2 months (probably, really because i was sick and wasn't eating like i should have been in the last week or so)...so i guess that is a start.  and my bathing suit still fits and hasn't started to deteriorate too much - so, i should be able to swim through the BFIT program.

ok, i will know more tomorrow and will keep you informed (eventually) and without a cat attached to my hand making it hard to type.  wren is currently *lying* on my left hand and making it really hard to shift or anything - but she is *so* cute...(big eye-roll) : )

peace

sewing for school 4

OK...so...where was i?

oh, yeah, electrons...and then attaching them to atoms - here is a preview of my carbon atom with only five valance electrons - you can see the snap where the other electron will go once it is attached to both the hydrogen (white [1proton/1electron]) and the carbon (black [6p/6n/2e interior/4e valence])



(note about colors: hydrogen is usually depicted as a white sphere, carbon as black, oxygen as red, chloride as green, and sodium as various colors - purple is the one i chose)

and the (almost) completed methane molecule (CH4 = one carbon and four hydrogen atoms)...



the hydrogen atoms (i wanted them to be more round, but now they just look like little white potatoes - sigh) without any indication on them yet...



water (H2O - one oxygen [8p/8n/8e total] and two hydrogen) indicating the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the oxygen and indicating the covalent bonds that hold them together.



a close-up of the oxygen atom (there are six valence electrons and space for two more once the hydrogen get hooked up)



the chloride and sodium atoms stuck together in the ionic bond that forms after chloride steals the electron from the sodium... [17p/18n/17e @ nutral chloride] but becomes an anion --> 18e and negative one charge.



a close up of the sodium ion [11p/11n/10e --> positive one charge] showing where the 11th electron was before chloride was so rude as to steal it (smile) (up-side down = "above" the "P" you can see the snap piece).



so that was what i did over my holiday break...and i get to use them on tuesday - we shall see if it helps the students understand what the heck i am talking about...

peace

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sewing for school 3

electrons, electrons everywhere!

from this mess of embryonic electrons:


i used the way to braid 4-strands from "http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/11/how-to-weave-paper-ball-ornament.html"> to start the process of making electrons:





after a few rounds i added a bell (electrons are negatively charged and i think they must sound bright, like a bell...)



then...at the end, there are these tails...i ended up super gluing them to strand under it




now, here is the pile of embryonic electrons along with some of the completed ones...


now to attach the "female" part of the snap to the electrons and the "male" part to the atoms and i will have my bits!! (i still need to make four more electrons - sigh)

peace