Oh blog, you must feel so ignored. I am so sorry. Clearly school and life got a bit hectic. Our last class of the quarter was intense with a capital I. I spent hours and hours finishing everything up on the day after the last class. With everything turned in I had eleven days all to myself…sort of. We went over to Bremerton for the Fourth of July. Went for a sail and had a BBQ. Josh came over and brought with him a fantastic assortment of exploding goodness. My ears rang for days.

The summer quarter loomed large for the whole break. Twenty-four credits is almost unthinkable. So far, not so bad. Science class proved to be plenty of work, but mostly during class hours. Each class was a non-stop-think-a-thon. When we weren’t teaching lessons we were participating and observing, and then critiquing. I’m not sure I have ever been so tired at the end of a school day. Compared to science art has been a pleasure cruise. Art classes are so laid back and even though we are still learning and thinking critically. Next week will be something new.

My garden! My garden! I am so proud. Last night we ate green beans with dinner. Not just any green beans, but green beans I grew out on the front porch. I picked them and ate them ten minute later. Tomato plants are dotted with little green orbs, that have the promise of greatness to come.

After the first 5K I can’t wait to do another. I signed up for the IronGirl in September. Vowing to myself that I would do the training properly might have been a mistake. The first two weeks were good, but I have fallen away from it. Today I am back on the horse though. My goal is to run the whole 5K without taking a break to walk. Though I think I could do it without training, I might die the next day.

K, bye.

So much has happened in the last three weeks, most notably Melissa and I ran a 5K last weekend. I have it in my head that running can be an enjoyable experience and I am getting there. Though I failed to train adequately I tried to run and accomplished my goal. I ran (jogged really) a whole mile without stopping. So proud. Then we half walked/half ran the rest of the way. We finished in 44 minutes and 50 seconds! I don’t know if that’s a good time but it felt good. It was the Seattle Furry 5K, benefiting the Seattle Animal Shelter. Dogs were encouraged to join their owners on the run, so there was loads to look at while we ran. I am already looking forward to the Iron Girl 5K in September, my goal is to run the whole thing without stopping, I plan on actually training for this one.

School has been so wonderful. I spent ten days in a classroom with second and third graders. It was so much more fun than I would have imagined. They were so curious about the world and so excited to learn. I also got confirmation that I get to come back to the same school in September. I asked to work with another teacher but only because the class I just finished with was Highly Capable, and I would be doing myself an injustice if I never worked in a regular ed class while I’m in this program. Now all I have to do is survive the massive course load till September. Eek.

Oh yeah, Ben’s birthday was last weekend, I made this cake:



That’s it for today.

Oh, I have been so busy with school and things I clear forgot to write anything down. We had a two week long course at CityU, and now that is over (but the project isn’t). And I started my first internship at a real live school.

I have been working with a wonderful teacher at View Ridge Elementary. She teaches a 2/3 split of highly capable students, and just happens to live across the street from me. Tiny little world ain’t it? The students are awesome too. I have been so lucky. The teacher has taken so much of her time during the day to discuss and show me all sorts of things about her class and room and district. And she has given me the opportunity to do a lot more than observing. I have been monitoring the writing and research projects. I have also been leading a discussion group for one of the books the students are reading now. I am teaching people! I have been having so much fun with these kids and really getting a feel for what teaching is like. This might sound odd, but it is so much less stressful than the teaching I was doing in Vietnam. In VN I had five or six classes every week, each one a different age/level/progress through their course. In an elementary school you get the same group of kids every day and they are all moving through the year at the same pace, its wonderful. As a teacher you also get to know a lot more about the kids, and are much more responsible for their progress, so in that way it is kind of more stressful, but that’s all in the background.

I officially (with the help of Melissa) signed up for the Furry5K in June. So, of course the weather has turned to crap. I am trying to “run” every other day but I refuse to run in the rain. Realistically I should be able to run most of the 5K by the end of June, but I don’t think I’ll be up to 5 kilometers by then.

This week the tomato plants exploded this week, three of them are at least 3 inches taller. The hanging baskets are flowering too.

I didn’t bake last week because I was in a school. I have been assured that if I bake people will eat, so next week I will bake!

First week of school officially over. Well, technically I have started the second week now, but who’s counting. We had the best instructor and she did a wonderful job of making 8 hours of class not seem like torture. Even though I thought it would be completely overwhelming, but the workload wasn’t so bad. I think the rest of this year is going to be okay.

I decided a few weeks ago that I want to try baking something for every week of class. Last week I tried shortbread for the first time. Earl Grey Tea and Lemon Shortbread. It went over really well. I was so happy with them, all speckly and dotted with bits of lemon zest. This week I chose scones. I want to try new techniques and recipes as I go. No more excuses for not trying new things. Anyway, I made Mango and Ginger Scones. There were really tasty, but a lot moister than I had anticipated, I think I will need to try again, I want that light crumb, and crumbly texture.

Melissa and I took Jaden to the zoo on Sunday. Besides being really crowded it was a really good time. Jaden was totally into every single animal we saw. And the weather was great, we all slathered on the sun screen before we headed out. Yay animals!

Another week of waiting for classes to start went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I painted the bookshelf from my parents. I picked it up from them for free and got a reject can of paint at Fred Meyer. Even though my dad doesn’t think it’s legal to paint a bookshelf with flat pain I think it looks pretty snappy. And I know it’s strong enough to hold as many books as I could fit…the parents were using it to store (full) cans of paint.

I would have done a lot more in the yard but because of last week’s garbage strike there was no room left in the yard waste bins. I did clear out some dead bushes, which Melissa assures me grow back every year after they die. I got to plant my garden! So excited about that. We have two Early Girl tomatoes and two Sweet 100s, two hot peppers and two sweet peppers as well as some green beans. Now the key will be remembering to water them while I am going to school.

I think I am a little more stressed out about school than is healthy at this point, since I haven’t even started. I have been having nightmares for the last several nights and I am convinced that there will be no free time in the next year. I suppose there is no way to get over this but to see what its really like.

Emily out.

Hurry Up and Wait

Not much to report this week. We finished up orientation on Monday, and now I know enough to know that I am going to want to bring Ben’s tiny computer on a fairly regular basis. I can hardly believe the technology situation. There are enough computers for us all, but the move at a snail’s pace and often freeze up for no reason. At least there is wireless.

We got word a couple days ago that the first week of class has been pushed back. We’ll be taking one class at a time (so Mon-Fri on one class, and then it’s over and on to the next). So, with this change in schedule we will have two classes the first week. And they were going to try to ease us into things. Bah. My biggest problem with the whole situation was that I was so mentally prepared for things to start on Monday that I am completely lost right now. I timed the ten days of yoga so it would end just in time. I stocked up on on-sale grocery items so I wouldn’t have to think about it much in the coming weeks. I got my little office all ready, did the laundry, made frozen baggies of carrots and celery for soups. Now that I have another week I have no idea what to do with it. I can’t get any ready-er.

Orientation Day

I’m back blog. Did you miss me? I missed you too.

It’s funny, events do so like to pile upon one another in life. I had like eight days of nothing to do. And then Whamo, whole days in a row of busy-ness. Yesterday I made my first cake from scratch. Took it to Julie and Tony’s new place. It was yummy. And today I am making a triple chocolate cheesecake for my dad’s birthday tomorrow. He’s about to be officially old.



More important than baking is school. After thinking, planning, hoping, and telling everyone that I am going to go back to school it’s finally here. We had the first of two orientations today. Three hours of more information than I think brains are meant to hold. Luckily there are few bits I can ignore for now. So here’s what I am in for: 64 credits in four quarters, Monday thru Friday 8-5, a few Saturdays, getting to know my 14 cohorts REALLY well.

Here’s what I am nervous about

• Time. Will I have enough? Will I be able to still do the things I love? Will I die of heat stroke trying to finish assignments upstairs this summer?
• Money. Nuff said.
• Stress. I think I can technically stress now about upcoming stress.
• What if I can’t make it?
• If everybody else buys lunch every day, how awkward will it be when I break out my nifty tin lunch box. Any how can anybody paying this much money to go to school afford to buy lunch every day anyway?

Oh, there is so much more to worry about. I did find out that most everyone in my cohort has to take the same math class as I do, so I won’t be alone. But it means that Summer Quarter is really 24 credits, not 19. Eek.

I am off now to bake and clean the car and generally enjoy a weekend of freedom.

Tah.

Long Lost Blog, I have found you.

I totally fail at this blog thingy. From here on out I will endeavor to update every week for a while. Let's see how that goes.