Such a long time...

Dear blog,

I'm sorry I've neglected you of late. I've missed you and longed to write to you, but life has been complicated lately. It's no excuse, but please allow me to catch you up on what's been going on in my life these last few weeks.


School has really heated up these last two weeks. Today, I spent all day grading essays and exams that have piled up. Yesterday, we had to go out to Greeley for the homecoming football game, and then drive down to Boulder to drop off a broken yearbook camera at a repair shop. Last week was homecoming, so there were after school and evening activities on top of the usual teaching responsibilities. In addition, my student teacher has taken over control of my classes now and for the next six weeks, which has me seriously stressed out. I spent a great deal of time worrying that my students aren't learning what they need to. That's not to say that she isn't working hard and learning, because she is and I'd rate her as advancing just fine, but there are still some gaps in her educational preparation that make me cringe. I've had the truth of the statement "You don't know what you know until you start, and you don't really learn the material until you have to teach it" in front of me for these past weeks. It's shocking what she can't explain to students, but I was probably like that too. And, she can't spell! This really drives me crazy. Of course, I'm willing to admit that I'm a control freak and just don't like giving up control of my classroom too, so I fully admit that all the fault is not with the student teacher. It's going to be a long time until December when I get my classes back!


In other news, the low cost remodel of the guest room is done....sort of. We switched plans slightly in the middle, and now the wall color behind the bed doesn't quite work. We were originally planning a bedspread and pillows that were green, which would have worked with the wall color, but the blue we ended up with clashes a little with the yellow and green tones in the wall color. So, we'll have to repaint sometime, but that will have to wait for a little while. We did well at keeping the changes affordable. We didn't buy any furniture but rather painted existing pieces. And, we used paint that we already had leftover from other projects. The most expensive purchase was the bedding.

I've also been fighting illness the past week. It started with a head cold and an inability to sleep on Wednesday, which hung around but luckily didn't get worse. So, I've been tired all week and then dealing with some other personal issues as well. But, this part is getting better too. I'm still tired, but I'm slowly catching up!

I took breaks from paper grading today to do some grocery shopping, go on a quick bike ride around the neighborhood with Mike and Aspen, and to paint the frame for the bedroom artwork, so it's been a busy day. Aspen also got stung by a bee today, poor girl!

I'll try not to let so much time go by before I write again. I hope everyone on the homefront is doing well. Give my best to everyone.

Faithfully yours,

Lori

Arrgghh!

I was planning to write more in my blog tonight, but since I've gotten home today, life's been going downhill faster than a sled on a snow hill. We put dinner in the crock pot this morning before heading to work--on low--and it still burned during the day...argh. We ended up having hotdogs for dinner which wasn't nearly as exciting. Then, we discovered that Annie has scratched and put big holes into the brand new sofa! I knew it was a bad idea to get leather. So, now I'm threatening to go to bed at 7pm :). Nothing more can go wrong if I'm asleep, can it?

In all reality, Mike's gone off to band practice, so I think it's rest of the night off for me. I'll make sure I write a longer, more interesting, more positive post later in the week!

Products of Fall

I had a busy day yesterday, trying my hand at canning for the first time. I made homemade pasta sauce and canned it as well as canning pears and peaches. And, I made a batch of peach jam as well. I love the fall colors of the jars, which turned out so prettily.

I also made a peach pie-which turned out pretty well if I do say so myself-primed the wall in the guestroom with Mike's help, worked on laundry, schoolwork, and put out my fall decorations.

Sadly, one of my scarecrows has already fallen victim to the cannibalism of Aspen, so I might have to put these away again to save them. All that appeared left after the massacre were some straw and a sad little hat lying on the floor. We later found the body outside on the lawn, chewed into many pieces. So, I have to keep close watch on my remaining decorations!

Fall is coming to the Rockies!

I saw my first Aspen trees turning yellow in the mountains today! I love fall in the Rockies. We headed up to Indian Peaks Wilderness for a lovely 6.5 mile hike with Aspen, the dog, not the tree.

We started out at Brainard Lake and then took the Lake Isabelle trail up the mountain, past Long Lake and finally to Lake Isabelle, which is above treeline right before Pawnee Pass. The trail is great for most of the way, but the stretch between 2.5 and 3 miles is very steep and very rocky, so we were tired when we made it to the top. I told Mike we'd do an easy hike today, so he wasn't very happy by the time we made it back to the car, but it really was a beautiful path. All three lakes are beautiful, and just before treeline there is a gorgeous creek flowing down a steep hill (almost a waterfall) with a field of high altitude wildflowers all around and a view of Isabelle glacier behind it. In addition, you have the smell of the mountains and fresh, fresh air. The temperature was nice and cool, and the rain only sprinkles. We also saw our first snow in the Rockies today too, but it was only a little bit and already on the ground.

Aspen was so excited all day. She spent the car rides up and back with her head hanging out the back window, and on the trail she practically dragged us up the hill because she was so pumped up. Even at the end of the 6.5 miles, she was still rearing to go! She could have turned around and done the hike again, even though we were exhausted (and hungry!). We had a lovely late lunch at the Millsite restaurant near Ward on the way home, and now we are vegging in front of the TV for the evening.

The only problem in an otherwise perfect day...I forgot to check the camera battery and it died just after we started. So, all my pictures are of the first 1/2 mile of our hike.

Tribute to Mike

Nothing very exciting to report. It's been a pretty standard, business-as-usual week. However, I'm looking forward to the 3-day weekend. I need some time to hang out with my wonderful, amazing husband.

Yes, he told me to write that. No, really he did. He asked if I'd updated my blog yet, and I said I wasn't sure what to write about this week, so he said, "write about how wonderful your husband is." Now's he's sitting with my blog up on his computer screen, pestering me to get a new post in. So, this post is for him. Of course, I'm teasing him here, but it's also true...

He is a wonderful husband, and I'm very glad that the doctor says his broken arm is finally starting to heal. Now if only he'd mow the lawn....just kidding. He is waiting to read this, so I'd better get it posted. Love you honey!

A fun day at the Park

Aspen had a great morning. We went walking in the Arapahoe Bend Natural Area, where she could chase grasshoppers in tall grass to her heart's content, and then we went to the Spring Canyon Dog park in Fort Collins, which has a pond for the dogs to play in. She had a great time, although she had to suffer through a bath when we got home! She's been tired all evening, which is great for me, since I have some school work to do and it's raining out. Mike's at a Broncos game in Denver. Hopefully, he doesn't get too cold and wet.

Thank goodness for Fridays

Whew! It's been a whirlwind week. I had book club on Tuesday night, a scrapbooking party on Thursday night, and an event at Mike's work tonight, plus all the usual work related jumble. I'm very glad it's Friday, but I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I have to finish wallpaper stripping, go grocery shopping, do laundry, do some schoolwork, maybe start painting, do housework, and other assorted chores. Oh, and we have the fantasy football draft in the morning too. And, I have to look for my shoes more!

Yes, I said look for my shoes...it's a mystery at our house right now. I purchased a new pair of shoes and wore them once and now they have disappeared. I've been looking for them unsuccessfully all week. I swear I've looked everywhere, even in unusual places like dresser drawers and in laundry baskets, but they are nowhere to be found! I even went outside and looked in Aspen's kennel and favorite spots fearing she'd carried them off. I cannot figure out what happened to them, but I suspect foul play!

I need to teach Aspen how to vacuum this weekend too. She tore up her stuffed racooon all over the living room floor and then dumped a bowl of her dog food all over the kitchen floor (just for fun), and I haven't found time to clean it up yet. At what age can "children" be expected to clean up after themselves???