It's that time of year again...

The leaves are starting to turn gold and red...

There is a crisp feeling in the night air...

And everytime you turn around....

You run into one of these:

I don't know if they have them out west or in the south.

But in Pennsylvania the stinkbugs are everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE.

**shudder**

USA #1

I love him, love him, love him. Can't wait for his rally in Washington...

whippin out the sewing machine

The directions for blogger's mobile photo uploader thing are kind of confusing. I haven't had too much luck with it yet. I can be really slow with that kind of stuff though. Anyways, here are some crappy cellphone pictures of my latest crafting adventures. I'm on a banners kick lately. It started off with this cheerful happy birthday one. My house is the most centrally located and has the biggest kitchen, we tend to have celebratory birthday dinners here. Occasionally, I try to be domestic and decorate. Last year I made a really cute paper happy birthday banner for my brother's birthday. It didn't store well though and got kind of crumped and I thought it would make more sense to have a fabric one handy. I just followed the tutorial I found here. I didn't bother using the tiny iron to press open the seams though. I don't have a tiny iron and I find ironing seams open to be extremely tedious. Anyways, there are also cute tutorials for other variations found here and here.

I don't think my poor quality pictures do justice to their utter adorableness, if I do say so myself and they are wicked easy to make.

I just picked up some fun fat quarters for the little pennants, some bias tape, some wunder under. The letters I cut from an old pair of jeans.

I decided I was so happy with the way that came out, I bought some fallish fat quarters and made one for fall. Then I made two more for gifts.

I don't even have a mantle. My brother helped me put up this shelf which serves as sort of a makeshift mantle between two of my windows.

Hopefully next time I am out in Lancaster I can pick up some little pumpkins or something to beef up the mantle a little.

weird

OKay. I remember my mom reading this book to me when I was young.

But I have never read it to Issy.

Why?

Because I think it's a little creepy. Especially the part at around 6:44 when she climibing into her son's room with a ladder.

anyone know?

Is there a way to upload photos directly to blogger that you take on your cellphone? Just wondering.

random work thoughts

Today at work one of my coworkers randomly said to "You are appreciated. Don't think you're not. I say it all the time."

I was so caught off guard.

Because, well, let's face it, teaching special ed in a high poverty area isn't exactly a job where people are showering you with praise or recognizing all the things you do. It's sad when it's actually jarring that someone tells you that you are doing an okay job and that they appreciate you. I guess this is partially because I think the loudest negative voice is my own. I have an unfortunate habit of looking at the best version of other people and comparing it to the worst version of myself. It's an inaccurate measuring stick.

I need to work on that.

And I need to make more of an effort to tell my coworkers that they are appreciated. And my students. And my family.

another friend takes the plunge

Whew! I just returned from the Jersey beach (it was sort of Mid-Jersey [Monmouth area] so I don't think it qualifies for the term Jersey Shore, which is a South Jersey thing). My randomly assigned freshman year roommate/good friend was getting married and it was a lovely ceremony and a very fun time. It was the first time I have been a ceremony actually on the beach. It's always such a contrast to go to a non-LDS wedding when you are used to culture hall receptions and 6 week long engagements. By any standards, it was a very elegant and lovely wedding. Here's their wedding announcement.

I did what I love to do at weddings: ate good food and danced like crazy. They had a great live band and everyone was getting down, old and young. Nicole had provided flip flops for everyone to wear during the ceremony and they came in handy for dancing as well. Leopard print stilettos are good for looks but not for long haul. Good times.

Of course, because it's me, I got nailed on my way down for talking on my cellphone and driving. I got off with a warning but still ended up with a parking ticket before the weekend was over. I left my car overnight near the beach where the ceremony was held and evidently there is no parking between 3 am and 5am. Oops. They didn't even give me a ticket, just a notice telling me when my courtdate is, so I'm going to have to call tomorrow and try to get that straightened out. This is my life.

So this should be my last "big thing" for a while. I'm looking forward to some weekends at home. What did you do this weekend?