The Brother’s Quilt

I just finished my brother’s quilt that is designed per his request as John Deere and Star Trek. This was a very challenging quilt! Not because of the pattern (which was quite easy) but because I had to find some continuity between the two loves of his; John Deere and Star Trek. But I did it and I must say I think it looks great! He’s excited to have it to keep warm while away on which ever base he’s stationed on and what have you. I’m glad to be able to give him something warm and made with love for those nights when he’s sad or lonely (though he’d never admit to such emotions).

 

Kale?! Create?!

Kale holds a few meanings. As a life long vegetarian I have had my share of Kale. Also, Ka- and -le are the initials of my husband and I. We’re both creative, artistic, vegetarians so the name stuck. Our poor kids are going to be saddled with the name “baby kale” in utero.

 

Learning curve

It’s only been 5 months and 12 days since my mom died (not that I’m counting) and my brother left for the Navy boot camp yesterday. Sometimes, the grief is sort of overwhelming. But most of the time I am excited for my brother to embark on this adventure. He’s never left home (is 20 years old now) and I think this adventure will be quite a learning experience for him. The hope is that he will learn life lessons there that we (as a family) could never have taught him (you just can’t learn some things from family, no matter how often they try to tell you or show you). I’m scared that he will become less of who he is but perhaps that’s a sacrifice of growing up and hopefully it will be a good experience for him over all. I guess I’m just a little protective and hate the idea of him failing or being hurt.

The learning curve for both our family and him are steep the past few months, but as the Dalai Lama says, “The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in ones life. Through a difficult period you can learn; you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problems.” He’s so wise! And what my mom would have said at times like these, “This too shall pass.” Both words of wisdom that I hold onto when I am feeling overwhelmed.

 

Like losing a child!

This past weekend our dog Moki was staying with his “grandparents” and decided to go on an adventure through their 100 acres without telling anyone. We had never experienced problems with him wandering off before and he’s an old dog so not ambitious or fast. But with his age, he’s become more stubborn. Needless to say, he went missing at 9am and though we searched for him up and down hills, through sticker bushes and stinging needle, he was not responding. Finally, at 6pm, we gave up and decided to have some dinner and a stiff drink! Low and behold, who should saunter up just at dinner time? Moki!!!! I couldn’t decide if I was happy to see him or as mad as I have ever felt! I now feel I have a better grasp on what it might be like to be a parent… the joys and pains and frustrations and all. We’re so glad to have him back but we are making sure he realizes his sore muscles (from being gone for 9 hours) are simply a product of not listening very well and wandering farther than he should have. Sigh…

 

Swimming through statistics with hand quilting

I’ve just finished a hand-quilted heart piece (my first ever hand quilting practice piece) and am starting on my first sampler quilt with a flannel backing and wool batting. It’s a bit challenging because of the thickness of the materials I’ve chosen but it’s been a lot of fun. I love the calming affect it has on my head, especially after hours of swimming through statistics!

I had a mid-term today, which determines 75% of my grade, and I didn’t do great but I did good enough to pass the class (and now I have to take session 2). But the nice thing was that I was able to use the hand quilting as a way to keep from getting too anxious before the test (not that it probably made any difference since I still did pretty poorly). But it’s done now and I’m back to studying math and health until part II of Statistics begins.

In the mean time, I hope to get back to quilting… such a juggling act!

 

Jump Rope through Graduate School

I recently went back to school and I can’t say it’s been the easiest transition. Unfortunately, these days a B.A. just doesn’t get much for you in terms of career options. But it was not as easy as flowing somewhat seamlessly like I did between high school and college. Mostly because I’ve forgotten how many hoops you have to jump through in order to get what you want. For example, one of my teachers has decided that if we have questions on assignments that are to be turned in, we are not allowed to ask for help. When I asked her how I was supposed to learn much of anything if I could not ask questions and she said that the turn in questions were to show what I knew, not for learning purposes. Hmm… I think our sense of what school (and college level academics especially) is for has gone by the way side.

What ever happened to the idea of nurturing the love of learning and helping students explore and learn on their own? Education should not be made up of a series of hoops to jump through! This simply defined “smarts” as knowing how to play the game.

There’s a great speech about the education system and the concept that it is making students less creative at the following link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html.

It’s only 12 minutes or so but is packed will important insights about academia and whether “schooling” as we know it now is going to be of any value in our futures.

 

Unsure how to begin…

I’ve never had a blog. I’ve never seen a use for it and to be completely honest, I’ve never understood why someone would want to post their life on the web for anyone/everyone to see. But there’s also something about feeling a sense of sharing your life with others without the complication of being accountable. Hmm… I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

well… here we go!