HissyStitch's Blog (630)

Day 22: I was totally tired. Might have been a short-lived virus, might have been the pollen count, might have been the 24-hour antihistamine that normally doesn't do that to me, but I was really, really tired. I gave myself the evening off of all the things I was going to do in the evening, and went to bed a little early instead. Taking care of myself was my gift to myself. Well, I was also a bit stressed because as I went to give my lecture, students and the professor from the prior class…

Day 20: Hubs' camera club had their annual potluck for their last meeting of the year (they take the summer off and re-convene in the fall), so I went with him to socialize. We had some hummus and chips to bring, but I looked out at my container garden on the deck and decided the lettuce was ready to cut, so I cut some and made a fresh salad to take as well. People must have liked it because it was gone by the end of the evening.

Day 21: A friend's mother passed away a few weeks ago.…

Took some time to go through friends' projects on Ravelry and leave compliments. Brightens someone's day.

A friend came to knitting who hasn't been there in a while. She's now step mom to a six-year-old boy, her fiancé's son, who has issues with ADHD and neglect. She's been doing a terrific job with him and he's making great progress, so I told her so.

Made sure I tipped the baristas at the coffee bar.

Went with hubs to see his radio theater group perform, and took pictures for them.

We taught a new lab this week which was basically finishing a 3-week experiment and one colleague was asking for help with writing a quiz for it. Last week we already asked the basic conceptual questions. What was left to ask? I wasn't going to work on the quiz until Monday, but I took the time to draft a quiz and come up with some new questions, then email it out to the other two instructors who teach that lab. I sometimes write exam questions professionally, when a local company needs me,…

A colleague had her hands full with books and a full cup of coffee, and had to unlock the lab room door, so I jumped in with my keys and unlocked it for her. Just a little thing, but much appreciated.

Also put in some time getting things done for the county fair. I need some confirmations but I may have my judges lined up, and I've got quilters coming to demonstrate on a day I needed demonstrators, and I got a promise from one quilt shop to donate a gift certificate as a special…

One of my students has been having a hard time and fell behind in her work, to the point where she wasn't passing in lab and missed an exam. I sent her an email after I noticed I didn't have an exam for her, and after finding out what's up, sent her an encouraging note. She can still come back from this setback, so I hope she'll continue working at it.

I was so worn out when I came home from work -- sat down at my spinning wheel and spun for a while. I needed a little me time. Then sat down and worked on making contacts for the fair, trying to get judges lined up and get local businesses to donate prizes. I'll have to do some phone calling tomorrow if I can find the time. The time I have is the evening when most businesses are closed, so email has been my primary contact, but my emails are getting ignored, which is frustrating. 

Made a positive comment on a fellow knitter's project on Ravelry. Clicked my click-to-donate sites. And exercised patience and helpfulness for students popping in when it wasn't office hours, even though I was busy. 

Yesterday I bought a huge hanging basket at the farmer's market for a mere $20 -- as you might expect, they were selling like hotcakes! I also bought a little ceramic garden marker that said "Flower Garden" and added that as a decoration. Today we went to visit her and took her out to breakfast. She wanted to go to one of the churches in town where they were serving up a homemade breakfast, which suited our budget perfectly. Afterwards we visited for a while. Then we drove up to Portland to…

The postal carriers delivered yellow plastic bags earlier this week for a food collection today. I made sure I took some cans of nutritious food from our shelves and put them out by the mailbox this morning. I also went to the farmer's market to get eggs and produce, and gave a tip to the performing musicians. 

One of my lab students said he was worried about his grade. He has a different lecture instructor and said, "She's really hard." Well, he's struggling in my lab, too, and we're all using similar test questions and getting similar class averages, so I'm not sure it's differences in instructors here. But anyway, I said I'd find him some resources to help him study more effectively. I have a study plan and a handout on active study techniques on my class website, so I printed those out for the…

A colleague wanted to know how to set up online quizzes using our online class management system, so I took a little time to show him how mine are set up. It's not hard, it's just not obvious if someone doesn't show you where to start. Also picked up litter on my walk. And got a gift, too -- when I got home there was a box from Shari's Berries on my porch that my son sent for Mother's Day!

Day 7: Got hold of a friend and gave her a ride to a meeting of county fair superintendents. The meeting location is one she's not been to, at someone's house, and it's a little hard to find and parking is awkward, so giving her a lift helped her out and spared trying to park several cars in a small space. Also, time spent working on the county fair!

Day 8: I found a job that I kind of qualify for but another colleague who is also job-hunting qualifies for even more. I passed the…

I went for a long walk today, earlier than usual because it's been hot, and picked up several discarded cans along the way. The first was a beer can and I felt a little weird walking through campus with an empty beer can. I'm the professor, after all. Found a garbage can for that one real quick!

Trying to get hold of a friend right now to offer her a ride to a meeting of county fair superintendents tomorrow. She hasn't been to the place we're going before and parking there is limited…

The kid next door was selling tickets to a pancake feed fundraiser next month. He goes to a religious school and they're raising money to help a village in Ethiopia. I bought two tickets -- now let's see if we can remember to use them!

Also did my at-register donation for pet shelters when buying cat food today, and put some spare change in the collection box at the grocery store register. They're collecting for Camp Fire club this time.

Hey, you know it's Star Wars Day, right? May the Fourth be with you!

Anyway... I had a bunch of tomato seedlings started under my grow lights, and now that I've planted as many as I need, I had some left over. I took them to knit group today and gave them away to several people who wanted them.

I check the job boards for various schools and agencies frequently, trolling for new things to apply for. I saw an opening for a full time science teaching position at a community college where I had once worked part-time when I was in grad school, but they want someone to teach anatomy and I don't have the background or knowledge that they're looking for. However, I know someone who does who is also looking for a full-time job, so I passed the lead on to her.

I was famished this afternoon for some reason and walked over to the campus center to find a snack at the little convenience store there. The snack machine in our building wasn't working, and of course it's full of chips and candy and other junk anyway. I found a packet of crackers and chicken salad that looked pretty good. As I paid for it, I saw a jar at the register collecting money for some group's trip to do some kind of service project, so I dropped a dollar into the jar.

When I was a kid, my brothers and I took construction paper, made May baskets, filled them with flowers from the yard, and left them on the neighbor's porches early in the morning on May Day. In keeping with the tradition, I cut some flowers from my lilac bush and snowball viburnum, put them in a jar, and took them in to work today. I put them in the main office with a note that said, "Happy May Day, everyone!" Several people commented on the pretty flowers.