Today was Nerd Day.  Oh, my.  Who knew how many students & staff were nerds at heart.  Next year I'm going to have to try my hand at a Nerd outfit. I got lots of ideas today.

The funny statement today came from our Principal...she was laughing as I was leaving the building at 3:30.  "It's always a good day when a student gets paddled."   Not that paddling happens often...it is a student's choice and parents agree.  There are students who'd rather get paddled than sit in ISS for several days. 

I got a good report from the dentist and my teeth feel wonderfully clean. 

The Kiwanis Officer Installation Dinner was good.  Pulled pork with BBQ sauce on a bun. Potato salad and cole slaw.  There was dessert but I was too stuffed to even waddle over to look at it.  Dennis is no longer (after 7 years) the Treasurer.  He is now the Vice President.

After all the business was taken care of, we played BINGO--only it was "ALOHA" because we had an Hawaiian theme.  The pineapple centerpieces were the prizes for the winners.And a good time was had by all.

Thunderstorms started rolling thru Rolla shortly after school dismissed.  It showered off and on during the day.  I was glad I had new windshield wipers on the VW driving home in the pouring rain.  My original plans to get groceries after school got cancelled. 

Dennis' 24/7 job finished up last night, so he got up and worked his regular shift today. Which meant I had to cook. Fortunately I had some frozen cooked & chopped chicken, some left-over corn & black bean salad.  I cooked some rice and added it to the corn/beans.  Opened a can of diced tomatoes and added the chicken.  Heated it all up and called it supper. There's even left-overs for my lunch tomorrow. 

Nothing particularly funny happened at work today. It was wacky Wednesday and there were some very wacky outfits around the school.  One fight that I know of.  Neither kid seriously injured---red knuckles on one and a red nose on the other. No blood. It wasn't as black & white as it might appear.  Red nose provoked Red knuckles...in front of reliable witnesses. Both students in trouble. I'm glad I just tend to the injured and don't have to sort things out. 

I'm reading All Creation Sings.  During lunch I read about the ant and how productive an ant is.  Living up to one's potential and giving everything your best effort.  It's all about making choices...  Of course the ant did enjoy the grasshopper's fiddling during the long winter, just as the grasshopper was grateful for the ant's storing up food to eat while snow was on the ground.  Each gives according to his ability, and takes according to his needs. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the group  has to say on Monday.  I might find myself kicked out.  

As I was driving home, the public radio station went off.  It made me wonder if there would be electricity when I got home, but not only did we still have power, but also cable/internet.  There were powerlines down and buildings damaged just north of St. James, but no injuries.

Life is good.  I'm glad I'm not an ant.

Another wonderful fall day.  Weather is gonna change soon though.  Rain & cooler temperatures tomorrow.  The wind is already starting to pick up.  The only "night noises" left are the frogs, and they sound subdued.

Got to wear my Cardinals t-shirt and jeans to school today...for sports day.  Too bad they lost to the Giants last night.  Tomorrow is Wacky Wednesday which is when you wear mismatched clothes...I think I'll pass on that one. Deliberately mismatched clothing is not a look I aspire to.

Had to get the windshield wipers on the VW replaced before it passed inspection.  Fortunately Dennis was able to take care of that for me before he went to work at noon.  But now I can get the license plates renewed for another 2 years.    Guess I'll do that after work tomorrow.  Dentist appointment on Thursday after school.  

Work started with a kid puking in my office. Gross.  He said he ate cereal for breakfast...I can tell you it was cornflakes.  TMI for most of my friends.      Later I had a student tell me:  "I think I swallowed a coin last night and it's trying to come back up. My dad says it was just a dream."   Who knows.  As far as I know the coin, real or dreamed, did not come back up. 

Today was the end of the 1st quarter of the 2012-13 Rolla Public School year.  Only 3 more to go. When Christmas break gets here, the year will be half over.  Not wishing my life away, just looking forward to time off from school.

It was a busy day.  My hat didn't make til 9 AM.  It's hard to answer phones and rush hither and yon wearing a hat perched on top of your head.  It was fun for about an hour.

A bit of humor..."I'm not feeling good. One way I know I'm not feeling good is I've been quiet lately. And I'm never quiet."  Not a good reason to go home, however. 

Mad dash around Rolla and then St. James after school.  Engraving to deliver.  Bank errands to deal with. Skipped getting groceries because I had to pick up my Fosomax at the pharmacy in St. James, then leave the VW at Daniel's Garage to be inspected tomorrow.  I'll have to leave the nurses meeting by 4:30 tomorrow after school to pick it up before 5.  Dennis is loaning the van to Kiwanis Wed & Thurs (to store on Wednesday and then deliver buddy packs on Thursday) so I have to pick up the VW tomorrow.  Dennis is working noon to midnight M-W this week because of a round the clock job on I-44.  I picked up the Burger King fish sandwich for supper.  Not a smart choice.  

Earlier this evening I started cutting the quilt pieces for my mom.  The Christmas gift I started last year.  When I got the fabric out to start working on it again, none of the squares I cut last year were in the bag.  I HOPE my mom has them and knows where they are.  Because I have NO CLUE.  Scary thought.

With no distractions (ie husband) or need to cook supper (and therefore no kitchen to clean afterwards), I have more energy for projects in the evening.  Hmmm.   

It's been a good weekend.  A productive day today with a little relaxing between tasks.  I didn't get everything on my list crossed off, but enough that I'm in good shape to begin a new week tomorrow.

I got the instruction manual for the bread machine...and I think it was operator error that kept it from advancing past the knead stage. In a few days I'll give it another try.  You are supposed to load the ingredients before you plug it in, and then push STOP to clear all the programs.  Then you tell it what to do.  

We ate some of the bread today. It was tasty and all that kneading gave it a fine texture.  I melted Provalone cheese on some slices to go with our French onion soup tonight.  I think it might even hold up sliced and used as sandwich bread. Hand kneading the bread, I was never patient enough to get this fine of a texture. 

There was 1.1" of rain in the gage this morning.  It rained a bit more this afternoon.  I think it is supposed to be dry Monday and Tuesday. Dennis is on a big 24/7 project, so he'll be working noon to midnight this next week.  

Took time to watch the season premiere of "Walking Dead".  May have trouble sleeping tonight.  Going to watch a bit of Cardinals vs Giants before heading to bed.  Paul got tickets to Game 6 (in San Francisco).  I certainly hope he plans to root for the Cardinals.  :P

Slept until nearly 8 AM.  My left hip hurt when I got up.  Too much time in bed, I suppose.  Also a sign I need to walk more and lose weight. Too much sitting.

Got the laundry caught up.  I tried to make bread with the bread maker I bought at the UMW auction.  The instruction manual didn't come with it, so I found a site on the internet and followed those instructions and recipe for plain white bread.  After 45 minutes of kneading (the machine wouldn't advance to the "rise" step), I pulled the dough out of the machine and put it in a bowl to rise.  Then punched it down, put it in a bread pan, let it rise again and baked it. It smelled good and looked good.  I used to bake bread (like 4-6 loaves every Sunday) so I knew how to handle the glitch in the bread machine plan.  I think I may be gifting this machine to the Caring Center.  It takes up an awful lot of room, especially if it doesn't work right. OF course if I get the instruction book,  I may read the instructions and discover it was operator error.

Dennis and I had lunch at Meramec Vineyards.  I've been a member of their "birthday club" for several years, but the past year or so haven't taken advantage of the "free birthday meal".  Dennis was a good sport (and well behaved) on the outing.  I had a glass of Bistro Gold (a dry white wine) with a spinach & roasted red onion quiche. (only fitting after watching Julia Child).  Creme Brulee for dessert. mmmm. It was a wonderful meal.  Dennis had their chicken plate and a Samuel Adams beer. 

I spent the afternoon taking care of the "stuff" that needed to be done around the house. I got caught up on engraving. Went to church this evening.  For supper I fixed sloppy joes, baked beans (from a can) with dill pickle chunks & pickled okra and a salad from the garden (lettuce and volunteer cherry tomatoes). 

Today was a relaxing day.  It's raining. Perfect for going to sleep. Not so good for that last walk before bed with Lucas.

Planning to stay close to home this weekend.  Plenty of stuff to do around the house.  Plus it is Old Ironworks Days, which means lots of tourists driving crazy on narrow 2 lane winding hilly roads.  

It was a long work week, considering it only had 4 days.  Now I have a mere 2 days to get a lot of necessary for survival tasks (laundry, cleaning, cooking & meal planning) done, and hopefully tackle a few fun projects. 

Next week is "spirit week".  It kicks off with Hat day on Monday.  I plan to wear my "spider hat".  I got it a couple of Halloweens ago at a Cracker Barrel.  That place has more than just good food. My bright green argyle sweater and black skirt will be perfect with it.  I even have some little black plastic spiders to put around on my desk.  It will be a Nurse from the Black Lagoon sort of day.  HEEE HEEE.

Tuesday is sports day, so I guess that will be my Cardinals t-shirt and jeans.  Then Wacky Wednesday...wearing mis-matched weird clothes.  Thursday is Nerd Day.  I'll have to ask Dennis if I can borrow his pocket protector to wear with my white button down shirt and black straight legged too short pants (which I don't own yet).  I do have white socks and a pair of black lace-up SAS oxfords.  Not sure what I'll do on Friday...pajama day.  A flannel nightgown with leggings under it?  Or traditional pajamas with a robe.  

Time to start making my list and getting it prioritized.  The first of laundry is in the washing machine.  

I celebrated no school on Monday by driving to Springfield to babysit Jax.    Dennis and his friend JN were in Oldfield, checking out the well at the house we WERE thinking about buying.  The well was good.  Unfortunately when they got up in the attic, it was obvious there had been a fire.  Quite a few of the rafters showed fire damage, and would have to be replaced before I'd feel comfortable about the structure of the house. Dennis figured out the fire started down in the basement...where the dryer used to be.  The roof also still leaks and there were places in the basement that showed some water damage (in the concrete) which is probably why it was never finished.  

Jax and I had a great time hanging out while Matt & Sara were at work.  This is a picture of Jax in the clown Halloween costume both Paul & Matt wore when they were about 2 or 3.  It was WAY too big for him, but Jax humored me long enough to get a photo.  Hopefully he'll fit into it and get to wear it in a year or two.  

Then Jax showed me how he could get around the kitchen in his "Jeep" walker. He's really good in reverse.  I laughed and told him about how his dad is NOT good at backing up vehicles.  

Matt got home first, and "played" with Jax.He enjoys the toys as much as Jax does.  Sara got home at little later and we all had chicken soup (Sara uses her crockpot a lot...smart girl.  I need to remember to do this too).It was a good day.

Yesterday was a nice day for an outing. It's been a long time since we strolled around the botanical gardens, so we decided to visit before there is a killing freeze. This weekend was also Best of Missouri Market--4 large tents full of amazing crafts and artwork.  We were impressed but didn't buy anything.  There were a lot of people who were buying. I took business cards from a few vendors and may get in touch with them later. We left a bit sooner than we'd originally planned because of the weather. The temperature started dropping, the clouds got darker and the wind started blowing.  I was wearing a t-shirt, flannel shirt, denim jacket and jeans...and was uncomfortably chilly at the end.  Earlier it was partly cloudy/sunny and I alternated jacket on/jacket off.  

Just marigolds and zinnias but gorgeous. lettuce and beets.Several years ago Chihully had his art in the park; the Botanical gardens bought a few of his pieces, like this sun in the rose garden. the roses were still beautiful, if not at their peak.Trees along the streets near the Botanical Gardens.  In spite of the summer, we are having beautiful fall foliage.

We dodged the frost bullet last night but probably won't tonight. It's 44 degrees and when this rain passes, the sky will clear and temperatures drop.  When we got home we picked the peppers and eggplant.  Then I got enough lettuce for a salad tonight. It was sprinkling before I got inside with the lettuce.  Now there is thunder rumbling in the distance.  I heated up the left-over white trash lasagna for supper last night.   

It was 50 degrees and drizzling when I got up.  That was the warmest point of the day...and the dryest.  It stormed and thundered and poured rain until almost 3 PM.  It was 42 at that point.  Scattered frost is predicted for the next 3 nights, although I think the rain is over.  The rain beat down the lettuce pretty bad.  It's too muddy to go out to pick eggplant or peppers.  This may be the end of the garden.

Using the left-over chicken from last night, some boxed chicken stock in the pantry, part of a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and the left-over spaghetti noodles from earlier this week, I made soup.  I even found some biscuits I'd frozen a few weeks ago and re-heated them. It was a tasty meal...and we now have leftover soup.  Kind of a never-ending saga. The Tale of the Left-overs.

I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend. No school Monday because it is a teacher development day.  No students, no nurse. Also no pay. Dennis and I plan to be in Springfield.  He & JN will be checking out the well and walking the property line with the legal description (on the place in Oldfield), once they find a survey pin.  Dennis picked up a metal detector at a pawn shop for $10 so hopefully he can find the corner pin nearest to road fairly easily.  I'll be babysitting Jax.  

Even though it isn't Halloween yet, I'm having to fast forward to Thanksgiving.  We are hosting this year and 12 guests have been officially invited.  Since it isn't a formal sit down dinner, numbers may vary/fluctuate a bit. I haven't planned the menu or made the schedule/to do list yet, but my mom has already volunteered to do pecan pies and 7 layer salad.  I'm hoping I can also talk her into her "real" cranberry sauce...or at least sharing her recipe. 

I've been listening to Joan Baez on Spotify.  She has such a beautiful voice.  I especially like the folk songs she sings.  And prefer versions of most of Bob Dylan songs.