AMTESOL

AMTESOL was this weekend at Auburn. I was surprised at how long it took to get there. We got there just in time for the first session. Em and I sat at the back. The sweet young thing (a grad student) who began, said something unintelligible then sat down and began reading to us. It was terrible. We just had to leave. After that we tried not to choose any session done by grad students.
The keynote speaker was very good but we were starving and ready to eat. Wish she had been at a different time.
My session was the first time slot Saturday morning. I prepared 50 handouts and the room seemed to have about 50 seats. I started a few minutes early but soon the room was overflowing. People were sitting on the floor and standing around leaning on the walls. They seemed to really agree with everything I said. They were very encouraging, nodding and smiling. I loved it. I got to talk about my favorite thing-getting kids excited about reading. Afterwards I was too pumped up to sit and listen to anyone else talk.
Em and I went to the local art museum. We walked around looking at the collection of Audubon prints and a very strange exhibit of primitive art that seemed to have been done by a lunatic. Then we rode around the campus and walked around town. Em found some bargain necklaces. When we went back to the conference, I won one of the door prizes!

Don't read old blogs

I just read over some older blog posts. Bad idea. I'm still not ready for AMTESOL. I found out the scifi show was not from Canada but was on a network I hardly ever watch.
The good news is my van has heat again. We took it to the shop Monday and they said it was a GALLON low on coolant and there was a leak in the radiator. Replaced radiator and new coolant-now I have heat. Yea! One question-why couldn't they find the leak all the times I took it in and said, "I think it has a leak."?
I'm reading the longest book by John Mortimer. He wrote the Rumpole books. They are very quick reads compared to this book.
Got a list of stuff I need to get done yesterday. So I better stop writing this and get to work.

Snow Day-Sew Day

I finished the "Sassy Little Apron" yesterday. Saturday the new tablecloth was done. That was all I thought I would do this weekend. But the weekend has been extended with an extra day because of bad weather. Now I'm working on the T-shirt quilt. I have the five rows done so all I have to do is put the rows together. I couldn't remember the order of the rows, so I tried them different ways. I'm sure it is not the original way I was going to put them together. Maybe it will be more interesting this way.
I'm alternating sewing with work on the presentation for AMTESOL. I have two slides done. Someone said to make one slide per minute. I think I like to talk longer than that per slide. This is too much like writing national boards. The good thing is I don't have to write out everything I'm going to say.
Well, time to get back to work.

ETC.

Loose ends and other stuff as I watch a sci-fi show that somehow I have missed. Today I finished the new table cloth and made some small adjustments to the woodland animals baby quilt. Yesterday I made a cute little flannel blanket for a co-worker's baby shower. Tomorrow I hope to make a sassy apron with Em.
Oh, yeah, finally got my national boards certificate showing that I have renewed! It was oversize, so I had to drive to Canton to pick it up at the PO.
What am I reading now? Just finished a medieval mystery by Ian Morson called Falconer and the Face of God. I hope to find some more books in this series.
What I need to be doing-working on a presentation for AMTESOL. Maybe I can get to it tomorrow afternoon. At least this laptop will work for several hours on battery power if we get snowed in and have a power outage.
I really don't want a snow day. We'll just have to make it up at some inconvenient time. I have a TESOl friend in northeast Tennessee who keeps posting snow days. I wonder how many they have built into their calendar. I think she has missed about two weeks to bad weather.
Got to go. I'm going to research this sci-fi show. Must be from Canada.

More quilting in 2011

One of my goals for 2011 is to spend more time quilting. I'm working on the X block quilt this weekend. Hope to finish it by tomorrow. The baby quilt in the photo needs a little finish work and then I'll mail it to my cousin, the new grammy. I think I will work backward and try to finish all the quilts I have 'almost' finished. I found one top I really like-black and bright colors. Just needs a little trimming and then quilting. I have THREE Saturday Sampler tops almost ready to quilt. Since I passed the national board renewal, I can spend weekends working on quilts. I may even PAY someone to finish one of the quilts for me. Anyway, we'll see how far I can get this year on my backlog of tops that need to be finished.
Happy New Year to all!