Woodcarving

I am needing to get enthusiastic about carving! LOL. The animal shelter has the Wine Tasting coming up in April. Since I'm on the board, I should probably contribute something, right? Well, what better to auction than art? So, woodcarving it shall be. However, I have trouble getting excited about carving something that I NEED to carve. Make sense? Now, I just have to decide what it is I would like to carve. I basically have a month and a half to come up with something. I am going to attempt to make some bottle stoppers to go with the whole Wine theme, but I am tossing around the idea of finishing this cowboy that I am working on. He is much more impressive, and I feel as though he would sell better. I know my grandma prices hers over $100! Mine are nowhere near that fabulous, but I am sure I could put an estimated value of about $70 on one....That doesn't mean it will sell for that much, but its better to overestimate, I suppose.....Anyhow, with that being said, I am headed out to the farm where Thomas is working on the Figure 8 car. Hopefully, being out in the country and outdoors will help keep me inspired! :D

Well, here is a flashback to my first relief carving, ever. I finished it when I was 18, I think. Still one of my favorites! :)

Keeping all the balls in the air....

Yep, its cold! :) I do not mind, though. Finally ready for some actual Fall weather, it always feels so festive! I just cannot believe that next week will be November, this semester has moved pretty quickly. I turned on the wood stove again last night and it felt very amazing. :) I do hope that Saturday won't be freezig because Allie and I are attending a Trunk-or-Treat for the animal shelter. Most of the other board members are out of town for a conference, so I have wrangled my sister into helping me. We are taking 3 dogs and 2 kittens to Trinity Lutheran's Fall Festival Trunk or Treat for kids and their fanilies to see what we have to offer in the way of pets. It will be a lot of fun to see the kids all dressed up in their costumes. Allie and I are dressing up, sort of. Our costumes consist of sparkly, purple false eyelashes and purple striped tights. We will probably wear black dresses and shoes and be 'nice, purple witches'! Haha. We are so creative - not. Not much else exciting has been happening. Work is about the same - we had aother waitress quit. We are averaging about one a week! Sheesh! I think we have a hostess quitting this week. Its not their fault, my boss is pretty hard to work for and so is his wife. Oh well, at least it is decent pay and tips! I have been working on my KPTP and Thank You cards like a mad woman, trying to get it all finished. Thomas is still liking Ground School, but he says it is a lot of information to absorb. I think I am going to try Pinterest, has anyone heard of that?

Weekends are too short

Well, what a Monday! I have been working on my KPTP project most of the day, then I am headed to a humane society meeting at 5:30. I sincerely hope that it does not last as long as the last one. Whew! Maybe I will stop by Momma's afterwards.....
Thomas and I stayed up WAY too late last night. We ran up to dinner in Wichita at Bonefish Grill. It was decent, but not great. We are going to Carraba's, from now on. Way better. Then, we stopped by Freddie's Frozen Custard for some dessert. I am convinced my husband is crazy - he does not like anything at Freddie's, not the burgers, fries, or heavenly custard. Silly boy. That's ok, more for me! ;) We picked up a redbox movie and headed home to watch Bad Teacher, which was absolutely hilarious, but kept us up way past bedtime.
Hmmmm, what else?
Thomas may be at risk for lay offs in January. :( They are talking about it again. Hopefully, he can squeak by again, though. A better rumor is that they are going back to regular shifts in January, as well. This would be FABULOUS!!! I would take 2nd or 3rd, of course 1st would be best!
He is still working on his Private Pilot's license. He actually has homework this week. Its cute because he is doing everything he can to avoid it! Homewrok is not his forte, unless it has a motor...
That's all for now!

My name is Jessica and I am a salsa addict....

Okay, so one of my all-time favorite blogs is that of Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman. If you haven't yet checked out her blog, you absolutely need to...NOW! :) She also has some wonderful cookbooks out!

Anyhow, I LOVE salsa! I saw this salsa recipe on her site and just had to share with you. I have not tried to make it, yet, but I will soon! :) Enjoy!


The Pioneer Woman - Recipe



I also think that I am about to get onto some 9th graders. I am observing a class and the teacher is doing nothing to corral these little hellions! Cannot wait until I have my own classroom.

Tonight is the Animal Shelter membership meeting, so I will be leaving school a hair early to make sure I get my Spinach Artichoke made in time. There are 80+ memebers, so I sincerely hope a crockpot full of dip and four bags of tortaillas is sufficient. Stay tuned for the recipe for Spin. Art. Dip!

Oh and here is another wedding pic for ya!

This is adorable, little Cadie. She came to my wedding and was just in awe of all the fun and girly things! So sweet! :)

Teacher of Promise

I was nominated for the Teacher of Promise award! Wow! It is an award through the KSDE and only two education students, per year, receive it at Southwestern. Very exciting! I am supposed to stop by SC this evening, before work, to fill out forms and find out more information. :)

Thomas had his first day of Ground School yesterday and he really enjoyed it! He said the first class was really easy - Basic Aerodynamics. His next class is Thursday, hopefully he keeps enjoying it! I was very happy that he came home 2 hours early this morning at we were able to spend time together. :)

I attended a Legacy meeting about endowments, last night. Previously, I did not even know what endowment meant, but now I can tell you the different types and the 5 steps to gaining an endowment! LOL. Hopefully, we can use some of the information that we gained at the animal shelter. We are in desperate need of an endowment with the way the economy has been, lately. Our anual fundraisers are going very well, but we should plan for the long term.  I am hoping to raise $15,000 at the wine tasting fundraiser this year, since we raised $14,000 last year.

That is all for now, at school right now and headed to work this evening. We do have a concert to go to on Saturday - Joe Walsh. It should be a lot of fun!