I whistle a happy tune...

I am in my first year of teaching in a Montessori classroom. I love the methods, I love the theory, I love the kids. I am struggling, as all first year teachers do. I have read account after account of similar struggles. I have read several books detailing what to do. I have the luxury of a head teacher who is extremely experienced and willing to explain why we do what we do.

Some days are wonderful! The kids show me a new way of looking at life and the world around me. They say funny things and do strange things or just run up out of the blue and give you a hug. I love teaching and would never dream of anything else. Some days are terrible. No one listens, my voice starts to get horse, I get sneezed on, step in puddles in the bathroom in my socks. I ask myself why it is that I started this and remember how untrained I am and that I have no applicable skills.

The weekends are either spent recovering and catching up on all the chores I have left unfinished throughout the week or trying to make up for lost time and catch up with friends that I have ended up seeing less of then I would like.

Some time I wonder if I will ever feel like a real teacher. My head teacher, in giving me advice on effective discipline, told me that it has to come from inside, you have to feel it before the kids will listen and that no one else can help me. My father, a high school teacher, told me to remember that I am the teacher. I think that the kids can tell when I am feeling unsure of myself and run with it.

I was talking to a close friend who is much older than I am and I asked her if you ever really feel like an adult. She started to answer, hemmed and hawed a little bit, but the final answer was no, you get more mature and see that you were a stupid young person, but you never really feel any different. Which is comforting on some level and disheartening on another. I wanted to know that it would all solidify at some point and I would feel "grown up" and like a "real teacher" and I know that at some point, like getting old, I will start to mature and feel more sure of myself, but as my lead teacher pointed out, it won't come from a manuel or advice. While they are helpful, eventually, it all works out ok.

Om nom nom!

I went over to Sarah's (Hedgerose) house and crafted and ate. That woman is an amazing cook. She has a food blog at http://rosemaryandroux.blogspot.com/ She made me risotto. I chose not to eat many meats, but I do still eat seafood. She made scallop risotto with a crab broth that was amazing!

I spun some on the fleece from my uncle. I am liking the way it is spinning up. It is a shorter staple than I'm used to, in large part because these sheep were raised for meat. However, I really like the light gray color that it spins up to be and I love that it is from my uncle. It is going very slowly. I broke the belt on the drum carder and haven't gotten a new one yet. I also haven't been spinning as much as normally lately. I got a little burnt out over December.

What a whirlwind holiday season it was! After the craft faire in Santa Cruz I began the Christmas Knitting. Now Sinspinner was much smarter than I and had started much sooner. She however was going to Germany to see family and therefore had much more than I. I started the socks that Warebeast's mother had commissoned on December 5th and believed that I could knit 5 pairs of socks, 2 hats, a bag, a lace scarf and still keep my job and sanity. This was not the case. I caved on the 23rd and went to Target.

Sinspinner in Germany with the Boy until the 24th, which makes the apartment and the cats very lonely. I hope that everyone's holidays were lovely!

~Riastiltskin

Holiday Show

We will be appearing at the Multi-Artist Holiday show in Santa Cruz this weekend, December 4th and 5th, 2010. Join us from 11-5 at the Freight Building, 119 Center Street! http://www.ribbonstreet.com/holidayshow.html

Monarch Craft Fair

We went to the Monarch Community Craft Show yesterday. It was really nice. We went last year and there were a lot of the same wonderful venders there this year. We were actually even invited to be in a craft fair in Santa Cruz next weekend! I have to get the exact date from Hedgerose before I post the information though. We met a lot of really nice people.

A woman came by our booth and told us that her husband had bought on of Hedgerose's books last year and given it to her for Christmas. She took it with her to Italy and back and now it is her traveling journal. We were thrilled to here that our creations had gone so far and were being loved.

Like all craft fairs it seems, this one was a bit of an adventure to get to. (Hedgerose can smack me for that proposition at the end of that sentence later.) I had gone down to L.A. to see my family for Thanksgiving, so had just gotten off of a plane. Elderbeast (brother of Warebeast), had volunteered to come get me from the airport and drove me down to Santa Cruz, saving me a bazillon hours on the bus. O.k. like 2 or 3, but still a huge difference. However, Hedgerose and her housemates win. One of their housemates fainted in the kitchen and they had to call 911. The upside to this however is that they assure me that the fireman was extremely hot; every cloud has a silver lining. All in all, however, it was a very enjoyable day. Details about next weekend's craft show to come shortly.

~Riastiltskin

Corn Chowder!

I've been sick for several weeks and have eaten a LOT of soup. Today I made a big batch of delicious corn chowder. Try my original recipe!

Servings: 4-8

Cook Time: 1.5-2hrs

INGREDIENTS

1 large yellow onion, minced

1 large carrot, chopped small

2 medium leeks, chopped

2 stalks celery, minced

4 yukon potatos, cubed small

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup sliced mushroom

1 can sweet yellow corn, undrained

2 quarts, chicken or veggie stock

1 cup half and half

1/2 cup white wine

3 tablespoons butter

ground black pepper and salt to taste

1 teaspoon paprika

shredded cheddar, sour cream, and/or chopped chives for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

Slowly sautee onion, garlic, leek, celery, mushroom and carrots in butter until onion and leek are soft and golden. Add corn, potato, stock and wine. Simmer on low heat for 45-90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Potatoes should be soft and falling apart. In a blender or with a hand blender, smooth 1/2 of the contents of your pot. Add in half and half, paprika, salt and pepper. Continue to Simmer on low heat 15 minutes then serve in deep bowls. Top soup with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Laci's

Now that I am not waiting tables and only teaching at Montessori school, I am experiencing this beautiful thing known as weekends. They are in fact amazing. I also have these things called evenings too, but that is another story. These weekends are giving me a chance to see my friends again. I went over to Oaklandia to visit a friend and she popped my Laci's cherry. An explanation for those of you who have not experienced that which is Laci's: it is a museum of lace and textiles. The front part of the building is a store. There are shelves of books, separated by subject. There were crafts I had never even heard of before. There were hat forms and parasols, hoop skirts, fans, tools, wig making. It was amazing. After you get through the front, there is another 2 rooms that is just the museum part. There were wedding dresses and veils in the first room and an exhibit on embroidery in the second. My friend is an embroiderer. I dabbled in it in high school, counted cross stitch, but she is the real deal. It was amazing to go through it with her and her input about the various techniques. I would definitely go back. I love museums and seeing the evolution of crafting but it was a different take to know that people had done this hundreds of years ago and were still using the same techniques today.

Going to Laci's made me think about the the nature of crafting. Most things there were fairly recent, within the last few hundred years, and many of the fabrics were falling apart. The intricacy and size of the stitches and patterns indicated that the artist had spent hundreds of hours creating each piece for something that would would only last a finite amount of time. I also thought that it was interesting that none of the pieces I saw seemed to be made with the intention of being in a museum one day. It was all something functional: a piece of clothing, a sampler, etc. It makes me wonder what we have lost, what was see as something frivolous and meaningless because it was being created by a woman. Not seen as art but as something less. I wish I had more answers. It was a thought provoking weekend.