Our decorated corner This has been a fun last couple of weeks. Slowly my life is getting a little more routine and a little busier, although still much more flexible and laid back than when I worked as a teacher. I quite like being busy with story time at the library, nap times, and play dates.
Skin Sewing
A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to take a skin-sewing course from the campus here in town. This is where Tim makes some joke about me sewing cadavers together, but we only worked with furs (beaver and fox), no humans. I have wanted to take a skin-sewing class for the past 3 years, but never had the opportunity in Togiak, so when I saw this course was being offered, I jumped on it. The class met 3 hours Friday evening, 6 hours Saturday, and 6 hours Sunday. The teacher allowed me to do homework and present my work to her Monday morning instead of coming to class on Sunday. We stuck with basic sewing and made pincushions, hacky sacks, and miniature fur hats (ones that could be used as a key chain or a zipper pull). Did you know that you are never supposed to cut furs with scissors? Instead you lay it fur-side down and use a razor blade to cut just through the skin. That way you don’t give your furs an unwanted haircut. I really enjoyed the class
Skin Sewing
A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to take a skin-sewing course from the campus here in town. This is where Tim makes some joke about me sewing cadavers together, but we only worked with furs (beaver and fox), no humans. I have wanted to take a skin-sewing class for the past 3 years, but never had the opportunity in Togiak, so when I saw this course was being offered, I jumped on it. The class met 3 hours Friday evening, 6 hours Saturday, and 6 hours Sunday. The teacher allowed me to do homework and present my work to her Monday morning instead of coming to class on Sunday. We stuck with basic sewing and made pincushions, hacky sacks, and miniature fur hats (ones that could be used as a key chain or a zipper pull). Did you know that you are never supposed to cut furs with scissors? Instead you lay it fur-side down and use a razor blade to cut just through the skin. That way you don’t give your furs an unwanted haircut. I really enjoyed the class
Kaitlyn's skin-sewing projects and will be taking a mitten sewing class in November. I have also been wanted fur mittens for the past three years, so what better way to get them but to make them myself!
House Guest
Last week we had the opportunity to host one of our former coworkers from Togiak. She was on her way to Anchorage to visit another former coworker, but had to overnight in Dillingham. It was fun to catch up with her and to hear about the school and the students in Togiak. I didn’t expect to miss the students there as much as I do, but whenever I see anyone from Togiak, I’m hungry to know how all my old students are doing.
New Neighbors & Friends!
Tim mentioned in our last post that the bank manager, Spencer, has been coming over to our house a lot as his wife and baby were still in Utah. About a week and a half ago they finally made it to Dillingham. I went over to their apartment and put up a welcome home sign for them and set up our pack’n’play so they would have somewhere for their baby to nap right away. Since they’ve arrived we’ve had dinner with one another on several occasions. Elena is within days of my age and her baby, Lara, is 4 months old. We’ve enjoyed being about to be of help to them as they adjust to their new life in Alaska. I’m also excited that they are within walking distance of our house and are home during the day too. Doesn’t hurt to have nearby playmates.
Carving Pumpkins
On Thursday Tim and I went over to the Calvert’s house to carve pumpkins. They treated us to a delicious dinner of homemade pizza and a green salad. I was excited to use the opportunity to try out a new Halloween treat. I made some squirmy worms out of jello. I figured that their kids would find them fun. They turned out quite well. They looked pretty realistic, enough so that the girls didn’t want anything to do with them at first and their son dived right it.
After dinner we started on our pumpkin carving. I don’t even remember the last time I carved pumpkins. I think it’s been at least 10 years if not longer. It was a lot of fun, but I fear that we just made a big mess at the Calvert’s house, riled up their kids, and then left them in a mess. Perhaps they’ll never let us come back again.
You may notice in the picture below that we have one regular-sized pumpkin and one very small pumpkin. I'm not sure how much pumpkins usually cost, but here they are $1.99 per pound. I didn't really feel like spending $50 on pumpkins, so only splurged on one regular-sized pumpkin, and then picked up a small $5 pumpkin. I figured Tim and I would have to fight over the bigger pumpkin, but he willing to the little one without saying a word. (Click on the pictures below to make them larger and see the captions.)
House Guest
Last week we had the opportunity to host one of our former coworkers from Togiak. She was on her way to Anchorage to visit another former coworker, but had to overnight in Dillingham. It was fun to catch up with her and to hear about the school and the students in Togiak. I didn’t expect to miss the students there as much as I do, but whenever I see anyone from Togiak, I’m hungry to know how all my old students are doing.
New Neighbors & Friends!
Tim mentioned in our last post that the bank manager, Spencer, has been coming over to our house a lot as his wife and baby were still in Utah. About a week and a half ago they finally made it to Dillingham. I went over to their apartment and put up a welcome home sign for them and set up our pack’n’play so they would have somewhere for their baby to nap right away. Since they’ve arrived we’ve had dinner with one another on several occasions. Elena is within days of my age and her baby, Lara, is 4 months old. We’ve enjoyed being about to be of help to them as they adjust to their new life in Alaska. I’m also excited that they are within walking distance of our house and are home during the day too. Doesn’t hurt to have nearby playmates.
Carving Pumpkins
On Thursday Tim and I went over to the Calvert’s house to carve pumpkins. They treated us to a delicious dinner of homemade pizza and a green salad. I was excited to use the opportunity to try out a new Halloween treat. I made some squirmy worms out of jello. I figured that their kids would find them fun. They turned out quite well. They looked pretty realistic, enough so that the girls didn’t want anything to do with them at first and their son dived right it.
After dinner we started on our pumpkin carving. I don’t even remember the last time I carved pumpkins. I think it’s been at least 10 years if not longer. It was a lot of fun, but I fear that we just made a big mess at the Calvert’s house, riled up their kids, and then left them in a mess. Perhaps they’ll never let us come back again.
You may notice in the picture below that we have one regular-sized pumpkin and one very small pumpkin. I'm not sure how much pumpkins usually cost, but here they are $1.99 per pound. I didn't really feel like spending $50 on pumpkins, so only splurged on one regular-sized pumpkin, and then picked up a small $5 pumpkin. I figured Tim and I would have to fight over the bigger pumpkin, but he willing to the little one without saying a word. (Click on the pictures below to make them larger and see the captions.)
Nothing like a bloody rat for dinner More Halloween Fun
I really like Halloween. It is such a laid back, silly, fun holiday. This year I’ve been trying to decorate more and participate in some Halloween activities (such as the pumpkin carving and the worm-making). Last night we had some friends over for dinner, so I took the opportunity to experiment a little with dinner and made bloody rats. Really they were just meatballs in the shape of rats with linguine tails and whiskers and vegetable ears and eyes. I wasn’t completely impressed with the taste of the meatballs, but they were sufficiently gross, which is what I was going for, I guess.
We’re looking forward to getting to dress up this week. Happy Halloween!
I really like Halloween. It is such a laid back, silly, fun holiday. This year I’ve been trying to decorate more and participate in some Halloween activities (such as the pumpkin carving and the worm-making). Last night we had some friends over for dinner, so I took the opportunity to experiment a little with dinner and made bloody rats. Really they were just meatballs in the shape of rats with linguine tails and whiskers and vegetable ears and eyes. I wasn’t completely impressed with the taste of the meatballs, but they were sufficiently gross, which is what I was going for, I guess.
We’re looking forward to getting to dress up this week. Happy Halloween!
