Monthly Archives: February 2020

Subbing: The Journey Continues

Thoughts On Life, ,

I didn’t sign up for any substitute teaching jobs last week. I did have one today. I signed up for third grade but got switched to where I was needed-fifth grade.

Oh my goodness, they never stop talking. I am seeing a pattern here. In three of the four subbing assignments I have had so far, the students talk all during class, and loudly. I would say this is students giving the substitute teacher a hard time.

I am not quite sure what to do about this, but I will figure it out. Aside from the requisite asking them to be quiet in many ways, I threatened to take away points they earn for good behavior, to leave a note for their teacher, etc. I reassigned some seats to separate those who needed it. Did you know kids these days have the technology to make their computers repeat what you say? Oh, joy.

I was thanked for switching teaching assignments and told they could use me every day. I think a couple days a week might be my limit. There are always a few reliable kids who help me out. God bless them!

Couch Dynamics

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Sometimes dogs know how to use furniture as well as people do. Our dogs all try to get the best seat. The best seat is generally considered to be beside mom on the couch. The next best snoozing real estate is considered to be one of our two giant, cushy dog beds, followed by the second couch in the family room.

Last choice is the couch in the other room or on the rug. They will try to make another dog move by standing over them or trying to fit into a space so small that they end up partially laying on one of the others, before they will lay on the rug.

It’s fun to watch the dynamics play out and see who ends up where. The outcome varies and you just never know what will happen.

Etsy Shop Additions

Sanctuary Acres Shop, , , , , ,
Brown Felt Bunny

I added some new merchandise to my Etsy site today. These new offerings are themed for Easter and Spring. They are some of my favorites. You can find my Etsy shop at the following link. https://www.etsy.com/shop/SanctuaryAcresShop?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

I have some other items available that are not pictured here. All of the items are custom designed and hand sewn by me here at Sanctuary Acres. Have a look and see what you think.

White Felt Bunny
Blue Felt Egg
Felt Cross with Flower
Felt Chick

Never Enough Friends

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, , ,

Foster girl Claire has made good progress in her relationships with cats. At first she found them to be exciting and something to be run after. She soon moved on to standing and watching the cats run by, but not giving chase.

Orange Kitty has been instrumental in this new behavior. He is so laid back that he doesn’t even move now when Claire approaches. She seems to seek him out for company.

You can never have too many friends.

Be Kind, Always

Thoughts On Life, , ,

I’ve been struggling with something recently. I like to think that I’m a nice person. I try. But I’m not so sure that I succeed.

I had a friend that I used to talk to from time to time. We would do a few things together. We had some things in common. Dog causes and activities, go figure.

My friend made a few political comments and I discovered that we did not share the same political opinions or support the same politicians. I still cared about my friend but decided it would be best to avoid her for a while, until the political climate changed and such issues were not hot topics.

If I heard from my friend, I was always polite, but we didn’t do things that we had done before. Well, I learned recently that my friend died. This should not have come as the shock to me that it did. This friend was not a young person.

This gives me cause to ponder if perhaps I am not the kind of person that I thought I was, and have strived, and failed to be. I think now that I should have still gone places and done things with my friend. If the subject of politics arose, I could have said “let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about something else.”

People are certainly allowed to have their own opinions. They don’t need to be the same as mine. I don’t need every one of my friends to think exactly like me. It would be a boring world. Another thought-how will the world solve various issues without discussion and multiple insights?

I do not have the answers to these questions. But I have learned that I need to be a better friend, and more tolerant. Maybe not accepting of some ideas, but caring enough to still be there.

I debated whether to share these thoughts as they are rather personal. I decided that maybe someone else can benefit from my experience. How will you feel if you discover that it’s too late to make a different choice?

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – The Dalai Lama

At Least There Was Cake!

Cooking, ,

Zekie and me

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

As I’ve mentioned, my husband puts on a Valentine’s dinner for the family every year. This year was rather challenging trying to pull it all together. In the morning I was vacuuming the house and discovered that the drum filter had slipped on the vacuum so was not seated properly. This allowed dust to blow into the air. My husband is allergic to dust. Not a good time.

After that, normal preparations continued and arrival of the first guests was scheduled for four o’clock. At 1:30 pm, the power went out. Most of the food was ready, so we waited. At 3:30 there was still no power so we moved the location to my mother in law’s. As soon as we finished loading up the five course dinner, our power came back on. The truck from the electric company was still parked down the street so we opted to stick with taking the dinner elsewhere.

We spent a large portion of the week preparing and cleaning with no one to appreciate it. In a couple more weeks this will probably seem quite humorous. Hey, at least there was cake!

Black Forest Cake

Nap Time

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Foster sheltie Claire hanging out with the big guy, our resident greyhound. The angle of the photo is deceptive. Claire weighs 27 lbs. to Cassius’ 72.

Cassius is a gentle giant. He is by far the most mellow greyhound we have had. Even when Claire takes toys from right beside his mouth, he just gives a loud woof. He is so good natured. She on the other hand has no sense of personal boundaries.

The one who is teaching her to back off and respect his space is our 8 lb. cat Morty. If he hisses or growls, she backs up. Though he is tiny, his attitude is fierce.

Keepsakes For Valentine’s Day

Dogs & Other Animals, Thoughts On Life

Every year for the past several years my husband puts on a Valentine’s dinner for the family. He does all the menu planning, shopping, and cooking. My part for the last couple of years has been to procure some type of keepsake dinnerware or drink ware to be used during the meal. Each person then gets to take the item home with them.

This year I planned ahead. Yay,me! I decided to make something individualized for each guest. I purchased white ceramic bowls and ceramic paint pens. Then I created a custom design on each bowl of something I thought would be meaningful to the person. The back has the guest’s name and the date of the dinner.

This is the bowl I made for my husband. (I’m not showing any others at this time because I don’t want to spoil the surprise!) The artwork is two of his favorite dogs, Baxter and Phoebe, along with various hearts because it is Valentine’s Day.

Baxter

Phoebe

The project did take me 5 hours to do all the bowls and I still have to bake on the designs, but it was fun. I hope everyone will enjoy their bowl throughout the year and remember the good time we had.