Sunday afternoon project

This hat was super easy and lots of fun. I started and finished it this afternoon. I am totally in love with it. Now I just need to find a baby girl to try it on!

More Crafting

For two weeks, Tyler was out of the country. He went with a student music tour to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. It was very hard having him gone, especially the first week when phone calls didn't even work. He had a great experience, but we're both happy he's safe at home again.

While he was gone, I spent a lot of time at my parents' house. I found an adorable pattern for baby booties, and wanted her to make them for me (no, I'm not pregnant, they're just really cute). She wouldn't make them for me, but promised to teach me how to crochet.

I think I'm hooked (no pun intended). It is a lot of fun, and although I still make a lot of mistakes, I'm getting better at hiding them. After a few practice booties, I made these two pair for a friend who just had twin baby boys. They are way too big for those little babies now, but they sure will be cute in a few months.

Artistic Roots

My mother is very artistic. She oozes creativity. Everything she touches turns to some amazing wall hanging or darling baby outfit. Me, not so much. I have memories of me being in her painting class when I was young, and I ended up with a bright blue wooden horse. I have plenty of musical creativity, but not so much with the visual.

This last semester, however, I dug deep to find my artistic genes. I signed up for a non-credit beginning pottery class with my mom and sister. They are both art majors, so I knew I had built-in tutors. I am pretty proud of my projects. The first one was a pinch pot, meaning I shaped the whole thing by hand (no pottery wheel).




The second one was a bowl made on the pottery wheel. I like it because it is a square bowl.





I signed each piece with my own special signature. :)



The last one was really a semester-long project. I decided to make a tower, which turned into a clock tower. It's kind of a combination of the Rapunzel tower and Big Ben. I had to shape every stone by hand, which took forever! Over the last few days, I painted it and put the finishing touches on it (with some guidance from my dear mother). I think it may be my office clock on campus.

April Fools!

I didn't really do anything for April Fool's Day this year. Usually I look forward to tormenting my college students on this fun little holiday. It's especially effective since April 1st is right at the end of the semester, and they are all a little tightly wound anyway. :)

One semester, I sprang a dictation test on my musicianship students. They wouldn't have bought it, but I got two or three other students in on it, so we managed to panic quite a few of them for a few minutes.

Another year, one of my classes was schedule to have a solfege test (you know, do re mi fa, etc.) on the hymn If You Could Hie to Kolob. When the first group stood to sing the test, I "reminded" them that they were supposed to do it memorized. There were a few panic attacks in the room before I let them in on the joke.

I also teach a Music History class to Juniors and Seniors. On April Fool's Day one year, we happen to be having a review session for their final test. They all knew that the review questions were representative of questions that would be on a final test. For the first few minutes, I asked the most detailed, difficult questions possible. I was completely serious when I asked the questions, and the students reactions were priceless. Needless to say, I could 0nly keep them going for so long before I felt to badly for them. :)

My favorite April Fool's Day memory was when I was a little girl. I woke up one morning to find myself in my brother's pajamas. My parents had switched us during the night! I was young enough that I just thought it was funny. Unfortunately for David, though, my pajamas were all frilly nightgowns. The best part of this is that my parents have it all on video! We all broke into David's room to find him cowering under his covers. We bugged him for a while, trying to pull off the blankets. We all thought he was pretty embarrassed. Little did we know that he hadn't even yet realized that he was wearing a lovely red nightgown. When he did figure it out, he let out a horrified shriek, and a red streak flew out of camera view. That is some priceless video.