I am looking forward to my first OWP by the sea experience this weekend.  OWP stands for Oregon Writing Project.  It is a project under the National Writing Project.  I am happy to be an alumni of the Oregon Writing project, which for me looked like 4 sweltering summer weeks in a couple high school classrooms with a class full of other teachers learning to become better writers.  I loved every minute, especially since there was an emphasis placed on integrating technology into your writing and applying your new skills to instruction in your classroom.

This retreat looks a little more relaxed, but along the same lines.  I love the Oregon coast and I find peace there.  It should be a great kick-off for the upcoming school year.

Cheers!

Well, now we know that Dot has stopped blogging,  but I did locate her shop.  You can visit it here.  There are still some beautiful creations to be had.  For instance, see the picture below.  It is an item from her shop.

Dot, the creator of the Dotee Dolls, has apparently made her blog invitation only.  So, unless you are invited, you won’t be able to access her page from my links.  I don’t really know what is going on because I haven’t been invited.  But if you know, would you leave a comment or email me?

As far as I know, everything is okay with her.  It could be that she had too many visitors a day and it slowed the site down, or something like that.  Still, since she is part of our lives in an interesting way, it would be nice to know that she is okay and doing well.

I would upload a pretty picture for you, but I have a new computer and no pretty pictures relating to Dot to share with you.  So, ta ta for now!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I’m crazy about swap-bot.  Well, a wonderful package arrived today from a swapper called Bubbalover.  Not only did she include several handmade items in the color purple for me, but there was even a purple package for my dog, Rufus.  I had blogged about Rufus in any earlier article.  Anyway, she sent him a decorated altoid tin filled with two doggie tootbrushes.

Luckily there were two!  In spending so much time blogging about my crafting, I’ve neglected to share anything about my second dog, Georgie.  He is about one and a half years old, and he is a little black pit mix.  When I picked him up from the humane society, I was sure he was a lab.  But I love him anyway.  He is so cute!  He and Rufus love-love-loved the doggy toothbrushes.  Rufus didn’t like them as a puppy, so I didn’t ever buy them again.  But these boys at them up all in one sitting!

It was so funny to watch Rufus because he actually looked like he was brushing his teeth.  The green chewy toothbrush started foaming in his mouth like toothpaste, and the foam started running down his jaw.  After he was done, he looked at me for more.  Georgie loved his too.  I guess I’ll be picking up some more of these soon.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my lovely cat, Cloe.

Smiles!

I decided to use my classroom money to buy the chair covers. It would take too much time to make them myself before school starts. But I might still try to make some. We’ll see.

It has been a unproductive summer for me and crafts.  But as I think about getting back into my classroom, I find myself having to create what I’d rather buy.

Today I’m making classroom chair covers.  Really Good Stuff has the chair covers for sale and they are very nice.  I’m making mine out of cut up pairs of jeans ($3 at a garage sale), thread from my stash, and 10 cents a pack quilt binding from another garage sale.  I bought some at Wal-Mart as well, I think it’s less than $1 a pack.  So this five bucks is going to be a lot better than the 200 dollars it would take to buy 30 chair pockets.  But, my goodness, it is time consuming.  The picture shown is from Really Good Stuff’s Website.

Well, I usually blog about crafts, but I couldn’t pass up.  There is a contest out there to earn 4 free bookmooch points.  That is FOUR books or 2 if you mooch from another country.  If you don’t know about Bookmooch, you should check it out.  It is my favorite website of all time.  Or one of my favorites, anyway.

Here’s the blog with the contest.  Follow the directions to enter the contest:

http://quiverfullfamily.com/blog/2008/07/28/its-contest-time-free-bookmooch-credits/

I love getting a Coke in a Coca Cola glass.

Today, after church, the pianist and her husband took me out to lunch at Denny’s.  It was so nice, just to be invited.  I was careful of my diet and ordered a vegetarian omelet and a Diet Cherry Coke.  I had a nice time visiting with the couple and the husband’s 80 something, young at heart parents.

This is the first time in a long time that I’ve had a meal with church friends.  I really appreciated the gesture.  I just wanted to share that with you.  Maybe you can make someone’s day special today or tomorrow.

My mom thought I should check out this artist. He makes amazing chalk drawings on sidewalks.