New job, new home, new craziness

Along with all the other craziness that is happening this summer (a wedding in June and a baby coming in July), I am also starting a new job in August.  And, since this new job is approximately an hour from where I live, I am moving in July.

When I decided to take the Praxis tests (discussed in a previous post) I also decided to find a teaching job in 2014.  My job search went extremely smoothly: I applied at one school, I did one interview, and then two weeks later, I signed the contract.  The fact that this is the private school that Ellie has been working at for the last two years has a good deal to do with the fact that the principal had a high opinion of me before he even saw my resume.

So, starting in August, I will be a kindergarten teacher at Maranatha Baptist Academy, in St. Robert Missouri.  With Ellie and I both there, we decided it would be good for us to rent a place together close to the school.  She has been renting a room at a friend's house these last two years, but the commute was 30 minutes from their house to the school.

The day I signed my contract, Ellie and I went looking at places to rent.  Our first stop was a small cottage owned by a friend of the pastor of Maranatha Baptist.  I fell in love immediately.

Next time I go, I'll try to remember to take a camera and take pictures so I can post them.  It's a very small house, but was remodeled a few years ago and they put in a vaulted ceiling, which really makes it seem bigger inside.  There is a nice wood floor in the kitchen/dining room/living room area, and new carpeting in the two bedrooms.  Ellie and I are planning on setting up bunk-beds in the larger of the two bedrooms, and using the second room as our craft room.  Which I'm excited about. :)

For now we are all focusing on Kimberly's wedding in four weeks, but after that, Ellie and I will be flea-market, antique, and yard-sale shopping.  I'm looking forward to it, though the prospect of setting up a house is rather daunting.  Fortunately for us, parents and siblings all have things to contribute, so we have already started gathering things. :)

Shannondale Craft Camp

These last two years I have been able to go to Shannondale Craft Camp, a weekend full of classes teaching a myriad of skills and crafts.  Last year I told you I'd post about it, which I never did, but this time I actually took pictures, so I'll fire ahead. :)

The first night I took a class called "Garden Art with Vintage Glass".  It was very... crafty, I guess.  No skill really involved, but allowed for some design choices.  Below are what I made, a small birdfeeder, and a planter.  I'm excited about designed a miniature garden to go in the planter.  Might make some fairy furniture to go in the bottom level. 

Ha, so I was going to organize this by order of when I did the classes, but I'm not going to remember.  Here is the necklace I made in the class called "Bronze and Copper Necklace".  I got to design it, then I sanded the pieces of bronze for the swirls, then she softened the wire a bit using fire (which I was happy to not take part in.  But fire bricks (I think that is what their called) are super cool when they get hot).  I then got to shape the pieces and wrap the connections.  Sadly, the connections are a smidgen loose, so it does wobble a bit. :/

Last year I took almost no jewelry classes, and I decided to make up for it this year.  Here is the Tree of Life pendant I made:

From the same lady I did a class on a wire-wrapped pendant.  This is something that I've wanted to learn for a long time.  I don't have the best wire for it here at home, but I have made another one since then: 

On Sunday, I took another class from her (what can I say, her classes just appealed to me).  This class was cool: she laid out all of her materials, gave us some books to look through, and told us to design and make as many earrings as we could in the two-hour time slot.  Ha, that was great fun.  I completed four pairs.  Three of them are with pearls, which I must admit, I love.

Here we see an utensil dragonfly in its natural habitat:

I didn't greatly care for this class. However, I did get to solder the pieces together, and soldering is great fun.  It's called an "Utensil Dragonfly" based on the fact you use a handle from either a knife, fork, or spoon for the body.  Here it is up close:

The class on cold enameling was probably my least favorite.  Maybe I'll give it another go someday.  These pieces will eventually morph into earrings and pendants, but I have no idea when:

This penny-rug is something else I didn't finish while at the weekend, but I did finish it this week.  Jury is still out on my opinion of it:

I also made some wind-chimes.  They have a very lovely chime, and I'm looking forward to finding a more permanent home for them.  Due to the teacher's machine breaking, we had to use hack saws to cut the pipes.