Sewing Days

We may be close to "dog days", but I call them sewing days for me. We have no air conditioning in our house, so when the heat goes over 94 degrees Fahrenheit, one can only do so much and that much cannot involve a lot of movement. Hence, I get the urge to sew.

I got my muslin out and ironed it last night in front of a large fan. It's hanging on the banister waiting to be pinned and cut out. I found my favorite shirt pattern, so now I'm ready to take both to the dining table and begin. I'll probably get to it tonight with fans going strong. I also found the muslin dress I made as a try-on for my daughter's wedding gown (I made said gown, too.) 3 years ago. I tore the seams out, and I'm now using it to patch the back of our favorite comforter. "Wash it, fix it, wear it out. Make it last or do without." Those WW II people knew of which they were speaking.

Faculty Freestore

Today is "Awards Day", the last day in which I give out underclassmen awards because I am resigning the math department chairmanship this year. It is also my last chance to add to my version of a "faculty freestore" for this year. Every year when the students clean out their lockers, they trash a lot of good 3-ring binders, unused looseleaf notebook paper, almost unused spiral notebooks, and other useful stuff. So I do some serious rag-and-boning -- dumpster diving is what my students call it -- to offer freebies to the faculty before they leave for the summer. I started this when I taught in the public schools but only for my own use. When I started at this private school I found that I ended up with far more than I could ever use in a year, so I began my annual faculty freestore event.

The English, religion, and history departments get most of the looseleaf paper because so many times students "forgot" to bring extra paper to class. The math department scarfs up most of the graph paper; I give the remaining graph paper to the science department. Textbooks in good shape go first to students in need, then to the departments. Same for reading books. Of course, there are the extras: pencils, pens, locker shelves, assorted other locker storage items, and the various plastic folders, etc. Every time we have a teacher new to the school, he/she is amazed at what is offered at the end of the school year. If all goes well, my students in their 24 minute classes today will help me set up the store so that I can have teachers pick up their supplies before leaving school today. Talk about practical recycling!