Blog is short for weblog (weBLOG).
Check here to see the latest information about my site (and, occasionally, about my life in general).
It isn't a conventional blog—it just lets you know what I'm currently working on!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
I got three new Christmas stockings done just in time for Christmas!
Bethany loves rats, so that's what she got. Ray and I got hugging/kissing beavers: beavers mate for life,
and are very hard-working.
Here are the instructions.
Friday, December 13, 2019
Owen Mortensen had a Facebook post about an unconventional method for factoring quadratics. I love it so much, I
wrote up a lesson on it.
If you're a mathy type, check it out. It is REALLY cool!!
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Alex's first birthday was a ‘Dragons Love Tacos’ theme!
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Since marrying Ray, I've been remiss in getting ‘display’ photos for my Burns family life.
Lots of digital stuff, but nothing in tangible form. I finally finished my
Burns Family Photos project, through 2018
(so I'm momentarily caught up).
Each year hangs on rings, easy to flip thru, order can be changed, two-sided, dates and short captions, pretty display.
I'm happy to be caught up, so I now only have to do one chunk of photos each year!
I may wait for a while before doing 2019, to gain some
‘perspective’ on what's important in this year.
Friday, November 1, 2019
I updated my monthly stats for October.
My ‘Burns Family Photos’ project is now finished through 2015 (massive amount of work).
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Testing out a first mobile-friendly page concept.
The mobile version will have limited functionality (no exercises, no worksheets), and will have just one link to the Amazon print lessons that
include the current page.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
I updated my monthly stats for September.
Geometry, Algebra II, and the first half of the Algebra I Compilations of Web Lessons are up at Amazon. I'm almost done getting print
versions of all my web lessons available! (This has been a lot of work.)
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
I updated my monthly stats for August.
I've gotten my entire Precalculus course, TeX Commands Available in MathJax, and Square Dance Basic 2 up at Amazon!
The web pages look great in black-and-white; even the mathematical cats look surprisingly good in shades of grey.
Amazon's color printing (the square dance index cards) is expensive (compared to black/white), but fantastic quality.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Life has been soooo busy and full of projects that I just don't have time to keep my blog current!
The play area is almost complete! The main installation was on July 26, 2019.
Then, I ordered a second pallet of rubber mulch (2000 lbs) and spread it.
I implemented a triangle sun shade solution over the swings, which Ray will improve on.
We also moved all the boards, metal, trusses from the trailer base, and I've been painting the base
with rust reformer to make it look nice. We've ordered a carport which will be situated between the
play area and Pebble, parallel to the trailer base, which Ray/Art will install. Things are looking
awesome around here!
As per user request, the first half of my Precalculus course is now live on Amazon!
Color printing was too
expensive (would have been over $30); my copy should arrive in a couple days to see how it looks in black-and-white.
The Burns Family meals project is basically finished.
Sewing projects: I made covers for foam window insulators for DewDrop, and made about 50 more
fabric-covered cards (this time, with velcro) for Alex, since these are her favorite toy here at Pebble!
By day's end I should have my Basic 2 Square Dance index cards available at Amazon!
I decided to
do Basic 1, Basic 2 and Mainstream each separately, because these really do need to be printed in color to be most useful.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
I updated my
monthly stats for June.
I've been taking care of Alex (♥) and continuing to work on her quilt. The play house and play structure are ordered, and we're awaiting
installation. I've already received the rubber mulch for groundcover (soft, clean surface),
and the rubber strips to keep the mulch in place (both from Amazon). Work continues on both my fabric-bordered Burns family photos
and the Burns Family Meals projects. My newest project:
Square Dance Index Cards!
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
I updated my
monthly stats for May.
I'm now been putting up the
Burns Family Meals
for about six months, and it's a pretty impressive collection!
It's so much fun to see the variety—I'm close to
being done with my ‘main meals’.
I just finished the first row of Alex's quilt.
I've decided to make each row 10 squares long; I plan to have 12 rows. I'm thrilled with how it's emerging!!
I'm also making good progress on the play area for Pebble. Landscape Structures ended up being waaaayyyyy too expensive,
but I've been very happy working with American Play Systems in Tucson;
we're customizing one of the Rainbow Play Systems,
and I'm also getting the cutest little redwood cottage that they had in their showroom (it's no longer in the
catalog—they may have been left over from an earlier year). I think we're getting close!
These days, I take care of Alex three times per week—twice up at her house, and once here at Pebble. I'm
loving loving loving
being a nearby Grandma! We just got a zoo pass, so on my days up there, we visit both Reid Park (ducks,
swing) and Reid Park Zoo!
I hope to get a small shaded play area constructed at Pebble, so we can swing and play outside year-round.
Landscape Structures has precisely the
quality that I'm looking for.
Well, here's a big indication of how busy I've been with Alex—I hadn't updated my monthly stats since December!
I've caught up and updated my
monthly stats for January through April of 2019.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Ray's first wife's Dad recently died:
Marshall Jones.
I knew him for the past eight years to be a kind, gentle, man, and a wonderful Grandpa to his grandchildren.
My former husband's mother, who we called ‘Billie’ and Julia called ‘GrandBill’, also passed away recently, after
a long life of 95 years:
Wilhelmina Fisher.
The great-grandchild is Julia's daughter, Alex!!
I want to keep track of these lyrics to "Good Morning Merry Sunshine", since I like to sing this to Alex when she wakes up in the morning!
I've looked at many different versions, and did a bit of picking-and-choosing to come up with these:
GOOD MORNING MERRY SUNSHINE
Good morning, merry sunshine,
How did you wake so soon?
You chased the little stars away,
And shone away the moon!
I saw you go to sleep last night
Before I ceased my play.
How did you get back overhead
To shine on me today?
I did not go to sleep, dear child,
I just went round to see
The little children of the world
Who watch and wait for me.
I shine upon the little birds
And flowers on my way,
And then I come back overhead
to shine on you today.
Also, we like to sing "Rubber Duckie" to Alex when she takes a bath! Again, I did a bit of picking-and-choosing to
get closest to what I remember:
RUBBER DUCKIE
Rubber duckie you're the one
You make bath time lots of fun
Rubber duckie I'm awfully fond of you
Do do dee do
Rubber duckie joy of joys
When I squeeze you, you make noise
Rubber duckie you're my very best friend it's true
Every day when I make my way to the tubby
I find a little fellow who's cute and yellow and chubby
a-rub-a-dub-a-dubby
Rubber duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of
Rubber duckie, I'd like a whole pond of
Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you!
Sunday, January 20, 2019
I started the web exercises for my
Polar Coordinates section months ago.
Then, pre-Alex preparations, Thanksgiving, Christmas (and the annual letter), Alex's birth and helping out,
Marybelle's visit ... all slowed progress considerably. Also, it's a
really long section, so there are
lots of exercises.
Finally, finally, finally, I've finished the web exercises for this section! I'm so glad to be able to move on!
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
I want to keep track of this simple recipe for
biscuits.
I did them both in the air fryer and in my cast iron pan in the oven. Both
were delicious! Good way to use up my self-rising flour and Saco pantry
cultured buttermilk blend.
Monday, January 7, 2019
I updated my
monthly stats for December and all of 2018,
and I archived my blog for 2018.
It has been soooo busy with Alex, that this is the first post since she was born!!
I've never known that busy could be so happy!
