Just Jessica

You haven't seen many of my projects, because as it turns out they are all mostly gifts for others. In the end of July I took a major trek from Colorado Springs through these beautiful wide open spaces,

to Breckenridge where I was able to enjoy a lovely lunch with Mom's cousin Jill on her porch/deck with a view!

After lunch we got to look at many of her FAB-u-lous quilts.

FYI- those aren't large pieces they are tiny squares assembles to make a bigger picture!
Isn't this the cutest mini quilt?

Then it was onward to my In-Laws in Grand Junction where we (John, Neola, Mark, Jay and I) piled into the van and drove to Idaho.
Our first Idaho stop was at "Aunt Becky's" where we ate Luke's favorite family dish "Red Sauce". We sent him this taunting picture. Aren't we nice.

Then we were onward and upward to McCall, Idaho. I don't know how they did it but Mark and Jay played video games the whole way up.

*for the record a really long road trip is definitely a great way to get to know each other. For example, now we know that one of us should no longer eat dairy, and required to submit window roll down warning, another will no longer be given Dr Pepper and another will no longer be choosing restaurant seats as they have strategically attempted to freeze us out under vents. *
In McCall I got to make a pilgrimage to my knitting home shop Keep Me in Stitches and

visit the woman who changed my life by teaching me to knit! Thank you Lynda!!!

I just love the way she arranges yarn chromatically.
While I was hanging out at Lynda's Mark was busy getting engaged to his girlfriend Madison!

Here they are shortly after when they came to pick me up for dinner! Check out those grins!

Jay was pretty much ready to take this guy home with him and I worked hard to match his outfits all weekend.

My fingernails, his glasses shorts and shoes.
It was quite a bit of driving but a great weekend trip!

On the school/teaching front, I was in a bit of a pickle. I've been stuck waiting for teaching credential/license paperwork to go through and because it wasn't all cleared I was getting pulled out of the job pools. The jobs I was getting through for weren't especially good fits. I decided to start volunteering at schools within 15 minutes of a drive from our apartment and get to know which ones I felt were a really good fit.
My first day at one of them I was told of a posting for library aid that would be going up amd that I should apply. It turned out the school was a total kindred spirit school. It's amazing how much offering to volunteer can tell you about a place. I had one school tell me they didn't need volunteers. What school doesn't need volunteers?! I was offering to do ANY-thing!
Anyway, I got the job, and they're giving me lots of opportunities to still practice my teaching and my first day was fantastic. I'm still doing some volunteering do I can continue to get to know the school better and I'm loving it!
I'm more tired than I've been in a while but it's truly a good kind of tired.

During all the various job interviews and after the big trip, moved! (As if everything else wasn't enough.) We moved from our third floor one bedroom apartment into a third floor 2 bedroom apartment in another building.
Ill be honest, I thought it would be easier than it was. It turned out to be a LOT of work. The bonus of moving? We got a few...ok four... Pieces of furniture from Ikea. We'd held off so we wouldn't have to move it in, assemble it, and then move it again.

When we had our old apartment inspected, she said it was the cleanest apartment shed ever seen! A feather in my cap to be sure! Check out my pretty vacuum lines!

This pretty guy came from the Grand Junction Nickodemus family as a housewarming!

I got a back to school hair cut.

Home Depot actually got favor points from me for being able to cut 4x4s into 8 inch bricks. Lowe's didn't have the capacity.

I've been pinteresting up our apartment in anticipation for Mark joining is in Colorado Springs for HIS new job as before and after school program director.