Thinking Ahead

I know. It is summer. Leaves have yet to fall, and still...I am already thinking of Halloween. It is hands down my favorite of all holidays. I went to the mall yesterday and Halloween stuff is out already. I am not sorry to say that I got totally excited. I got two Halloween votives (one with a raven theme and the other with a skeleton theme) from Illuminations, which actually had really cool stuff for a boring candle store. Their website sucks, so I'm not even going to link it, but you should go in if there is one anywhere near you. I found these awesome laser cut cupcake and cake wrappers at FancyFlours.com . You aren't supposed to bake them, they go on after baking as yet another step in the decorating process. It makes sense, considering that when you bake cupcakes, the liner's design pretty much gets lost. I was so sad to see that my Snoopy cucpcake liners were just plain looking after baking. I've been getting into the Dia de los Muertos imagery lately. I am going to try to make my own retablo, which is basically a diorama with a festive skeleton scene inside (see examples below).

I am thinking for mine it will be a family portrait of sorts. Maybe M. and I with the pets, or if I get good at it, our siblings and parents as well! Nobody in my family will think it's cool, but I am excited to try. I'm going to get clay and fabric today for sure. This is one project that may take a while, though. Maybe around Halloween I will tell you spooky stories of the real live haunted house I lived in for five years with my family.

I am thinking ahead in a more constructive way as well. Today is my catch-up day. I have syllabi to put together, an article packet to create, and bills to sort. I want the semester locked up tight by the end of the week. Students will be e-mailing about things by Monday, and I don't want to look like last-minute Larry.

Students were e-mailing me in July. I tried to be cool about it, but damn, I do not need to be thinking about the semester in the middle of July. Give me a friggin' break. I know it seems like those who teach have it easy with all the summer off stuff, but let me tell you, it is a physically and mentally draining job (and I teach college, I can't imagine teaching elementary/junior high/high school). I prepare like hell for each class and think hard about the skills I am trying to foster week to week. At the end of a day of teaching I am pretty beat. My course is actually very methodically put together. By the end of the spring semester, I start to get really down on the laissez-faire attitude of students and all of the excuses. I need that break so that contempt doesn't start to mess with my ability to relate to people in a normal way. That being said, even though I am way into summer break, I am actually looking forward to work, which is what the break is all about.