Yup, this weekend we refinished our dining room chairs. Love the new green fabric on the antique chairs that have hosted Hume family members for generations. And we are talking GENERATIONS--the insides of the old seat cushions hid 3 layers of fabric, old burlap, and horsehair. You should have seen us tearing them up--tacks and fibers and threads were everywhere; Camden was having a field day (don't worry, though--we kept him at a safe distance). But I have to admit that it was so therapeutic to do something with my hands (other than grade--ha!) and be creative again. It's been too long since we have tackled a creative project and made something totally unique! 1 chair down, 5 to go, but no matter how long it takes me to grade those Lord of the Flies passage analyses tests tonight and prep for this week, I have a feeling the end of the evening will find me on the floor with the trusty staple gun. I just love this too much!
What I don't love is the Tennessee process for becoming a state certified school bus driver. Yes, ladies and gentlement, Sara Gahan is now an official, legal school bus driver. OH BOY. On Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m., I met the manager of the Hamilton County school transportation depot and for the next two hours proceeded to identify over 75 parts of a school bus (catalytic converter anyone?), drive the bus backwards through cones, and do a speed-limit-only tour of Chattanooga in a bright blue GPS bus. Covered in grease (from sliding underneath the bus to point out the steering, suspension, exhaust, and shock systems--I'm not kidding) and soaking wet from the rain, I found myself asking, "Now, why am I here again? Is THIS why I got a master's degree? However, after three months of various testing (this was only the last step), a medical physical to ensure I am healthy enough to drive (again, not kidding), and five tutorial systems with a CDL tutor (??!!**), I passed the final inspection and can now drive the same mini-bus that I drove for the past 4 years at Saint James. Don't ask; I still don't know why I had to go through all of this. But now I can drive the Cross Country team to our practices and various meets. It's a good thing, too--the season just ended. Ah, gotta love it.
But in all seriousness :-) and with the exception of the early morning driving test, we had a great weekend. Sara went to the McC headmaster's house on Friday night for some fun time with the McWomen and then together we made shrimp creole and relaxed at home with Cam-dawg. Clay volunteered with our young adult church group (called the YAMs) at the Community Kitchen on Saturday morning while I was at the bus depot, and then we hosted two of our new friends to brunch at the dining hall--they loved it. I mean, what's not to love? Jello, soft-serve ice cream, and rice krispies at every meal. Heaven. We worked out at the gym, took a glorious nap on Saturday afternoon, and then browsed the beautiful fabrics at one of my students' family fabric store before picking up a pizza and a bottle of wine and heading home to cheer on the Tide.
Our Sunday School class continues to roll on, and today we had a great group of 12 people who were all enthusiastically involved. YAY. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out the trick to not working the entire rest of the day on Sundays (Mary, how do you do it?), but we did manage to get in a long walk along the ridge with Camden.
This week brings a baby shower for a co-worker, the second meeting of the literary society, duty, book club, and the cross country banquet and slide show (which I am in charge of making--yikes). It will be a long week, but we are always trying to squeeze in moments together and some down time.
We love you all!
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