Touring Day 3

After Murfreesboro, we drove to Hot Springs to spend the night. This morning we went to the Mid-America Science Museum to see the "Our Body" exhibit. It was pretty gross, but worth it. We spent the rest of the time driving around and taking pictures.

Touring Day 2

On Monday morning, my mother and I headed to Murfreesboro, AR, about 2 hours away. This little town is home to Crater of Diamonds State Park, the only site in the world where the public can dig for diamonds and keep what they find.

We didn't find anything, but we did learn several valuable tips to increase our odds next time. We plan to go back before the weather gets really cold, and see if we can find any of the pretty stones there, which include amethysts, quartz, jasper, and different kinds of diamonds.














































































On the way, we saw the Wheel of Fortune bus!

Oh Yeah, the Railroad Bridge

This is now a pedestrian bridge, but it used to be an old railroad bridge. My great-grandfather saved it from being blown up, back in the 20s or 30s. He was on the bridge and overheard some guys talking about exploding it. He saw the dynamite and wires and whatever. He went and told a cop, who arrested the men. Pretty cool.

Random Photos from the Day

Heifer International

Touring Day 1 Pt. 4

Finally, we headed back over the river and got off the trolley. As we walked toward our car, we realized we were right in the middle of a Democratic rally! Someone told us Bill Clinton was supposed to speak, but was running late. We didn't feel like waiting, but I did catch this shot.

I still have a whole week off. If anyone has any suggestions of where else to go, let me know. On Monday, we're going to try to visit an elephant sanctuary in Greenbrier. Who knew!

Touring Day 1 Pt. 3

After the Cemetery, we drove back to North Little Rock, parked our car, and rode the trolley back into Little Rock (hoping to avoid the afternoon traffic driving back over the bridge later). We went to the Peabody Hotel, to watch the ducks. I'd never seen it before. If you don't know the story, here it is. Peabody Ducks

Here's a video.

Among the sites we saw on the trolley over the Arkansas River were the USS Razorback and the Arkansas Queen, a riverboat that offers dinner rides down the river.

Touring Day 1 Pt. 2

I can't figure out how to add photos in the right places in the same blog, so I'll do several.



Next we drove through the Quapaw Quarter, which includes the Governor's Mansion, Mt. Holly Cemetery, and the Villa Marre, the old house used in the exterior shots on the television show, "Designing Women."



We also went to the Mount Holly Cemetery, which is called "the Westminster Abbey of Arkansas" (according to the brochure). Among the many famous Arkansans buried here is David O. Dodd, who was hanged during the Civil War at age 17, for being a Confederate spy.





We also went to MacArthur Park, and saw a statue of Gen. MacArthur, and the old arsenal used during the War.

Touring my own City

The family I work for is out of state for a week and a half, but since I still have school, I couldn't work in any vacation. So I decided to explore my own area. I made a list of cool things (mostly free) to do in Central Arkansas.

Today, my mother and I went to the River Market and the Quapaw Quarter, a historic district of Little Rock, with a lot of old houses and museums.

Our first stop was the River Market in downtown Little Rock. We ate (see the cute little Razorback cookie - he was yummy), then took a stroll and took pictures.

Blog for Signing Classes

I have a new blog for the classes I'm about to start teaching - Baby Sign Language. The classes are also useful for children with special needs. If you know anyone who might be interested, send them to www.comesignwithjessica.blogspot.com

New Store

No more ebay store. Here's the new one. http://jessicascraftsnquilt.etsy.com

Funny Signs

I wished I had taken pictures of some of these signs I saw on my recent trip to Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, I was doing most of the driving, and some of it was in snow - so no picture taking. But...here are a few I wrote in my phone to remember.

Under a stop light - "Wait for green light" - isn't that what the light itself is for?
By a rest stop - "Rest area - no facilities" - hmm...
In a gas station - "Women's restroom - women only" - glad they told us
On a speed limit sign - "Speed limit 55 - trucks 55"

And one bonus one that warrants mention, from a trip a few years ago.

Under a left turn signal - "Obey left turn signal" - if they're not obeying the left turn signal, what makes you think they'd obey the sign that says to obey the signal?

I also noticed at least 3 different styles of "Moose crossing" signs. (We think we saw a baby moose crossing the road at one point, but he neglected to cross at the proper place).

Haven't seen gas prices like this in a long time!

Too bad it was in Canada...in litres.

2 Biggest Pet Peeves About The Way Therapists Interact with Children with Autism...

Ok, this post might not make sense to everyone (who am I kidding, I mean my 3 readers), but I had to rant.

1. Telling an autistic child to, "Say 'bye.'" I understand why parents fall into this -- you don't want your child to seem rude, so you just prompt (still not effective, but understandable). But when I hear a speech pathologist do this, it drives me crazy. "Can you say 'bye'?" Well, yes, he can, but if it's only when you ask him then it's not really functional, is it? The behavioral approach to solving this problem is to start with a full prompt, then fade to successively lesser (ok, I just said that part cuz it sounds smart) prompts.

2. Asking an autistic child a question you don't know the answer to. If you ask, "What did you do at school today?" and they don't answer, you are reinforcing silence! I admit I've done this before, but I'm really trying not to ask anything I can't prompt. If a child already has trouble answering questions he does know the answer to, please don't give him more opportunities to practice not answering! The behavioral approach to this is much more complicated than #1, but more rewarding than looking stupid when you repeatedly ask a child questions he can't answer yet.

I have many pet peeves on this subject, but they're probably only interesting to me (and maybe Marria, who I better not ever hear is guilty of #1). :)

Death and Tornadoes

A good friend died Wednesday night. I hadn't talked to him in a few years, but we were best friends for a while when we were little. We were planning to get married when we were five, but he said that he was going to be a fireman, and he knew I wouldn't want a fire truck parked in the driveway all the time. So he broke it off. :) It's hit all of us really hard, but I have many fond, funny memories to hold onto.

After finding out about that Thursday morning, we came home Thursday night and had our subdivision surrounded by tornadoes. It was strange the way the death made me view the tornadoes. There was a total lack of fear, because it seemed impossible for two really bad things to happen in one day. Luckily, we didn't have any damage, other than being without power for the night, but we drove around this afternoon and looked at the destruction. The little airport about a mile from our house had hangars flattened and planes destroyed. We saw huge trees uprooted and thrown around. It was a strange kind of metaphor for what the day had already brought.

Anna......

You mean like this one?

Things that make me....

Angry:

I pulled up to the gas pump today, slid my card, and started to grab the pump. I've noticed the last few years that some gas stations have started reversing the order of the pumps so you accidentally grab plus instead of regular. So I now have to actually look... Anyway, so I noticed the one I reached for was plus, so I went to the opposite side and filled up. As I put the pump up, I realized I had ended up with premium, and they had put regular in the middle! I've never seen that before, and it's really annoying. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me, but it really did make me angry!

Happy:

The Flippin, AR, school district just scrolled across the bottom of the TV. They are out tomorrow. Flippin Snow Day.

I've always wondered...

why they can put a man on the moon, but they can't get those sliding locks on the doors of bathroom stalls to meet together right...

Ebay Store

I'm experimenting to see if this link to my store shows up right.

Square Foot Garden

Today my mother and I constructed more boxes for our Square Foot Garden. We're planning to have 6 4'x4' grids (squash, okra, tomatoes, peas, beans, cantaloupes, and all kinds of things), 1 4'x8' grid (for corn), a 4'x2' grid (for strawberries) and 1 2'x9' grid (for watermelons). We also have a grape vine growing, and are planning to plant carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, and gourds in a separate part of the yard. We also planted some seeds to start indoors. For those of you who don't know, a square foot garden is planted in square feet (imagine!) instead of long rows. It's supposed to take 20% of the space of a conventional garden, but give 100% of the results. This is our first year, but I think it will work well. It fits my personality, because I can grid things out and have them exact! I can already taste the yummy fruits and veggies!

Ideas for my Novel

All my life, I've been a writer. I used to write 50-100 page stories (hand-written pages) when I was a young teenager. The last few years I've gotten interested again, and have read a ton of books on writing. I also took a Creative Writing and a Creative Nonfiction course. I've submitted a few short stories to magazines only to have them returned with a big stamp of disapproval on them. I have written a few articles for an online magazine and gotten $15 or $20 for them. But now it's time to step it up a little. I would like to write books, targeting approximately the 9-13 year old audience. I don't know why I'm posting this, except to ask for any tips or words of encouragement. Maybe seeing this in writing will get me ... well, writing.

I Almost Died Today

Okay, so not really. But I did go skidding through the ice on an overpass (getting onto I-430 going toward Maumelle). The car in front of me was going about 20 miles an hour, even though there was no current sleeting action, just slightly wet and (apparently) slightly slick roads. I slowed down (I did NOT slam on the brakes, just a gentle push) and went spiraling out of control and my car was moving sideways toward the guard rail. The funny part was, I was on the phone with my mom, and I never put the phone down. What she heard was something like, "Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, oh, oh, ah, hang on, hang on, okay, hang on, let me regain my composure." I ended up steering out of it, but then headed in the other direction toward the other guard rail. But, I was fine. I did, however, turn around and go home instead of going to work.

Schedule for this Semester

Here's my tentative schedule for this semester, in case any one of my 3 readers was just dying to know.

Sunday -- 2-4 hours with the 6 year old boy with autism that I work with.
Monday -- no work, but quilting every other week and school at night. (This will probably be my main ebay and other on-the-side money-making day).
Tuesday -- class from 1:40-3, and 6-8, and possibly working earlier in the day some days.
Wednesday -- work from 11-6.
Thursday -- work from 10-1, class from 1:40-3;3-5:35, then drive to another campus and have class from 6-8.
Friday -- work from 10-6, including an autism social group that I helped start.

I Think This Will Be A Good Semester

I had my first class tonight -- Developmental Psychology. I took it in two parts in Fayetteville (like early childhood and adolescence or something) but I need some more psych electives, and this looked like a fun one, and one that could potentially help me with work. My instructor is a professional Patsy Cline impersonator, and says she'll never keep us longer than an hour and a half or two hours at most. Tonight, she talked for about 30 minutes, reviewing our syllabus and all that, and I zoned out for a moment, then realized class was over when I noticed everyone around me getting up to leave. We have 3 tests, including a non-comprehensive take-home final. :) So this should definitely be an easy A.

My other classes include Applied Psychology (an overview of different psych jobs out there) and a class called Psych and Cinema, which I understand is a fun class for seniors where we watch movies and analyze the psychological conditions in them. These are both taught by the same professor, who has one of the highest ratings on the facebook "rate your professor" site.

I'm also taking ASL 2 at a community college, and have the same wonderful teacher I've had for 2 other classes.

The best news is I only needed 2 textbooks this semester, and got them both for a total of...$13.00 including shipping!