Cute Doomsday Prepping!

Recently, Tony and I have been watching episodes of a show called Doomsday Preppers. We enjoy laughing at some of the silly things people do to prep (welding steel shipping containers together to make a zombie-proof compound for example), but it has got us thinking. 

In our church, we are encouraged to store food for one year and have a 72-hour bag in case we would have to leave due to disaster. It takes a while to build up a years worth of food, but we are working on it. We have also been storing some dry goods, one of these being candles.

The electricity in our building is uh...irregular. It has a habit of browning out and doing weird things. Regardless, it is a good idea to have non-electric light on hand. We have a couple non-battery flashlights, but those are only so useful. 

In Sterling, we have a few little antique stores. At our favorite one, Tony found an entire bookcase full of different sizes and styles of oil lamps. Today we went back to the antique store and chose three smallish ones and one super tiny one. If you want to find some of your own, Wal Mart has them and oil and wicks all in one place, but if you want a prettier lamp and to support local business, go with an antique store!

The wicks that came in the lamps were (understandably) old and falling apart. Instead of buying new ones, I decided to make them myself. I chain-stitched some cotton yarn until it was the thickness needed.

VERY IMPORTANT: Do not use dyed cotton as a wick. It creates headache-inducing smoke. So then I made a wick with some plain white cotton.

This is the teeny-tiny lamp. It holds about 2 or 3 fluid ounces of oil. As you can see, it still gives off quite a bit of light! And it's cute....yeah......

One of the small ones, and the baby one! And since Tony and I like Victorian/steampunk, these fit right in with our decor. Also, I have this thing about nic-nacs. I HHHHAAATTTTEEEE them. If I have something in my house, it better have an use. These are perfect!

So one of the best parts about our adventure in oil lamps, all of this cost about $25. Granted, we bought small lamps. If you want to buy a full size oil lamp, a basic one can cost you at least $15. Nice looking ones go for a lot more. It's kind of like when you go to a fast food restaurant and you pay for a drink. If you buy a small drink, you can get up and go refill it as often as you like, or you can pay more money for a larger cup and fill it less frequently. I would rather pay less (none of these lamps cost more than $6). Also, a very little oil burns for hours, so it's really not a big deal to have these small lamps.

Student Teaching So Far...

Here are a variety of scattered thoughts which I refuse to organize:

I'm better at conducting since I haven't had a conducting class in a while...weird.

I'm really glad I learned how to play a lot of the instruments back in high school when I actually had some time to practice them.

I am not a morning person....getting up at 5am everyday is KILLING me...even when I go to bed at 9pm. >.<

Even if you think you CAN'T learn how to teach very small children, you can. Those heart-breakingly adorable five-year-olds will find a way to chip at your diamond-hard exterior....oh and the six-year-olds too.

Learn kids names as fast as you can. It makes class go much smoother when you can call out the name of the misbehaving child, give them the "mom look" and move on. (or in other words, I still don't know very many names....)

If a kid just isn't understanding something, get clever and get silly. It will help them to quickly learn the skill, and remember it!

Talk to your cooperating teachers a lot. Write down what they say.

Expect and demand high-quality work from your students. It will surprise you what they are really capable of when you expect it.

Understand your students. If they misbehave, figure out WHY, don't just punish, punish, punish. Kids have stress in their lives too, and they aren't as experienced at handling it.

Band peeps: if you teach a single day of your life in an elementary school, you're gunna sing in front of a room full of people. Get over it.

Ipods are really useful.

It's a very precious experience to see each elementary class start with a prayer, but I especially love when the kindergarteners pray. The are perfectly blunt, honest, and sincere.