Last day of Freedom

My "year off" from teaching is quickly coming to a close. No, it has not actually been a year off from teaching. The only substantial breaks I have had from subbing have been the two vacations back East. Tomorrow begins a 6 week long term position for my good friend Alyssa who just recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. When that job is finished in January I will be accepting a full time position in 7th grade Language Arts.
However I have made good use of the time I have had to work on projects such as the swap below. The chunky book contains pages from Art Unraveled 2008 participants. Each contributor gets a set of pages and one book will be auctioned off at AU 2009 for charity. Jane and I sorted and bound books yesterday. My book does not sit flat as I chose a page with a spoon in it and the spoon extends below the page. Side view (love the dangling pearl!):

Top view:

Front cover made by Jane (this is the view where you can see that my book does not sit flat, that's the charm of chunky books!):

Here is the main reason I have been restless and "out of sorts" lately:

I really, really, really don't want to be in Arizona any more......... I want to be in our house in the woods! It is extremely peaceful there and I miss it (especially in the lingering heat here and all the city noise that we tuned out until returning and realizing just how much noise there really is here!).
So, today is my last day to play (of course after running errands like the doctor's office and the bank..............) and I will be finishing Christmas inchies for a swap at Frenzy Stamper and then I would really love to work on the canvas book that I started at Jane's last month. She has completed one of hers and it is absolutely fabulous!
One of the things I MUST do today is cancel my subscriptions through Scrapbook Trends magazines.......... I am really annoyed at their less than honest way of doing business and plan to cancel all three of their magazines and getting my money returned to my account. When I first subscribed to Cards, Paper Trends, and Bead Trends I loved the issues, however my tastes have changed and I barely look at them now, so when my account was charged for over $150 for the renewals...............................not good! They have been dishonest with me (telling me I had a gift subscription then charging my account anyway in the next two days) and I refuse to do business with them any more. Furthermore, April is canceling her subscription as well since they told me SHE was the one who gave me the gift, which she had not. What a mess......... long story short, I WILL get my money returned!!!!!!!!!