When I married I went from being a country girl to a city girl and am now in the process of going back to the country. I married someone who needed a bookkeeper and a draftsman, so that's what I learned to do over the years when I wasn't sewing or crafting. I never, ever wanted a bookkeeping job, although math was one of my best subjects, but sometimes we do what we have to do. At one point I was head bookkeeper for the multiple businesses of my husband and his brother, which required a lot of problem solving and fixing everyone's mistakes. I would have preferred spending all my time sewing and crafting but there wasn't much income in that. When my crafts quit selling, I gave up that part of my life and joined the quilt life and that's where I've been ever since. When we get moved to our house in the country I'm hoping to start putting together quilt retreats. There won't be any chickens there, although there are cows and a few horses, but mostly fish, deer, and other wildlife. And sometime this week my new longarm quilting machine will be delivered and assembled.

I'm loving all these different lives coming together. Yes rocket science rocks, so does the atmospheric research, what an interesting occupation. But teaching kids, be they preschool, special needs or ... seems terribly important and interesting to me as well. What we can pass on to today's youth will have a major effect on the future of the world!
The same goes for mom's and homecarers!

I came to Switzerland for a visit and a season job during the winter 85/86 as a stop-gap between college and university... Running away from life caused me to get a full-time job instead of going back to university. (I was born in Switzerland but my family emigrated to canada in 1976 - so I did all my major school there - and feel very Canadian in spite of having lived back in Switzerland for the past 26 years). I've been working at the same company since 1993 and have been responsible for the organization of our international exhibitions for the past ten years (we develop and produce Cardiac diagnostic equipment - mainly ECGs, patient monitors and defibrillators), so I get to travel about a bit and always have contact with great people from all over the world. I love people, but need down time too, so my friends and relatives know that when I get back from large congresses I generally avoid any human contact during my off time and can be found hidden in my 'snail shell' playing with some fabric and my sewing machines, or reading.

I love my new TQS family and enjoy the banter and play (and the serious times) on the forum, and hope to get to meet quite a few more of you during my travels.

Oh, the next exhibition I'll be at is the ACC scientific sessions in San Francisco, will be there fro 7th to 12th march (generally at the moscone center, but I've discovered that the San Francisco quilt show is on that weekend and only a couple of miles from the moscone center, so I'll definitely try to take a couple of hours for a side trip, unfortunately I can't make any plans as obviously work comes first... I only fly out in late afternoon of the 12th, so hope to have most of that day to explore... :0)

I home- educate my 8 yr old but am back teaching quilting every week in a local class - life is brilliant! Bit different to my dreams of chemical engineering....

CaroleD wrote: Teachers rock! There is nothing dull about it.

I am retired from a 28 year career with the US Government. I can't tell you what I did for them or I'd have to, well, you know.... :shock: Before that I had my own fashion design business in Ithaca New York, and before that I taught English as a foreign language in Kanazawa Japan. I am very grateful to the Lord for having such an interesting and rather fun life so far. NOW I am a full time fabric artist/art quilter and having more fun than ever.

Reading all this makes me think I've lead quite a dull life! However, I spent most of my work-life teaching. I started out teaching in high school, Spanish and Home.Ec., but soon decided I'd rather work with younger children. I went back for my Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education and spent the rest of my teaching career with the little ones, ranging from kindergarten to second grade. I was much more suited for that!!! I happily retired in 2002 and am loving the freedom that provides.

Before I was retired, I was a certified teacher, a speech and language pathologist and the administrator of homes for people with developmental disabilities. In the midst of all of that, I took a six year (was supposed to be a six month) hiatus as a paralegal to an attorney specializing in health and human services issues. Life can take strange twists and turns but somehow we come through it all. Now I am retired, for 16 years now, I quilt, dabble in some crafts and participate in some of the activities of our senior's park (no sane person could do even half of them at any one time). But my main "hobby" is quilting and following TQS. Hugs to all, Ann

I don't know if anyone considers this interesting, but I'm a software engineer for the National Center for Atmospheric Research. I work with some of the top atmospheric scientists in the world. Our division started with the discovery of microbursts and they came up with methods to detect microbursts at airports. Microbursts have caused several very bad airplane crashes. I came in at the end of that work when we were demonstrating the methods at Stapleton Airport in Denver. I've worked on several projects for the FAA aimed at improving the safety and efficiency of air travel. I have also worked on weather modification projects which have taken me to the UAE and Saudi Arabia several times. Although I haven't traveled there, I've also worked on systems in Mali, Burkina Faso, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, China and probably some other places I'm forgetting.

Nancy

Wow Sue!!!
I am no scientist of any kind, but science and math were always my favorite subjects in school. My husband was in the Air Force for 20 years. During that time we lived in Washington state twice, Alaska, Florida and Missouri. Missouri is home. He has been retired from service for almost 27 years.
I worked at a retirement facility for Catholic priests and brothers for over 22 years. I loved my job and the residents, but retired 2 years ago wanting to earn my quilting money by quilting for others. I bought a Gammill before I retired. Unfortunately, my daughter died and helping to raise her two children has put a halt to that. It is still in my plans though. I have 4 other children, 3 DD and 1 DS and sixteen grandchildren.
Oh we have chickens too, but thankfully only about 20. We also raise cattle. Not many, only 30 or so. This is a partnership with my husband's 2 brothers. They all have regular jobs. I guess the farming is more a hobby for them. I'll stick to quilting.
My hobbies besides the quilting/sewing is genealogy, and vintage sewing machines. I love to take them all apart and refurbish them. I am learning to rewire them now. I think I shocked my husband when I did the first one and it actually worked when I was finished.

Well suewarby that was pretty unexpected and interesting!
Past and secret lives, I love this.

Wow who can beat Sue Garman being a Rocket scientist that is Awesome .

The only exciting stage in my life was being in the Police Force when I was younger I was the only Detective Policewoman in a
squad of fifty men. I have many happy and intertesting memories of that time and the bonus is I met my husband at the same time
he was my Boss.

I have been raising 20,000 chickens every year for 28 years 7 days a weekand picking up 16,000 eggs a day at peak time.Then eggs start going downafter peakand i am picking uparound 6,000 eggs a day when they are ready to go out.We have no birds for 1 month so we have to remove eveything and clean out litter and wash down houses, then put everything back in for the next flock. Not much time for a vacation ,maybe a weekend when birds are gone. I fit in sewing whenever I can.Hopefull I can get out of chicken farming in 10 more years. Dixie

While things are slow here on the forum, I thought I would pose a question. Obviously, we all have other things going on in our lives besides quilting, and I thought it would be fun to see what a diverse group we are. Let's post here about something in our lives that we think others would be interested (surprised, shocked, dismayed, amazed) to know that we do or did at some point in our lives.

For instance, I know that Sue Garman is the real deal! She really was a ROCKET SCIENTEST. :shock:
She and her husband both worked for NASA in the space program before they retired. They are both really smart!

I can't top that, but you may be surprised to know that after 10 years of moving around when my husband was in the US Air Force, we moved to Tennessee and raised chickens for 8 years. We raised 75,000 chickens every 8 weeks for those 8 years. I've been happier since we moved "to town"!

So...I ask you....What's Your Line??