Newtown Continuing Education announced it has limited openings available in the following classes. Contact Newtown Continuing Education at 203-426-1787 for further information on dates, times, and location, or go to newtowncontinuinged.org.Relieving Your Inner Critic - A two-class course starting September 20, $89. Everyone has the void in their head that judges them, and can improve their relationship with it. Course participants will learn how to identify and befriend their inner critic, through guided meditation, individual processing, and exercises.Social Security Planning, Do you Know Which Strategy Is Best For You? - A one-class course being offered on September 20, $29. This 90-minute presentation covers Social Security basics and reveals strategies for maximizing benefits. Questions are welcome during the presentation, and personal options will be explored.Drawing: Tricks Of The Trade - A six-class course starting September 21, $99. The course will offer the fundamentals in drawing through creative exercise. Working with pencil and/or charcoal students will learn the importance of negative space, how to use grids and a pencil as a measuring tool, the basics of perspective, and more.Fall For A Cool-Season Vegetable Garden - A one-class course on September 21, $29. Coursegoers will learn how to extend the vegetable growing season into fall or all winter long. Learn which cool-season vegetables can be planted now and methods to keep them growing. Fall garden cleanup will also be discussed. Participants receive a vegetable seedling to plant at home. No gardening experience required.Writing To Prompts For Memoir And Personal Essays - A five-class course starting on September 21, $79. Coursegoers will learn to tell their story, whether it is a family history or their own journey. This course will help participants sort out memories. Participants will write in class to a series of prompts designed to trigger meaningful anecdotes.What Are You Eating? - A one-class course on September 21, $29. Diet impacts health. Attendees will learn to clean their diet and make healthier food choices, and what they should look for when shopping in the grocery store. The course will cover the differences between grass-fed and grain-fed beef, when to buy organic, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and their impact on health. The course will cover other topics including the benefits of fish oil and fats that are heart healthy. Students will learn about foods that are good for them and those they should avoid.Hand Painted Furniture - A six-class course starting September 22, $89. Shelley Lowell, published and award-winning artist and graphic designer will teacher students how to take an old piece of furniture and turn it into a family treasure. Students will learn to prepare the surface, develop, create, and paint designs using pictures, patterns, lettering, sponging, marbling, feathering, and more. Students will be working in class and at home on a small plant stool, which will be supplied by the instructor at the first class. A supply list will be provided and discussed during the first class, so students should bring a notebook. An $18 fee for the stool is payable to the instructor at the first class.Sew Your Own Skirt - A three-class course starting September 22, $79. Attendees will learn to sew to improve sewing skills. It is easy and fun to sew a custom skirt. Attendees will learn to measure for size, choose and cut fabric, read a pattern, sew seams, install a zipper, and hem a skirt. Attendees should bring their own sewing machine with manual to each class. The instructor will provide a customized pattern, at no charge, and a shopping list to each student at the first class.Beginner Knitting Class, Ages 18 And Up - An eight-class course starting September 21, $129. Daytime classes meet at the Teen Center from 11 am until noon, and evening classes meet at Newtown Middle School from 6:45 to 7:45 pm. For students who have always wanted to knit, but did not know where to start or were in need of brushing up their skills, the class will share basics. Students will learn to cast on, knit, purl, and more, creating a fashionable project to start. Knitting is a great hobby that can be transported anywhere. Knit at sports events, waiting rooms, etc using snippets of time. Learn about different fibers, try out different types and sizes of needles, and more. Crochet basics will also be taught. Students need to bring in a skein of bulky-weight yarn of their choice (such as Lion Wool-Ease) and US size 10.5 or larger knitting needles to start.Intermediate Knitting Circle - An eight-class course starting September 22, $129. The course meets at Newtown Middle School. The course is for those who can cast on and knit garter stitch and are ready to build more skills or who have completed the beginner course. Several projects will be created starting with an "oh so cute" hat that can be made in sizes from children to adults, as well as a seamless project, "knitting in the round," on circular needles. In this comprehensive, step-by-step, fun class students will learn to read patterns, check gauge, master more difficult stitches (including cables), and more. Students need to bring a size 10 (long) straight needles and one skein (150 yards) of worsted weight yarn of their choice to start. Other materials will be discussed in class.Chess For The Beginner - A four-class course starting September 26, $89. Here's a chance for parents and grandparents to learn how to play chess, the game of thinking, and join the fun enjoyed by kids everywhere. Participants will be taught by Newtown resident, lifelong chess expert, and chess teacher Glenn Budzinski. All of the basics will be covered from piece movement to ending the game through checkmate. Each attendee will receive a regulation chess board and set.The River Rose Cruise-Newburgh, N.Y. - A day trip on Sunday, October 2, $110, departs approximately at 10 am. The River Rose is an authentic New Orleans paddle wheeler which departs from Newburgh, N.Y., and heads South offering a two-hour narrated tour of historically significant sites such as Bannerman's Island, Catskill water aqueduct, Storm King Mountain, Breakneck Mountain, Village of Cold Spring, and West Point. Brunch will be at The Shadows on the Hudson. No discounts apply.John Adams House-Quincy, Mass. - A day trip on Saturday, October 22, $112, departs approximately at 6:30 am. The John Adams and John Quincy Adams Birthplaces are the oldest presidential birthplaces in the United States. The guided tour by the National Park Services interpretive staff starts at the visitor's center and offers an amazing look back in time to the important early days of our infant nation. For lunch the group will head to Boston for a delicious lunch at the historic Chart House Restaurant. Menu: mixed green salad, and a choice of chicken BLT, lobster roll, or baked scrod, all served with warm fresh bread and mud pie for dessert. Attendees should include entrée choice with registration. There will also be a visit to The North End in Boston's Little Italy for great Italian shops and markets. No discounts apply.