Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The New Addition to our Family

This is my test to upload a video. We got Little Bill, the hamster, about a month ago.


Monday, November 26, 2007

Back Home

We got back from South Carolina yesterday afternoon. Traffic was not bad at all. A lot of people were travelling, but the cars moved steadily. There was no stop and go. The great thing about the trip is that I only drove 2 of the 8 hours on the way down and not at all on the way back. I got a lot of knitting done. These first two pix are of my Jaywalkers. The second sock always seems to go faster than the first for me and these socks knit up very fast. I'm going to give them to another teacher at school. Her dad passed away a couple of weeks ago and she's been feeling pretty low.

The third pic is my Jaywalker/Chevron scarf. The yarn is Deluxe Chunky LP from Universal Yarn Inc. I love the color combination, but the yarn itself irritates me. I started the scarf and after the first two stripes, the yarn just quit. Literally. It was like it was torn apart. I put the two stripes aside and started the scarf again. After three stripes, the yarn had a huge knot in it. I haven't had any problems since, but those two were enough. Anyway, the pattern is from the Jaywalker sock pattern. Instead of knitting even every other as in the sock, I purl. Easy peasy!

Still working on the Tweedy Vest...almost to the neckline!!

We had a great visit down South. Thanksgiving was good and I got to see my family. My nephew R is getting really big. He's walking now and is into everything. He loves to give high-fives and play with the light switches. He can go to Lowe's and stare at the ceiling fans with lights for an hour.

Dad gave me a huge stack of books to read. I don't know when I'll ever find the time.

It was great to see everyone, especially since I probably won't see them again until summer.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a great holiday. We're heading out this morning to my parents' house in South Carolina. It's about an eight-hour drive, so I hope to show some FOs upon my return. I only have about 15 row left on my second Jaywalker sock and I've started a Jaywalker (chevron) scarf, too. Maybe I'll finally get my tweedy vest finished!

I'm thankful to have a warm house to come home to everyday, two kids who make me laugh with their crazy dancing, a job that's pretty secure, and a husband who is always on top of things. Lots of people in town are losing their jobs shortly after Christmas because one of our main employers has decided to move out of state. Things are not good here for many people right now. One man who's losing his job has a six-year-old little girl who has been diagnosed with a tumor on her brain stem. My prayers go out to them. Please send your good thoughts along, too...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Go Bucks!

We had a big Ohio State vs. Michigan party yesterday. One of our friends always gets a big screen tv to watch the game. It's a whole weekend of festivities because today we all get back together to watch the NASCAR race. Dumb me, I always forget to bring the camera. I'm still not the greatest at blogging. Even though I'm not crazy about watching sports on tv, I was very pleased to get a lot done on my 2nd Jaywalker sock. I finished the cuff, turned the heel, and started the gusset. Only 55 more rows to go until I start the toe. The 2nd sock always seems to go faster anyway. I don't know why that is.


In other news, I saw this on Dana Huff's blog and had to try it out. It's a check your blog's reading level website. I always feel like I have nothing to say on my blog. I'm not a big talker in real life and it carries over to this blog. I'm also hesitant to say much about school here just in case a parent/my principal or superintendent should happen to see it. So I was really surprised to find...















We're celebrating Christmas next weekend with my family in South Carolina. I haven't seen them since September. We'll be having Thanksgiving/Christmas. So I'm skipping the NASCAR party and I'm off for a day of shopping....

I don't mind, even though I have a ton of papers to grade. I hope to get caught up over Thanksgiving break. However, I kind of would rather not have a holiday right now. Both of my classes are in the middle of books that they almost all like--To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Outsiders." Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorites and I knew my General English kids would love "The Outsiders." One boy, who REALLY doesn't like English, came into class Friday and said, "I love this book." That made me very happy.

I'm really glad I made the switch from 11th grade British Lit last year to 10th grade American Lit this year. Although I have the OGT, our standardized graduation test, to worry about, everything else is great!

Monday, November 5, 2007

The end of getting ANYTHING done...

I have finally caught the Ravelry bug. I got all my projects put on, have joined groups, made friends, and NOW have become part of the obsession called the Ravelry Games forum. I played games before I went to bed last night and I played this morning before work and I'm still playing!! AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH. I have kids who need attention. I have lots and lots of papers to grade. I have a house to clean up. Help! I already need a 12-step program for this.