Wednesday, October 31, 2007

See how they did it.


Stop right now. Go to the PBS website and watch Marathon Challenge. It aired on most PBS stations last night, I believe, but of course, we DVRed it and watched tonight. It's a NOVA show.

I know that many of you who read this blog kept up with me as I was training for the San Diego marathon (unfortunately I wasn't blogging then), and you know how that all turned out. Been there, done that, right? I've even got the T-shirt.

But, if you'd really like to KNOW a little of how it felt for me (and for countless other first-time marathoners, I'm sure) you really ought to watch the show. It follows a group of 12 sedentary adults through a 40-week training process leading up to the Boston Marathon. I was in tears by the end of the show as I watched them cross the finish line. Even now, almost 18 months after I ran the marathon, I get choked up thinking about how it felt to accomplish that goal.

I haven't been great about writing about the training Adam and I are doing for this marathon. I'll try to do better as we get into more intensive training runs. This Sunday, we'll do nine miles. We're going to watch Kid Nation tonight, then I'll be headed over to the fitness center for one of my short weekday runs. Can't do it tomorrow night because we've got newspaper late night.

Monday, October 29, 2007

I always wanted an Easy-Bake Oven (or, Friendship Bread)


Have any of you ever done this before? I had never heard of it until I became a teacher, then someone at Derby gave me a "starter" one time, and we went through the process, and it was AWESOME.

Then, just the other day, there were a couple of "starters" in the teacher's lounge, so we're on day 6 of this batch.

Supposedly it's some super-secret Amish recipe and only they know how to make the starter. Basically, all you have to do is follow the day-by-day instructions (like Day 1: Mash the bag.) and then you add a little flour, sugar and milk (we did that today) and then continue mashing for a few days, etc.

Eventually you get to the baking part (but not before you divide out your own one-cup starters) and the process begins again.

The finished bread is SO good. Now, I just have to get to work finding friends to give it to up here.

•••

Dumbest thing I saw all day? Some idiot on the comments section of the Eagle's story about the Derby Wal-Mart starts a thread that it was a terrorist attack. Give me a break.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Thank God we ran seven miles EARLIER

I just ran outside to the mailbox (cause that's what you have to do when you live in an apartment) and it was freaking cold outside. When we ran earlier, it wasn't that bad.

Alas, I'll settle in and hopefully make a dent in the scarf for Tigerfest. I got the hat done on Friday. Hot green tea, down slippers from Restoration Hardware, and "Desperate Housewives" here I come.

Here's my newest purse. Those of you that read the blog often will recognize the sweater from an earlier post. It was my dad's back in the day.

I think the purse turned out quite cute.

My uncle's moving artwork

Check out my Uncle Mark's custom bike.



I am the little dreamer

Here it is, a whole 'nother week has passed between blog postings. Sure, it was a busy week, what with an out-of-town aunt in town, yearbook deadline, two nights of parent-teacher conferences, a wedding anniversary, friends in town, a Van Halen concert, etc., but still wasn't there some time that I could have blogged?

I suppose nothing has gotten under my skin lately, so I don't have any things to complain about, really. I haven't been reading as many blogs lately, so maybe that has something to do with it, I don't know.

We did have a three-day weekend this week because of conferences - so Adam and I took advantage of Friday off and went to see a movie at 2 in the afternoon. We saw "Michael Clayton," with George Clooney. It was a great movie - a tad bit convoluted, but kept you wanting to know what was going to happen next. I never really thought of myself as a huge George Clooney fan, but after sitting through a two-hour movie starring him, I can see why he's always on People magazine's sexy guys lists.

On Friday night, Jeff, Kat, Lauryn and Terry all came up so that most of us could go to the VH concert at the Sprint Center. Adam stayed home with Lauryn. Here, they model the adult and kid size Crazy Aunt Purl Halloweenie Beanies I recently knitted. You might be asking yourself why Adam's shirt is all wet. I think that right before this photo, Lauryn had spilled water and gotten upset, so Adam spilled water on himself to show her that it wasn't a big deal. I think that's how the story goes, anyway.


The concert was cool. Didn't try sneaking my camera in this time, though, because I didn't have a good way of passing it through, and the Sprint Center has metal detectors. So, even had I taped it to the inside of my leg or some crazy crap like that, I still would have been buzzed in the metal detector. I'm a little pissed that we paid what we did for tickets, and they were THREE ROWS FROM THE TOP. We weren't that far from the stage, but the way they had the speaker system rigged blocked most of our view of the big screen behind the stage.

I guess the chairs at the arena were nice and comfy, so if you're attending a sit-down event, you'll benefit, but they only left about seven inches of walking space between the rows, and they put cupholders right behind each of the seats, instead of on the arms. This makes it really hard for people to get in and out of the rows when they need to get drinks or go to the bathroom. In fact, before the show even started, a guy bit it right in front of Kathryn. He tripped on her cupholder, and fell down on top of the guy in the row in front of us. Amazingly, he didn't spill the open water bottle he was carrying. Those seated two rows in front of us are lucky he wasn't carrying a beer. It would have been all over them.

I've now seen Van Halen with DLR. Finally. I think there were some sound problems at the venue. Dave kept messing with his in-ear monitor throughout the show, like he couldn't hear himself or something. He and Eddie both look like they've been spending about four hours a day in the gym. Alex looks like he's related to Keith Richards, not the brother of Eddie.

Thursday night, after conferences, Adam and I went out with a bunch of BV teachers. I'd say there were about 30 of us there. Here's a photo of Adam and I from that night - our fourth wedding anniversary. It's always on the night of conferences. But, since 2008 is a leap year, it'll be on Saturday next year.

We missed the Elvis and Marilyn party, but there are some great pics here. We really were planning on going right up until the last minute, but I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately with school and various projects so we pussed out and just did the three-day weekend thing at home. I wish it would have been Monday (tomorrow) off, then we would have gone.

Well, we're off to run seven miles this afternoon. We've been slightly lax in our marathon training - gotta get back on that horse.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

How to Make a Basket (in just about 7 hours)

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you can buy one at Wal-Mart, but I can say "I MADE that." Today, a bunch of us did a basket "class" in my mom's garage. My aunt Alice taught us all how to make the baskets. It was a beautiful day for it, except it got pretty chilly later in the day.

These are the colored strips we used. I chose the one that is blue, with no other colors. Before you can start weaving, you have to put the "natural" colored reeds into the bottom of the basket, and those form the "ribs" that hold up the sides of the basket.


Weaving.


Still weaving.


Weaving some more.


Finally done with the weaving.

I have a couple more photos, but Blogger is being temperamental right now, so I can't get them uploaded.

I'll put them up later. Baskets were fun, but I won't be joining any basket guilds any time soon. I'll take my crafts with needles and yarn, TYVM.

A handful of posts for the price of one

Dang it. I went past my "less than one week between posts rule."

Here's the updates:
The second issue of the school newspaper came out this week. Our first yearbook deadline is Oct. 25 - 60 pages. Right now, about 35 pages are done, PDFed and ready to send to the plant. We'll be at school late on Tuesday for worknight finishing the rest. This will be the week from hell - YB deadline, late night, parent-teacher conferences Wednesday night and Thursday night. At least conferences end at 7 p.m., not the HORrendous 8:30 p.m. like they did at Derby. But, at least I get Friday off. Woo hoo. Getting my hair cut that day, and takin' er easy, til Jeff, Kat and Terry get up here for Van Halen. Adam and Lauryn will be hanging out Friday night.

Our anniversary is this Thursday (4 years). We bought ourselves a Wii. Or, Adam bought us a Wii. But it's pretty freakin' fun. At least if you're going to be playing video games, you get a little bit of exercise doing it.

These are our family of Miis - Adam, my dad, my sister Jayne, me, and my mom.


Mom magically became a senior citizen this week - turned 55 on Oct. 16, so the fam came to our place for cake, ice cream and Wii. Here's mom and dad trying to figure it out.


I spent a good part of the day yesterday at Grandma's house. We cleaned and sorted a TON of stuff. Got the attic all cleared out, and most of the rest of the house. Found this little gem of a photo in the process. Look at all that CURLY blond hair. Not really sure what got's me drooling so much in that photo.



Today, I'm going to a basket weaving class. I'll shoot photos throughout the day so I can show y'all how it's done. Though, from what I've heard, my fingers might be too sore for typing when we're done.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Overheard at AMC

Random stupid woman walking out of "Into the Wild":

"Well, it was really good. Until he died." Um, have you been living under a rock? Every freaking review of that movie says it's based on a true story about a kid who went off to live in the wilderness and did not survive.

Are there really people out there who SO RANDOMLY choose a movie to see that they don't even know what it is about? Like, do you just show up at the theater and pick the one that is starting right then?

Have any book clubbers who read the book seen the movie?

At least my stress is purty.

Here's my latest project - it's a scarf I'm donating to the silent auction for TigerFest (the huge annual fundraiser for BV athletics and activities).



It's knit with Paton's Soy Wool Stripes (70 percent wool, 30 percent soy), which is beautiful yarn. It reminds me of my current favorite yarn, Noro, but it's $2 less per skein. Noro is what my red striped purse is made of.

Today we have first quarter grade marking day and inservice. Hopefully it will be easy. We don't have kids, but of course, I will, because they'll be at school finishing newspaper pages. They are pretty dedicated, which is cool. It takes a lot of the heat off of me.

We played Ottawa last night for our Homecoming football game. We left right at the start of the second half (right after coronation) and the score was 62-14 good guys. Who knows what it ended up. I felt really bad for Ottawa - they only had about 12 fans in their stands, and it almost looked like there were more fans than there were players on the bench.

Off to school.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Late night with J Chit

or Chitt, or Chitty, or The Chitt.

Just got home from newspaper work night. I should not be even thinking about looking at a computer, but here I sit, updating my blog.

That's dedication, people, I'm just trying to keep you happy!

There's nothing like a goofy work night to help with staff bonding. Cool thing I discovered about my staff tonight? The playlist includes:

Don't Stop Believin'
Sweet Child O Mine
Runnin' With the Devil
Right Here Right Now
More Than A Feeling
Free Bird

(I think they know all these songs because they play so much guitar hero, but I don't care - it still means I get to listen to music I like during work night.)

I think we'll get along just fine.

I'm pretty proud of them - tonight was the Homecoming bonfire, but they still stayed after to get their stuff done (except, of course, for the photogs, who WENT to the bonfire, duh).

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Budding Copy Editor?


Lauryn got to check out the BV newsroom on Saturday. She went straight for the iMacs.

KADD strikes again

So, while Kat and L were here, I decided to knit CAP's Halloweenie Beanie for L. It was a super quick project, only not super quick enough that I could have it done before they left. They're probably somewhere between El Dorado and Wichita right now, so they'll be able to see the photos when they get home, and I'll drop it in the mail this week.

It really kinda looks like a pumpkin, eh? I was thinking, you could probably even take some black yarn and embroider a Jack-O-Lantern face on it, but then it would be really Halloween specific. So, I decided to keep it more fall-ish. Adam says it's now time for me to start coming up with my own patterns.


Just imagine that hat on this head:


Now, must finish my yoga mat bag (because we have yoga on Wednesday), and fix the back of Adam's sweater.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Weekend at Chittum's

This weekend we spent time with our good friends, Jill and Adam (wait....ah!! Kat has overtaken the blog!!). We started the morning off with french toast and bacon, then a few tunes from Adam.
Jill and Kat shopped and shopped (we both blew our hobby allowance for the month) then finished the afternoon off with a pedicure (ahhh.......)


The night was complete with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner was excellent and the cheesecake was to die for. What a yummy day!

Friday, October 5, 2007

Not for the faint of heart

While I was looking through some boxes of stuff left in moving mode in the office, I found a couple of photos.


Pretty much sums up life in K-Building at Derby High. I really miss these weirdos!

Here's the whole K-hall crew:

Georgia, Natalie, yours truly, Paul LaBARGE, Coach K, Mr. Pack, RWally, Rog, G and Fiebich. You can tell that Robin is the administrator in the photo because she's the only one who's dressed up!

At BV, I eat lunch with the science department - not really my cup of tea. They're super nice - don't get me wrong - but they're always talking about some lab they did or some element, etc. It's nothing like good old K-Hall first lunch:

G ranting about guns.
Scovell saying YES to every favor anyone asks of him.
"Now this is the truth."
"I need a printer."
G ranting about guns.
Robin bringing us homemade cakes and goodies just cause we're us.
Scovell not eating corn.
G talking about his women troubles.
TK eating pretzels or some other "wholesome" lunch.
"This is a true story."

We were a motley bunch, but most definitely a motley bunch who would fight for one another til our dying days.

I really need to get a print of this to hang on my wall. I guess this will be the test of how many Derby folks are looking at the blog, because I'm sure they'll have something to say about the first photo...

These were taken on my last official school day at Derby - a real tear-jerker (for me).

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Still with me?

I'm a little worried that my dearth of posts lately will turn off some of my "readership." I usually get compliments from people about how often I post, but now that school has started, there's a definite slowdown in post-age.

We're knee deep in a 60 page yearbook deadline right now, so in addition to all my "normal" teacher duties (lesson plans, grading, etc.), the adviser portion is in overdrive right now as well. It's all senior ads that we're working on, so it's good practice for the newbies on using their desktop publishing skills. But, every day after seventh hour, I feel like I've sat through a half-hour church service since I've proofread so many bible verses.

Adam and I are on our way to a yoga class this afternoon. It's offered through the district. I really miss going to yoga at the Central Y, so I'm excited that this class is offered. Yoga should help alleviate the stress level a bit.

Last night, I got a message from one of my former students who is now at WSU. She's taking a Mass Com writing class, and she said that the two years she spent with me in yearbook have helped her feel a bit ahead in the class. How cool is that? I'm not gonna lie - it's those e-mails that make the sometimes crappy days worth it. I'm so glad she's doing well (and she's probably reading this blog right now), so I guess I better go reply to her message.
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