Knitaissance

I hadn't really been knitting much since this summer. I don't usually knit much during the summer just because the heat makes the feel of yarn less enticing, but I feel like this summer I didn't knit ANYTHING.

Then, the beginning of the school year was crazy busy - I was like a rat on the treadmill for those first 10 or 12 weeks. When I would get home from school, I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, let alone make pretty things with needles and loops of yarn.

Thankfully, I've rediscovered my needles and yarn, and I'm knee deep in a bunch of quick projects right now. You might notice when you see the photos that most things are very gifty, so spoiler alert - if you think you might be receiving one of these gifts, you might want to stop reading now...

Hee hee. Sadly, my Etsy site has fallen victim to craziness in my job and life, so I haven't made anything to sell in AGES. I would really like to start doing that again.

Here's a quick knitting round-up:

Obviously, this little mitt needs a mate. I've made up two left hand mitts, so I need to get going on the right hand ones. This is the Mock Cable Wristers pattern from "60 Quick Knits" in Cascade 220. It truly was a quick knit.

I've made up a couple of these java jackets. They fit perfectly on these grande cups, and as a bonus, they're totally re-usable and environmentally friendly.

I love this tiny wine sweater cozy! Even though it looks complicated, it was a quick project. I think I finished it over about three days. One sleeve one night, the other sleeve the next night, then the body and turtleneck the last night. Simple, and a really cool gift idea, I think - just add the bottle of wine...

This is the "Ballband Dishcloth" pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It's a special order for a certain aunt of mine - she's got a great idea. Need a gift exchange gift? How about a couple of knitted dishcloths (they feel so much better than the other kind) and a nice bottle of fancy soap?

I knit this hat for the wife of one of Adam's co-workers. Again, a super-quick project.


And, last but not least, here's Lauryn modeling her mom's birthday present - it's the Ribbed Pillbox Hat also from the "60 Quick Knits" book.

I would really like to tackle something larger (a sweater for myself, or the sweater my husband has been asking for for years), but for now, the little projects will have to do.

Sports and News

Big things have been poppin' around here lately. Good ol' BV's football team just won the 5A State Football Championship over Bishop Carroll this weekend. This was great news for a couple of reasons - one, hello...STATE CHAMPS! Two...got to see my good friend Jaime Green at the game. Even though I'm not one of the "special" ones anymore (no official press pass), I managed to get down on the field to visit her for a few minutes during the game.

That, and watching the PBS special "The President's Photographer" have really made me miss the old job, even though I love the current job. I need to get out there more and make more documentary photographs.

If you haven't watched that special, go to their website to read all about it and watch online. It was so good even Gracie wanted a front row seat.

Long time no blog

I haven't written a blog post in more than three months. I know that because they last post I wrote was the start of the 90-Day Weight Loss Challenge at Lifetime, and the final weigh-in for said challenge was two weeks ago. (I lost 7 pounds, for those of you keeping score.)

A few weeks ago, it seemed like everyone I saw said "Hey, so, you, uh, ever gonna update that blog of yours again?"

I won't bore you to death with all of the reasons for the lack of blogging. Just know that, I'll try to do better. I suppose I just haven't felt like anything exciting enough to share has been happening lately, so I've been quiet. School's been really tough, and really busy this semester. Lots of things happened right there at the beginning that made it a hard start to the year.

But, here we are, two school days away from Thanksgiving, and things are going well. I've even gotten in some quality knitting AND reading time lately.

Speaking of reading, if you haven't read the "Hunger Games" books by Suzanne Collins, run, don't walk out to the bookstore and find yourself a copy. They are super fast reads (young adult novels), and once you start them, you won't be able to put them down.

I'd been hearing that from many friends, so I got on the hold list at the library. Only problem was, I was 163rd in line, and there were almost 100 people AFTER me. Luckily, some work friends had copies of the books, so I was able to borrow from them, instead of waiting three years for the library copies to be available.

•••

Hubs and I are having the fam over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I'm making a pumpkin pie from scratch. Stay tuned - I'm sure THAT will turn into a blog post. I'll shoot some really high quality food photos...

90-Day Weight Loss Challenge

If you read my last post, you saw that according to the fancy-schmancy equipment at Lifetime, my real age is actually 39. That, plus the 90-day weight loss challenge I'm in the midst of, are inspiring me to get off my duff and go the gym, either before school, or even after a long day at school.

Probably the biggest change the Challenge has inspired is that I'm not eating ALL of the sweets and junk food that is constantly at school. I weighed in for the challenge on Monday, Aug. 9, starting at 154 pounds.

I weighed yesterday, and I'm down to 150. Not a ton, obviously, but it's a start. The person who loses the largest percentage of weight wins $250 Lifetime dollars, which can be used for lots of things at the club (like personal trainer appointments and stuff like that). Not too shabby.

I missed the kickoff party because I had something else I had to do that day, so I have no idea who else or how many other people are even in the club contest. I guess I'll just have to toil in solitude, competing against myself instead of trying to measure up to other people in the challenge.

I've been doing some weights workouts that I've not done before. Meeting with the trainer really helped with that kind of stuff. I'm also swimming and doing some workouts besides just running. It's a little tough to fit it in, because we are planning to run the KC Half Marathon in the fall, so I have to keep my running miles up, but try other exercises at the same time.

We'll see how it goes. I'll try to keep you posted. The gal at the gym did shoot a before photo of me, but I don't have it to share...

My "Real Age"

One of my favorite segments on "The Biggest Loser" is when the contestants visit Dr. H and he takes them through a battery of tests to determine their body's "real" age as opposed to their chronological age.

To me, that measurement really crystallizes what being morbidly obese does to one's body and life expectancy.

Today, Hubs and I went to our free "Fitpoint" exam at Lifetime. It's nowhere near as scientific and precise as Dr. H's on BL, I'm sure, but it does at least give you some idea of where you stand.

We each did a five-minute treadmill test, a sit-and-reach test, biceps strength test, and of course they check your height and weight. Based on my test, my body is 39 years old. 39! That's six years older than my chronological age.

With some fitness and lifestyle changes, my paperwork says I could get down to 25 years on the "body age" scale, which would be seven years younger than I am. Basically my biggest problem is that my body composition is 30 percent fat! I can tell you right now, it's my sweet tooth that contributes to that issue.

I like to work out, whether on the treadmill, going outside for a run, doing an exercise DVD, etc. The thing is, I've never had a trainer walk me through some sort of program for optimal fitness. We get three free training sessions with our new membership, so I'll be interested to see what happens if I can actually get on and stick to a program.

Oh, and in case you're curious, Adam's "body age" is 31. So, he's fit enough to be considered two years younger than we really are. Guess we know who will outlive whom in this relationship...

YOU have to take the responsibility, with the right

I might have angered some people in my "Juvenile Justice in America" class tonight.

I'm okay with that.

It's my right. For the most part, I didn't disagree with what they (including the instructor) had to say, right up until classmates said they felt media should be somehow "regulated" to lessen the negative impacts on children.

That's where I diverge.

Do I think most of the so-called "entertainment" teens consume is ridiculous? Yes.

Do I wish teens paid attention to better, cleaner influences? Yes.

Do I believe our some of teen "idols" are abhorrent? Yes.

We watched "PBS Frontline: The Merchants of Cool" tonight in class. It's a 2001 documentary about all of the research that goes into the machine that is Viacom (MTV and just about every other cable channel), the four other major conglomerates that control media and message in this country and what how that research affects teen spending habits.

The show highlights scenes from the debauchery that is MTV's Spring Break each year. It touches on teens who buy into rage rock groups like Limp Bizkit and Insane Clown Posse. (Their fans hate the corporate machine, but like all "cool" things, eventually corporate America gets its hands on "alternative" guys, too.

You think the marketing was insidious back in 2001? I'd love to see an update of this topic today with social networking implications examined.

Most of you know, I don't have kids, so understand that's the point of view I'm coming from. That said, I kinda think it's the parents' responsibility to debrief with kids on what they're seeing. I'm not sure I'd want my own children listening to songs and watching shows fraught with awful language that also completely devalue women. I'd hope I could help them understand that that sort of thing doesn't fit in with our family's value system.

But, you know what, it fits in with some people's values. I know some of those people. If that's what they want to do, I can't control it and that's fine.

I think the other students got a little snippy when I said that society CAN'T regulate media - it's against the law.

My classmates mostly seem to think that it's society's responsibility to regulate the media children watch and the clothes they wear. (In fact, someone even spoke Tipper Gore's name: "Whatever happened to those sticker label things she wanted to do?" Um, the labels are on all "explicit" CDs today.)

But here's the thing: You can do say, think, believe and produce what you want in this country. The first amendment gives us that right. Everybody has it. In fact, some people I completely disagree with have the first amendment, too, but I don't have to listen to them if I don't want to.

My problem with "society taking responsibility for this trash" is that who decides who is in charge? What if I'm in charge, and I don't think anyone who has blue eyes should be allowed to say or do anything?

Society doesn't need to take the responsibility. Parents and families need to take responsibility for what their children are consuming. Be their parents, not their "cool friends" and tell them you don't want them listening to it.

Good and good for you

I haven't written very much about the garden this summer. Last summer I posted about it all the time. I guess it's not "new and exciting" in this year two, so I don't really think about it.

The tomatoes are finally starting to come in, too, but they were so good we ate them before I took the photo above.

Last night, Adam made tilapia with zucchini, tomatoes and jalapenos, with quinoa. It's awesome to cook something when more than half of the ingredients came out of our own ground. It was delicious.

For the fourth of July, I made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. The consistency was more like cake than bread, and it is really good with milk. Zucchini seems to be the one thing we always have a million pounds of, so it's nice to have different options for cooking it up.

I'd like to go see what's out there this morning, but since it rained heavily yesterday, I'd be up to my knees in mud, I think. I'll let it dry out today then head out tonight to harvest a little more.

We're using grass clippings between rows to keep the weeds down. It really does seems to be helping. There are a few things popping up here and there, but they are easy to pull. It's not like weedy grass is growing between the rows.

Last week, Adam made two different green beans dishes, and we froze a couple of bags. It took me about 90 minutes to pick beans from the entire row, and I had two full plastic grocery bags of beans. They are very tasty, and they freeze easily.

Lucky to Love My Job

I've talked about the myth of summer vacation before on this blog, so I won't bore you to death about that.

Though we do get "three months off" I usually feel busier/more frazzled during the summer than during the school year. This summer, I'm working at five workshops and I attended one other with three students this last week.

There might be a few journalism teachers reading this blog who are thinking "FIVE? That's nothing, I do eight or 10!"

I try to limit myself a little bit - I would, after all, like to have some time to pool it with Betsy and Mitzi, visit my friends in Wichita, go to movies with the Hubs, and work in the yard. This summer I'm extra busy because I'm taking grad classes. Somehow, I also have to leave time for prep for next year's classes.

Dang. I said I wasn't going to bore you with that myth stuff, and there I went and did it.

This post is supposed to be about how lucky I am to have a job I love. I don't love it because I get all this time off.

I love it because of the school where I teach. I love it because of the kids I get to work with. I love it because it's fun (most days).

Earlier this week, I took three students to a Creativity Workshop in Minneapolis. It was a quick trip - fly up Sunday, start the workshop as soon as we got there, work all day Monday, visit Mall of America, work Tuesday morning, fly back Tuesday night. A whirlwind.

But, the students who went were just great. I know they were tired from traveling, but they worked so hard, and they soaked up all the expertise the workshop offered. The girls were nice to me the whole week, and more importantly, they were nice to the workshop staff. I've taught at many a workshop with students who just didn't seem too interested in the workshop offerings, and the attitude shows it.

Being able to trust students who are traveling with you is half the battle on out-of-town trips. I have always been very lucky on convention and camp trips traveling with students.

We giggled, we groused, we walked four blocks in a surprise rainstorm (after I said "Oh, I think we can walk..."), we ate a lot and we shopped.

Though we were drained after flight delays and just wanting to get back home, I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all.

Your Big Backyard

Way back when I was in elementary school, one of my favorite activities involved reading the "Your Big Backyard" and "Ranger Rick" magazines. Maybe they came once a month or so, but I loved them. I've chosen to title today's post about things growing in my yard as an homage to one of those favorite reading memories.


I'm a big fan of perennials - it's just too hard to try to plant annual beds. The end of the school year is so hectic that I don't have time to baby new plants like you really need to. I'd plant them, then I'd have crazy weekends and they'd die. So, lately, I've been transplanting perennials from my dad's yard and from my friend Betsy's sister Molly's house. The great thing about this is: IT'S FREE.

I don't have to spend a ton of money at the garden center and then cross my fingers that the plants will survive. Plus, I think that plants raised in similar areas/soils just do better than something purchased that was probably trucked in from a nursery miles away.

Mostly the plants I've transplanted have been hostas, lilies and iris. The iris have bloomed and are done for the year. But, some of my lilies are blooming, and I've got one patch that will look amazing next week. It's full of buds that haven't opened yet.

These are hostas and a shasta daisy that I got from Dad. The daisies are starting to bloom. I wasn't sure if they would since I just planted them this year.

Readers who are family members might be interested to know where some of this stuff is planted, since we live in what was my grandma's house (and honestly, it's probably still considered grandma's house - I know we still call the back bedroom "Julie's room").

The plants above are just under the Julie bedroom window and the bathroom window (in the front yard, but behind the giant ornamental grass thing).

The plants below are planted in front of the playhouse which is now our garden implements storage shed. I would have posted an overall photo of it, but there's nothing except peeling paint on the wall, so the photo wasn't that great.


This year, I got the bright idea to try and reclaim the sideyard between our driveway and the chainlink fence. Adam tilled it a couple of times, and I planted some random stuff. Some of the lilies and irises I was talking about, some lamb's ear. (All of this will come back with a vengeance and spread, spread, spread.)

You see, that's why perennials are so great - low cost, low maintenance...

Aunt Alice sent me some seeds for other flowers this year, so along the sideyard, I also planted this morning glory in a couple of places. I can't wait for it to bloom and see what color the flowers are. It's doing really well, but I've got it in a couple of other places that aren't quite as robust.


Alice also sent pumpkin, gourd and giant pumpkin seeds. I planted those in the sideyard because I know they'll soon grow crazy and take up lots of space.

I'm pretty sure these two are the giant pumpkins. The photo on the package is a 5-year-old boy standing next to the pumpkin and it's almost as tall as he is. So, we'll see what happens with that.


Below is one of the mammoth sunflowers. There are about six of these growing out there. Again, can't wait for them to bloom.

The worst part of the sideyard reclamation project is that it's super weedy since this is the first summer we tilled it up from grass. The past two weeks I've spent a lot of time out there cleaning it out. But, now that that's done, I think I can mostly Garden Weasel it to keep it clean.

Avid readers will probably remember garden posts from last summer. The photo below is just so you can see how large the garden is. You're looking over various lettuce, onions, potatoes, cabbage from this angle.


Over on the other side, there are a few herbs, like this basil. SO. MUCH. BETTER when it comes straight out of the garden.


I'm not sure when the cabbage will be ready, but it sure is growing. Probably won't catch me making sauerkraut any time soon - I remember the smell from Aunt Fronie's cellar when I was a kid. Love the taste of it, hate the smell!


We've got a bunch of green tomatoes growing too. That's what I'm really waiting for.


A quick photo of the front of the house. This bed is the one I started when we moved in three years ago. It's shady all the time, so it's just hostas and ferns.


Technically, those are in the front yard, so I guess they don't really match the title of the post. You'll just have to deal.

I'm off to have a salad with garden greens and peas.

Exercise on a Tuesday

I've set a goal for this summer: exercise for 60 minutes every day. Any kind of exercise. Running, walking, Bob or Jillian DVD, whatevah.

HOPEFULLY, because my summer schedule is certainly less packed than the school year, I'll be able to make that happen. Basically, what I need to do is convince myself that getting out of bed and putting on the exercise clothes is the way to go. Then, just do it right away and get it overwith.

Sometimes in health magazines, one of their "tricks" to motivate is sleeping with your exercise gear on. Gross. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping in a sports bra. Un. Comfortable. I hope I can get past the five minutes it will take me to change without losing the motivation.

Tonight I went out hoping to do a 60-minute run. That turned into a 1-mile run followed by a 45-minute walk with a few sprint intervals thrown in. Sometimes, I get out there and I just can't stomach the run. Tonight was one of those nights. I try not to beat myself up over it too much, because I know I should consider the fact that I did get up off my butt for an hour is a victory in and of itself.

Especially on a Tuesday. Usually, I'm in class from 5-9 p.m., so I burn about, oh, 7 calories sitting in a classroom taking notes.

We'll see how this little experiment goes. Maybe I should throw a quarter in a jar every day that I actually do 60 minutes. Then, maybe I can buy something for myself before school starts with my hard-earned change...

You are (dead) everybody. You are (dead) everyone.

(Don't worry - that title is not some scary call to action. If you watch LOST, you'll get it, if you don't, you won't.)

I'm still not sure what to think about last night's LOST series finale. All I know is that I went to sleep thinking about it, and I woke up this morning thinking about it, still trying to decide what I know and what I don't.

That show has been with me since I started teaching - it premiered in September of 2004, just after I left the newspaper business.

Adam and I watched the first season in the basement TV room at our first house in Valley Center.

I watched seasons 2-3 at our little pink house on Holyoke in Wichita. Betsy and Mitzi and Adam and I watched season 4 (with great premiere parties at a certain principal's house). The girls gave up on it because they got behind, but Hubs and I stuck with it.

At one point during season 3, our DVR quit working, so I watched most of the shows on ABC.com in our back computer room. It was FREEZING in that room, and I spent the winter huddled under a blanket watching people on a desert island on my iMac screen.

I loved those characters. Each was flawed in some way, but all they were trying to do was make their way in the world and do the right thing. I'm not ready to talk about what actually happened in the finale just yet. I think I still need some processing time, and I'm interested to see what all the TV gurus out there have to say.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Monday morning caption madness 2

Who ARE these people?

I don't know why I read the story comments on the Star's website. Usually, I don't, but when they publish the searchable databases of public employees, one is sure to see some doozy comments from clueless people.

The searchable databases do not include teacher salaries, I guess, because two or three people are complaining that teacher salaries aren't there.

The following two comments come from the same poster. Keep in mind, like most newspapers, the Star doesn't require commenters to use their real names, so most will post vitriol they would never think of attaching their own names to.

Why aren't teachers salaries published? That's where the highway robbery is! SHOW US THAT KC STAR!!!!

Post the school district's payroll!!!! THAT'S WHERE THE TAXPAYER'S ARE RAPED!!!!! DO WE NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO SEE THE TRUTH?

Sidenote: Gosh, anonymous commenter, you obviously didn't listen to and appreciate your teachers back when you were in school, because you don't know how to show plural words versus possessive words. Wah wah.

Do people honestly believe teachers are living the high life? That we are overpaid? Are you freaking kidding me?

Cruise through the parking lot of a local high school, and you'll see beautiful, shiny new SUVs and sports cars mixed in with older economy cars. In our parking lot, those shiny and new cars are in the STUDENT parking lot, not the faculty lot, for the most part. And, if there are super-nice cars in the faculty lot, it's probably because the educator's spouse has a great job!

Before you start with your "But you get summers off, and winter break, and Thanksgiving break" argument, let me remind you that almost every Sunday, I spend at least three hours (sometimes more) grading and planning for the week. And, a typical day at school for me is 10 hours. Many times, there is work to be done once I get home, too.

I might not get up and go to work every day during the summer like a regular school day, but I work all summer long, teaching workshops, taking my students to workshops, planning and re-working things I've done in the past. The goal is constant improvement to help my students achieve everything they are capable of and more.

I know I'm not the only one. We don't teach for glamour and prestige or high wages, trust me. We teach because we love what we do, and we want to help children succeed. Sadly, many in the general public do not value education professionals. These are the same people who complain about the "state of the world today." Do they think we should just be paid babysitting wages? It seems they think that's all we're doing.

We have to go back to grad school (on our own dime) to further our education to get any type of significant raise. In fact, that's the only reason I'm seeing a pay raise this year - because I've spent thousands of dollars working on my master's degree. We don't get bonuses (like corporate America), and we're not getting step raises this year. It's a wash. I'm just lucky that I teach in a district that is able to not (technically) CUT our pay this year, because of the economic crisis and the state's budget problems.

I'm amazed that people want the best services (firefighters, teachers, police, social workers) but they are not willing to foot the bill for it. Do they think that money magically comes from somewhere? Grows on trees? I don't know.

Hey, Crazypants: You complain that American students can't keep up or compete with their foreign counterparts. How do you plan to remedy that situation by continually cutting budgets for schools? The math simply doesn't add up.

I hope the Star does eventually get around to publishing teacher salaries. Maybe then this yahoo will see that he's completely off-base complaining about our high salaries.

And the winners are...

Even though they technically missed the Wednesday deadline, the winners in the caption contest are Aunt Janet and Kollen! (Thunderous applause)

Best Pop Culture Reference Caption goes to Kollen for:
I gave you my heart, and you give me a crayon?

Best Reading of Body Language Caption to Aunt Janet for:
"Do these polka dots make my butt look big?"

"No, I think its the diaper."

Most young women can relate to that second one, I think!

Thanks to those who played, and look for a more grown-up version of caption madness this week.

Monday morning caption madness

Maybe it's just me, but I think this photo is really funny - their body language interests me. If it strike you funny, too, tell me what you think.

Caption this photo in the comments box below, and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday. That gives you two days to get the creative juices flowing.

Sunday morning at the Nelson

Betsy rallied the troops for a photo outing on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art this morning. Molly brought Ellen, and Molly and Betsy's friend Marie brought her son, Preston. The weather was perfect for a little outdoor time to hone photo skills, which Betsy has been doing a great job of on her other blog.

Preston sorta kissed Ellen when asked. It was more like a drive-by kissing (or an air-kiss, I guess).


The lovely McKnight-Lund ladies.


You might have seen this little one over on the View Across Town.


I don't have kids of my own, so I might not be the best judge, but I'm guessing that free will in children can be a scary thing for parents sometimes!


Ah, and the woman saying "I know, I don't know what the heck he's thinking" has already started.


It's not a photo shoot at the Nelson without pictures of the shuttlecocks.


Caroline and Ellen take a nice little walk along the shaded path.



Thanks, Betsy, for getting us all out to enjoy the beautiful weather and friendship.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - it will be a caption contest with an outtake from today.

On the road again

I've started running again.

Maybe that means I'll start blogging again.

Adam and I are training for the Hospital Hill 10K in June. Those who live in KC, and who have hung around any runners, know that Hospital Hill is a badge of honor.

You're not really a runner in KC until you've done that race. It's tough.

Last year, the 17-year-old co-editor of my newspaper staff ran it. She blew out her Achilles tendon halfway in but finished the race.

She's young. She's on the cross country team. She blew a tendon.
What am I thinking?

I'm old. Just six weeks ago I could hardly walk my back hurt so bad.

Training for this race is different, though. Adam is training with me. This is a huge development. He's not really a runner for the sake of exercise, but I think he's motivated by the mystique of Hospital Hill. For three weeks now, we've been slogging through runs, starting with 20 minute runs, moving up to 45 minute runs during the week. On Sunday, we did a 50-minute run. I still take a walk break every now and then during the workouts, but knowing that Adam is running slower than he would really like to helps me keep moving. I don't want to slow him down too much.

Sometimes our runs together are quiet, only the rhythmic tapping of running shoe to sidewalk and my ridiculously labored breathing break the silence. Usually, though, it's a nice chance for us to catch up on each other's days.

I can bounce ideas off of him when I'm trying to motivate un-motivated students. He was one back in the day and usually has suggestions that help me back off the ledge. I can work out problems in my head.

The time between Spring Break and summer vacation is always the doldrums, but this year it's even worse, since we have no inservice days or three-day weekends or any other breaks.

The yearbook is done, so that's one thing to check off the timeline. Our last newspaper work night is tomorrow night. Another item checked off. State journalism is this weekend.

The dots on the timeline are coming hard and fast, but sure enough, each one is ticking away.

I finished my fourth six-week master's class tonight. Number five starts next week. With school, my grad classes, and life, I feel like the hamster wheel is moving much too fast for me to keep up.

Running is keeping me going through all of this. I don't think I realized it while I was laid up with the back trouble, but I was in dire need of some endorphins (and some sunshine).

Spring Fever

One of my seniors went to the restroom today during editors' hour. When she came back, she said "There seems to be an unnaturally high number of people in the halls right now."

The newspaper editor in the room said "It's almost 7th hour, on a Friday, and it's April 2."

Nail on the head. Nail on the head.

It's getting to be that time - senioritis is setting in for seniors (and everyone else for that matter), and the weather is finally nice. The wandering ways and drifting minds make it tough to get through the week.

I suppose having a classroom with no windows has one benefit: I tend to forgot what the weather is like when I'm there the entire day. So, I am able to resist the call of beautiful weather a bit. That is, until I need to go up to the office, and I pass the wall of windows.

Usually, at that point, I'll quickly decide it's time for team-building activities that can be done outside on the back field. That gets us out and energized for a little while.

However, for today's reminder of what the weather was like I didn't even need to leave the friendly confines of room 450. About 9:30, the rain began pelting the roof. It was quick, but it was fierce. We heard a little thunder, but mostly just constant heavy rain. Even though they can't SEE it, that rain always gets the kids riled up.

On the home front, this time of year means it's time to get out and clean the partially decomposed leaves out of the flower beds, and start thinking about the garden. I'm hoping to plant a couple of blueberry bushes, some strawberries, and even some asparagus this year, in addition to all the stuff I'm sure Jeanne is planning on putting in the ground.

Attitude makes the difference

Remember my earlier posts about how the money is getting tight around the district, and cuts are looming?

The list of possible cuts to our district was published Monday, totaling about $9 million. The board and district officials have to cut about $6 million, so they've built in some wiggle room, since there will be protests against some of the items.

Thankfully, I have not received a visit from the job grim reaper, otherwise known as our principal, this week. The deadline for possibly affected employees to be notified in person has passed, so I guess I'm okay (though I'm still nervous). I'm pretty sure if he would have walked in my room any time this week, even if he was really there to say "Congrats on all those state qualifiers!" my insides would have liquefied lickety-split because I'd be expecting the chopping block speech.

The classes I'm taking to get my masters are made up of all teachers from our district. I know some of them are affected. Class tonight was NO fun. People are worried about their jobs. People are worried about the two final projects we have to turn in before Saturday. People are frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of concrete instructions on the projects. Trust me, I would include myself in that camp, but I also know that you just have to buckle down and do what you're asked sometimes. It's not that bad.

For me, 9 p.m. couldn't have come fast enough tonight. I can't take four hours of people with poor attitudes complaining about work they don't want to do.

It's a necessary evil - you want your masters? You jump through some hoops, write some papers, pay a BUNCH of tuition, and there ya go. The work is not that hard for me - it's simply finding the time to complete it between grading, planning, teaching, having a life outside of school, deadlines, meetings, etc.

I wish I had the guts to just tell the other guys to shut it tonight. I am not the most optimistic person on the planet, but I know it's necessary to make the best of a bad situation sometimes. If you sit somewhere for four hours, the whole time thinking about how awful it is, then it's going to be awful.

I hope that when our next six-week class starts, people are a little more peppy. I don't want to spend my Tuesday nights being depressed for the next 18 weeks!

It's supposed to be a project progress shot, but it's more like a snapshot of me

or, at least my life and environment. I really just meant to post a quick photo to Twitter so the knitting followers could see what I've been up to.

But, when I stopped to look at it again, I realized that to a close observer, this photo says a lot about me.

You'll notice the ABC logo on the TV in the background. While we watched LOST, I worked on my knitting project. I have to multitask to get anything accomplished, and I think watching TV and knitting certainly counts. The only problem is, with a show like LOST, I have to give a little more mental energy to the show, so it's slow going on the knitting projects.

Kansas City-area readers will spot the remote that goes with our Time Warner digital cable box on the TV tray. The TV tray basically serves as my desk. I keep my laptop there, and it's where I eat breakfast each morning.

Adam and I aren't sit-down-to-the-table-and-eat-dinner types. We eat in front of the TV, hence the trays. I would like to think that if we ever have kids, we'll be the eat-around-the-table types, but since it's just the two of us at this point, we're usually just catching up on DVR'ed stuff.

Eagle-eyed observers will see the Rock Band equipment and the Wii. That reminds me, we haven't had a good Wii party in quite a while. Might be time to rustle one up over spring break.

The Snuggie and the clothes in the laundry basket next to my foot echoes the color on the TV screen. Weird.

We don't have a purple polka-dotted curtain. That's the back of a KSU quilt Mom made for me a long time ago. It's finally warm enough that we can take down our extra window insulation. Maybe Adam can do that on his day off tomorrow. With the sub-zero temps and snow for so long this winter, we needed a little help in the heating department.

In the bottom corner of the photo is our little tropical plant that we've managed to keep alive throughout the late summer and fall. We got some nice plants on sale at the De-Pot just before fall. They're all thriving at this point, despite the dark and cold wintry conditions in our house. When you've got all the windows covered with blankets, it's a little tough to get the required amount of sunlight for houseplants.

I'm sure most people who saw this photo noticed the sock and moved on. And that's fine. It is, after all, supposed to be a photo of a sock. But, like I said, I just thought it was interesting when I saw all of the other things in the photo.

Hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of a Thursday night at Casa de Chittum. I've got to sign off for a few days. One more day of school this week, and then I'll be working furiously to complete graduate school homework between Friday night and Tuesday night.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.

When's spring break again?

If I make it through the next two weeks, I'll be a happy girl. Kids' last day of school is next Wednesday, we go through Friday.

Between now and then, here are just a few things I need to accomplish:
Help yearbook make their second-to-last deadline.
Help newspaper make their deadline this Friday.
Newspaper distribution Wednesday before break.
Two final projects for my master's class: a differentiated lesson plan and a four-part case study of a student I have chosen to differentiate for.
Four forum posts for graduate class.
Trip to Manhattan Saturday with 10 yearbook and newspaper kids for publications boot camp.
Grades posted by next Friday at 3.
Newspaper late night tomorrow.
Yearbook late night Thursday.

Oh, wait, and that whole TEACHING thing. Still have to do that for another week...The good news is, the weather has finally turned just a bit, and the sun is staying up until about 6:30 p.m., so at least we have that going for us.

Luckily, I've been keeping up with what needs to be done in my master's class, so I'll just be tying up loose ends this weekend. Today was the fifth of six weeks in Differentiation. After spring break, we start the fourth class in our Masters of Education cohort program.

I should have my Master's degree by December, which sounds great, except for the fact that rumors are now flying that all non-tenured teachers will be pink-slipped, and only certain ones will be rehired, because of our district's budget cuts. The district is releasing the list to the public on Monday, March 8, so we should be notified any day now if we're on the chopping block.

I'm not tenured (I haven't quite been here for three years yet), but I think I'm pretty insulated. I don't think they'll let me go - won't go into it here, since I've already written about it here. It's hard though, to be in an environment where everyone is walking on eggshells, worried about their jobs.

You could see it on the faces of each and every student in my masters class tonight. You can see it on the faces of district coordinating teachers. You can see it on our principals' faces. It's a weight, constantly there on our shoulders - what's going to happen?

I realize that my little blog isn't going to raise a ton of awareness for support of public education, but I hope that if you're reading this, you understand how important it is for the state of Kansas to fully fund public schools. I heard today that the state didn't make its payment to the district again in a timely fashion, so our paychecks came from the reserve funds. Scary.

Even if you don't have a child in public schools, please understand what they mean for our neighborhoods, cities, and the country. Chances are, you went to a public school. Someone supported you back then, and we need you now. Please let your legislators know that the further we cut, the higher level of quality gets sacrificed.

I heart the Olympics

Adam, Joshua and I watched all four-and-a-half hours of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies last night. Sure, some of it got a little tired after that much time, but it was pretty damn cool.

From an outside observer's point of view, the only hitch came at the end during the torch ceremony when the fourth of the pillars didn't come up. Okay, it still looked good.

This morning, on Roger Ebert post this: @ebertchicago: U.S. tweeters being snarky about Canadian Olympics ceremony. Canuck reply: If you're so smart, why don't you have health care? I get the joke, but unfortunately, I think Americans would be snarky about ANYONE's opening ceremony. It's not just because of our history of thumbing our noses at the neighbors to the north.

I don't think I posted anything too snarky last night. Here's mine:

The cauldron kind of looks like it came from Superman's home planet.

Jeez, they could have at least given The Great One a rain coat or something to cover his head in the rain.

This has been keeping me busy during the opening ceremonies. Started a new sock. Excuse the bad photo. http://yfrog.com/3i6t0tj

Swedes have the best hats!

Wait! What? Thanks, NBC. Your commercial break totally screwed the athletes of my motherland. We're still rooting for you, Croatia.

Granted, I was knitting during the telecast, so I had something keeping me from becoming bored, but all in all, I thought it was a good show. Loved the Tom Sawyer-like prairie segment.

I would like to know, though, if NBC would have shown the footage of the luger if he would have been an American athlete. As we watched the news intro to the ceremonies, they showed him flying off the track, and I asked Adam and Joshua if they thought an American would be showed like that. The man died. Cover the story, but we don't need to see the footage over and over again.

We're talking about ethics in J1 this week. I think we can use that scenario as an example for the students to discuss in class. What would they do if they were the TV news producers?

Snow is falling again

When I woke up this morning, small flakes were flying. I headed out to the chiropractor, and then the large, wet flakes began. Right now, there's about six inches of fluffy snow on everything. The city hasn't been by to plow the road yet.

I'm heading out to the gym. Normally, weather like this would keep me from getting out on the road just to go to the treadmill. But, since it was conference week this week, and I haven't gotten to run AT ALL since Sunday, I've got to get out and do something before my nine miler this Sunday.

The chiropractor said I needed to wait until about 3 p.m., so that I wouldn't undue my adjustments or cause more trauma to my back. Unfortunately, during all of that waiting time, it's been snowing heavily.

If I see any other great photos, I'll post them later. These two were shot from my covered front porch when I got back from the chiropractor.

Safe travels, everybody!

Yikes. Things aren't looking good.

Anybody who hasn't been under a rock for the last year or so knows that the money is tight in a lot of places. The economy is "slowly recovering" according to some, but companies are laying people off, state budgets are looking awful, things are being cut, cut, cut.

Monday after school we had a meeting to talk about the district's budget forecast. It sounds awful. We've already cut $11 million between cuts made last year and cuts made during this year, and there are more to come.

Layoffs are on the table. Salary freezes are on the table. Program cuts are on the table. It's hard to know who's safe and what our jobs will look like next year. Some teachers might be teaching different classes, larger classes. I'm nervous. I pretty sure I won't LOSE my job, but if there aren't enough students signing up for yearbook, newspaper and journalism classes, suddenly I become an expensive proposition for the school and the district. I'm not certified to teach any other area, so I'm sort of stuck.

I spent last Thursday at the state capitol with four of my students. They competed in a contest sponsored by KSPA. Students interviewed our legislators to find out what they were thinking on the state's budget and so the school district's budget. Those we spoke to are not in favor of any sort of tax raises (not even on cigarettes). Their solution is to continue cuts. We're pretty much all the way through any fat there was, and we're getting into the muscle and bone.

Why not increase taxes on something that is NON-essential for life? Whatsa matter? Smokes getting to expensive for you? Well, QUIT. Or, help me educate the doctor who might save your black lungs someday.

I realize tax increases aren't a popular proposition, but when you are talking about schools, it's tough to to stomach cuts to programs. I saw that in my former district, they're talking about removing art classes from elementary schools. For some students, the chance to participate in art classes is a lifeline.

The scariest thing I heard on Monday during our staff meeting was that the district has already had to dip into our "reserve" fund to cover payroll three times this year. That means three times the state's payments didn't make it to the district in time to pay our salaries. That reserve fund sounds pretty important to me, but one of the possible "solutions" the state is proposing is districts returning those reserve funds.

If this keeps up, I might have to really get you clicking on the Google ads...we could be looking for some supplemental income.

Running on the brain, sunburn on the head

Sunday's training schedule was an 8-mile run. I got up and did it fairly early, so I wouldn't mess up our weekly Panera grading date. I knew I wouldn't feel like running after we were finished.

Based on the weather, I probably would have felt like running after Panera. When I left the restaurant, it was almost 50 and sunny out. But, because I motivated early, I ran inside. On the treadmill. For. Eight. Miles. At 8:30, when I left for Gold's it was only 30 out, and I knew I couldn't slog through that temp by myself.

Thankfully, I got one of the TWO good treadmills (seriously, Gold's, it's 2010. Can we upgrade our 1987 model treadmills?). And, even better, the one I got was right in front of the TV, so I got to choose my running accompaniment for the morning. I chose E! Channel, because I knew I could watch The Soup, E! News Weekend and The Daily 10. Perfect fluff for 90 minutes of running.

The run felt pretty good. I wasn't dying at the end, but it did get pretty monotonous on the treadmill. I can't wait until temps get high enough to do all my runs outside.

Anyway, back to the title of this post. I must have had running on the brain after Sunday, because that night I had the strangest dream. It's coming back to me in bits and pieces.

I was in a strange city, running in a marathon. In the middle of the race, there was a "challenge" of some sort. We ran into an open stadium, and I remember that I changed my shoes (quickly, as if I was racing) and a man was shouting instructions to me.

"Run up the stairs, all the way, once. Then, run around the top of the stadium once, then run back down the stairs. Then, continue on your marathon way."

Uh, what?

I barely remember doing it in the dream, but I'm pretty sure I was climbing the stairs walking, then crawling, then pushing through it. Somehow I made it out of the stadium.

The next thing I remember from the dream is that there was a stop in a hotel room. I assume it was my room, because all of my luggage and gear was in the room. (How convenient that my lodging was right on the race route, and that I had remembered my hotel key card...)

Once inside my room, I removed the white visor I was wearing, thinking at that exact moment "Jeez. A visor? That was stupid. My part is going to be so sunburned."

Sure enough, the next scene I remember from the dream is me looking at the top of my head in a mirror to see a giant red and pink patch of blistered skin just above my forehead. Ouch.

I fashioned a covering for that sunburned patch out of something, slathered on a bunch more sunscreen on the rest of my exposed skin and headed out of the room to finish the marathon.

I can't tell you HOW I finished the race, because the last thing I remember as my alarm went off was walking out of the hotel room.

I do remember stumbling through my bedroom door into the bathroom because I wasn't fully awake. I hate being jarred from a deep, dreamful sleep by the darned alarm clock. It makes me off all morning!

A knitting progress report

One of my goals for 2010, as reported at the first of the year:

Keep knitting. And trying new and different patterns. Work through the yarn stash. Knit up what I already have, and then I can get new fun yarn. Maybe I'll start knitting things and randomly sending them to people I know...Who knows.

Since then, I've worked on a handful of projects. I completed a hat for Adam and below, you can see the matching scarf I'm working on. I've made a lot of progress, but it's just ribbing, and requires lots of weaving in ends because of the striping. Because of all that, I've taken small breaks from the scarf for other projects.


I'm participating in a sock KAL (knit along) that my mom told me about. I've knit A sock before, so this helps me meet the goal of trying something different. I've never done a KAL before, and I'm hoping that because I'm doing it with a bunch of other people, I'll actually get a PAIR of socks knit by the end of this project.

It's fun because we get new instructions on Friday afternoons. I get an easily digestible knitting assignment for each weekend.

In other KAL news, I also tried this dishcloth KAL from Rachel's Knitting Corner. She gives a washcloth knit along on the third week of each month, and you knit just a few rows a day. Again, a good excuse to sit down and do just a little bit of knitting each night.

I just finished it tonight. Needs to be blocked, as you can probably see. I used two colors of Sugar and Cream 100 percent cotton yarn. It's my go-to dishcloth yarn. I don't usually use more than one color of yarn, so again I was able to work on my goal of trying new knitting techniques. It was actually pretty easy to carry the two colors along the edge.

I've got a few more rows to do on the sock in the next few days, then I need to get back to work on Adam's scarf. I'd like to finish it within the next week or so.

Maturity Notice

I received a "maturity notice" in the mail the other day. At first, I thought maybe someone was patting me on the back for being a good girl, having a good job, nice house, etc.

It wasn't. It was something even better than that. We paid off our little red Ford Focus! Woo hoo! The montly payments weren't that bad, because it was a 72-month, zero-percent loan, but still. I think that's an accomplishment. And, anyone who worked with me at the Eagle knows that for a while there, I changed cars pretty frequently.

The Focus doesn't have a lot of miles on it, either, so it should last us a while more. We might not have a bunch of fancy stuff, but we have what we need, and now the only debt we have is the payment on my car. That's a nice feeling. I'm glad we don't have to spend our paychecks paying for stuff bought months (and in some cases, years) before.

For those of you with kids, be sure you're teaching them about credit cards and debt, because there isn't a class in the public schools that deals with that. We touch on it a little bit in our advisory classes, but personal finance is definitely something kids should learn before they head off for the easy-credit land of college.

Driving the Dodge Caravan thru the Taco Bell drive thru

I watch a lot of TV. Those of you who know me or read this blog have probably figured that out. Despite that fact, I don't watch a lot of commercials. I'd say 75 percent of my TV watching is on the DVR these days.

I'm either not home, or too busy at the time the show is on, to watch it live. The other 25 percent is mostly treadmill time, when it's on as a distraction.

Lately, though, I've noticed two commercials that really chap my hide.

First, and some of you have already commented on this on Twitter and Facebook, is the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet. I'm just going to say it: Are you freaking kidding me? Unless that woman ate super fatty menu items at Taco Bell every day of the week earlier in her life, I don't see how eating Taco Bell can help you lose weight.

Sure, the "Fresco" menu items might be healthier choices than say, the Burrito Supreme, but it's not diet food. Give me a break. I'm pretty sure if I were to go on the Drive Thru Diet I would gain weight, since I don't eat fast food more than once or twice a week (a benefit of not being a newspaper photographer anymore, when I used to eat it all the time!).

The other commercial that is driving me crazy is the Dodge Caravan commercial that tells men "Because come on, what's more manly than driving around with your five offspring in the car?" Seriously? That's the measure of a man now? How many children he can father? Is Dodge trying to cash in on the Duggars and John and Kate "phenomenon"? I'm pretty sure the last thing the planet needs is a car company encouraging people to overpopulate the planet even more.

That Dodge commercial is incredibly sexist. It's okay for women to be stuck driving minivans, but if a man does it...He needs to be pounding his chest the entire time.

Are there any other commercials out there right now we can discuss?

What a 180.

I won't go into too much detail about winter break and then winter break 2.0 (the three snow days last week) because I'm sure you're tired of hearing about "all the extra time off" teachers get.

This week has been a complete turnaround from last week's life of leisure.

First of all, we're back to regularly scheduled programming at school.

Second, yearbook is trying to complete a deadline that was due last Friday. We didn't finish because of the snow days. Plus, we had proofs to return on Monday night.

Third, newspaper's deadline is next Monday (which we have off for Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday), so they had worknight this week.

Fourth, my grad class was Tuesday night from 5-9.

Fifth, AFTER newspaper worknight, we had 8th grade round up, where they come in and learn about all of the possible activities they can get involved in. That didn't get over until 8:30.

So, Monday, got home about 6:30.

Tuesday: 9 p.m. (prof let us out a tiny bit early, thankfully).

Wednesday: 9 p.m.

Tonight: 5:40 (left fairly early, just had heavy traffic heading home).

Tomorrow is finally Friday. I think last week's unexpected vacation left me seriously unprepared for a full work week. I had psyched myself up to return on the day after Christmas break, and having the snow days was a real motivation killer!

There's good news and bad news at the end of this tunnel: Since it's MLK day on Monday, newspaper won't have a day at school to work on deadline. So, we're working on Saturday during the day. Good news is, WHEN we get done on Saturday (when, not IF), we won't have to work on Saturday, so I'll still get to have a "weekend" - two days off.

When you think of me this week, visualize a hamster on a wheel, trying in vain to keep up. I'm going to do a quick Biggest Loser Wii workout right now, before 30 Rock, since I have had ZERO time to exercise this week. There's a 7-mile run staring at me this weekend. It won't be pretty.

Can I get a fist pump for GTL?

If you don't know what that stands for, consider yourself among the lucky (and smart) ones.

I've been hearing here and there of a new show on MTV called "Jersey Shore." Bobby Moynihan did a great impression of one of the main characters on Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago. My interest was piqued.

That says a lot, considering I haven't actively turned the channel to MTV in, say, 12 years. Oh, wait, there was that one season when they ran "The Paper" about a high school newspaper staff. I did watch that show each week.

But I digress. I hate MTV these days. Not for the reasons one would assume a 32-year-old would grow to hate it. When I was young (middle and high school) I thought old people wouldn't like MTV because it would be too loud, and they would grow to hate the type of music played on MTV. Little did I know the reason I would grow to hate MTV is because it's not M TV any more. Ridiculous "reality" shows about self-involved 20-somethings just do not hold my interest.

After watching last week's "The Soup" I decided to DVR an episode of "Jersey Shore" so I could see what all the fuss is about. I figured I couldn't deride it til I tried it.

Let the derision begin.

Basically, all you need to know is that GTL stands for "Gym, Tanning, Laundry" which, combined with barhopping, fist pumping and general debauchery, is all the cast members feel they need to do with their lives. I'm hoping that any teens who are watching this stupid show are watching it because they get a good laugh out of it, not because they aspire to be like this and be on MTV.

If you're looking to make a little money in the stock market, look into hair gel, because these gentlemen are ALL ABOUT the hair gel, and god knows it's only a matter of time before it becomes a trend.

I suppose the show is good for a laugh, because Adam, Mitzi, Bets and I got some good laughs out of one we watched last night. Our laughs mostly came from the ridiculous nicknames they've given themselves: Snooki AKA Snookers, Snickers, Mike The Situation, Sammi the Sweetheart, etc.

If you want to find out what your "Jersey Shore" nickname would be, there are a few nickname generators out there. Here's our group nicknames:

Me: The Tight End
Adam: A-Train
Mitzi: The Opportunity
Betsy: Tanny

I need to stop writing about this right now, because I'm afraid that combined with the drop in IQ I experienced from just watching the show, trying to dissect the show might make me a total idiot.

Have any of you watched it?

In recent knitting news

Observant readers of this blog might recognize these arm warmers, though it's been about 15 months since they were last posted on the blog. Back then, I had finished the first one and started the second. The student in knitting club at school had seamed the first one for me, because she's an awesome seamstress.

Then, I finished knitting the second, but set it aside because I didn't want to have to seam it. I love knitting, but I hate seaming - probably because I'm not very good at it. The pattern, from "One Skein" by Leigh Radford, is pretty simple, but they do take a while since the yarn is lightweight and the needles are small.

Since we've been out of school the last few days, and it's super cold outside and in here, I decided it was high time to seam the second one so I could wear them while knitting and working on the computer. So glad I did. Thanks to Hubs for shooting this photo (in which you can see I'm wearing our Snuggie...)

Adam gave me a 2010 Knitting calendar for Christmas, and he picked this striped alpiner hat pattern out. It was a very quick project - just took about two days. The pattern calls for it to be knit flat and seamed up the back, so another one I had to challenge myself with.

I knit this with Bernat Baby Alpaca yarn, which feels delicious. And, bonus: it was on sale two for $5 at Michael's the day after New Year's. I will most likely be buying more of that yarn soon. You might notice the crochet edging around the bottom of the hat (the white part). This was a good project because it forced me to exercise a few different skills.

I'm working on this matching scarf. The color in the photo is a little funky, it was just a quick iPhone pic to post on Twitter. It's looking great so far, but will require lots of end-weaving-in because of the stripes. I can't wait to get a photo of Adam modeling both pieces once they're finished. Stay tuned.

Cabin Fever - It's set in

And, we are off AGAIN tomorrow.

I would be much more excited at this prospect if it wasn't 100 below outside, and if I didn't feel crappy. I must have a cold or bronchitis or something, because I've got an awful wheezy cough, and my body aches.

Good news is - it shouldn't be H1N1 or the seasonal flu, since I've been vaccinated for both this year (first time I've ever gotten a flu shot, at least as an adult). I'm not really sure how I got sick, since it was winter break and I was only around a few of my friends, my husband and my parents, and none of them are sick.

Maybe one of the other teachers got me sick on the first day back, or maybe someone at the gym didn't wipe off/sanitize the treadmill when they were done and I got their germs. Jerks.

So, today I knit some, watched a little TV, and read a book - "Olive Kitteridge." It's good. I'll read it some more tonight, but first I need to do a little work on my grad school assignments. I'll be reading those for the next few hours, and possibly doing a little writing. The more I do tonight, the less I have to do this weekend.

I just wish I felt like going somewhere, but I don't want to leave the house. Good thing we've got plenty of food! Adam is working tonight, so I'll do my work while he's AT work.

Cabin Fever Countdown

Welp, today was a snow day (we knew last night). And, we got word by 4 p.m. today that tomorrow will be a snow day, too.

I'm betting we'll be out of school on Friday, as well. Why not just go for the trifecta?

The snow didn't start until this afternoon, so I did get up and go to the gym. I thought a 3-mile run was scheduled for today, so that's what I did. When I got home to check the schedule for tomorrow, I realized I read it off by one day.

Having graduate classes on Tuesday nights messes me up. Class is from 5-9 p.m., so I don't work out on those days. I was supposed to do some interval training today, and then the 3-mile run tomorrow. Based on the view outside my window at this point, looks like I'll be relegated to a Biggest Loser Wii workout tomorrow.

Teachers went back to school on Monday, for a half-day of meetings and then time to work in our rooms in the afternoon. That time is vital for me - helps me clear the docket and get mentally prepared to greet students on their first day back. We had one day back with the kids on Tuesday, and then this mini-vacation.

I'm guessing that my trip to the gym today will be the only time I get outside in the next couple of days. I don't want to shovel the drive, and if I don't need to be on the road with idiots, I won't be.

Besides, my snow day kind of turned into a sick day - Monday night's nagging cough turned into joint aches, sore throat and cough after school yesterday and right on through my class last night. I guess the good news is if I'm sick on our days off, I don't have to write sub plans because everyone's at home!

So far today, after the gym, we watched a movie (Away We Go, with Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski), I've knit and read a couple of magazines. I might be a tiny bit crazy after a couple more days like this. I'll keep you posted.

There's more snow on the ground, so maybe you need one of these...

A brief peek outside the window on Sunday morning revealed yet another couple inches of snow on the ground in Shawnee, America. When the weather is such, pretty much all I want to do is wrap up in knitted goodness and hunker down on the couch.

What better time to highlight some Etsy items you could make great use of in this kind of weather?

I don't think I've left the house once this week without a hat on my head. It's vital when the temperatures are below zero. Here are a few cool ones I found on Etsy.

This Winterberry hat is darling. I might need to buy it for myself, so you should check it out fast!


This photo is a little small, but click on this link to go look at this Hazelnut Brown Lace Handknitted Cap. This would look great with a dressy coat, for a night out.


If you're looking for something for the man in your life, here's a manly man's waffle-knitted hat.


For the teeniest, tiniest among us, there's a darling oatmeal-colored baby hat in my shop.


I also think that this Rugby Handknit baby hat would look super-cute on a tiny baby. The yarn is so big and chunky.


These are just a few of the handmade items I found while browsing on Etsy this morning. Remember, if you're looking for birthday gifts, shop Etsy - it's a great way to support artisans and crafters who would just like to get their work out there.

Happy shopping, and happy crafting!