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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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 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.

Finally got the forecast right

I don't think I've ever seen this much snow in my life. And, it's STILL falling at our house.

After dinner, Adam and I took Malachi out so he could play in the snow for a little while. I pulled him up and down the street on his little sled, and Adam helped him make snowballs. The snow wasn't the greatest for snowballs or snowman making - too dry.



These photos were on Christmas Day - when we thought this was all the snow we were going to get. Little did we know.

After we finished shoveling, Adam made a snow angel in the neighbor's yard.
Thankfully, Dad brought his snowblower over and helped us clean the driveway. It would have taken forever for us to do it with shovels. Even just the touch-ups and extra we did with the shovels took about two and half hours.

It's pretty and all, but enough. We don't need any more of this stuff.

Summer time, where did you go?

Looks nice and warm in those photos, doesn't it? It WAS nice and warm on the days we set up and filled the pool, but since then, it's only been warm enough to get in it twice.

Twice!

Now, I can't be totally angry about this - the weather has been good for the garden (post and photos of that to come later this week), but we haven't done any lazing around in the sun and pool. Boo!

Hopefully, by the end of this week, I'll actually have photos of us IN the pool, instead of hanging out by the side of it.

Last night, we did eat dinner on the front porch, sitting on the swing. It was quite nice. I'm conflicted - usually I love hot summer weather, but being able to sit outside without breaking out in insta-sweat has been nice.