Welcome back, me!

I've been away for a bit but I promise, it was for a good reason.

I was visiting her

and her

Yea for a visit with my BFF!!!!

We did a whole bunch of stuff including visiting the Memphis Zoo, walking on Beale Street (which, I am sad to say, was rather a disappointment), trolley riding through downtown Memphis, and watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony.  I am happy to report that a wonderful time was had by all.

Well...not by her

My girl is such a homebody.  I can't say that I blame her.

Anywho.

We've been home for a few days and I thought I should probably let you all know I am still alive.  Even better, today, for the first time in probably a year, I can contribute to Ginny's Yarn Along!



Look, look, look at what I have done!

My first knitted scarf:

My first knitted lace scarf:

A scarf version of The Camping Shawl (on Ravelry)

and, on the needles, the Helix Scarf:

I did read two books while I was gone.  Sadly, I am too lazy to get up from the couch, get my Kindle, and take a picture of them.  One was a knitting mystery (along the same line as the crochet mysteries I read last summer) and the other was the same type only it was set in a cupcake shop.  They were cheesy, but they were good.

I will do my best to be back tomorrow.  I only have a few short weeks of vacation left and I want to enjoy every second of them!

I am so lame in coming up with post titles...

that this is best you get tonight.

Sorry.

So.  I have a (kind of) Yarn Along for you today.  On the hook we have this:

And for the book we have this:

The hook is almost done (THANKFULLY!) and the book I have yet to start.  Slacker, I know.

The book intrigues me though, and I bought all three in the series.  I love history and I am sure I will love these "what if" stories.  "What if Napolean hadn't lost."  "What if the Civil War had turned out differently."  etc.  It makes one think.  And thinking is good.  Trust me on that...I am a teacher.

:)

Speaking of being a teacher....And I was.

Speshul Snowflake CAME TO SCHOOL TODAY!  Wow!  But, because of the degree of "Speshulness", there HAD to be drama with the child today.

I had to tell the angel to spit out the gum that was being chomped upon.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do.  I am so awful.

I also, oh horrors, had the gall to tell the child to sit properly in the desk.

What was I thinking?!?

And the dear, sweet child, decided that, instead of working on homework at the end of the day (oh the irony of this as it was THIS child's grandmother that accused me of giving too much work and not enough time to do it and her poor grandchild was so over-worked and over-burdended...but, I digress.)  Instead of working on homework, Speshul Snowflake decided that a better use of the time given would be to record all my transgressions from today in a diary:

• 8:20--Miss Olsen told me to spit out my gum.  She makes me so mad.
• 9:45--Miss Olsen told me to sit correctly in my seat.  She gets on my last nerve.  She thinks she is so smart.  I am going to tell my mom on her.

Lest I feel "Speshul" about being in said diary, the names of two other children were also included, as they somehow managed to commit sins against Speshul Snowflake.  Needless to say, I was not happy and let that be known.  I told the darling that the diary had better go home and I had best not see it at school again.

A few minutes later I started the class packing up to go home.  Speshul Snowflake comes to me with hugh crocodile tears proclaiming much sorrow over the diary.  I told the dear that I could care less about what was written about me because Snowflake had no right to be mad at me at all, seeing as I how I wasn't the one who had done something wrong.  I was more concerned about the fact that two other children were being made to feel bad about things they had "done" to make Snowflake mad.  I told the child that, if something had been written about her, she wouldn't like it one bit (and believe me, I would hear about it.)  Of course, I just "don't understand", but she is very sorry and will keep it at home from now on.

Mmmm-hmmmm.

Oh!  Before I forget:

And my personal favorite:

The wings go on tomorrow.  Phew!

I did some research on the internets this evening and found a really cool Fall Art project involving twigs and seeds.  They did such a good job painting that I am thinking of trying this.  I'll keep you posted.

There, BFF.  Two nights in a row.  Are you happy?

:op

Nighty night!!!

P.S.  Thanks to Ginny for hosting the Yarn Along!

Yarn Along...

Thanks to Irene...

Remember Irene?

Anywho.

Thanks to Irene wreaking havoc with the power company, I spent the weekend preparing for this Yarn Along.  

Um.

Ok.  I spent this weekend moaning and complaining about how I didn't have power.

Anywho.

I had thought ahead (for once) and had made sure that the Kindle was fully charged before the power went out.  Over the weekend I read two and a half books.  Here they are in the order that I read them:

The first one was the most recent crochet mystery from the series I had started over the summer.  They continue to be fairly easy reads which include one or two patterns at the end as well as one or two recipes.

The second one was a semi-cheesy Christian romance type book.  It wasn't too bad but left some loose ends.  It is kind of obvious that there isn't going to be a sequel so you are left to kind of wonder what happened to some of the "major" characters.

The last one piqued my interest when I saw a trailer for a movie about the book.  I'm not really a Sarah Jessica Parker fan at all, but the plot of the movie looked good and the reviews of the book were very good.  It wasn't a bad book, per say, but is set in England so many of the terms that are used are British and could be confusing to some.  I really, really loved the ending, though, and would recommend the book.  :)

I am working on finishing up the "Scrap-Log Cabin-gan" and hope to have it finished by this weekend.

I am working the border right now and am doing about three rows of the variegated topped by two or three rows of the dark blue.  I'll take a picture of it when I am finished.

Remember...if you'd like to see what some other people are reading and crocheting/knitting, hop on over to Ginny's blog!

I hope your week is going well!  The countdown to the weekend is beginning and I am looking forward to it!

PS:  Dear BFF,
            You are AWESOME and I miss you like crazy!  Please, please, please come visit soon!!!! :)

earthquakes and hurricanes and yarn alongs...

oh my!

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE:

No school today!  Apparently they needed to do an inspection of the building to make sure there was no structural damage.  I got the phone call after I posted last night.  It was nice to sleep in a little this morning.  :)

The Washington Monument is now closed indefinetly because they found a crack near the top.  There are some people that have been displaced from their apartment building because of damage to load-bearing walls.  I feel so badly for those people.  They aren't even allowed to go back into their homes to get things they need right now.  I know it is for their safety, but it must be so frustrating.

HURRICANE UPDATE:

It seems like Irene may be paying us a visit shortly.  It has been kind of windy today.  I don't know if that has anything to do with the hurricane or not.  Right now they are saying that it is supposed to make landfall sometime Sunday morning around Long Island.  That means major wind and rain for us here as well as potential power outages and downed trees.  Annnnnddddd...potentially no school on Monday.  We'll see what happens there.  I don't want to be using up all our "snow" days before Christmas!

YARN ALONG:

As you can see, I have a couple of children's books I am reading right now.  I love to read to my class and we are going to start out the year with A Cricket in Times Square.  On the hook is a "scrap-gan".  I am pairing a giant granny square with a log cabinish pattern.  I plan on throwing it on one of the comfy chairs in the back of my room so the kids can snuggle with it when they read.  Since this one has "girlie" colors, I got some additional yarn to make one more suited for the boys, too. :)

Please visit Ginny's blog to read about what others are crocheting/knitting and reading.

BONUS miss raven UPDATE:

Just because she is sweet, adorable, and I love her!

:)

Well, lookie here...

it's me again!  Two whole days in a ROW!

Aren't you proud?

lol!

Actually, I am here because this week I am prepared for Ginny's Yarn Along.  So here, without further ado, is what is on the hook and on the Kindle:



*crickets chirping*

*more crickets*

Sorry.  I was mistaken about the whole "further ado" thing.  It seems that miss raven needed to take care of some urgent personal business.  Not what you are thinking, though.  She wanted to take care of the urgent personal business of sitting smack on my lap thus preventing me from typing on the computer.  I may have gained weight back but my lap is STILL not big enough for her and the laptop.  Because she is so persistent, she wins every time.

Anyway.

Here you go:

As you can see, I am still reading the crochet mystery series.  This is the last one for right now (the new one comes out in a couple of months) and I can't really tell you all that much about it since I just started it.  On the hook, though, is a wonderful piece of loveliness.  At least it will be once I am finished.  I hope.  I picked up a book with patterns for Tunisian crochet (all the stiches remain on the hook through one pass and are worked off through the back pass.)  If I complete this project correctly, It will end up as a large rectangle that I will then give a little twist to in order to create a Mobeius strip which will then make it a shawl. 

Was that as complicated to read and understand as I think it is?

I promise to take pictures when I finish.

I have a swap buddy and apparently I have more people who read my blog regularly than I thought.  Sorry if I offended anyone by saying that only my BFF would notice if I didn't blog my Yarn Along last week.  I'm glad to know that more people read than I think.

:)

One final note...now that I am not the "boss" at work anymore I get to be friends with some of the people that worked for me.  I had a wonderful lunch with one of them today.  It was nice to have an adult conversation with someone and not talk about work!  I have a meeting at work tomorrow (YES, I am STILL on vacation and am going in to work) and then I am going to see another friend of mine for the afternoon.  I have tentative plans to go see a movie with another friend on Friday and then my dad comes to see me on Saturday.  Phew!  My vacation is going by fast!

Have a great Thursday and keep cool!

I'm just...

Yarnin' Along!

Phew!  I wasn't sure I was going to make Ginny's Yarn Along this week but I did! :)

I grew a wee bit tired of making washcloths/dishcloths/dish towels so I was looking for something new to make.  I have some stunningly gorgeous yarn...ok...I have alot of stunningly gorgeous yarn and I have some ideas bouncing around in my head but, truth be told, I am kind of scared to use the yarn on an idea.  What if I mess it up?

Anyway, that is neither here nor there at the moment.

I have seen much of the mitered squares blanket on the internets.  Sadly, it is all knitting.  (No offense to knitters.  I am actually quite (quietly) jealous of you all. Read:  socks, socks, and MORE freaking gorgeous socks.)  I got to wondering, though, if I could make it work for me.  So today, I found some yarn in my stash (and the good Lord above knows that I have enough stash to create my own yarn store.  For real.) that I could play with and decided to give it a go.

Here are the results along with what I am currently reading:

Yes, that is a crochet mystery book.

Obsessed much?

I found them online and downloaded the first one to my Kindle last week.  I'm now on the third one.  They are kind of cheesy and very, very easy reads.  Annnndddd....I love them.  There is only one more after this one and I am kind of worried there won't be anymore.  Oh--they include at least one crochet pattern and at least one recipe.  Love!

Swap update:  remember how it felt to be... the last one picked in gym...standing against the wall at the dance...always the bridesmaid, never the bride?  Yeah.  That's me.  Everyone seems to be interested in the other swap.  The more expensive one.  I thought we were in a recession, people?!?  NO ONE has joined the swap I am in.  Sigh.  I can't swap with myself and I am not sure what happens if no one else joins in.

I leave you with a picture of my girlie:

as drawn by my nephew.  ;)

Only one more day of work until my THREE WEEK LONG VACATION!  Who's excited?  Not me! :)

Buckle Up, Boys and Girls...

this is gonna be a long one!

First up I am once again joining up with Ginny's Yarn Along!

On the hook are some star-shaped washcloths made with Sugar and Creme yarn.  I love the blue/green/white one because it reminds me of the beach.  I still need to soak and block them but I want to do a few more so I can do that all at once.

I'm re-reading Anne of Green Gables for the bazillionth time.  I usually read it about once a summer or so.  Right now seems like the best time to keep with that tradition.  I love the whole series but the first two have been and always will be my favorites.

As you can see, I'm also reading the Food section of the newspaper.  Sometimes they have some really cool ideas in there that I always tell myself I am going to try.  Someday I will.  Probably.

Anywho.

Here are some current garden pictures:

I can't wait until the larger tomatoes are ripe.  The cherry tomatoes I have been eating are so yummy!

I signed up for a yarn swap on Ravelry today.  I'm kind of excited about it, and, being the geeky nerd that I am , I have been checking every hour or so to see if anyone else has signed up.  The best part about this...are you ready for this...it is a FIBER, COFFEE, and CHOCOLATE swap!  Could there be anything better?  I think not.  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

I'm meeting a friend for lunch on Friday.  Very excited about that.  I used to see her every day and now only see her sporadically.  I miss her.

I also miss my BFF but that is another long, drawn-out, and sad story that I will not subject you to.

Speaking on my BFF--this picture of my freshly colored hair AND face is just for her.

You're welcome.  Hmph.

For those of you that remembered, I had a meeting at work today.  It went well and I thank you for your thoughts, wishes, and prayers. :)

Finally:

because I love her.

So...not quite as long as I thought but very picture laden.  You are welcome.

Another week, another...

Yarn Along!

I'm still on my kitchen towel/dishcloth kick as seen here:

I have more cotton yarn left and I am still considering an Etsy store as well as a Christmas Bazaar that I know about and could rent a table at.  I really want to find a nice shawl or wrap pattern that I can use some of the really nice yarn that I have for.  I haven't found anything that I really LOVE yet, so the yarn just sits there staring at me.

Yesterday I read this:

It was really good and I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out.  I read the book yesterday.  Yes, the whole book.  Don't hate.  It really was an easy read and it isn't all that long.  I was a little disappointed at the way it ended though, because I expected there to be one more chapter to kind of tie things up the way I like.

If you'd like to see what other people are reading and cocheting/knitting, head over to Ginny's blog.

Tomorrow is my work Friday!  Whoo-hoo!!

Yarn Along (and other things)...

Although I have been reading the Yarn Along posts at Ginny's blog for some time now, this is the first time I've actually participated.  Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to use "Mr. Linky"...

As you can see, I crochet, not knit.  Right now I am on a run of making dishtowels and dishcloth sets.  I am contemplating opening an Etsy store sometime in the near future and I think these will make a nice addition.  I am using either Lily or Sugar and Creme (I can't remember which) and I love these bright colors.  The ones I made several years ago have lasted for a while and they wash well.  I'll probably make a few more sets and then move on to something else.

As for reading...I hope it still counts if I am using a Kindle to do my reading.  :)  I like political thrillers and have read just about everything by David Baldacci.  Currently I am reading his latest book The Sixth Man.  I confess, I haven't been reading much lately, although I have the time since school is out for the summer.  I took the Kindle with me to the beach yesterday, but the battery was running low so I didn't get to read.  From the few chapters that I have gotten through I can tell that I am going to enjoy it.

My family is here and I have been enjoying spending time with them.  Yesterday we spent pretty much the whole day at the beach.  It was great!  I got a little crispy, but it isn't too bad.  Here are some fun pictures of the kids:

miss raven goes tomorrow morning for her surgery.  I am nervous and will be all day tomorrow.  Thankfully, a good friend of mine agreed to have lunch with me so that will help take my mind off of it for a little while.  If you are a praying person, would you say a little prayer for both her and me?  Thanks!  And don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

:)