Monday, April 28, 2008

Spring Dishcloth exchange?

Am I missing the boat or what? (Wouldn't be the first time nor the last...)

My link to the Defeat the Winter Doldrums exchange no longer works....

If my memory serves me...one of the last posts mentioned a summer exchange with sign ups starting the first of May....

Anyone?????

Friday, April 25, 2008

Enough already...

It is prom weekend...I have two young men attending...they are going to look "spiffy"...and we are suppose to be getting 2-5 inches of...wait for it....SNOW!!!!!!

Have I mentioned how sick I am of Winter??????

Pictures of my two handsome dudes...coming soon...with their parkas and snow boots....

Sunday, April 20, 2008

This and that from my world....

Not much knitting news.....



I have been plugging away on the beanie for Katie...it's taking a long time...fingering weight and size 4 circs...hard to believe this is about 10 hours of knitting pictured...the pattern alternates between 2 purls, 3 knits one round, then 3 purls, 2 knits the next round...and so on...it's a eight round pattern...I keep losing my place...then...have to go back and rip out to maintain the pattern....auugghhh!!!

I should be done with my Cascade Fixation socks probably this afternoon...will post pictures of them once I get them off my needles...I am decreasing for the toe...and...of course doing both socks at the same time...so, they will both be ready to go...yea! No going back to do the second sock.

Spring is coming to Minnesota! The snow has pretty much melted. All that is left is a couple of stray, dirty piles sitting around. One of the problems with late Spring snowstorms...the ground has started to thaw...so, when we plowed the driveway...we ended up with lots of rocks and dirt pushed onto the lawn...I have lots of heavy duty raking awaiting me.

It has been dreary, drizzly, and cold this weekend. I wish it would either downpour and clean everything up or be sunny so I can get outside and start cleaning up the yard...

We did have our first outside hot tub session of the season last night...It was nice...the steam from the hot tub...the slight drizzle cooling off your upper body...unfortunately...the sky was cloudy...no stars or moon...the outside temperature was only about 40 degrees...a bit chilly the run from the tub to the house....it was a nice way to spend a Saturday night....



Squeakers...my constant companion when I am on the computer...I am always being serenaded by her purring....



Nathan performed in the play Fools by Neil Simon. He is the center actor in the picture. If you are familiar with the piece, he played the doctor. It is a comedy and he was hysterical in his part. I was laughing so hard at times that I had tears. I so admire his ability to make people laugh and make it seem so effortless.... I could never in a million years perform in front of people....he did a very nice job...I do have a couple short video clips of the funniest parts...but have no clue as to if or how I could post them....

On the school front...we have been administering the state mandated tests all week. Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs for short) Every grade except for the seniors have been tested this week. The 7th and 8th graders are being tested again in Math next week....Each test is a four hour long test...Reading, Math, and Written Language...Science is coming in May...

I have mixed opinions on these tests...because the test results are not linked to graduation, many of the students don't give their best effort on the tests...which then make them a useless tool in evaluating the quality of our district...did I mention the school's total passing percentages (not individual scores) are published in all the area newspapers...

We are into our 4th week of third quarter...woo hoo!!! I haven't officially counted the days remaining but I do know there is only five more Mondays that I have to drag my butt out of bed for :) Once I get pass Monday...the rest of the week is a breeze. They did hire a new secondary math teacher...he will be doing the Geometry (which I hate) and the upper level math. I will teach junior high...Pre-Algebra, Algebra and 10th grade Algebra II. It is all good.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

On a dare...


Barefoot and in shorts...down to the mailbox and back...

What was the payoff? $0.85!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Ready...Set...SNOW!!!

We are under a blizzard warning effective until 8:00 pm Saturday.

Here is my front yard at 7:00 pm Thursday night....except for the big pile left over from plowing the driveway...the snow was gone.....



...and my front yard at 7:00 am Friday, a mere 12 hours later...





It is expected that we will be getting between 16 and 20 inches of snow before this is over.

The wind is gusting up to 55 mph...we listened to the wind howl all night long...our Direct TV (the dish) is off...of the three local channels...two are off the air...many people have no power due to trees/branches heavy with snow falling on lines. Our power has flashed off twice this morning...(I probably shouldn't be on the computer)

All of the area schools are closed. All three colleges in Duluth/Superior have closed. The buses have been pulled off of Duluth streets, the mall is closed, all government offices have closed, no mail service...the state patrol has advised absolutely no travel...knowing that we deal with snow on a regular basis...you know it has to be nasty when everything shuts down...

I stepped outside briefly to brush the snow off of the feeder. The spring birds were frantically trying to get pass the snow and get to the seed. The snow is heavy and very, very wet. It's going to be a mess to clean up...

I think I will spend the day in my pajamas...doing a couple lesson plans...make some chocolate goodies...drink some coffee and maybe knit...or do some scrapbooking....

I'll post more pictures when it is all over.....

Wish I was back in Mexico....

Sunday, April 6, 2008

It's about time...

Puerto Vallarta was wonderful!!!



I celebrated my 45th birthday (My God!! When did I get so old?) at Bubba Gumps Shrimp. The shrimp was awesome, the atmosphere fun....Here I am on the famous bench with the suitcase and the box of chocolates.

"Momma says, Life is like a box of chocolates, You never know what you're going to get."

On each table there are two license plates...one says "Run Forrest Run" (green) and the other..."Stop Forrest Stop" (red)...the waitress had told us to display the red one if we needed anything. We decided we wanted to add to our order...so, I casually flipped over to the red plate. Suddenly a guy yells, "STOP FORREST STOP!!!!" Everyone in the place freezes and three waiters run to our table and ask what we need...Ummmm...can you say...embarrassed?



I spent most of the week poolside knitting while He was snoozing. (Please ignore the fact that I was obviously having a bad hair day. I also had multiple tan/burn lines going on at that point in my week.)

I almost finished the pair of Cascade Fixation socks on circular needles. They have been on my needles since before I got into the whole felted slipper kick. I was done with the cuff previous to the trip. Poolside, I turned both heels and knit most of the foot on both of them. I have about an inch to go and then the decrease /shaping for the toe. It feels good to be that close to finishing them and of course, having them both done at the same time.

Our studio overlooked the Pacific ocean, thus we saw some incredible sunsets...



A pirate's ship ran each night with a show and dinner. We didn't go on it..but, it showed up in most of my sunset pictures...and I took a lot of sunset pictures....



Here is one more sunset picture...I told you I was a little obsessed with sunset pics...



We walked downtown one day to the Boardwalk...lots of really cool statues.



We also saw some really cool sand sculptures. One talented artist sculpted the entire Last Supper. It was larger than life. My pictures don't do it justice...unbelievable.



The ocean was so blue...actually everything seemed so bright and uplifting. I will never get use to the feeling of smallness that I get when I stand in the ocean....



Here is a picture of the kitty that hung around the resort. I decided it didn't speak English...It didn't respond to "kitty" at all...Funny cat...it tolerated being petted...didn't purr and acted as though you weren't even there...



What do you call a kitty in Spanish?



One more picture for your viewing pleasure....enough said.....

This picture from our balcony shows my entire Mexico experience...feet up, relaxing...enjoying the sunsets....



Upon returning to the Frozen Tundra....

(You think I am kidding? It was below 20 degrees when we got home...I wanted to get back on any plane that was heading south...)

I had two packages waiting for me...



The first package was from Cleary. She spoiled me with two skeins of yarn, some great homemade, quilted coasters...I love them, a couple really cool little dishcloths (I can't decide if they are knitted or crocheted), and some end protectors for circular needles, which I had not seen around here. Thank you Cleary for a great package.

The second package was from Lisa. She spoiled me with some awesome sock yarn, a set of number 3 double pointed needles, (which I didn't have), some awesome note cards, a freshly harvested sponge (how cool is that?), a springy themed glass, a garden gnome, two beautiful, very delicate stitch markers made from fresh-water pearls, three packets of seeds to plant, and a whole bag of black jelly beans, which happens to be my very favorite goody at Easter time...Thank you Lisa for being such an awesome Angel!!!!



Just for the record, I did bring two sets of needles on the plane with me and nobody questioned it...Seem kinda weird that I can bring sharp, pointed objects on the plane, but not a 12 ounce bottle of water.

I worked on the felted Blowfish on the way down using size 10 wooden double pointed. I have the body almost done....

On the way back, I worked on the beanie for Katie. I used size 5 circular needles. Made good process, the yarn is fingering weight...so, It doesn't look like I spent 5 hours knitting....

I will post pictures of all projects when I get a chance.

It's been a long week. Gramma is home from the hospital, doing well....One night of conferences done, one to go. The fourth quarter is soundly under way. I now have my house somewhat back to clean....the snow is almost gone....my back is almost done peeling...it's all good.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I survived...

I survived Mexico...It has been a crazy week...Gramma is in the hospital, end of the quarter at school, conferences...kids activities...and you should see what my house looks like!!!!

I promise to update soon as I catch my breath....Saturday???

Miss you all....