Put a Sock ON It

I finished a second pair of socks last night.  It was a simple pattern  from Charlene Schurch, the Garter Rib.  I used some Online Supersocke in a variegated green.  Details can be found here.  This was a quick knit - only a couple of weeks, interrupted by Destination Imagination Regionals, some super busy weeks at school, and some difficulty with hand and finger joints.   While I try to knit a bit every night, some nights I am too tired to even pick up the needles!  So here they are.  My photos aren't that great --- it's really hard to take pictures of your feet!!

Phew!

You'd think that everyone would have returned to school this week relaxed and ready to go.  Not so.  I crawled into bed every night this past week by 8:15 and twice fell asleep at the Kindle.  It was a tough week.  The kids were jazzed all week, and it started right from the get-go.  We have 10 minutes of homeroom in the am before classes, and usually, there's some chatter, but they settle down once the announcements start.  Not this week.  Each day it's been taking longer and longer to get them settled down.  It must be a combination of springlike weather, and full moon.  Today about half the class talked through the announcements, so after they ended I started reminding me of the behavior expectations.  As I'm talking to them, one boy continued to chat.  I stopped, and reminded him that he shouldn't be talking while I was.
He argued back, "I'm not talking  when you're talking.  I'm talking in the gaps."  I stood there for a second, dumbfounded.
 "Excuse me?" I responded.
"I"m talking in between your words, so I'm not talking when you are."
"I'll see you at lunch.  We'll review attentive listening then."
"I'm not coming up."

He didn't come up either for lunch detention, so he wound up with a double write-up.  Later I found out that at lunch he punched another student, and had spent the lunch time with the principal, so he was "off the hook" for the detention cut.  He will have to serve it on Monday however.

Another young lady, C, is in our behavior program, and today was being shadowed by the behavior specialist. During one of my classes, C thought it would be funny to steal the specialist's glasses, and she wouldn't give them back.  Then she picked up the glasses and ran out of the room.  She wound up eventually at the time out bench near the office, where she started texting on her cell phone.  The teacher asked her to give her the cell phone ("off and out of sight" is the school rule), and C refused.   C started shouting at the teacher, so the principal came out to see what was going on.  He asked C for the phone, and she refused to give it to him.  Apparently he then got in her face and said, "I'm asking you one more time to give me your phone."  She threw it at him.

I'm also managing a Destination Imagination team again this year after a hiatus of 5 years. We've met 3 days this week, and it's been like herding cats to get them to all sit still long enough to talk to them.  Competition is in a week, and we have no props, no scenery, and they haven't figured out 3 major scoring items.   I've never had such an unfocused team before, and they do not work together as a team.  I'm just hoping that they can pull enough together in the time we have left so that they CAN compete.  I can't let them look like fools . . . .And if one more of them says "I can bring this in," and then doesn't . . . . . .  ARGH!

So I'm looking forward to a relatively relaxing weekend.  I have to do the monthly billing tomorrow, but then we're going to the movies with friends. (To see John Carter, because our friends' son was the assistant film editor).  We'll go out to dinner too.    Sunday I have nothing planned.  I may even (gasp!) skip church to sleep in!

Some Knitting

I finished these 2 projects over last week's vacation.

First is this baby sweater and hat from an old Creative Knitting magazine. The pattern is called "Adorable Baby Cables" from the Nov. 2008 edition.   While I love the color, I wasn't as pleased with the results as I wanted to be.  The hems keep curling despite some crocheted edging.  The hat especially curls in a peculiar manner.  I used Plymouth Encore which is my go-to yarn for baby gifts.  Of course, it wasn't until I'd finished the hat that I discovered (accidentally, while researching something else) that there had been a correction posted for the hat pattern.  I may re-knit it.

The 2nd finished project was this pair of socks.  These are Ann Budd's Undulating Rib socks from Favorite Socks.  The pattern doesn't show up well because of the yarn colors, but they fit really well.  I will use this pattern again with a solid color yarn or a more muted pallet.    The yarn was On-Line Supersocke Sierra 100.  I bought this yarn and the Encore from my favorite yarn supplier WEBS.

More Vacation

Tuesday was more of the same  - Words with Friends,  household chores, a little DVR watching.  Wednesday was busier.  My husband and I had some "quality time" --- going grocery shopping together.  I really dislike grocery shopping and most of the time he does it, but occasionally he asks me to go with him.  The only saving grace is that when I go, I do find different products to try.  He sticks to the list we make at home and rarely deviates, so when I am getting bored with my cooking, I make a grocery store trip to get re-inspired.  I have to admit that nothing inspired me during this last trip, other than I bought some different varieties of canned soup.
Then in the afternoon, he drove me to the eye dr's for my annual appointment.  Since my eyes were scheduled for dilation, I decided a chauffeur would be in order.  The doctor's office is conveniently located at our hospital which also is the home of our "Wellness Center."  While I had my eyes examined, my husband took advantage of the therapy pool to stretch some of his arthritic joints.  The good news from the eye doctor is that my vision hasn't changed and I don't need a new prescription.  The bad news is that she is concerned about a couple areas in my retinas - they have tiny holes-  and she wants me to see a retina specialist.  She told me that "it's probably nothing to worry about" and that it's probably a hereditary issue.  So I'm scheduled to see the specialist at the end of March.  I have to take a whole day off from school to accomplish that, but that's okay.  I ended up the day by heading out into the beginning of a big snowstorm to attend a Chamber of Commerce awards dinner.  My church won the "Non-profit Organization of the Year" award and we were being honored. As the church's moderator it behooved me to attend.  About a dozen members of the church attended and the pastor and I had to go up on stage in front of about 150 people to accept the award.  The tricky part of it was that I had assumed the pastor would make the acceptance speech.  Nope!  That honor fell to me, only nobody told me ahead of time!  Luckily my teaching career has taught me to think on my feet, and I managed to make a  few acceptance remarks.  (Back at my table, one of my companions told me that I definitely improved on the Oscar acceptance speeches!)  No matter, we got a nice plaque, some really good PR, and we had a great meal.  We've also been asked to host the local high school baccalaureate this year, so that's all good!  I got home about 9:30 after a tense, steering wheel clenching ride home -- the snow was coming down heavy, and the roads were slippery.  And thus ended day 5 of vacation.