D & D

No, not Dungeons and Dragons...not Do Not Disturb. Nope...In the method most favored by bachelors, college students, teen agers, widowers and many other population groups, this weekend, I have resorted to the D & D Style of Laundry. It looks a wee bit like this...

In case you are unfamiliar with this exceptional display, this is the Dump and Dig Style. For the very astute amongst you, you will have already noticed that these are all the things--towels, rags, jeans, socks, "dainties", etc.--that do NOT need to be wrinkle-free. Rest assured, the work clothes are all hung in the closet to remain presentable for work; however, I plan to work very hard to diminish this pile throughout the course of this week. I figure that between Tyler and me, wearing 2 socks each, one pair of "unmentionables", using a few rags per day, etc., we should be able to make this pile disappear by Thursday at the very latest!

Instead of folding, sorting, and putting away laundry, I plan to continue on with some more of this:

and a lot of this:

This little beauty is my NON-Knitting Olympics Olympic Knitting project. Because I know now that my mind rebels against a knitting deadline, I have chosen instead to not give myself a deadline....but I still plan to be finished with Sexy Vesty by the time the torch for this years' Winter Games is out. Yeah, it is possible to play mind games with yourself...

Knitting is an Olympic Sport!

Today is the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have been agonizing over whether or not to join the Knitting Olympics or the Ravelympics. Ravelry has some pretty fun Sporting events--The Hat Halfpipe, Mitten Moguls, Sock Hockey, Single Skein Speed Skate and even Holiday Jump-Start Skiing for those who want to get a jump on their Christmas knitting. This is a serious thing, folks. There are 446 different teams competing this year and I am very tempted. The rules for these olympics (and as far as I know, there is no Knitting Olympic Committee to regulate this so it's an honor system thing) are that you cast on a project during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, knit like a mad woman (or man) and finish the project by the closing ceremony ending. Oh so tempting...

BUT, I learned in January when I joined the National Knitting Mittens Month group that my mind rebels against a deadline. A psychologist would probably look at it and babble on about my fear of committment, or my fear of failure, or my deep seated need (probably brought on by too few hugs as a child) to rebel against authority as a means of establishing my own individualism. Whatever the cause, all I know is that I cast on a pair of really amazing mittens that I had been lusting after for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to knitting, on January 1st. I knit all day on one of the mittens and made some good progress. Then, I lost my momentum and randomly decided to start 3 other projects. I know...total head scratcher, right? Well...I finished all three of those other projects before the end of January. The mittens? They got stalled here:

One almost completed mitten. But look at the amazing pattern of the palm of the mitten!

The other mitten I started on Feb 4th...well enough outside of the finish time that my mind could feel happy knitting it knowing that the only reason I was doing it was because I wanted to, not because I had to finish it by some stupid self imposed deadline. SO....I'm thinking that I probably should NOT enter into competition in the Knitting Olympics. But isn't it a fun idea?

(Extra credit points to those who identify the movie that inspired these mittens!)

I've got a job! (sort of...)

I happened to be in the right place at the right time and while discussing my duties as a long term substitute for an RSP teacher out on maternity leave, a 7th Grade AB teacher called in saying that her mother was terminally ill and she would be out indefinitely. (Bad news for her, but good for me). The principal immediately asked me if I would be willing to cover that assignment instead, and being that this is my dream job, I said YES!!! So, that all happened on Friday August 22nd and school started on Monday the 25th. Luckily the room was ready and I knew the other teachers I would be working with (I did the same job, at the same school, at the same time last year for a teacher who quit his job at 4pm the Friday before school started (who does that???) I talked to two of the teachers that I'd be "team teaching" with to find out what they were doing the first day of school so we'd all be on the same page and then had a wonderful, crazy week last week teaching at Granite Ridge Intermediate (the newest CUSD intermediate/HS joint campus). School starts at 7:45 (AM!!!) and teachers are "required" to be there no later than 7:15, but of course since I was late to preparation game, I wanted to be there earlier. The first day I arrived at about 6:50...NOW, for those that know me, that's way before I normally wake up. So I have completed one whole week of 7th grade AB/AVID teaching this year and look forward to more. I am much more organized about it this year (collecting resources, etc.) Last year, I stuffed one of everything I did into a big red folder (where it lived forever). This year I pulled out the red folder, organized it all into a binder and am adding to it as I go this year. If I ever get a permanent job as a 7th grade AB teacher, I am SET for the first few weeks of lessons, etc.

I'm a dork, because one of the things I'm most excited about in my binder is about diagramming sentences.

I am lucky enough to be living with my parents right now, which means that they take Tyler to school in the morning for me ( what poor child wants to get to school before 7am??) and pick him up at lunch time to bring him home for a nap. (Thank you Mom and Dad!!!)

This past week, Tyler switched classes from the 2-3 year olds class with Miss Esperanza as the teacher to the 3-4 year olds class with Miss Pam. He loved his old (former?) teacher, but is really enjoying being a "Honey Bear". He told me yesterday that "Miss Esperanza had babies/little kids (can't remember his exact word) in her class, but Miss Pam had all BIG kids." So let the ego/big kid complex begin...It only gets worse as they get older...

I think Tyler saw too much Olympic Gymnastics because his frequent pose these days looks like this:

These Olympics are KILLING me!!!

Could someone please explain to me what it is about the Olympic Games that compel me to watch them obsessively? I have never been one who is interested in watching people row a long skinny boat down a waterway on the other side of the world. Yet, last night (OK, very early this morning), I found myself glued to my TV to watch the rowing...and then women's beach volleyball...and now I sit on the couch watching swimming (OK, a little more reasonable...I did swim through jr. high and high school, but still!) and gymnastics (Men's). I am finding out that there are all these sports that I had NO idea were even sports, much less a sport worthy of being in the Olympics, and I am not able to tear myself away from these obscure sports to put myself to bed like I know I should. Do you think they put subliminal messages on the broadcast that makes people watch these games? And seriously...The commercials? please...