Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Trying to post a picture!

This is the sock I started after I finished the $3. socks. I love the colors.
This is the pair of $3. socks I finished last evening for Mariah.
Still not too sure about posting photos. This was really just luck.
Viki



Socks at the ballet school

Last night while at the ballet school I finished the $3. socks. ( The yarn was in a $3. bin at the lys because of a lost label.) They fit Mariah so she was pleased.

Anyway I finished that pair and started another fall color pair(Trekking xxl color 161). The Artistic director stopped to chat, he liked the colors. He also reminisced about being a child in Scotland holding the skeins of yarn for his mother. He held his hands out and did the little rocking motion. After all those years he still had the rhythm down pat.

Every once in a while he stops to talk and lets loose with a little bit of his childhood in Scotland

Also a bamboo needle tip split on me last night. Bummer.
They are brand name ChiaGoo. I can't even remember which yarn shop I bought them at, but I do know they are at most a year old.

For those who are following the continuing saga of Mariah and the ballet teacher...things were better last night. Said teacher actually gave her corrections and said something positive. Such communication has been sorely lacking for the last 2 months. Keep your fingers crossed and wave a few pointy objects that attitudes on both sides continue to be more positive. Thanks!

In other news...frecklegirl sent me an invite to Ravelry.
I'm busy trying to figure out stuff. No I don't have tons of pictures taken. How do you all do that without the proper lighting and a tripod? I have written some stuff about me so far and that is it.
How do you "friend someone?"

Viki

Monday, October 29, 2007

323

That is how many people are ahead of me to get on Ravelry!

At the beginning of the weekend it was over 2000.
I'm starting to get more excited!
It is kind of like standing in line for a really popular rollercoster.

Finished a sock yesterday. Hopefully the mate to it today.

Yahooo! only 323 to go!

Viki

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Lunchtime at the preschool/MDO

This year when I did my meet & greet to go over the handbook and introduce myself I talked about Lunch. Everyone was very receptive. Lucky for me there had been an article in the local paper 2 days earlier about lunch and nutrition for school.

Almost all of my little ones(think 3 yr old) bring great lunches. I only have a few picky eaters in my class this year.

One little boy brings a round sectioned dish with a fish shaped lid every day. His lunches make me drool. His first lunch was Shrimp and fruit. He rarely has a sandwich. One of my favorites of his was noodles with beef and shrimp, homemade fruit salad(kiwi,pear and nectarine) and cherry tomatoes with steamed asparagus. Never tons of food, but just enough for him. His mother is Korean and says he is a picky eater!

Another little boy brings leftovers usually too. He calls tortellini, noodles. Usually packed plain with cut up chicken breast. Always has almonds and usually cheese chunks. His mom does use plastic baggies, but interestingly his mother labels everything in marker. He'll say, "does this say cheese?" Also if you can dip it in Ketchup this child will eat it. He loves to dip.

I have another child who lives on bottled yogurt smoothie drinks. One who will only eat apples(but not the skin) and applesauce. One who eats the inside of the peanut butter sandwich before eating the bread and also likes hard boiled eggs and raw cut up vegetables.

When I did my spiel I talked about small portions of what their child would eat. Not to pack an apple that was so big the child couldn't take a bite out of it. I told them about a mother I know that used to take an ice cube tray and fill each section with good food. When her child wanted to snack Mom would take the tray out of the fridge and the kid could eat Anything in the tray. By the end of the day she would have eaten lots of good growing food.

The regulations say that each lunch should have a protein, fruit and veg and milk and bread. It doesn't take in to account that some kids are allergic to milk. I told them this was a guideline, that I doubted that the lunch police were going to come knocking so to think outside the box.
Crackers and noodles instead of bread. Cheese or yogurt instead of milk. I asked them to cut up the fruit so their children would actually eat it.

The mom's have come through spectacularly! Makes me proud.

I of course do my part and bring a good lunch in one of my bento boxes. We have conversations at the lunch table about growing food and what we like to eat. If I have carrots everyone with carrots tells me they have carrots too. Lunch is fun in my class and that's the way I like it.

Viki

Friday, October 26, 2007

The suspense is killing me

Have you heard about Ravelry?
I was leery at first, as I am just not very techno.
I have friends who insist they will help me and say that I should start taking pictures of
my knitting projects and put them on a flicker account so that when my number is up and the folks from Ravelry send me my invitation I'll be ready to jump in with both feet.

If you are puzzled about Ravelry just as I am/was here is a link to check it out.
https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

There are now 2042 people ahead of me and I am mere days away from an invite.

I think I am excited.

The suspense is also killing me over ballet.
Yes we are having teacher trouble again. My dancer, after talking with her favorite teacher/mentor is trying to change her attitude. Unfortunately, she has to take the high
road because no one believes that the troublesome teacher will meet her half way or even part way. It is a shame that the 13 year old in this situation has to be the adult.

No matter what happens, I'm sure this will be a big growing experience for Mariah.
Topics in this house lately have been positive attitudes, trying to see a situation from both sides, positive affirmations, trying your hardest even if you feel like you are going to fail.

These are deep subjects.

Mixed in with all this is the search for high school. I swear it is worse than applying for college.
The schools that are head hunting my 13 yr old are mostly not schools I want her to go to. Too far away or have bad reputations. They want her smart little head in their schools to up their test scores. What does the 13 yr old want...to be home schooled of course. Less pressure she thinks. I am almost inclined to agree. This is stressful to say the least.

The past few weeks have been so stressful that I have put down the FLAK sweater again!
http://www.bigskyknitting.com/FLAK/knitalong.html
Stress really messes with my knitting gauge. I have finished a pair of socks...the HP horcrux socks and almost finished the $3. socks. (I found sock yarn in a $3. bin at a yarn store because the label had come off and they tossed it in there...their loss my gain...this yarn is over $15. a ball. ) Although we'll see if they are too tight for anyone to wear. I have another ball of Autumn colors to knit up as soon as these are finished.

I think I'll go to the bookstore this morning. Crazy Aunt Purl's book is now in stores.
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/ and looks to be really funny. Just what I need to relieve some stress. Perhaps Mariah can read it out loud to me while I knit on the FLAK this weekend.
What a plan!

Viki