Nutshell Update

Here's the short of the long story that is causing all sorts of high drama at my school. The board is looking to remove the director. The school has a major deficit, the financial officer hasn't been doing his job properly, the board has not been doing their job properly and have been very sneaky. It's very convoluded and weird, and this will pretty much split the school. The concern last week was in part to 1)not having a school calendar and 2)getting the contracts signed. So I have my job for the year. School will start on Monday. It's high drama, lots of nasty name-callings and gossip. Sheesh. It's going to be an interesting year - the stress levels at school feels like report card time, or even the end of May, and still, we've yet to have our first day with the kids.

I'm trying to get the cds that I owe done by tomorrow so they can go out on Monday.

I've got to send out secret pal packages too.

I've been working on the Friday Harbor sock - in the yarn that is called for, love it! But I am thinking that I need to start on Jackson's sweater, and possible a few felted dog bones - a fellow teacher at school gave Jackson a great new toy and I want to properly thank her.

In stressful times, we all need a laugh - check out these toons (be advised, they are crude, rude and there's swearing)
http://www.illwillpress.com
And,
http://www.collegehumor.com
Look for "everybody farts"

Chaos already

I've been back at school this week. Major multiple crisis doings. Everything is questionable right now. And the kids aren't even there yet!


And, I'm way behind on the knitters cd swap.

Snags

I am so close to being officially done with my Sitcom Chic - I ran into a problem though and right now I'm just avoiding doing anything! I was picking up stitches along one front, and was only able to pick up 66! The pattern calls for 101 - I figured it would be ok, and went on to knit, purl and bind off - and the front edge PUCKERS! damn. I don't know what to do - blocking is not going to fix this. Anyone want to fix it for me? How in the world do you pick up that many stitches? I feel like I picked up all that I could - not skipping or anything.

I started working on the Friday Harbor sock for the KOTR knit along - holy cow these needles are TINY! I'm not using Mountain Colors yarn, maybe I should be? I find that when I'm working from the chart - I feel like I'm messing up somewhere, but it's too hard to tell right now - I'm still stuck on the fact that the needles are so tiny!

AND somehow my computer is running through molasses!! Ick. Wordperfect is barely loading. The internet is slow. I've run my updates / spybot / McAfee... Groan.

However, I did get a wonderfully color-coordinated package from my SP5 -

Crochet needles, cotton yarn, learn to crochet book, jellybeans (!) and candy bubbles from Dylan's Candy bar (I love that store! I have wanted to try these!!!) Thank you soo much!

And a thank you to Julie - she sent a beautiful yellow origami paper crane - I hope it brings me some better luck! Speaking on cranes, I used to make them constantly - even out of starburst wrappers or trident gum wrappers! I learned origami in 5th grade and always loved it! I read about Sadako and the thousand paper cranes constantly. Here are some other neat-o origmami links:
A cherry blossom origami tree (from Crafters coast-to-coast, beautiful!)
oriland (wow!)
Crane Necklace

And just for smiles, Jackson's first outfit - I will be making him something, I think I found a good pattern in Dogs in Knits, but until then:

Jackson / Samples

We have been trying to get Jackson used to the idea of 1)playing by himself and 2) staying in his "room" (our laundry room, with his crate, toys, papers) while we leave the house. So far, it's been successful for very short periods of time, or we return to find some poops. Today we set him up with kongs, lunch, water, papers, toys, and his buddy and the dryer running. We came back about 2 hours later and he was resting inside his crate (!) and there were no poops (!) and one of the kongs was still full of treats! Wow. There's hope for this puppy. Now, if only the biting/mouthing would let up.

I signed up for three months of the sampler and the first on arrived today. Very nifty!! I've got a kitchen table now covered in little gifties! You can see the "sneak peek" on the sampler website, but my package included the following, listed in the order I picked them up from the table - it's all so awesome!!
*earrings, ismelllightning.com
*stickers, sini_puu
*bloom yarn flower, artangelsite.info
*black linen / baroque pearl choker, maizehutton.com
*soap, naikid.com
*tooth fairy / make a wish pillow, onelittlemonkey.com
*vanilla sea salts, wrong-number.net
*glass star pin, lauren-urban.com
*stationery, demarcodesigns.com
*corn card, youngandwithit.com
*loopy loom bracelet, turtlekisses.com
*stripes button, robottle.com
*orange magnet, orangecountycrafters.com
*key chain, designedbyrj.com
*cupcake button, retrobugs.com
*postcards, fernhousestudio.com
*pencil mini note, glamscience.com
*handmade gift tag, buy4square.com
*flower / bead set, amypetersstudio.com
*book badge, jlrfashions.com
*postcard, katsmeowshop.com
*yarn samples, midnightskyfibers.com

You got good mail today!

I did! I almost forget sometimes how much I sign myself up for! There were packages for me :^) SO, first off - Thank Yous are in order!
Cynthia sent me a great package for the Gimme Some Needles Exchange (and there's going to be a round 2!) You know, I had forgot about this one! She sent me "addi Natura" circular needles - I had no idea such a thing even existed!! And a bamboo crochet hook! Wow - I don't think that i'll ever go back to my metal ones! :) This will be the tool on which I practice my crochet and amigurumi skills! I have purchased the artful yarns / colorful yarns for others but not for myself - so I'm excited for the chance to work this up into something beautiful - it's gorgeous in shades of purple, mustard-gold, and blue!

I've also received CDs from Lindsey (along with treats I've already gobbled up! and a nifty crafty item - to make origami stars out of paper strips! Those will go in my classroom), Sandy, and Erin - I'm very excited about this new cache of music to hear, and each of these chicas seems very cool from their blogs - I'm sure their music will back that up!

Yes, there has been some knitting - the picture shows a sleeve in progress of the sitcom chic, but I've actually attached the sleeves. I'm hoping that in my left-handedness, that my K2TOG and SSK for the next 9 rows work out alright... I really enjoy knitting with the cotton ease - it makes a nice fabric.


And, last but not least - a cute photo of Jackson!(Not especially great focus, but I like his expression!)