This must be my yearly treat

because usually any baking attempt of late is a "trick."

It's some mundlebread- a jewish version of biscotti is as close as I can describe it.

It's not burned. It appears edible. I might have something to make for the next faculty breakfast!

Maybe it's time to get some almond paste, almonds, and dried cranberries and fancy it up next time.

Why, yes, sometimes I am delusional.

in the interest of full disclosure-in desperation and appreciation of this rare event I used the video camera camera to snap the picture

Here's a cute puppy you haven't seen yet. Aunt's dog- Mac. I think he looks like Yankee Doodle so sometimes I call him Macadoodle. Except sometimes I call Liza Jane Lizadoodle and she looks nothing like Yankee Doodle. Doodle must be my dog suffix. I never call the cat Annabelledoodle. Inquiring minds want to know.

Aunt's face doesn't look like that. She has regular human features- it's just not the best picture I've seen of her so I didn't want it to be her blog debut.

The top down sweater has 2/3's of a sleeve but is on short-term hold so that I can whip up some mittens for my birthday sharing friend.

I conveniently left the camera at school so don't count on any pictures from the puppy parade at the fairgrounds tomorrow. I'm such a forgetful flibberty-jibbet.

But... if you go here you can see what it looked like at school today. I'm the webmaster and also the photographer so you'll kind of get to see what kids look like when they're looking at me. The first picture is actually my birthday buddy in her washing machine costume. The guy in the Yankees uniform is the new and awesome principal leading the parade.

housewarming gift extraordinaire

It was a nice Steubyville getaway though I am so regularly torn. I need to spend a weekend at home with husband and dog but my heart just wants to keep going back.

While asking questions about Uncle's family I learned of a peculiar housewarming gift Aunt received from an in-law on his side.

A cousin's wife brought her a bag of wishbones- real wishbones-and told her that if she painted them gold they would make for nice name tag holders at the dinner table.

Picture the thank you card. Dear ---, Thank you so much for the lovely turkey wishbones.

Crack-ed Me Up.

Still knitting on the top down plain old sweater. Ready for some ribbing on the bottom and some sleeves. Crossing my fingers that the amount of yarn I have will equal the amount of yarn I need.

All good things must come to an end...

and that's o.k. NYS (naive young student) finished his placement today. All was very quiet on the candy front. Perhaps he was waiting for someone to be thrilled at their not free candy. Didn't happen.

I am not terribly sad at the ending of this chapter. For as much fun as the candy was, the rest- not so much. That's how it is with young men and women finding their way in life. What they think they want to do and what they really should be doing sometimes don't interface. I will be glad to be teaching again.

It's another trip to Steubyville on Saturday. Trying to get as many in as I can before El Niño arrives.

There's a top down sweater that has about 5 more inches on the body and some sleeves to go.

House of Sophanne now proudly owns a Heavy Duty ShopVac to suck up the swarms of lady-bug wannabe Japanese Beetles that tornadoed our house.

We also found that Heavy Duty ShopVacs do a great job on the crevices that collect animal fur and dust in the corners of our home.

Mr. Sophanne has decided to do something to make the house nice for an hour every day. Yay him. I'm a little slow to join him but think I'm safe as long as I keep expressing gratitude at our shining home and keep the dog occupied.

The bug-catcher was purchased at the big box store that always makes you buy more stuff than you need. Liza got a frisbee. It's now chewed. Anybody have a recommended chew free frisbee source they want to share? I think we might be able to get her to do the BEST TRICK EVER in the doggie world if only we could find something that didn't taste so good.

Today at the candy machine....

before I even went in that direction he informed me that we weren't getting free candy but that someone was putting quarters into the machine. Imagine my surprise! I said "That's Hysterical!!! I wonder who's doing it?"

We questioned all of the likely suspects in the teachers lounge. He added up the amount of money someone must have spent to make it happen. We speculated that maybe it was the principal or the custodians. The mystery remained a mystery.

At the end of the day I confided in him (slightly fearful that he would be annoyed at being the brunt of it all but I can only hold a lie for about an hour or two before I fess up) that I indeed was the person who put the quarters in the machine. He asked me why and I said "Because I liked the idea of the magic candy machine." He said "I knew someone was doing it. It can be our little secret."

So he and I are tricking everyone into thinking that there is a little do-gooder in the building putting quarters in the machine and we aren't going to say who.

Shhh....mum's the word!

Oh the tangled web we weave...

Update on Candyland...

Machine refilled today. At first we thought there was no interest and the jig was up.

Then he revealed at lunchtime that he went in this morning and got a free KitKat bar.

Then he went to the custodian and told her he thought the candy machine was broken and that it was giving free candy.

Then, after seeing it's magic again at lunchtime when I got "free" M&M's, he later went to the secretary and said, "I think someone is playing a prank... I think there's money in there."

Secretary innocently replied, "Who would do such a thing?"

So now that it's taken this turn, I believe I will continue to be the "dupe" of the prank. I will fill it with money tomorrow once again and I can go in and get all of the "free" stuff and he'll think I really believe that it's free.

Bwah hah hah hah! Why does this make me laugh so much?

Foiled!

In an attempt to continue the candy machine ruse, I put quarters in all of the slots of the vending machine today just before lunch. Secretary got a "freebie." I got a "freebie." Physed teacher (remember Chicken Bob?) got a "freebie." And, while my naive protégé looked longingly at the machine, he refrained. I was most disappointed, as yesterday he turned every knob when we walked in. I plan on refilling the slots again tomorrow- just in case. This will be the best $15 I'll have spent in quite some time.

Knit night tonight. I'm still mad at the chartreuse vest. Instead I am just past the break for the sleeves on a top down sweater ala Barbara Walker with some subtle college team colors. It's leftover Cascade from when I didn't make the EZ adult surprise jacket. I might be able to make six more.

Did I mention that last Sunday after returning home from my Steubyville visit, Mr. Sophanne made a Pot Roast in the Crock Pot and it was AweSome? I love that guy. I'm telling you because I think he is wondering if I blogged about it and I feel a little "oblogated."

bloggy blogg blog

I still have not much to say but I do like to blog

What's made me laugh lately-

I'm thinking if I ever become a yarn producer I would call my company "Yahwn Yarn" then people from Boston or Brooklyn would sound like they're saying the same word twice.

Just a few minutes ago Mr. Sophanne used his nyah nyah boo boo voice and call Liza Jane "bone-eater."

We sang the theme from "Dallas" more than once at knit night on Tuesday. Also hummed quite nicely was the theme from the Andy Griffith show which I didn't recognize right away because none of us could whistle.

Finally- there is a naive young man under my tutelage who has been convinced (not by me) that the candy machine in the teacher's lounge sometimes magically dispenses candy if you just give the knob a turn. This illusion continued today when someone (not me) supplied the quarters to put in the slot ahead of time to dispense "free" candy. I think he's onto us but it's amazing what adults will do when surrounded by children.

I miscounted the number of stitches to divide in the neck of my chartreuse vest-to-be. Knit night Jennyfer offered a solution (making up the missed stitches in the middle thus creating a sort of not-v neck.) I finished it but am not in love and thus it rests in the "maybe next week" pile.

Finally- Country Music-I'm not a big fan of any kind. It's not my thing. And yet- while looking for angel songs to include in my upcoming holiday program I heard Alabama's "Angels Among Us." It might be my new secret favorite song-I'm looking forward to hearing 5th graders sing it- once I get past the narration/sort of singing at the beginning- I'll be adding a little melody and rhythm to that part.

a feeling of accomplishment

The hat is Ysolda Teague's Urchin It's not exactly the type of yarn she called for so it looks more rasta-like and less urchin-like. The mitts are from Ann Budd's how to knit everything book.

Except It is completely incomprehensible to me why mitten pattern writers believe that it's reasonable to add only one stitch at the thumb gusset.

I said- break all the rules and I picked up and knit 4 (FOUR) that's right you read it here first 4Four stitches. At the next go across that part I k2'd tog and ssk-ed to get back to a sort of normal stitch count. So there.

For the first time in a month all of the clothes in my house are clean as is my dog and the dishes.

Here's to a week that isn't full of CrazyTown.

some knitting

There's been a little knitting here and there.

The pink/green mitten is LanaGrossa merino using Ann Budd's formula. Two are done- one has a thumb that needs re-done. One is completely thumbless. Why is it that every mitten I knit feels like a swatch? The yarn was supposed to be felted clogs-a gift from Yarnhog but she understands that things change. I'm thinking about Ysolda's urchin as a matching hat.

The gray is LanArt alpaca- $5/skein on sale from the Waynesburg fiber festival. I wasn't going to post tonight because I can't find the pattern to tell you what it is but I'm thinking you won't mind. It's going to be a lace stole but with the knit side looking so much like the purl side I just spent the last hour tinking 4 rows. I've got a big ole pile of the yarn so I'll knit until I run out. I'm pretending it's going to look gorgeous once it is blocked-and I've planned for the alpaca halo so it won't make me mad.

The finished angoraish CPH that was finished last summer has been worn several times and wins the prize for the best knit ever when it comes to size, weight, and comfort.

Speaking of Yarnhog, her ringing endorsement of the kindle and the fact that she got it for her birthday led me down the path of gadget. I have to get used to the fact that unlike the itouch, there's no touch screen but I think it's going to be a good purchase. I have no room for shelves. I have no more room for books. I like to read. win. win. win.

Now I have a kindle and a spinning wheel because Yarnhog does. I hope she doesn't decide to jump off a bridge.

Mr. Sophanne

The best husband in the world is the one who, after spending several hours with your relatives says, "you're right honey, they are exactly the way you describe them."

moving on

Uncle died last night. He spent much of yesterday asking what time it was. I'm pretty sure he was trying to time his departure to make it easier for Aunt.

He visited today as Aunt tried to remember the name of the catering service she was trying to remember. She said, "I never remember the name, I always ask Uncle." I said, "Ask him now." Then she remembered.

Here's what I can tell you- when we were little he did magic tricks- when we went to the beach he bought squeaky bird puppets that made us laugh for hours- when he hid the afikomen at Passover it was always under his plate-when people needed a defense attorney in Steubenville, he was there and if they couldn't pay he would charge them less-

We are sad and going to miss him but that's the way life goes.

What a nurse shouln't say...

no matter how well meaning she is-

"if he dies while you're at lunch, God meant for it to happen."

Thankfully we have left that part of the hospital and have moved to palliative care.