An indication of things to come.

Tried the juicer again today. Beets, green apples, and oranges.  It was delicious and consumed (2 of each which is more vegetable than I’d eat in a week). The juicer worked better with the spout closed but I forgot part of the brush packet and I think I probably fed the pieces in a little too quickly.  I’m excited for the next one.  I’m thinking one a day after going to the gym.  It was kind of filling.

As for food that can be chewed, today’s experiment was found on the app Yummly.

Fried potatoes, onion, cabbage and white beans with fresh thyme and salt and pepper.  It’s a keeper.  Only one potatoe chopped bean size which makes the white beans trick you into thinking they’re potatoes.  I’ll use less cabbage next time for a better balance but they felt a lot like noodles so it was a lot like eating potatoes and noodles the two ultimate comfort foods.

I found a vegetarian lasagne to try when this runs out.  I need to research whether you can bake cashew cream sauce because that would make a great white lasagne.

Tonight’s dinner

Is brought to you by the juicer.

It's called mighty green grape juice.  It’s chilling for the moment.  The recipe also called for parsley but once you add that it’s the only thing you can taste. I’ve been doing fine on the protein what with Larry and Lenny's cookies serving up 16g.  I have not been so great at fruits and vegetables.  I think a few more rounds with the juicer will make all things vegetables easier.  I had not used it since that first time so assembly was a little rough around the edges.

There were leftover grapes and asparagus from the second batch so I threw those in with an orange and we'll see how that goes.

More thoughts on the juicer.

You haven’t lived until you’ve heard it crunching long sticks of asparagus/zucchini/cucumber like a giant vegetable eating GOG.  (A sci fi movie reference). Also once you start putting things through the juicer you look through every inch and corner of your refrigerator to find more things to put into it.  It’s very satisfying.  

I blew it on the clean up by forgetting to run water through but it still wasn’t horrible.

A part of the ticket

About a week and a half ago a good friend of greathusbandbob's was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  And then last night he died.

I know it makes greathusbandbob sad but when he gets sad he says "it’s all part of this ticket called life."  I like that thought. Dying and having those you love die is the price of admission.

That being said, it is such a shock to have someone there and then gone.  First he was, then he wasn’t.  There wasn’t even time for treatment or even hospice.  Which I suppose is decidedly better than the long and drawn out (for the patient) but worse for those trying to make sense of it.

And really, there is no sense.  It just is.

Every now and then it’s fun to go shopping

Dark purple and salmon for something double knitted.  3000 yards of cashmere cobweb weight for some lace I’ll do if I don’t do law school. Blocking pins with wood attached for ease of blocking. Some striped sock yarn that feels like Neapolitan ice cream if it had grape in it too.  And a porcelain mug because I love them.  Not pictured is the homemade soap to put in yarn stash to make it smell good.  Watermelon and sugar plum.  The soap salesmen were three and four and handed them to me and said "smell this, it’s your favorite." And it was.  And then they said, "wait, I wanna smell it." And there was an adorable border collie puppy. And you know the rest.  Also not pictured is the adorable crocheted sheep toy that the dog thinks is hers.  I was hiding it from her at photo time.  I can try to pretend otherwise but I do love fine fiber.

The dog can read my mind.

It was not too hot today.  I took my usual Friday after school nap secretly intending to take the dog for a walk in her happy place when I awoke.  I did not tell her this and it wouldn’t have mattered if I had because she is, in fact a dog.  After an hour of sleep she jumps into the bed and gets me up, pushing at me with her nose.  Then she is circling every move I make.  She knows.  She just knows.  I think she is a mind reader.  We went to her happy place, walked in a couple of circles and enjoyed the time.  I just don’t get how she knew.

Tomorrow is the burg's sheep and fiber fest.  I’ll meet drknitnightjustine after I finish shopping with my cousin. I can’t imagine buying more yarn.  I really have done an ok job of refraining. Or at least of using what I buy right away.  I’m making no promises.  If I spot my favorite thing... pottery coffee mugs... I’ll likely add one to my collection.

I have of late become the kindergarten aide therapist.  The k-er's can log on and off in the computer lab mostly independently.  While I wasn’t thrilled to be teaching this rather than music, I am proud that they can all do it independently.  Such was not the case last year when instruction wasn’t formalized and everyone was winging it.

This leaves a good bit of free time for both myself and the aides that accompany the kids. I like all of the aides and am not complaining but it is most definitely the time for all family feuds (theirs) to be revealed.  Sometimes people need to talk.  I let them talk, ask some questions and rarely insert any personal anecdotes as they release their thoughts.  Then they apologize and/or thank me for being the listening person.  Three aides.  Three talk therapy sessions. (Where I don’t talk) sometimes making it awkward to have to get up and help a kid fix a problem.  It is exhausting but it feels like the right thing to do.

With the one full week left of music appreciation (and no chrome books to work with) I believe we will explore Weird Al and musical parodies in general.  This morning, after researching what I might find, I remembered the Dr. Demento show that used to air on the radio on Saturday nights. Those kids got to hear the songs "Dead Puppies" and "Rolypoly Fish heads" and I confirmed their beliefs that I am the weirdest teacher they know. I know for certain that I never had a high school teacher like me.  But building relationships and being yourself teaches them to do the same, which matters.

Tonight’s dinner was brought to you by eggs and leftovers (peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, quinoa, spinach, low-fat cheese) combining to make an omelet with low-fat sour cream and salsa on the side.  The omelet pan purchased on a whim some time ago let me down once again and it has been disposed of.  It didn’t look like an omelet but it tasted like one.

Here’s a secret I’m telling no one else.  The gym is having a get healthy lose the fat summer contest.  And I entered.  I’m not telling anyone and don’t really expect to win but it will likely keep me secretly motivated.

And finally.  Haircut procrastination.  I am done with the scraggy ends of my hair but some perverse psychological issue prevents me from calling and making an appointment. (I used to be that way with ordering pizza-I’m hoping I’ll get over this as well.). Secretarysandy to the rescue.  She’s the kind of friend who gets that about me and offered to make the appointment.  Also she wants me to do it before school is out so she can see.

In no small bit of hilarity, the girl who thinks she’s going to go to law school can’t make her own hair appointments.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

Someone please laugh at this with me.

So we are at the  "14 day and everything you do is on my last nerve" point with the adults at school.

Small inconveniences are blown up into "CAN YOU BELIEVE......'s."

"I've had enough's" have been gestating for nine months.  They are busting out all over.

I found myself in the "fed up for stupid reasons" state of mind at lunch today.  I needed a distraction.

I went to an LSAT study site and worked on some logic flashcard problems.  As greathusbandbob always says, you can't thing of two things at once.

This leads me to what's cracking me up.  Common question type

The coach is dividing the following people into two teams, Ally, Bonnie, Cecil, David, Eleanor and Phillipe.  Answer the question based on the following rules.

Cecil can be on David's team if Bonnie is not on Ally's team.

Ally and David can never be on the same team.

Eleanor's team must have one boy and two girls on it.

I made that question up.  There are no answers. BUT... what's cracking me up is that once home I find myself thinking..Why can't Ally and David be on the same team?  What is their history?  What makes Cecil so special that he can only be with David when Bonnie is away from Ally?  Does Eleanor count as one of the two girls?  Is Phillipe a boy or a girl and has s/he come out as such yet.

Drama and tragedy to logic problems.  Holy Hilarious Batman.

Countdown

The countdown looks like this.

In the spirit of going backwards, I will do the same.

Dinner tonight.  This is some restaurant quality food right here.

Fried tofu (finally figured that out- more and hotter oil.) cucumber, red onion, mushrooms, green pepper, quinoa, Thai sweet chili/red wine vinegar dressing, roasted cashews.  It was a happy explosion at the taste buds.  Mushrooms and green peppers were my add in. No red onion next time.

Knit night this week.  A surprise visit from the amazing Tara brought giant flower making.

With knitnightdrjustine making use of the leftovers.

Hair plans- it’s time for the once a decade shorter haired version of me.  I’m thinking Helen Mirren has the look I want.

And finally in the category of former students making good, taking care of wildlife...

Soft cute fuzzy things

I ordered a kit.  The yarn is alpaca, cashmere and silk.

The first grade at my school has baby ducks.

In other news

For the first time ever my answer to a practice question was set up and answered exactly like the given answer.  It was the easiest possible problem.  I had seen part of the set up before.  But when you’ve been scoring at about 50% it was nice to have a win.

The graduation present to the one senior in my class was a win.  It was an outdoor safety/survival kit and one of those things people use to flash at the sky if they’re lost in the woods.  (She’s majoring in fish and wildlife and even if she changes she's a hunter). I told her she’d probably never need them but if she did she could look back and say Mrs. Terry saved her life.

Hey look, I’m doing it.

Sometimes it’s just a random collection

Spanish-today I turned down a $.99 tequila at the Mexican restaurant.  More surprising than that is is in spite of losing all memories of my Spanish learning last spring I was able to say I didn’t want any because I didn’t want to get fat.

Kids- Friday was our all-county choir performance.  I participated and conducted for the first time in several years. (It doesn’t help that rehearsals are always on knit night.) This year I had 5 students participating who showed up for every rehearsal and remembered their music.  It’s good to have enough years of experience to not take things to seriously and still get things done well.  I had quite a few adoring fans.  My favorite part was standing in the wings as kids exited the stage and clapping and cheering for them and seeing their happy.  

Two girls went past and said "give me 5" holding up a peace sign.  I was like... huh?  They said "Roman numerals."

Here’s the thing about LSAT logic games.  I love them but I still struggle.  I’m improving but I have to be more focused.  My brain sort of relaxes and goes loose.

And finally while conversing with cousin today she said, "every day at 4:00 I come home and watch Wagon Train and my cat jumps on the bed and watches with me."  I said "You have her trained. Or else she just likes Wagon Train."  She replied "I think she likes to watch the wagons go back and forth." She wasn’t kidding at all.

WV State Road Rant ahead

I left the high school today. 50 yards to my left, a flagman standing at the local store (meaning heavier cross traffic) waves me on to the road.  Come to find he didn't realize that I was turning right and once I did made no effort to let me know otherwise (I was looking)

As I proceed down the road, well out of sight of ANY flagmen I approach the road crew.

I am stopped and the guy says "you better watch it you may run into the pilot truck"  He acts like he can't hear me when I say there was no flag person anywhere indicating what to do and then says.  "we're going to be here for a few weeks."

I pull over and wait for the pilot truck to lead me in the right direction.  As I am waiting, a U-Haul rental truck (entering exactly where the guy was standing) pulls onto the road in my direction.  If he's going that way, so am I.  He'll hit the pilot truck first.  At the end of the approximately 1 mile one way road, the pilot truck driver is waiting with the flagman, shaking her head in disgust (seemingly at me).

Dear WVDOH. Walkie Talkies- they're real- flagmen at intersections- think about it.

Also saying "we're going to be here for a few weeks" does nothing to let me know which direction I should be going.