Pre-vacation tangled web

Leaving for the west coast on Thursday.  Top of the packing list- yarn and electronics.

A combination of the two below:

We'll be in Seattle for three days and then will be traveling to Victoria Island B.C. where we will be staying in what is advertised as a "mansion in the city." (we've got someone staying at our house- also we don't have any valuables other than the dog so I'm not too worried about revealing plans).

We didn't plan on staying at a mansion in the city.  There's no beach- a pier, there's a pool (hopefully heated, as the high next week is 70 degrees) There's a yarn store that's a nine minute walk from the house.  Here's a preview from the realtors site.

With a scenic ferry ride to boot- where the names of the cities feel like you're in Australia.

This may be more than a trigger

Greathusbandbob's son posted the following picture on Facebook yesterday.

I offered the following commentary.

I also whipped up a quick crocheted project to appease him. 

So looking forward to delivering it to him.

This started, in fact, as a knitting blog.

I got some new blocking pins at the festival.  I've seen them in the knitpicks catalogue but couldn't picture their usefulness until I saw them in person.  They have turned "I hate blocking" into " I don't hate blocking as much."

This is called the Chilkat Cowl by Rosemary Hill (Romi).  I've always loved her designs.  The yarn is a blend of cashmere, silk, camel and alpaca from China Road. It is a cowl long enough to pull over your head and the tassels are drawstring to close up the gaps.  I may have ordered some additional yarn in blues to make another... or two.

I also may have accidentally purchased 6 times more blocking mats than I will ever need (I can't believe my math skills failed me and I somehow thought I would need 48 sq ft.)  They may come in handy at school. 

I also moved the blocking staging area from the dark recess of a storage room to the den in the basement, realizing that I could tuck it away out of site.

Diet realizations of the week included the fact that I can not buy delicious protein bars (even when they have 30g of protien) because I will eat the entire box in two days, defeating the purpose of low calorie high protein.  Back to beans and quinoa I return.

Also, while culling some photos I found this one which I took while waiting for road construction to let me pass.  These are my favorite goats that I pass every morning on the way to school.  I love them.

In the heart of summer break.

The only thing I've heard/read that has offered some solace in light of recent events.  My friend Stitchjones posted it.

The first sentence "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief."  I have lost a good bit of sleep in recent days thinking of those state-orphaned children.  When I do sleep, I wake in the morning with that feeling characteristic of profound grief.  Upon waking up- mind says "hey its a great day"- mind reminds you of the conditions of those kids- sadness resumes.

I have to stay away from it so as not to descent into abject sadness.  But sometimes I have to watch it to bear witness.

Greathusbandbob got a jumpstart to his heart yesterday.  They put him to sleep and shocked him with the paddles and for now he is sino-correct and no longer in afib.  Should it not remain that way he'll undergo freezing part of the muscle via a tube down his throat followed by a pacemaker.  

LSAT- I had been procrastinating.  At first I thought it was due to fear of failure.  But it may be that my brain needed to marinate the thinking process.  Logic games have been my weakness.  When first trying them a score of 0/7 was not atypical.  Today I worked through 4 problem sets and got a 7/7, 4/5, 4/5 and 4/5.  That gives me an 86% which I've got to believe is at least passable. 

Food and exercise- I'd give myself a B- for the week. There were days of no exercise or a bagel (never on the same day) but there have also been days where I followed the rules, went walking even when I was disinclined, and ate the right food even when the wrong one was an option.  That little extra push is what makes it a B- instead of a C+.  The two classes of exercise a day has proven to be mostly unrealistic.  I am intimidated by anything other than the dance classes and two a day wears me the hell out and invites inconsistency.

And finally the knitting.  I bought this yarn at the Waynesburg Sheep and fiber festival. It is cashmere but it is thinner than spiderweb lace weight.

I'm not sure what the hell I was thinking.  My leetle sausage fingers  have been incapable of casting on and knitting 2 stitches each on 4 double pointed needles for this pattern.

It's called Lyra by Herbert Niebling.  There is also an option for a larger version that becomes a square.  I've decided to use this yarn purchased at a Pittsburgh festival.  

It may be hard to see but this is one of those gradient skeins.  I have probably started 3-4 different projects with it.  I'm thinking this may be the one.  It's a no tv-no distraction- quiet time sort of knit and every row that turns out with the right number of stitches feels victorious.

Cooking shows

Are my new favorite thing.  Baking shows for now.  Just watching them manipulate ingredients makes me a better cook.  In the same way that when Liza the dog sees horses she thinks she’s a show horse.  I’ve binge watched "nailed it" and "zumbo's just desserts"- both on Netflix.

Today I made sausage vegetable lasagne.  Sausage and broccoli and carrots in the sauce, spinach in the cheese mixture.  Classico marinara sauce and oven ready lasagne noodles.  Everything was "on point" (that’s a cooking term) except the dish was filled too full and made bad burning smells and lots of smoke in the oven.  It was pretty amazing though.  It tasted just what I was hungry for. #proudofme.

Yesterday the dog was hilarious.  She devised a multi-step plan to score a walk.  Used to be she'd just bring me the shoe.  Yesterday she whined at greathusbandbob until he opened the door where I was still in bed.  She jumped on the bed and pushed me out with her nose and her digging at the blankets.  She waited for me to have coffee and breakfast. Then she brought out the tennis shoe.  Then she brought out the other one.

Food in the house

Buddha Bowl

I went to the grocery store and picked food that I liked to eat in a bowl.  

Ingredients:

quinoa

grape tomatoes

cauliflower

broccoli

carrots

celery

parsley

sunflower seeds

pine nuts

roasted chick peas

roasted pinto beans

cucumber ranch dressing

Lazy cooking

Sometimes you just don't want to cook.  And you don't have any "fast foods" in the house- cereal, leftovers, eggs, salad stuff.  So you get creative.

I present chocolate granola burritos- ingredients (give or take)

Cashew butter, unsalted cashew pieces, oatmeal, dark chocolate pieces, chia seeds and honey.

Carefully stir.  It can be a hot mess.  Put in a tortilla and wrap.

There is some fine tuning to be done- more honey- less cashew butter- maybe salted cashew pieces.  I just needed something filling to eat so I would quit thinking about ice cream.

Project the First.

The yarn room.

It’s wrong much more than it’s right.  Probably because I bring things in without taking other things out.

I’m going with the grocery/department store theory that you have to move product for people to notice it again.

Shelf one- worsted and lace.  Purple/maroon anyone?

Shelf two- the top is yarn club stitch jones skeins and baby yarn.  Next is sock yarn and suede and Noro.  Third down is madelinetosh and elsbethlavold.  Below that is a sweaters worth of borocco baby alpaca, a few projects that I’d actually like to see myself complete and balls of leftovers.

I snapped a photo of this mini shelf with some alpaca that I once had plans for only to notice the crate to the left with a pile of more suede (I thought there was more somewhere and an entire bin of Kaffe Fasset pastel worsted. Also a couple of "I wonder how big I want them" log cabin afghans in cascade and elsbethlavold.

The discard pile is t as bad as it’s been in the past.  Last year I made an unwind the project bag.  That didn’t work so I reunited them with their friends.  There are no yarn police out there to tell me I can’t have them with regular balls and skeins of yarn.  I was left with a couple of organizing bins that I’ll take to the tv knitting corner and try to make sense of it.

Juicy Lucy

Carrots ginger oranges

 

Apples oranges spinach

 

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen/heard a juicer eating a carrot.

I like to watch the wheel go round.

body to go with the hair.

I've cut my hair short three times now.

Once at the end of high school.  I didn't love it then but I look back at pictures and it looked kind of adorable.

The second time was right before I went to South Africa.  I wasn't sure what the water/shower conditions would be and didn't want to fight that.  It was a good plan and I look at pictures and I don't hate it.

The third time was yesterday.  There are no official life changing events in the works.  Except maybe instead of the event precipitating the cut, the cut has precipitated the event.

There are three more days of school left next week.  Summer lists in the past have included 3-5 things- some of which I do and some of which seemed like a good idea at the time of list making but then weren't that interesting to me.

This summer's list has two items.  One is to finish what I started last July and spend at least an hour a day at the gym. This plan also includes the juice machine- maybe twice a day with a solid dinner and a meal replacement protein drink. I am fairly certain this one will stick.

The other is to study logic problems.  Right now I get about 50% of them right.  When I first started looking at them I was getting 0%.  I just have to remember that.  I kill it on the reading comprehension problems and am getting better at the logical analysis ones.  I believe this one will stick because I've noticed that once I step into the world of logic problems, time does that going by faster thing and the next time I look up it's three hours later.

For the big reveal for anyone that didn't see it on the book of Face...

Keeping in mind that this was at the end of an entire day of rotating grades in first a field day and a water day, it looks pretty o.k.  The pink shirt was the only thing I had to change into and was most necessary after a day like that.  There were not remnants of make up to be found.

The sign of a good hair cut is that you don't automatically want to brush it out as soon as you get home.  That's the first time this has happened.  Although it may have something to do with the fact that I was still in shock and also terrified at what I had just done.

In trying not to imagine myself looking too much like an old lady teacher person I've pretended that it's a Molly Ringwold, Mary Lou Retton sort of cut- except for they are old ladies now too.

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.

She’s pretending to be Batcat- Bruce Wayne's feline sidekick.

No words needed again

Sanity Prevails

A love story.

Destiny is a senior who is really over high school.  She’ll join the game but she’s laughing at it on the side.  All year long Michael, a freshman, has been teasing, flirting awkwardly, watching her intently as she puts on her false eyelashes.  It has, on occasion, been almost painful as well as hilarious.

I know that one day I said "keep trying Michael, you never know, maybe you’ll woo her."  Laughs were had by all, entertained by the shenanigans.

Today they were talking about rehearsal for "the grand march"- the presentation of couples before the prom.  I said "Michael, you’re a freshman, how in the world are you going to prom?"  With a large slightly smug grin on his face he said, "Destiny asked me."

Overheard at the WVDOT paving project

Let's pave that side.

No, wait a minute, let's pave this side.

I'm not sure, this side needs it here.

What's that black stuff coming out the back of my truck?

I don't know but I see some on the other side of the road.  Let's scoot up so that car has to drive through it.

We are going to drop this tar all the way to  China.

I heard they make Penndot wear these bright yellow rubber jackets for when water falls from the sky.

I heard they also only block off the part that they're working on and have extra flagmen where other roads connect to the one lane.

Idiots.

Philly Cheese steak minus the bread and cheese.

Zumbabetty offers this recipe up.  Bake peppers covered with a slice of cheese for 20 minutes. Cook garlic, mushrooms and onions in olive oil (maybe add steakums for greathusbandbob next time) bake for 25 minutes more.  Put some provolone cheese on top. Bake for 5 minutes more.  A-ma-zing.

Same show, different color.

While pondering next week's hip hop lessons I stared wondering about a complementary t.v. show.  Hello In Living Color.  Those kids are too young to even know about it or the fact that it was a Jim Carey starting point. While looking at skits there was even a fake used car sales commercial on both.  Negative female and male/female relationship stereotypes, poverty, over exaggerated culture stereotypes.

While researching today I got a glimpse into the world of NYC graffiti, watched quite a bit of break dancing and dancing in the pop and lock style. Wow.  If you’re looking for some great “how in the world" videos, YouTube suicide break dancing moves. I also watched the d.j. championships hosted by Redbull. Scratching, phase pumping, etc.  

I’ve also made a small inroad into my case for next year.  I found the assistant principal and asked about the plan.  I mentioned that teaching guitar and piano in the same class would be (as my good friend described) like teaching French and Spanish in the same class.  I also let her know that while I am willing to figure out how to teach such things, I am not willing to pretend to be doing it if there aren’t enough instruments. She listened to and understood my concerns and will be doing some investigating.  She also observed some of the music making that takes place in the class as is and thought that would be a good option.

In other news, there was a kindergarten meltdown and a fourth grade bloody fistfight between two friends after 3:00 and it was my turn to deal with it.  I know it happened because I knocked on wood at 2:45.

Stupid Fitbit ionic

You save and pay for the cool toy and then it doesn’t work.  Thank you impermanence.  I’m hoping it’s just the charger but I have the feeling this tracker is the Windows Vista of the Fitbit world.  Useless.  When a new one (versa) is released within six months its a bad sign.

I’ve come to depend on it for steps, for rehearsals, for lesson timing, for inspiration.  Garmin to the rescue.  It doesn’t hold any tunes like the ionic.  It also doesn’t have a timer with which to cook my food and I can’t put a picture of my hey lets be healthy friend on the screen but it’s getting the job done. 

Most annoying request from the Fitbit helpline.  "We need to have a 15 second video of you trying to reset it with the case number on a piece of paper next to it."  Um... o.k. But as I have already pointed out it s completely out of charge and will not respond in any way.  "We need it anyway."  Sign number two of faulty products? Ridiculous hoops to jump through to get it replaced.

Not a huge deal in the scope of the world but annoying.

Music appreciation update- we had to listen to country singers today.  Jim Reeves, George Jones.  Ugh.  I said it was torture for me just like Gregorian chant was torture for them.  I did have some Patsy Cline for my own sanity.  

Kasey said "we should watch an episode of Hee Haw." And he is correct.  Today they each did a slide on famous stars that we didn’t get to. Tomorrow we will present them and finish talking about country music of the 80's to the present.  We also might try to learn a walking bass line oft found in Boogie Woogie.  Because as far as I can tell the only thing that makes something boogie woogie is in fact that walking bass line and the use of the word boogie woogie in the lyrics.

I let Quin (who seems to enjoy the country music unit as much- or as little- as I do) pick the next genre. She picked Rap.  She doesn’t really strike me as a rap music fan.  I think she did it just to see what I’d come up with.  Come to find that a Yale fellow named Henry A. Rhodes at the Yale institute of teaching or something or other in New Haven did extensive and interesting historical research and connected it to specific events in the Bronx and Jamaica as well as to the graffiti artists of the time. (Google "the evolution of rap" if you’re interested in his article-with lesson plan activities What the Actual what? Included.)

Finally I allowed myself to see exercise friend's posts again only to have Sarah Huckabee Sanders' picture appear with the words "I love her...she'll be the first woman president." Sigh.  I’m hoping if I don’t follow her and we never acknowledge the existence of politics we can at least be exercise friends.  She’s the first person who's really forced me to question the sanity of our world with her dichotomous beliefs

Supah Zumbah supah food

Yesterday there was a Zumbathon (which is actually 90 instead of 60 minutes.). It was a relay for life zumbathon.  Money raised on entry ($10) and Chinese auction went to the cause.

I went with newfriendmaureen who is a puzzle to me.  She’s educated, has an adopted Korean son, doesn’t listen to country music or fox radio on the drive and yet she’s had a few reprehensible Facebook posts. 

 I want to be friends with her.  I don’t want to be friends with someone who belittles those Florida high school kids.  I unfollowed her for a while but am following again with hopes that I was mistaken in my first Facebook impression.

Another invented recipe that wasn’t a disaster today. Yellow squash, zucchini, okra, red lentils, tomatoes juice and canned tomatoes and cannelini beans.  4 hours on low, an hour on high in the crockpot. Served over a brown/wild rice mix with chopped up fried egg added.  I guess it’s sort of a vegetable chili.  Only pepper added.  It was time to take a break on poorly mixed spices.

Thank You Universe.

So I took a sick day yesterday.  Not because I was particularly sick.  More because I was angry at my job.  On Tuesday the h.s. music teacher approached me in the drama voice and said "you're teaching two classes here this year and they are guitar and piano if you want to start preparing."

Item number one- She's not the one qualified to inform me and I told her as much.
Item number two- She was somewhat but not entirely misinformed.
Item number three- If it is indeed the case then all of the time and energy spent on creating a music appreciation curriculum was essentially one and done.

I have been hanging on to the drama/anger of inappropriate sharing of information for two days.  Principals are principals because they know how and when to relate such information in such a way that it does not cause stress (At least mine are thankfully that way- and yes, I did tattle on her.)

I was less than my usual bubbly self upon returning today.  641 teaching days until I retire kind of mindset. Suffering from serious "who gives a rat's ass syndrome."  We started taking notes on early country music- listened to examples- looked at the google slides I made for notes-read along the separate lyrics documents for the ones that were hard to hear.

At one point Emily asked "Mrs. Terry, do you make all these slides?" I answered yes.  She said "wow, that's a lot of work."  I said "the hard part isn't so much what to put in them as what to leave out of them."  Then Quin piped up and said, "oh, yeah, we've really been talking up this class to Ms highschool teacher.  We told her how much you seem really excited about the material and all the work you put into it."

Rendered speechless.  When I woke up this morning I was certain that I would be carrying that load of disappointed all day. And then someone stepped up and helped without even knowing it.  Thanks Universe.

Rings on her fingers... you know the rest.

I’ve become refocused in the weight loss world.  I skipped some workouts and ate some food last week.  Just prior to that I had been seeing more progress than usual.  Perezagruzka as opposed to peregruzka.

I’ve found the trick to not being hungry and craving is to make sure the protein is good.  I found some protein cookies at walhell (16g/400cal) and have been filling in the "oh my, I’m starving" times with some protein shakes (12/200).  I also added some powdered protein to those delicious cake mix/pumpkin muffins which are always too moist anyway.  I know it’s effective because I made them Saturday and there are still some left.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been a milestone.  Most of my rings are too big all of a sudden.  Ones from way back are being used to make sure I don’t lose the engagement ring.  

Did I say last time that my new goofy friend needs a stocking for her granddaughter?  I happily volunteered.  Ordered yarn today.  She is not interested in Norwegian  patterns and instead wants some cutesy penguins but there’s no accounting for taste and I’m happy to oblige.  Also the gd's name is Nellie.

I got my eyes checked last week and new glasses are in the lab.  I always get the lightweight lenses and the anti-glare coating.  By agreeing to the light sensitive treatment I was able to get a second set of lenses for FREE and only had to pay for the frames.  I went for some sunglasses- which maybe I won’t really need with the light sensitive lenses but it seemed rational at the time. I spent $120 more on the 2nd frame but got a second pair AND saved $500!

Greathusbandbob begins a second week of respiratory troubles.  A touch of flu and all of this rain has made breathing so difficult.  It breaks my heart and all I can do is make sure he has food for dinner (which I will plan a little better if this goes on much longer.) he did get a chest X-ray today and there was no pneumonia so we'll just have to ride it out.

Finally on Thursday I will attend crisis team training.  I will be so happy to participate knowing that a little moderate exertion won’t wipe me out and send me to the showers.  We have to practice on each other and the tall former counselor (cute boy shhhh) had always been my sparring partner and will be there training as well. Yippee. I won’t be stinky sweaty old lady smell.

We've been talking about ballads in Music appreciation and started with Barbara Allen.  Today we listened to 8 different versions of John Henry.  We also examined the verses of the Great Titanic-ballads focusing on fatal disasters that happened here are called Native Ballads.  The irony of a happy melody (especially the chorus) combined with a horrible disaster was not lost on them.  

Tomorrow it’s the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (which made me so sad, sensitive child that I was) Then we'll talk about how to go about writing some lyrics (using a melody they already know which is what they used to do anyway.). But the reason I share this information here is because of the sub plans I’ve written for my absence on Thursday.  They have each been assigned. "Murder ballad" (which is a thing) to research.  Should be great fun. And will take care of me having to research them next year!

(Oh and maybe we'll have a flood day tomorrow and I’ll get to stay home.)

Phinally Phipps.

People find their tribe members.  I think I found another of mine.  It’s the kindergarten aide that everyone else thinks is goofy.  In the category of things, people, and ideas conversation centered around ideas.  Perhaps another friend to snag when wanting to see a show or a play.

Today we went to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.  

It looked as I imagined but the smells had not occurred to me.  There were mossy ferny smells that reminded me of being in the woods-somewhere I haven’t been in a long time.  And so the summer plan list begins.

I just like a busy brain, is that so wrong??

I’ve noticed a trend.  I like to learn some stuff.  I think about it for a good while, it becomes "a thing" and depending on how engaging I find it depends on how long I stay with it.

It all started with knitting.  And knitting continues.

Last spring and summer it was Spanish.  Come to find none of that made it to my long term memory.

I keep trying to force drawing and visual art making but so far it’s fleeting.

After summer vacation it became all about the Zumba and the food. I am still exercising three times a week and mostly not eating bad stuff. But  there are days when a protein cookie for breakfast, some quinoa and fresh vegetables for lunch, a protein shake for afternoon hunger and some light dinner (maybe a refried bean quesadilla) is acceptable.  I’m looking forward to the farmers market in the  summer and feel like I’ll know how to take advantage of it, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of thinking about food every breathing moment.  (Until I do again, of course.)

A good bit of my mental energy this year has been spent trying to keep high school music appreciation educational and interesting.  Just when I think there are no more ideas, one shows up.  Sometimes they like it, sometimes not but very little of it has felt like busy work.  (I finally broke down and gave a way too easy review sheet for those dingbats who have to take a final and don’t even try to do well-  getting them ready a little earlier this semester.)

Three summers ago I took a class sponsored by Smithsonian Folkways (it was that class that left me laughing about why dogs sniff each other’s butts- completely unrelated but still hilarious to me-it’s in a June archive somewhere). It’s really an online collection of folk music from around the world.  At the end of the week we had to write a lesson plan using the site.

Last week I assigned those kids five countries (which they had to show on a map) and they had to research the pop stars of that country.  It ended up being a pretty cool assignment.  I collected the names, YouTubed them, and they listened to (and informally) evaluated them while working on the next country.  Ethiopia has a pop star.  Mongolia has a favorite. I knew that was likely, but still.

My quarter of world music was curtailed due to the strike (thankfully so because I was struggling there) and it’s now time for American music beginning in the 1620's.  After some notes today we listened to the classic ballad Barbara Allen.  Here is tomorrow’s assignments: 

Go to this website

https://folkways.si.edu/search?query=Barbara+Allen

Listen to each 30 second sampling of Barbara Allen.  You don’t have to listen to duplicate performers (Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie) or ones that just say “various artists”

1. Write the name of the artist performing

2. Write down any changes in the lyrics (especially who, when and where) in the first verse.

3. List any additional instruments you hear. (or is it just voice?)

4. Describe what makes this version unique or anything else you notice    

     about it.

5. Rank it compared to the other versions you’ve heard.  

     4 is “this is the best one so far."  

     3 is “its not the best but I can tolerate it” 

     2 is “this makes me uncomfortable.” 

      1 is “ N.O. NO

By the time they finish they will notice how oral transmission affects folk songs and how a good song travels across time.  Also there are quite a few more modern versions of it on YouTube. (Simon and Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, EmmyLou Harris)

And that plan just bounced into my head while I was thinking about something else.

And the latest brain occupier has been two days of studying logic and logical reasoning.  Logic involves the logic games (Bill wear blue.  Tom wears green. Sue will only go out with someone wearing yellow on Fridays.  What is Martha wearing?). They made me crazy when I took the GRE.  They are a big part of the LSAT.  I love them.  Especially with strategies from Kaplan to solve them.  Last night I read and studied and got 2/5 on a practice test- really just guessing on some of them.  Tonight- same problem (too complicated to remember answers from last night.) I got 5/5 and could say exactly why it was right. So. Much. Fun.

I started the logical reasoning workbook at school during free time today.  An argument with premises and an analytical question to follow.  These are definitely more difficult for me what with all of the convoluted wording but I thought that about the games last night so there is hope.

I’ve been hanging out at the brain gas station saying “fill 'er up."

Logic games for $200 Alex

One of the LSAT prep books arrived today.  Greathusbandbob is under the weather so it was a great night to begin.  And when I came back from a pause, I found Liza had taken an interest.

Non sequiturs

This is an unknown internet dog but I saw it and believe it is all of truth and beauty.

I met a friend at Zumba.  We are at similar levels of fitness and had talked about moving to weights together in the summer.  Except then we friended on Facebook and she minimalized those kids.  And she shares fake Russian bot posts and likes the president. Every new friendship now requires a political litmus test because there are things I can not abide.

Today’s brush with stupid brain.... couldn’t think of the word minimalized.  Had to look up synonyms for diminished

When I turn 55 in three years I will have more than the required years to be eligible for full state retirement.  Yes.  I can retire in three years.  What the freakin' what?  I have a friend who's husband just finished law school after at least a 20 year career in local radio and sports broadcasting. When I found out I thought- wait- I want to do that.  If for no other reason than I love to go to school.  And then I could be a child advocate.  LSAT prep materials are in the mail.  It seems so much more interesting than subbing. (Or medical transcription which was my other idea before this one.)

And finally- I have a friend who recently ended a five year relationship after slowly coming to realize the incompatibility of her situation and I have a new app idea.  It’s called "meet my ex." Marcia leaves Greg.  Marcia wants to warn others about Greg’s batshit craziness.  She can’t use his name so under her name she includes necessary information.  Then all the new girlfriend to be has to do is learn the former girlfriends name.  There are still some kinks in it but I think it has potential (unless of course it’s already out there.)

There are no words

Those kids.  Those kids.  Those kids

Senator John Lewis marching with those kids as he has done so many times in the past.

In the same way a mere mention of Sandyhook brings tears to my eyes such is the case when these kids speak.

I know many members of the NRA.  But here is what I say.  There is an amendment that protects that which you feel you have a right to.  Why do you still insist on giving them money? It’s pretty hard to turn over an amendment I’m thinking.  Also.  I don’t assume that the people I know who are NRA members are racists.  I’d like to say mostly they're not. BUT. The NRA was founded as an offshoot of the KKK as a way to slide under the racist radar.  The very core of its mission began with that. Lynching having gone out of favor, let’s start a gun club.  Maybe people feel the need to be members for other reasons.  But know that it’s still the case.

I believe th NRA as an organization that manipulates legislation and pays for politicians is a treasonous terrorist group with just enough cover to trick naive citizens who happen to like to shoot guns for sport into believing that they need them.  Talk about collusion.