Snakes 4; Humans 5

So far, there's still more of us than them around here, and we've become very careful walkers. Hanging out the laundry has more suspense than an Indiana Jones movie. Like morel mushrooms, I can't seem to see the snakes, even if I'm standing with my toe touching one. Luckily, my youngest has the eye, so she gets lots of trips out to the clothesline with me. The other day, I was carrying her into the house, and she was crying because she didn't want to come inside. And then she said, "Sn... sn... snake," through her sniffles. "Show me," says I, thinking it was a distraction technique. And she pointed to the woodpile I just walked by and, sure enough, clear as day, a big old snake with bands around his tail and an aggressive attitude. Honestly, if he had been poisonous instead of just a great actor, I'd probably be writing this from a bed with a call button.

But living in the country has its fantastic perks, which I am especially feeling right now. I can't wait to put the garden in, and we're putting in more veggies than ever. There are little seedings all over the house. I hope I locate a camera (I mean, I only have three) some time before I plant them, so I can show pictures. The trick is going to be finding time to take care of the garden, while also working nights this summer. I'm thinking that we'll incorporate gardening into the kids' daily schedule. They can pretend they're farmers growing their own winter sustenance. Oh, wait... Well, I'll call it "pretending," anyway. I have noticed that things are not as much fun for kids if they're true. Hence, my husband and I suppressing smiles whenever they say, "Hey, let's pretend we're poor and have to clean all the time!" Bless Cinderella and her glorification of housework...

Quasi-nature lover here

Could it be? Is it really spring? I'm so excited! Of course, if I use the clothesline, it will probably snow... I did finish a very respectable hat recently, just in time for the warm weather =) Into the gift closet that one goes!

Hi, y'all. Things are pretty much the same here. I actually have more time for myself, since drama club is finished. I've been baking bread almost every day, vacuuming when the floor is dirty, checking kids' homework before it's actually due. Yikes! I'm starting to see how lovely my days could go if I'd quit filling them up! I did find a cool musician to share with you all. His name is Jonathon Coulton, and I can't seem to link to the one song I wanted to share, so I'll link his page. If you get a chance, listen to Code Monkey and Re Your Brains. They're so funny, and we sing them all the time around the house now.

We've got nature abounding around the house outside. I've spied two owls when I come home at 4:00 in the morning. I keep interrupting their hunting, but I kind of like the bats, so I'm divided on that one. Guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and let them figure it out. (Yeah, I know. That's what people always do) We've also had an abundance of snakes around the house, messing up our outdoor playing time. We've seen exactly two snakes, to be fair, but that's an abundance to me. I'll go with one snake to help keep the mice down, but two snakes makes me think there aren't going to be enough mice (what with the owls and such), and the snakes are going to get the idea of moving inside the house. Lots of tasty snacks in here! *shudders*

I start teaching sign language today to 2nd and 3rd graders, as an after-school enrichment program. Arleta teaches knitting, that cool girl. She tried to switch to bracelet making or something, just to change things up, but there was too much demand for knitting. We had such a positive response with the spinning class we taught to the 3rd graders, I think we could do an after-school enrichment class on that some time. There are a bunch of 9-year-olds wandering around with CD spindles and bags of wool at the school. It is a wonderful sight to see!

Teaching Spinning

Tomorrow, Arleta, Melanie and I are teaching spinning to two classes of third graders. They've made their CD spindles and are ready for the wool! We did this last year, and this year we were asked to come up with an introduction about spinning, with the Navaho indians featured in particular. So I've spent the evening reviewing and learning about the history of spinning, when it started, how it came along with people adding better and better ideas. This is the sort of thing I love to read about now. Save your bodice-rippers and mysteries, give me something with wool =) And I always thought that Navajo spinning was more difficult than using a drop spindle, but I think that I get it now, how they work it with running the spindle down their leg for the twist. I'll have to try it some time.

I'll take lots of pictures and let you know how it goes! At any rate, I'm sure that I'll be having a fun time. Working with kids seems to be the direction my life is going in now, what with the drama club, after-school sign language classes and whatnot. I love recognizing that I'm in a good place in my life, with good friends around me. At any rate, pictures and a bunch of spinning coming soon!

An End To The Drama

Ah, another glorious ending to a year of drama. Well, drama club, anyway. And it wasn't quite a year, but there's really no good way to gauge time when dealing with 18 preteens. The giddiness, the histrionics, the teasing - oh, and a lot of fun, too. I would say that, in the end, the kids had a great year. They don't have any idea of how much work goes on when they're not in class, but they certainly worked hard on their parts, and it really paid off. Our play was about many fairy tales mixed together, and we had a great time teaching the kids about comedy. In fact, one of our best practices was reading them "Who's on First?" Most of them had never heard the skit before, and they laughed through the whole thing.

Here's some pics from our big night. The first one is of the whole crew taking their bows, with an attempt at the wave, it looks like.


Then this one is of my husband and I, accepting our thank yous. I'm always surprised when the kids do that, because it isn't anything that we rehearse. Then they get together and do something sweet like writing us a thank you and reading it to the school, and you just gotta be happy that you spent the year running around, trying to get them to pay attention. Heh heh. I had little to no luck there, actually, but they put on a great play, anyway.


And now it's back to our life before drama (as in, back to the knitting!). I've cut down on the hours at work, so that I can do other important things, like pay bills and wash the laundry. I can't tell you how excited I am about getting back to the mundane things that keep a house going. It's been pretty haphazard here, and the only people that are allowed to come over have to really not care that they're stepping over dogs or sitting next to a pincushion. Remind me to say no to the next couple of opportunities that come my way. I'm looking forward to a little down time.

So Many Pretty Things

I've been in knitting limbo for months! Working nights, trying to make dinner at least twice a week... these are the challenges I'm striving to meet. So knitting has taken a back seat. I'm working on a pretty purse for my mom, which I gave her on the needles at Christmas, poor woman. (I'm on the straps. Getting there) And I lost the purse for two days, so I couldn't work on it while my kids have been sick. (Cobbler rule #46: No coughing on mom) Today I decided to tackle the pile of clean laundry waiting to be folded, and boy do I wish I'd taken a picture. Because there, at the bottom, where the socks hang out, was the purse. Yay! Now that I've located both the purse and the pattern, I can get back to it.

But the point I was trying to write about was, as I was folding the laundry, I got to look at sweaters, and hand-sewn towels, and dishcloths, and I got to missing making pretty things. I want to cast on everything at once, and I can't do any of it. There are costumes to be sewn for drama club, the purse to finish, and a pair of slippers as a Christmas gift that I'm only halfway finished with. And I miss my spinning, which has been catching my eye every time I walk by it on the bookshelf. While looking for a box of clothes the other day, I happened upon an entire box of roving just waiting to be handled. Yikes! I have a sweater that I started for myself last fall, and socks that I wanted to give my daughter for the holiday. (Cobbler rule #47: Don't knit socks with the purls on the outside. Who likes to purl that much??)

But as I ease back into blogland, I'm enjoying looking at your pretty things, and getting back into Ravelry to look around at what's out there. Why, oh why, won't people pay us to knit?

A Little Update

Things sure have been quiet here at my computer. That is totally my fault, since I've been avoiding it like a bad conscience. Has anyone else taken a break from blogland, and the longer you go, the harder it gets to log on? I don't even know if there are any important e-mails in my computer. But I'll make an effort here and hope that this will get me over the hurdle.

What has happened in the last few months? Hmm. The economy sucketh, and my husband lost his job. Rats. While that was going on, I really didn't have much to say, I'm sorry to report. Strange how lives can shift so quickly. But he found another job he likes really well, and the people are great. I took a job at a bakery, which is fun, but the hours are icky. I start at 8:00 at night and work until 4:00 in the morning. What with sleeping and pretending to do housework in the afternoon, I also didn't log on to the computer. My working has been hard on the kids, but I know they'll adjust. The only really bad thing I've noticed is that the youngest is getting bratty, because her sisters are always trying to make her happy so I can sleep. That's a negative. But things shall look up! Because we're a strong family, surrounded by good people, and luckier than many. I can still go to the kids' school functions, though sometimes I forget to brush my hair, and there are lots of dinners that come pre-packaged (who knew?) and that's a bonus to maintaining the facade of normal dinners. And I get to make donuts, for goodness' sake. That's a really fun job, people. Seriously. I likes it. My husband says paying me to bake is like paying Norm to taste-test beer. Heehee.

And there. I feel better already =). I'm was going to leave you with a blog entry my oldest wrote about Thanksgiving. She's trying to be my guest writer, while I'm busy ignoring the blog and most of the knitting, though I do have a nifty purse in the works and some thrummed mittens that have stalled at the cuffs. Sadly, I can't find her entry, but it was really cute. I'd give an overview of it, but I don't want to detract from her first public writing attempt. I'll see if she'll help me find it later on today. Happy New Year to you all! It's going to be a great one =)