CarpeAcum

Another lazy day. The Beard has been working on the war zone that is our back yard--I should have taken before pictures. Every inch was covered by pine branches. Some of the branches are 4-6" in diameter. He worked all day and got down to the ground in a couple places. Yuck.

While he worked outside, I cleaned inside--it seemed like a fair trade to me! I also, you know, did dishes and laundry.

I started thinking about what I want to be sewing, and what I *am* sewing, and how they bear no relation to each other. I have been in my sewing room every day in 2012, which was one of my goals (yay, me!). However, instead of finishing a tote bag that is a Christmas present, or a jacket that I could actually be wearing, I've been working on a succession of crafty and quilty projects that aren't really on the top of me "let's get this done" list. It's partly because the time I'm spending in the sewing room is brief and kind of forced. The quilt squares thing is because I want that laundry basket *out* of the sewing room and back into laundry circulation!

So today, I cut out a couple of night shirts. I need to replace some of mine that have become holey, and it's a quick and easy way to make a non-stress garment. I have no worries when it comes to nighties .

I still plan to figure out how to get pictures to post. This is my weekend goal.

Punkin stayed the night last night at a friend's house. She and this girl met when they were 3 and in the same class in preschool. They have since moved about 30 minutes away, and she goes to a different HS. We went to pick her up, and had a lovely dinner with all. It was fun to catch up with the parents, and the girls had a wonderful time doing high school girly things. And also Skyrim--they both love Skyrim.

Today was a day that just got away from me. I hate it when days are broken up into 1 hour chunks--I never seem to have time to get anything started.

Punkin is off to play Skyrim overnight at a friend's house (!), and The Beard and I had a lovely dinner at Red Robin, sitting on high stools in the bar. The dining room was really crowded, and since it was just the two of us, we could sit with the grown ups. Then we watched Persuasion and had some time to just talk.

I cut out a few more flannel squares. It seems to be a never-ending project, but I *can* see the bottom of the basket!

I subbed for the choir teacher again today. It went much better than yesterday, but I am pooped. The last class of the day has 65 students and they're all full of energy. While I'm in class, it's an energy boost, but as soon as class is over, I'm trashed. I don't remember being like that when I was younger, except when I was pregnant.

After school, Punkin had piano and then dance, and during her dance class, I passed out in the car. I kept waking myself up with a snort, or with my head falling over .

Last night and tonight, I made catnip toys for the cats. I cut some circles from colorful fabric with my Sizzix cutter, then I put a pinch of catnip in the middle and sew a triple stitch all around. Quick and easy, and the cats *really* like it. Jake in particular, rolls around and noses it and drools on it. He also likes to steal everybody else's toy. Typical male .

Today went exactly as advertised yesterday, with the exception of dinner. By the time I got around to making dinner, I only had time for sandwiches. But it was dinner, and all were satisfied.

I had a couple hours this morning to do some laundry and household business--that always makes me feel accomplished. Then it was run run run all day until about 9:20 tonight.

No school on Friday, so I vow to figure out picture posting by Sunday--that will give me 3 days. Surely I can figure it out by then?

Teri asked in the comments (almost two weeks ago? Has it seriously been that long?!?) if the students ask me about my knitting when I'm subbing. They often do. I made Punkin a hat (at her request--she selected the yarn and approved the pattern and loves the result). I worked on it at school, and was subbing in the Spanish classroom one day. I finished the hat during our snow days last week, and Punkin wore it to school on Monday. One girl in her class remarked how cute it was, and Punkin told her that her mom had made it. "Oh, yeah," piped up another girl. "She was working on that during Spanish last week." They notice more than I think. Punkin said that a discussion ensued regarding my speed in knitting. I'm actually quite a slow knitter, but when you can get in 2-3 hours of solid knitting a day, it looks like it goes fast. I like to knit when I'm the substitute teacher because I can watch what's going on in the classroom. If I'm reading, I'm oblivious to the world, but with knitting, I can glance down when I need to and keep an eye on the little darlings. Also, when I have to watch the same movie 2-5 times in the same day, it makes the watching a little easier. Knitting is perfect on those days, because if I start reading or surfing the web, the kids figure they don't have to watch, either.

The choir teacher called me in the middle of piano lessons to ask me to sub for him tomorrow, so I'm putting in a full day at school tomorrow. At least tomorrow isn't a day full of lessons, too. Tomorrow is chauffeur day (chauffeuse?) after school. I still need to go put in some sewing time, so I'm off to do that before it's time to turn in. Also another load of laundry ;-)

I actually did do some little bit of sewing-related sorting last night. I'm pretty proud of myself. I have turned a full laundry basket and a square cube into just a square cube and a bunch of flannel squares. I cut them 6.5" and 9.5" and I have a LOT. It's all leftovers from flannel pants I've made, and I think they'll make great receiving blankets, or even a quilt. Right now, I'm just trying to get away from the "crammed in a laundry basket" stage.

I had a pretty productive day today. I got to the store, I made pot roast in the crockpot (The Beard even remarked on how easy the cleanup was!), and I got some more squares and sorting done. Also, you know, laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc. Is that *ever* done?

Tomorrow, I am teaching a half day--guitar and choir! Yay! And it's the last half of the day, so I don't have to be there at 6:50. It's a more sane 10:30. Then, after school, I have 5 lessons, but then the evening off. And leftover pot roast for dinner--easy!

I had a terrible day today. I had such plans! But I had a rotten night, so I slept in to make up for it, then I felt terrible when I got up, and by the time I got dressed and stuff, it was time to go to the dentist (I don't hate the dentist, but it is a 30 minute drive there, and another one on the way back--just time consuming [he's the son of the dentist that I started seeing in 1970, so it's worth the drive to me]). So I got teriyaki on the way home, and soothed my stomache and my nerves with food. I haven't gotten into the sewing room yet, and today may be the first day this year (!) that I haven't. I might still go putter around.

Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it!

Pictures. Argh.

I tried uploading photos, and typepad is just not letting me. I selected the photo, told it to upload the "medium" size, and walked away. I did dishes, made the bed, worked on the living room, and when I came back (at least 10 minutes--the monitor had gone to sleep) the dialog box was still open. I keep trying to do this late at night. I need to go to bed, because there actually *is* school tomorrow (unlike the past week, when it was cancelled for 3 days because of apocalyptic snow/ice storms/power outages). Maybe I'll get up with Punkin in the morning and try then.

Stop laughing. It could happen.

Man, it's been the storm of the decade. The last time we had this much snow and ice was when I was pregnant with Punkin, and it was between Christmas and New Year's. This time around, we missed 3 days of school (and work for The Beard). We all have a bit of cabin fever, and Monday morning wake up call is going to hit us all very hard. Something about being stuck inside in the snow makes up go to bed late, and get up later. Although we did not lose power (lots of people did), we did lose the internet for THREE DAYS. Withdrawal symptoms for me. Yike.
I did get quite a bit of sewing/knitting stuff done. I finished up and felted two piano bags and a pair of fuzzy feet. I may have blogged about that, but I'm pretty happy about it. The fuzzy feet are at least 2 years old, and I think they were just waiting for me to graft the toes and felt them. I have them on right now, and I'm upset that I waited so long to finish them. I love having toasty toes.
I also pulled out the cutting table and started cutting flannel leftovers into 9.5" and 6.5" squares--one of those jobs that has been sitting around in the sewing room waiting for inspiration. Having them cut into squares means they are one step closer to becoming blankets. I have lots of really cute flannel scraps from making a bazillion pairs of flannel pants--too cute to toss, but too small to do anything with. Now I have squares. I'll keep you posted.
I also found a couple of flannel non-scraps and I'm making myself some new nighties. I'm tired of threadbare, so worn they're almost not warm anymore nightgowns. I have the fabric; I just need to invest a couple hours, and I'll have a whole new nightgown wardrobe.
Now that the internet is back on, I may not have the motivation I need to finish them.
We lost a dogwood tree in the front yard. There were two of them. The snow built up on the branches, then melted and turned to ice, then more snow fell and it was all too heavy for our little tree. It was at least 18 years old--no spring chicken! Lots of branches fell off the Doug firs as well. We had the same thing happen 14 years ago, only one fell pointy side down into our roof. This time, they all fell into the back yard, but one really big one slid down Punkin's window. . .at 7:30 on a school-cancelled morning. Scared her to death, and us, too. We heard the 'thump' as it hit the ground and made the house shudder.
The cats spent the better part of 2 days under the bed, all hostilities postponed. One can wait to be hostile until there aren't scary thumping noises at irregular intervals.
I still haven't figured out how to post pictures. I think I just need to resize them so they upload in a shorter time. But I would have to have the internet to try that out. Later.

It's late. Still snow. No internet. Sewed. Pics later. When the internet is back.

Today was a snow day! Not much got done, but I did sit down with some hot chocolate and finished some knitting projects that have been needing doing. I finished Punkin's white hat, grafted the toes on a pair of Fuzzy Feet, and grafted the toe on my boot sock--the one that's done. Now I can use the needles to start the second one. The first one was so toasty that I was immediately sad that the second one wasn't ready to wear on this cold, snowy day.

I also did 3 loads of dishes, a load of laundry, felted a couple things, cleaned up, and had a lovely nap. And some reading (even though I'm still not enjoying The Secret of Lost Things, and I'm halfway through. When do I give up? It's probably easier at this point to just finish and promise myself something really fun next).