knitting!

Here's what I've been working on (when I can actually get some knitting done!) I finally decided to cast on for my wicked and things are going well! The first time around, I don't think I had enough experience. I'm ready for green gable next! ;) Especially now that I can crochet a bit!
And here's my fifth attempt at a chevron scarf. I think this one will stick. :) I'm itching to get started on some socks too!

blog?? what's that??

It seems as though I have forgotten what it feels like to blog. I apologize for the lack of blogs the last few months. It seems as though my job has taken over my life!! School is nearly over (we have only 8.5 more days of school left. Oh my word. How is it possible that we only have that many days left??? I'm still in the midst of progress report writing. We have Open House next Thursday, Parent/Teacher Conferences the following week, and then school is over. But I still have to come back for our week-long 'in-service' the last week of this month. I owe many a picture so bear with this highly picture heavy post! Here's a shot of all my flowers I received for my birthday. The big one on the left is from my fiance. The one on the right (in the back) is from my sister. The orchids are from two moms in my class. They're still alive. Though I don't know for how much longer! Here's a close-up of one of the sides of my gigantic floral arrangement from my fiance--which he hand delivered to school during my birthday celebration with the kids and the moms who were in attendance were very impressed with him. :) Here are my seedlings that have since hatched. I gave my mom some of my tomatoes and my basil. We are still in need of pots for the rest of them though. We'll see how my summer of tomatoes goes! We've got both cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes--both are my absolute favorite! I'm regretting that I didn't pick up any squash seedlings because I've become a squash eater..zucchini/spaghetti squash, etc. It's scary!
And here are some wedding shots..here's my niece on the way to her parents' wedding. And here she is asleep on the way to her parents' wedding right before we arrived. :(Poor dear. I had to wake her up. :( She was stuck to us like glue during the ceremony. I got to be one of the witnesses at the wedding. Who knew that meant that I'd get to stand up at the ceremony (at least, I didn't know!)Here's my sister, our sil, our niece, my brother, and me after the ceremony.
Now for the par-tay! Here's the lil monkey having some sparkling cider.
Another sip...
Hmm...this is yummy. I can drink this by myself!
chug, chug, chug!
ahhh, satisfaction!

In some knitting news, I received my ISE6 scarf from the lovely Jackie. She is quite the talent. Knitter. BookMaker. Cardmaker. Artiste Extraodinaire if you ask me! She made the card and the gorgeous book below it. She even provided me with some patchwork squares which I can use for my own cardmaking! Talk about genius. :) Oh, she sent me some lovely knitting needles too!
And the scarf. I absolutely adore it. It smells good too! ;) It's a light gray because I don't have any gray scarves and the design is amazing. I wore it last weekend for my sister's graduation ceremony for completing her Paralegal Certificate.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of me with it on..hopefully soon though. There's been some yarn arriving here as well but I've bombarded you all with enough pictures for now! I've started a couple of new things and I've completed one thing which I'm not happy with at all. But I'll save that for another day.
I'll leave you with this though--I was out sick most of last week with laryngitis and didn't get my voice back until this past Sunday. Even now, my voice isn't 100%. Can we say overworked??? I need to do more knitting!!! :)

SP 12 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love fingering weight yarn. Though if I had to select a worsted weight yarn, it would be either cascade 220 or artyarns supermerino. I love a soft squooshy yarn. I am particularly fond of merino wool blends though not a fan of tencel. I do not like alpaca or alpaca blends, novelty yarns. 2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have a needle case for my dpns. my straights are in a drawer caddy thingy. My circs are in a hanging organizer-somewhat like a shoe holder but smaller. 3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I have been knitting since 2004. A friend of mine taught me the basics (after having been taught by two others--obviously not so well!). I would say I was intermediate. 4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I have an . 5. What's your favorite scent? I like the scent of grapefruit, ginger, fresh washed linen, strawberries, cinnamon, etc. I do not like vanilla or lavender. 6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Yes indeedy. I adore dark chocolate-particularly with nuts (almonds!). I love, love, love reese's peanut butter cups (especially the big cups!). I love orbit gum too. I try all the new exotic flavors. 7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I make cards and stitchmarkers. I garden a bit. I do not spin. 8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like alternative/indie music. Classic rock is also a favorite. 9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? My staples are green and blue. Though I do also love dark pinks/oranges/yellows/reds/browns/grays. 10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with my fiance. No pets. 11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I wear scarves (even in the summer!!), hats, and fingerless mitts. No ponchos. 12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? My favorite items to knit are socks, lace, hats, fingerless mitts, and baby stuff. 13. What are you knitting right now? I am currently working on wicked and my umpteenth attempt at a chevron scarf!! 14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? I love them! 15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? It depends on the project. I use both. Hmm...I prefer bamboo but I do love my pony pearl needles..I need more of them!! 16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes to both. 17. How old is your oldest UFO? Too freakin' old. I just might need to frog it soon it's so old. 18. What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's Day 19. Is there anything that you collect? I used to collect yarn but have scaled back a bit (if that's possible!!). Now I collect knitting project bags. I like the handmade ones that are sold for small projects. I need to start collecting medium sized ones for my bigger projects! 20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Norah Gaugan Vol. 1 and 2. Wollmeise. Lisa Souza. Flat Feet. Lorna's Laces. Addi Turbos. I subscribe to Knit1 and Interweave. 21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Knitting socks on two circs. 22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I am. I wear a size 6.5-7 shoe. Circumference of my foot is about 8.5 inches. Length is 7 inches. 23. When is your birthday? May 5 24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? Yes, indeedy. It is Ggirl.

eve before my birthday

I don't know how my impending birthday crept up on me ever so quickly! It goes to show that school has definitely taken over my life. I keep thinking that my life will slow down and it starts to but then some school event occurs and sets me back. This week, we have Isabel Allende coming and at the end of the week is the Mother's Day Tea in my class-which I'm organizing on my very own. I'm hoping to come out of this week alive. lol. I just want it to be perfect. Is that wrong?? I'm feeling like this is my reputation on the line. My new partner for next year just confirmed that she is on board. She is coming from NYC--with thirty freakin' years of teaching experience under her belt! We'll see how things go. She was very nice when we met.
The parents in my class are currently in a frenzy-with my birthday being tomorrow. One of the parents said that they all want my fiance's number so they can pick his brain about what to get me. I had to create a list for him. lol. They already started calling him. He was in the middle of a meeting with a client (yes on a Sunday!) and he received a couple of calls already from numbers he didn't recognize. Poor guy. They weren't this worried with my coworkers gift! (And if they were, they surely didn't show it!).

Here is the gorgeous quilt that I received from the auction last week. The quilt is made of the illustrations of the children's costumes from Masquerade as well as pieces of fabric from their costumes. I will always remember my first class and my first year at my school.
There's been knitting. Just no pictures. I finally restarted my wicked and it's coming along! :o

mi vida loca

Has it really been 18 freakin' days since my last post??? Ugh. My apologies to the few readers I have left. I'm still here. I've been thinking about you all and have all your blog posts that I'm behind on saved in my bloglines. I think my life will start to slow down (at least a little bit!!!) after May 9th. Little did I know how much more work it would be to not have my old partner around. I'm not complaining but I haven't time for much else. I've got work on the brain. It isn't stress per se but it's mostly making sure that every detail (nearly) is considered. Let's see, in the last 18 days, I have...been working on this "Children Around the World" unit we're doing in class, baked some mini-apple pies with my class, been emailing with parents like mad, attended the birthday party of a mom from my class, found out I'm going to have a sister-in-law soon!!!!!!!!!! stopped ordering yarn for myself (for a bit), attended my school auction at some fancy country club, completed my ISE6 scarf, frogged some socks, traveled to Tijuana, Mexico for the first time ever and I have been working on organizing both our Mother's Day Tea Party and trying to get Mother's Day gifts together for next week. Oh yeah, and this Wednesday our class has their school play, "The Little Red Hen." Am I busy much? :P Since I've been working so hard on getting my scarf completed (and let me tell you, it wasn't easy at all especially since I had a hard time concentrating on it!) that I haven't really touched anything else. I put it aside on Wednesday, binded off yesterday and was finally able to start a new project late last night! Oh, no pictures for this post because my camera is in my fiance's car still! Umm...the birthday party was fun and very shi-shi. They had valet service!! I'm so not used to that. We had fun though. My sister called me and said our brother was going to marry his gf on Earth Day (plans fell through though and the new date is May 17 or 18!!!!). He called me while I was on the phone with her. Sigh..who knows if that's still going to happen. The auction was another shi-shi event at a fancy country club. One set of parents gifted me with the class quilt. They spent a ton of money on it. I'm afraid to say how much. Let's just say over $2000. I didn't know they were going to do that. A little birdie let them know that I would love to have it. So it's true what they say, "Be careful what you wish for." And Mexico?? Totally unexpected. Boy was it hot there. I don't know if I'll be making a return trip there anytime soon.

is it friday yet??

My first week back at work is slowly coming to an end. I have to tell you-it's been a long week. I think by the end of next week, things will be 'normal' or @ least as normal as it can get. Things are slowly falling into place and the kids are slowly getting used to the new teachers. We had a chat (just the childen and I) this morning and they expressed that it has been a bit difficult to get used to new teachers but I said to them that I know they will try their best to show their best behavior. For a moment, they were themselves again and I miss them. Plus I'm getting overly loved (if that's possible) and am getting bombarded with hugs every which way I move. Sigh. I need a break.
Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? This year, marks the first year where people can celebrate National Poetry Month by having a "Poem in your Pocket" on April 17th. My school will be celebrating this tomorrow. It's going to be so cute. Everyone is supposed to arrive at school with a poem in their pocket. I can't wait to hear other people's poems! We are doing ours early because next week we will be celebrating Earth Day at our weekly whole school assembly.
I received my fcs3 package today from Donia! I already thanked her on the fcs3 blog, but I am going to thank her again here. Thanks, Donia!!!!!!!!!!! Here's what was in my package:She sent me a slow cooker cookbook (which I still have to look through), some delicious chocolate from a local chocolate shop where she lives, a book clip/stand (to help prevent me from losing my place while I'm knitting), a cute notepad, some yummy sour patch watermelon candy, a pair of really cool socks (How'd you know striped socks were my favorite???), a very sweet handmade card, my very own handmade dishcloth, and some Elizabeth Austen Andes yarn!
Earlier this week, I also received my last and final installment of the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special club:A sock pattern accompanied the yarn and the cool bag but I didn't have a chance to take a pic of it.
Ack, I just realized I didn't fill you all in on the aquarium or my stop at alamitos bay yarn company last week. My fiance loved the aquarium. As for Alamitos, we walked out of there without one ounce of yarn. Though I did have to purchase this. My fiance saw one and said he wanted some. Thank goodness summer is nearly here because it'll be a while before I have to knit these up. Thankfully, so many of you have already knit these up that I can look to you all for some advice. :) I haven't bought any yarn in a week! (that's huge for me!). Part of it is over the weekend, I had to splurge on a set of new tires for my car. While we were getting new tires, I also got an oil change as well as an alignment. Talk about burning a hole in my pocket. There went all of my state tax refund plus a bit of my federal refund. Thank goodness I get paid next week. Oh, and I got my first check from the tutoring I started!
There's been some knitting. I've been working a bit here and there every night on my ise6 scarf. That's my main focus. I'm on the fence with continuing my vintage rose socks as I'm not so happy after all with how the pattern is turning out. Ugh. Pictures soon for some advice!

exhausted

I had started a post last night about my exhausted Sunday but I didn't finish it. I'm exhausted still so the title remains. We had our longest and toughest hike yet today. Good lord. I started sweating and I had children grabbing on my clothes to help hold themselves up!!! It was our steepest hike. Downhill is always good though. I think it's the best part of our hikes. Today especially as some of us were running down parts of the hill (some example I am!!). My legs are dead tired. I told the parents that their kids would be out like lights tonight! I just might be out like a light as well. Sheesh.
As far as how the first day back went, other than it being short, it was okay. They've regressed which is expected particularly since they have a new teacher whose limits they need to test.
I received my April Art Walk Sock Club Yarn and it's amazing. If you aren't already aware of the artiste behind Zen Yarn Garden, you have to try ou the Art Walk sock Club. I know, I keep saying it but I'm serious!! I present to you, "Flora on Sand" based on the Paul Klee painting of the same name.
I haven't a clue what to knit with it. For now, I just want to admire it for a bit. Roxanne, you did a phenomenal job and I can't wait to find out what May's inspiration might be! Okay, must reheat dinner or something and then hop in the shower!