Wonders Never Cease

That's one of my favorite quotes.  The first, but not most important, wonder is that I'm posting (holy cow)!  I know you thought you were rid of me, but I've returned from real life to blogland.  I've been hanging around here and there when I have time, commenting on a few blogs, but until today, I haven't felt the urge to get back to writing with the community.  My excuse?  I don't have one.  Life here is busy, just as it is for all of you.  Maybe the urge just wasn't strong enough to drag me back.

The next wonder, which is far more fascinating, is a new grandson.  Blake Michael introduced himself at 4:27 pm on August 18.  He's another little precious for this grandma to spoil rotten, and I'm getting started right away.

Below is big brother Keagan (today's wonder #3) pictured with his mom a couple of months ago (a while back as toddlers go, but it's one of my favorites).  He's now a big 17-month-old wild child, as he should be.  Since Blake came home to join him, he's been the sweetest big brother anyone could ask for.  Contrary to what you might be thinking, Nikki does know where babies come from.  We're not the type of family to shy away from a gift.  Considering that Nikki spends her days (and nights) with a newborn and a toddler, she's very cool, calm and collected.  Their dad works long hours and comes home ready to hold whoever needs it. 

So, yeah, life's busy.  I've been back to school for three weeks, so there's much less time to spend with Keags and Blake than I'd like.  That lottery win still hasn't materialized!

It's been so long since I've posted that I don't know where to start on the stitching and knitting front.  I thought about starting with what I'm working on now, but I've been very lazy about taking pictures of the few (remember ... I'm the world's slowest stitcher) things I've done.  So I'll leave you with a pic of Keagan's stocking, completed in November 2010.  It's a Shepherd's Bush, of course, to match the others.  This one is Brett's Stocking.

I'll give you a few more looks in my next post.  Hopefully it'll be less than a year away!  Make some fun.

Places Being Seen, Things Being Done

Thank you for all of your kind and welcoming comments!  Returning to blogging after a long absence is kind of like going back to school after having been sick for several days.  It's scary in some weird way.  I appreciate your help in coming back.

How about some pictures of what I've been doing?  Below is The Yellow House Sampler from Sheepish Designs.  I love working on it and looking at it when I'm not working on it.

The fabric is 40-count Iced Cappuccino ... the lightest IC I've ever seen, in fact, and I'm using one DMC thread over two.  It's been such a long time since I've worked with regular old DMC that I'd forgotten how much I like it.  A little voice in my head is telling me to dunk it in come coffee when I finish.  We'll see.

Below is the new pair of socks I'm working on.  As you can see, hopefully, the second sock isn't gonna match up exactly with the first.  I know the idea is to make them look the same, but I couldn't help myself.  I wanted to see how it turns out.

I love the colors so far, but they aren't for me.  They're for a special birthday gift in September.  Someone gave me a pattern for toe-up socks, but it'll take me a little time on the internet to figure out how to start them.  The pattern makes beginning sound extremely complicated, so I'll be searching for a video (the internet is a wonderful thing) to help me.

I've been gone for several days.  We decided to take a little trip to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore (I love it there) again and play some golf.  We had some very exciting weather, so there wasn't much golf, but it was a great getaway.

Earlier this month we took a trip to Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon.  Even though I've lived out west all my life, I'd never been to either place.  Finally, I've seen what "awesome" means.  The Grand Canyon is incredible.  You've seen a million pictures of it, I know, so I won't bore you with mine.  We took two days to visit the South and North Rims, and the drive between is worth your time.  On the way to the North Rim, you can stop at Navajo Bridge, which is 700 feet above the Colorado River.  Here are some rafters who waved and told us to jump (I'm sure they meant it in the nicest way).

First you see them close-up, and now here's a view as we saw them from the bridge.  Pretty cool, huh?  I'm pretty sure I need a raft ride.

  Mesa Verde was also amazing.  I loved it there, so I'm forcing you to look at one picture.

Thinking of how long these dwellings have been there makes looking at them even better.  We got to climb down into a kiva with the other kids (really, there were one or two other adults).  On our way home, we went on a crazy road called the Moki Dugway, which was a blast.  The pictures taken by other people are much better than mine, and you'll get a great idea of what it was like if you click on the link.  If you're ever in that area, do it!

I think that's about it for now.  I have one more full week and a day of summer vacation (gasp! sob!!), which has been reduced by almost three full days because of meetings (yawn) that my new principal and the big bosses think I need to attend.  Meetings aren't my thing, and I'll be doing my best to learn something, but I'll take my knitting just in case my brain needs some help.  I'm naughty, huh?  Make some fun.

Where, Oh, Where ...

... have I been for almost four months?  Well, life took me by the hand, sat me down and said, "Get organized."  So I did.  Chaos of work and real life was making me a crazy person, so I worked on changing a few things.

Regarding work, after making some big changes to our school, our principal resigned to return to a high school classroom.  Interesting, huh?  Then, because he and the IB program left (short version of a long story), the woman who got my job left.  With some help from a few supporters at my school and at the administrative level, I got my job back!  I know!  How exciting!  So, instead of being in a first grade classroom, I'll continue to work with kindergarten through second grade during mornings, and I'll be coaching (yes, you're reading it correctly) other teachers in the afternoons.  I'm not certain I'm mature enough to handle the afternoon part of my job, but other people think I am (golly, they've been fooled), so I'll do my best.  We have a new principal who seems to be level-headed and has a plan, so we'll see what happens next.  I'm hesitantly optimistic about school, which is such a change for me!

During our summer vacation, I've been spending loads of time with this little cutie.

Hasn't he become a tub?  Mother's milk has made Keagan a very big boy.  He'll be four months old tomorrow and he's weighing in at over 14 pounds.  All he wants to do is eat.  That's his job until crawling begins ... if he can lift himself.  Right now he's working on sitting up by himself.  Other than feeling like a milk truck, Nikki is doing well.  Her husband, Grady, has taken a better-paying job so she can stay home with Keags.  I can't get enough of his smiles and giggles.

On the therapeutic activities front, I finally finished stitching Sarah Esh, so here's her not-so-great picture.  How sad that my photography skills haven't improved during my absence.  Oh well.  She's not framed yet, but she's ready to join other A&E samplers when I get something else stitched.  Right now, thanks to a bloggy friend (you know who you are and I love you even though I've neglected you), I'm working on The Yellow House Sampler by Sheepish Designs.

A skill I have acquired while absent is sock knitting.  I know!  I knit socks!  Looky here ...

Shocking, isn't it?  Or should I say socking?  That's my first pair of socks, and I'm at work on a second pair.  In fact, the first sock is finished and I've started the second.  I'll show you a picture in another post.  This summer I've learned that knitting is much easier to manage than stitching is while traveling.  Well, for me it is.  So there's been more knitting than stitching going on.  I've also completed a felted bag for a friend in Maine and a felted bowl.  Wanna see?

As you can see, I haven't lost my obsession for felting.  Hey, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars.  Sorry to say, I'm just as slow at knitting as I am at stitching!

So much has happened since I've spent more than a few moments in blogland.  Poor Merlin, my old man cat, had to be put down a day after my last post.  All of you pet lovers know how that is.  Dad's been doing ok, by the way.  He struggles, like we all do, but he's working at finding his way through the world without Mom.  During some of my chaos removal, I left the man I hung around with behind. That was hard, but it brought along an opportunity to meet a cool, calm, collected and extremely kind man. My mom always used to tell me that thing about one door closing and another one opening. I really hadn't believed it until now. So we'll see. It's nice to have someone to spend time with besides family.  And he puts up with my hideous golf game!

I hope that those of you who've read here before will start to read here again.  I'll be catching up with what you've been doing and I hope to comment here and there.  I've missed you all more than you know.  The Sisterhood of the Rose is alive and about to move on.  I'll explain where we are with that in my next post.  With any luck, four months won't pass before you hear from me again.

Whatever you do, make some fun!

WHOOSH!

That's the sound spring break made as it flew by. I tried to dig in my heels to slow time down, but no luck. There were even a couple of snowy days during which I could've sat at my computer to post, but I just couldn't do it. I was busy holding a baby and knitting a little and stitching a little and family stuff and ... well, I don't know!

Please forgive some more grandmotherly picture-bragging, but here's a little of my knitting with Keagan (yes, in my here's-my-new-grandson post, I didn't realize the actual spelling was different from my version ... bad, bad grandma). I knitted this Baby Pea Pod (available on Ravelry) in no time a couple of weeks ago. It was super easy and he loves it. Nikki took the pic with her cell phone, so it's awful, but you get the idea. He's just as cute as he was last time.

In other knitty news, I've been working on a pillow from the book One Skein, and when I checked out the photo I took on the monitor screen, it was incredibly out of focus. What I was thinking when I took the pic, I have no idea. Chalk it up to old-lady vision. Anyway, I branched out with the pattern, using different-than-called-for alpaca yarn (oooh, pretty and soft) and larger-than-called-for needles to make a larger pillow (yes, it seems I'm a knitting experimentalist), and it's turning out just the right size. I know! Who knew I could wing it? I know enough to realize that one day this knitty thrill-seeking will bite me right in the butt. Until then, look out. I also knitted a felted bowl from the same book (a great book), but I haven't felted it yet. Pictures of the pillow-in-progress and bowl will magically appear in the next post ... whenever that is. Oh, I almost forgot. I also finished a felted bag for Nikki and another one for me. No pictures because I figured you've got to be bored with the bags. So I really have been doing something with my time.

Then there's Miss Sarah Esh. I've been working on her, but work is a little slow. My goal is to finish this week. Uh huh, dream on. Goals are a good thing, right? So sorry for another awful photo.

That pretty much brings us up to date. I'm hustling through this post to get to my purple chair before my eyes close. Keagan and his mom and dad are doing great, school is as it is, and home is a nice place to be. Make some fun.

Look What the Stork Brought!

Our little stranger arrived Saturday night, March 20, at 11:29. His name is Keegan. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces, was almost 20 inches long, and he's a healthy little guy. Here he is in the arms of his dad, Grady, during his first hour ...

Isn't he a cutie? Nikki is doing very well, and the whole family is headed home today. Since they were still at the hospital yesterday, I had to go hold him again. He was awake for a little while ...

It's unanimous. We'll keep him! I can't think of a good word to describe what it was like to watch my new grandson being born. I was pretty sure I'd wimp out, but I made it through the whole thing. What a way to start spring break.

I'm pathetically behind on blog reading, commenting and posting, but I have some things to do here at home. Hopefully, I'll return tomorrow with some knitting and stitching pics. It's been a while. Make some fun.

On a Happier Note ...

How about a happier post to cancel out the cranky part of yesterday's post? Good idea! I appreciate all of your comments, and I think it's time to lighten up a little. You're not here to listen to whining and complaining, after all, and I don't really enjoy doing it.

A while back, I promised pictures of Nikki's shower. Warning: the location had some very tricky lighting, so beware of my truly amateur photos. Here's Nikki with her cute mother-in-law. I'm not sure what Nik's looking at, but since she's looking down, there isn't much to see but her tummy! Someone (maybe her mom?) must've made some smartassy remark about her delicate condition.

Here's Nikki and her wonderful friend, Maribel, who hosted the shower. That sweet little guy is Alec, my new best friend. You've never seen anyone as goofy around babies as I am, and I'm happy to report that I got him to laughing pretty hard. A baby laugh is the very best sound in the world. Look at those smiles!

Oh, and the giant bruise on Nikki's arm is the result of an ugly slip down some icy steps, not domestic violence. I'm afraid she got her graceful manner from her mom. I could go on and on, but those are just a couple of pics to show you my happily pregnant daughter. It still doesn't seem possible that she's gonna be a mom. Everyone says this, but how do they grow up so quickly? One minute they're learning to walk and talk, and the next minute they want your car keys.

To show that I really am accomplishing a little something, here's a picture of Nikki's knitting bag in progress. I started it for me, but she loves the colors as much as I do, so as soon as it's felted, it's hers. Another bag for me can wait.

In between bags, because I'm feeling brave, I think I'll give washcloths a try. Something new to sink my needles into. Don't worry, I'm not feeling cocky. A knitting friend assures me that washcloths are a great way to get in some practice and try to become more consistent. We have a plan. I wanna knit socks so badly that I can taste it! Practice, practice, practice.

It's conference week, so today was the first of three 11-hour work days. Our reward is part of Thursday and all of Friday off. Ah ... Friday morning is mine to stitch away. What a treat! For now, my pillow calls. Make some fun.

Is It March Yet?

Well, another 12 days has passed between posts. It's been a very long couple of months. I've been stitching and knitting a little, but I'm incredibly distracted by life and work. I have quite a plateful right now. You know about Nikki and her son's birth within the next few weeks, and you know about my mom. I've pretty much stopped telling you about my job. It goes back to what my mom said: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

My job will change in a huge way next year. In my former teaching life, I spent 13 years as a classroom teacher in third through sixth grades, with one very interesting year in middle school. Bekah was born in 1991, and I figured out some at-home jobs (data entry and charting needlework for designers) in order to stay home with the kiddos. In 1996, Bekah died and I got divorced, so I returned to teaching in 1997. During that time, I've worked with small groups of kids who need help learning to read, but I haven't had my own classroom.

Because of our district's enormous budget shortfall, all of that's gonna change. My job has been eliminated and I must be "absorbed" into the school I was unhappily assigned to last year. That means that my only option was to accept the offer that my principal made to me. So, after 19 years out of the classroom, I'll be returning next year as a teacher in first grade (gasp!). I know! How scary! How fun!

I love first-graders, so that's not a problem. I'll be able to catch up with all of the math stuff, so that's not a problem. My teammates are very nice, and I've known them for years, so that's not a problem. My only problem is that I work for an ass. A boob. He's an immature, bird-brained, former high school administrator with negligible leadership skills who knows absolutely nothing about literacy and has no intention of learning. In fact, he never passes up an opportunity to display his ignorance or his lack of integrity. He's the only issue I have with the daunting prospect of enormous change. Unfortunately, it's a very large issue.

So now I'm gonna shop around the district to see if I can find a better spot. Because of the budget, there's not much movement in and out of positions, but there are bound to be one or two. We'll see if anyone is silly enough to hire an old lady who hasn't been in a classroom position for 19 years. It can't hurt to try, and I've heard from several former coworkers (displaced by our school's closure last spring) who want to help me get into their schools. I'm updating and polishing up my 13-year-old resume, and thinking about interviews This could be interesting, huh? Things to remember: it's not life or death, only my job; it's good to be employed.

Thank you for allowing me to whine a little bit. OK, a lot. The stress knot under my shoulder blade feels better already. I wanted to explain my distractibility, because my stitching and knitting progress has been so lame lately. Sarah Esh has been occupying my lap (along with Merlin) while in the purple chair. I love, love the Olympics (another distraction), and Sarah's been watching with me. Once in a while I actually put a stitch in. I'm not completely satisfied with my choice of natural linen, but it's growing on me.

My house is largely back to its former self, minus the ugly beige carpet. At home, life is very good. I'm still allowing myself to engage in some slide therapy after school. Whatever helps, right? So here are some pics for you. The teeny tiny kitchen (note the Cedar Hill kitty on the wall and the bag o' magnets on the counter) ...

The living area (sorry about the glaring sun, and the speaker will move to a less conspicuous spot later on) ...

The small dining area with my piano, my parents' dining set from the 50's (I love it), and the crocheted tablecloth I found in a Rhode Island antique store for $35 (I know!) ...

Home is a happy place to be! Too bad I can't retire and spend more time here, huh? Next, after some recovery time, will be the removal of ugly beige carpet and cheap-ass vinyl in the upstairs bathrooms. Ah, something to look forward to.

I leave you today with a very late look at my TUSAL jar. I took the picture on time a few weeks ago but couldn't remember to post it (duh). I like the look of yarn in there.

Make some fun!