Whew!

This morning, I met with the teacher I'm replacing, and she doesn't need me to start until the day we originally planned. Today still is probably her last day, but she'll have a sub in the rest of the week to do test reviews and the tests, and she already had a sub set up for next week. The lady working next week is a retired Algebra teacher and can handle all the real lessons when they start back up. I'm so relieved that I can't stand it! Yeah!

Music MeMe - College Edition

It was so much fun the first time that I had to do it again. Same rules apply--see the earlier post.

This time my grad year was 1993, and I was starting to mature into someone a bit more musically interesting.

1. I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston
2. Whoomp! (There It Is), Tag Team
3. Can't Help Falling In Love, UB40
4. That's The Way Love Goes, Janet Jackson
5. Freak, Silk
6. Weak, SWV
7. If I Ever Fall In Love, Shai
8. Dreamlover, Mariah Carey
9. Rump Shaker, Wreckx-N-Effect
10. Informer, Snow
11. Nuthin' But A "G" Thang, Dr. Dre
12. In The Still Of The Nite, Boyz II Men
13. Don't Walk Away, Jade
14. Knockin' Da Boots, H-Town
15. Lately, Jodeci
16. Dazzey Duks, Duice
17. Show Me Love, Robin S.
18. A Whole New World, Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle
19. If, Janet Jackson
20. I'm So Into You, SWV
21. Love Is, Vanessa Willlams and Brian Mcknight
22. Runaway Train, Soul Asylum
23. I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me),
25. Rhythm Is A Dancer, Snap
26. The River Of Dreams, Billy Joel
27. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), Proclaimers
28. Two Princes, Spin Doctors
29. Right Here (Human Nature)-Downtown, SWV
30. I Have Nothing, Whitney Houston
31. Mr. Wendal, Arrested Development
32. Have I Told You Lately, Rod Stewart
33. Saving Forever For You, Shanice
34. Ordinary World, Duran Duran
35. If I Had No Loot, Tony! Toni! Tone!
36. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf
37. Slam, Onyx
38. Looking Through Patient Eyes, P.M. Dawn
39. I'm Every Woman, Whitney Houston
40. Baby I'm Yours, Shai
41. Come Undone, Duran Duran
42. I Don't Wanna Fight, Tina Turner
43. I'd Die Without You, P.M. Dawn
44. Whoot, There It Is, 95 South
45. Hip Hop Hooray, Naughty By Nature
46. Another Sad Love Song, Toni Braxton
47. Will You Be There, Michael Jackson
48. Comforter, Shil
49. Good Enough, Bobby Brown
50. What's Up, 4 Non Blondes
51. All That She Wants, Ace Of Base
52. 7, Prince and The New Power Generation
53. Dre Day, Dr. Dre
54. One Last Cry, Brian McKnight
55. Just Kickin' It, Xscape
56. I Get Around, 2Pac
57. Bed Of Roses, Bon Jovi
58. Real Love, Mary J. Blige
59. Here We Go Again!, Portrait
60. Cryin', Aerosmith
61. Cats In The Cradle, Ugly Kid Joe
62. What About Your Friends, TLC
63. I Got A Man, Positive K
64. Hey Mr. D.J., Zhane
65. Insane In The Brain, Cypress Hill
66. Deeper And Deeper, Madonna
67. Rain, Madonna
68. The Right Kind Of Love, Jeremy Jordan
69. Bad Boys, Inner Circle
70. That's What Love Can Do, Boy Krazy
71. Do You Believe In Us, Jon Secada
72. Angel, Jon Secada
73. Forever In Love, Kenny G
74. Again, Janet Jackson
75. Boom! Shake The Room, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
76. When She Cries, Restless Heart
77. Sweat (A La La La La Long), Inner Circle
78. It Was A Good Day, Ice Cube
79. More And More, Captain Hollywood Project
80. How Do You Talk To An Angel, Heights
81. Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat), Digable Planets
82. What Is Love, Haddaway
83. To Love Somebody, Michael Bolton
84. Give It Up, Turn It Loose, En Vogue
85. Alright, Kris Kross
86. Check Yo Self, Ice Cube
87. Fields Of Gold, Sting
88. Ooh Child, Dino
89. Faithful w/ Go West
90. Reason To Believe, Rod Stewart
91. Break It Down Again, Tears For Fears
92. Nothin' My Love Can't Fix, Joey Lawrence
93. Three Little Pigs, Green Jelly
94. Livin' On The Edge, Aerosmith
95. Hey Jealousy, Gin Blossoms
96. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You, Sting
97. Anniversary, Tony! Toni! Tone!
98. One Woman, Jade
99. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Taylor Dayne
100. Two Steps Behind, Def Leppard

Music MeMe - High School Edition

I stole this from the world-famous Adminnie when I saw it on her blog.

Here's the deal.

The rules:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate

I graduated in 1989, and apparently, I was a bubble gum pop princess--forgive my youthful indiscretions.

1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heaven, Warrant
16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna
26. I'll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block
27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe
28. Baby Don't Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli
29. Toy Solider, Martika
30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
31. The Living Years, Mike + the Mechanics
32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles
33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc
34. When I See You Smile, Bad English
35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher
36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry
37. When I'm With You, Sheriff
38. Don't Rush Me, Taylor Dayne
39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi
40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals
41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton
42. Bust A Move, Young M.C.
43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White
44. Batdance, Prince
45. Rock On, Michael Damian
46. Real Lov, Jody Watley
47. Love Shack, B-52's
48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
49. Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block
50. My Heart Can't Tell You No, Rod Stewart
51. So Alive, Love and Rockets
52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block
53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard
54. Satisfied, Richard Marx
55. Express Yourself, Madonna
56. I Like It, Dino
57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond
58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears
59. Cherish, Madonna
60. When The Children Cry, White Lion
61. 18 And Life, Skid Row
62. I Don't Want Your Love, Duran Duran
63. Second Chances, .38 Special
64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White
65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc
66. In Your Room, Bangles
67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole
68. Love Song, Cure
69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White
70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band
71. Patience, Guns N' Roses
72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money
73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block
74. Welcom To The Jungle, Guns N' Roses
75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface
76. Stand, R.E.M.
77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford
78. All This Time, Tiffany
79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera
80. Roni, Bobby Brown
81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith
82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi
83. This Promise, When In Rome
84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians
85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club
86. Paradise City, Guns N' Roses
87. Iwanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox
88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley
89. Dreamin', Vanessa Williams
90. It's No Crime, Babyface
91. Poison, Alice Cooper
92. This Time I Know It's For Real, Donna Summer
93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson
94. Heavan Help Me, Deon Estus
95. Rock Wit'cha, Bobby Brown
96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire
97. What You Don't Know, Expose
98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander
99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley
100. Keep On Movin', Soul II Soul

Getting Crazier...

It looks like my return to work could come much sooner than the first week of November. The doctor wants to put the lady I'm replacing on home rest immediately (really last Thursday) until the baby is born. She calmly explained that she has no sub ready to go (my orientation class is still scheduled for the 29th), and she swore she would spend her days teaching from her chair until I could work. She's being re-evaluated today. I'm hoping he will allow her to stay as long as possible because she wants to stay as late as she can--that and I really want to go on Moose's field trip on Friday. The sub-school principals is trying to get me into this week's class if possible, but they may end up covering the class with other subs until I can get in there. None of us like that option, because it will just be a huge mess!

In other news, my baseline mammo wasn't weird because I breathed. I, like about 30% of women in my age range, have benign cysts that showed up. Their presence was confirmed by ultrasound. The good news is that they don't increase my breast cancer risk. I do, however, get to have yet another mammo in the spring. Yippee.

I finally finished the Hogwarts scarves for Moose and Roo, and there are still no pictures here or on Ravelry. I continue to be incrediby lax in posting pictures of FOs. The two pairs of socks are still in progress, and going nowhere fast. With all the tension about the return to work, I can't seem to concentrate on anything these days. I did pull out a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash and start a swatch (i.e. sleeve) for a sweater I saw in IK Fall 2008. I'm under no illusions that it will go anywhere at all...

Life at Full Speed

So just when I thought I could relax, I get an offer to return to teaching as a long-term sub in an Algebra class at our daughter's school. It's a dream opportunity. The teacher is part of the GT Center team, so I get all her little geniuses. For a middle school, it means the kids, on average, will be a bit better behaved than the rest of the crowd. They are also 7th graders, and I find that tends to give them a bit less attitude--they're still scared of their new, big, bad building--than the 8th graders. Now we just need to get a sitter for Moose for the mornings before he has to catch his bus. I also have to jump through the bureaucratic hoops over at the district offices to get my sub badge and pay account set up. I love that I'm suposed to start the first week of November, and they can't squeeze me in for an orientation class until Oct. 29...

On top of all that, I finally scheduled my last two tests to get my new state license. One is on the afternoon of the 15th, which means I have to find some alternate way of getting the kids to piano. The other is on the afternoon of Nov. 1st, which means I sacrifice yet another Saturday to the demands of the educational field.

Then there are the piano lessons, getting Moose and his bass to school and home every Friday, the orthodontist, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, youth group, church commitments, volunteering at school, and Bible study. Whoever said stay-at-home moms don't work really needs to spend about a month in the shoes of one of us.

And just one more thing makes all this a bit crazy--radiology called to re-do my baseline mammogram. Fun. Turns out when they say don't move and don't even breathe during the x-ray, they really mean it. I specifically remember breathing during the shot they want to re-do. Now I feel really stupid for having to drag out to the hospital for another two hours just because I can't follow directions...

I'm knitting like crazy on the kids' Hogwarts scarves for Halloween. Roo's is done except for the fringe, and I'm about a third of the way done knitting the one for Moose. I also have two pairs of socks--one is my design from the workshop, the other is plain vanilla--on the needles, and my Pi shawl is languishing in hibernation.

None of this inspires me though, and I really, really just want to knit a sweater. If I get the scarf done, I might have time to cast on for a sweater before I have to go back to work. I think it might be time to peruse the Ravelry queue to see what will work up fast and scratch the sweater itch. What to do, what to do...

Sock Designer in Training

I went to my sock design workshop with Cookie A on Sunday, and I was stunned and amazed at how her mind works. She thinks of every possible detail you can add to a sock and accounts for it during the design process. Her thought process is very logical and mathematical, and I totally relate to it.

I already had a design somewhat in mind when I showed up for the class on Sunday. I just had to finish sketching it out and to finalize some details. Cookie A showed us how to make our ribbing feed into our design's setup, how to account for cabling and lace patterns, how to use hidden increases and decreases as part of our sock "architecture" so they blend with the design, and how to make the heels fit our sock's design. I can't think of a single detail she left out, and I am still in awe of her skills and talent. I want to be Cookie A when I grow up!

Cookie A was a treat to meet. She was kind, considerate, and highly encouraging. She even made the greatest suggestions about how to improve our designs if they weren't working out the way we wanted. If you ever have a chance to take a workshop with her, I highly recommend it.

Nature's Yarns, as always, was a fabulous place to be. The owners were great hostesses and made sure we all felt at home throughout the day. I even picked up some laceweight for Mystery Stole 4--now I just need beads--and some Euroflax to work up some Monteagle bags from Mason-Dixon.

My biggest prizes of the day? Three new patterns from Cookie A. I picked up Ornette, Twisted Flower, and Marilinda to go with Stricken and Mingus which were already hiding in the stash. I foresee much sock knitting pleasure in my future!

As for my design, you'll just have to wait and see it. It's cable-intensive, and I am mesmerized by it. I must have been positively affected by Cookie A's brain waves...

Okay, So I Lied...

...but it was unintentional. I didn't get my Ravelympics pictures posted here, but they are in my Ravelry notebook. I visited the finish line board to post my finishing stats, and it was locked down, and I wasn't allowed to post. I found it highly annoying, because I was just able to post Roo's stats on her board. I complained to the site about the WIPS wrestling board being closed, and I have never gotten an answer. It's probably why I haven't been on Ravelry at all lately except to update some project info. I just want my medals from Bobicus! :)

I'm in the midst of a big (for me) Halloween knitting project. I never knit for All Hallows Eve which is why it seems big. The kids are posing as Hogwarts students again this year since we moved away from all their old friends, and to keep things interesting I agreed to knit them Hogwarts scarves. Roo wants the scarf from Sorcerer's Stone, and Moose wants the one from Prisoner of Azkaban. Roo aka Victoria Ballycastle is a Ravenclaw, and Moose aka Adrian Vablatsky is a Gryffindor. I picked up all the necessary Utopia yarn at Patternworks for under $50, shipping included. That's much less than what brand new costumes would have cost!

I have found that even knitting the scarf on US size 7 needles instead of the size 8 called for in the pattern is leaving me a bit short of yarn if the kids want fringe (and they do). I've narrowed the scarf a bit by only casting on 60 stitches instead of 70, and this appears to be working for the moment. I even used Judy's magic cast-on for the end of Roo's so the cast-on edge appears to be invisible. I'll just graft the other end before attaching the fringe once I get there.

My next big, exciting knitting event is a sock design workshop with Cookie A at Nature's Yarns. I can't wait for the big day!

A Husband's Knitting MeMe

So I was over at JessaLu's, and I lifted another meme from her blog. I couldn't resist finding out what the DCA's answers would be. I sent this to him while he was out of town for the OU-Cincy game (Go Sooners!), and he kindly sent it back before he returned home.

HG: What is your favorite thing about my knitting?
DCA: The love you put into each product.

HG: What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?
DCA: Obsessive compulsive frogging =)

HG: What is something I have knitted that you recall as being good?
DCA: An awesomely warm Sooner (Crimson and Cream colored) blanket.

HG: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?
DCA: Only if you consider the raw materials alone and not what a hand crafted product of awesome quality would cost if you bought it in a finished state.

HG: Do you have any hobbies?
DCA: Yes

HG: What are your hobbies?
DCA: Record collecting

HG: So, if we compared money/time spent on hobbies, who would win?
DCA: For the past seven years, the knitting would...

HG: Do you have a stash of any kind?
DCA: Only if copious amounts of vinyl count...

HG: Has my knitting in public ever embarrassed you?
DCA: No...

HG: Can you name another knitting blog?
DCA: Scout's Swag, The Loopy Ewe...

HG: Do you mind that I want to check out yarn stores everywhere we go?
DCA: No, I even aided and abetted a stop in Old Town Alexandria not that long ago...

HG: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?
DCA: Vaguely...

HG: Do you read A Tale of Two Needles?
DCA: Yes... I even occasionally feed the Llama... (ed.'s note: check the sidebar!)

HG: Have you ever left a comment?
DCA: Yes

HG: Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn’t knit?
DCA: No... there would likely be more scrap booking scraps around =)

HG: Is there anything else you want to say?
DCA: I Love my compulsive knitter!

Thanks, DCA, for playing along!

Roo's Pocket

This is Roo's finished object for Ravelympics 2008. I'll post mine in a little bit...

Summer Is Winding Down...

...and maybe I'll get better about blogging...or not... I'm just too busy over on Ravelry and Facebook.

We just got home from our summer vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. I posted a couple of albums over on Facebook to show everything we did. I also took my Loopy postcard from The Loopy Ewe along, and he has his very own album of just a sampling of the things he saw.

My main update for now is that I successfully finished my Ravelympics 2008 projects. I put the Ocean Waves Wrap, Marmee's Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl, and the DCA's blanket to bed for good. I am so glad to have them behind me so I can concentrate on just the couple of projects I have on the needles. I also managed to sneak a Do the Wave scarf in during Ravelympics.

Mom's last set of post-surgical tests came in with fabulous results. The cancer recurrence prediction test she had contained the lowest number her oncologist had ever seen! The oncologist considers Mom cancer-free for now, and she'll just be monitored every six months for the next few years to really make sure there is no recurrence. Praise God for answered prayers.

We're getting ready for school around here. It's the kids' last week of freedom. We should learn who Moose's new teachers will be on Tuesday. The Roo will get her class schedule on Friday when she goes to new student orientation. I think I'll check in with them to see what they want to do this week as a last hurrah before they head back. There was some mention earlier about living in pajamas one day this week and watching all six Star Wars movies in a row. I have a feeling I'll be in a popcorn-induced coma in a couple of days!