April Fool’s and other tomfoolery

I have NEVER liked April Fool’s Day.  There is no particular reason.  No event that made me not like it.  I think I’ve just heard enough stories of what others have done that have made me not like it.  I thought we had gotten away with not being part of April Fool’s but no such luck.  DJP told Jason at dinner, “Daddy, so and so is behind you!” and as Jason turned, you heard a quiet “April Fool’s” come from DJP.  He did it a couple of times and then was finished.  WHEW!

Again, I have failed in writing one post a month.  I don’t know how to get myself into a routine.  I don’t always have something to say.  Hmmm…  if anyone has ideas, please let me know!

So to catch up on what’s been happening lately…

-DJP celebrated his 5th birthday with 2 parties (one was with his school friends at a bouncy place and one was with family) and a minion theme for both.  I made minion cupcakes for the school party and a minion cake for the family party.  Both were pretty easy to decorate since I decided to purchase a tube of black icing instead of mixing it myself and candy eyes.  (The best ideas I’ve had!) Plus, a huge thank you to Betty Crocker for the minion cake idea/directions!

-I’ve been working on knitting four scarves for my seniors in my tv class.  I would not normally do this, but I have taught 3 of the 4 seniors for three years and they have made my transition into a media specialist/tv teacher much easier.  I have one scarf left to finish-I’m about half way.  I also have a pattern and yarn to make one more scarf/cowl for the media secretary who is retiring early (long story) due to her position being cut.  I have worked with her for 13 years-she knows so much and has always been a friend, so a knitted something from me will be her retirement gift.

-I’m working on transferring curriculum to the school system’s new learning management system for next year.  It will be an interesting transition since my partner at work and I will be the ones leading the training at our school (apparently in May) and have yet to have our own training yet.  YIKES!  I don’t feel too bad though because I have been using the free version of the lms with my tv class.  It will make things a bit easier once everyone understands what to do with it.

-I’ve been to a couple of conferences, edcampMD (it’s a make your own conference-great idea!) and edsurge, where I got to see some new online/app programs that are just on/coming to the market for education.  I’ve actually been able to get some teachers on board with using the products (at least the free ones).  They seem to like them so far.

and

-we’ll be off to see The Mouse in a couple of weeks.  DJP is looking forward to the trip.  It will be the second airplane trip that he has taken.  It should be interesting since Jason has planned just about every minute that we will be there.

Until next time…

Where did the past 2 months go?

I think they flew by!

The first quarter of the 2014-2015 school year is finished.  I survived.  My TV Production class produced two TV shows and received a thumbs up from the principal!  This really should be a two year class because I have not been able to teach the curriculum that goes with the class since we’re busy planning the show Friday-Tuesday, tape the show on Wednesday, edit the show on Thursday and play the show on Friday before the class.  (I think this is a question I need to talk over with my mentor!)

I’ve taught a few classes about research (using Google scholar), taught a few professional development sessions to teachers about Edmodo and Google Apps for Education, unpacked a bunch of boxes of new books that I’m excited to read but have yet to be processed into the system, read more book reviews than I ever wanted so that we can put in another book order, and other little tedious things like checking student passes, keeping track of what I do each day and changing student passwords.

As a family, we’ve had a bunch of birthdays-first was mine.  I went on a Mommy-cation to get some scrapbooking finished.  I was successful in the fact that I finished the three projects that I took with me-my honeymoon scrapbook, a baby blanket and an infinity scarf.  (The last two projects were knitting related!)  The baby blanket has been delivered to its recipient and since the weather has turned a bit cooler, I was able to wear my infinity scarf yesterday.  I love it!  DJP has been to a few friends’ bday parties and had a lot of fun.  The latest one Jason and DJP were gone more than the usual 2 hours and I started to get worried.  Another hour passed before they arrived back home with Jason saying that they could have stayed even later!  What a party!

We celebrated Halloween this weekend.  We went trick or treating as a family with DJP as a Storm Trooper, me as Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus) and Jason as himself.  DJP wanted to go to 10 houses and when we told him he could go to more, he said “Okay, let’s go to 11!”  Once we returned home, DJP was excited to pass out candy to the trick or treaters who stopped.  We didn’t have many-maybe because it was a Friday and people were having parties?  Who knows?  We sure have a lot of candy leftover though.

In knitting news, I haven’t completed my latest project yet.  It’s another baby blanket for a special baby (aren’t they all?!?!).  DJP picked out the colors for this blanket.  His color choices worked out well with the plan that I had in mind.  I’m about 3/4 of the way finished.  My next project is also a baby blanket that will be for another special baby.  The yarn is already picked out and so is the pattern.  I think the fun in making baby blankets for me is that no two are alike.  Each is unique just as the recipient is.

Week 1 of the rest of my career

My first week as a new Media Specialist went rather well.  On Monday, I said, “I don’t know.” quite a bit.  I added to that “Let’s find out!”  Each day got better and I learned more and more.  I still do not have permissions to do a lot of things on computers but hopefully that will be coming shortly.  My partner attempted to get all of this taken care of at the end of last school year but was told that it could not be done until the beginning of this year.  I love bureaucracy! 

I taught TV Production class, rebuilt a teacher’s website, helped a teacher learn a new technology tool, learned how Google presentation loops (to play announcements continuously during the day), changed many a student passwords, planned a technology professional development for next week, created a quick reference guide for the technology professional development, worked with the county tech person to fix some of my TV production computers, got a teacher hooked on QR codes, learned the history of TV, and checked books in/out.  Whew.  What a week! 

I hope I continue to learn more and that each week gets easier!

Wow…

Who knew that it would take me almost 2 years to get back to my blog?  Yikes!

In a nutshell…

• My brother and I are STILL getting stuff out of our parents’ house (that’s 40+ years of stuff BTW) and we hope to be finished soon!  It’s been difficult with both of us working full time plus and having our own homes and families.  We probably should have just hired someone to do the clean out.
• DJP has had birthdays #3 and #4
  • #3 had a Toy Story theme and I made a Buzz Lightyear cake…it took FOREVER to icing due to all of the colors!
  • #4 had a Lego Star Wars theme with a Darth Vader cake (yup, ALL black icing!)
• DJP has discovered video games.  He loves LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and Disney Infinity.  I remember when Jason and I were dating and he asked me how I felt about video games.  I told him they were fine.  I enjoyed playing them as a kid (and occasionally still do-but those controllers are so complicated!)  and I would want my child to enjoy them too.  Who knew it would give me some Mommy Time and also make me cringe when I hear DJP telling Jason what to do (since he’s watched YouTube videos about how to play the games).  Oh my…
• DJP has also discovered the world of LEGOs.  He LOVES them!  He and Jason have put together quite a few sets.  It’s amazing how dexterous DJP is and how focused he can be!
  • The LEGO Movie was a hit!  DJP didn’t take his eyes off the screen-not even to take a drink!
• DJP has been impressing us with his vocabulary.  The other day, I needed to exchange work computers and DJP went with me.  He was playing on the chair and said something about “using a different tactic” and I asked him where he learned that!?!?!  “Mommy, I just know it!”  He also uses words like apparently and as well as appropriately!  I guess reading all kinds of books to him (currently, “How to Train Your Dragon”) really does improve a little one’s vocabulary.  Parent success!
• We had solar panels installed on the house.  I’m still getting used to seeing them.  Jason is obsessed with seeing how much energy they have produced.
• I got a new position at my school!  I am leaving the World Language Department and moving to the Media Center!  It took 5 years for the position to become available, but it did and I got the job!  Patience and hard work really do pay off.  Now I must learn how to be a TV producer as well as a Media Specialist!
  • If you know anyone who knows anyone in TV let me know!
  • I’m shaking in my shoes about this change…I’ve taught Spanish for 21 years!  I don’t have a media center bag of tricks yet!
• We went on a family vacation to Williamsburg, VA.
  • We had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge.  It is definitely it’s own little world!  DJP loved the wave pool and being with his cousins as well as getting to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa.
  • We also took some time and went to Colonial Williamsburg.  The kids had fun looking for clues in RevQuest and just looking at all the old buildings.  DJP was most fascinated by the horses and the jail.
• I’ve been knitting and knitting and knitting some more!  I’ve made it to the third project in Camp Loopy 2014 and I hope to finish that challenge.  I’m also starting a KAL (knit along) for the series OUTLANDER (yes, those books!) today and cannot wait for the show tonight!  Here’s some of what I’ve knitted/knitting currently:Hopefully, I will keep a bit more up to date now that I’m not grading 150 papers every day (only 10)!  I think I’ll make a goal of posting at least once a month.

Wayward but not forgotten

I seem to forget about things and then “rediscover” them after awhile.
Here I am once again.  When last we met, I was working on Camp Loopy project #2, the Clapotis.  I finished it!  (major accomplishment) and had started on Project #3, Choo Choo Train sweater for DJP.  I worked on it and worked on it and worked some more.  School started and the deadline to be finished came and went.  DJP’s sweater is STILL not finished.  I think because the pattern is done as fair isle and I knit it too tightly to lay flat, I’m going to rip it out and start again.  One day when I have back log of baby blankets finished and other projects that I hope to finish.  So many projects, too little time.
In other news, since last time, Jason has had his gallbladder removed.  He did well with surgery but was under a bit longer so ended up being admitted for observation since he has sleep apnea.  He would have been “observed” better at home is all I can say about his experience at our local hospital.
DJP started preschool.  He loves going to play with his new friends, R, J, C, B and C.  Everyone knows DJP and makes a point to say “hi” and “bye” to him each day.  Of course, DJP is the cool kid and it doesn’t phase him in the least.  In the first newsletter that the school sent out DJP was featured in 3 of the 4 photos from his class.  My favorite is one in which he and B are sitting and reading books.  They look so grown up!  DJP’s verbal skills have grown by leaps and bounds.  He’s using sentences (2 & 3 word varieties) and commands (especially with Mommy and Daddy).  Occasionally we have a tough time understanding what he’s trying to say.  I respond with “Mommy doesn’t understand” and then magically the next time he says it, I understand.  Repetition is the key for parental understanding!
My brother and I are still working on Mom’s house.  We moved out the furniture that we wanted to keep for ourselves last month.  We still have a lot to do and really don’t want to do any of it especially with the holidays fast approaching.  We do want to get the house on the market but the whole process of going through things and not having time to do so has taken its toll on us.  Ugh.
We survived “Sandy.” We lost power for 3 1/2 days.  Of course those were the coldest days so far here in MD.  We ended up staying in a hotel the last night since DJP woke up shivering and refused to wear a sweatshirt or sweater.  We were also very lucky that Jason woke up to check on the sump pump in the nick of time.  We spent one day, bailing out the water every 20 minutes until we talked to a friend who suggested getting a bilge pump and a marine battery.  It took 3 hours to get the water drained to a normal level where we could just barely keep the water from over flowing.  All hail the bilge pump and our dear friend!  We did lose all of the food in the fridge and 2 freezers.  It was good to clean them out and our insurance covered part of the replacement of goods.

I’ve been going to physical therapy 2-3 times a week for the past month for my shoulder.  I have tendonitis in both my rotator cuff and my biceps.  Therapy seems to be working but my shoulder/biceps hurt in a different place each day.  The doctor and the therapist keep telling me “that’s the shoulder/rotator cuff for you!”  Nice.  I see the doctor again next week.  Hopefully I won’t be getting another cortisone shot.  OUCH!

Other than the above and some allergies/colds, the three of us are doing well and are looking forward to the holidays.  We’ll be going to SC for Thanksgiving and staying in MD for Christmas.
Until next time…

Camp

I am attending camp.  I haven’t been to camp since Girl Scouts (many, many, many moons ago).

This camp is different.  I get to stay at home.  I do NOT get feasted on by mosquitos.  I do not have to worry about burning my marshmallows in the fire (ewwww…).  I can take a shower! (yes, this is of utmost importance to me.)

The camp is Camp Loopy.  It is hosted by The Loopy Ewe, an online and brick & mortar store in Fort Collins, CO.  This is a three-part challenge for three months, one challenge per month.  This year’s camp is themed around the Olympics.  For the CL project #1, campers were to pick a pattern of their choice by someone who lives in/born in a country other than the one the camper lives in and that 400 yards of yarn were to be used.  I picked Color Affection as my pattern, a shawl that uses three different colors of yarn in three different ways.  It was a big project for me to finish in one month, but I decided that I needed to do it with everything that I have been through this year-I needed to do something for just me!

It looks a bit like an octopus here because of how I layed it out.  There are three distinct sections-first is the navy blue section, then the navy blue and cream section and finally the navy blue, cream and light blue.  The light blue also makes up the edge of the shawl.  I am happy with how it turned out even though I am not happy with how my left thumb hurts now.  However, I must carry on…project #2 has started already and I am behind!

Challenge #2 is to pick any pattern of your choice, use 800 yards of yarn but in a color of your country’s flag.  I had a tough time with this since I’d already used blue and white in my first project.  I did not want to use them again.  I’m picky about red.  I like “real” red (fire engine red) or more of a burgundy red.  I didn’t have any of those colors in my stash.  I searched the available inventory at The Loopy Ewe (one day I will visit in person!) and found something I could work with.  I found “real” red but it also had yellow, orange and green with it.  Is that okay?  Yes, because it just has to be a variation of that color or in that particular color family.  WHEW!  The pattern I chose is CLAPOTIS (pronounced cla-po-TEA; yes, it’s French!)  It’s another scarf/wrap/shawl which will come in handy in the Fall and Winter.

Well, I’m off to get started…Au revoir!

Olympic Controversy

“We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.”

This is a quote taken directly from a letter from the head counsel of the USOC to Ravelry, a knit and crochet on-line community that every four years has a competition during the Olympic games.

The USOC has since sent an apology (if you can call it that) and was more than happy to request “any handmade items that wished to be sent to the athletes would be more than welcome.” (or something to that effect)

I understand the need to always be vigilant about anything that could be considered copyright infringement, because if you don’t stop one person/entity, than it will make it harder to do so in the future.  This wording by the USOC was not just cease and desist but also just a tad bit bullying of knitters and crocheters (crafters in general in mho).  It was nice to see approximately 2 million (yes, the ‘m’ is correct) band together to tell the USOC that they would not be bullied.  It was also nice to see that NPR picked up the story as well!

KNIT (CROCHET) ON!

 

ETA:  Somehow when I started this post, it was published before I was ready for it to be published.  Now, it contains the rest of the story!

Newest words and skills

DJP has been “talking” up a storm!

He has been mimicking sounds that we make, singing and just talking to his toys (as well as to us).

The latest additions to his vocabulary:

bowl, ball, Buzz (as in Lightyear)

GO! (yes, said in all caps…)

home

ice (as in from the freezer or from Rita’s…DJP likes to share with Daddy)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ME! (everything has been ME! lately…cutting the grass, making dinner, putting on lotion and even a diaper!)

DJP’s counting skills are still in the beginning stages.  He does recognize some numbers (8, 0) but does not say them when he counts.  He got a band-aid the other night with 4 Buzz Lightyears on it and pointed to each one as he counted, “Die, die, die, die.”  Yes, he says “die” when he counts.  The first time Aunt Niki heard him do this, she looked at us with a quizzical look that said, “Did he just tell me to die?!?!”  DJP has not gotten out of that yet.

Another new “skill” is that he enjoys is while taking a bath DJP drinks his bathwater and becomes a fountain.  One night he drank some water, looked at Jason, looked down at the water, looked up at me and then spit out the water.  The most hysterical part was that he starts to laugh hysterically at himself!  DJP definitely loves playing with water-from putting ice into the cat’s water bowl to splashing in puddles to playing in/on a water table to getting in his new pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The eating situation has stayed the same.  I think I’ve resigned myself to having a “fruititarian” for a son.  There are worse things.

Water, water everywhere…don’t drink these drops!

Water is needed to survive.  Human beings can only survive without water for approximately 3 days.

I would be happy never to see water again.

Chris and I were going through things at Mom’s house on Saturday.  We made it to the basement and started going through things and Chris noticed that there was water on the floor.  After turning the water off, we think the leak came from the hot water heater.  So at some point, we will be replacing that.

Early Sunday morning, around 4am, Jason wakes me up to tell me that the ac is not working upstairs and that the unit has leaked.  UGH!  This is the second time this has happened to us.  The first time, the builder “fixed” the problem.  We don’t know what he did exactly because he never did like talking to us.  This time, the hvac guy said that the drain pan was going uphill (not level) so that it would drain properly and the pipe in which it would drain was clogged.  He fixed it so that the ac unit would drain properly and that we had ac on the hottest day so far…and on a holiday weekend!

Now we just have to find a drywall guy to fix the water damage…

Out of Commission

I have been out of commission for awhile.  The last couple of months have been busy with lots of happenings-some good, some bad.

March:  One of Jason’s friends from college passed away from melanoma.  This was difficult for both of us because of what we had experienced with Dad and also because Bruce was our age and we were faced with our own mortality.  Jason attempted to rearrange his schedule to get to SC for the funeral, but due to some conflicts and time issues, that was not possible.  We later found out that there is going to be a memorial at the end of June/beginning of July and we plan to go.

The we got a phone call that Jason’s grandmother was taken to the hospital due to pain in her side.  We later found out that it was her gallbladder.  She also had an infection on her leg.  Surgery was held off to see if some of the gallstones would pass and if the infection would get better/heal.

Then we got devastating news that Mom’s cancer was back and had spread to her liver and lungs.  We cried, promised to be strong and we’d get through this too.  The next day I learned that a colleague was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and that Grandma’s surgery had complicated another condition that she had-pulmonary fibrosis which put her into ICU.

Then there was DJP’s 2nd birthday party.  We had a great time and there was great weather!  We celebrated and just didn’t let any of the bad news get us down. The birthday boy ate NO cake, which I made and iced (thanks to a high school friend for all her help with making my first homemade bday cake!).   All the kids got along great and had fun on the sliding board and in one of DJP’s gifts-a sandbox.

After DJP’s party, things went downhill even further.  Grandma had to be put on a ventilator (which she did not want to have happen) and Mom had her first chemo treatment which seemed to go well. It was determined by Grandma’s doctors that her lung capacity would not get any better and that she would always need to use a ventilator.  She did not want that because her quality of life would not be what she was used to and she made the decision to be taken off the ventilator.  Plans needed to be made-Jason’s dad had to get home quickly and we needed to make a decision about going to Florida for Grandma’s funeral.  DJP got to take his first plane rides and did a great job other than the landing into Tampa-but that’s even tough for me.  We learned that having some water in a bottle and some fruit snacks for him to munch on helped tremendously.

Once back home, there were only a couple of days of work until Spring Break.  The side effects of Mom’s chemo treatment were taking their toll on her.  She was itching and thought she might have shingles (a friend had visited her and had stress induced shingles) but she didn’t.  She was a bit dehydrated and needed fluids.  DJP and I took her to the doctor to have that done.  While we waited (since the treatment would take about 3-4 hours), we visited a playground nearby and DJP had fun running around and even tried a swing (which didn’t last long-he’s still not a fan).  Then we went to Wegman’s and did a bit of shopping and went in circles around the dairy department watching the train.  When it was time to check in with the nurse at the doctor’s office, she said I should come and probably take Mom to the hospital because she was not responding to the treatment like she should.  Once I got there, the nurse and I made the decision that because DJP was with me that we should call an ambulance to get Mom to the hospital.  About a half hour after Mom got to the hospital, she passed.  The doctor and nurses at the emergency room were wonderful-they asked if we needed anything and let us wait for Chris to arrive since he had about a 2 hour drive coming from work.  We are very lucky to have a very dear friend who came to get DJP to occupy him (running around the helicopter pad and finding rocks to play with) and take him home for bedtime, so that we could take care of some arrangements without having to worry about him and what he needed.  THANK YOU BUNCHES, Niki!!!!!

Once arrangements were made, we were just in a holding pattern due to Easter.  We spent a nice afternoon with family having a nice relaxing dinner (it was yummy!) and an egg hunt for the kiddos which was really cute to see.  DJP took too it like he’d been hunting eggs for ages!  Jason and I also went to the Orioles’ Opening Day-Mom would have wanted us to go no matter what because she herself would liked to have gone.

So…with all of that going on, the blog has been on the back burner.  I hope it doesn’t stay there, but there is sooooo much to accomplish with Mom’s estate and the end of the school year quickly approaching.