One reason to dislike the snow

In general, I like snow. It is pretty, and the whole 'winter wonderland' thing is pretty appealing to me. The main issue I have with it is its ability to bring modern transportation to its knees. It is not quite so bad now that I work somewhere that frequently is closed when the snow is really bad... but the worst part is this: people who are unable to get to their families for special occasions, like, say, Christmas.

For instance, my brother and his wife are going to miss Christmas with us this year. They are snowed in and there is no chance that they will make it here. I am going to guess that it would have been the last Christmas for a while that we'd see them - once their baby is born, I would assume that they would want to stay closer to home and celebrate as a family, much as we did when I was a kid. I'm at least glad that they have each other to be with... and with modern technology, we can take lots of pictures, and maybe even chat by webcam and such.... but still.

I don't always like the snow.

We made it to the 21st!

Yep, the days are going to start getting longer now. Most excellent!

So, this past Friday, they called off school in anticipation of a big old grody snowstorm. Right on cue, it started snowing within 20 minutes of when it was predicted by forecasters... next time, try to be more accurate, willya? Sheesh.

Anyway, it snowed Friday. It snowed lightly all day Saturday. And, it snowed all day today - the weather just reported that we got 13 inches here! Dude! I did bundle up and wander outside this afternoon, and snapped a couple of pictures. By the way, one of the most useful Christmas gifts I ever got was a pair of gaiters - my shoes and lower pants region remain nice and dry and snow free - and I can happily hop into (and through) snowdrifts without worrying about frosty ankles. They are the best; observe:


Looky those gaiters - I highly recommend gettin' some for general snow-traipsing purposes, not to mention snowshoeing or cross country skiing. Or looking totally awesome. As an aside, I was sorta falling over while taking that picture - I lifted my leg up in the air to get a good angle, and was sorta teeeeetering over while the camera snapped. What I won't do for a good shot!

Here are a few more pictures I took, starting with a street shot. I imagine that this is about what it would look like 100 years ago - not a car in sight, and the reproduction gas lamps give it an old timey flair... whaddya think? I mean, you have to ignore the parking meters, but...


Here's another festive street shot:



Some pointy snow:



No, thanks, I think I'll stand:



Toot, toot!



Can you see me?



How about now?



You can't tell in the picture, except maybe on my chin, that my face is all wet with melty snow. Also, I took my hood down for the pic, which is why my head is not all snowy. Observe the scarf... that is how snowy I'm sure my head would have been otherwise. :) It's not the most glamorous shot, but it's hard to be glamorous in a driving snowstorm! Under the circumstances, I think I look damn good. (Like that snowflake in front of my eye? That was a lucky shot!)

But speaking of looks, check it out... my age is starting to show... I spy a frowny wrinkle between my eyebrows! I will wear it with pride... my face wrinkles are going to all be related to smiling or making funny faces, which I consider to be a reflection of my personality. I'm sure there are some excellent eyebrow raising related wrinkles beginning to form under the brim of that hat, too! And I'm not ashamed to admit that the ones between my eyebrows are quite pronounced when i wake up in the morning, from my face being all relaxed all night or something. I assume that happens to other people, too, but I don't generally see people immediately after they get up in the morning, so have no frame of reference. Or, is it just a phenomenon that happens to stomach sleepers and side sleepers? Maybe it doesn't happen to people sleeping on their backs! Something to think about... maybe they get mega wrinkles on the backs of their heads instead! hahaha!

A Wintry Update

So, I have been quite lax in bloggifying, haven't I? Part of it is because much of my knitting has been sooper sekrit lately, and part of it is because we are now down to 9 hours of daylight per day, which means very little photography time every day. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some good pictures of the secret knitting next week, once the cat's out of the bag.

So yes, we are now at the time of year when the days are their shortest. Every fall/ winter, I look forward to December 21, the day when the days finally start getting longer, slowly but surely. It is fairly depressing to only be able to enjoy 45 minutes of daylight every day! It's not quite so horrible this year, since my office has a window that looks into the hallway, and there is a skylight in the hallway. I can't see outside, but I can see evidence of daylight. Someday, I will either live or work SOMEWHERE I can see the ground or the sky or something!

This part of the world has been experiencing some terribly icy weather. Tens of thousands of people are still without power since last Thursday, and we had more windy, icy weather today. It took me 30 minutes to chip the ice off of my windows after work today - my entire car was encased in almost 1/4 inch of ice! If it weren't so annoying, it would have been pretty amazing. I don't know if I've ever had THAT much ice on my car!

To make matters worse, we are expecting more snow on Friday, possibly 6+ inches. That is not such terrible news for me personally, but for people who still don't have power, the inclement weather just slows down the progress of the power line workers.

Anyway, I have been knitting and crocheting like a crazy woman - I have completed 7-8 projects (or so) since Thanksgiving, only one of which was a one-night type of project. I will share pictures when I can!

Black Friday

Have any of you ever gotten up EARLY on the Friday after Thanksgiving to take advantage of the Black Friday sales? I never had, until this year. There were a few items I found in the sales circulars that were such good deals, it made me believe that perhaps 4 AM was a perfectly reasonable time to go to the mall!

I accidentally woke up at 3 AM and couldn't fall back asleep, partly because I had to take a visit to the lavatory, and partly because I am very, very sensitive and my body was all out of whack - my home is very warm, and I'm used to sleeping in a pretty warm environment. My parents' house is much cooler, and all day Thursday and Friday, I was hotcoldhotcoldhotcold.

I tossed and turned until about 4:30, when I decided to get up and go to Bon Ton, which is similar to Macy's, I suppose. They had this great Pyrex set for 75% off the regular price. I arrived at quarter to 5, which was 45 minutes after they opened, which was evidently too late to get the set - all sold out! Jeesh! It was just as well, because there were lines 50 people deep ALL OVER the store. It was amazing.

So, I drove around to the other side of the mall to Sears, and waited outside in line for 15 minutes, until they opened at 5 AM. When the doors opened, I walked in, grabbed the microwave I wanted (60% off regular price with sale + rebate), paid right away, and walked right out. Easy peasy.

Then, off to Target across the street. They didn't open until 6, so I waited in line outside for 45 minutes. I was definitely starting to get cold by the end of that time. It was amazing how long the line was behind me! Again, I walked in, grabbed the item I wanted (GPS $100 off regular price), paid, and walked right out, as people were still in line pouring into the store. I was the first person to leave, and they hadn't even unlocked the exit doors yet!

THEN, (whew, getting tired) I went to the Verizon store - sale on phones. New phone, free after rebate. Cheaper plan than before. Score!

Finally, Joann Fabrics for some cheap flannel.

I got home around 8 AM, I think. I was very tired. I took a nap, during which I got really cold, and I yelled out, "MOOOOOMMMMMMMM!" She came to the rescue with a heated up rice bag and a blankie... I live by myself, so it is definitely nice to have someone to take care of me when I am cold and sad. Thanks, Mom!

The only downside to the day is that when I went to go fill out the rebate papers, I realized that the doofus at Sears had printed out my receipt and about 14,000 coupon offers, but not the rebate slip! Dagnabbit! I will definitely have to call and see what can be done about that. I want my rebate!

Would I do it again? Well, considering I got $400 worth of stuff for $167 (not including the savings of a cheaper phone contract), yes. I would. Lessons learned: wear long underwear, get to the store before it opens and stand in line, and have only one or two items in mind per store for easy in, easy out access. Between now and Christmas, I hope to not have to enter any stores, and to be able to do my shopping online. Wish me luck, and happy shopping and happy holidays to all of you, too!

A Tiny Bit of Knitting

I can't really post a lot of my recent knitting, as it will be gifted to some very lucky recipients for Christmas. However, I did some miniature knitting for a Secret Santa dolly swap, and since the gift has already arrived to its destination, I can share a picture. The hats, sweater, and scarf were made by me:


Cute, right? I am the most proud of the hat on the right... I came up with the knitting pattern on my own, and made up the crocheted flower without a pattern, and I am NOT the best of crocheters out there! Despite my relative lack of crocheting prowess, I also crocheted a brimmed beanie from a pattern by Amanda of CreativeBlythe.


It would probably look cute with a little crocheted flower, or a button or something... I used some leftover yarn from a super-secret Christmas project. These quickie projects are perfect ways to use up leftover yarn, and they are also very satisfying to make after finishing a long project.

ANYway... that's all I can share right now yarn-wise. I do have a little recap of my shopping experiences from Black Friday, but perhaps I'll share that in a day or two - I need to spread out my blogging a little, since I have been so lax in writing recently!

Vote, vote, vote, like a baby stoat!

That is what Cute Overload told me this morning when I got up earlier than usual, to try and vote before work. I had previously been unaware that baby stoats voted, but I suppose I stand corrected!

I basically rolled out of bed into some jeans, a jacket and a hat (to cover the hair) and stumbled over to my voting location, which is quite close by. Some mouthwash was also involved. I got there right at 7, but the line was long and slow moving. Additionally, it appeared that 3 wards were voting in the same place, but only MY ward had a line out the door. And of course, the ladies thumbing through the books of names and addresses were... doing so quite slowly. So slowly, in fact, that only 2-3 out of perhaps 20 booths were ever filled at one time. AHHHHH! I flew back home afterward and managed to get to work on time... just barely.

But the upshot is, people are coming out in record numbers this year, and I, too, tossed my vote on in there. I'll be going to a friend's house this evening to follow the results as they come in!

Dolly Fever

All summer, I was feeling a little guilty about my dolls. I own several dolls *ahem*. However, over the summer, they were literally collecting dust! I was wondering if the interest was a fleeting thing, and prepared myself to start selling some of them.

However, the cooler weather arrived, and suddenly, I was ALL about the dolls again. Making little clothes, pulling open their heads and changing their eye colors, and even... buying more dolls! I did end up selling a few of them in order to fund the new ones. I also customized one of them with the hopes of selling her to make some money, but she was just so cute that I HAD to keep her. There is NO WAY I could send her away!

Here is what she looked like before:


Initially, I wanted to dye her hair bright red and give her bangs, but that was an experiment that did NOT turn out the way I had wanted it to... AT ALL. So, I decided to go crazy with the experimentation, and started carving her lips. I then took a blank scalp and rooted it with mohair, changed her eye colors, and gave her new makeup. She now looks totally different! Looking back at old pics like the one above sometimes makes me sorry I no longer have the pinkish haired girl... but the new one is ssoooooo cute.

I did a silly photo shoot the other day. Her new name is "Apple".

First, she climbed a tree:


Then, she hid out in the bushes:



Next, she decided to kick some leaves...


"Apple! Where are your shoes???"
"I don't KNOW... they could be anywhere, really!"


"Um, you're supposed to be looking for your shoes..."
"I AM... OBVIOUSLY!"


Apple insisted on pushing the elevator button on the way home. She said it was because she KNEW I would do it WRONG.


It was fun to give her such a giant makeover, and I enjoy doing silly photostories every once in a while. Now, I am waiting for one of my 'dream dollies' in the mail... a couple of other Blythe collectors and I went in on a yahoo japan auction for 3 used dolls... evidently, Japanese collectors are not too keen on used dolls, so we got them for a steal!

When will I stop being cool?

I thought about this today, particularly in relation to my job. Currently, I have a nice balance with the kids I work with: I can comfortably joke that I am old and uncool, but the kids still like me and say I'm nice and whatnot. One of them saw me in the hallway today, and darted back and forth in front of me as if to fake like she wasn't going to let me pass. That type of sense of humor is right up my alley, so I darted back and forth, too, and said, "no way, you are never getting past me!" she laughed, and of course I let her 'win'.

Will there be a time when I'm too old for that stuff? When the kids will stop relating to me like that? Or, will it just shift to something that's still good, but different? With what I do at work, it is SO IMPORTANT for the kids to see me as someone they can relate to on some level. Will 45 be too old? 55? 65? Oh, jeesh, I hope I am not doing this at 65!

Already, I notice that I don't know all of the singers/ bands/ music they listen to any more. I actually blame that on my short commute - I used to do 'research' to and from work when I lived far away... 1 1/2 hours a day of listening to current pop music kept me in the know! I even liked some of it! I still do like some of it, but never listen to it any more. Hmmmm....

I guess maybe I'm leaning toward the idea that it might not be QUITE the same, the joking around might change tone as my skin wrinkles and my hair starts to require color-related intervention, but I'm assuming that my openness and my sense of humor will remain, and maybe the wisdom I earn every year of being on this earth will just add something good to the mix.

A Chill in the Air

I haven't written lately, have I! I have had every good intention of taking some photos of the knitting I have been working on, as well as of some of the jewelry I have made lately, but... as my 7th grade teacher told me, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". I remember being horrified that my 7th grade teacher said "hell" to me... despite what my parents might tell you, I was a very good little girl back then!

I sometimes think about what I was like back then, compared to the middle school kids I work with now. I mean, I think the first time I ever said an actual swear in front of my parents, I was over 18. I did my homework, came home within 15 minutes of when my parents told me to, I even did my own laundry by age 12. Not so with a lot of the kids I now know. They are having such a different life experience than I did!

Anyway, I am getting off track. The title of this post is referring to the onset of Fall. There have already been a few mornings where I have been able to see my breath on the way to my car, and although my window is still open, I did need to pull a blanket up over my sheet in bed a few times. Flip flops are really not an option any more. I know soon enough that my car window will stop rolling down until perhaps March, and that I'll have to start doing the 'penguin walk' down the icy sidewalks to keep from slipping and falling.

I don't always mind the cold weather... if you're dressed for it, it's not really that big a deal. It's the precipitation that annoys me the most; it makes things slippery, makes roads impassable, that sort of thing. Sure, when it is only 4 degrees and windy, I hate the cold for sure... but anything around 30 or above is really no biggie.

I hate it when people say, "well, if you don't like the weather, move!" It is such an ignorant oversimplification of why people choose to live where they do. And really - is there anywhere in the world where I would like the weather every single day of the year? Most likely, no. In warm places, it gets waaaay too hot in the summer. Or rains too much. Or has earthquakes. Or devastating hurricanes. Or major political unrest. You get the idea.

The reason I live where I do has much more to do with the culture, the history, proximity to friends and family, etc. than it has to do with the weather. I LIKE where I live. I have my own place in an interesting, vibrant city, and have made lots of friends here. I live within an hour of my parents and grandmother. I have a good job that I like. New England is a gorgeous part of the world. In the grand scheme of things, it is quite safe and clean, and I have all of the freedoms I could wish to have.

Anyway, a big pooh to those who have chosen to oversimplify things so erroneously. And a cheerful welcome to Fall - I like YOU a lot! It's winter that I frequently feel somewhat ambivalent about!

(Insert string of profanities here)

ARRRRGHHHHH! On Talk Like A Pirate Day, I ought to be happy and shivering me timbers. But instead, I am cursing my inconsiderate neighbors and their slovenly laundry habits... once again! I thought for certain that 3 pm on a Friday afternoon would be a nice, quiet time to do laundry, but noooOOOooooo. Every single working washer and dryer were full with abandoned laundry, including one washer that had the same moldy clothes in it as last Sunday! Disgusting! I pulled wet laundry out of two of the washers, and crossed my fingers that that person wouldn't show up to the dryers before i got back. They got back like TWO MINUTES before my laundry was done washing! Makes me SO MAD. People need to f-ing learn how to tell d@mn time.

I called the plumber. It's getting to the point that I'd rather put the cost of laundry hookup on my credit card than put up with idiot neighbors any longer.

The laundry room now sounds like sour, moldy laundry, and my desire to rip others' laundry apart with my teeth is at an all time high.

Photos - where are they?

Many apologies to those of you who visit hoping to see pictures of projects I've been working on - I have been quite lax in that arena. I can tell you that I started (and abandoned for the moment) a lovely lace scarf, Started and finished a silk tank top, and am getting toward the end of a blue cardigan. The silk tank top has even been worn in public, and the verdict was that it was flattering, particularly in the boobular region. Success! Too bad the verdict was passed along by a gal pal, rather than, say, a smolderingly sexy, single, heterosexual, emotionally stable, tall, employed and housed, man. But whatever... maybe next time!

However, now that I'm back at work, I get home when the light is poor in my apartment, and can think of all kinds of things to do other than photographing my knitting! So, my humblest of apologies. Just think, though... when I finally get around to taking pictures, there will be MEEEELIONS of them, each more yarny than the next!

*Sniff*

You know what I hate? Being sick all weekend! What is THAT all about! Poor planning, indeed. Many Kleenexes gave their lives to the cause. I just couldn't use a handkerchief this weekend; they are not designed to sustain such abuse.

To make matters worse, I had no groceries, so I HAD to leave the house on Saturday. I'm sure people steered clear of me - I feel like I must have just looked extra germy to the world.

I'm feeling better today, which is good. However, it is so extremely muggy out today, and, mysteriously enough, is also extremely muggy INSIDE work, as well. Not an ideal setup, really.

I did get a fair bit of knitting done over the weekend while watching Netflix movies (and movies on TV once the Netflix ones were viewed), which was nice, and I also cooked a bunch of food for the week last night: teriyaki quinoa with tofu, lentils with rice, and some egg salad. I also bought popsicles, and I have a feeling I'll be looking forward to one at the end of the day today. Yum.

Yet Another Impulsive Idea

So, you all may remember how I took some tap dancing lessons this spring and summer - I decided to do so quite impulsively, and had a great time!

This time, I know perfectly well that I am not going to have a great time...


I signed up for a twice a week boot camp style workout class. Squats, pushups, jumping rope, more pushups, running, crunches, you get the idea. And today, it was raining. We had to lie down outside on the grass in the rain...

My hope is that six weeks from now, it will not suck quite as badly as it did today! Oof!

300 posts! plus one!

Okay, so I missed announcing that my last post was the 300th. And I certainly never remember my blogiversary... it was two years in March. I did think that it was cool to note that I had 300 things that I wanted to write down for the public to have access to, should they choose to.

Blogging is really weird that way... people post things about themselves that we would never have dreamed of sharing with the world 20 years ago. Of course, the internet changed all of that. It is now easier to keep in touch with friends, 'chat' online, see pictures of what our pals have been up to, and even make friends with people whom we have never met, and may never meet!

It's all pretty cool to me... I hope this internet thingy sticks around for a while!

Laundry Room Woes

One would think that people who were well-off enough to own a condo would behave in a civilized manner in the communal laundry room. Well, you would be wrong.

For a while, we had the renegade 'dryer opener', who would sneak in and open your dryer, leaving your clothes damp and sad.

Then, there are people who leave their items in the washer/ dryer for days, apparently unable to keep track of the time so conveniently displayed in glowy green numbers atop the machines.

Sometimes, those people leave angry notes if you take their clothes out of the machine, evidently feeling that a communal washer is the PERFECT place to store clothing... who needs dressers and wardrobes when you've got your clothes wadded up in a wet ball at the bottom of a washing machine?

Today was extra special. I am a conscientious laundry room user - I set an alarm so that I can get down to keep my laundry moving quickly, in case anyone else needs to do laundry. Today, I got down several minutes before the dryers were scheduled to be done, and all of my laundry was out of the dryer, and someone else's laundry was running on my quarter! Even worse, a bunch of my shirts were still damp. It irks me to no end! It's invasive: touching my undies without a good reason. It's rude and it's stealing: I put those quarters in there to dry MY clothes, not someone else's!

I left a polite yet FIRM note sharing my opinion on the situation. And yes, I signed it. I know just who did it, too. Grrrrr.

Well, thanks for letting me vent. I frequently think about having a washer/dryer installed, but I am very pressed for space, and anywhere appropriate to put a dryer is really far away from anywhere that it could vent to the outside. Plus, any time I think about putting a washer/dryer into the bathroom, I then start thinking about how crummy the ripped-up linoleum looks, and how much I hate my wobbly toilet and cheap-looking sink and shower.

Grumble grumble.

oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo....

I am making some mittens. For a long time now, I have been admiring stranded mittens of various styles... traditional Norwegian, Latvian, what have you. So finally, I went ahead and decided to make the Rosebord mittens; I got the pattern and the yarn from Nordic Fiber Arts. As an aside, Nordic Fiber Arts has excellent customer service... they had a question about my order, contacted me about it by telephone, and the package was waiting for me at my home less than 24 hours later! It does help that they are within a couple of hours' driving distance, I suppose... they do not have a physical store, much to the benefit of my credit card balance, I'm sure!

Anyway, back to the mittens. It took me maybe halfway through the mitten to kind of get my groove with the two color knitting; I was carrying the inactive yarns sort of tightly behind the knitted fabric. I carry both colors in my right hand... one on my index finger, and one on my middle finger. It works pretty well for me. I'd take a picture if I had three hands, but I do not, so I will not.

Here is the back of the hand... I just LOVE these flowers! I really do. I find them to be a bit more round and soft than some of the patterns that I've seen, maybe even a little art deco-ish?


Here is the palm - I love that the pattern on the palm is different, and even the pattern on the thumb is different!


Here are a couple of flower close-ups:




I will definitely not be losing steam on this project... I'm considering whether or not I'll line them, either with some sort of fabric, or with a second knitted layer... perhaps cashmere? Yummmm.

Relative Success!

So, yesterday was orientation day for the teachers in my building. Last Thursday afternoon, my boss asked me if I could put together some information to review with the teachers about Second Step (the violence prevention program that is used in our building), avoiding burnout, and child development. She then told me I had 25 minutes in which to do it. Um, 25 minutes??? They dedicate full year college courses to child development alone! *boggle*

So, I decided to cheat just a little and talk mainly about avoiding teacher burnout, while adding in a little splash of child development for good measure. So, the good news is that the teachers didn't scorn me out of the room, and some of them asked good questions, and showed lukewarm interest in the workshop series I'll be presenting. (hey, on orientation day, lukewarm is about as toasty as we get!) AND, both yesterday and today, several teachers approached me to talk a bit more about what I had presented, making comments and saying that they had thought more about what we had talked about. I was quite pleased!

So, the next steps are to finish organizing the workshops, and to try and schedule them on days/ times that the teachers would actually be able to attend. I guess we'll see what happens! One thing I'm more than a little worried about is one teacher who is quite excited to attend, but is disturbingly free of any concern around social appropriateness or social cues. She is also a serious blabbermouth. She will talk and talk and talk and talk and talk... even if you turn around and walk away and are not talking to her any more, (after the appropriate "okay, I have to go now, goodbye") she will continue to chase after you and keep talking. She has followed teachers into the bathroom. She has chased people out of the building to their cars. The thought of having to control her during a workshop is definitely daunting! I will have to try and establish some sort of stern, battleaxe persona with her prior to the workshops, so she is a little scared of me. Hmmmm.

Back To School

Yep, mid-August means back to school for me... I've been back since Monday. Now, sure, it's a bit depressing to have to go back to work during the first week of rain-free weather we've had all summer, but... there are some positives, too.

No, really! Stop laughing and pointing!

Being the only social worker in a school like mine can be challenging for a whole bunch of reasons. We have students from all over the world, with varying backgrounds and histories, many of whom lug some pretty serious baggage along to school with them every day. As the only social worker, I'm the only person in the whole building who "speaks my language"... no one else has received the type of education and training I've gotten, particularly around issues of how trauma, learning disabilities, emotional issues and so on can affect a child's ability to cope and learn in a school environment.

Now that I've been where I am for a couple of years, I decided to make an effort to share what I know with the rest of the building. At the end of last year, I approached my school's principal with an outline for a series of workshops I wanted to run for the teachers. I'd cover topics like bullying, teacher burnout, managing aggressive students, dealing with resistant parents, the effects of emotional issues on a child's behavior/ ability to learn, and so on.

Well, it looks like it's all systems go. I cleared the idea with my principal, and also with the powers that be in the school department... it sounds like I'll be able to get participants some necessary 'professional development points', and will even get a small amount of compensation for the extra work/ hours. (Not a whole lot, but some!) The head honcho in the professional development office even commented that if this year goes well, I might want to consider teaching the workshops in the new teacher's academy!

Of course, I'm proud of myself for coming up with the idea, and for taking some initiative - it's definitely going above and beyond my basic job requirements. However, I'm also very nervous... will the teachers be interested? Willing to open their minds and look at things from a fresh (and totally different) perspective? Are they already too burned out to give me a chance? Will they say, "what do YOU know about teaching... you're not a teacher!" or, "you have only been in the schools for 6 years... get back to us when you've been here for 30 years... THEN you might be able to say you know something!"

Ahhhh, the what if's are killing me here! And to add a bit more pressure, my principal wants me to cover two of those topics (teacher burnout/ self care AND adolescent psychosocial development) in TWENTY FIVE minutes... ON MONDAY! WHaaaaaa? Entire college courses are taught on child development! I am going to go ahead and do my own thing... offer a teaser amount of info and try to drum up interest for the workshops.

Jeesh. That'll teach ME to show initiative.

Cross your fingers for me, will ya?

Back to the Grind... with bug bites!

Well, my summer is now over... I am back at school as of today. My coworkers who are back (administration only until next week) are all savagely tan (and wrinkly, ha ha on them), and we spent the first hour of the day sharing stories of what we did on our summer vacations.

It's all good, except for one thing: my feet feel like I am wearing bags of fire ants on them. A few days ago, my feet got eaten alive at an evening party, which was held outside under a tent. The bites have swollen into sausages covered in white welts with little blisters on top. Each step (or blow of the fan) is an exercise in itchy insanity! I somehow managed to put on some flip flops and hobble down the hallway to get to work, but ran back, and plastered the tops of my feet with bandages and medical tape. I also took an antihistamine, and I somehow made it to work. I will hopefully survive the day, and I am crossing my fingers that no one gives me a hard time about walking around barefoot.

The bites hurt too much for me to want to scratch them.

If you were here, I would whine a lot to you. Lucky for you that you are somewhere else.

In other news, I have finished a whole lot of knitting (and a little crocheting). I have finished the February Lady Sweater, Rusted Root (short sleeve sweater), a scarf, a neckwarmer, some slippers, and some hats. I will share pictures soon!

I am a vampire.

Well, sort of.

I am a pretty fair skinned individual. Additionally, I burn really fast - I have been known to start burning within 10-15 minutes, actually. I really have to plan ahead when I might be caught outdoors for a while, because I have to put sunblock on BEFORE getting in the sun... after all, it takes 20 minutes for sunblock to soak in, which is already too late. Lobsterface.

Anyway, I do not like the beach, unless I can be in the shade... it's all hot, and trying to manage sunblock in between dips in the ocean, with some sand mixed in... without shade, it is just not bearable or enjoyable to me.

Case in point: not wanting to go all the way to the beach given my pasty disposition, I went to Walden Pond today. It was gorgeous out today - sunny, light breeze, perfect, really. I even found a shady spot in the sand, spread out my towel, and laid down.

Fifteen minutes later, the sun had shifted and I was in full on sun. There was nowhere else to move to, because it was quite crowded, so I tried to get comfortable. I shifted and squirmed, tried covering my face with a towel, flipped from front to side to back to other side, but it just wasn't working. I was caught in the sun, and was squirming like a vampire turning to dust... it burnsssss, it BURNNNSSSSSS!

I was proud of myself... I lasted an hour. I really enjoyed the shady moment, and I also enjoyed the Bomb Pop I got before I left. Mmmmm. Red flavor. White flavor. Blue flavor!