School has begun....

I have had no time for anything other than 2 showers, a you know what, and two point five meals each day. This program that we started ... I stole the idea from other people, primarily my mom, and kept pushing it until "they" said yes ... has been an enormously stressful and time consuming disaster. What is it? Basically the school district says that the students are heterogeneously grouped, but they're really not. ESL students who speak Spanish are kept separate all day. Special needs students (all of them in the grade level) are in one homeroom filled the rest of the way with gifted students. Those special needs kids only have science and history/health (that's a whole other issue - the kids don't understand that NJ is a state and not a country, but the district thinks it's okay for the social studies teacher to have to spend two days a week on health...can't the gym teacher do that? I'm sure they'd want to if they knew their students think that we live in the country of New Jersey). The special needs kids don't have me for math or problem solving or my co workers for reading or writing...so those periods the gifted students, who aren't most in need of lots of one on one time with us are in a small group setting multiple times during the day. Others, who are borderline in need or special classes, are packed into other groups b/c the group with the special needs and gifted students has a cap on it. So I'll have a math class with lots of troubled learners...24 kids, then I'll have a class of gifted kids...8 kids. How is this okay?

In an attempt to help us move towards a better situation I suggested (rather nagged) that we have heterogeneous homerooms and that those homerooms would travel JUST to the activity classes together (world language, gym, art, computers, and music). The district chose this year to impose on us teachers another turd-tastic program that they chose not to have staff test run before purchase. Last few years it was an online plan book/teacher web page combo. I hate it, it sux, the web page doesn't accept hardly any widgets. Now it's an online gradebook. While I love the idea, had they asked me to try it (I would have volunteered w/o pay b/c I'm an idiot) I would have known right away that this would have posed a problem for our heterogeneous groups b/c we would need a middle school format of the program.

People up top I guess don't see the benefit of the program as much as we do on the bottom. I have bilingual students becoming best friends with special needs and regular ed students. My final dream... that science and social studies/health be totally mixed along with activity classes.

I've been crying every other day. People have lost patience with me. I've seriously thought about how Mr. G and I would survive if I quit. I really feel that unless I de-stress I will not get pregnant. So, that's where I've been. What's been up with you?

My school looks like a war zone :(

So I got to school today to do set up (teachers usually go in early -and unpaid, mind you - to set up? Why? 'Cause most of us teach 'cause we love our jobs and not for the fat pay check:) and I find this.

As if my students don't have enough working against them. The sad thing is that with my district's track record I don't know for sure what's going to happen. Will it be fixed? Who knows? In addition to this the nipple-looking leak outside my room pictured in this previous post has gotten much worst (there was a huge 3 by 2 sort of puddle that built up in less than an hour with three garbage cans having 4 inches each of yellow water right below the leak). Also, each of my colleagues has either a 2 by 2 or a 3 by 2 hole in the ceiling or wall (none of those appear to be leaking...yet).

The state is allowing the town to use moneys once destine to fund a new building for us to improve the high school that most of my kids will drop out of b/c they felt like they were pieces of shit in grammar school b/c they went to a turd ball school.

Sorry, but ... my job and my kids .... (yes, I'm goin to type this) ... are so important to me that they are only second to family (including Smudge) and friends .... even above knitting!

What have I been knitting...

This is the Brooklyn Tweed hat I posted about before. Lupie started hers too. She's having sinus problems with the hairiness from the yarn :( But she says she is enjoying it. I like it too. I would like to try it with a solid and a Noro sock as the background. I really like the yarn, Classic Elite Fresco, and will use it again.

Speaking of Lupie, aka my Mama, I just want to thank her so much for getting me my first Kitchenaid. Way more colors than they had way back when my mom got hers. It's a kitchen luxury that my mom always wanted to get for my sister and I as gifts when we were adults with our own households (notice I don't say married - feminist Lupie would never say 'when you're married' to her daughters. She taught us that marriage is great if you want it but not mandatory to reach adulthood).

I haven't used it yet, but every time I look at is I smile and I already have a bunch of ideas about what I wanna do. It's not shiny like most of them are. It has a mat texture. I think it's a more macho version of the original, perfect for a tom boy like me. I haven't seen my sister's yet, but apparently she got her a wasabi colored one. That's so my sister's color. In the pic you can also see some other awesome shit I have. The art nouveau coaster is from Griffin's mom years ago. My sister got me that slamin' Alice in Wonderland mug. The canister set was my grandmother's (Lupie's mom).

And now for some bun stuff. Here's my little lovely.

He is so funny...anyway, that clear ball in the background is a cool toy. It's just like the dog balls that release treats. When a bunny rolls it the treats you put inside come out. He hasn't figured it out yet:) I don't know where it came from...Mr. G got it.

Finally...my guilty pleasure has returned (one of them:)

Project Runway is starting out great. This season, unlike the previous ones on Bravo, is on Lifetime and is taking/took place in LA. I can see no change in the quality of the show since the change in stations. It's too soon for me to have any favorites yet. But if you've never seen it I would recommend you give it a chance. Although I watch Top Chef, The Fashion Show, Split Ends, Big Brother (go Kevin!!!! HOH) I'm not a reality show freak. It has to be fairly interesting and not too insipid to attract my attention. Project Runway, as usual, looks like it's going to be delightful!!!

Taking a Break from my Knitting with...more Knitting

I have been working on the Baby Surprise for Mrs. B's grandbaby. I got the invite for the party but sadly it's on my birthday so I won't be staying for the whole thing.

It's a second kid for the parents, so Mrs. B was asking us in school in June if we thought it was appropriate to have a smaller party. I think that whenever anyone has any sort of excuse to have a party one should do so; maybe a smaller party is called for or asking for donations instead of gifts is an option. I also feel that whenever a child of the opposite gender enters a family (the 1st child a boy, the 2nd a girl, or the 1st two boys, the 3rd a girl,m visa versa and etc) you're pretty much starting from scratch in many areas so a typical baby shower is fine. Mrs. B is just a very considerate person. She never wants to offend people.

So here is a pic of the newest portions of the sweater, now with lavender stripes introduced.

I took a break from sox and the Clapotis to make a hat. Mom (Lupie) had picked out a pattern she wanted to make and I wanted to work along with her, but I was eyeing another pattern from tentenknits.

I worked on it one afternoon at Mom's house and two nights in a row when I was trying to get to sleep and finished quickly. I tried my best with the floats but know that tension will get better with practice.

Tomorrow I'm going knitting with the ChalkDust Knitters for the first time in months. I'm very excited b/c I know Karen will have the latest news from school (she is an administrative assistant in another grammar school in my district). I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but apparently my school has been closed down due to asbestos. Gee whizz, I wonder if all the cave-ins, cracks, and ceiling nipples with dripping asbestos water could have put any of my kids in danger!?!?

Warning...Crazy Teacher Rant...

I really want to know what's going on b/c I had big plans to completely re-do my classroom so that it would be more organized, easier to run, and therefore a less stressful place to be. But who knows what will happen now, and who knows whether or not all the dangerous crap will really be cleared away. I bet any amount of money it won't.

People wanna know why my little dudes can't score as high as other districts (even though we score high compared to other urban districts like our own). It's because my funny, smart, beautiful, clever, awesome, caring, inspirational, terrific students (they are really too wonderful for words) are going to school in a century old building that was permitted to slowly desintigrate. They look at drab beige and brown walls and floors every day, my posters and decorations stretching to cover up the veins of water damage and dusty cracks that have been unrepared for years.

Then people try to blame the custodians. I imagine keeping my school clean must be something like trying to dust and restore an Egyptian pyramid after someone plays paintball inside.

Teacher Rant Over

I went out recently with two women I went to high school with. It's weird to call them women:) I still feel 18 sometimes. I think if someone had asked me which one of us I thought would be married and in a stable teaching possition ten years later I would have been my last guess. I tell my students all the time that sometimes life takes you to the complete opposite of where you thought you'd be. And in my case it ended up to be the best thing as I sit here typing next to the man I never thought I'd want to meet, in the home I never imagined I'd own.

And in music news I stumbled across the two year old album of the band She Want Revenge and really liked it. So one may want to check it out...it sits just perfect between Joy Division and The Cars in my iPod, but I wouldn't say it's exactly like either.

Hell Yeah!

I frickin didn't get to finish Mary's Thank You socks. I would have been able to but I was running around like a mental patient for most of the day...I asked her to drop by my room and I told her about the socks and she freaked out! She took the finished sock and went around bragging to others that I was making them for her. It was nice of her to freak out like that. You rock, Mary.

I'm nervous about next year already b/c my principal is supporting me in the creation of this heterogenious grouping program I'm copying from Lupie's old school and I'm scared other teachers are going to make it difficult for me.

But for now I can say...
TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT!


SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!
NO MORE PENCILS
NO MORE BOOKS
NO MORE STUDENTS'
DIRTY LOOKS



UPDATE

Just finished the Mary Thank You Socks

A pretty eventful weekend...

I'll write quite b/c I'm STILL not done with the thank you socks... but hopefully she'll still get them tomorrow. Why must I have them ready for tomorrow?? Well, if you take a look at the counter at the bottom of my page you'll see

TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

Like I've said in previous posts, I'm going to miss my kids, but I'm excited to do stuff in my new house and to her my sister (yes, poor Lupie has two of us!) set up her (filthy) new home. (By the by, if you're renting, you still have to clean...even though it's not yours - the people who lived in Pepper's house until she bought it left it repulsive!)

So the weekend began with a fare well lunch for one of my co-workers being transferred to another school. I'm sad to see her go, but I'm happy b/c she'll be in a new-ish building in a school with a lot of spirit (we have spirit issues in my school - by the way, now the ceiling in the stairwell fell down - throw us a bone Corzine!)

She jokes about Tom Jones and his panty catching kitchyness. She and my other co-worker are even going to a Tom Jones concert in July (may the Gods bless them). There's also this whole funny thing with Angela Lansberry (don't know if that's spelled ok) that has a huge back story that I'm not going into on here...but anyway...so my co-worker jokes about them. Another one of us as a gag wrong a letter to the transferee in the persona of Tom Jones apologizing that he couldn't make it to dine with us and assuring my co-worker that he'll see her in July at the concert. Hardy har har:) And she even made these hysterical lolly pops (delicious by the way:)

On Saturday Pepper, Lupie, and I got our hair cut and I got mine dyed. My hair dresser put something like seven gradiated colors in it to make this gradual transition of reds to dark purple underneath. It looks less purple and more black on the bottom. It's very pretty, and the cut is great, but I don't know if it's wild enough for summer - I'll see how I feel.
Pepper's been working hard at her pretty new-to-her house. I love it. It has fantabulous landscaping. I went by on surprise today with Mr. G to invite her and Mr. Pepper out to eat at a local Japanese place but they had company so Mr. G and I went without them. We ate at Fuki (I love the name) in River Edge, NJ. This was the best Japanese I've had in a long time. Here's a shot of the Mary socks on the table at the restaurant.

The fish was so delicious and tasted fresh. Usually when I hit a Japanese place on Sunday, most any place, for whatever reason I feel the fish is only okay. This fish rocked. The service was nice, very attentive. It was priced similarly to most places in the area (Wasabi in Ridgewood is another good one, but this one is way cuter and much more homey.) I had a sashimi platter - the white tuna was awesome. Look at how they served my salmon row.

For desert we had Red Bean ice cream in a ball and deep fried tempura style. It was Mr.G's 1st time eating red bean ice cream. He really liked it. It was the perfect, scrumptious topping to a great weekend. And now...

One more day

And finally...True Blood...Right NOW!!!

I really think Lafayette is dead...wait...GASP

And watch for Suckie's grandma's knitting.

So tired...so excited!!

Yippy Skippy!!!

Photo from Bravo

I am so excited about this!!

I have been very ill as I'm sure one can deduce by my last post. Yesterday, by evening by migraine was so bad that I called Mr. G at work to stay on the phone with me b/c the dizziness was causing me to walk totally messed up and I was afraid I would fall.

I would have stayed home from work today except A) it's so close to the end B) some of my students find it impossible to behave for subs - you should see the note a sub left for me when I was out Monday. I don't know what the hell they're thinking! The behavior is frankly unsafe, but hell, I should be able to get a frickin migraine and not fear that they'll kill each other - and C) I had a very important meeting about one of my kids and the mom keeps neglecting to show (she missed 5 meetings - I don't know, man). He's a great kid, a good person, a wonderful artist, and all I want is for him to succeed. Things didn't go as I'd hoped. I know he failed, but I feel the situation is beyond his control in some ways and I was hoping to get him AP-ed (administrative promotion). I haven't given up yet, though.

Honestly, they're all great, my kids, they're just freakin insane. They can't behave appropriately ever. I insanely picked this year (obviously unknowingly) to re-vamp my whole approach to discipline. These little dudes need the old, louder me (I was - am kinda still - a drill sergeant yeller) just because their volume is immence.

I really have the "artists row" of homerooms this year. They're all visual artists, or performers and they don't know it yet - hysterically freakin funny children. I have one who can draw really well, but I feel that he'd be a great writer too. He really drives me nuts and weighs on my patience - does this not speaking to me thing - but he's an awesome little guy & just human.

I have one who loves baseball and it's nice b/c I'm just getting into it more b/c of Mr. G - this kid's a genius. I adore his humor. I have another who is equally as smart and a wealth of obscure knowledge...WWII planes, King Tut, etc. My girls rock! They are the most helpful cutie pies ever. One of them is a total pisser - she could be a comedienne right now.

I have two secretaries too. One boy and one girl. I don't think they realize how much they help me every day. One of them is moving and I'm really going to miss her. She's like a little mini homegirl.

I can't wait for Monday - last day - to be over. They are totally crazy, but then, so am I, so we were all a good fit together. I'm proud to know them. They're a bunch of great kids.

Needless to say the Thank you socks ain't done. My nights have been full of headache and totally knitless:( I'm glad Mr. G is home tonight b/c I still feel shitty:(

I Survived the Worst Day of the School Year 'n all I Got was this Lousy T-Shirt

Firstly, Mr. G took some pics of the really beautiful animals in our neighborhood and I wanted to share a few more. I feel so lucky to live here. Such an overlooked part of everyday...the animals around you, but I'm always mezmorized and there are plenty to watch by my house.
Nextly, today was the DARE Graduation at school. As a 5th grade teacher in NJ my students take part in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program during which a town cop comes in each week and teaches the kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse. Our cops take it one step further and throw in lessons about dealing successfully with any negative peer pressure involving illegal substances and violence. The cop we had this year was just awesome. The kids love her and you can see she enjoyed spending time with them too.

At the end of the program the students do three things...write an essay about what they learned, create a poster for DARE with a slogan (for example: Be Awares, Drugs are for Squares), and take part in a graduation. It has the potential each year to be cute...we all wear matching tees and put on a show for the parents, the 4th grade, and various town officials. Here's this year's shirt.

We usually do it up...rewrite songs with new, DARE-y words (STOP! in the Name of DARE, Before you Make Mistakes! Think it Oh-Over), skits, etc. As you can imagine this all takes time. But if you look further down on the page that counter to the last day is a' tickin' (thank the Gods), testing was late this year, and as much as I love all the kids in this year's 5th grade, as a group they're a difficult mix. So this year we tried to fly low.

It still managed to be very stressful. So many needy kids with so many issues makes for insane rehearsals. Other teachers complained that we were too loud (don't ever call the principal on your co-worker right away...go to them and talk first. Don't teachers tell kids to try to solve problems on their own first? I can't wait to see how other people are going to deal with this group! Let's see who complains then!)

We ended up making this Bob Dylan Subterranian Homesick Blues-esque video (that's the one where he holds up the signs in the video) all to the tune of Under Pressure (we used both the original version and the Used's cover during the show). The cop spoke, we ran the video, the best essays were read aloud and in the end everyone was happy, but the stress of getting there with 95 some-odd kids behaving like they'd snorted 20 Pixie Stix each was heavy. When I got into the car to drive home I realized that the only end-of-year work I have left to do can only be done in school and that I have the evening free. Mr. G works late...so I stopped at Kings (Ou La La, movin' on up) and got some treats for myself.
The Green Mountain Coffee bag says Mocha Nut Fudge and the cake is red velvet. I'm chowing down right now. Along with some knitting on the Mary Thank You Socks, the next volume of Fables and watching The Fashion Show with Smudge I think I'll feel better by morning!
The sock is coming along smoothly but as usual I'm dreading the Kitchner. I don't know why
I'm so bad at it. I even use a guide. Hopefully that'll be done before I go to sleep tonight.

Wish me luck with the Kitchner:)

Hole in the wall, and ceiling, and a crack in the wall as well

Someone from the district came to look at the hole in Mrs. A's ceiling (she is still not back in her room) but did not come to see my nipple or my crack:(

An Old Time-y Village, Drinking from a Jar, Hearses, and My Crack

Life at school totally sux right now. We are getting ready for DARE graduation and as piffly as the production has become (we used to do an actual play with scripts written by my co workers and myself) it's still stressful. And grading tests (a pile, no kidding, a foot high), and end of year junk, and Swine Flu is sinking its delicious, bacon-y hands into the district slowly. Then we walk in on Friday and Mrs. A found this in her room.


Yes, that is the ceiling missing up there, pic taken on the cell phone. The building is literally falling apart. The ceiling fell in in another area last year when Mrs. A was pregnant with Emma (the baby from such well known FOs as Emma Baby Surprise and Emma Baby Bolero). Thank the Gods both times there were no children in the room. The debris fell with such force that the closet was thrown open and the crap cascaded out.



My room hasn't caved in yet, but yet is the key word there. This is my crack...get your mind out of the gutter...not that kind of crack...this kind.



That's in my fucking classroom, ladies and gents, like, where my young students and I do math all day. I think that the pic does it no justice. It looks as if there's some kind of weird coloring inside the crack. Mold?? Who knows?

First you saw my crack, now I'll show you my nipple. I call this one the nipple b/c it has an areola made of water stain and mold-looking-browniness and it leaks water whenever it rains.

Last year the nipple that is located on the ceiling just outside my room against a wall adjacent to my crack was patched and I thought it was gone for good...but the tit came back the very next year. It is grosser looking in person, but you get the idea. If someone from my district somehow sees this, which they won't, and gets pissed...I am one of the district's most loyal employees. I could get a job and teach elsewhere but won't not b/c I can't, but b/c even though times are tough now I fucking love my job. I love the town, I adore my students, I love my co workers, and some how my freakin' rockin' supervisor, Also Mrs. G, has made me a math obsessive. All I want is for more effort to be put into giving the kids what they deserve...the least restrictive learning environment. My little guys have to look at this stuff every day, climb over the mountains of other obstacles such as language issues, community dysfunction, and poverty, and still compete with the suburban kids' test scores. But they keep their spirits up. They are awesome little minions.:)

Anyway, after a week like that I was drooling for the weekend this time around. First, these are the people in my neighborhood.

Mr. G hooked us up with a bird feeder and we are the popular food joint in the 'burbs. I know they're not unusual birds, but I could watch them for hours. They are beautiful. The shot below was my favorite. She or he looked like she or he was posing.

So, Mrs. L, Griffin's mom, called me up and asked if Mr. G and I would join her, her hubbie, and the Griffster on Saturday to visit Museum Village in Monroe, NY for a gem show and then an antique show @ Ramapo College. Mrs. L and I love gem shows, and I needed a break, so I agreed.

The five of us (Mrs. L, Mr. L, Griffin, Mr. G, and GrimmWitch myself) drove there and I got to sit next to Grif, which was a complete pleasure. He is by far the most easy going and delightful baby of all time and I thoroughly enjoyed his company. The gem show set up all around the small lost in time village was a 4 out of 10 as far as gem shows go, but the fact that it was inside the historic-y setting was a huge plus. The number of vendors would be massively dwarfed by the number at any other show we go to in NJ or NY.

The village is a conglomeration of genuine and reproduction buildings brought from all different places and reconfigured by the land owner similarly to poor Waterloo Village in NJ (Corzine, get off your fat ass and help Waterloo!). Although people dress in period clothing and do demos, there were none there on Saturday. Mr. G was very disappointed that he didn't get to chat with any "old time-y people." He did take some great pics of the place. Here's the schoolhouse.

Notice the lack of crack in this room when compared to my own classroom. It is equipped with a dunce chair in the left hand corner (I would have lived on that!:)

The Village also has a Natural History building. NJ has had some great dino finds throughout the state's history, so I was not surprised about fossils being on display, but this was great!

And they also have the biggest giant sloth skeleton I've ever seen. That includes the one from NYC.

There were some really beautiful Victorian carrage hearses in another building. Morbid, but I am the GRIMMWitch after all.

I love the finials on this one. The fabric is still there.

After the Village we ate at the Mason Jar. I had lovely Eggs Florentine and we drank our beverages from mason jars, hence the name.

The antique fair @ Ramapo was also really wonderful. There were so many beautiful things, but most were a little too expensive for a young couple with a new mortgage. Mr. G ate a deep fried Twinky that I didn't get a chance to shoot a pic of...but before he bit into it it looked like a corn dog. I did get one non-antique thing.

So scrumptiously Anne Taintor-esque, and so true. Do I have to go back to work on Monday?

Finally, I finished the Ribbed Lace Bolero from 10 feet high. I really love it.

See, I am the designers neck twin...(see previous post).

My Mother's Day with Spock

I felt so bad b/c my gift for my mom were the Jaywalkers and I didn't finish them in time, but for anyone who knows her or reads her blog I bet you'd guess she's not one for Mother's Day. She thinks any time you show your mother you love and appreciate her is mother's day enough. But I did go and hang out with her for a while.

After spending some time with Mama Lupie and dear old Dad on an adventure to a yarn store in JC that turned out to be closed (thanks a lot, your e-mail stated you'd be opened until 6 - we went all the way out there for nothing, butthole) I went back to spend the rest of my Mother's Day with Mr. G. Hopefully the last one where no one has a need to buy me stuff if you know what I mean (keep your fingers crossed like, forever:)

We went up to Nyack and saw...are ya' ready...STAR TREK

Two words...

Fucking Awesome

Mr. G and I saw it on the IMAX screen. I had my first ripping migrane in a while but was so glad that I didn't go home. I first watched the original Star Trek as a teen in high school when one of my teachers gave a mini class on its social commentary subtext and got hooked. I just loved the story lines and I had a thing for Leonard Nimoy:)

Why is Spock so irresistable? Am I the only one who feels like this...anyway...Zachary Quinto did an amazing job (as did all the actors...the dude who played McCoy rocked the roll - he must have watched the shows over and over to get the speech inflections down pat). And Quinto, who's striking in Heros (he makes you wanna be bad) was just as hot here.

Leonard Nimoy was in the film as well...I won't go into detail...but I gotta say, still good looking. And I love the way he approaches the dynasty that birthed his fame. He seems to enjoy and appreciate Star Trek. Not like the other one you-know-who-I-mean.

The writing was wonderful, the plot I found to be completely well crafted (not like poor Wolverine although I do like Hugh Jackman). It was just a great film.

Whilst at the mall I was able to get my Weird NJ. Don't know why the Borders by me has been dragging its feet to get it in...but I have it now and have been carrying it and the first volume of Fables around with me all day.

We have the NJ ASK this week and it is a little tiny nightmare. In frustration on Friday as we crammed I called the Smartboard a bastard outloud and didn't realize until it was too late. The kids asked me if I was scared and I had to level with them. I just hate the test. I am nervous. It seems people think that it's okay to judge the kids and the teachers on the results and it's totally not okay. I hate seeing their little faces contorted with stress or listless with boredom as they wait for the minutes to drain away when they're done and are not permitted to draw or read. I have a homeroom full of young humanists and artists. These kids draw in their sleep. How can I tell them not to draw?!? Testing is like going to the dentist and sitting in the waiting room listening to the patient before you scream as the drill growls...but waiting for an entire week.

Back to something less hellish..I also picked up one of the newest Living Dead Dolls. This series is based on urban legends. I chose the hook man.

Alrighty...I'm off to finish the Jaywalkers. Hopefully I'll have picks tomorrow.

Long time no see, long post to come

It's been a long, long while. What have I been up to...honestly, being an infant and surrenduring to a "hard time". I kept moving and shaking, but inside I've really allowed myself to surrender to my frustrations one too many times...but I'm human, you know. I stuck to my guns and didn't go to library school this semester. I'm glad b/c I had more time to devote to moving in. This house is a definate highlight in my life! I don't care what anyone else would have to say about it...too tiny, to old fashioned...I thought I'd never have one and now I do and I think it's great!:) We have done quite a bit in the short time we've been here.

Some B4 & afters...
the bedroom...
All we did here was paint. Is it blue? Is it purple? My husband's grandfather painted the pre-raphielite there.

Dressingroom?

It's a previous bedroom that joins our own through a blasted out wall. They were using it as an office. We're kinda leaving it open incase we need a nursery (cross your fingers, but it's been like two years and no dice yet).

Sunroom!:)

Mr. GrimmWitch has his compputer set up in there and we have a window seat sort of table with Smudge stuff and a round table covered with graphic novels at the moment.

Diningroom...

All the gross wallpaper is gone! Haste-La-Bye-Bye!! You may not be able to see it from here but it seemed almost 5 mm thick and was textured. It was pealing off in most places and gross! I have my Mucha reproduction and my devilish boozer art there. The wooden box is filled with my grandmother's silver...retro 50s stuff with six pointed nuclear-y bursts etched into the handles. I love them. Thanks Mom!

the Livingroom...

My mom has been calling this room "table city". We don't really have seating in here...nothing but that chair currently being used to hold some of my husband's weapons. The color is a gray green...and again, ALL THE FREAKIN WALLPAPER IS GONE! The same kinda stuff was in here, textured and thick. Also, this room, the stairs upwards, and the hall were carpeted. This beautiful wood was beneath that. We had this done right away.

Finally, my favorite room, the Family Room.

I love the color we painted the wall...it's "Pumpkin Pie". The sunroom is just beyond. The rug is still here, but there's no hard wood here so we'll wait until we can aford to do a planned remodel of the back of the house.

Smudge seems to be warming up to the place just fine. He had a cold when we moved in, but now he seems okay. There's his condo, and the cardboard structure on the left is a maze.

He started exploring immediately. This was his first night. He has not gone beyond this room yet.


In other news, work sux! It's gotten to the point where some days I actually hate my job. I love my kids... my supervisor was asking me if I like math. Shamefully, I am a write who's grown to love teaching math:) That's not it. i just have so many problems with the execution of my job for many reasons, the severe student apathy and poor work ethic (lord knows I don't expect the theory of relativity, but they just don't work, and I put bells and whistles on everything! How can such creative, fun people be so turned off when I toil to make the learning fun?). I also feel like my school community is going through a transitional period, like those first akward teenage years when your face is so greasy it has reflective qualities.

I am knitting quite a few things. I'm still working on that tomten.





Yarn Diva had buttons like the one's I used on Mrs. B's Sophia Baby Surprise in just the perfect color for this tomten (for a different Sophia:)

I had to take a tomten break to make this Baby Surprise for Henry L.




For whatever reason, who knows, i just wasn't as happy with this one.





Love the buttons. Same as Griff's.


Some of The ChalkDust Knitters are making this Debbie Bliss shawl scarf. Here's a very blurry picture of my still tiny on. My mom's is already so long!

Last, but not least...Here's the Shmed...