Pulling my Frickin Hair out... & I has been tagged

Right away...I have no pics right now.

I finished Griffin's tomten, but need buttons. I'm "working on" Pepper's sox - the flat feet soxs - and finished one of the pair. I'm still working on the Central Park Hoodie.

School basically came up and hit me in the face. I have either been doing homework, school work, or been in intense pain with some sinus-flu kinda thing (the kids sneeze on you when you're a teacher...all the time!!!). In addition to this my homeroom is NOTHING like my homeroom last year...and homeroom does make a difference. Last year, with the exception of "Reese" - I blogged about him - my kids were crazy, but mature when they needed to be, quiet often, caring always, patient with me, respectful...I mean the list could go on. And Reese is all of these...but never does work or pays attention.

My kids now are freakin lunatics. Two suspended already (one with a court date), two with personal issues already. It's only the 2nd full week...oh, and one already had to be placed in another school due to behavior. Some are so awesome, but as a whole the totally drain me. I already love them. How or why, I have no idea, but I do. There's one who's so skutchy, but was out, and the room was, like, empty without her.

I still see my rockin crocheters...some have started knitting too. I found knitting needles and yarn on some random desk in an upper grade room and just smiled:)

In addition (yes, beyond the illness, work, and post grad school) we are trying to get my mom in law's house ready for sale and looking for our own home (home to move in Jan or Feb).

I miss this though...But I'm so done with this f^#%ing layout!

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So...since I'm bsing right now...

Dibosai tagged me so I'm doing this

What are the last 3 things you purchased?
Lunch at a diner with co workers, a book for Mr. Geek of all Trades and a Pirate Hat (HA!)

What are the last three songs you downloaded?
I don't know but the most recent songs I heard were...
Helden (I think) by Apocalyptica and the lead singer from Rammstein
37mm by AFI
Lost by Avenged Sevenfold

What where the three best places you visited?
Venice, all of South Spain, and Eastern State Pen in Phili

What are your three favorite movies?
THE CROW!!!!!!!!!! - this was the best movie ever made!
Star Wars (VI being the best, but all of them)
Dawn of the Dead - THE ORIGINAL...not this new one

What three things can you not live without? (Other than family and friends)
Chocolate, good books, and music - 'cause Smudge counts as family

What would be your three wishes?
Does this make it not come true? Eh
To get pregnant
To have my parents, sister, husband and other family members for a good long time
To be able to always live near my sister & parents

What are three things you haven’t done YET?
Be a mom
Write my book
Be a mom

What three celebrities do you want to hang out with most?
Jack Black
Tim Burton
Phillipia Gregory

Name three things that freak you out.
When people make faces that look like they're passing out or very ill
Slugs (one of only two insects I don't like)
Maggots or grubs (the other one)

What are your three favorite dishes?
Mommy's Black Beans
Mommy's Red Bean Dumplings
Sushi with Alyssa & Griff at Wasabi

Name three things you are good at.
Fixing broken toys
Not following my husband's advice when he suggests I take medication I really need
Petting Smudge

What are three things you are currently coveting?
1st season of the Tutors on DVD
Sushi
More time to exist during the day

AND I'M ADDING ONE!!!

What are your three current favorite TV shows?
I'm putting too many but...
Network Telie - Lost / House
My 3 BBC shows - Primeval / Dr. Who /Torchwood
Anthony Bourdain (he's HOT)

I'm tagging

CrochetWithMe
Wittys Girl
and Raire

The Adventures of SmudgeStick & the Flat Feet

Smudge still has a 90 degree head tilt and cannot move around more than a few inches on his own, but he can eat on his own if we put the hay or pellet bowls in the litter box with him...he was (and I assume still is) litter box trained, but can't get in or out of the box without help now so we line it with towels and change it frequently. One would think we'd of thought of that, but the small animal specialist vet thought of the idea. That way if he begins to roll he's in the box and catches himself.

In addition to Smudge being sick I was sick too:( I finally got out of the house yesterday and went to Stix with the ChalkDust Knitters. I got the black yarn I needed to finish the fair isle hat from the class with Sunday, also got some orange jitterbug and ... FLAT FEET!!!!







I'm doing the Harlot's basic sock pattern (it's in my ravelry) b/c I really want to do a simple pattern so I can see the colorway work itself out. I know its gimickie, but I really wanted it so I splurged.


Now for more crap...
the back of the Central Park Hoodie - Yes, I made it longer, and yes, the cables are backwards - I didn't have my pattern when I started the cables, made the mistake, and was up about a foot when I realized so they're stayin' as is:)



Griffin's Tomten - I saw him Monday. He is so freakin CUTE!! but I think he's still way too small for it. No news on the GrimmWitch baby front yet.



Sox for Griffin - too cute, bud!



And I finished the socks I made for my Mom.

7-23-2005, Aurora's Estate Sale, Tomten for Griffin, and Central Park Hoodie

Tomorrow Mr.G and I will have been married for three years. We were going to go away but between my knee injury and all this stuff going on with Aurora's (my late mother-in-law) estate we were unable. So we'll be bonding in the tri state area tomorrow.

Aurora's estate sale was this past weekend. I would suggest that if anyone reading this every finds themselves in the position to have to sell the belongings of someone you cared for to hire professionals if at all possible. This is also a reminder to myself...may I never forget how emotionally hard this was even with help and not do this on my own ever.

The company we hired is called Dusty Old Bags. It's two women and their husbands who come into the home, research and price things, and then conduct the sale. I just sat in the background. The sale was Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I was there with the help of the DOB ladies and their hubbies as well as Mom and Pepper. This was the more difficult of the two days. Some people came in like beasts, throwing Aurora's things around in order to find what they were looking for. Some people tried (and I'm sure some were successful) pocketing things. Loosing whatever dollar or so we would have made off the stolen items wasn't what bothered me, it was just the thought that something my mother in law had used was stolen from within her own house. Some people were very mean, I assume not knowing or caring that there were family members in the house and criticized my mother in law's taste, spending habits ("What kind of person spends so much money on herself," sort of stuff). She did spend a lot of money on herself. She was a shopaholic. She was not proud of the fact, and told me that she wished she weren't that way. It did not make her a bad person, but the way some of those people spoke...There were two girls in particular. Both had the I've-Plucked-My-Eyebrows-To -Oblivion-&-Now-They'll-Never-Grow-Back disease. Wherever you are, ladies, may this message be carried on the wind to you...you're emotional age needs to catch up to your late twenty something but somehow saggy faces! Get thee to a salon to get thy brows done properly! Three fold, man, that's just what I kept telling myself.

Some people said really nice things, ("This lady had great taste," or "This is someone's home and stuff we're going through, how sad.") Those people were like a breath of fresh air and I hope their actions come back to them as well. Kind words meant so much.

So now her house is almost empty. The basement is still a hell hole. I've found so much stuff...pictures, keepsakes, precious documents, but until Sunday I hadn't found very much baby stuff from Mr. Grimm Witch's childhood. Late Sunday night I was tunneling through the ancient grilling utensils, bills from 1987, broken glass, fake flowers, etc and found it. Like some wooden crate out of Indiana Jones, preserved and forgotten, a box of baby shower paraphernalia circa 1974, and three baby books, one for my husband, one for my brother-in-law, and a thin pamphlet dated 1927 for their dad. I also found a heap of slides with cherubie baby images of my b-i-l and husband as well as 8mm films...Disney World, Great Adventure, and all you Jersey kids...there might be pics of Jungle Habitat! I feel a lot better having found that stuff.

So I started this tomten for Griffin - who, by the way, is one of the most beautiful children ever born (aren't they all, though:)

No, I have not finished his ripple blanket, but I'm almost done. It's just the yarn felt so great! The label says Raggi Jarbo Garn. I have to look into this on Ravelry. They had a girlier yet awesomely unbabyish colorway of the same stuff at Stix and I think I'll make his cousin a tomten as well out of that so they can match.

Still working on the Central Park Hoodie.

Moving along.

ChalkDust Knitters Blog

I've been a bit busy as far as a school teacher's summer goes (I haven't worked during the summer since the summer before I got married so usually it's just sitting around at Mom's house b/s-ing and watching the View or something). With physical therapy for my knee injury, knitting, school, and taking care of loose ends my mother-in-law left behind, I've had a pretty packed summer so far.

The group of women I knit with have met up a few times. It was good because I really missed them. I made a blog for the group to help us schedule meetings, and keep connected. I suppose it may come in handy, if not I'll chuck it, but the free layout looks so darn cute, even with a pinky pink pattern (I may be a hot pink and pitch girl, but you'd never catch me in pepto pink - flashback to Catholic High School - Eek!).




Just over the weekend we went to Stix-n-Stitches one day and plan to go back soon. We went to eat at Raymond's in Montclair as per Stix-n-Stitches' Monica save-the-day suggestion. Thank you! I had been dying for eggs, and they were perfect. When we walked in I realized I'd seen the place's add in Weird NJ.

If you love Jersey and weird stuff you need to get yourself a copy of this magazine. I've been collecting them for about nine years. Weird NJ comes out twice a year, and the web site, while cool, doesn't do the mag justice. This new one, seen here with my new clear, pink ribbon bag from Stix and the beginning of my Central Park Hoodie, is a particularly interesting issue.

The UnWicked Witch of the West of Central Park Hoodie

I casted on yesterday. I forgot how much I love this yarn! And I got this one for half off, although I can't remember where, but I'm going to need more. I want to try to do different cables...I think I figured out how.


I pilfered this from Jess of Fig and Plum who recently posted a February Sweater in the incredible color. I'd started one for a co-worker's grandbaby to be, but the lace was coming out real tight...I was okay with it, but looking at Jess's beautiful one...mine's so lacking detail with the slightly too chunky yarn I'm using...I'm going to frog it!
Anyway...to the stolen goods...

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was just graduating high school. It was one of the most refreshing, liberating experiences of my entire life. People say those are your golden years, but I’d never want to go back to that. I feel like every year life gets just a little bit better.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
1. Type up my Freakin’ homework that has been done for two days but putrefying in my notebook.
2. Get more yarn for the Central Park Hoodie
3. Clean the Computer room
4. Finish Griffin’s Ripple Baby Blanket
5. Do laundry

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Chocolate

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in no particular order):
Buy a house for myself and Mr. GrimmWitch, one for Mom and Dad, and one for Pepper and my brother-in-law. Adopt like, five or six more animals and get Mr. G a toucan. Set up a scholarship for students of the high school in the town where I teach. Treat my little guys to Six Flags in September. Go to Europe. Pay for a weekend for all the ChalkDust Knitters to got on a yarn crawl through NYC, eating at an awesome restaurant, and see a Broadway show!

5) Places I have lived:
Only my beloved Jersey, and I love it!

6) Jobs I have had (I feel like I'm forgetting some, as long as the list is):
Receptionist for two seconds
Aid for special needs kids in a speech path office
Thomas Kincaid employee
Art Teacher
Language Arts/Social Studies Teacher
Rockin Math Teacher! (ironically the most enjoyable one).