Twilight, Crafting, Clapotis, and Animals

Let me begin with Twilight. It doesn't matter to me that it's Young Adult. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a series so much!
I lied.
Yes I can.
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

So I finished Twilight, read New Moon...

And now I'm on to Eclipse.

I love the characters. I feel like Bella's long lost aunt or something screaming in my head when she does something I know is unwise or cheering her on when good things happen. I don't fall for characters so easy either! Stephenie Meyer is a darn good storyteller. People may critisize her writing ability...eh! says I! I like a well told story; it doesn't have to be the linguistic parallel to Shakespeare.

On the crafty front, I've been planning some non-knitting projects and stopped at the Cozy Quilt Shop for the 1st time to buy supplies. It seems it's one of the only places in the area to go for lots of fabric variety since the closing of my beloved Rag Shops :( Here's the stuff I got...all fat quarters (a half of a half yard) except for the half yard of purple.

In knitting news, I made a wonderful, marvelous, too good, excellent mistake:)

I knew I had two skeins of Jitterbug in Mist to do the Clapotis.

Wherever I seemed to stop on Ravelry when searching, though, it seemed people needed about three. I searched the web and found an about 5 buck off sale on Jimmy Beans Wool.

I got some other stuff b/c it was 5 bucks off and ...

Starting at top: Noro Kureyon Sock in S149,

left to right: Colinette Jitterbug in lapis, popsicle, jay, alizerine, and ofcourse the mist not pictured above.

Stuff came, I was psyched.

I went to pull down the second skein of Jitterbug I had stored with my yarn and saw ...

that there was another one behind it! I already had 3:) So now I have a whole bunch of mist.

Good thing I really like the colorway -

and I'm happy I ordered b/c the hidden skein I'd forgotten about is slightly pinker than the two old ones and the new one (as you may or may not be able to see above) so I'll be using the new one for the clapotis.

I'm just starting to form some latters.

And now for something about animals.

On Sunday mom (aka Lupie) watched Sunday Moring on CBS and DVRed a story about how many parrots wide up getting given away b/c they are very difficult to live with.

Mr. G is pretty interested in adopting a parrot and I'm pretty much dead set against it. Why? Not b/c I don't like them, or rather, don't love them. I love birds. But I've learned a bit about parrots and I just don't think they're for us. As tempting as it is to adopt a pretty, smart, attentive pet, there are issues to be considered, as with any animal.

Here's the link to the video of the story.

And here's a link to the blog of a parrot mommy and a woman who has written a book on the subject of the reprocussions of adopting parrots rashly and not researching, Mira Tweti.

My issue with the parrots is their long lives and temperment. I don't want to sentence my future children to keep a pet they may not be able to manage (or may not want to) b/c mom and dad wanted a parrot. I wouldn't want to fall in love with a bird and then have to give him up when she bites my child's finger or when I'm too old to care for her.

This kind of cautiousness and need to research when adopting an animal should go with any animal. You need to consider your abilities, their abilities, your future, and their future. For instance...I love this little guy...

Look at the lashes, people! Fa-bu-lous

Smudge was most likely an Easter Bunny - (no, sadly not the kind that brings you chocolate eggs:( ). Every year in the months after Easter rabbits all over are turned in to rescues (like the now closed one where we got Smudge), shelters, or left to fend for themselves on the side of the road or in a park, etc.

Most pets are not capable of caring for themselves, especially after having lived in a home. Smudge was found one morning by a pet store owned outside the store in a soaking wet cardboard box that had at least been out there over night in the pooring rain. A faimly adopted him and almost immediately brough him back b/c he was biting their kids. After having lived with him for about three years I'm left to assume that the children were harassing him b/c even when Mr. G and I have had to force medicate him with antibiotics he gets upset, but never attacks.

So I love him, don't know what I'd do without him, but he has negatives (not for me, but would be for others). Usually I crop out the poop when I post a pick. I vacumed his hiding place beneath the coffee table yesterday. He was out for about an hour. I just wanted to do my part and say a little something about researching pets and post the links above. It is really important not to just run out and get any animal. It's like bringing a new family member into the fold. I love the Smudge, poop and all:)

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:)

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).

Back from Vacation

Hubbie and I went away for a few days. We went to Connecticut and hit some really nice sights. On the way to our hotel in Mystic we visited an old prison, Old New-Gate Prison. The prisoners had once mined copper in the caverns beneath the prison and visitors can still go there. Hubbie and I love Eastern State in Phili so much, we couldn't miss this. It was really cool in the caves in temperature as well as experience.

The 2nd day of our vacation we went to the Mystic Seaport and the Mystic Aquarium. I'd been to both places before, but it was nice to go back with Hubbie, and the whole trip lends itself to relaxation, which is what we were after.

On the 3rd day we visited Gillette Castle & Park. The drive there was wonderful, but long. On the way a deer crossed the street in front of us and checked us our as she went. The houses were beautiful rural, farm looking, just lovely! As we drove the forest was like a pair of flowing green ribbons on either side of us. Once we reached the castle we were pleased to see the long ride had been worth it.
Gillette was the 1st actor to portray the character of Sherlock Holmes on stage. He designed and partly built the home. It was awesome. The doors, the windows, had been hand made and were opened and closed with wooden cranks and knobs and doodads...brilliant! After we'd looked through the castle we made our way outside to a multitude of hiking trails on the grounds. The woods were breathtaking. We happened upon a pond complete with lilly pads and frogs (if it you don't already suspect, I love animals!!)

On the way back to Jersey we visited The Beardsley Zoo, and The Maritime Aquarium. The zoo was small, but lovely. Some of the enclosures were a bit small, but the zoo is certified so I supposed it's okay. The aquarium was more for small kids, but we had fun. We saw some seals, and a sea turtle, and some sharks..very cool.

I do have some pics of the trip and some of the little guys we met along the way.

I got very little of the surprise jacket done, and none of any of the other projects I'm dreaming up. I want to make a small sweater for myself out of some Schaefer Yarn. I love their yarn. And now i want to make an iPod case - got the idea from one of the ladies on Punk Rock Knitters.

I did get some yarn on my trip.
The Araucania Patagonia, (on top) is from The Knitting Niche in Greenwich, and the other skeins are from Mystic River Yarns and are by Ellyn Cooper.

The Ellyn Cooper yarns were so delicious no one could keep their hands (or noses) off them.


Smudge is just as nuts for yarn as I am...the perfect pair!