Yenta or Shadchan?

No, I'm not Jewish, but apparently my assistant, R, must have been in her former life. She is contently asking me this or that about my love life and if I'm not giving her answers, which I hardly do because I don't really know her all that well, she's trying to get the information out of my assistant, who I've worked with for the last seven years. Much to this woman's chagrin, Carleen doesn't tell her anything. Carleen and I find it humorous that she will ask us each about the other, but will hardly ever directly asks us those question. It drives Carleen absolutely batty!

Anyhoo, getting back to the Shadchan part. *For those of you that do not know, yenta is the Yiddish word for busybody and shadchan is the Yiddish word for matchmaker - if I am incorrect in my translation please correct me!*

So, a few weeks ago, my team (minus Carleen because she was out that day) and I were sitting down eating lunch and just chit-chatting away. Another co-worker, Ms. P, comes in to shoot the shit with us and she wanted to show us pictures of her son. Her SINGLE son *you see where this is going yet?* This co-worker is a little Italian woman that is tickled pink to have another Italian to talk to at work.

The light bulb went off in R's head and she ask "Is you son single?" Of course he is. Then, before I really know how it happened P was telling me all about her son. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Oh, did I mention the fact that he's teaching English over in Korea! He's not even in the states! Yeah, just what I need. Luckily, just as I think P was trying to actually get a firm answer out of me of if I was truly interested, my cellphone rang. *saved by the bell, literally* The humorous part of that was that it was Mr. X calling.

The next day, I was telling Carleen the story and I don't think she could believe it all, but when Ms. P came by for her morning coffee and referred to me as her "future-daughter-in-law" I thought Carleen's eyes were going to pop out of her head when she looked at me. I had to leave the back office.

I think Carleen must have said something to R because it was never mentioned again, until today when Ms. P asked me what I was doing over winter break because he son might be coming home for Christmas. ACK!

Well, That Didn't Take Long!

Schools been in session for what, three weeks now. Two of those weeks were short weeks so our system has has ONLY been in session for 12 days. 12 DAYS! That's it. The students have only been here for 12 freakin' days and it's already happened. *What?? What's happened?? You are all asking yourself*

It would appear that I have officially pissed off a teacher in my new school! *I know, you are all asking yourselves "What? How? Sweet, little 'ol Pheelya pissed someone off??"*giggle* Yes folks, apparently my explaining how to schedule a class to come to the media center was taken as a reprimand by a teacher! A reprimand!!

*laugh*

I was simply explaining to her that when she spoke to my assistant, that a message was being passed along to me and that she had NOT been officially scheduled for the time slot she was asking for. Considering that I already have another class scheduled during the period that she wanted to bring her class down, I thought I would clarify this. Had I NOT clarified this and she came down here on Friday and found another class in here what do you think her reaction would have been? Yeah.

Just had to share the humor with you all *grin*

A reprimand?! *LAUGH*

Thank Goodness the Two Week are Over!

Sorry I haven't been around much the last couple of weeks. School has started back up and I have been trying to readjust my sleep pattern to accomodate a 5:15 AM wake-up call to be out the door by 6:15 AM to be at work by 7AM. Very hard considering last year I was waking up at 7AM to be at work by 8:30 AM. Really, 5 AM is for the birds! On the flip side though.... No more Crazy Sally! No More Crazy Sally!! *does a little happy dance around her office* So far, so good here at high school :)

What a difference the atmosphere is here compared to my old school. I actually walk in with a smile on my face and my shoulders relaxed!! I did not realize just how tense and stressed I had been about work while I was still at the other school. The 2nd factor that really hit it home for me was my Advil Migraine. *I know you are all going - HUH??* I had kept a large bottle of Advil Migraine in my desk draw because I am prone to migraines and Advil Migraine is my first line of defense when I feel a headache coming on. Anyhoo, I didn't get much sleep the other night and started getting a headache while at work. Without thinking, I reached into my drawer to pull out my bottle, only I hadn't brought any in yet. Luckily a co-worker had some Aleve on him and I was able to get rid of the headache. I emailed myself a reminder at home to bring in some Advil Migraine. When I got home I immediately when to go get my home stash to throw in my school bag. That's when it hit me - BOTH my bottles at home were empty! I tend to keep one bottle upstairs in my linen closet and one bottle downstairs in my food pantry. There were days that I would come home just so stressed out that I needed my Advil right when I walked in and then would lay down on the couch with an ice pack on my head.

Now, since I had the surgery over the summer I didn't have a single headache and I knew I hadn't had any Advils since the end of school. So when I had a whooping TWO whole pills left in my house, that's when I realized just how CRAZY that woman made me!

Anyhoo, the change over to high school has been good so far. I get the destinct impression that the person that left was not very friendly when it came to dealing with students and staff. It seems like if I smile, keep the media center open and allow kids to check out books that would be a HUGE improvement. That kind of releaves some stress off of me in that I don't have to kill myself making improvments all at once :)

On to knitting news... I have finally finished all the pieces to the Moss Bark Short Sleeved Cardigan (Ravelry link). Each piece has been blocked and now I just need to sew it together and then do the collar edging and wahla it will be finished!! I love, love, love the color/yarn combo on this!

My Juliet is not doing so well, sadly. I had gotten all the way through the 5th repeat of the lace pattern and tried it on only to find that the weight of the yarn stretched the garter stitch pattern at the top so much that it stretched all the way down to my waist!! So, rip, rip, rip all the way back through all that pretty lace and several rows of the garter stitch. Try number 2 - I made it through 6 repeats of the lace pattern, tried it on and just didn't like the fit on the shoulders. Too big!! So..... rip, rip, rip it all the way out!!

Next up is the One Row Scarf (Ravelry link) designed by the Yarn Harlot. I'm using stash yarn *yeah for stash busting!!* called Dance. It's a cotton/acrylic blend. Very soft but I went crazy finding needles pointy enough for this yarn!! It was splitting so badly on my other needles. I have no idea where these plastic red ones came from, but they are nice and pointy and puuuuuurrfect for this yarn!



A while back the Columbia Sip 'n Knit group put in a large order with 100purewool.com. I have been wanting to try out their 3-ply yarn and to check out some new colors, so I ordered a few single skeins and with one of those skeins I'm making a scarf for the Red Scarf Project.



Next up, I purchased a bag of this Noro Silk Garden from LittleKnits to make a cardigan for my mother for Christmas. Aren't those colors purdy! I immediately cast on for her sweater, but had to put it on hold to make a Christening gown for my sister's baby. We're having her baby shower on September 27th so I HAVE GOT to finish that gown first! :) Pictures of that will come later on.



And of course I can't sign off without a picture of Frisco. I think he was a leach in his former life. I can't sit out the couch without him coming over and laying on some part of me!

You Can't Fix Crazy

My sister told me that one night when I was on the phone with her in frustrated cry telling her of what SHE did this time. As I was ranting, she calmly said "You can't fix crazy." And she's right! I have to keep reminding myself of this every time I have to deal with my current boss *technically she is a principal, but she is no leader, she's a boss*

You would think that if a person is leaving, going, out the door, out of your life, you would let them pack up and just say "Asta luegga!" or however you spell it *or if your a smartass like me.... yeah, I know you are so don't even try to deny it!.... "don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!" as the person is leaving*

But nooooooooooooooooooooo, this woman just can't leave well enough alone. She has to continue to dig her claws in and twist till the very last day. Unbelievable!

Monday, I spent the first half of the day at the new school talking with the person who I will be replacing. Getting the info on high school, what she ordered for next year and all that good stuff. Then we went out for lunch. Now mind you, the county that I work for allocated 10 work days for media specialist that are beyond the normal school schedule. These days are for us to get all of our other responsibilities taken care of. Sooooo, I decided to use 1/2 of one of my days to go to the new school.

I don't know what caused the panic, but you would have thought that Osama had taken over my school. My phone starts going off like crazy. The secretary from the school I'm leaving is calling me trying to find out where I was. When I call her back, she puts the crazy lady on the phone *you know, Jekyll and Hyde* She starts out all sweet "Where are you?" and when I tell her that I was at the other school ... swoosh out comes Hyde.... "You are suppose to be here at this school. They don't have you till July 1!" It was all down hill from there! I came very close to going back to my school, packing up the rest of my office and walking out without doing another thing!

Last year, I stopped checking my work email from home because this crazy woman would be sending emails at all hours of the day and night that would just grate on my nerves and ruin my nights or weekends. So my solution was not to check and only respond to her emails when I was at work. It took her a while to understand that I no longer check my work emails from home. But last night, I broke my rule. I don't know what possessed me *maybe there's a Hyde in me ..... naaahhhh* and sure enough the very reason why I stopped doing that was staring me in the face. An email from HER. She was really going to push it to the limit and make my last few days there miserable.

You want to know just how bad it was..... I search my medicine cabinet to find my bottle of Valium and stuck it in my purse to take to work with me this morning - just in case.

I responded to her email as politely as I could without letting her get to me, but she just couldn't leave well enough alone. She wanted to meet with me and she wanted to make sure I knew that she didn't think I was doing my job. I could feel my blood pressure going up. My assistant could see that SHE had worked my last nerve and she started telling me to take my medication *laugh* *30 minutes before this meetings I popped a pill* And she was going to try and prevent me from working my last few hours *a sudden reality check of what was happening to me this summer made me remember that I really did need a full last paycheck*

I had forgotten how loopy Valium can make me when I first take it, but shit, I thought better for me to laugh my ass off with her, then strangle her and have to use my one phone call to get bailed out of jail. *Isn't there a saying that goes something like -smile it makes them wonder what you've been up too. So a full on laugh would really have her wondering!* Needless to say the meeting was over rather quickly when she realized I wasn't going to let her get to me *Thank you Valium* And I had my hours back.

Then Valium and silliness kicked in full force when I realized that I would not have to deal with HER the rest of this week! She will be out. I started doing my happy dance in the media center. *my poor assistant, but she's known I'm crazy*

Do you watch the show Two and a Half Men? There was an episode where Judith (Alan's ex-wife) announces that she's getting married and Alan comes to the realization that this means he won't have to pay alimony anymore. He started doing this little dance and sings "No more al-i-mo-ny, no more al-i-mo-ny" Did you see that episode?? Well picture that dance, except I'm singing "No more crazy Sally, no more crazy Sally" Then I kicked it up a notch and started dancing around like a Conga line and kicking my leg out and I was singing it. *yeah, those of you that know me are picturing it right now aren't you? Aren't you! HEY! Stop laughing, I don't look that funny..... hmmm.... OK maybe I do* Maybe I'll get my assistant to take a picture of my Happy Dance tomorrow, and if you're really good I might post them. I had my assistant laughing and now she was saying I better not take anymore medication! *laugh*

"No more crazy Sally, no more crazy Sally" Oh, sorry, got off track there for a minute :)

After work I headed to the gym. I had been slacking at the gym these last few months as I've been dealing with my health issue crisis. Not my best plan of action, since the exercise would have kept the depression and worrying more at bay, but when I'm down and out I just forget the other benefits to exercise besides the waistline. But I want to drop another 10 pounds before the surgery. Since I'm not going to be moving around very much afterwards I anticipate that I might gain a bit afterwards.

When I got home from the gym, I was pouring myself a glass of ice water and getting ready to ice down my knee *yeah, on top of everything else my knee inflammation decides it wants to start acting up* when my phone rings. It's Mr. X *yeah, I know I haven't said much about him lately, but you all remember him* and he starts asking me how long is his list. A while back he dubbed me "The Steel Trap" because I remember almost everything when it came to us. This "list" is a running record of all the slaps and punches I owe him for stupid things he says that I will of course inflict upon him the next time I see him. I had no idea where he was going with this, but I played along and said it would have to be at least 10-15 pages long by now. He then tells me that he gets to remove 10 pages of it. Apparently, when I emailed him today in my Valiumed-state-of-mind, I added my "knitting" signature to the email that includes this blog address. (Hi, Mr. X. Now that you have found me, I have a feeling that you are reading this) and he followed the link. From my blog, he found my flickr site and looked at all the pictures *which included about 10 pages of yarn pictures - can you see where this is heading* I laughed my ass off. You all know what those pictures are for, but I could just picture him going through these pages wondering what the hell I was doing taking pictures of my yarn! *LAUGH* I laughed so hard that my fibroids started to hurt! Of course, after my last two days, I needed a good laugh like that.

Anyhoo, he was trying to tell me that because he suffered through all these photos of yarn porn, 10 pages get to be removed from "The List" Nope, un-un, not happening! I did not tell you to go look at all that yarn porn *and I know right now he's thinking -yarn porn??* but that's what ya get when you go snooping! *hee-hee*

OK, time for a shower. I'm off. I promise project updates next time *I know I prmoised that last post, but I just had to share this first*

She heads off to the shower singing "No more crazy Sally, no more crazy Sally, no more......"

I Am Alive, Just Busy as all Hell

I think my Internet is finally holding a real connection at home!! *does the Happy Dance* It only took Comcast a MONTH to get it fixed! *growls at the Comcast advertisements on the tv*
I know I haven't spent much time in blogland lately. My life has just gotten a little crazy these last few weeks and I have been spending a lot of time in contemplation land.

As you can see, I have quit smoking, again. It really amazes me how smoking is one of those things that I can just pick right back up no matter how long it's been since my last cigarette. I quit back in November of '95. Just threw the pack away one day and didn't buy another. That lasted till February '05 - the month that I realize it was time to end my marriage. Then I quit again in April '06. Just stopped buying them - till March of this year. It seems to be my vice when I feel like my world is crashing down around me. Anyhoo, it's over. This is the last time.

Since the whole ordeal started with Mr. X, my weight has fluctuated greatly. I have been on the losing end of the weight titter-totter when I made the decion to stay on that end as long as I could. I've started walked around the lake behind my house. I do two laps daily, which is about 4 miles. And I've really started to be more aware of what I'm shoveling into my mouth. So far, so good. I'm contemplating joining Curves, since the winter months are just around the corner, but weight training should be done on an every-other-day basis. I still need to find some sort of cardio to do on non-Curve days. I'll continue to walk through the winter, but I need to figure something out for those days when it snows and/or ices as the mini mountain I need to climb down to get to the lake trail is steep and with snow and ice and my luck, I'll wind up slipping and sliding down the hill on my ass and right into the lake! *not my idea of fun when it's colder than a witch's tit outside* In the meantime, I'll walk and contemplate my life and try to find out what God's has in her mind for my life. *God, a hint would be really nice right about now!*

School (work) started back up for me three weeks ago. Last week the rest of the teachers in my building started and it's just been crazy. I am so NOT looking forward to this school year already, and I really HATE *HATE* feeling this way already. I had toyed with the idea of switching to middle or high school toward the end of the last school year. The dilemma for me is that I really like my 25 minute commute to work, I like the kids at my school, I like working with the little rugrats and I have the best assistant in the world. I was really hoping all that was going to out weight the damage that my principal was going to inflict on my program, but I should have known better.

I have a very hard time dealing with the fact that my principal (and some of the teachers) just see my program as a babysitting-drop off program, instead of as an educational enhancement to their curriculum. I'm tired of being the only person advocating for my program. I'm tired that the county supervisor for School Library Media Programs does nothing to advocate for us. I'm tired of dealing with selfish teachers. I'm tired with dealing (and paying!) a union that does NOTHING to truly support every one of its members equally.

Well, enough ranting about work, let's get on to more exciting things! I have a lot to catch up on.

I have two swaps that I need to post updates on. The first is the terrific package I received from my upstream pal in the Dog Days of Summer Dishcloth Swap! Look at all this great stuff that was in my package! Thank you Joanne!! There was a bag of jelly beans in the package as well, but I have a real weakness for those and well they didn't quite make it to the photo session. *grin* Yes, those are sheep shaped Post-It notes! Aren't they adorable! I love the nice big washcloth and the soap holder! Loved everything!!


Another swap was the International Tote Exchange Swap. Lulu sent me the most gorgeous bag! Along with the bag were lots of goodies! *as you can see* A few things that didn't make it into the picture were a skein of Rowan Cotton Rope is a very pretty Granny Smith green color, some gum and chocolate candies, and a little box holder. That little red cloth is like a tiny Indian rug that is just gorgeous. The picture really doesn't do it justice. And the stitch markers are just gorgeous!! Thank you so much Lulu for stepping in and being my swap angel!



Onto the Knitting/Crocheting updates!
Since I haven't really been able to surf the net and blog from home due to Internet connection problems, I have lots to update you all on!

First up is the Boteh Scarf that I made for my sister for her birthday. The pattern was so easy to follow! I think I will make one for myself *that is after I have finished make all my holiday gifts - just 4 months left... Iiiieeeeee!* I used Plymouth Royal Bamboo for this scarf. I really like that yarn! The scarf took just a little over 4 balls to make.



Next up....

I finally finished my first sock!! *and I mean one sock*



It's toe-up. The pattern is Crosshatch Lace from the More Sensational Socks book. The yarn is Tofutsies. Yes, I have cast-on the 2nd sock, but with the holidays 4 months away *panic attach* it might be a little slow going on the 2nd one.

I've started a ripple afghan for my sister, for her Christmas gift. I'm using Lion Brand Suede in various complimenting shades. The different colors are Waterlillies (pictured below), Eggplant, Denim, Olive and Fushia. The pattern is Soft Waves from 200 Ripple Stitches.



Lastly, I've cast on for the Lace Christening Blanket from the Vogue Knitting Baby Blankets book. The pattern called for the blanket to be knit in panels and then sewing the panels together. I wasn't having that, so I cast on all the pieces at once and knitting all as one. This is my first attempt at strictly following charts to make the piece, but the 3 different charts are pretty easy to follow, so I'm pleased that I bit the bullet and tried it! *pats herself on the back*

I cast on for this baby blanket Wednesday night when I met with my Stitch 'n Bitch group. And before you ask, yes it is for Mr. X's baby that is due in December. I can't even begin to explain all of that in a post. Two weeks ago, he bought me a ticket to fly up and see him. I went. *I've heard the gammet of responses from friends and family ranging from "are you crazy" to "you gotta follow heart" so trust me, I've already heard it ALL* I really went with hopes that seeing him and hearing about the situation from him would really squealch and squash all these mixed feelings I have about him and everything that happened and I would finally be able to tell him to fuck off and move on. Yeah, it didn't quiet work out that way. Instead, I came to the realization that I was still in love with him. *sigh* No, we are not back together, but my feelings for him are still as strong as ever. He made no promises, and I asked for none. I just need to keep it real. I can't afford the honeymoon period. I can't afford to think about the fantasies. I need to keep it real - and that's what I tell myself every day and every night.

Here's what the blanket looks like so far! You can see that it required 7 different panels - I was not going to do that much sewing! Especially since the edging will also need to be sewn on - unless I look through some of the different edging books and find something else that I like better and can just pick up stitches all the way around the blanket at the end and knit the edging that way! *oooo another idea to start looking into*



You can see in the above picture that there are 4 panels of the cable stitch and below are close ups of the Diamond panel which is smack dab in the middle of the blanket.



And here we have the floral panel that is called for twice in the pattern.



Had I taken a little more time to think about this pattern and creating as a single blanket instead of panels I would have made the minor adjustment to the stitches between the panels. Right now, you can see that the connecting panel stitches are garter stitches. I think I would prefer having the Seed Stitch between panels, but I'm not being that anal about it cause I have no desire to frog it and start over *grin*

I've made a few dishcloths this past month as well, but I don't have pictures of them right now. I will post those at another time.

Well, that is my update for now. It feels good to be back! :)