Goals: Update #3

This was not one of my goals. Nor was it executed by my nimble fingers.

What is it? It's the mascot of the Stuyvesant Computer Science teachers. It does not have a name but there is a school-wide contest in full swing to name it.

And this handsome fellow is a red green velvet whoopie pie.

Mike and Squidette have been on a whoopie pie tear for about 2 weeks now. Yum!

Finally, I give you Little Squid who is mostly back to his fairly sunny and strange self.
I love my family!

(And as to my own goals -- more weaving has been done and the end of the road is in sight on the spinning front. I've even made some progress on Little Squid's sweater.)

Goals: Interrupted

On Friday the kids went skating and Mike and I settled in for a quiet morning along.

Then we smelled something plastic-y burning.

It took a good hour or more of sniffing about before we finally figured out that Little Squid's humidifier was melting down. Before we went to open up the window I grabbed a box and then went to grab Lynx from his habitat so that he would not get a chill.

I'm the one that got the chill.

Lynx was dead.

We have no idea why but suspect that the fumes may have dealt the final blow. He had been bruminating (kind of like hibernation but not quite) and was very thin from not eating. He had also just shed prior to starting brumination, a stressful activity for a lizard so we suspect that he was particularly vulnerable to any oddity like plastic fumes.

Lynx was a good pet. He was a "forever" pet and we expected to have him around for a very long time.

He is sorely missed by all of us but most of all, by Little Squid.

Rest in Peace, Lynx.

8/15/09 -- 12/25/09

Goals: Update #2

Another project in progress ...
thick socks for me out of hand spun wool. I do not expect to finish them this break but did finish the first one yesterday while visiting friends.

Then there is Little Squid's sweater, back in the queue now that his mittens are finished. My first goal is simply to finish the front before the end of the week. And maybe a sleeve ...

And in the finished column ...
Ta Da! We all put some serious time in on it and finally finished it!

Goals: Update #1

Yes, I know that break is only 24 hours (or so) old. But hey! I've had no obligations and my initial goals were modest.

We started on Tuesday with this partial mitten.
By last night we had this complete mitten (ends hidden and all) and this partial mitten.

As of 30 minutes ago we now have ...
one happy kid with warm hands!

The puzzle, meanwhile, has also seen some progress. Here we are Tuesday night ...
and last night ...
and tonight ...
Squidette has been rather obsessed with it today. I think I added about a dozen pieces in between weight lifting sets this morning.

There was also some weaving done. I took before and after pictures but they look the same! I think there is another 18 inches or so of warp on the loom so give me another day or three to finish it off.

Goals

Here are the first* of my winter break "want to finish" projects:

Mittens for Little Squid, who joined his mother in denial last year and wore mittens that were were very neat (double knit-neat) but a tad too small. We have both come to our senses and his new sweater is in time-out while I whip up a pair of too large double-stranded mittens using the same yarn. (I told you, I have a lot of it -- it came from a sweater that was too big on Mike even when he was 60 pounds heavier.)


Speaking of my husband ...
I intend to finish the spinning and plying for his new sweater. Six skeins of the main color are done and I think I have another 3-5 skeins yet to spin and ply. The contrast colors are done.

And then there is this puzzle ...
A 1000 piece, black and white opus of an Escher print. It's been in progress since before Halloween.

*By the first of, I do indeed mean that there are several more ...

Performing in Public

It's performance season here at chez squid. At least for Squidette.

On Wednesday she performed with the New York City All-City High School Concert Band (All-City to those in the know) at the MetLife atrium.

As real New Yorkers know, the MetLife building is really the PanAm building but that is rather irrelevant to our tale.

The important thing, is that the atrium of the MetLife/PanAm building is a major entry way to Grand Central Station and hence a venue from which one can be seen by hundreds of people over the span of the concert.

While the families, and some lucky bystanders, got to sit, most of the commuters experienced the concert as they strolled by or above the venue. Many took video or pictures on their phones and most gave huge smiles to see and hear the teens performing classic concert band standards with a few classic holiday tunes tossed in for good measure.

I just thought it was awesome that so many people got a taste of what can happen when kids are taught to play and enjoy music.

And then I got sad as Mike told me that All-City was just so much bigger in his day.

We debated the reasons for this but my side is that fewer kids are being exposed to music in school. We spend so much time on reading and math that art and music, subjects that truly expand ones world view and exercise the brain in so very different ways, have gone by the wayside. And then I got sad when I thought of how badly these programs have been gutted financially.

Boro-wide (the junior high version of All-City) started at the very end of October this year instead of two weeks earlier so that the city could save the money on the instructors' salaries. And, there may not be a Carnegie performance for whichever boroughs were scheduled to play there this year because they couldn't get the down payment in on time. Again, due to budget cuts.

Makes me want to run a fundraiser for them. I already gave them money from my own wallet so it is time to get others to do the same. But after the holidays.
Meanwhile ... I give you Squidette and friends. No, she is not dating her stand partner (though he's a nice boy and I wouldn't object). And yes, he does kind of look (and act) like Little Squid (hence the reason she will probably never hook up with him). Doesn't really matter since she's not allowed to date until she's 30 ...

The performance, by the way, was awesome! And she has her first ever singing solo this Friday followed by a reprise of the MetLife performance at the All-City rehearsal school on Saturday.

And Little Squid? He auditioned for his school play last week and had a call back on Friday so you can expect some kvelling about him in the future.

Happy Hanuckah, folks!

Baa!

Because Cookie asked nicely ...One knitting sheep magnet.

Holding a reminder to make french toast for breakfast.

Because we had a staling loaf of homemade wheat bread.

Which the kids forgot about at breakfast time (the french toast, not the bread).

So we had it for lunch instead.

And froze the extras.

Intending them for breakfast over the next week or so.

Until the microwave oven died.

Oh wait, we toast french toast.

All in all, a quiet weekend.

(And we ordered a new microwave.)

Which I needed after this.

Yes, it means what you think it means.

Garden!

In my last post I did mention building a mini hydroponic garden, but I failed to put up a photo due to the misplacement of my camera.

Today I'm back in action so here you go!

I have absolutely no idea what the top two plants are -- they're something interesting that we bought to fill out the garden until the seeds I ordered came in.

The bottom bottle has two tiny sprouts. So small, in fact, that I could not get a clear picture of them so you will just have to wait a few more days.

The plants do seem to be growing if the level of water in the reservoir is any indication. For the first few days it stayed pretty level but it's been steadily dropping since yesterday. This tells me that the grown plants have now recovered from the shock of transplanting and are taking up water and actually using it.

The system cycles water from the reservoir at the base to the top pop bottle where it drips first into a pill bottle (to muffle the sound of the air and water burbling in the tubing) and then into the top plant. As long as the media in the bottle is saturated, the excess water then drips into the next bottle and then the bottom one and finally back into the reservoir to be recycled.

I love it! I love it so much that tomorrow I'm building one in my office and planting some flowers and herbs to give a nice, natural, fragrance to my space.

Long, Productive, Weekend

I'd love to show you what I've done this weekend but I keep losing my camera! It reappears, briefly, but disappears when I most want to photograph something. Like, say, the sweater that my mother-in-law made for Mike which I have now mostly ripped out in order to reknit the wool for a sweater for Little Squid.

(The sweater was huge on Mike, made when he was ... um ... huge. He is 60 pounds lighter then when the sweater was knit and mom never got around to reknitting it for him. And, since I am in the process of spinning and then knitting a new, custom sweater for Mike, Little Squid will reap the rewards of the recycled yarn.)

And you also don't get to see the weaving that I finally finished. And the rewarped loom, now set for scarves for holiday gifts. Or the gallon of yogurt that I made.

In addition, you do not get to see the wonderful cleaning and waxing job that I did on my Minstrel. She's so nice and shiny -- and no longer dusty and dingy. And spinning a bit better, too.

Nor do you get to see the lesson plan I wrote. Tho I suppose you could if you asked nicely. But it's really not that exciting -- thought it does include some neat pictures of nerve cells. (I love google docs! So easy to share things!)

And you really can't see the grades that I worked so hard on.

Oh wait ... I didn't actually work on those ... well, you won't get to see them after I finish them on Wednesday night ... right before they are due. Or maybe Thursday, well after they are due. Rank has it's privileges ...

And you also can't see the cute knitting sheep that the kids gave me for my birthday.

But I got a lot done. Really!

Bells?

*** Tongue in Cheek Alert: Take the following VERY lightly!

My school finally has a working Public Address system. It's circa 1930 ... but it's working. We do not, however, have working bells.

That means, that our teachers are dependent on their watches and the occasional classroom clock to determine when to dismiss their classes.

This also means that when a teacher gets fed up with a class ... they sometimes dismiss them a little early.

We used to have a jury rigged bell system but someone cut the speaker wire, somewhere, and we have never been able to figure out how to rework it. Besides, it was the most annoying claxon I've ever had the displeasure to hear.

While researching the bell problem, I called my dear, darling husband for advice. After all, he does tinker in electronics.

He did not, however, have an electronic answer to my problem. He did, though, suggest an old time solution. One ala' Notre Dame.

Not the school, the cathedral.

He suggested a hunchback*.

The theory was, that we could hire a hunchback to roam the halls, ringing a bell at the start and end of each period. Hunchbacks are probably a title that is very much in excess** and so we should be easily able to get one.

And, in addition to being great bell ringers, hunchbacks can also, often, double as lab assistants, something else that we desperately need but cannot afford.

Sadly, the last hunchback retired from the New York City school system back when they retired bell towers, sometime in the early 2000s (which is also when they got rid of the last coal burning furnace).

It's so sad when something so classic is gone for good.

The topic re-arose this evening as I bragged about how well the public address system worked today (I literally jumped for joy when the other schools did not call to complain -- which means we really did isolate just our rooms).

Mike is still convinced that a hunchback is our best solution. He could even make the daily announcements!


* No offense meant to those with spinal problems, this is being written with my tongue firmly in my cheek!

** Title In Excess: a staffing line (a specific job like: teacher or aide or hunchback) that has more people than the school can afford. Those with least seniority in the line are placed into "excess" and hopefully picked up by another school.

Lesson Plans

As I've stated before, I put a lot of time into my lesson plans. The New York Times recently ran an article about how some teachers are now selling their lessons.

Gasp! You mean I could have been making money off these things? These lessons that are usually so very specific to the way that I teach?

Oh well.

For the curious, here's a sample of my lessons ... just a taste of my "what are enzymes and how do they function" plan.

Example: Joe was mad at Janet for something stupid. He was planning on having an argument with her after school. Doris heard about this and decided to have some fun so he told Karen that Janet was talking trash about him. Karen texted Joe who got even more angry and stormed off to Janet's classroom to start the argument NOW instead of waiting until after school.

So, the argument would have happened anyway but Doris made it happen faster. Doris was the catalyst, the enzyme.

Now imagine that only Doris could have caused this argument to happen faster -- if Albert had said the same thing, it would not have worked because Joe and Doris are best buds but Joe and Albert are not. Joe will only believe what Doris tells him.

Joe and Janet are the substrates, Doris is the enzyme and the fight is the product. Doris made the fight happen.

The lesson went on from there and included a co-enzyme (someone who egged them on and helped the catalyst do it's work) and an inhibitor (the friend who stepped in and prevented it all from going down).

Will it work for someone else? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on the teacher and on the class. Would I have paid for sample lessons to help me plan years and years ago? Probably not. I didn't make enough money to spare the buck for plans that friends were willing to share for free.

Did I ever use anyone's plan as if it were my own? Once. It was a disaster.

I have, however, taken elements from other people's lessons and adapted them to fit my class and my style. So, had I had the money back then, yes, I probably would have purchased plans, at least once I realized that they were resources, not plans that could be used "out of the box."

And ... in case that wasn't enough for you ... I used this video in class the other day.


*Names have been changed to protect my student's identities. I used the names of actual kids in the class (and in my actual plan) when I taught the lesson. It made it a bit more immediate and real to them.

Minty Fresh!

Remember that lab I was prepping for on Wednesday?

Well, I'm sitting here grading them and ... they all smell like tooth paste!

Yes, I had them test the pH of toothpaste.

Best smelling lab reports I've ever graded!

The Acid Test

I spent much of yesterday working. Partly on my own class lessons and partly on the administrative stuff that makes up the rest of my work day.

Yes, yesterday was a school holiday. Yes, I was home. Remember that the next time someone criticizes teachers for having a short workday / year.

With my trip back to the classroom this year has come some seriously teachable moments at home. Yesterday, I was preparing red cabbage pH indicator and decided to run through the lab exercise with Squidette and Little Squid.

The deep purple in the lower left is the unadulterated cabbage extract. The bright red was extract plus lemon juice, the fuscia was vinegar, the green -- baking soda. The pale pink was some lemon-lime soda and the pale purple was milk. The sudsy one? Dish soap.

The rest of the extract was absorbed into melita filters, dried and sliced and readied for today's lab.

Yes, I did spend more time prepping the lab then my students will spend doing it.

We didn't, however, just spend the day in the house prepping my lab. A walk was taken uptown to see the U.S.S. New York.
The New York is an amphibious transport dock, the first I have ever seen in New York Harbor. Usually we see battle ships and aircraft carriers for the annual Fleet Week.

The New York has, incorporatated into it's structure, 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center.

Mike and Squidette were lucky enough to see her sailing upriver when she came to town. (She sailed right past their school after making a brief stop opposite the WTC to give a 21 gun salute.)

Random Thoughts ...

If Squidette is going on a school trip that Mike is chaperoning, can he sign the permission slip or do I have to sign it?

***

The Department of Education has apparently renamed my school. It was The Academy of Environmental Science Secondary School (AESSS). It is now The Academy of Environmental Science Secondary High School (AESSHS). Huh?

(This is the last year that AES will have a middle school grade.)

***

If a millionaire billionaire buys an election in a forest and nobody hears the cash register ring, does he still win?

Halloween 2009

Help! My son's been eaten by a snake!


And my daughter is just so sweet ...They did some decorating this year ...
and then some sorting and trading of the haul.

Me? I'm a little dizzy and my calves will be sore in the morning.

The dizzy part comes from our Urban Trick-or-Treating where you start on the top floor of a building and work your way down, floor by floor. Since our complex provides "trick-or-treat" posters to put on your door if you want to play, we quickly make our way down the stairs, pausing briefly to see if any doors have the signs up. This leads to us going in an almost constant, tight, spiral as we work our way downstairs.

The aching calves? Hey, we just walked down 42 flights of stairs!

Happy Halloween!

Long Days and Never Ending Nights

So last night I hustled home to cook and sew for my children. (Don't laugh! I really did cook. Sort of. If Macaroni and Tuna counts as cooking ...)

And tonight? After working from 7:30 AM until 8:15 PM I come home to what? Dying my husband's hair? Wrapping my daughter in cellophane? Painting my nails orange?

Or ... All of the Above!

Now to kick the last family member still standing into bed and do a bit of unwinding of my own.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Ssssss ....

Ssssss .... I'm Sssssewing ...


Sssssee you after Halloween!

(And after Parent Teacher Conferencessssss ...)

Have a Ssssspectacular ... Ssssspooky ... and Sssssilly Sssssaturday!

Product ...

To prevent Cookie from turning blue, I am providing some pictures ...


Keep in mind that the finished product pictured here was not produced recently. Just recently skeined and washed after sitting on the bobbins since my last plying sessions. The socks, by the way, are the property of Little Squid. The green ones are new (finished during the car ride to a recent biking excursion) and the striped ones are last year's issue.

Sweater roving in a partially predrafted form, awaiting my next spinning session.

The current product on the Kromski (singles) ...
and on the Journey Wheel (3-ply).

Today I did knit a fingerless mitt while table sitting at the Manhattan High School Fair. I'll work on the second one for a bit tomorrow but for now ... I have Halloween sewing to do.

Still Spinning ...

Yup, I've managed to spin almost every night this week. Still haven't finished the yarn for Mike's sweater and I really don't expect to until at least Christmas break. I've already plyed two Journey Wheel bobbins worth of three-ply and have a third started with at least a fourth coming off of my totally full Kromski-Woolie Winder bobbins. Dang that winder can pack a lot onto a bobbin!

In the past, 3 Kromski bobbins worth of singles translated into three Journey Wheel bobbins worth of 3-ply. I'll let you know the final count when I'm done with the first batch of plying.

Don't hold your breath waiting for it, though. I'm working the Manhattan High School fair tomorrow and part of Sunday and doing "Mitzvah Sunday" for the rest of Sunday. And somehow writing a weeks worth of lesson plans in my spare time. And shopping for, and possibly sewing Little Squid's Halloween costume ...

Happy Birthday, Mike!

I have now known Mike for more than half of my life (and his).

That's a pretty long time to know someone.

To care for someone.

To Love someone.

***

To a wonderful father ...


... husband ...
and friend ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!