Holiday Season!

A while back for Chelsea's Birthday I made her this awesome Cloche hat.

It's terribly adorable. I think I need a pink / grey one...

This is a super-short post to say: I'm sorry but I'm terribly busy. Super busy. Ridiculously busy. I have to come up with 4 original lessons (completely put together for demonstration/ use too), a term paper (roughly 15 pages), my 3 other school observations, 4 assessments, and oh-god-I'm-forgetting something all by December 4th. These next two weeks, I just might cease to exist. 

Also, it's a completely home-made Christmas in this household this year. While cheap, it is time consuming...time, which is more valuable than money to me right now. I would post all of the super awesome things I've made, but it would be ruining many surprises. :D

Raaaaaaain. We want raaaaaaaaain.

Seriously, 110degrees out today. WHY. At school today we were trapped inside the entire day. Opening the door makes you go face to face with a breath-stealing wall of HEAT. Who thought it was a good idea to start a city here? I want to do nothing but lay in a pool with a chilly Margarita and eat ice cream.

I started making a knit Princess Peach washcloth, until I realized my count was off by 4 so I had to undo the whole thing. I am now tired of knitting. :P

I feel really guilty about going on a long haitus from my 365 project. In fact, I feel so guilty that I try not to even think about it at all. I see things every day to take a picture of, I just feel so sapped lately. I haven't been knitting, crocheting, or sewing. I haven't really been writing either, if you keep up with my Montessori Blog. I have finished a few books, and started some new ones. In my head, I keep telling myself that June was BIRFDAY MONTH and therefore a get-out-of-stuff-free card. I think for once the idea that I NEED to be doing something is what is preventing me from actually doing it. After a long break, perhaps I will feel the WANT again.

Wowie~!

Where indeed does time go?

I'm lately finding my time consumed by my Montessori Blog and just reading as much as I can.

This weekend should be interesting - No class Saturday, No school Monday, no class Monday night. Doesn't mean it's not a weekend chock-full of things to do! Free-time can be overwhelming!

We watched what we could of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies tonight. Shane and I were dying laughing at Canada's interpretation of it's own culture. Really Canada, Fiddle-playing is an important part of your heritage? Tap-dancing? Sarah McLaughlin? The floor light show was neat though. We both sat there hoping the giant lighted polar-bear was going to eat the random performers.

However as sarcastic as all of that may be, watching the Olympics procession of countries was very inspiring. We're all whipping about through space at breakneck speed on this blue globe of water, and we can still all somehow find something we all have in common enough to set aside our typically rocky relations.

Something else very interesting that I found - I have loved Stephen Colbert for some time now, and after reading his wikipedia page tonight was linked to the video of him addressing the White House's 2006 Correspondents dinner...That man has some guts, seriously. I was dying laughing not only at what he said, but the reactions of the people in the room. Most were sitting there uncomfortably, adjusting their clothing. The few who realized what was really going on were rolling laughing, the less-brave ones stifling laughter. Shane couldn't believe that I had never seen that before. I don't exactly remember how I was introduced to the Colbert Report, but I've found it funny for a few years at least. Sad to see I missed out, but I'm glad I was able to find videos on youtube.

I'm working on a few crochet projects - I'm making a birthday present for my boss, a pair of socks for a co-worker, and hopefully after this weekend, starting a blanket for my friend! We're going to convene sometime this long weekend to plot our ideas. Whee! I just find it so much easier to make things for other people, instead of myself. Projects of my own keep getting put down because I keep thinking "Oh, I can finish that some other time." Even though I do have plenty of things I need to make! Such as -

This scarf, which I made, and didn't realize how cool it was till I blocked it, dried it, and mailed it off! I have some pretty silver thread that I think will look good. Hooray lace!

(Love you guys, my favorite picture ever Erica!)

Gathering thoughts

I've taken a small hiatus from crafting (gasp~!) and writing to gather my thoughts. I've actually been reading a bit more about Montessori classrooms, teachers, theories, and environments. I've learned a ton in the past two weeks about it, and I do believe I'm going to let those thoughts continue to flow in the form of writing. I know this won't really be interesting to anyone but myself, but I'm going to start a separate blog just for this reason. I contemplated doing it here, but this is more for my personal life. After reading these AMAZING Montessori blogs - http://www.themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com/  and http://www.sewliberated.typepad.com/, I have realized I want to know everything I can about Montessori, and see the growth and enlightenment it brings.

Now to stop boring you!

I'm starting a neato purse from some awesome yarn my boss gave me ("It just screamed Nena!") on my crochet hooks, and I'm going to start a hat sometime soon (When I stop being afraid of circular needles, and stop obsessing about gauge).  I also participated in an awesome internet yarn-stash swap. I scored some really pretty royal blue bamboo/wool yarn and some neon pink/black/and white wool yarn. Having never really used wool before, I'm thinking of trying my hand at felting (the process of washing wool in warm/hot water, agitating it so you can no longer see the "knit" stitches, it just looks like a solid piece of fabric.)

The past two days has been a torrent of rain in Phoenix, which is weird. Us Phoenicians don't quite know what to do with ourselves when water falls out of the sky. This of course leads to accidents, one of which happened at about 10pm last night, knocking out our power for 3 hours. We walked to the corner store and grabbed soda and some Snickers bars, then came home and played Scrabble by candlelight. It was actually really fun, and I was able to keep my uber-competitiveness in check!