what a nice surprise

I did get to some grading today. I have more waiting for me, of course, but there is a definite dent in the pile.

I made it to the birthday party, which was nice, and to the farmer's market, too. I got some lovely greens, some herbs (do they count in the greens if they are green, too?) and some tomatoes. Looking forward to one of those in the morning. As I walked into the market, not very far in, I heard someone call my name. Sure enough, someone I know! Someone I hadn't seen in a very long time, and had rather lost track of. We hugged each other and walked up and down the farmer's market together, catching up a little bit. We exchanged phone numbers, and I hope that we can reconnect a little. She is doing creative things right now, has remarried, looked fabulous and happy. What a great way to find a long lost friend!

landmark

Friday. It did finally get here. Yay! Guess what I brought home to work on this weekend. Yes! Papers to grade! Guess what I didn't work on this evening. No, guess. Righto! Grading papers!

I'll work on them tomorrow. After a visit to the farmer's market. And the birthday party. No, really. I will. really.

So, want to know my landmark? It's a silly one, really, but I know that women of all sizes will have a little moment with me. I now weigh what it says on my driver's license. Yeah. Guess it's time for a new one, huh. (hmm I better check it and make sure, it really could be time for a new one... nah, they would have sent me something, right? right?) Anyhow, that is some encouragement to keep up the walking.

an itch to be creative

That's what I felt this evening. It was a welcome respite from the sunburn itch I've been feeling all day. (We got to stand outside in the sun for 3 hours for a bomb threat on Monday.)

I wanted to do something... creative! I had a crochet hook in my hand at the time, making the last part of the little crobot I've been working on. Experimenting on. Creating. But I wanted to do MORE! What an energizing feeling it was, too.

It is definitely nice to have something to look forward to for the summer, and I'm definitely looking forward to much making of things. I'm hoping I also get to work on my creating space some in a meaningful, cleaning and organizing way. That tends to fall by the way when work gets going each school year.

I mention it, though, because I'm also ready to purge. I'll start in my classroom. I'm pretty sure I'll be in a different room next year, so it's the perfect time to pare it down. My closet is going to get some serious work, too. I really don't like how it is set up right now. There is a good amount of space in there, but it isn't set up well, and it has stuff in there that really doesn't need to be there. In fact, some of it doesn't need to be here at all. That and the bedroom both need a thorough, deep cleaning. Then, the craft room, and the storage room. Yeah. I know, summer will probably be close to done by the time I get to those. Still, a person's got to have a goal. Here are some of mine.

So, you ask, how do those goals fit together with being creative? Getting rid of stuff so that I can find and reach my crafting supplies. Making room for spreading out projects, working on projects, and even putting things away when the projects are done. Yeah. Out with the junk. In with the good stuff.

sometimes the small things

This has been a pretty crummy week. Today was a pretty good day, though. Maybe I can keep my chin up through the rest of the school year. It's coming quickly to a close.

I brought home lots of papers to grade, of course, and didn't get through all of them. I did get a good many done, though, so that is a start.

I got to sew with Roxanne today. We finished some mending, and a shirt for Carl. I'm pretty much meeting a goal I had set for this year to make him a shirt every 2 months. The next one may be trickier, because I haven't gotten the fabric for it yet, even... I'll probably look for fabric for a couple so we can cut them out at the same time, and then work on them when we get there. We almost finished another top for Roxanne. Next week we"ll be working on quilts, I think, and cutting out some pieces for her mom. I'm going to do some sewing for Raine over the summer, for some school clothes for next year.

I feel good that I walked today. A nice long walk, even. It is so easy to not. Even when I know I like the way I feel better when I do. We went to Japanese Kitchen for dinner. Definitely a splurge in more ways than one, but, wow, they are just that good. Really.

So here's to some small things. Adding them up and giving me a little optimism back. Hoping it lasts through the week.

mother's day

Yeah, I know, a picture of a picture and some bad glare. I suppose you have guessed this is a picture of my mom. Over on Facebook, people are changing their profile pictures to pictures of their moms. I'm not. I love my mom. I'm still not going to change the profile.

This seemed a more appropriate venue to deal with Mom, and Mother's day. This is how Mom looked as a young woman, in her prime. Edith May Hess Hursh. She was a great mom. Not a perfect mom, you understand, but I respect her for the mom that she was. She loved kids, and we got to do lots of things growing up that not everyone does. She was a cub scout leader, and a girl scout leader as well.

I was lucky enough to be able to grow up and have the opportunity to spend time with her as an adult, and know her as one adult to another. Not everyone gets to that place with their parents. I appreciate that I made it, and could see her as a human being, flawed and doing her best and not just the Mom-must-be-always-right-and-powerful being.

She did some pretty amazing things. In a time when women were just thinking about protesting and burning their bras, etc, Mom was busy getting her degree in Physics. In most of her classes, she was the only female. When her brothers joined the service(s) during the Korean conflict, so did she. When she worked for Shell Oil Company, she was the only woman working for the company who was not a secretary. She paved the way for a lot of women to work alongside men as equals by doing it, which proved it could be done. And yeah, she was very smart. It was - and sometimes still is - daunting to have to follow in those footsteps. Which is just the way she wanted it.

She's been gone a while now, close to 20 years. Of course, I still miss her. I wish she had been around to meet her grandchildren, Raine and Shelbi. I know they would have given her joy. Then I glimpse a little bit of her in some stubborn moment of proving herself that Raine will have, and I think, well, maybe she's here, lending a hand after all.

experimentation

First, let me say that the end of the school year is coming up in three short weeks. The pressure is on - in more ways than one - and it is not my best time to be creative or even creatively communicative. Just sayin. So when the week goes by with only one blog entry, or maybe two, its because the focus on the end of the year is pretty... well... focused.

That being said, now that I have made the amigurumi that I wanted to, or at least most of them, I'm experimenting a little. Trying different sized threads and hooks. Different types of yarn. I wanted to see if I could make something smaller, or smoother, or softer. I wanted to see if a different kind of yarn makes a significant difference in the end product. For instance, one of the crobots I made was made from a soft, rather smooth, cotton yarn. It looks good, and it feels good, but I'm not sure that it feels so. much. better. than the others. Dev made her zombie bot from that yarn, too, and I would like to compare it to the one I made out of the regular acrylic stuff.

Here is a picture of the first two crobots I made both of them are done with acrylic. The little green one looks nice, is soft, and all - although I'm pretty disappointed with my picture taking on this little crobot. I'm just not sure the difference is worth the difference in prince of the yarn. Not easy to tell from the pictures either, I'm sure. Sigh.

Most of the experimentation will be with yarn on hand, and I'll be sharing some more of it as the pieces get finished, and time - and mentality - allow.

another crobot

I have been having such a good time making these things! Can you tell? I appreciate that the instructions are pretty simple, and the shapes have some commonality, so that once you do a few, you kind of know what to expect for the parts. Even with that, they are different enough from one another to feel like experimentation. I'm certainly not bored with them yet. In fact there are several of the patterns I want to make again with different yarn and decorations.

This one is called Bouncebot, which you might think would make him a little on the roly poly side, but he actually stands very well. The bottom layer flattened disk helps with that, I'm sure.

Thanks to Dev (Vic) for the sequin-y things, too! They really dressed him up nicely. I'm very happy with how he has turned out. How did your zombie bot turn out, Dev?!?!?