run run run run runaway

The St. Patrick's Day Dash is in a mere six days.  I still haven't practiced running outside.  Yesterday, I doubled my endurance on the treadmill so I"m feeling like I might be ok.  This weather has really been keeping me from running around the lake, though.  And next Sunday it's supposed to rain.  Hope I can survive!

new favorite skirt

I made this this weekend!  I LOVE it! So comfortable and it has pockets.  You can tell I wore it all day student teaching...a little wrinkly in front.  The sides by the placket (plaquet?) that covers the zipper and the pockets are rouched which make a lovely detail.  It's supposed to be high waisted but I altered and altered and altered that waist band and still can't get it quite right.  

And check out my new tights.  On sale at Fred Meyer!  They're bamboo and super soft.

March snow

SWEARS!

I either want to 1. start this week over or 2. finish it quick!  I am cranky and everything just seems to be going wrong.  

For example, today, an 1.5" of snow on the ground.  All the districts in the area are cancelled or late arrival due to it except the district I'm going to.  Yay, I need the money...Boo, I can already tell today is going to suck.

But I left early because I know Pacific Northwesterners cannot drive in weather.  I get to the school.  I lug all my stuff around the maze of buildings avoiding stairs.  I slide and slip up the ramps to the portables.  My portable, locked.  Where the F is the teacher?  Thank goodness the custodian was there sanding the ramps and could let me in.  But of course, portables don't have water.  So I have to run down to the main buildings, sneak in a classroom and fill up my water bottles for my program.

I get back, students are settled.  I have everything sorted and set up and in place for my program.  I start talking, the students make the connection that I"m there to talk about water because Mrs. Bell talked about water too....wait, Mrs. Bell?  What did she say?  That means I brought in all the wrong equipment.  I'm supposed to do the OTHER program.  F*ck!  (no, I didn't say f*ck in front of the students).  

I start throwing things back into the bins and telling the students what we're REALLY going to talk about.  Teacher gives me two students to run down to my car with me.  I left the other equipment so as not to slow us down more.  We come back...the model drags snow all into the classroom.  I reset up.  

The teacher acted flexible, but I could tell she was NOT amused.

Second program.  This portable was jammed packed. I could barely get in there.  And was there a table for me to set up?  Noooo.  And there was a sub.  A sub with whom I used to work at the zoo.  Very difficult person to work with.  ANDDD...she applied for the job I had there and I got it instead of her.  Ran into her the other day at my student teaching school too.  She didn't remember me then..and she didn't remember me today.  She asked me how it was doing the same thing over and over again and I said, "not much different than doing [my old zoo job]," and there was no recognition.

Third and fourth programs went better but good lord I just want to curl up in bed.  I should go to class.  I skipped math last night....science is even more boring than math though.

baked ziti

I made a baked ziti last night that is to die for!  I cooked up some zuchini and yellow pepper in a roasted garlic spaghetti sauce that had whole garlic cloves in it.  Then I layered whole wheat penne with more sauce, the veggies, ricotta, provolone and mozarella cheese.  I used low fat cheese but I'm pretty sure this isn't a low fat dish.  At least I used whole wheat noodles!

neighbors

The neighbor girls are running up and down the street.  They're making that screeching scream thing girls do when they're not really scared but still have that adrenaline pumping.  I LOVE it!

These particular girls live in the apartment building right next to mine.  In fact, I think our bedroom windows exactly face each other. Our apartments are not large, and I cannot imagine raising a family in them.  At night, in the summer when the windows are open, I can hear the family rattling on in Spanish.  They laugh so hard I wish I could understand them.

It makes me happy to know that the girls are running around outside and taking advantage of such a beautiful day.  

Pants

I made another pair of pants this weekend.  These turned out better.  This particular pattern needs some slimming of the legs, I think.

This is the pattern while I"m in the middle of taping together the sheets printed off my computer.  Printed on the back side of pre-used paper.

Darn plaid doesn't match up in the front!  I'm not sure how I could have done it differently though.  My brain just doesn't wrap around it.

Legs are loose fitting which is comfy but might look funny.  I'll decide after I wear them today.  And I know they are long but think how great they'll work with heels!

salmon-broccoli casserole

In my attempt to stop eating chicken sandwiches from jack in the box, I cracked open my copy of The Living Heart Diet that I bought when I learned I had high cholesterol.  Today I made a scrumptuous salmon-broccoli casserole.  My roommate takes pictures of all the delicious meals he makes so I decided to follow suit.

beach day!

Some pictures from Discovery Park today.  I haven't monkeyed with these at all, but I probably could/should.

Did you know barnacles make noise?  It's kind of crazy...

new camera

These are not fancy pictures. The first two are of the same plant with and without zoom sitting in the exact same spot.

 This one is obviously of my keyboard using my amazing macro!  The lens was practically TOUCHING the keyboard!  Look at that piece of fuzz you can see!

I'm off to take more pictures that I'm sure will be posted here soon.

accidentally western shirt

I went downtown last weekend to Border's just to buy a magazine.  Oh, but it's not just any magazine, no, this was/is Burda World of Fashion.  The subscription is $80/year so I wanted to make sure I liked it before I ordered.

The magazine is German, thankfully translated.  Inside each issue is 40-70 patterns!  I've made two from the issue I bought and I am in LOVE!  They are stylish and do not need any altering.  When I make clothes from the big 4 (McCall's, Simplicity, Vogue and Butterick) things never turn out right.  The two shirts I've made turned out great!

I do not have pictures of the first shirt I made, since i've worn it so many times this week it's now drying after a wash.  But here is the second shirt I made.  The fabric turned out to be a little more flashy than I was hoping for so I threw on some pearl snaps and made it a western shirt!  

 

Clothing and who makes it

So I was reading this article on Neatorama that is actually a guest blog from the author of the book Where am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People that Make Our Clothes 

It makes me wonder what I should do.  I feel awful that people in far off countries are making my clothes for $22/month.  They live in one room homes with 7 other people.  I feel so angry and want to never buy clothes again.

Then I realize this is their only source of income.  Some people have left their homes, families and previous jobs because they can make more money by being garment workers.  If I stop buying their clothes how will they make a living?

Right now it's a moot point for me as I have no money to buy clothes anyway.  Hopefully in a year my situation will change and I'll have to make a decision.

In other news, it's a sunny 40-something degree day and my bike tires are pumped up and ready to go to the gym. yay for bikes!

back to the grind

My three weeks off are over. I went back to my practicum today and start work and my classes again tomorrow. It felt surprisingly good being back in the classroom.

literary surprises

Sometimes I'm surprised when books that are hailed as being great actually are good reads. Right now I'm reading The Color Purple and am really into it! I'm also reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and like it too. Actually, Huck is a little harder to read because the dialect switches. And for some reason I was under the impression that Huck was black for a good 50 pages until someone told me he wasn't. I obviously never read Tom Sawyer but I thought part of the story of their friendship was that they were different colors back in those days. Goes to show ya what I know.

Ignorance be damned

It's well after 2am and I can't sleep. I am frustrated with the ignorance and selfishness of people around me, both known and unknown.

First, I would like to applaud Seattle for not using salt on the roadways. Here are a couple of arguments for using salt:

1. "Puget Sound is salt water" um...even so, is Lake Washington? Lake Union? Green Lake?

2. "A little extra salt isn't going to hurt anything." seriously? Are we just adding a dash of salt? Would you go up to your friend's salt water fish tank and shake the salt shaker into it? I think you'd lose a friend. Puget Sound is laden with pollution for the entire region and salt is certainly going to cause a problem.

3. "We use salt all the time on the East Coast and there are still fish there." This one made me laugh out loud. When was the last time this guy looked at species decline in whatever region he was living in? I even wonder how many of the fish he's thinking of are native.

So anyway...that's really grating on my nerves. Today I also got into an argument with my own father about global warming. The man can't cite any sources nor is he willing to look them up for me. He can't explain to me what he means when he spouts off some 'fact' without using a whiny sarcastic voice (and then he still doesn't answer my question). I actually yelled, and I mean yelled, at him when he pulled that on me. This all started when he swept his arm about to indicate the snow and said "This was all caused by global warming." I responded, "Actually, we should expect to see more precipitation in our region whereas the interior of the country will see far less." Here are some other quotes:

"We're in a two year cooling period"
"We're in a warming trend..in the 1600's..." Don't think he ever finished that bit about the 1600's but I heard it brought up a lot.
"What are we going to do when we find out they were wrong?" Um, rejoice? Enjoy our cleaner air and healthier bodies?
"Al Gore is an idiot."
"There are lots of scientists who don't believe it." like whom? and I can guarantee it there are a lot more who do.
Something about "humans can't alter the environment." At that point I reminded him that we're animals and look at the crazy shit we do. We build cars and buildings that can regulate heat, we make machines that let us talk to people on the other side of the world. Thought that might lead into a theology argument but it didn't.

Oh, I think I remember one of the 1600's statements. It was something about what did I think people thought when there was a cooling period in the olden days and people's crops couldn't grow. I said, so straight faced I was so proud, I said "they probably thought they were smited by God." Booyah! And he couldn't argue.

New Goal

In addition to reading books my students are reading so that I can recommend books to them and bond with them on reading, I also want to read as many books from this list as I possibly can.

Banned Books List

It's so interesting. On Wikipedia's list of banned books, this line stuck out to me immediately:

Black Beauty

Anna Sewell

Was banned in South Africa in 1955 because of the use of the word 'black' in the title

And I was reading about a kid who spear headed a campaign to ban To Kill a Mockingbird because of the racial slurs. He even wore a t shirt to school with those words written all over it and was told to cover up the offensive terms. I can't remember if the school ended up banning the book but I think they at least considered it.

That doesn't make sense to me at all. The book is a snippet of history. I think it's good he read it and was offended. We should always remind ourselves of where we came from as a society in order to continue on the better path.

anyway...

*edit* I've just noticed that both of these goals force me to read Harry Potter next.

leisure

Ahh...the shopping is shopped, the shipping is shipped and the exams have been examined (A- in PE? pff whatever!). Now I get to read and knit for leisure. Time to enjoy the holidays and the lackof work and school involved.

Books

I started reading Holes this weekend and it is such a good little book! So much better than the Twilight series.

I grabbed Holes on my way to the gym. I've never tried reading and working out at the same time. As long as I'm on a stationary bike it works quite well! I went longer on that dang bike than I ever have all while reading. Very enjoyable work out.

let down

I read Jurassic Park when I was about 13. I remember how tense and scared I was as I read it in my upstairs bedroom on the farm. A couple years later, I read The Vampire Chronicles at the house in town. Again, the suspense made my heart beat fast and my chest tighten.

I haven't experienced that kind of immersion in years. What happened? If I read those same books today would I find them as vapid as the other things I'm reading? Was it just my youth?

I am so tired of authors making characters so dumb! If your protagonist isn't supposed to get something, I sure wish you would write it so the reader doesn't get it either.

sigh, I'll go back to reading Eclipse now.

The Sisters Grimm

Wow! I'm only about halfway through this book and I love it so far!
This one was recommended to me by one of my students. I've since noticed that a few of them are or have read it. Scholastic rates it at 5th year 9th month! (5.9) *High five* My Students!

I also bought Twilight. So far, so good.
Although it's only rated 5.6. ; )