Please Stab Me In The FACE!

Oh My God!  Teaching middle school children right before winter break is a trip into hell.  Well, maybe not Hell, hell but pretty close.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I love my kids this year.  They are super sweet and will do almost anything to do the right thing.  However, when middle school children are getting close to winter break, small demons begin to possess them.  I imagine something soft and cute yet EXTREMELY irritating.  Maybe something like this felt Krampus.  It also fits with the winter break theme. 

Actually, I'm teaching class right now.  We finished our lesson and they are supposed to be working on their homework.  Instead of being focused, they are doing one or more of the following:  talking, tearing paper into little bits, throwing those same bits of paper, drawing, drawing on someone's notes, drawing on someone's person, making fun of someone's name, figuring out which one of them looks most like an Oompa Loompa, texting their mom, putting their hair in a ponytail on top of their head, talking in baby talk and reading a book.  Oh wait, and doing their homework.  I actually had at least one out of 17 doing what they should be doing.

Now, please don't think that I'm just sitting here letting the demons run amuck.  I actually did police them for the first 15 minutes of homework completion time.  However, since it's the end of the day, I finally threw in the towel the last five minutes and started typing this post..... OH WAIT!  I forgot to mention that I have these demonic cherubs the last class of the day on the last week before winter break.  So, this makes it double Hell hell!  So, please stab me in the face.  It will be less painful than the rest of this week.

Little do you know but my middle school day will continue when I get home.  As you know, I have eight standard poodles.  We used to have seven until the addition of this one:

This is Betty and she is a very confident BUSY puppy.  When Betty is out and about (which is about 90% of the time) she is into EVERYTHING!  I spend my time redirecting her and our other dogs that she has gotten worked up.  So, I leave work and my constant dialog of "What are you doing?  Put that away!  Stop bugging her!  Keep your hands to yourself!  Don't touch that!"  To my house dialog of "Stop that!  Drop it!  Leave her alone!  What's that in your mouth?  Play with this!  What are you chewing on?"  It's like work just rolled seamlessly into my house......sigh....  BUT!! isn't she the cutest puppy?  I love her!!

I'm hoping that you noticed my new acquisition in one of Betty's pictures...Hint...it's silver and has blue ornaments!  Here's a better picture of it.

Yes, it's a 50's Aluminum Christmas Tree!  I have been wanting one of these for YEARS!  I love Mid Century Modern and this fits that to a tee.  I actually, got this bad boy back in May and I have been waiting since then to surprise my husband, Jeff, with it. Seriously, I had a plan totally worked out.  I knew he would go to the gym on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  The minute he was out the door, I was busy setting this up.  I was SUPER excited!  I hadn't got the ornaments on by the time he pulled into the driveway but it was up and the lights were on.  

Jeff walked into the house and he immediately noticed the giant smile on my face.  "Why are you grinning like that?" he asked.  I explained that I had a HUGE surprise and I led him into the front room.  Jeff was expressionless when he saw the tree.  In my excitement I blurted, "OMG 1957 Aluminum Christmas Tree!"  Still expressionless he said, "You know I don't like fake trees."  Uggghhhhh!!  Why did I marry him?!  AND...He knows that we always get a giant real tree for the family room.

Okay, time to talk about knitting.  I LOVE lace knitting.  Even though I'm never going to wear any of it I really enjoy knitting and designing the stuff.  There is something about all the different combination of stitches that is mesmerizing to me.  I also love how it looks awful until you block it.  Then, as you stretch it out and pin it down, the pattern reveals its self.  It's such a magical moment.  Here is my take on a wedding ring shawl.  It's called Estonian Wedding Ring Shawl (imagine that).

Now, I know this looks SUPER complicated but it's not.  However, you have got to love nupps.  This thing is chock-full of the little buggers.  Here are the pictures of my test knit before and after blocking.

The thing is HUGE!  However, it was a blast to knit.  What's really interesting is that the version the test knitter did for Knit Picks (pictured with the model) wasn't as big as mine.  I'm thinking it's because I'm such a loose knitter.

Now, if you look closely, in the left hand corner, you can see that I had a blow out.  It appears that I had a split stitch there and when I stretched it for blocking, the stitch broke.  So, I had to get the crochet needle and pick up the stitches and fix it.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing.  It's been living in the guest room since I blocked it.  Oh, it did make a trip to the Men's knitting retreat a year ago.  I think I'll just let it alone until some female member of my family shows me that they are worthy of this shawl.