My Eyes Want to Close

It has been a few days now where all my eyes want to do is close! Yes I have a doctor’s appointment coming up and I will ask to have my blood work done. Hopefully it will lead to an iron transfusion!

Teaching:

Today wasn’t a bad day. We got through printing v and music class. I prepped for next week and got lots accomplished. I was in supervision for recess and had to talk to a problem kid about being out of bounds🙄

We did bar graphs in math and went outside to draw our favorite snack bar graph with chalk. That was definitely a highlight, though it also showed me I have one little girl who has no idea!

This afternoon we did tulips for the windows. I’ll try to share a picture when they are up. The kids did better than usual at doing the modgepodge of the paper onto overhead film, but we had four spills of the modgepodge:(. My little ADHD boy did an awesome job of cleaning al the containers and paintbrushes without being asked so after school I took him a little treat.

We ended the day playing outside as we had a surprisingly warm, dry day when it called for rain all week!

Exercise:

I met up with Sarah and Dennis for a run and we got 6.84km in. I think Sarah is getting faster which is great and my heart rate only hit 178 which is an improvement over 200! Especially since it only went that high when I ran up a set of stairs. I hope this situation continues to improve and maybe I won’t need to tell my doctor about that and we can concentrate on the tiredness instead.

I also did my FitOn class today and I am starting to think they let a monkey choose the daily class as it was an upper body workout for the third day in a row!😫. I better have amazing arms for summer for this torture.

Knitting:

Before I got into the tub, I spent the evening knitting. In the mornings I have been working on my Rock It Tee as I want a new summer tee. At school, while visiting at lunch I’ve been working on the Ankers summer shirt as it is at the stockinette in the round point. Then at night I try to get a few pattern repeats done on my hitchhiker shawl. I’m not sure I’ll stick with this rotation as I don’t feel like I actually accomplish anything, but since I wore a new sweater yesterday, I’m okay with it for now.

I have also been working on my stitching, but have been going straight down a column. When talking to my mom tonight I came to the conclusion that I may not stick with this as though it keeps me from making a mistake, it also uses up way too much thread, makes the back messier and doesn’t show much progress. I’ll try to get more done before Sunday’s update.

Well I’m going to continue soaking for another five minutes and then crawl into bed with my book.

Have fun!

AJ

It Flew

Well it’s been a busy day, but not in a bad way:)

Teaching:

We had a change of routine today and that in addition to the full moon definitely affected my students!

We watched the intermediate public speaking in the morning. The kids lasted through all of it which surprised me. The kids did great, but I thought it was horrible that they still weren’t allowed to remove their masks to do their speech. There was only one kid in the gym at a time and we were all on Teams watching it!

We also got some chalkboard spelling done this morning. Lately I hate doing anything with the whiteboards because someone is always telling me their pen doesn’t work😖

We did relay races in gym and got our math drill done. Lunch was when two students decided to not use their words to solve their problems. I came in to reports of the girl trying to throw her chair at the boy. The girl is dramatic so I doubt this actually would have happened but I tore a strip off both of them!

This afternoon we threw the plan out the window and cleaned our desks and then went outside to play.

I’ve been super tired lately so left right away. I actually also had to get home and get my bike over to the repair shop for it’s tune up tomorrow.

Exercise:

The one time my slow Internet drives me crazy is when I am trying to do my FitOn class. Today it was shoulders, arms and core and I will definitely feel it tomorrow. I got smart though and did other jobs while waiting for it to buffer each time. I also ran with the kids in gym for a half kilometer. I am definitely having trouble with the fact that my mileage this month is so low:(

Knitting:

The big thing of the day was my new sweater. I finished the Kids Flannel by Alicia Plummer last night and wore it today. I think I had more compliments today on this sweater than I have ever gotten before!

This picture is for all of you who are always after me to show the sweater on me. I of course can pick this picture apart in a Zillion ways, but I’ll live with it. the sweater is made out of the discontinued yarn, Carisia by Patons. It is an acrylic/wool blend and not my usual, but it was what I had in my stash that worked. I ended up loving it because it is so soft. The only thing I’m questioning is whether I should use the 1/3skein I have left to lengthen the sleeves??

Well I need sleep, have fun!

AJ

Monday Again

I wish I had a more exciting title for my Monday posts. I’ll have to think about this.

Exercise:

My slow data only drives me crazy when I am trying to do my workout video on the FitOn app so this morning I did my workout when I got to school. This was also because I had a massage right after school and I try to take 24 hours off after my massage to enjoy the loose muscles. I did just a quick intro to tabata workout, but it was at least something!

Teaching:

We got through a journal, PE class, looking at bar graphs and answering questions from them, and an introductory video to matter. I really wanted to get the kids to do their wonder wall questions after the video, but I had to give the reading prizes for last week and so we will do the questions tomorrow. We also went outside at the end of the day and worked in the class garden box and played on the playground. It was a successful day and was made better by the use of my new hearing amplifiers. It does amplify everything which can be a little annoying in the classroom, but I also felt like I didn’t have to work so hard to hear the kids which was nice. The bell and my friend yelling at lunch=not so nice, but I’m sure I’ll adjust.

Knitting:

I ran down the hill to get to my massage appointment and actually had time to hit the grocery store first, but unfortunately they still didn’t have my milk:(. I want my milk!!!!!

I came home to happy mail! That is what I call knitting mail as it’s way better than getting bills. I got three skeins from Area51 Fibres. The name always makes me smile as my parents end of the marina finger is Area51. I didn’t plan to get three skeins as I just wanted to try them out, but they sell every colourway in 50g skeins which I appreciate as then I don’t have to make four pairs of socks in the same colour and they have free shipping at a certain amount which was three of these.

I got the Miss Jane (left), The Duke and I (middle) and Claire (right). I can’t wait to start knitting with these and see how they feel and how they knit up!!

I have spent the evening working on my Kids Flannel sweater again as I feel like I am closest to finishing this one which is a good thing because it is a test knit. I have finished a sleeve, am working on the second sleeve and then will do the neck band and then just knit on the body until I run out of yarn. At this point I will be lucky if it doesn’t turn out to be a cropped sweater!

Well that’s it for me, have fun!

AJ

Weekend Wrap Up

I’m ending the weekend with a bath and writing this post will hopefully keep me in here for at least twenty minutes. That’s always a struggle for me.

I have to admit my weekend was very quiet!

Friday was a ProD day which we now do from home. I really hope this continues after the pandemic. I got lots of research done on STEM and outdoor education and thought out some plans for the last nine weeks of school, but I got to be warm and comfortable while I did this!!!

After work, I met up with my teaching buddy and we got plants for our school garden boxes.

My ProD days have always included a bonus run in the morning. Since I never have to arrive early it gives me enough extra time to get a run in. On this ProD I got just over 4km in and it was a lovely way to start the day. Unfortunately, I am still way behind in mileage:(

The other tradition my teaching buddy and I have implemented this year is a walk and Ice cream at the end of the day. This time we went back to Vashti Rose and I had mixed berry cheesecake, however, they had also put aside a container of mojito for me when they were about to run out earlier in the week.

Does this mean that I am at the ice cream store too often????🤣

Friday night I spent trying to get some projects off the needles as I was feeling overwhelmed at having five projects on the needles. I got the latest dishcloth off the needles so I was down to four when I went to bed.

Saturday I was determined to not leave the house as it always makes my day seem longer. Besides the more I stay home the more I find people really stupid when I go out🙄

I spent the day knitting. I got my meta socks finished. This was the latest SPY21 KAL sock from the book Operation Sock Drawer. While I will probably do all the socks out of this book at some point, I will probably quit doing the KAL as I can’t stand watching the ladies on the podcast. I just find them so annoying!

The navy in this is Sandnes Garn Sunday and the colours are leftovers of Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Sock from my temperature cowl. The socks took no time when I finally sat down to them, but when they stopped using up skeins, I had found it tough to stay focused on them. I also wish I had gone down to a 2mm needle because this sock pattern had more stitches in the smallest size they had and I do find the socks slightly big. I am happy with how they turned out otherwise and they used up three skeins from the stash.

My FitOn classes for Friday and Saturday were yoga so that was quite nice, though the class today had one pose that I just laughed at trying to do🙄

Sunday started with my usual run with Sarah and Dennis. We did 7.5km out on the dyke by the river. It rained the whole time Whig makes me feel like that 7.5 should count for 15! My heart rate is still going way higher than I think it should. I keep thinking that maybe my heart rate has always done this but today I came home and checked my exercise diary for last year. On my runs I always record my average and highest heart rate. It has gone up from the 146-164 range to the 180-200 range. I guess it’s not just in my head. I did call on Friday and make an appointment with my doctor for the start of May.

The rest of the day was spent prepping my food, working on the Alicia Plummer test knit of her Kids Flannel sweater I started yesterday and watching knitting podcasts.

I started the test knit with an acrylic/wool blend I inherited from my grandmother. I was using it just to use it up, but I’m actually loving it and have been knitting like mad to finish this sweater so I can wear it!

The podcast I have been watching is the Little Big Knits and I have been enjoying it.

Well I made it to twenty minutes so I am going to bed to read my book:)

Have fun!

AJ

Happy Friday Eve!

It kind of was my Friday today as tomorrow is a ProD day that I can do from home. I love these days as they get my time, but it’s so much more relaxed and I can get a run in and pop in laundry on my recess break!

Today was a tough day at work as my students were wound up. Other teachers even noticed it!

We got through printing and I did prep for next week while they had music. We did some work on graphing, both making and reading tally graphs.

This afternoon after guided reading we tried to do our cherry blossom art as outdoor Ed, but the wind was gusting and blowing away pop bottles and flipping paint pans. It was crazy!

I got the room ready after school, met with a parent who just wanted reassurance that I was seeing the same thing and that it wasn’t wrong to go see a pediatrician and then I came home!

I met up with Dennis for a run. Sarah had decided not to come so it was just the two of us for 6.3km. I feel like my mileage is way down:(. I think I might try to sneak out for a few kilometers in the morning to try and make up some distance.

I stopped to look and the store still didn’t have my milk:( but I did pick up a single serve packet of Vega protein powder. I keep planning to buy this at Costco but realized I should try it first to see if I like it before I buy a big container of it!

I came in the door and started on my FitOn video but it took forever since I’m once again out of high speed data. I really need to stop watching so many knitting podcasts on YouTube! What bugs me is that I wasted my data on a podcast that wasn’t even good!😖

I finally sat down to some knitting and finished up the second sleeve on my Ankers sweater. It is now mindless knitting in the round and so will probably become my lunch knitting for a while.

I also finished up my most recent dishcloth. I already feel better about three projects on the go and tomorrow I will pick yarn for my new sweater test knit.

For now I’m off to knit on the hitchhiker and watch another knitting podcast🤣

Have fun!

AJ

Book Character Day

This year we have had a spirit day each month at school and today it was dress as your favorite book character.

My day actually started with a meeting with my new principal which went quite well I hope I was tactful- it’s definitely not my strength🙏🏻🤦🏼‍♀️

The kids and I finished their friendly letters that we started yesterday and we sent them home with them so they could actually send or give the letter to whomever they had written to.

We also did chalkboard spelling and the kids are doing really well! We went outside for gym and I introduced the kids to the game British Bulldog and then we got through a math drill. This afternoon we concentrated on discussing healthy food and they created their dream, healthy dinner.

For the book character day, I dressed as Anne of Green Gables and my students didn’t know who I was😥. We then had to watch a few animated parts of the book I found on YouTube. The kids were super interested as the EAL kids didn’t want to leave. Our new principal dressed up, gathered the staff for a photo at lunch and read her favorite book to the school online this afternoon. She did more in one day to foster school spirit than has been done in the past four years!

Exercise:

I left school early and came home, got my recycling taken out and did my FitOn workout which was an arms and upper body. It didn’t use weights, but I probably should have grabbed some!

Knitting:

I don’t really love having more than two projects on the go at one time- one for home and one portable one. Suddenly I have five😳😥

Tonight I did three stripes on each of my socks and am almost done gusset decreases. This morning I did a pattern or two on my hitchhiker shawl. I then switched over to my Ankers Summer Shirt. I am about two inches past the sleeve separation and I decided I had better do the sleeves and then I can just knit the body as long as possible. I don’t think I’ll be short yarn, but who knows. I have finished the right sleeve this evening as I changed it and made it only five rows of ribbing as I don’t love a deep ribbing.

I really need to knit a lot this weekend and get a few of these projects finished up as I have a test knit to do!

Well I’m done for tonight. For some reason I am super tired tonight:(

Have fun!

AJ

Monday Mayhem

It wasn’t really mayhem, I just like alliteration:)

Teaching:

Most of our day went well though my boys were little monkeys today😖

We got through a journal entry this morning. The children had music while I put up their sketching artwork. We then played Three Little Pigs outside again. Everyone has been a pig, a wolf and Grandma so we will move on for a bit now. I introduced graphing which is my favorite math subject and we’ll spend the next two weeks on that. In the afternoon the children planned their next STEM project in which they will be building natural environment elements. The volcano was a very popular one🤣

We had a CDMC meeting after school during which I was very bad and spent the time choosing and ordering new stitch marker. Some people talk just to hear themselves talk and others are busy trying to organize big events in the last two months of school🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

The best part of my day at work actually came first thing this morning when I came into a lovely package on my desk.

My friend Cori left me a lovely treat and that orange came in handy after school since I had forgotten about the meeting.

I tried to stop in on the way home and do some grocery shopping, but they didn’t have my milk and the lineup was crazy so I will try again tomorrow. I’m buying a few milks this time!

Exercise:

I walked in the door and knew I had to do my exercise class on FitOn immediately. I actually really liked the class today. It was a tabata cardio class and it was a challenge but I actually felt in better shape:). Let’s hope I continue to feel that way!

House:

I also got all the garbage taken out from the door installation this weekend and the living room floor swept yet again:)

Knitting:

This morning I had done some time on my hitchhiker shawl. At lunch I worked on a dishcloth and this evening I did the heel turn on my meta socks and got down to where I am done the yoke design on my Ankers Summer Shirt. I’m totally not used to having so many projects on the go at once and I think I need to finish a couple of them. Of course I finished the dishcloth tonight while on a zoom call, but I’ll just start another one tomorrow so that’s not going to help the situation.

I really should be motivated to finish the meta socks, but I don’t seem to be. I am wondering if it’s because changing colours every three rows is annoying and it’s no longer using skeins up:(

My zoom call was for my Bentley cardigan KAL and I had to admit that I finished it. I’m the first one finished- maybe there will be a prize for that🤣

Well that’s my entire day. Have fun!

AJ

Weekend Wrap Up

Well it’s been quite the weekend!

Saturday morning I woke up at my usual time and told myself not to open my eyes and not to get out of bed and amazingly I went back to sleep and slept in. It was lovely!

The most exciting thing about Saturday was that I am one step closer to hugs. My noon appointment for the vaccine went very smoothly and I was actually done and out by 12:06! Hugs are definitely a motivator for me as I am a hug-a-holic and definitely miss giving and getting hugs!

I spent the afternoon with Brenda, knitting in her backyard. It was lovely as well since we have not managed to have knit night for over a year! I had mentioned doing a gauge swatch for the Ankers summer shirt and Alissa of HeadKnits said she would love to do a knit along with me! I love having company so that works for me, though I have to admit this sweater is flying along! I worked on the Ankers sweater on Saturday as we enjoyed the sunshine and have just picked it back up a bit ago tonight and am almost done the yoke section. The yarn I am using is Gathering Yarns and I had made the Seraphina sweater out of it last year and ever wore it because it was huge and boxy on me. I ripped it out earlier this week and knew I wanted to do the Ankers out of it. I love the colour, but so far it really doesn’t seem to have great stitch definition which is too bad as that’s what this sweater relies on. I’m going to keep going with it and it will just be what it will be.

I also did some more work on my meta socks and on the hitchhiker shawl. However, the most satisfying knits of the weekend were my two dishcloths that I did out of old cotton thread I had around. It used up two skeins out of my stash and made me go through the yarn and discover I didn’t want two skeins, so they got passed to Brenda’s friend. Four skeins gone- we won’t talk about the five I brought in:(

Dishcloth knitting will be my lunch hour knitting this week I think and we’ll see if I can clear off that shelf. The boxes of cotton drive me crazy as they’re forever falling off the shelf.

This morning started with my usual run with Sarah and Dennis. We did 7kms out and back along the dyke and it was entirely too busy out there, however, this run felt incredible! I didn’t realize how much my foot had been bothering me until I ran without pain today. I wish every run was like this!

I have also gotten very lucky on the FitOn app and have had a yoga class three days in a row. I feel like I am going to pay for this though in the coming week.

My cousin also came this morning and installed my new bifold doors on my laundry closet. It feels great to no longer have to look at my storage and machines and to have that project complete. It is a little disappointing that the doors don’t “snap” shut, but already today I have gotten over it and I’m sure I won’t care.

It was great having him here as it meant I couldn’t just sit my butt down and start knitting so I got all my food prepped for the week and I got some of my fridge cleaned. This one little job each day is working well so far as I usually end up doing more.

I also ended up having a nap today as I didn’t think I’d had any side effects from the vaccine shot until I went to bed last night and realized my arm was aching horribly. Every time I moved last night it woke me up so I didn’t sleep well at all. I hope I don’t have another night like that as it’s not going to lead to a patient teacher tomorrow!

Well I’m going to go stretch my calves and probably peruse the MidKnit Cravings website as I think I want every colourway they have!

Have fun!

AJ

Refresh

Refresh was the word of the day! I woke up to an email sent last night saying I could sign up for a vaccination appointment. Of course all local appointments were gone so I could only get Sunday afternoon about an hour away. I told my students about it and they were determined to help me get an appointment. All day, “miss b hit refresh” was the phrase as we kept looking to see if there were appointments available. I did finally get a local appointment tomorrow at noon. I’ll have to tell my kids on Monday.

Teaching:

Beyond registering for the vaccine, we did a reading lesson on forming an opinion about a book. They were much better about stating a reason this week than they were last week.

We got through our last math lesson on word problems and then went out and taught the other grade one class how to play the Three Little Pigs game.

In the afternoon we had flashlight reading and I took my highest reading group, who I swear, don’t even need me there🤣. We then finished our forest sketches from yesterday and I had the kids glue them onto backing paper. I guess we’ll see Monday when I put them up how well they did at centering and making them straight. We ended the day by playing on the playground.

I left quickly after school again as I had a physio appointment. The physio was a few minutes late getting to me but that worked on my favor as that’s when I finally got my good vaccine time. I didn’t love having the needles in my foot and my calves feel tighter than they have all week, but hopefully tomorrow I will wake up better:)

Mail:

I got home to happy mail. I had a shawl cuff on my list for a while as if I’m going to wear more shawls and scarves and cowls to work to stay warm, I need a way to keep them on right. Knox Mountain Knit Co had a sale on late last week so I had ordered a basic black shawl cuff and it came today. This is actually the second time I have bought this exact shawl cuff, but I gave the first one to my friend Lyndsay.

Knitting:

I once again sat down to knit on the hitchhiker shawl as that knit is completely addictive. I did make myself switch over to starting the Ankers summer shirt as I need a project to knit with Brenda tomorrow. For such a simple knit, I sure am having trouble with it. Maybe I’m just tired. My biggest goal this weekend is to finish my meta socks so that they are done before the next Rome socks come out on the first.

Exercise:

I did get a yoga class done on the FitOn app today. I recorded everything in my book and am having a bit of a tough time with the fact that I feel like I’m 100 km behind this year. I should be at about 350km right now and instead, I’m in the mid 200s:(

My plan is to do a household cleaning chore before I sit down to knit in the morning. We’ll see how I do.

Have fun!

AJ

Happy Hump Day

It was nice to have a quieter day:)

Teaching:

We had a fire drill this morning and the kids did great! We also got through chalkboard spelling and the kids added colour to their environmental elements page from yesterday. We went outside to play Three Little Pigs for gym. It was so cool and I would say my gym class was a success because as the kids went out for lunch they were organizing another three little pigs game. Yes!!!!

We did a bit of math, silent reading/guided reading and then did a lesson on healthy foods. It was interesting that it was easier to name the treats than to name the healthy stuff. I really had to bite my tongue when they named hot dogs and Mac n cheese as healthy! Love both, but healthy🤨

At lunch I came back to reports of three boys dog piling and hitting each other with water bottles. I talked to them, they lost five minutes of outside playtime and I emailed their parents. Hopefully that’s enough to nip this Spring behavior in the bud!

The kids were in awe this morning when they thought I was wearing heels. They were really just loafers, but they make a clicking sound compared to my silent running shoes and flats. Unfortunately I had to garbage the cute red shoes at lunch as the whole bottom had fallen off and the leather had cracked all over the place. I am on a wear it or get rid of it kick, so tomorrow it will be a different pair of shoes.

After outside playtime, I ran down the hill so I would be home in time for my brother to drop off my new closet doors. He remeasured the other doors and decided that I had better just sell them as they are quite large for my closets. 😞

Exercise:

Today’s FitOn class was a mobility class which I am categorizing as yoga. It is nice to have these easier days:). My friend who introduced me to the app has the goal of doing a workout everyday for 88 days. I don’t have a goal yet, I guess I’ll have to think of one.

Knitting:

I got the ends woven into the Bentley cardigan and it is blocking right now. I didn’t stretch it much as I like the fit already.

I finished my last scrappy Musselburgh. It could have been longer, but I like most how it used up 4 skeins of yarn.

When I came home and there was an unexpected package I had no idea what was in it. I had forgotten that I won a skein of yarn from Tanya at Bloomin’ Fabrics. I can’t resist knitting with it and so plan to buy the Hitchhiker pattern by Martina Behr and start ASAP.

Isn’t this yarn beautiful?!?! It is her Deep Blue Sea colour way. I’m just not sure how it’s going to knit up as I’ve never bought yarn like this before.

The hitchhiker pattern will have to wait a little as tonight I am frogging my serendipity sweater and I purchased the Ankers sweater pattern by PetiteKnit to reknit the yarn. Unfortunately my yarn is sport weight and the pattern comes in fingering and dk and I messed up and bought the fingering one 🤦🏼‍♀️

Maybe it’s time for bed!

Have fun!

AJ