Quickly!

I'm writing the final for my online class. I still have about 10 papers to grade for them. I also need to get all late work taken care of for that class too. The final will grade itself, however!

I have graded the exams from the lab course. I still have all of their notebooks to do.

Soccer remains fun. The Dolphins won their second game in a row, and The Wiz scored 2 goals. He also never cried during the entire game. It's a record. Even better, every single child on my team scored a goal. I'm so proud of them. Game Boy's team won again (they are undefeated).

I had a Camp Dean's meeting today. My co-dean is also a planner, so we will work well together. We even chose the crafts the children will do. Now we need to start finding more counselors.

The Collar put my table together. I need to take a picture of it, but it's going to have to wait. He recycled the table top, and I'm going to use it as my work space. It's really kind of cool.

Okay, back to final exams. Oh, I'm ready for next week.

One set down

I have finished grading one set of papers. That class only needs its final exam grades and I am finished with them.

I have papers to grade in the other class. Other than that, they need their final exams.

The last class needs their finals graded (they took it yesterday) and their notebooks graded.

The end is in sight.

I'll emerge some time next week.

*edited to add: I finished grading the exams! I think I'll tackle their notebooks next. Then I'll be finished with one set of grades.

I Should Be Grading

I know that I should be grading papers, but this is more fun.

Last night was the last dose of IG until the fall. The Wiz and I are both really happy. However, just like two weeks ago, he woke up in the middle of the night throwing up, and continued until about 6:30 this morning. I don't remember being told that this was a possible side effect. So, of course he's home again because of that. I'm hoping that his skin will heal a bit (it's really tough right now) and it will be easier to stick in the needle. I'd also like to see him gain some weight, too.

Speaking of The Wiz, he had an allergist appointment last week. His allergies are not under good control. He's taking 5 different medications, and still has lots of itching, sneezing, runny nose, etc. He's going to have more testing, and might need some immunology testing, too. Lovely! We could use another specialist. I was hoping to wait until he's 8 when he has to see an endocrinologist, but why not another? We haven't added a new specialist for him for two years! They weighed him at the allergist, and fully dressed, but no shoes, he weighed a whopping 39 pounds. Do you think if we feed him doughnuts and ice cream he'll add another pound by the new school year?

This is how much of the yarn from Game Boy's sweater is left:
I have no clue what I'm going to do with it.

Happy Barrrrrthday!

Look! Gluten free chocolate cake!

The Wiz decided that I needed a real party, complete with hats and everything.
So, he picked out a theme complete with party hats and favors. Here we are being fierce:and here we are being happy, peacenik pirates.(Why yes, that is recycling in the background. It is Earth Day, too, you know! So the pile of plastic milk jugs is a virtue, not housework that's not done.)

We had a nice day. The Wiz and the rest of the Dolphins won their first game of the season. It was 80 degrees and absolutely beautiful. The Collar made me a lovely dinner, and A at church and I decided to start our own knitting group. Both of us need to get out more!

Tomorrow I have to go back to normal. I have a ton of grading to do. It was nice while it lasted.

He's in Atlanta!

My baby went to Atlanta yesterday. He's singing at The Cathedral of St. Phillip. He boarded the bus, took his choir buddy under his wing, and left. He didn't even say good bye.

Of course, an hour and a half later he called us on his cell phone. Then he called us 2 hours later to tell us what he ate for dinner and to say good night. Today he has called three times--once while we were at the Domain, once right before we ate dinner, and again about 45 minutes later.

But he doesn't miss us. Yeah, right. I do know he's having a good time, though.

Before he left, I finished his sweater. He looks pretty happy to have it, don't you think? He has one of the best grins when he's actually happy.

It looks very strange when he's not wearing it because it's long and thin, like him. But on him, it looks like it was made for him, which, of course, it was. It even is a bit large on him, so maybe it will fit in the fall. I can hope.

Specs: Pretty much my own pattern. A bit of Ann Budd, a bit of hood help from here and there.
I used size 8 needles and Bernat Denim Style yarn. I started this sometime in March, I think, so it took about a month to knit. The next sweater I knit for this kid is going to be an adult small, because this isn't going to fit him for long, and he adores hoodies.

I have a lot of this yarn left. I have no idea what to do with it, although Game Boy has asked for a pair of wrist bands and mittens. But for now, I'm working on my socks, the shawl and The Collar's sweater.

I have so

been knitting. It's not like I can do much else! (Well, I can grade papers...)

The Collar's sweater is about 2 inches from the armhole shaping. So it's more of the same right now, but it is growing.

I have two sock cuffs knit up. It's time for the leg, but I've been focusing on this instead:I want to finish it before Game Boy leaves for Atlanta. It should be enough to keep off the chill for him. I'm working on the hood, as you might be able to see. I'm about 6" away from putting it together and then picking up the stitches for the trim around the hood.

I've also decided what I'm going to do with all of my leftover sock yarns. I had thought baby booties, but (shh, don't tell) I don't really care much about babies. Toddlers, okay, kids, sure, but babies aren't my favorites. If you have a baby, I'm sure that yours is very nice, but I'm done with babies. Anyway this is what I think I'm going to do:
Yes, I'm making miter squares for a blanket. I might wind up with enough sock yarn that I can do a cotton blend one and a wool blend one. I guess it'll be a project for the years. But it'll be fun to remember all of the different socks I have known.

IN other news:
Game Boy had a mild stomach bug. He's going back to school tomorrow morning, and he's glad about it. We make being home boring, although The Wiz would stay home any way.

The Wiz had SCIG today. He also has a rash--luckily, we see his allergist on Thursday. He says it's so itchy and his benedryl isn't working as well as we'd like.

The Collar is busy exploring his options.

I'm just waiting to see what happens, and trying to remember what it was like to not care about what other people think. I think living in the fishbowl is getting to me.

Running

No knitting, just a drive-by post.

I ran 3 miles in 38 minutes today. No walking! I walked another 4 minutes and thus was able to get in 3.25 miles. I also lost another pound.

Maybe all the stress lately is doing me some good?

Eventful Day

Yesterday was quite eventful.

I have almost finished with one set of lab notebooks! HUGE relief. Today, I'll be giving one of my two exams, and I'll be grading homework while the students do so. Three things off of my list!

The Collar and I went running at the Y. He's pleased because he is back to sub 30 minute 5ks and I'm pleased because I managed to run 3 miles in sub 40 minutes (38 minutes, 16 seconds). We both lost weight over the 2 week layoff. I suspected that I had as my waist bands are even looser and my favorite running shorts are too big again. The Collar is pleased too.

We came home and got SCIG ready. Then the plumber called, so we hung out for that. He was able to fix our outside spigot, our shower faucet, and fixed our water heater. The water heater had a pipe that was made of a substance that breaks down in hot water. Yes, there are some *brilliant* people designing equipment. The nice thing about that is we don't have to buy a new water heater. The plumber strongly reminded The Collar and me of our brother-in-law. They both spoke in very similar fashion, and when I told him that, he apologized, just like S would have.

We did the IG, Game Boy taught the new neighbor kids Maisie tag, and we had lamb curry for dinner.

Then The Wiz threw up. He's been back at school two days, and he catches the stomach bug that's going around. He spent all night throwing up, but is feeling better now. He's begging for food, which of course, we must limit. I'm glad that he's able to keep things down now, because the poor kid really doesn't need to be on an IV.

Spring is back! Maybe it'll stay permanently now.

Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about knitting. I have been doing some, but I'm just plugging away at my projects. Boring to write about, boring to take pictures of. I'd like to finish a sweater (or two) because then I can work on more interesting things.

Oh, whatever!

Holy Week is now over, so The Collar has more time, theoretically, at least. Easter is wonderful, and all, but...

However, I am now facing way too much to do. I have 3 classes, and this is what needs to be finished by May 7 (aka the day grades are turned in):
Bio 152: One in class exam
Papers to grade (35 of them)
3 Homework assignments
1 final
Bio 153: Two sets of notebooks (48 total notebooks to grade)
One in class exam

Bio 112: One in "regular" exam (online class)
Papers to grade (another 20)
One final
One homework assignment
Determine extra credit points
Where did the time go?!?

In other news, the Wiz got himself stuck between the wall and the bed last week. (Yep, that wall!) He'd dropped a toy down there and was trying to retrieve it. GameBoy has been insisting that he hates to sing (this is SOLO boy), and wants to quit choir on one day and then insists he wants to be Head Chorister next year. Yes, obviously, he hates choir.

Both boys are back in school after spring break. Hallelujah!

All of us are back to our "normal" schedules. Well, as much as we can with my thumb being unusable.

You're Kidding!

This was what we saw outside yesterday evening:We haven't had much snow all winter, so we get it for Good Friday. At least the Collar wasn't holding outdoor Stations of the Cross yesterday. We're supposed to be back up to 60s this week, and I expect it to be warm on my birthday. Why? Because it almost always is--except for the year I had chicken pox (yes, on my birthday).

The Thumb

It turns out that I didn't completely tear my left ulna collateral ligament. This is good! Instead, I completely tore my left radial collateral ligament. This is bad, but much better than tearing the UCL. If the UCL is torn, the only repair is surgical, because the ends can get pulled apart by the muscles in the webbing of your hand and be trapped. I am probably not going to need surgery, because RCL tears can heal more like a bone would--if the ends are close together and immobilized, they'll "grow" back. There aren't bones and muscles in the way.

So now, I am in this for 4 weeks, at which point I'll be starting PT or being scheduled for surgery. I'm rooting for physical therapy.

The new splint is hard plastic and I can clean it with rubbing alcohol. This is a good thing!

We caved.

Every year, we swear that we aren't going to turn on the air conditioning until at least mid-May. (Actually, the goal is always June, but we've never made it that long!)

Every year, we cave around April 20th.

Except this year. We turned it on today, April 1st. This is not an April Fool's joke, either. We are just happy we made it this far! We should have turned it last week, in March.

P.S. There's no news on the thumb yet. My appointment is Tuesday morning, and I'll know more then. It's still swollen, and there's a lovely black bruise, but that's it. I'll be glad to know what's up.