Sunday, May 27, 2007

I've been tagged!

Well, I can’t believe that it’s been almost a month since I posted. A lot of life has happened between these posts, so I hope you’ll forgive me. That’s the way it’s going to be with this blog—work and kid commitments got in the way.

E had four performances in the school play, Wizard of Oz, and a dance recital. She did a great job and it was fun to watch the whole cast of Wizard of Oz. This jr. high class wrote the script, put together the sets, auditioned for the parts, etc. and did a great job! I made the tree costumes and helped a little bit with costumes and makeup (most of her classmates are smart enough to know I’m NOT the right person to do elaborate makeup!).

JB had her kindergarten performance and she was, at long last, VIP in her classroom. This was long-anticipated. Because JB’s birthday is during Thanksgiving week (a short week to begin with and also with minimum days) and because there were two other kids with birthdays within a day or two of hers, she had to wait to be the last kid to be VIP in her entire class, so it was a BIG DEAL.

First we had to host “Bobo” and “Betty”, the class teddy bears for the weekend. We included them in all of our activities and “journaled” (I think elementary school teachers have made this a verb!) about their visit, including photos and hand drawn pictures. Bobo and Betty enjoyed Friday night Shabbat dinner with us, attended Tot Shabbat at our congregation's brand NEW synagogue, and the 113th annual Santa Rosa Rose parade from the luxury of my office balcony.

(Bobo enjoying the Santa Rosa Rose parade from my office balcony.)

Then each family member had to visit the classroom and amaze and awe the kids with something about us. JB was asked what she likes most to do with me, and her answer was “go to Starbucks”. Oh, oh. I think we need a life (considering the last time we went to Starbucks was last fall!). Since someone in my profession already visited--my work was deemed "boring", so I did knitting and spindle spinning. Most of the kids got to have their pets visit, but Jazmine is not well-behaved enough to do that. So we took the class pictures of her, instead.

I asked the kids if they knew where yarn comes from and they all answered “the store”. First, I had the kids take apart a piece of yarn to see how it’s constructed. Then I gave them each a small piece of roving to try twisting and plying. Then I showed them other fibers—silk, cotton, etc and showed them what I knit out of those yarns. They seemed to like it, but the next day WG came in with homemade rootbeer and I was passé!

E even made a visit to JB’s classroom. When the teacher asked her what she liked most about her sister, E’s answer was “she’s always happy, even if it is pretty annoying”.

Not a lot of knitting this month. I’m still doing a few rows here and there on the feather and fan stole, but my shoulders have been really giving me problems.

Tag, you're it!

If you've been tagged by me, here are the rules:

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.




I got tagged by KnitCrazy, so here are my seven things about me:

1. I am a very smart woman. I know this because I was smart enough to wait for the right person to come along, and even smarter that I recognized him right away and married him.

2. I grew up on the island of Okinawa, which is now part of Japan. I didn’t appreciate it very much then, but now I wish I could go back and see it again.

3. When we lived on Okinawa, we had a maid (sounds elitist now, but all the American civilians stationed there had one). She crocheted lacy doilies with an impossibly small steel hook. I wanted to crochet too, so she gave me a hook and some thread when I was about 6. I managed-- after weeks of work--an impossibly tight chain of about 12 stitches. I crocheted a little in high school and college.

4. My aunt from Florida came to visit when I was about 14. When she was there, I got very sick and had to stay in bed for about 2 weeks. She taught me to knit and I knit a small square for an afghan—never knit any of the other squares, so it was a very small afghan! I thought it was great, but I didn’t pick up the needles again for many years.

5. My husband and I moved to the Big Island of Hawaii shortly after marrying. I was “underemployed” there and had a lot of time to do crafts. Somehow I got the knitting bug—even though it was really too warm to wear knits or enjoy knitting. I seriously contemplated getting a knitting machine—they were actually pretty popular there. I knit a few small things there, but really didn’t know what I was doing. It was unpleasant knitting with wool and acrylic in the sticky heat.

6. We moved back to Northern California shortly before my first daughter was born. She was born in the middle of December and it was cold. So I got some (acrylic) yarn, some needles, and a Leisure Art book and knit her a cute little cap. The knitting bug had bitten, and I’ve never looked back.

7. I have more needles, patterns in books and magazines, and yarn than I can ever expect to knit in a single lifetime. Or two, or three. I think I’m going to incorporate what should happen to my knitting stuff into my will.




I tagged the following people:


















I hope you all ENJOY sharing seven things--this is meant to be fun, not a chore. I read your blogs and love you all.




I'm going to TRY to be better about posting more frequently. I have something in mind for the next post (perhaps tomorrow) and we got a new digital camera which should make it much easier to post in the future.




Happy Memorial Day!




JanKnitz

2 comments:

Knitcrazy said...

Hey !!!!
You can't tag me back... I don't think!! LOL

What kind of camera did you get ??

Penny
peneloercola@aol.com

Chelle said...

Hi Jan!

It's Chelle, of Haley's Dog Blog!

I really don't know about Henri. Bil and Sil adopted him from a rescue and his mother was rescued when she was in a "family way", so Dad's identity remains a mystery. Mom resembles a black Lab, but hey, who really knows! He is a fabulous dog though, whatever his parentage.

I only see Henri every so often, but he really does have some Lab traits. He loves to roughhouse and he really struggles saying no to treats!

I'd love to see a picture of your dog!