Musings on a snow day

All weekend, they have been forecasting a huge snowstorm to move through the state. Polk County is going to be in a blizzard warning starting at noon today. But, the county my district is in (one over) isn't - just a winter storm warning. I still figured last night that this would at least get us a late start this morning before I went to bed because we are a rural school district. No dice. 

So, I got up this morning, cursing, because I was going to have to drive to school (although my route to school isn't typically horrid) and back when it was going to get bad. I'll be honest; I haven't gotten used to the stress of winter driving since we moved back. So, the thought of the 20-mile drive wasn't too thrilling. 

I double checked my email before I got in the shower. I had signed up for alert emails from the television stations even though we do have a phone tree. I usually get the emails before I get the call (just by a few minutes). No alerts. Poo.

I get out of the shower and see I have a voice mail. No school! The email got sent right after I got in the shower. The stinky thing was that I was up and awake. At 6:30. On a day when I could sleep in.

So, I've spent the last 2.5 hours being productive. 

• Caught up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
• Worked on baby blanket No. 3. I'm almost halfway done!
• Started the oven cleaning (I shouldn't take credit for that; self-cleaning doesn't involve much from me).
• Wrote a blog post! (We all know what an accomplishment this is for me!)
• Started a new book (Incindiary by Chris Cleve; he also wrote Little Bee, which was excellent).

And that's not all that's on tap for today. Sammy needs to go on at least one walk today, and maybe I'll bake something. I also need to finish writing a unit test.

But, now, it's back to knitting.

Day with Aunt Beth, Part 2

Taylor's choice for our day together was going to the Science Center of Iowa. So, we went to lunch first, and I made sure to time it so she had the option of being on the Channel 13 weather forecast at noon. But, she didn't want to do it, but at least I gave her the option.

I basically let her go on her own and just trailed behind. It's a hands-on museum, so I let her play with what she wanted to and added in my knowledge when necessary. This resulted in us blowing through the place in 32 minutes.

Taylor may have had the most fun in the toddler section of the science center.

Here she shows off her brute strength.

I had her for the rest of the afternoon, so I had to quickly think of an idea of what else to do. I suggested we go to Barnes and Noble, and she was thrilled. I had to put her on a limit of two books, otherwise she would have walked out with 20 (not that I would know anything about that). She was reading one as soon as we hit the car, and she curled up on the couch to finish it when we got back to the house.

But her dorkitude didn't end there. Last summer, I had the girls Kool-aid dye some yarn, which they then used to knit a bookmark. Taylor really took to it, and she had actually finished a dishcloth for her mom a few weeks before that. So, I had given her some needles and two balls of remnant yarn I had so she could make herself a scarf. I can't describe how proud I was when she showed me this:

It doesn't look like much, but there's only one error in there. That's pretty good considering she did all of that on her own. 

We finished the day with a trip to the mall to get some ice cream. I also let her window shop for a bit.

So, we had a nice dorky day. The dork gene runs strong in this family:)

Goal updates:

Um, the no new yarn thing, still not working. The shop got a lot of new sock yarn. I came home with two skeins - one for me, and one for Jeremy. I also heard that my favorite sock yarn will be coming in soon. Plus, I'm on the search for the World Cup sock yarn; I'm going to have obnoxious German knee highs for the next one:)

I have read a book a day so far. I've also been reading on my Kindle while I work out. It makes me less cranky about the entire thing.

Randoms

*Sorry for the blog silence. I was without  my laptop last week. My technology curse continued, and one of the Web sites that I visit had been hacked. This resulted in me getting a virus. The "humorous" thing about this virus is that is actually from a antivirus company. Basically, they hold you hostage because they pop up their antiviral program, and then they disable yours. Then, they say your computer is riddled with spyware and horrid virii. It meant we got to wipe my computer and start over.

*I broke down and got a new Zune. Mine took a bath in the pets' water dish (Jeremy knocked it off the counter). I'm very glad I got the new version. It's so light. And after loading it up with my favorite 90s music, I now have a better idea of why my dad thought I was addicted to heroin (nothing else, mind you -- just heroin) in high school. I listened to some angry stuff.

*Staying with the technology theme, thanks to my curse of gadgets hating me, in the past 3 years I have managed to kill 3 laptops (one was a work one and it was actually Sam's fault -- he stepped on it), render 2 Zunes useless, kill 2 or 3 phones, and the wii went kaputt, too. I say it is because of my electric personality; Jeremy doesn't buy this.

*Jeremy and I joined the Y. I've worked out every day since we joined. I have never liked exercising, and I still don't. It makes me hot, sweaty, and smelly. And I hate smelling. However, the nice thing about already being a stick means I get to see results quickly. My egg (what I've always lovingly called my bicep) is now more of a large lemon. I can see my calf muscles again, and my thighs are rocks. I'm now preparing to run my first 5K in October - The Race for the Cure. And I'm making Jeremy run it with me because I need a buddy.

*It's been a wet summer in Iowa. This makes me miss Florida - if only because people in Florida can drive in rain. People in Iowa, not so much. I've had practice driving in insane rains thanks to various tropical storms and hurricanes. Just keep plowing ahead, there is no need to slow down at random points or hit your breaks suddenly.

*I may have downloaded a widget to my phone that is counting down the days to Disney (153, if you were curious). I'm worse than a kid, and Jeremy is about as bad. Once we have mini-Knips, it may be hard to distinguish who are the adults and who are the kids.

*I have two weeks left of summer vacation. Thanks to my stupid classes, I feel like I have not accomplished enough laziness. But, I will finish the last class this week, and it is my goal to read a book a day in that time.

Yarn diet update: I fell down and went boom last Friday. I went to a yarn shop in Altoona that I haven't been to before. I got some yarn for a present (so that was a necessary purchase), and then two skeins that were just for me. But, I also finished two projects last week. I'm calling it even.

I have a problem

Last year, I put myself on a yarn diet.

It worked for a while. I had a lovely spreadsheet, and I was actually coming out ahead of what I was using to what was coming in.

I'm not sure what happened, but two months ago, I took this photo:

That's Sam, being pushed into the middle cushion of the couch. By just my sock yarn. And after I took this photo, I realized I had another basked filled with sock yarn.

So again, I'm on a yarn diet. I have been winding yarn so I can easily grab yarn to start a new project. This way it will be out and in my face, and I won't think I have to get more yarn. The only caveat to this is I do have a few Christmas presents in mind (although I already have 2 done!). There is a big chance I will need to get yarn for at least one of those.

I may admit to this issue, but I won't touch the towering stack of books I've bought over the years or the stack I have from the library...