Colorful

Day 307

I am thankful for fun yarn.   One of our bell ringers brought yarn a friend was giving away and I brought home a colorful skein that is swiftly becoming fingerless mitts.

Humidity is good for something:

H2O

Day 306

I am thankful for water, ice, refrigerators, and freezers.  It can be so delightful to sip, gulp, or chug water when you get hot.

Mitts!

Help

Day 305

I am thankful for my classroom assistants.  They had a scheduled inservice during instructional hours today.   Even though I'm quite capable of taking care of my little group it's so much easier when you don't have to take everyone when one kid in a diaper needs a change. 

Hot!

Day 304

I am thankful for air conditioning yet again.  Heat wave number five of the summer and I am so thankful to have a/c in my home and at work.

A friend asked for a pair of fingerless mitts.  Here's one:

Refreshing Weekend

Day 303

I am thankful for a marvelous weekend with Sis, hearing Concordia Irvine's two bell choirs, lunch with family.  The drive back was long but the music was good (bell choir CD).

Road trip!

Day 302

I am thankful for a weekend away to visit family and hear some college age bell ringers share their music.

TGIF

Day 301

I am thankful for Friday after a long week.  Nothing bad-I think allergies and asthma are making me drag.   I am looking forward to a visit to the coast.

T.V.

Day 300

I am thankful for the new season of Bones.  I'm happy my favorite show is back for another season.

Wednesday and it's choir!

Day 299

I am thankful for familiar and fabulous choir anthems.  We're preparing for the new buildings and reminding our selves that people make the church not the shiny new buildings. 

A few things

Day 298

67 days will have been 365 days of thankfulness.  cool.

I am thankful for a good day at work getting things done and leaving some things undone.  I had extra time without my assistants.  It's good to have time alone to think and get a few things done.

Ringing Season has begun!

Day 297

I am thankful for a new bell choir director and the return of bell choir!  Yay!  Our new director comes to us with a life time of directing experiences and half a life time with bells.  She has a kind, gentle, and firm leading hand.   Yay!

Purple yarn

Day 296

I am thankful for things to do while I rest and heat, rest and ice.   I'm starting to explore the yarn Sis brought back from Peru for her scarf.  I did one swatch and it was too wide and the stitches were a mess.  Now I'm going to try a finer gauge and see what I get.

This is a sett (gauge) sampler.  I think they're just the right size to use for a scarf.  We shall see.

Ice, heat

Day 295

I am thankful for another peaceful Saturday.  A bit of knitting, a bit of t.v., and lots of time to either ice or heat my achy back muscles.

The last of the camo hats:

I had two skein ends that seemed to coordinate so I used them up on one last baby hat.

Ahh, Friday

Day 294

I am thankful for the weekend.  I'm happy to have a couple days to relax and not think so hard.  I love the weekdays but I am very ready for a break.

I've started the last camo hat.  It should be done sometime this weekend.  Then I'll take a picture of all 10 of them!  After that, off to the post office.

Thinking time

Day 293

I am thankful for time in the day to be thoughtful about what we do.   We are trying to balance a student needing to work but being little more than a baby and needing time.   It was good to talk about ideas for him.

A lifetime of song

Day 292

I am thankful for Mom and Aunt Jane who sang to us when we were very young.   They created memories of music and song before we knew what either were.   Thanks to this heritage I can't remember a time in my life without singing.

2nd to last camo hat:

Old Testament lesson

Day 291

I am thankful for Jacob, a patriarch of the Old Testament.   I've been reading a chronologically arranged study Bible.   Several days ago I finished the story of Jacob-who became Israel.   At the end of his life he gathered his sons to him and gave each a blessing.  He knew each one of his sons strengths and weaknesses and how they lived their lives for good or ill.

It reminded me of conversations I've had with my Dad and how he knows each of his children and their unique strengths and weaknesses.   I've been so taken by this new knowledge about Jacob and fathers that I have not been able to read further.  I keep going back to think about this again.

It finally came into my noggin that just as Jacob knew the good and the bad about his sons and that my Dad knows so much about us how much more does my heavenly Father know all of this and more about me.   Yes, this has been talked about so often over the years that we can know God the Father because of our fathers but to have such a specific example has been quite enlightening.   I may just go back and read it again.

Progress

Day 290

I am thankful for growth.  Today, it's about academic growth.  Every school in our district made progress toward state targets.  Every school but one made their growth target.  The special education subgroup across the district made their growth target.  We have one school above the state target of 800 and two more nipping at their heels.  Fabulous!

ch, ch, ch....

Day 289

I am thankful for changes.   At least today I am.   People are constantly saying, "change is good." as if that makes the difficulties better.  I finally have my comeback that, "not all change is good but good can come from change."  We're focusing on the positive changes coming at church knowing that the next few months to a year or so will be full of difficult changes of occupying new buildings and building new routines.   Understanding that good can come from change helps me to anticipate positive outcomes rather than dreading the changes themselves.

Rest, heat

Day 288

I am thankful for a peaceful day.   My shoulder tendonitis had seemed to subside but came on back late in the week.  Back to heat and rest.  I can do a bit of knitting and finished up two baby hats.

Work

Day 287

I am thankful for the end of a good work week.  Nothing much else got done but as I get used to the new job that will change.

Helpful

Day 286

I am thankful for helpfulness.  I asked the after school coordinator if she had any tutors willing to interpret for me for Back to School Night.  She did.  The most lovely young woman came ready to help with my Spanish speaking parents.  None of them came.  She stayed and wrangled the dozen children who showed up with their parents.  One gift card coming right up!

Mmm mmm

Day 285

I am thankful for

Heat wraps in August

Day 284

I am thankful for heat wraps and menthol rubs.  My shoulder tendonitis is improving.  I've learned to keep a heat wrap on for the bulk of the day and use the rub at bedtime.  Rest, rest, rest.  I can knit in little bits.

Using up little balls of yarn, baby hats go a lot faster than kids hats:

Holiday BBQ

Day 283

I am thankful for friends.  I went to a lovely afternoon bbq and had a lovely time.   Yay, friends!

A row or two a day will eventually get a hat done:

Not quite a million

Day 282

I am thankful for Giraffes.  My blog is so sad without photos so I decided on a day of silliness.  I walked around my house taking pictures of giraffes.   Please forgive the fuzzy photography.  I think the giraffes were being shy and trying to move away.

 A vintage travel organizer.

A pillow.

Thumb Toy
(5 year old me in the background)

Bobble head giraffe.

                                                                             

Bendy giraffe.

Art giraffe, from So. Africa

Laptop "skin".

Postcard giraffe.

For more giraffes and a cool project see:  http://www.onemilliongiraffes.com/

Rest and errands

Day 281

I am thankful for quick errands and a restful day.  My bank closed yet another branch.  I'm wondering if I should be worried or if they overbuilt.   Walmart wasn't too bad even though it was the first weekend of the month and I found everything on my list.

Happy and Thankful.

Day 280

I am thankful.  I am happy at work.  I have a three day weekend and I am thankful.  Not thrilled about tendinitis but I have a 3 day weekend to rest!

Gifts

Day 279

I am thankful for being able to help.  It feels good to have the skills and the time to be able to help out someone that I'm not responsible for.  I guess this falls under the opportunity to use the gifts God has given.

Smoothie

Day 278

I am thankful for blueberry smoothies.  I wasn't hungry when I got home from work but knew I would be if I didn't have something before choir.   Frozen blueberries and soy milk did the trick this evening.

I have a ton of photos but it's all kids from work and I can't post those!