Such a Nerd, I am

I'm a nerd. A complete, total, all-bought-in nerd. Hubby and I were discussing what we were excited about these days, and I was reminded that I married a nerd, too. So, now we are two nerds in a pod. :P

He is excited about:

Arkham Horror games

Building a lego contraption to hold all the Arkham horror cards

Role-Playing (about once a week, Hubby is Game Master)

I'm excited about:

SBG

Working to format my classes to an SBG format

Canning Huckleberries

Knitting my sweater (which I've started over, due to goofs, about 7 times now)

Also evidence of my major nerd syndrome:

I've been thinking about how to use my blog to do more teaching. I love to teach. I am currently a middle school science teacher, and I love it! I'm teaching swimming lessons, and loving it. Being a teacher allows me to showcase my nerd syndrome while getting to teach (I believe that is a tad redundant?). Anyhoo -- there are many, many thoughts in my head, the question is how to get it all out onto paper... I mean, screen... whatever!

The smart kitty

Wow -- I'm way overdue for a blog post. I've started a few and just saved them; I feel they need more, like a picture or two. However, it feels like too much work right now. I'm teaching swimming lessons (which is fun, don't get me wrong), but so tiring. I ain't 20 any more. :(

But some interesting and very funny events have occurred with the kitty this week. We woke up Wednesday (I think) to discover that Hank's collar is gone. Its a breakaway collar, so not too unexpected. It's designed to "break away" if ever caught on something. When Hank goes ninja, he is all over the place, jumping and running and flipping, so it surprises me not that he lost it. However, after 2 days of looking in every imaginable place, under even things he couldn't get under, and on top of things we can't imagine him getting up to (he surprises us sometimes), we have yet to find the collar. I paid $7 for that collar, and $7 for the tag with his name and my phone number -- gone! There aren't that many places to lose something around here, and Hank is an indoor kitty, so I'm at a total loss as to the collar's possible location.

On a more positive note, we found something Hank loves more than tuna juice. Now, Hank LOVES tuna juice; I'm guessing he would love tuna, but that part is for us. If Hubby gets the can opener out of the drawer, Hank comes running and will beg, beg, beg, even if its not tuna. But, apparently, tuna is the only thing Hubby opens with the can opener, because Hank comes running. When I feed Tertulian the Red Eared Slider Turtle, who has come home for the summer, Hank regularly begs. One evening, I let Hank sniff the can; Hank stuck his whole head in the can trying to get the food! (I looked, no collar in the can.) I called Hubby to come watch, and shook the can at Hank. Oh, doggy, did he start to frizz. Hank is a rather quiet kitty, doesn't meow a whole lot.... but for turtle food, he cried with a great voice! We offered Hank a piece of turtle food to see his reaction. Normally, Hank is very timid about taking food from our hand, but this he went after, and will lick your fingers after he's eaten food if he's given a chance.

I got a video, not of the greatest quality, of Hank loving on turtle food. Come to find out, turtle food is fish emulsion first and foremost. We have a fish-loving kitty.

Knitting for Wussies?

I know only a few knitters, but none seem the type to lay back and take it, or to just go along with what someone else says. And then, this article was brought up on a knitting forum I enjoy reading.....

Ex-Marines, knitter among Blagojevich jurors

Someone has a very wrong idea of who knitters are. :P

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are such "normal" days. The new week started yesterday. Its not close enough to the end of the week to be anything excited there. It is a week day, so something should be made of it.

So far, my Tuesday is working out nicely. Its only 930 am, so who knows what the day will really bring. I've got my coffee, I've watered all the porch plants. I harvested a cucumber, two cherry tomatoes and a green bean.

My sunburn from yesterday's swim lessons has fade quite a bit (using the 45 today, not the 15). Honestly, I think the sunscreen was just old. Its worked for my mornings outside in the garden, but when put to the test for 1 pm, 2 pm and 330 pm swimming lessons, it pooped out. We purged all the old sunscreen lotions, and only kept the newest bottles. My Dad suggested getting some SF 75 or 85; but denim has an SPF of 60. And denim is cheaper, I think; though swimming in denim doesn't sound so nice.

I've been inspired by Soule Mama and Hana to attempt the making of some summer outfits and tops. I love wearing a sari after being all hot and sweaty in the garden, or after being in the sun (and getting all hot and sweaty). I get a nice, cool shower, lotion up and lounge in the wrapping of a big piece of fabric. You wrap the fabric around you and then fold down the top to keep it on. I'm not very adept at getting it folded right and I'm always having to re-fold the sari to keep it up. Thus, around the house only. But I want more options of tops and dresses, and ones I can wear out of the house. So, I have begun the process. I drew some pictures, and I thinking about the parts. Luckily, I've sewed clothes before (years ago), so I have some ideas of the bits and pieces. I have some $1/yd fabric to start with, and I can always turn it into.... something else, if it doesn't work. I will chronicle the adventure at The Creative Streak.

I feel like there is much more I should offer updates on: knitting, garden, cooking. My summer has officially started, so I should be intentional about all this. Yes, yes, I'm very much a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. But I'm okay with that, I think... no, its true thats who I incline towards being, but I really want to be master of some trade. Now, to figure out which one.

Oh, readers, what are you inclined towards? what does life require of you? Do you dabble in a great many different things, or do you delve fully and completely into one? Do you think one way is better than the other? What is necessary for living the independent life? What is merely sufficient for living the independent life?

New, but old, dishes

Last night I received 3 boxes of dishes from my Hubby's aunt. These dishes were her parents (so, Hubby's grandparents) from when she was a little girl. Thus, they are new for me, but really the dishes are fairly old. They are beautiful, with a red paisley design and they bring my dish sets up to 5. I'm feeling inclined to document and show off my dish sets, so here goes.

First, and most often used, are the plain white, but still beautiful dishes we received as a wedding gift. Simple, white, Target. I love them.

Next, is the tea set I was given while living in SW China (2000 - 2003). I love tea sets and would have more, but space is prime real estate and Hubby isn't quite as enthusiastic about tea sets, so I compromise and settle with my two. That said, I'm very happy with what I have, but I really don't use them enough. Back to the topic at hand... This tea set is themed with apples. The plates have one big apple on them, the cups have apples on them. Its all apples.

Aren't they beautiful apples?

The next tea and coffee set was also a wedding gift. A gal at the church where I grew up informed me that I needed a good service set, so she was giving me this one (she is of a grandmotherly age). Its a beautiful green flower motif, with "Bovaria Germany" stamped on the bottom.

The next dish set I acquired is from Hubby's paternal grandfather. When his health was failing and he needed to move to a place with more assistance, I was offered this set from his old apartment. It is a blue pattern, with flowers and birds that are very penguin like. The flowers seem very oriental in design. The stamp on the bottom states (from top to bottom, commas indicate line break) "Old Bow, Kaki Yemon, Woods Wape, Enoch 1764, Ralph 1750, Wood & Sons, England". The ink lines are all blurred a bit, some parts more than others.

The most recently acquired dish set is the one from Hubby's paternal aunt that we received last night. Again, a red paisley design that is very intricate on all the dishes. The other dish sets have a fair bit of white space around the designs, but not this set. The designs cover the whole of the dish surface, making them very bold. The bottom stamp (again, top to bottom, commas indicate line breaks) states "Paisley, (c) made in England by, Johnson Bros, A genuine hand engraving, detergent and acid, resisting, dishwasher safe, ironstone". I wonder if it is really dishwasher safe, not sure I'm willing to find out.

My hutch, also from Hubby's paternal grandfather, brought down from Wisconsin by Hubby's Mom and Dad, is very full.

I have very grandiose ideas of brunch, out on my porch, for all my girl friends. I truly enjoy entertaining, its the work before hand that is daunting. I remind myself that its worth it, and continue dreaming. Hmmm.... my birthday is coming up, or I could aim for something next fall.... or.... oooo, ideas, ideas, ideas! Those I have no shortage of!

Neato Things I'm now using

I am a fan of Google, I like what they create. Things I'm playing with and enjoying:

Google Buzz

Google Wave

Google Docs

If you get on any of these, let me know via comments and we can find each other. Facebook is officially off my "regularly used" site list. It will import my blog posts, but I'm not getting on that site again, if I can help it. They keep changing privacy settings and user interfaces. No thank you. So, all those who call me "friend", come find me on google!