Found on Flickr (Via Whip Up)

Bird Mobile

Oooooo! I want to make one of these! Check out the post (and free pattern) at Spool.

Not Again!

This morning I woke up with a sore throat. So I hit the snooze button a bunch. (I don't *have* to be in today until 1:30... although I *do* have to put up the online submission form (mostly done, but needs testing to make sure I did it right) and prepare for class tomorrow.) Now I'm waiting for some herbal tea with honey and lemon to cool enough to drink. I don't have any sore throat lozenges right now (I used them all up recently, and Superstore didn't have the brand I like), so I'll have to pop into Shoppers on my way in to school.

Ugh.

PS: I wish I had more time... I'd actually tell you about my knitting, etc, instead of just my latest cold! *sigh*

Found on Flickr

Mała Nieszawka

Wow! Stunning photography! Check out the rest of the stream too...

BIC Metal, My One True Razor

I love BIC Metal. It's a cheap, disposable razor, but it shaves close without burning, and it glides nicely. However, it's difficult to find. I knew of places to find it in Chapel Hill (last I looked, which was quite a while ago... they last forever for me, since I only do my armpits), but was unable to find it here. I've been using my last one for well over a year now, and have been looking for a replacement. When I couldn't find anything, I wrote to BIC... only to be told that they were *discontinued*!!! Noooooo!

I tried another type. It just wasn't the same.

So, after suffering a bad shave with razor burn this morning, I googled my beloved BIC Metal... and found them on Amazon! (And a few other places, but I went with Amazon.) There they are being sold in sets of twelve packages, with five razors per package. At a rate of one per year (I think I can use them that long), that's a 60 year supply. That only gives me until I'm ninety-two, but I thought there might be some advances in razors in the next 60 years... or that ninety-two might be an okay estimate of my lifespan... so I didn't order two sets.

It's costing me $12 in shipping charges... but I'm willing to pay that in order to have a lifetime supply of my favourite razor.

Now to figure out if my conditioner has been discontinued, or if it's just temporarily hard to find...

Gack.

Urgh. It sucks when you're well enough to come in, but you haven't been well enough for long enough to actually prepare properly for class. I muddled through, though, somehow.

I think the students were all still zonked from whatever they did over the long weekend. They stared more and were less responsive than usual. (Hrm... I hope *they* didn't have my plague all weekend too...)

Shit.

Literally. Plus upset stomach, and I'm *thirsty*. (I don't know if that last is related or not.)

It looks like I have the bug that mom and Bob had yesterday.

I have no luck, it seems.

Basically Better

Except for the cough, which will stick around until all the gunk is out of my lungs, I'm feeling better. I really should have remembered to take my asthma medication which is supposed to prevent me from getting bronchitis. Whoops. Speaking of which... perhaps I should go take some now...

Perking Up

I'm not 100% yet (I'm still sweating buckets right now), but my appetite is coming back (unfortunately, this hasn't coincided with a return of clean dishes), and my energy levels are increasing. Yay! I'm even doing a load of laundry so that I can have some non-sweat-soaked pajamas to wear tonight.

Still Sick as a Dog

Pain (muscle and sensitive skin), sweats, chills, and barking up chunks of gunk from my lungs. :(

I hate being sick.

OwieOwieOwie *pain*

Being sick *sucks*. The most miserable part right now is the *pain*. My body *hurts*. Of course, coughing up green gunk isn't that pleasant either. Or being sweaty. Or chilled. (Although I haven't really felt chilled yet today... that was more yesterday.)

I should probably have another bath. I'm going to wait until I have the assignment posted first, though. (I'm getting H to look over it.)

Hmm... now, do I feel like reading (to get my mind of the pain), or napping? I slept until noon, so I'm not that tired right now.

(A sign that I really am sick: last night I watched my favourite TV program, and didn't have the energy to knit at the same time.)

Class Today

No fire alarms, plenty of overhead roll, no other problems. Well, except for being sick and only having gotten around 3.5 hours of sleep.

Now to finish creating the assignment. Well, when I don't have students in the Help Centre.

Knitting + Technology = Chuckles

The body-laptop interface.

From the same people that brought you the robotic lego spool knitter, there is a robotic lego braiding machine. It's like a ballet, only with lego and yarn.

Crap

I feel worse. I still need to prepare for tomorrow and put together an assignment. I wish I had a job where it didn't matter if I was sick. (Does that exist, or do we all believe the world will stop turning if we're in bed?)

Ugh

I'm sick. I hurt. Yesterday I had that mucousy feeling. Today I ache all over, and am getting chills. I went back to bed this morning after my shower, then got up a second time at 11 am to go in to school for the help centre hours. I probably should have stayed home, rather than coming in and sharing my germs... but oh well. I'm here now. I'll have a bath tonight. Perhaps that will help. I'm glad I happened to clean the tub on Sunday. (I'm not yet at "death warmed over" sick. I'm functional, but I'd rather either be well or in bed.)

I kind of wish I didn't have to prepare for class tomorrow. *sigh* Hopefully I won't feel as bad tomorrow... lecturing while sick *sucks*.

Found on Flickr

Шевченко in my apartment

I think someone needs to watch their back... this kitty looks to be out for revenge. ;)

Black Sheep Phone Home

Wow, these sheep made from phone cords (and the rest of the phone too) are amazing!

Acrylic Painting WIP

Acrylic Painting WIP

I suppose it's more of a "restart" than an "undo"...

Socks!!!

I finally made socks from my own handspun! Here they are, aren't they pretty?

I even have plenty of yarn left over, which will go into my blanket (which has been sadly ignored for far too many months):

Happy feet!

The roving is superwash merino, colourway "grotto", from A Piece of Vermont.

PS: I have two pairs of socks that I finished before these that I still need to blog about... I'll try to get to that soon. Perhaps after lunch, if no one comes to the help centre.

Things You Can't Do Even When You're Single

Rubber Tree

I won't be showering with this houseplant. I'd need a bigger shower... not to mention a bigger door to my bathroom. And a shower wand, possibly on an extension handle. (I'm kind of short.)

Luckily there aren't too many leaves, so I can hand wash it... when I'm not as lazy as I've been recently.

Somehow this plant didn't look as large when it was over at Mom's. Mom and B moved it and most of my other plants over for me while I was at work. They left this one on the doormat, just inside the door. It was rather surprising to be greeted by a large, green wall when I walked in the door that day.

The disturbing thought? This fellow is much smaller than my ficus, which has yet to make the move. (It will be coming over on a warm, calm day when I can give it an outdoor shower with the hose. It has lots of tiny leaves.)

I may need to loan one of the two to the CS department until I live somewhere with more space. We'll see. (Is there anyone local who wants to help me carry a tree down the block? I need to get it from my mom's to my place.)

Grandma's Stained Glass

Grandma's Stained Glass

This used to belong to my grandmother. Dad brought it back after she passed away. It now hangs in my living room.

It may not be exactly the piece of stained glass I would have selected myself if I were shopping, but I think it's lovely, and I like the connection to my grandmother.

It was given to her by her neighbours.

I Have Professor Hands

Professor Hands

Things that went wrong today, that were out of my control:

1. Neither of the overheads in the room had any transparency roll left. (I stole one from the next room... don't worry, I let the people in charge know.)

2. The fire alarm went off shortly after class started. (Someone didn't want to learn more about b-smooth functions?)

3. The overhead roll didn't want to stay on the holder. (Luckily putting it on the shelf below did the trick.)

Other than that, things went smoothly.

Found on Flickr

Snappy Satchel - Graceful Garden

I *love* this bag! Aren't the colours and pattern pretty? The description of all the pockets (found at Sue's etsy shop) makes it sound so perfect for... well... nearly everything: purse, project bag, book bag, around town bag, beach bag... I shall now close my eyes and picture myself walking along, feeling girly and care-free, enjoying sunshine and nature! (Please don't point out that I'm rarely girly, the fact that it's night and drizzling, and that I'm rarely care-free... this bag makes me want to be all of the above. What, you mean it can't make the sun shine?)

Comics

How does Jorge Cham do it? Once again PhD mimics my reality...

Found on Flickr

Pincushion with tiny hand stitched patchwork.

Pretty, and such intricate handiwork!

Found on Flickr

Yoki the Fat Dragon

What an adorable little dragon! She sells the pattern in her Etsy shop, but I don't think my sewing skills are up to it. ;)

Found on Flickr

Immagine 029

How pretty! :) I like all the colours, and how the black stitching pulls it all together.

Found on Flickr

Röd svamp. :o)

Adorable! I love it. :)

Found on Flickr

watercolor quilt top

Fascinating! I love how there's squares in (tilted) squares in squares, and some of the squares are shadow squares. This project must take both skill and colour knowledge. (And patience... all those tiny squares!)

Found on Flickr

ATC Needlefelt Poppies 2 Traded

Neat! Now I have the urge to make ATCs (artist trading cards) so I can trade for things like this. However, I know I have too many projects as it is... ;)

Found on Flickr

knit rattle

Cool! (Do I need a kid to want one?)

Facing The Music

Today, in celebration of Mother's day, there's a bagpiper in the cemetery. Normally I really enjoy bagpipe music. When I first heard this piper, I enjoyed his music. But he's been playing the same song several times at the start of every hour. (Did I mention I live right by the cemetery? Right by the gate where he's playing, in fact?) It's getting a bit old. Why couldn't he have chosen a couple of songs to play? *sigh*

Acrylic Painting WIP

Acrylic Painting WIP

These roses just aren't working. Stay tuned for further changes. ;) (Assuming I get another chance to blog any time soon!)

I is for Innocence

I is for Innocence

Except for one year when my parents split up, and the years I was away at grad school, I've lived my entire life beside the same cemetery. I've always enjoyed going for walks in it. (It never freaked me out the way it did some of my friends at sleep-over parties.) While most of the tombstones I look at with nothing more than idle curiosity or admire the workmanship, one category always inspires melancholy: the saddest tombstones in the cemetery are those with the lambs, for they mark the graves of children.

H is for Hedgehog

H is for Hedgehog

This little sweetie arrived a while ago, but I haven't had time to blog about her. She will be taking up her duties as a pincushion soon, but for now, she's keeping me company on my desk.

G is for Growth

G is for Growth

The trees are putting out buds, the bulbs are blooming... and I'm sure my teaching job is producing personal growth too.

(Time to catch up with the ABC-Along...)

Things You Can Do When You're Single*

My Plant Took A Shower

I took a shower with my houseplant. (Don't judge me.)

*While I don't suppose there's anything technically stopping couples from showering with their houseplants, I do believe this is an instance where "three's a crowd" would apply.

Contest Alert!

Caption contest here. Deadline is May 15.

Note To Self

If you ignore a pineapple for a week and a half (in favour of an art show and teaching), the bottom will go moldy and leave a funky orange mark on your wooden table.

Found on Flickr

Baa-baa Black Sheep

Fantastic sheep!

Survived Class #2

Well, I survived class #2. It was looking kind of iffy for a while there, though. As of 2 am last night I still wasn't sure what I was going to talk about. I talked to H briefly this morning, and found out more of what they have and haven't previously seen, which made me much more comfortable about what to cover in class. It turns out I didn't get quite that far, but I at least knew what they have and haven't seen, what would be familiar to them, and what was new.

However, I apparently didn't really make that clear to them. I was going along with review material (I got myself thoroughly confused at one point, but managed to straighten myself out), and then said "why can we assume this?", and launched into *new* material, explaining why we could make that assumption. Heh. One student said afterwards that "it was very comforting, going over material that was all familiar, and then SUDDENLY EVERYTHING WAS NEW!!! NOTHING WAS FAMILIAR!" Whoops. Looks like I used a "shock and awe" approach this morning. I'll try to do less of that.

On the way to the elevator after class, one student said enthusiastically "This class is the most fun." My heart rose! I was very surprised, but, so elated! "Really?" I asked hopefully. "No," he responded, "I was being sarcastic. But that's okay, we all pretty much know what we're getting into with this course." *sigh*

Well, at least they feel they can joke with me.

My goal: Teach them the required material *without* earning the nickname "Dr Death". That, and try to minimize the amount of time I look like an idiot in front of them. (But I'm okay with looking like an idiot if they learn the material... I'll swallow my pride if they all learn.)

Speaking of pride, last term I was tutoring a student who had a history of doing poorly, and he got a B!!!!! I *taught* him something!!! Wow. Now that really had me tickled!

Contest Alert!

Go wish MathGirl a happy birthday, tell her your favourite obscure holiday, and ogle her astounding sock yarn stash!!! Mmmmm... sock yarn!

Found on Flickr

Up Close

Adorable!

Found on Flickr

thistle

Gorgeous buttons!

Found on Flickr

The start of a great Needle Felted Face

Neato!

Found on Flickr

Sheep silhouette cards

Cute!

Found on Flickr

gingerbread house

Oooo... wow! There's lots of neat gingerbread houses in this person's Flickr stream!

Found on Flickr

Snowy Wood Spirit

Adorable. :)

Gack!!! Mmmm... cake!

Well, I had my first class, and I wasn't lynched, so things must have gone okay. They all stared at me, and wrote down what I wrote, and sometimes whispered, and sometimes giggled... but mostly stared and wrote. I got them to provide a few brief one word responses, so they are all alive and well. My ROASS had one formatting error, and one cut-and-paste error. I looked stupid once (in my opinion), when I couldn't do an example I thought I would be able to. But I survived. I will correct the errors for the extra few ROASSes I need to print out (the online version is correct, it was converting it to latex that I messed up), and I will have the example nailed for next class.

Then I came upstairs and had my post-lecture "Gack!!!", and H gave me a celebratory piece of cake. Mmmm! Cake! Chocolate zucchini... chocolaty, moist, and zucchini unnoticeable. (I don't mind zucchini if I can't detect it.) Mmmmm!

Now I'm having happy cake thoughts. And will find/create some nice exercises dealing with logarithms, so my students can refamiliarize themselves with them... if they so choose. The best I can do is provide them with opportunities to be good students, and hope that they choose to use them.

Thinking happy cake thoughts...

Found on Flickr

Weird Sheep Hair

Fascinating!

Life is Still Crazy

And feels like it's getting crazier, if that's possible.

I'm still not ready for my first day of class tomorrow, but I need a mental break. I thought I'd write a short post, and perhaps read a few blog entries (of the 807 I'm behind on reading).

This weekend was crazy, but great. I got lots of great comments on my art, and a flattering number of votes for the people's choice awards. (Not enough to win, but enough to feel tickled about it.) A little girl was upset that I didn't have cards of one of my paintings, so Friday night I stayed up way too late in order to put together some PDFs for cards of that painting and two others. (Which my mom then kindly printed and assembled in the morning... thanks mom!!!) I can't remember exactly how many I sold of the 18 that were printed, but I'm pretty sure it was over half. (And more than enough to pay my mom for the materials and a pittance for her time. She set her own rate.)

I've just noticed that I can't seem to write grammatically correct English today. I'll try to proofread this so it isn't too horrible before I hit "post". (This weekend was so full that I feel mentally exhausted... not good for a Monday, especially the Monday before my first class.)

Other stuff that happened this weekend: I did laundry and washed a bunch (but not all) of dishes. I actually looked at the art at the show with my dad, and went to Canadian Tire to look at the TVs they had on sale. (I'll wait until the current one is dead for real.) I went to my dad's concert. (Great singing!) My demo at the art show was really well received. I got some knitting done between taking credit card orders. Everyone at the show was in a tizzy after one guy bought *16* paintings!!! (None of mine, though. But that's okay... I'm happy for the other people!) I bought two paintings with my exam period tutoring earnings. (Your (Canadian) tax dollars helped an ADD student, then me, and then local artists. Aren't you glad?) I also baked bread for lunches this week. Hmmm... what else? I washed the (remaining) leaves of my small ficus that seems to be having a bizarre fit after I repotted it (it may not survive). I hung up some more art on the walls. (Mostly my work that had been at the show.) I'm getting better at getting pictures exactly the height I want them. (I have a tendency to miscalculate... bad me.)

Speaking of miscalculating, my brain is getting even fuzzier. I think I'll stop writing for now. Thankfully I don't have any students in the Help Centre (yet) today. I've got half a ROASS* document, but no course material prepared. The web pages now refer to the current course offering now, though. (Not that there's much there... but at least what *is* there is correct, except for the broken links to the as-yet-to-be-uploaded ROASS document.)

I spent very little time at home this weekend. What time I was home was mostly spent sleeping, with the rest on eating and chores. No downtime leads to fuzzy brains for me. I'm too tired to deal with proofreading the rest of this... (I took care of the first bit right before I wrote the first comment on how bad my writing is) I hope it isn't too bad. Sorry if it is.

*ROASS stands for "Responsibilities Of Academic Staff with regards to Students." It has stuff like my info, office hours, course outline, important dates, grading breakdown, academic dishonesty, etc.

Found on Flickr

Juan and Iota

I have been neglecting my blog, what with all the other stuff I'm doing these days. I saw this on Flickr this morning, and decided that if I'm not putting much else up, I can at least put up something adorable. ;)

Enjoy!

Found on Flickr

Carved soap

Wow. What intricate, well done designs.

I hate to say it, but my first thought upon discovering these are carved soaps was actually "someone has too much time on their hands."

Do you think anyone uses these? It seems a shame to use them, but then soap isn't exactly a permanent medium either. I suppose you could display them for a while, and then use them.

Found on Flickr

sheep

Adorable sheep!