Epic Wins/Epic Fails

It's all about the win/loss columns tonight, I think.  I don't mind losing most of the time.  If you aren't occasionally taking a belly flop on the field while someone else steals the ball, then you aren't playing the game.  Besides, the wins more than make up for the losses because they are the things you can't help but recall later.  I think I can spin any losses pretty well if I put my mind to it.

The Weather:

We had some amazing weather last week.  A couple of days almost gave me hope that there might be a springtime this year.  Why, Friday's temperatures were hovering near sixty as I made the drive home from school and that was enough to make me open the windows and breathe deep of the balmy air!  Wins all around!  Of course, this state of affairs was not to last and we are now back in the deep freeze with some snow on the way for tomorrow, but that's OK.  It's seasonal.  And besides, it's not like I have to go to work anyway.

The February school vacation would be a win even if it was fifty below and polar bears were roaming around my lawn...

The Teaching Gig:

Friday was a rough day, though.  The students were antsy and a few got to the point of downright grumpiness by the last period of the day.  I just gritted my teeth and remembered the sight of the deer feeding along the side of the highway that morning.  The clock might have slowed to a crawl by noon and The Cheerful Teaching Assistant may have been sporting a fever long before that, but deer make me happy.

The Working Of The Wool:

Riddle me this, if you would.  How the heck does a person manage to lose count of their heel stitches if they are using a stupid row counter???  I mean, seriously!  I like to think I'm getting the hang of this short row, toe-up thing, but it is a little hard to crow about my mad skills if I can't count to 8.  This is particularly difficult if you have technological assistance in doing so. They drum you out of the Sock Knitters Hall Of Fame for that!

(we will ignore the fact that no self-respecting Hall Of Fame would even induct me based on my sock knitting skills...)

The sock was tossed aside after the misshapen heel was ripped out, but the second attempt went more smoothly.  Furthermore, one side doesn't even have a hole where I rejoined the yarn for the leg!  Now I just have to remember exactly where I picked up the extra stitches to make that work...

The Feeding Frenzy:

For months now, I have been awakened at 4:30 in the morning by frantic, starving felines.  The fact that I am not the one who put them on this diet means little to them.  I have given some thought to calling The Cat Whisperer every day at this godforsaken hour just so she can suffer as I have, but that wouldn't be fair.  Fat cats need to be trimmed.  It's not really her fault...

However, both of Da Boyz have slimmed down quite a bit and it seemed reasonable to start upping the calorie count a bit.  Since the Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty had taken to foraging and stealing food in order to make life seem more bearable, I don't suppose I had a choice.  Not everything he found agreed with his digestive system either.  I was tired of cleaning the carpets.

After months of research, I am pleased to report that the grain-free, gluten-free, soy-free, low-carb, high-protein, no-by-products, low-magnesium food I found for them is a hit.  (I get tired just typing that.  The research that went into it nearly put me into a coma...)  The resident felines are thrilled with the little crunchy bits and, even better, I slept until 6:30 this morning.

The Sharing Of The Craft:

The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach asked me to give her a little refresher course on crochet and, today, I finally made it to her house to do that for her.  I figured that, since she once knew how to wield a hook, it wouldn't be that hard.

Those are famous last words...

She remembers nothing of this thing she used to do.  Nothing.  What I thought I could impart in a quick thirty minutes took two hours.  The first hour and a half were spent with me trying to figure out what the heck she was doing.  She doesn't hold the hook like I do and it looked like she was crocheting from where I sat.  But it turned out she was slip stitching for about five million rows and this doesn't lend itself to much progress in crochet.  You sort of need to do a whole stitch.

I left after a grueling three and a half hour session and TWGSALC had a lovely, lumpy triangle to show for her efforts.  Not crocheting that last stitch in the row really does make a difference, I suppose.  I remember doing the same thing when I first started and I suppose I should just be grateful that she wasn't making an afghan as a gift when it happened.  As I did...

But, you know...there are worse ways to spend a day than sitting in a spacious living room, in front of a roaring fire while a massive Golden Retriever gazes up at you adoringly.  And we laughed a lot.  It was fun.  Plus she gave me chocolate.

The Final Tally:

It is vacation week.  The February Break is my favorite because it is the first vacation of the school year that comes without obligation.  No holidays, no timetables, no nothing.  Just me and whatever I want to do.  Or not do.  This is very nice and I feel like a real winner right now.

It's almost enough to make me forget that I have to go back to the dentist for a filling on Tuesday...

SA