When The Going Gets Tough

The Tough Go Shopping!

I've been a bit stressed lately. The end of the school year is always hectic. I should know better to think that getting rid of achivement tests would help slow things down. Now I'm making sure everyone has their schedule made for 9th grade. AND, in the past 3 weeks, with only 6 weeks of school left, we've had nearly a dozen new kids move into our building. Who in the world does that?? How can moving not wait until June? Buddy Bill and I are gearing up for the annual trip to Washington DC with the seventh graders... shirts, emergency forms, payments, etc. AND... Like last year, I'm packing up my office. Again. I'm moving buildings again; this time to the high school. Unlike last year, however, it's my choice to transfer this time.

In a few days, I will be spending some time at the high school, learning the ropes a little bit. After 18 years in junior high, 15 years as a counselor in junior high, The Big House will be quite different. The upside is that I'll be in a counseling center with 5 other people, instead of on my own. The downside? I'm pretty used to working on my own.

Mayhem's softball schedule is a bit stressful, but mostly because the price of gas is getting so high. Today it hit $3.99, an all time high here. I managed to gas up for $3.73 before all the stations jumped, but never in my life did I imagine that $3.73 a gallon would be a bargain! We are running here and there and everywhere for games.

Knitting is keeping me sort of sane, and I'm doing more of it. Mostly I'm working on completing UFO's like my Log Cabin afghan, and incomplete pairs of socks. At softball games, I knit the entire time, and the other moms still look at me like an alien. Moms on both sides of the field, not just Mayhem's team. I mean, here we are with two hours of time twice a week (and that's just games!) where we are seated, with idle hands. Perfect knitting time. But not one single one of them brings anything else to do. Zip. Nada. Zilch. One of the dads was impressed that I could follow the game and continue to knit (hey, it was just garter stitch), but no one else has even done more than give me funny looks.

When some people are stressed, they sleep. Some overeat. Me? I shop. To keep myself honest, and hopefully keep myself from getting out of control, I'll share here.

OK, so here we have Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Blue Smoke and two different yarns from Lotus Yarns on Etsy. The blue is Catch Hell Blues and the green is Blitzkrieg Bop.

And here, well, the first is another indie dyer from Etsy - Damselfly Yarns. This is our June yarn for Sock of the Month at the LYS and it's called "Got Mud?" in honor of The Toledo MudHens.

Last, but not least, is the Sock Monkey Kit. Yes, THE Sock Monkey Kit. The one that's all over Ravelry. The one The Yarn Harlot knit at sock camp. Scroll down to April 17. I have the pattern and the yarn for my own Sock Monkey!
Bwahahahahaha!

Now the softball moms can really look at me like an alien!! I'll knit a psychedelic sock monkey at the games!