Squee Sunday post # 5 of 2012

It's been a long time since I posted.  I have a few things to squee about though.  I've finally gotten a diagnosis and am on new meds,  You already know I have Celiac and Raynaud's but have been in a lot of pain to the point where I haven't been able to knit or crochet in over a month.  After a lot of blood work and Dr visits, I am officially diagnosed with Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia.  I feel very fortunate that my tests for Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogrens and Thyroid all came back negative.  Although I have a difficult road ahead, it could be much more difficult and I am thankful that what I do have can be managed over time and won't be life threatening down the road.  I'm still coming to terms with all of it - I feel like I've just gotten a handle on how to manage the Raynaud's and being gluten free - but I have such an amazing support in my husband and parents and they have been key in getting me through all of this.  I am thankful for the three of them and can't express how grateful I am to have them in my life.  That being said, I am hoping that the new medication works and I don't have to go on any more meds.  This one is called Mobic and I take it once a day.  It has a good reputation so I am hopeful.  I am also still on prescription Vitamin D for the next eight weeks and then will try to go to over the counter supplements.  So, that is my health update...

My huge squee is that we had Jarett's Bar Mitzvah last weekend!!!  It was amazing!!!  I am so proud of him- he did an amazing job!  His read a Torah portion, a Haftorah portion and made a speech as well.  I have pictures from the rehearsal of it taken the day before since you can't take pictures on the Sabbath.  We had a huge party that evening that was a Doctor Who theme.  My dad helped me with the center pieces and they came out amazing!  We also bought a life size Tardis cut out that was used as a sign in board for all of our guests to leave Jarett messages.  We had an awesome time and although I paid for it physically the next few days, it was well worth it!!  My friend Jen  took some pictures for me with our camera so even though I don't have the professional ones back yet, I can share quite a few with you.  Thanks Jen for taking them - we really appreciate it!!!  So, without further ado, here are the Bar Mitzvah pics!!

                                         The Bar Mitzvah Boy (or should I say Man)!

                               Bryan and the boys - what a proud moment!!

         Jarett gave a beautiful speech and even brought tears to many an eye during the service!

Jarett dressed as The Doctor in front of his cut out Tardis which later became a sign in board.

Us lighting his first candle.

My parents lighting a candle - don't we look spiffy?!

The Hora always ends with the chair lift!!!

Bryan and me dancing, but I wanted to you to see how gorgeous the back of my dress was, hence the sideways hairdo!!!

        Mother and son dance and you can sort of see the centerpieces in the background.

                      Jarett and me all dressed up!

We had t-shirts made up to give out.  My parents and the four of us posed for you!

Here is what the back looks like!  You'll "get it" if you are a  Whovian....

So, there you are.  My Squee Sunday post finally!  Hopefully I'll get back to knitting and have more to share again... in the meantime, visit Calophi and bug her to get back to blogging too!!!!

Squee Sunday post # 4 of 2012

I have a few Squees to share today!  The first isn't so much of a squee as a share of something pretty.  Explanation- I hate snow, I hate cold weather - it literally physically hurts me when I'm cold.  That being said though, these pictures of newly falling snow are pretty.  I like snow in pictures, not in real life!  So, with my new MyTouch phone (that was a Squee!) here are two pretty pics from the back door to show you:







I also found this and thought I would share with all of you - so if you blog, join in!





My other Squee to share is that I had my second evaluation done at work (phew! finished for the year) and got beautiful reviews - to the point where she (our Assistant Principal) told me that she has recommended to FOUR other teachers to come and observe how I do my reading groups, how I record my data for students and run small groups in the room.  I was so flattered!!!  I may have a few people mad at me though, but right now I am flying high on such an awesome review that I don't care! ;-D

We are also moving along nicely with the Bar Mitzvah plans - centerpieces are about halfway done - I'll post a pic when they are complete.  Maybe I should put a pic in a WIPW post.... didn't think about that until now...

My final Squee and honor is, I was given the Versatile Blogger Award by Susan!!!

Thank you so much!! Please visit Susan's Blog to share the love with her!!

So here is how all of this works:

The rules:

1. Add the award to your blog.   

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.

4. List the rules.

5. Award to 15 bloggers.

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, I've completed rules 1, 2 and 4.  Now for #4, 7 random things (that I hopefully haven't mentioned before!)

1. I love to change my hair color and style
2. I love all things geeky but don't always understand them
3. My two favorite movie collections are the Terminator and the Mummy - love and own ALL of them.
4. I want to go to the UK one day and just sit around and listen to people talk
5. I love the BBC channel - kinda goes with the above too...
6. (this one is kinda sad) I have Celiac and Raynaud's and am now having a lot of problems with my hands and made an appointment with a Rheumatoid Dr.  I'm scared of what it may be....
7. I love hosting events, hence my weekly knitting night!

Now for the awards!!!!!

http://glutenfreenosh.com/
http://accidental-knitter.blogspot.com/
http://misadventuresincraft.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftsfromthecwtch.co.uk/
http://www.lganhouraway.com/
http://www.ripitgood.net/
http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/
http://slothmuffin.blogspot.com/
http://handmadebyknottygal.blogspot.com/
http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/
http://yarnberry.tumblr.com/
http://mixedmartialartsandcrafts.com/
http://nothingbutknit2.wordpress.com/
http://whendidibecomeaknitter.wordpress.com/
http://theboredknitter.blogspot.com/


For more Squees, visit Calophi and say hi!

Squee Sunday post # 3 of 2012

OMG!!  My baby is 17!!!  What a weekend!  Matt's girlfriend arranged a surprise party for him last night at our house.  We did the "normal" family dinner at Outback and then came back to the house to open his presents from his grandparents.  




Of course we had to have the waitress sing to him - unfortunately, Jarett took these pics for me with his Ipod since my phone doesn't have a flash, and Matt's drink was in front of the dessert... you can see the candle though and him blowing it out.

Then Haley quickly got him out of the house under the pretense of going to the mall to look for a dress for the prom.  As soon as they left, the cavalry of friends arrived to help me decorate the house.  We did an ice cream bar which was a throw back to one of Matt's favorite birthday parties as a little kid.  




We got him good - he had no idea and was totally surprised!  It was awesome!!! 

They definitely had a great time and Matt will always remember his 17th!  For more squees, visit Calophi's blog and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Squee Sunday post # 2 of 2012

Yay - my father-in-law is home from the hospital and doing well!  While he was there, we had watched their 7 week old Golden Retriever puppy.  Her name is Sugar and she is gorgeous, but I am allergic to her.  So, while she was super cute and funny to watch, the rest of the family had more fun than I did...  between sneezes and a running nose, I did snap a couple of pics with her and Jarett to show you.  I dare anyone to not fall in love!!





She is a moose though!





I am glad she is back home... 

I did get to spend yesterday's snowy day working on report cards...  yay?  Blech!  But at least they are just about done!  For more squees and maybe even some yarn related ones (?) hop on over to Calophi's blog.

Squee Sunday post # 1 of 2012

Happy Sunday - I am excited as I found a ton of Doctor Who toys to use as centerpieces for Jarett's Bar Mitzvah!!!  I ordered from Amazon and they've been coming in one box at a time.  My mom found clear plastic containers for me to put them in and we know how we're going to do it now - yay!!  I"m not going to post pics until they are all ready, but had to share the news that we found something!!

I'm still squeeing about Matt's picture on my FO Friday post.  He is such a diva!!!  Haha!

My last squee is for Jarett - House of Anubis is back on (nickelodeon) and we watched the first "pre-episode" last night.  It's a cute pre-teen show.  It's about a group of high school students in England with an American student who live in a house dorm that has secrets.  Last season, they solved the puzzle of the "chosen one" and rescued Joy from being kidnapped, solved all the clues and found the magic cup of life.  This season is a whole new puzzle of clues that will unfold with each episode.  What can I say, it's cute and doesn't require much thinking while watching it... 

So, those are my Squees.  Share yours and find more on Calophi's blog.

Squee Sunday post # 23

We had a fun time babysitting my "nephew" over night.  He is so cute and Bandit and he just play, play, play.  The excitement did lead to some toileting issues, but I guess that is to be expected.  I tried to get pictures of them playing together but they ran around so fast they all came out blurry.  I was able to sort of get one:





Here is Walter checking out the rug by the back door:





Here he is on the sofa - I had to zoom in so he didn't notice me taking it and run away:





Here is Bandit now that Walter is gone...  can you say tired out????




I don't know if you can see it, but his tongue is hanging out too!!!!

We will all be squeeing later on tonight at my parent's house for a pre-Chanukah party to exchange gifts and hang out.  Matt's girlfriend is coming too!!  For more squees, visit Calophi's blog.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Squee Sunday post # 22

I don't have any knitting to squee about today, but thought I'd squee about three of my kids in Hebrew School instead.  They passed today out of the Orange Level into Yellow.  I know that means nothing to you, but the Hebrew Reading program goes by color levels.  I started with most of this class last year and they've gone from White (very beginning) to Red, to Orange and now three passed into Yellow today and I have two more that I will be testing next week!  It's very exciting and they are so proud of themselves!!!  So, that is my squee - that and I think we are 3/4 of the way done our holiday shopping - woo hoo!!!  For more squees, visit Calophi's blog.

Squee Sunday post # 21/FO Friday

Since I missed posting on Friday, I decided to make this a combination of both posts.  We did another craft show this weekend and I must say, we are much better at displaying our items!  We will be pro's for next years' shows!!  If we learned anything, it's that you can't predict what people want - the only constant seemed to be scarves.  Otherwise, all three were different - lots of headbands went at one, lots of mitts and shawls at others...  but, how you display it, definitely seems to be big on getting people to buy!  Here is our newest table.  The lighting wasn't as great as the previous one, but it wasn't too bad.





Here is a pic that shows lots of the FO I had done over the last two weeks - mostly mitts, scarves and shawls: (some of Mary's things are mixed in there too)




I just realized that you can't see the mitts in this pic - if you look at the one of the whole table, you can see my hand dummy and the mitts are next to it.   So, that is my combo post!  Oh, and one more pic of the mitts I made for David's wife:




Enjoy what's left of the weekend!  Visit Calophi for more Squees and Tami for more FO's.

Squee Sunday post # 20

Since my mini-vacation is over and I'll spend the morning doing school work, I only have one thing to squee about.  The hot water heater has been replaced!!!  He came out Saturday morning and we now have hot water again!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  I did get a lot of knitting done though so I guess that is a second squee...  For more interesting Squees, visit Calophi.

Squee Sunday post # 19

Oh my, do I have a few Squees today!!!  First, I just got the phone call that my in-law's Golden Retriever, Honey, delivered her first puppy this morning - it's a BOY!!!  She is a show quality dog but unfortunately something happened (I'm not sure on the details) with teeth that didn't come in or something so she couldn't place.  They decided to breed her anyway because she is such a gorgeous and well behaved dog.  On the ultra sound they saw five pups for sure and said there could be another or so hidden so we'll see how many she has - at least five though!! Woo Hoo!!!  I can't wait to take the boys to see them!

 I am editing this to add in there are now four pups and here is a pic my s-i-l texted to me!!!





I had my observation from our Assistant Principal and got all "A's" and one "B" on my "report card!"  She loved my lesson (Guided Reading groups) and said she was impressed with how well the kids are "trained" (haha, get the doggie joke in there???) in their groups.  I have many small groups that go on at the same time and worked really hard to get the routine down as well as transition time for when we need to switch groups.  It has paid off - my class moves like clockwork, but I can't take all the credit - they are really great kids!  My "B" (they always have to give you one are to improve on) was that I didn't have enough multicultural displays around my room.  I did have the kids make flags representing the countries they came from but I guess they want more.  I'm really not bothered by it though - if that's all she could come up with for me to improve on, I'm one happy camper!!!  She actually wrote that it was evident that I cared about the kids and exude warmth and respect in my classroom - which is true, but that's just me anyway...  I really do care about all of them.

On that note though, I do have to share one of those precious funny stories of what kids say.  Keep in mind I teach 4th grade so they are about 9 and 10 yrs old.  We were talking about Character Traits of Helen Keller (we had just read a book about her) and I asked them to describe her.  We have a "dead word wall" where I don't allow them to say words like "nice, fun, smart, stuff," you get the idea, they need to stretch their vocabulary...  anyway, student 1 says, "She was brilliant!" Student 2 replies with, "Yeah, but she was no Albert Frankenstein!"  I was laughing so hard - it was one of the funniest but most innocent comments!  That one goes right up there with the student that once wrote me a letter asking if she could do her "Hero" project on Michael Jackson because he's her hero since he was the "King of Poop!"  Gotta love it!!!!!!!

On the knitting side, I am just about done the mitts I am making for my friend's wife.  I am writing out the pattern and it will be posted as my next free pattern.  I'm hoping to get them done today and had planned to work on them all afternoon after I teach Hebrew School but now I have a feeling that will be delayed to see the pups...

I think that is all the Squees that I have today - if I left anything out I will share it next week!!  For more excitement and Squees, pop on over to Calophi's blog and see what's going on there!  Happy Sunday!