A Crochet Project Experiment

This week's yarny creation... 

...is an experiment of a sort. I saw a video on Instagram (the only time I've logged into Instagram in the last six months or so) that I just had to try. 

I bought this yarn a while ago with the intent to use it for a purse. (Well, I bought the yarn as I had a "reward" that was expiring, so I needed to buy yarn or lose the discount.) And then I got distracted by a scarf (for which I did not need to buy yarn). 

We'll see if this gets finished or even works with the idea I have in mind. I have a backup plan if this particular project doesn't work. I'll keep you posted on where this goes (or even if this goes). 

Not a Walker

After our getting started routine (where I ask them calendar questions as well as a social trivia question), we exercise. On Thursdays, the students can choose to go out and take a walk or stay in the room and dance. 

I can pretty much tell you who will dance and who will go for the walk. Sydney, Eddy, Brittany, and Logan walk. Sushi, Pizza, Antoine, Flash, and Leanna like to dance. (I would think Flash, who loves to walk fast, would walk, but he consistently remains behind to dance.) 

As we were getting ready for exercise, one of the aides asked if they would mind going to Dollar Tree while on their walk. It's maybe a mile away from the school and easily reachable during a walk (although they'd be gone closer to an hour rather than the usual forty-five minutes). The students didn't mind.

So, they divided up for exercise, and Leanna joined the walkers. What? 

Leanna is a pretty good dancer. She clearly enjoys it. But, if she wanted to walk, I wasn't going to keep her back. 

Upon their return, I learned why Leanna chose the walk. 

Leanna was going to buy herself a snack at Dollar Tree. 

But, Leanna's mom is very particular about her diet. It's a thing, and I won't go into all of it here. Suffice it to say that we have to make sure Leanna doesn't sneak in food that she shouldn't have. 

The other aide informed Leanna that she couldn't get a snack at Dollar Tree. Suddenly, Leanna wasn't happy about being on the walk. 

At least Leanna's mother will be happy to know that Leanna got a walk that day. 

(I dislike being the food police. And I'm not with the other students. But Leanna's mother has concerns, and she's the parent, so we try to make sure her wishes are followed.)

Regarding Attendance

Last Monday I had this email exchange with the school secretary who is also the attendance clerk. (It's a small school. All the clerking-type stuff is done by one person.) 

Secretary: hi Elizabeth, did you the attendance today in AERIES? or was everyone present???

Me: I did input attendance, or at least I thought I did. [Logan] and [Sushi] were absent.

S: Ok, thanks. [Logan] was put in, but not [Sushi]. I just put him for absent today.

Me: Weird. I must have run the cursor over [Sushi's] absence and it blanked it out. Oh well. Thanks for fixing it.

S: I know what happened. [Flash's] mom called and said that she got a phone call that he was absent and he wasn't

So I think instead of [Sushi] you hit [Flash]

I'm taking his absence out of [Flash]. If that is not correct let me know, but since you said that you only had 2 absences I think this is correct. Please check your attendance if it is correct.

Me: Yes, that must have been what happened. [Flash] was present. Only [Sushi] and [Logan] were absent. (This won't be the first time I miskeyed an absence. I can see how I could have done that.)

So, yeah, um, I totally marked the wrong student absent. I've done this sort of thing before. I'll hit the absent key for a student above or below the student I meant to mark absent. But in this case, Flash is near the top of the list while Sushi is closer to the end. There's like four students between the two of them.

How I made that mistake, I have no idea. 

(And I know it was me because I had written it on my paper copy of the attendance that way as well.)

Sushi was out of school all week. He sent me an email saying he had the flu. And he was requesting a Covid test. We got official Covid contact notification that Monday, but later I found out it was a different student, and that student (who is not in my class) didn't necessarily have it, but was a close contact of someone who did.

Ah, the joys of pandemic attendance.

Birthday Celebration

Brittany's birthday was last Wednesday. She turned 21. 

On their birthday, they get to pick an activity (we either go out or they get to see a movie that they choose). Brittany chose a movie. 

As I looked through the schedule for the day, I ran into a conundrum. Usually, we'd do the movie after lunch. But Wednesday was Brittany's work day. She goes to the elementary school next door to help. 

So, I decided that we'd do the movie before lunch. Instead of the actual schoolwork-type stuff we do in that time. 

I mean, why not? It's mid-January. Last week felt long even though we had Friday off. Even though we just got off winter break two weeks ago. 

It's not like anyone was actually going to call me out for it. 

Before we started the movie, the principal dropped in. She was bringing the cupcakes Brittany's parents brought in for her birthday. And she said Brittany's father had said she could skip work that day so she could have her movie.

But... I already planned the movie for early. 

I put on the movie. Brittany went to work as normal in the afternoon.

After lunch is our "recreation and leisure" time, so basically the students had a free day. Well, except for Brittany. I sent her to work. (Which she gets paid for. And she wants to work with kids when she leaves the school, so this is helping her achieve that goal.) 

I'm okay with that decision. Sure, we didn't get to the usual stuff we work on to help them become more independent, but sometimes it's nice to have a kind of nothing day. That's a valid use of time. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

What Price Justice?

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉

What if you knew that someone did something illegal, but to bring them to justice, something illegal you did would come to light?

A Back Up

After a week of wear, my button band looks like this: 

So, I decided to make a back up, just in case.

It's a touch wider and longer. The buttons are bigger. And the colors do not go well together, but it's going under my hair, so no one will notice.

I made a slight modification to the assembly. I used a shank button. And I realized that rather than sewing the button on the band, I could slip it on while I was knitting, kind of like if I was attaching beads. 

Although, I didn't use a crochet hook. I used a bent piece of wire. Otherwise, I strung the button as if I was stringing a bead. It's nice because I don't have to then wind in ends from the yarn used to attach the button. Hopefully it'll be a bit more secure.

Cranky

"I am not cranky!" 

Flash snarled this at me as he informed me he did not want to have his picture taken next to the metal dinosaur we spied while out on one of our off campus jaunts. 

Flash is usually pretty mellow. But on this day he was adamant about not wanting to go into stores. He doesn't like to look at things. He likes to walk fast. 

I had not accused Flash of being cranky or grumpy or irritated. I hadn't said much to Flash at all. But he defended himself as if being cranky was the worst thing he could be.

I figure that Flash was probably due an off day. I told him he was totally allowed to be cranky, just so long as he didn't take it out on anyone else.

He didn't. 

He stayed outside while we went into a couple shops. (We have to go somewhere on our outings. It does not take three hours to eat lunch, and we have at least three hours to kill.) He ate lunch. And he stayed away from the rest of the class.

I wonder what upset him. It could have been our outing. Or something else. I'll wait to ask him though. There's no reason to poke the cranky bear.