Zizi Rho Designs

Did you know I have an Etsy shop?

(I try not to hit this too hard or too often. But there is a little link to it over there in the sidebar.)

It has a Facebook page, too.

(And now I'm not allowed to mention it again for at least six months.)

Yaddo Cardigan

I so totally lucked out with this. I didn't even realize that my newest crochet project's name started with a Y. But as I was plotting out the rest of the alphabet, something made me look at the pattern.

When I saw the name of the thing was Yaddo Cardigan, I think I laughed. (I don't want to get dinged for posting a pic that I do not own, so check out the link to see what I'm going for.)

I'm not very far along just yet...

I made a few modifications. The main one being I'm using a heavier yarn than is called for in the pattern. (The sock yarns that were the right weight didn't have the feel or the color I wanted.)

So, I'm doing my usual cheat. Instead of doing all the math to resize the pattern, I'm working the smallest size. I'm not a small person. But because my stitches are bigger, I'll end up making a much larger cardigan. (It'll fit. I did do some math.)

I was going to have to modify anyway. The pattern isn't sized up to my size.

I'll likely post a pic when I'm done. As what's in the pic is about 3 weeks worth of work, it will be a while before I finish.

X

I figured X would be a hard one. Anticipating this, I planned ahead...

By the way, this took me two tries. The first swatch didn't turn out so hot.

Now I wonder if I should try to make swatches for the whole alphabet. Should I?

Wrong Slideshow

I spent all of last week in an 8th grade science class. We got through a chapter's worth of material. On Tuesday and Wednesday, my job was to cover the lecture and notes portion.

The thing that got me through that week was the other 8th grade science teachers. They were there for me. Especially the head of the department. They made sure I had the materials I needed. They gave me places to send misbehaving students. And as I was walking in totally cold, they made sure that I knew what lessons needed to be done.

For the lecture, the head of the department gave me a USB drive with the lecture slideshow on it.

The students got a packet of work. They finished filling in the notes in the packet from material taught to them via the slideshow.

On Tuesday for first period, I got the electronics (the projector, the computer) all working. We got through the first few slides just fine. And then I found that information that the students had in their packets was not on the slides.

Oops. I probably should have, I don't know, looked over the material before trying to present it.

Yeah, I felt like an idiot. In my defense, I thought that everything the students would need to know would be in the materials I was given.

Then I got a call from the head of the department. She had given me the wrong slideshow. She was sending the correct one right over.

I used the correct slideshow for the next group. What a difference! Everything that was missing from the previous presentation was there. And it didn't take all that much time to fix what period one missed when I met with them next.

Vague Predictions

Thursdays are "What if?" days at LoG. I come up with the craziest question I can think of with the only intent being to jump start story ideas. Let the question take you where it will...

Did you know that you can reject a future a psychic might predict for you? If you don't want what the psychic sees for you, you can take the steps to change it. That's why people go to see psychics (or at least it should be why people go to see psychics).

But, of course, some predictions can be rather vague...

What if the psychic gave a vague prediction on purpose? That is, the prediction was vague so that it would have to come true?

Unexpected Connections

I know the A to Z reflections post is supposed to come after the challenge, but it's just been amazing to me how things have lined up with letters and events.

(And I really don't want to do another complain-about-last-week post.)

Going into the challenge, I made a sort of back up plan, and I'm pleased that I didn't have to resort to it. Much. I did decide ahead of time what my "What if" posts would be. And I made a plan for X (which you'll see on Saturday). But several posts took me by surprise.

I decided early on that Saturdays would be post a picture days. I knew I could get a picture of some roses easy. And X was decided on early. But what was I going to do for L?

Then I opened my front door to find a lizard staring up at me. And it was even kind enough to stick around while I grabbed my camera. Score!

I hadn't noticed that the scarf I was crocheting had a name. Or that it would coincide with a Monday post. At the beginning of April I started a new project. (I finished a bunch of stuff. I needed something to do with my hands!)

I just started wondering about Y and Z. I thought, nah. It couldn't be. But about two days ago I pulled out the magazine with the pattern. And guess what? It starts with a Y.

I was thrilled when a teacher gave me a quiz to proctor. And it just happened to coincide with the Q week. As did the minimum day with M. (Sure, I had to do that week in reverse order, but they still happened in the correct week.) And I never get to cover zero periods, so the one time I do, it coincides with a week where I can pull "early morning" out.

Yes, it's been quite the challenge for me. I figured I might have to stretch a bit to get things to fall into place. So far, not so much.

I still have no idea what I'm going to do for Z, though. But at the rate things are going, I won't be terribly surprised if I don't have to resort to my back up plan.

So, how have the letters been treating you?

Tardy Sweep

...is my friend.

Last week... Well, I don't want to turn this into one long whine. It was bad. Really bad.

Fifth and sixth periods were the worst.

On Wednesday and Thursday, lunch was extended for various school activities (something about a college fair day and a career day). To get the extra time, a minute was taken away from the passing period, so instead of getting six minutes to get from class to class, the students had five.

One thing the school has is a tardy sweep. If a student does not get to his/her class on time (before the bell), he/she doesn't get to go to class but instead is sent to a kind of in school detention for the period.

On Wednesday, they all managed to get to class on time. On Thursday, the ringing bell surprised some of them. (They were not even close to the room, only running to make it after the bell started ringing. And it wasn't like they were on their way. They were chillin' with their friends instead of making their way to class.)

I closed the door and wouldn't let them come inside. Of course, the door was unlocked, so they tried to get in anyway. I shooed them out.

The classroom has two doors, one at the front of the room and one at the back. The door at the front of the room remains unlocked. The door at the back stays locked.

I turned away to do some getting-class-started stuff, and when I turned around, I noticed that there was movement by the back door. That's when I saw four students, the students that I had sent to tardy sweep, attempting to sneak in. (The door is always unlocked from the inside, so a student near the door had to have opened it to let them in.)

One boy was even crawling across the floor, trying to keep his head below the desks so as to not be detected.

They protested loudly, but I still kicked them out.

And the class was so much calmer with them gone. (Still not what I would call a good class, but much more manageable.)