Artfully Done

I thought it might be fun to show you a few things we've been working on.

In random order...
This is the inspiration for the project, but we all know that we're not trying to copy anything. We make our own art!

Inspiration photo

Paper towel bunnies and eggs and a little plastic cat.
Don't ask, I don't have the answer.

There was some discussion/argument between some kids about the eggs. As children often do, they decided to ask the adults in the room the hard question. 
"Do bunnies lay eggs?"

When I answered no, the kids all said, "But! What about Easter eggs!?!"

Oh boy.

Since I try not to miss those teachable moments, I had to explain that Jesus hatched from an egg on Easter and saw his shadow and there were six more weeks of winter.


*see footnote below

This is a mouse. Trust me.

Bailey made a rose from Model Magic.

When asked, the sculptor didn't know if this was an alligator or a crocodile. 
I explained the easiest way to tell them apart is that an alligator will see you later while a crocodile will see you in a while.

 

Can you see the dragon in these clouds? He's in the center, more or less. His nose is facing to the right, and you can only see his neck and forearms.  The rest of him was hidden behind some dark clouds.
The kids were really excited to spot him.

Some straws and pre-printed Temu flowers from a pre-pandemic supply order. This is from Lori, age 5.

Steffie made a flower pot with her flowers and straws and a paper cup.

Steffie's card. She's on the left. That's me on the right, the orange lady with the long legs.
I remember loving the rainbow colors as a kid.
Kids today are still the same.

Origami bookmark. I showed the kids how to fold them and mentioned that my husband likes using that kind of bookmark. 

So Benji made this and handed it to me, saying, "Here. Give this to the man who lives at your house."

Book Monster. 
Same fold as the bookmark above with a couple additions.
This came from Alina, age 8, who loves making monsters of all kinds.

And here's a jellyfish from James. 
He's in the 2nd grade and loves sculpting things.

I try to have stuff out for them every day. Sometimes it's a guided project, sometimes it's just a bunch of things to have fun with. 

The hard part isn't the cleanup, as you might imagine.
The hard part is finding time to take photos, make sure no kid faces/identifying information are in them and then manage to get them posted.

Have you done anything creative lately? 
Remember, it's important! 
NO ONE wants to become spiritually constipated!

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*footnote: it's funny... but no, I did not tell them Jesus saw his shadow.
I'm not a complete idiot.

They seem happy...

 

Well, yesterday was Wear Your Tie Dye Day.
Fridays are a low attendance day so not all my kids are pictured.
Funny how much alike they look, huh?

They were so proud of their shirts.

My head hurts and we're creative here.

I've been trying to ditch a headache for almost a week now.

Had it for three days on the left. Took a partial day off on Friday. Then it migrated to the right. I woke up at least four times a night to take medication. Excedrin. Migraine medicine. Heartburn pills. UGHHH.

So this morning I woke up with the headache on the right and it was so bad I wanted to puke.

It had been seven hours since I took anything, so I threw everything I had at it.
Two Excedrin, half a migraine pill and a vicodin. Then a heartburn pill because taking all that shit at once was definitely going to give me heartburn. Geez. Washed it down with a small glass of chocolate milk. Need that sugar boost to go along with it.

But you know what? It worked. I took all that shit about 7:15 and by 8:00 I didn't have the headache anymore.  I got up and took a shower. Felt so much better. But about 4:00 I had to take another half a migraine pill.

I can hear the more astute among you asking 'why only half a migraine pill'? Well let me tell you!

That shit is nasty.
Side effects are no fun.
Hot and cold and hot and cold.
Sweaty and quivery.
Lightheaded, although not dizzy or buzzed at all.

I have learned that a half pill will kick the headache, at least for six/eight hours without the nasty side effects. Or the occasional side effects aren't quite as bad. Also, if I take a whole one and it wears off in six hours or so, I can't take another until 12 hours have passed. And waiting 12 hours is just agony. Migraines aren't fun. If you haven't had one, I recommend that you do not.

I've been sitting in the momcave with Lyssa quite a lot doing crafty stuff. She's always been incredibly creative. There are tons of bits and pieces. Little wooden disks and sticks and little hearts and beads and all kinds of just stuff. A million sheets of scrapbook paper. Glue and paint and scissors and markers and colored pencils. And decoupage. Yarn. I have materials for almost anything you could think of.

It makes me happy to have my daughter here, making stuff. She's working on a diorama. I'll show you some pictures if she'll let me.

Meanwhile, last week I did a new ice dyed sweatshirt.
Which is now hers.

I love ice dye, you never know what you're going to end up with. I actually have another sweatshirt to dye, and a couple ideas about the colors I want to use.

And I have a buttload of other things ready to dye, which is this week's project.

I'm making some slipper socks for my dad, too. With his heart problems his feet swell and regular slippers are uncomfortable for him. So I'm doing some XXL diabetic cotton socks and putting non-skid stuff on the soles. I hope those will work and cheer him up a little. I'm making my mom a big t shirt with hearts on it to sleep in, also. I think tie dye is a cheerful sort of thing, don't you?

It's nice to have Lyssa and Mason here.
I am not lonely the way I have been since the world closed.

15 lbs and some color

I like to experiment with the dyeing, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to mess with it. It is a big job, and usually I end up with blue fingers for a week or so.

And there are dye splashes on the bathtub. Drips on the floor between the tub and all the way through the kitchen to the laundry room and the washer. Dye bottles and their little spouts sitting on the kitchen table upside down in a tray after rinsing, they sit at least a week so they will dry before I put them away.

Buckets.
I use 5 gallon buckets for the soak solution and sometimes it takes more than one bucket, depending on how many things I dye. This time there were two of them in the hallway outside the momcave for a couple days, I was waiting for them to be completely dry before I put the lids on.

I try to make it worth my time by dyeing a bunch of things at once. This time I did a pillowcase, 20 pairs of socks, which I like to give as gifts on occasion, some underwear, some shoelaces (I use tie dyed shoelaces and a breakaway clasp for my work lanyards... 100% cotton and doesn't make my neck itchy) and a zip up hoodie for my friend Tami. I have been threatening to do it for more than a year, I've had the shirt in my dye blanks for quite some time.


So I started with the light blue sweatshirt. Soaked it in the soda ash solution, then tossed the wet garment into the washer and spun out most of the moisture.

I put some socks and underwear in the bottom of a big plastic Rubbermaid tote. Then plastic disposable cups in the corners and racks on top of those to make a surface for the dye to drip.

A layer of ice over the shirt and pillowcase, then the fun began. I put on my dust mask (dye powder is really bad for your lungs) and started sprinkling dye. I chose dyes that seem to separate a bit on garments,a yummy blue/violet combo, some green, another blue... if I had to be honest, and usually I do, I don't even remember all the bits of color I used. I tried to use a smaller amount than I did the last time, I've done a bit of reading and given it a little thought.

So what you see first is the big gloppy mess that happened before I added the second layer of ice.I'm not sure why, but apparently I didn't photograph it after that. Take my word for it, it was a rather thick layer of ice. Had a 10 lb bag from the grocery store as well as a completely full bin from the freezer's ice maker

Then, I put the lid on the container for about 2 days. Could have sat longer, but maximum dye retention happens after about 18 hours anyway.

The ice melts, the dye drips through the garment and lands on the socks and other items below so they get colored, too.It's really messy looking and if you'd seen the socks and other items in the bottom, you wouldn't believe they'd turn out nicely, but they did.

 

Not as nice as the sweatshirt, though. I have to admit that it's completely by accident that the dye distribution looks like flowers, but I have to say that I was really happy with how it turned out, too.

Underwear

Because Peggy commented on my last post that she read 'underwater' as underwear, I thought it would be fun to post a photo of the granny panties and men's underwear I dyed several years ago.

I did the men's for my dad as a joke, but it turned out that he loved them. I heard though, that he was embarrassed when he wore them to a doctor's appointment. :-D

I have a bunch of plain white ones that I plan to dye next time I have all that stuff out. I always have great plans. Doesn't mean they happen.

What do you think, Peggy? Would you wear these?

Other stuff happens, too.

It's not just one problem after another in my little program. Although Louis takes up a great deal of my time, either monitoring him or breaking up fights or suggesting he take a bit of time to pause and reflect or discussing his afternoon with his father or calling my manager with an update or emailing my manager with an update or ranting to my husband with an update, we do other things, too.

It's important to me that kids get a chance to exercise their creative sides, so we do a project every day after Thanksgiving break until school gets out for the Winter-we-don't-call-it-Christmas-anymore break.

We've been making little crafty things for the holidaze. Although all the kids in my program live in families where Christmas is the big December holiday, I still can't do activities that are specifically Christmas. We're supposed to do more generic stuff.
This one is the one I made to show the office staff as an example. Colin did get to make his own, I just printed his photo twice.

He doesn't actually have a black face and turkey feather hair. I'd love to show you his face, too. He's a cute kid, has amazingly long eyelashes, blue-green eyes and a terrific sense of humor. One of the nicest kids I've ever had in all the years I've done this job, too. Which is appreciated because in this program I also have the most difficult kid I've ever had.

Oops, starting to digress.

So I photographed all the kids against a blank wall, told them they were trapped in a snow globe and they did their own poses.

I found the project online, but the ones I saw were on blue poster board and had been made into an EDuCAtional project, complete with little hand printed essays, eye-catchingly titled 'If I were trapped in a snow globe I would...'

Because unless you force learning, why, they're never going to learn a damn thing!!

The one pictured here isn't complete, I have a bunch of spangles and sparkles etc, some of the kids glued them all around the edges of the plates, although some kids didn't.

I ordered little clear plastic easel/plate stand things so families can display them.
I will try to get a photo of all of them together tomorrow. Gonna send them home with the kids this week.

I'm really pleased with this project. And the kids had a blast with it.

Want a shirt?

I realized that on August 26th of this year this blog has been up for twelve years.

Can't let that go by, am I right?

So leave me a comment with your t shirt size and favorite colors and I'll have 'my' kids draw a number sometime in the next week. If your number is the one drawn, I'll send you a tie dyed shirt and a pair or two of socks to go with it.

As soon as I dye some stuff, that is.

But hey, twelve years.
I have had a lot to say over those years.
And there are a couple of you who've been with me since the beginning.

So yeah. Want a tie dyed shirt?

Busy Hands...

We've been making little projects ever since I started working in my new location.

I like to teach a bunch of different things the kids can make on their own. Once they've learned how to make something, they can just ask for the supplies at any time and make another. Oh sure, they need a little help around the edges if it's something they haven't made in awhile, but they love being able to make things.

I love projects that involve keeping their hands occupied but leave them free to chat. Things that don't require a huge amount of concentration. Projects like these sometimes require me to spend a little of my own money. Last week Lyssa spotted a whole bag of Sugar and Cream yarn at Goodwill. I spent $6.99 for the 20 or so skeins in the bag, all brand new. Lots of different variegated colors. The kids love variegated yarn. :) The photo doesn't show you how soft this stuff is. And unless you're one of those poor schmucks who is allergic to acrylic and polyester yarns, you don't know how nice this stuff can be next to your skin. Yum.

Two of the boys, Gabriel and Billy made some woven bracelets yesterday. I didn't have any milk jug plastic (my own preference) so I made the little wheels out of cardboard from the applesauce box.

The instructions for that particular bracelet aren't difficult, I tell the kids to, "Point the empty slot at your middle, then count three threads in the direction of the arrows (I draw arrows with Sharpies so they can keep track) and pull the thread out. Put it in the empty slot, turn the wheel so the empty spot is pointed at your middle, and do it again."

Gabriel was so cute. He very seriously adjusted the wheel to make sure it was pointed exactly at his tummy each time. And (each time) counted threads under his breath, "One, two, fwee." His bracelet was already about three inches long by the time he left to go to school on Thursday morning. He was very proud of it, ("I made dis,") showing it to the other kids. He lit up when I told him to tuck it into his backpack and take it home if he wanted to, that he could work on it over the weekend.

Billy arrives later in the mornings, so he didn't get to make one during morning program. He was all over it right after school, though. He had to wait until all the kids had been signed in and fed, but as soon as I could get to it, I got out all the yarn for him.

I've learned with Billy that having something to occupy the creative part of his brain is helpful. Both for him (high energy level!!) and me (high irritation factor!!)

He carefully chose colors, unwinding a little of the cotton yarn from each of about 14 skeins, putting the colors next to each other, asking me if I liked each one, changed his mind three or four times, and finally chose seven different colors for his bracelet. He was pleased with his progress. When his mom came to get him, he bounced over to the door like Tigger, holding up the braiding wheel and saying, "Look!! Mom!! Look!"

She is always focused on greeting him and reconnecting after their day apart, but she didn't really LOOK at what he'd done, just told him, "That's really great, Billy!" I imagine that she will be duly impressed when she sees him working on it.

I had the day off today (It's Friday evening as I write this) due to another damn ice event.

::sigh::

I was sitting here looking at different tutorials online and got an urge to make a bracelet of my own. So I got out the cotton yarn that's still here at home and cut seven strings, five black,one yellow and one red. While I've been sitting here watching Netflix (I'm watching Firefly again, something I do about once a year) and I wanted something to do with my hands. Didn't feel like drawing anything.

So I guess I like making things, too. Which shouldn't be a surprise to any of you.

And the bare bones...

This was another fun little project. It was simple enough for the smaller people but still enjoyable for the older kids. Dane did not make one, he rarely makes a craft, he thinks he's too cool for 'kid stuff', but sometimes I catch him watching closely as the kids are working. I don't say anything to him, but I make a craft with the bunch when I can, reasoning that if he sees an adult making something and having fun with it, that he might relax a little and bring out his own sense of fun.

Billy didn't like the way the backbone looked, so he chose not to add a spine to his project. Kenzie didn't like that idea, she told him that the 'skeleton's head won't stay on', but I reminded her that it was going to be attached with glue and that Billy was allowed to do the project his way.

I am really enjoying the designated space. Yes, it's small. But it looks SO nice with everyone's projects all over the place and all the colorful things I've added to the walls.

So get out your Q-tips. Have a little fun.

Sliced Pumpkins

I do this project now and then with whatever group of kids I am currently spending October with.

It takes nothing but construction paper, a glue stick, a pair of scissors and the children's imagination.

You get a piece of orange construction paper, lightly sketch out the shape of a pumpkin and then cut it into slices. You glue the slices on the black construction paper and leave a little space between each one. Then add eyes and leaves and whatever you want.

My favorite thing, which I've mentioned before, is giving the kids the same supplies and letting them create whatever they want with them. Never any two alike. I think that's awesome, and I tell them so at every opportunity.

It usually takes awhile, and with each new crop of children I have to teach them the same thing... that it isn't my project, it belongs to them.

And I'm kind about it, but I remind kids who are telling other kids things like, "You're doing it wrong!" that there isn't a wrong. "I specifically told you that you are supposed to do this project your way. Not my way, not someone else's way... yours. Please leave Sam alone and let him do his project while you work on yours."

My rules are, "Use what you need. Try not to waste the supplies. And if you have made a project you're happy with, it's a good project."

So I explained the basic project. I made one as an example, but I don't always. It's just a little hard to explain this one without making one.

Mine's first. And all of them are right. :)

They're hung up in a group above the bulletin board.
Parents are so happy with all the little crafty things, and I'm glad. But the real happy people? The kids.

Dyeing here..

I am not sure where my camera is.
I am pretty sure I could find it quickly but then I would have to find the charger and that might happen within a half hour or so... might not.

But I didn't go find it before taking these pictures with my phone, so the quality of the photos isn't great. It's actually terrible quality. Sorry.

I spun the soda ash moisture out of the shirts this time (used the spin cycle on the washer) and as a result, I didn't get the dye saturation I wanted. I want to try this same design again, only... better.

I still have all the dye mixed and a ton of shirts just waiting for my attention.

This is my first effort with this type of design, and as always, I learned from it. I will improve on it next time. I have never used black dye before, it's notoriously difficult to get a true black.

The first two shirts pictured were heat set, meaning after I cooked dinner last night, I waited until the oven was almost-but-not-quite-too hot to touch, put the ziploc bags into a pan and slid them in and shut the oven door for the night. It seems that the heat set did its job, the black is deeper on the two shirts I tried that with. So that's definitely something I will do again.
The one with the heart is mine, I didn't think Joseph would want a heart on his shirt. :)

He only has a little more than a week to wear them at rehab, he's going to be home on the 19th as long as everything goes according to plan. I'm happy to hear it, since of course he not only survived the stroke, he will be able to walk. Therapy will continue for him at home for awhile, too. I'm still hopeful that he will make a full recovery. If anyone can, it would be him. I know he's very motivated to come back.

Anyway. The shirts are below. And I'm outa here, lots to do before bedtime.

It's odd...

It seems like the weeks just drag by.
A workday feels SO long, doesn't it?
I love my job. It's the only job I've ever had that I didn't hate after only a few weeks/months. I felt like I was wasting my brain everywhere I worked. I didn't feel like what I was doing was terribly important, and most of the time, I did not look forward to going to work at all.

I do look forward to work now, but sometimes I wish I didn't have to leave my house to do my job. :) I definitely wish I didn't have to get out of bed at 5 AM to do the job, too. Have I mentioned that? I HATE getting up at 5 AM.

I think the whole world would be much better off if we all agreed to sleep in. School could start at 10 or so, and we'd go until 5.

I know I could get people to agree that we need more sleep. And if everyone got on board with the idea, I could say I've made the world a better place.

Anyway. The weeks drag by at half speed, the weekends pass at warp speed.

So here I am sitting here at the end(!!) of the weekend.
It's my own damn fault I didn't get much done today, but yesterday it was the headache.

I got fast food on Friday night and even though I knew it was probably a crappy idea, I ate some curly french fries. Whatever they sprinkle them with... could be straight MSG for all I know... makes me get a headache. But only if I eat too many. I can usually get away with a few, and there weren't very many in the little bag. Seriously. Like six or seven.

But I woke up at 4 AM with a nasty headache, and didn't manage to shake it until late-ish on Saturday evening. I won't tell you about the intestinal things that happened to make life more interesting.

I caught a nap in the early afternoon, and we settled in to watch our latest DVD offering from Netflix. That was a bust, as the disc was either scratched or damaged somehow, so we watched one of their 'watch instantly' things. Robert Duvall, doing the same part he does in every movie, grumpy old curmudgeon who's probably wearing a pee-stained union suit under his clothes goes around making people angry/shooting/shouting at them.

I didn't expect epic entertainment, so I was not disappointed.
I drew a picture while we watched.

A day shot to hell, basically.

I mean, we did do the grocery shopping and I got a couple of loads of laundry into the washer, into the dryer, folded/hung up, but the headache was just a bitch. I didn't feel good.

Today I was just dragging along.
Hard to get going.
Even though I was up at seven (don't ask) I sat here in front of the computer until after nine before I showered.

The afternoon was more productive than I expected, though.
I joined a Facebook group where people feature the things they've tie dyed. Some of the things I've seen on that page have made me believe in miracles.

As I was reading, though, I read that leaving anything with metal on it soaking in soda ash can ruin it. I've had a hooded sweatshirt soaking in the bucket for mumblemumble weeks. I had to make a large effort to find one that's cotton. Most of them are polyester, or contain so much polyester that they don't dye well. This one is only 10% poly. I've dyed one before, but it's quite a lot bigger than the size I wear now.

So I spun the wet sweatshirt in the washer (much easier than wringing it out) and banded it in a spiral. I mixed up some cobalt blue to go with the light blue of the sweatshirt, dyed it and it's currently sitting on a rack in the plastic container I use when I ice dye. I hope it turns out well, I hate to spend that much money on something that's going to end up crummy.

I had a lavender long sleeved shirt that needed re-dyed, too. Since it was already technically ruined from the previous dye job not working correctly, I figured I had nothing to lose by using dyes that have been sitting in a container in the spare room since the end of November. I have read various things saying that one must use the dye within 24 hours of mixing or it starts to break down. Logical, they are organic ingredients. They tell you to refrigerate it if you're not going to use it right away. I've always been conscientious about it. But the fridge is overcrowded 90% of the time, and I just stuck the dye in the spare room instead.

So I pulled out purple and raspberry from there and spiral dyed that one as well. It's currently in the dryer, and I think I'm going to like the end result. It appears that the dye worked just fine.

Lyssa baked Eric a birthday cake (his birthday was Wednesday) and I made his favorite meal of fried chicken.

So laundry and dyeing and cooking and cleaning. And here we are, almost 9 PM and I feel like I didn't get anything done.

What did you do this weekend?

About those little projects..

So I sort of posted twice in one day. Post number one is below this one. If it matters. If not, carry on.
One of the little projects we did was a snow scene.

We made a compacted circular base of aluminum foil, covered with a layer of model magic to conserve clay and to keep it from cracking.
Very thick pieces seem to crack.

The children pressed the bottom of a teddy bear and the bottom of a little tree into the damp clay. After that dried, I painted the clay with sparkly glitter paint. After that dried, the kids glued the bears and the trees into the impressions they'd left on the base and glued the base onto a cardboard coaster. That had to dry, too. Overnight.

Then, I put styrofoam snow into plastic tumblers from the dollar store and put a ring of glue around the rim. I inverted the bases (which had dried for an entire weekend) onto the tumbler and let that dry for 24 hours, too. Hopefully all of them held together and no one ended up with styrofoam snow all over their house.

In progress. See the little village houses they're sitting on? Those are printed on cardstock. The kids colored and cut out entire villages over the last couple weeks.

This is what one looks like all done.

Sweet. And Short.

Yesterday afternoon, Lyssa asked Molly, "Hey, how come your eye is red?"
Immediately, Molly said, indignant, "I don't have pinkeye!"

This morning, her mom called to let us know she wouldn't be there today. She has pinkeye.

Two families with kids in my program have had to have animals put down this week. Jennifer was a little emotional about her old dog this morning, and Joe and his little sister Lily were very sad this afternoon about their 16 year old cat.  Joe said he knew it was time, but it was still sad. "She couldn't eat anymore and she was getting very weak. But she was part of our family," he told me, "And I loved her." He started to walk away. Stopped and turned back. "But she peed on my clothes."

It's 'Deck the Halls' month at work, which means I am scrambling to find all the supplies I need for the projects. I have what I need, but it's all over the place. Some is here at home, some things are stored at work. Tomorrow's project is a little snow globe of sorts, it will have snow but no water. Since Wednesday morning is the late start day for our district, we have an extra hour to fill. I know the kids will enjoy putting the project together. And I'll be the one with the bag of styrofoam snow. That shit gets everywhere!!

It's friggin' FREEZING here. The wind is horrendous. I took Lyssa to get a haircut this morning and I did a little grocery shopping while she did that. Just the short walk from the door of the store to the car about froze my hands off. The wind just cuts through everything.

Eric and I don't argue about money except for when he thinks I should buy myself something or the opposite is true. The man is terrible about spending on himself, he always wants everyone else to have the things they need first.

So a few years ago, he insisted that I buy a big Columbia coat that we found on sale at Fred Meyer. I can't remember how much it was, I think it was about sixty bucks. I argued. He said, "BUY IT."

I did. Best coat I've ever had. Cuts the wind and keeps me warm. Now if I could only get a super warm coat that comes to my knees. I wouldn't even argue about buying that one. :)

Anyway, we're going to watch TV together, I am going to do my usual coloring thing (got a new book today!!) and I'm going to relax until 9, two hours from now. 9 is our bedtime. Because we get up at five. Have I mentioned that?

Something new...

I have been threatening to do it for ages. I made a creative space. :)

Back in June, Amy's grandma was closing out her house and moving. She was selling pretty much everything. I bought a corner desk that Grandma made herself. It cost me 10 bucks. A bargain.

It's quirky and oddly shaped. I had a little dresser that fits under one end, there are shelves under it, and it's a big and solid piece of furniture. I'm happy to have it.

So I spent a good portion of the day trying to organize stuff. I still have a ton of things that are part of my job, but it's all my stuff. Need to rotate it in and out at work.

I've found my electric pencil sharpener, all my different varieties of colored pencils, most of my movies (still can't find my damn Harry Potter movies) and I feel pretty much like a teenager.

The old TV is in here, I have a DVD player, my stereo will get moved in sooner or later... simple things make me happy, I guess.

I don't think I'll be spending all my time in here, but it's nice to hang out and be able to put my hands on the specific art supplies I'm looking for. They've been strewn all over the house with no order whatsoever for ages.

Anyway, that's what I have been doing instead of writing a post.

Now I need to haunt the local Goodwill and see if I can find myself a new office chair. The folding chair I'm using right now makes my butt hurt. I had one in here, but we bought Lyssa a computer and she has the chair in her room right now. They're usually about 10 bucks at Goodwill. Lyssa will be working with me this week, and we like to stop at ours on the way home. It's usually just opening as we drive past.
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Ran into an old friend at the grocery store yesterday. We have never been best friends, but we talked a LOT. The homeschool stuff that used to bring us together has passed, her kids grew up, too. I got her new email address, her old one didn't work. I know, 'cause I tried about six times to email, it bounced every time.

So I sat here yesterday afternoon and tried to condense the last four years or so into one email. Another thing that kept me from writing here.

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Monday I am back at work. I know I had most of a week off. I do own a calendar. But I could cheerfully have another week or so of not getting up at 5.

We're gearing up for the whole deck the halls theme I do every year with the kids. Ornaments and little pictures and a project a day until school is out for Christmas.

Which reminds me. I need to find the elf cutout that Matt painted for me a few years ago so I can get started with the pictures. It's going to be a gift for the parents of all my kids. My manager bought little blank folders and envelopes for the kids to decorate. I would like to show you a few photos, but of course that's something we're not allowed to do.

Ah well.

Meanwhile, I am going to wrap this up and go hang out with my man in the living room. I appreciate his patience with my little quirks. He didn't even raise an eyebrow about the whole craft room thing.

How are things going for you? Keeping busy??

Ice Ice Baby

I had intended to show you my ice-dyed blue shirt. I made one in the right size last night. Washed it out this morning and wore it to work.

So hang on while I go take a couple photos of it.

Okay, I am back. I hope you didn't feel like you had to wait too long. What do you think?

And speaking of ice.
I didn't make my smoothies last night. I usually make several of them and stash them in the fridge for the next few days. So when I got up this morning, I made a week's worth. Since they really taste much better cold, I did not have one for breakfast. Had yogurt instead.

I grabbed a smoothie and stuffed it in my little ice chest. Since we're not in our regular location, and the one we're in is hotter than hell, I thought it would be easier to have the ice chest.

I was right, but by the time I got around to drinking the smoothie, I was pretty hungry and pretty thirsty.

We were on the playground after lunch. It's much nicer outdoors than indoors, because there just is no air circulation in that damn play shed. We stayed out a little extra. I was considering blowing the whistle. Two short blasts and they know it's time to head for the door.

Suddenly there was screaming on the playground.
Two girls were running to me, screaming and crying. Several other kids were screaming, too. And what the hell was that black tornado boiling out of the log along the back fence?

Why that was ANOTHER nest of fucking ground bees. Little black hornets with really big attitudes. We have had the exterminator out THREE times this summer, and each time they've eradicated a small nest. Apparently there was a bigger one simmering along.

I blew the whistle. Three quick blasts, pause, three more. Yelled, "Evacuate this area! Meet at the stairs!!"

Standing next to me was Erin*, a site director from another school. She suddenly screamed and clawed at her face. Her glasses flew past my head and she was screaming and screaming. Bees were everywhere. I had them buzzing around my head. My legs. Crawling on my arms. There was at least one in my hair by my ear. One landed on the corner of my mouth.

I was not stung.
Neither were most of the kids.
I have no idea why.
When you make those little bastards mad, they sting everything they can.

Kids were flailing their arms and screaming and in a complete panic. I was trying to get them to move in less of a panic, but it was difficult. I wanted them to get away, but didn't want anyone to get trampled or skinned up on the pavement as they escaped from the bees.
Pandemonium.

The kids ran for the stairs, way at the other end of the playground/blacktop, near the building. Away from the bees. Erin and Cindy*, one of our other site directors headed down the ramp to the cafeteria to get the stinger out of Erin's eyelid. Apparently (Eric says) the bees bite, and then they sting as a last resort. I don't know what happened, but Erin had a stinger in her eyelid. Jesus.

Erin tried to stay outside with us, telling Cindy, "We can't go into the building and leave Susan with all these kids. It's not legal ratio!!"

Even with a fucking stinger in her eyelid and all the pain and chaos, her first thought was making sure our kids were adequately supervised.
These are the kind of people I work with.

I waved her in. "Sunshine is back from lunch. We're good on numbers. GO! Take care of yourself!"

I waited for the last kid, one of mine. She didn't pick up on the panic AT ALL and was sort of meandering toward me from the playground. "MOLLY! RUN!!! GET OVER HERE NOW!!!"

Finally she started moving faster. When the other kids began yelling, "BEES!! BEES!!!" at her she seemed to suddenly get it and started running, too.

So we got inside and examined the girls who were stung. Procedure dictates that we put ice on the stings, find out if they've been stung before (first sting sensitizes you, second one, if you're going to react, you will) and watch them for a few minutes for any sort of respiratory distress or other difficulties. Then, when you're sure they're not going to have an allergic reaction, you call the parents.

And since I happened to have an ice chest full of happy little ice cubes, that part was relatively easy.

I got Ella's* mom on the phone first. My phone, as we left the clipboard, the cell phone, the first aid kit and Erin's glasses on the blacktop near the play structures.

I got her voice mail.
Sensible, I don't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number either. I hadn't called her from the site phone, that was sitting on the playground in a swarm of nasty little motherfucking asshole hornets.

Told her, "Ella was stung five times by some nasty little hornets on the playground about five minutes ago. She is not experiencing any secondary issues, but I need to have you call me at this number (123) 456-7890."

Then I called Holly's* mom. Also went to voice mail. Left her the same message.

Meanwhile, Erin had rejoined us. She called her husband to come get her, being distraught and sick and afraid to drive.

My phone rang. Ella's mom. She was just on the edge of being in a panic. "Is she breathing okay? Are you watching her?"

I worked hard to sound reassuring.
"She is not having any symptoms of an allergic reaction. If she were, you would have been my second phone call. I would have called for medical assistance first, then notified you."

She calmed down immediately.

"Thank you so much. That makes me feel so much better to know that."

"Oh I'm a mom," I said. "So they're my kids when I'm here at work. Ella was stung five times and we have ice on all the stings."

"FIVE TIMES!!" She was upset all over again. "Can you give her some Benadryl?"

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I am not allowed to give medication to children without doctor's instructions."

I let Ella talk to her mom. It was agreed that if it got worse or she wanted to go home, she could call her mom back and her mom would come get her.

About the time she hung up, Holly's mom called. We went through the same conversation, even down to the number of stings.

It was horrendous, and I can't say we were lucky because kids got hurt, but it could have been so much worse. I have seen bees boil out like that on television and in cartoons, but I have never seen it up close and personal. I don't care to see it again.

I was SO ANGRY about the bees. I wanted to go out with gasoline and a match and take care of the goddamn nest. I'm still angry. How DARE those little shits hurt my kids?????? GRRRRRR.

So now the playground is off limits. We will have to play in other areas of the playground for a few days until the exterminators come back out and take care of the problem. But you know, they've had several chances to do so. I can't imagine how they missed such a large nest.

And this is the 2nd summer in a row that we've had bees. Two different schools, same little bastard kind of bees.

It wasn't a boring day.

I usually edit a post, by the way, but it's past my bedtime. So if there are typos and grammatical errors, I will just have to catch them later.

How was your day?

Surprise

I had a crappy night last night. Headache, migraine pill, the resulting up-every two-hours-to-pee-because-of-the-migraine-pill parade, and an early awakening that, despite heroic effort on my part, I wasn't able to beat. I tried. I did. I wanted to go back to sleep. I think I did manage about 10 minutes just before it was time to get up.

Had a date with Tami.

So what did I do? Did I get into the shower and start getting ready? Oh hell no. I pulled a big pajama shirt out of the soak bucket and dyed it.

It was dyed, washed and dried in 2 hours and in her hands.

She was surprised. I was, too. I usually leave the shirts in the dye for at least 24 hours, which is what one does 'for maximum dye retention'. But I really, really wanted to surprise her with something fun.

What do you think?
Matt says the back of the shirt 'looks like a bacterial infection'. But what does he know? :)

The Results are In

And they're spectacular. :)

Over the weekend our manager washed and dried most of the tie dyed shirts. I say most of them because I had a couple here at home.

They turned out pretty nice, except she washed too many of them in batches so there was a bit of dyeback on them. (White areas less-than-white). They still look really good, though. The kids were excited. Since I am familiar with several different patterns and how to band them, hearts look like hearts, bars look like bars, the chevrons are stunning. I can't wait to see all the kids in their shirts at once. I know the visual effect will be amazing.

I tied/dyed a few more this evening for the custodians who have been so helpful this summer and one for May*, who has attended so sporadically that I forgot about making her a shirt. It's okay, she will have one in the morning, I'll be up at 7 and make sure they're washed and dried and delivered to summer site by 10.

I figured the kids can autograph the ones for the custodians.

I am taking the rest of this week off. Using up all my personal time since my anniversary date with this company is fast approaching. I am beginning my 12th year working for them and my seventh year at my school.

Several schools much closer to my home have lost their site directors over the years, thereby opening up with site director positions,  but I don't have a wish to move. I am so happy where I am.. a fixture at the school. 'My' parents and kids love me, I feel the same way about them. In addition, I know where everything is in my little program, and I don't have to depend on someone else to make sure I have all the items needed for any particular projects.

I've done lesson plans for the first two months of the school year, the supplies are either here at the house or at my school, and I'm ready for fall.

I'm also ready for the weather to cool off. According to the weather jerks, we're going to have warm temps clear into October. I hope they're wrong. I'm really about done with the heat.

I have a huge list of things I want to accomplish this week, and the memory of all the times I've had time to do things and not done them. Makes me feel crappy.

Tonight is a nice, cool evening. There's a breeze coming in the door near where I'm sitting, and I got a shower about 20 minutes ago, so I should sleep. Now. Instead of goofing around at the computer and then having a hard time waking up tomorrow.

I'm dyein' here

It's that time again.

So I've been working on making the process a little less painful.

In the past, we've tried to do it all in one afternoon. Of course that never works, there are kids who aren't there or we don't have the amount of time necessary to do it all and I end up frazzled and my knee hurts and it's a huge pain in the ass.

So over the last two days, I have either banded or assisted in banding most of the shirts and most of them have already been soaked in the soak solution and are in ziploc bags with the name of the owner on them. For the most part, all that remains is adding the dye. That's the quickest part of the entire process, so I am hopeful that I'll be able to get 90% of it done in one day.

We have several design choices, spiral, heart, stripes, chevrons, random circles, a turtle... most of the kids are pretty sure what they want. Not all of them, though. Some of them just don't quite get the idea at first. They seem to think we're drawing pictures on the shirts.

I love telling the little boys what the choices are and then having one of them think about it a moment and say, "I've decided on a light saber."

"That wasn't one of the choices."

"Hm. Okay. I'll have a Superman one."

"Again, that's not one of the choices."

"Batman?"

One of the kids who has been with me for years told me today that he wanted a scorpion on his shirt.

"Good luck with that, Buddy."

"I saw it online, you can do it."

"You saw it online? YOU can do it."

"Okay. I'll have stripes."

So first we get the right size shirt. I take one I think will work and put it up to the child's back, trying to get one that's not too short but not like a big sack, either. Today I had a kid tell me to, "Make it big, I want to wear it for five years."

Then, label the shirt with a sharpie inside the neck. When the shirt is banded, make sure the name is showing because when you take it out of the soak solution it's a real pain in the ass to try to dig through the folds and find out whose shirt it is.

So the shirts have to soak in soda ash solution until they're wet all the way through.

Then dye is applied from dye bottles. We have kids who want to dot the dye on, taking half an hour to do what should be about a 10 minute project. I have to offer guidance without making them feel bad. I encourage them to put a lot more dye on than what they've done. If they don't get enough on and I'm tired of telling them about it, I add a bit after they've gone indoors to get the next child to come dye a shirt. I want them to turn out well.

So we're gearing up. I'll try to take a picture of some of the shirts.

What was I thinking???

Binge

I thought maybe I'd title this 'binging' but it looks like BING-ing, not binge-ing. Which is what I really meant. And if I can't say what I really mean, then why bother at all? (Side note... my parents both say at all, but it comes out 'uhtall')

So we spent the weekend binge-watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Netflix. It was fun, really. But I didn't get a lot of things done. I had grand plans (always do) and then, it didn't happen.

We did the grocery thing Saturday morning, and drove out to our favorite picnic spot in the afternoon. Roasted dinner and built a fire. Home by about 9.

On the way home, as we drove into town, there was a van in our lane. Pointed right at us. Sitting there. No one inside. Airbags had gone off, but there was no debris on the road. And no one in the van, although there was a man walking away from it. I called the police, as it was IN the lane of traffic, facing the wrong way. We probably should have followed the guy, but, well, we're not police. And who knows what he was up to?

We stopped at the Dairy Queen drive thru about a half mile away from the scene for an ice cream cone and heard/saw law enforcement headed that way. Our theory was that the van's driver had hit something and left the scene, only to have the vehicle die on him as he was turning off the main road. Don't know. And our local news sucks donkey balls, so I doubt we'll ever find out.

Stayed up late on Friday night and on Saturday night. Being lazy together.
We managed to unpack the car, do some laundry and dishes, and I made soup. We had lentil and split pea. Lentil for Eric, split pea for me. Found a big picnic ham on sale and chunked it up. Made a big pot of soup stock, then divided it and added peas to the good half. ;)

Only thing missing was a loaf of french bread, which we were both too lazy to go get.

I drew a lot. Also played with these. Considering doing them with the summer kids, but only if our manager goes and gets them copied on cardstock, as using regular printer paper isn't sturdy enough. They're very cool, though, and something I know the kids will enjoy doing.

So I just wasn't at my computer much over the weekend.

Here's a picture or two, though. I brought my drawing stuff with me.
We have camp chairs, but they're not as comfortable for me as my metal folding chair. I added some white risers to the bottom, which makes it more like a bar stool. Easier on the knee when I have to get up and down. Sliding into a picnic table bench or sitting on one isn't a lot of fun for me, I try not to do it. Likewise with the cafeteria tables. Seat height is wrong for my knee.

I slept in this morning, and am running a load of laundry, trying to get showered and call Lyssa and do some dishes and figure out something to eat for lunch. I only have an hour and a half until I need to show up at work.

My summer schedule has been relaxing. I am going to hate starting back up with the 5 AM mornings, but will appreciate getting back to my regular site. I don't know yet if we'll have Marcus today. If we do, that would be an unpleasant surprise. I like the kind of surprises where people give you chocolate or massage your feet.

Anyway, I don't have time to sit here and do this. So I am going to stop now.
Dye photos tomorrow or the next day. I've been busy.