I've been so industrious this weekend. It's easy to be industrious when you know you don't have to go to work on Monday. Usually I just sit around thinking that I'm going to have to think of some lesson plans before I go to work on Monday.

I made potato soup and bread bowls. Potato soup- easy. Bread bowls-kinda hard. Neither of them turn out to be espcially yummy. They were both okay though.

I hung some curtains in my bedroom, I rearranged my books- well most of them any way. I put my clothes, which had been piled on the floor for un-numberd days, away; I finished one school bus yellow sock and started the second one. I made a tiny little panda with no obvious purpose in life- aside from being cute of course.

I learned how to make a colonial knot, as French knots are apparently impossible to one such as I. I made a list of all the other things I need to do this week with my fountain pen. :) I went to church this morning . . . I don't know why every church is so weird to me these days. More on that later. AND I vaccumed!

Oh wait! I also put together a door shelf- and this is an accomplishment because lately I've been in this, "I wish somone would come and do this for me so I wouldn't have to read the directions" mood.

The left sock is the one I made, the right sock is the one my mom made a million years ago, and which I am using as a pattern for the new one. I think I could market them as "Sweaters for you feet and legs."

When I was in Jr High I had a facination with a boy named Josh and fountain pens. I'm totally over Josh, it turns out, that after close inspection of his wardrobe- he didn't change his pants often enough to convince my BFF (or until the end of 7th grade) that he was sanitary.

Eventually we gave up harrassing Josh and his unwashed pants, and I put away my fountain pens. Giving up on Josh, well, there's no question about that- it was certainly a good idea. But the fountain pens- I can't imagine why I gave up on them. I just found what's left of my collection- ink included. Fountain pens are so cool!

They look cool, when you write with them your writting looks cool, and the scratchy-scratchy sound they make on paper is cool. I dare say one even looks cooler when using one, perhaps just by association.

I shall once again be cool by associating with fountain pens.

Other news- Oh my job- I'm still working at UD- and my students are still cracking me up.

It's really a fun job- if only I had befits it would be perfect.

I asked one of my beginning students what she was going to do for Thanksgiving break (Whooo-Hooo! I get a whole week off!)
She said she was going to: "That place that has the machines you put money in them and you get something."
I thought: 'A vending machine convention?'
No: next guess- my job is alot about guessing what in the world they might want to be communicating to me:
Me: "A casino?"
How did I guess that? I have no idea- it's like pictionary or charades, you just start throwing things out until you get it.
Student: "Yes, yes! A casino!"
The nearest casino is in OK.
I said, "Are you going to Oklahoma?"
She said, "No."
The second nearest casion is in LA.
I asked, "Are you going to Louisinana?"
She said, "No."
She said, "I'm going to that place in the desert where there are many machines."
'robot land?'
Me: "Are you going to Las Vegas?"
Student: "Yes! Las Vegas- it is very famous.
"Me: "Yes, very famous- be careful."

I guess I'll hang out here- no money- no plans- but I do have socks to knit . . . books to read, movies to watch, lessons to prepare, etc.

I just reread that last sentence-I am in great need of locating some local friends! Maybe I'll make it my goal to find out where I can go to meet new and exciting people.

I'm knitting my aunt some tube socks. It's so mindless- I love it. Some knitting takes way too much thought- but tube socks not so much- and she just wants them to wear around the house, so I choose the ugliest color of yarn I had on hand. Someone gave it to me- it's school bus yellow. For some reason I just can't bear to turn down free yarn! Even if I can't think of a thing in the world I'd do with it- I must take free yarn! Otherwise it's just a little orphan ball of string nobody cares about! I know eventually I'll think of something for the free yarn- and here it is- tube socks.

I ordered some goodies from Amazon- a crockpot- which is delightful- my next "fix-it-and-forget-it, but-not-for-too-long" creation shall be potato soup with a chipoltle swirl. Yes, Yes, I know it shall be delicious!

I also ordered a humidifier- I was sick, and I felt that would help me- of course as soon as it showed up I started feeling better. I took it out of the box because, well, it's adorable. It is! It even says so on the package! "This adorable humidifier will blah-blah-blah. . . " It's shaped like a penguin, and smoke comes out of his beak- "This adorable smoking penguin is not a toy!"

When the weather gets colder and my skins starts doing the "I'm so dry I shall crack" thing, I'm turing the smoking penguin on!

The third thing I ordered never showed up! I suppose I don't really need it after all. I just thought it was funny. I suppose that I wouldn't really use it much, and I couldn't show it to many people as my little ole sense of humor apalls people sometimes.

It was a book called "Subversive Cross Stitch." It has all these little cutsie patterns peppered with naughty words that I never use in public, unless they are really really called for.

It didn't come, so I'm going to cancel that order and get something else that I will actually use, and not just pull out and giggle it once a year or so.

Neb V was over the other night for lentils- they were a bit too tomato-y but edible over a bit of Moroccan couscous. Buzz was salivating over his inane idea of eating the neighbor’s cat. Honestly- that cat weighs more than he does and with flattened ears and a raised paw a cat can send him away screaming like a baby who just lost his last piece of candy. Last time Mary’s cat got within two feet of him she sent him into a screaming episode that took him in a 20 foot circle around her yard. Ridiculous little dog.

Anyway- Neb V was making couscous. She was looking in the cabinet for a measuring cup when she stumbled upon my Nutella. This is not my first mention of Nutella- it is certainly like a nectar vastly popular in Europe and shamefully ignored in the American market. I had a Nutella crepe in Paris- heavenly- really. I found a jar at the international food mart, Zam Zam, which is just down the street. I had no idea that Zam Zam was an international food mart; I just had to stop in one day to find out what on earth it was. I mean just the name sounds so exciting- “Zam Zam!”

Neb V said, “Oh! Nutella- it reminds me of my childhood, growing up in Europe, I used to love Nutella for dinner.” My first thought was, ‘Oh, growing up in Europe, it sounds so- you know- fancy. “I grew spent my formative years in EUROPE darling!” My second thought was quick on first thought’s heals, ‘You can’t eat Nutella for dinner!’ I mean, anything is possible, but ewww! Nutella is a speadable chocolate-hazelnut jar of sweet yumminess. It has the consistency of peanut butter and the meltiness of milk chocolate.

She said it all depends how you go about your Nutella. She said she loved it with bread and butter. Sounded kinda ick to me, but what do I know? I didn’t grow up in Europe.

The Nutella episode got me to thinking about my childhood, and what reminds of my formative years. Gill Village- not quite so fancy as Europe to be sure, I dare say public housing never is.

I thought maybe generic items could be my thing- the old kind with black and white labels that actually said “generic” on them. Does anyone even make real generic items? I think it has all moved to store brands. My next memory was used condoms in the play ground- but no I don’t frequent play grounds much any more- and I have no occasion to come across used condoms either. Free government cheese? Unlike M&Ms, which melted in your mouth, not in your hands, that stuff didn’t melt anywhere, for anything- it was dreadful.

“Green Things” remind me of that time. There was a Green Thing in each lot. I have no idea what those Green Things were; some kind of electrical boxes. Most of them were about two and a half feet tall and two feet wide. There was a big Green Thing in the lot next to mine- we called it “The Big Green Thing,” imaginative group of youngsters that we were. If you touched a bolt on top of The Big Green Thing with one hand, and touched the back side of The Big Green Thing with your other hand, you could feel a shock run from one hand, across your chest to the other hand. One day we decided to scientifically measure the strength of the current. Our science determined that the current was strong enough to run through 4 children if we all held hands and one touched a bolt and the other touched the back of The Thing.

Who pays attention to green electrical boxes any way? Have you noticed them? They look like this:

No- I finally came up with THE thing that reminds me of that time of my life. Cinnamon rolls. Not just any kind of natty-day old-rubbery icing-cinnamon rolls. I mean real, fluffy, hot, sticky, sweet, fresh cinnamon rolls. My mother didn’t like to bake much, but she was an expert at cinnamon rolls. There was no telling when the cinnamon roll mood might strike- (just one of the many unexpected pleasures of living with an undiagnosed manic depressive.) When the cinnamon rolls appeared, there were no rules about how many we could eat- because we all knew, including my mother, that cinnamon rolls could not be saved- they were only good hot out of the oven.

I attribute my weakness for Cinnabon and green electrical boxes to these formative childhood memories.

I've decided to start up my month-alutions again. Every month I choose a resolution to keep for the month- I've already started my month-alution for November- to finish the projects I've started before stating any more.

I've finished my "Neopolitan" scarf. Someone gave me this yarn- I thought and thought about what I could possibly make out of the "dusty rose" color. It's not my favorite, but I couldn't part with perfectly good yarn just because it's not my favorite color- that's discrimination. I put these three colors together because they remind me of ice cream- ummm ice cream . . .

Only about 10 more projects to finish . . . :)

Other month-alutions- starte looking for a church, save some $, take my dog on more walks- these aren't all for this month, just ideas for coming months- I don't want to get too ambitious.