When You Know You're a Geek

I'm going to be honest--I've been an avid reader my entire life. My mom often jokes about me not going in the car without pen, paper, and a book to read. Fortunately, I have never suffered from motion sickness, so I am reading pretty much wherever I am. I didn't realize until high school that not everyone reads for fun. I mean, in my mind, they were totally missing out. I remember recommending books to friends who probably just smiled and nodded out of kindness, not because they really wanted to read them! Fortunately, in college and in my adult life, I have surrounded myself with people who love to read and challenge themselves (ahemm.. Cory). 

But now, I think I've gone to a new geeky level. I have a new hobby that I'm just as excited about and it's just as geeky.

Yep. I have an unofficial goal of being a phenomenal crossword puzzler. 

Cory and I subscribe to two newspapers on Sundays: The New York Times and The Washington Post. A few months ago, Cory and I tried to tackle a Sunday NYT crossword puzzle and it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life (the Sunday crossword is always the most challenging puzzle of the week). Will Shortz, crossword puzzle creator for the NYT is world renowned for his complicated, man-designed puzzles. Now, just because I couldn't hold my own on a Sunday NYT puzzle doesn't mean I was going to give up all together. Oh no.

To remedy the situation and build my confidence, I picked up this collection from Barnes and Nobel.

I have no shame in starting with this light and easy collection. It's sort of like starting out with the single crochet stitch. You have to master the easy stuff before you can make your way to the hard stuff!

So far so good. I pick up my collection every now and then when I want to focus on something other than work and stuff at home. Fortunately, this collection is the perfect size for my purse. I carry it with me so Cory and I can complete the puzzles together in the car! Yep. I'm in full geek-out mode over here!

What are you geeking over? Or what have you suddenly latched on to? 

The Best Advice Ever.

The best thing about having friends who are crafty and also teachers is that they find the most incredible resources. My friend Karla is a pro when it comes to finding good lookin' projects and/or classroom-related materials. I love her taste, as it so closely mirrors my own. A few days ago she stumbled across the UK-based project from Brain Pickings called Advice to Sink in Slowly and immediately sent me a link. The project enlists design graduates to create posters regarding messages to first year students. Many of these messages I was too stubborn to succumb to until it was almost too late. Some of these messages I'm still working on adapting in my own life as an adult. I think we can all relate.

Karla was totally right--I would love to hang these in my classroom or around my school. I can't believe how beautiful and honest these prints are. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do; I've already ordered the few designs they have on sale!

What do you think?

xo,

New home vignettes.

I like to change things up in our house every few months. Most of the time I'll just rearrange a few items in a new vignette around the house instead of going out to buy something new. That is exactly what I did this past weekend.

How do you freshen up your home?

Hook in Comfort DIY

Random fact: when I was 16 years old I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Essentially, my joints completely froze in place and I was unable to move very much while my doctors completed many tests to figure out what was wrong with me. I was one symptom away from being diagnosed with Lupus, but was still treated as if I were (medicinally) to be safe. Fortunately, my rheumatologist was confident that since I was diagnosed at such a young age, I might have a chance of "growing out of" the illness. I was medicinally treated for nearly 5 years, but during college, I tried to get through life without the medicine. It was scary at first, but in the end, my body was functioning just fine! Hooray! There are still a few things I need to be careful about. For example, I cannot eat aspartame as it flares Lupus symptoms and is generally dangerous for people with RA. Fortunately, my taste buds have become quite sensitive to it so I can taste it in everything from soda to cookies to gravy! I also have to be sure that I eat a lot of lean meats and fruits and veggies to keep a healthy diet. I get tired pretty easily, and for a long time, it seemed like I got sick at the drop of a dime, but I've been lucky recently (knock on wood).

What does this have to do with hooking in comfort? Last winter I could feel my arthritis coming back in my wrists. I was crocheting for at least 4 hours every day trying to keep up with the holiday demand of craft shows and Etsy sales. I loved every minute, but I was also afraid that I was hurting my body in a way that I would pay for--big time. I invested in a pair of stress relief gloves from Lion Brand that really helped me get through those last few weeks. After the new year I took a long time off--two months--from crocheting. It was nice, because now I'm ready to get back at it. This time around, though, I'm being a bit more proactive. 

I noticed this quick and cheap DIY a while back and decided to tackle it myself. I only needed to buy one item: pencil grips. This weekend, while I was running errands, I picked up a box of pencil grips from Walmart for only $2.00! A $2.00 DIY, people! Awesome!

You'll need any aluminum crochet hook that is a size 9mm or smaller and a box of pencil grips.

Wiggle the pencil grips to the middle of the crochet hook. I stopped every few seconds to make sure the pencil grip was close to where I hold my hooks naturally. I know there are a few different ways of holding the hooks--I always hold mine really close to the hook instead of in the middle.

 

Wha-la! Easy peesy, lemon squeezy. I've been stitching with my all-new comfort hooks for the last few days and it has been amazing! I will forewarn you, though, sometimes the plastic pencil grips can catch to certain fibers (ie: wool). If you know you're working with a luxe material and don't want to take any chances, I would upgrade the pencil grips so they weren't a sticky plastic.

For more ways to prevent injury while crocheting, this is a great resource.

Have you seen any other DIY ways to better your hook experience?

Happy National Poetry Month!

I would be remiss not to recognize the start of a very special month, so I wanted to drop in to wish you each a very happy National Poetry Month!

Now, I'm gonna bet that many of you aren't big poetry people. For some reason middle school and high school can do quite a dozy on a person's love of poetry, which is such a shame. I'm assuming that some teachers put such an emphasis on "what it all means" instead of allowing students to just experience a poem and dig through it themselves. It's a very fine line, as an English teacher, that I have to walk to still get kids to sort through the "lit-ness" of a piece, while still allowing them to enjoy it for what it is. Maybe you could argue that you can't fully enjoy it for what it is without knowing it's lit-ness. You're free to have your own opinions, but poetry is pretty cool in my book. If you haven't read a poem recently, you might want to start today! 

I wanted to share with you a few resources that are pretty awesome when it comes to cool poetry and cool ways of learning more.

• Poetry Foundation: Poetry Foundation is an amazing resource that categorizes poems by subject to help you find exactly what you want.
• Poetry 180: Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins edited a collection of young adult friendly poems so students can hear the fluidity of poetry instead of how complicated it can be. This is a phenomenal collection and my go-to for students!
• These collections edited by Garrison Keillor are the best and super easy to read.
  
  
  
  
  
  Here's one of my favorite poems from E.E. Cummings that is pretty easy to read. Cory and I used this poem at our wedding as part of our favors (mini Composition books)!
   
  i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
  my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
  i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
  by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                    i fear
  no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
  no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
  and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
  and whatever a sun will always sing is you
  
  here is the deepest secret nobody knows
  (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
  and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
  higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
  and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
  
  i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
   
  Now go read more cool poetry! yay!
   
  
   
  
  

Washington Post's Peep Show IV!

One of my favorite things that fills me with giddy anticipation this time of year is the revealing of the annual Peep Show winner by the Washington Post! It shouldn't surprise you that I get a huge kick out of the Peep Show contest and am really amazed/inspired by many of the finalists work! It's so silly and creative, I really love how much fun it is! Here are my favorites for this year:

 

Yep. The Downton Abbey Peep Set is my FAVORITE!

For more Peep Show finalists go here. You won't be disappointed!

Quirky Crochet

Happy April Fools Day!

 

It doesn't take much to get a little giggle out of me whenever I see something quirky and endearing. I'm hoping to get the same response out of you when I show you the most brilliant crochet-related print I have ever seen.

Are you ready for this? 

This brilliance comes to you from the most amazing shop, I live on a farm. If you want a quirky way to spice up your home, your studio space, or in my world, my classroom, I think this print is a must-have. Not only is it an inside joke for fellow hookers, but it's also a unconventional conversation piece! Of course, the owner has knitting related posters as well ;).

I tell you what, if the Easter bunny brought me one of these posters, I would forgo the chocolate and spend all my time staring at this pretty thing!

What do you think?