Catching Up

Mom and Dad left last night. The visits were wonderful and extremely productive. Although I missed them very much over coffee this morning, I will admit that it is nice to have the house return to its normal routine and to not fret over whether my guests would rather be doing something else, etc.

Wednesday, Anna, Dad and I went down to the Air/Space Museum on the National Mall. I was really shocked: when I visited last was 1984, long before the new Udvar-Hazy Center was even being considered and the National Mall location was really impressive. Not only has the Hazy Center pulled off a lot of the more interesting stuff but the original museum is being revamped a bit so about 25% of its display space was cordoned off and draped. Had it not been for the shuttle magnet I wanted to buy for my Mom, it would have been a total loss. Except for Anna; she had a great time in the gift shop and on the Smithsonian Carousel---she was the lucky duck who got to ride on the Dragon:


I will say that the Mall location has a really fabulous kid's exhibit with lots of interactive demonstrations of the principles of aerodynamics; she and I loved the drag and air-pressure/gravity demos best. Unfortunately, about 50% of the demonstrations were broken. I guess the Smith spent all their Air/Space money on Udvar-Hazy, eh?

Vancouver-Bound
The other bright spot Wednesday was that I was able to pick up my passport so next week, I'll be gone, daddy, gone. The new ones are kinda' cool, I've got to admit. If you're one of the folks who have been digging the new currency designs, you'll enjoy the passports.

With the house settling down, I have a bit of time to figure out how much sight-seeing I want to do in Vancouver. Its feeling very excited around here.

Transitions
The re-working of the library to serve as my project room is nearly complete. I have a few more things to move out, a couple of things to hang on the wall and I need to make some Roman Shades for the French Doors that open into the foyer so there's not so much pressure to keep that working space neat. It is very, very, very cool. I'm in the process of replacing the very low-quality printer I have in there for something that would be more suitable for the photo printing, etc I'll be doing there.

School
After two 2-hour training sessions, I am now nearly completely "certified" to serve as a volunteer in my daughters' school. I'll be spending some time helping with reading in Anna's class, writing in Haley's but mostly, I'll be working with the media center. They do some exciting stuff down there. I might have mentioned that this Elementary School is the technology demonstration site for the state and it falls largely to media center staff to support the users and devices. Sounds like a very fun time to me.

Knitting
I've mostly been working on nephew Daniel's cardigan which is going quite well; all the Mommys at the volunteer training looked at me like I had boogers on my face while I knit as the office manager explained how to work the copier...don't care about their looks and I can work their printer. I have about 80% of the back of the sweater done; the back always takes the longest for obvious reasons. I'll post a progress photo when it might be somewhat interesting.

The Traveler's Stocking sees a little work every day but I haven't really had the sustained periods of concentration it requires throughout the cuff:

Its really beautiful. Its difficult to photograph without natural light so I'll try again another time. The fiber here is Jitterbug merino wool (from Wales), fingering weight. The color is mostly cream but with a bit of color variegation scattered throughout: fuschia, purple a bit of green. Its some of the prettiest yarn I've ever seen. I hope the intended recipient will love them.

Lots to do...
Dull post, I know (this would constitute more of a journal entry, wouldn't it?). I've been so busy with the units and the kids that I've hardly had a chance to even be funny. What kind of world is this? I have some important things to get out in the mail so if you're one of the people looking to your mailbox with anticipation, hang in there. I'll get it together soon.

But just in case you're interested, I have been kicking some major sudoku ass over here and The Office's third season started tonight...I just love those guys. Dwight Schrute is such a malevolent dork!
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