Crochet-Along Clue #1

I’m participating in the Bernat Mystery Crochet-Along afghan contest.  Each week Bernat publishes a pattern on their blog site.  The patterns gives the instructions but doesn’t give any pics of what a finished square will look like.  I finally got around to making Clue #1.  Below is what my square looks like.  According to the Clue #1 update, this is exactly what the square should look like so I’m on a roll.  Sort of…

I haven’t created the Clue #2 square yet but it should be easy.  It’s a granny square.  I love granny squares.

Stop the Bullying – Stop the Madness

Yesterday on Twitter quite a lot of people were Tweeting about bullying. Many people commenting and responding to the tragic death of a young man who jumped off the GW Bridge in New York after his roommate filmed and then broadcasted him having sex with another man. Of course he’s not the only young person to be bullied or teased to the point of no return. There are more and more stories of young man/women who just can’t stand the taunting and pain any longer so they kill them selves or they get a gun and they just start shooting. It’s tragic on a lot of levels.

I tweeted a few myself. I remember being bullied and teased mercilessly in elementary and junior high. The faces of most of the kids who did it to me in are pretty much a blur. The bizarre thing is when one type of teasing stopped it seemed like another one just started up again. I remember screwing up a word in a spelling bee in our 5th grade classroom and the kids teased me almost non-stop for months afterwards. In 6th grade I was teased daily because of my overbite.

I remember being teased because I didn’t “bloom” when the other girls did and was one of a few girls who wasn’t yet wearing a training bra. I can’t remember if that was 6th or 7th grade but I DO remember the pain and embarrassment. I remember begging my mom to buy me one just so I’d “fit in” and the teasing would stop.

… But it didn’t…

Then I was teased to tears for not shaving my legs. Begged my mom to let me shave.

Then I was teased to tears for having a bad overbite. How many 6th graders do you know who begged for braces? I did.

Then I was teased for being a brace-face. Sigh…

Then I was teased for not having a boyfriend. Then I was teased when several of the kids thought it would be funny to send me notes pretending to be a secret admirer. Yeah, that was real funny what that all finally blew up.

One teasing would end and another would start. Something different each year until around 8th or 9th grade. I’m not sure why it stopped but that’s where my memory of the teasing ends.

It’s shocking to me to think how little help I got from my teachers. I remember kids openly teasing me in front of a teacher and he/she would say nothing. They would just look the other day. My parents tried to help but honestly that just made the teasing worse – “Ooh, you Mommy had to come to school. Big Baby….” In that sing-songy way that bullies do. By not saying anything, the teachers were basically telling the bullies it’s OK.

It’s NOT OK. It was NEVER OK.

The point is this all happened to me years ago and when I think about it still it hurts as much now as it did then.  It's like a knife sticking into my chest and I can't breath for a moment. The effects of the teasing have affected my life in ways that no one realizes. I have self-esteem issues that go all the way back to elementary school.  I expect very little from people.  Expect negativity from people.  I'm surprised when people are good and nice.  That's so backward, right?

I don’t know what the answer is, but something has to change. Parents have to do a better job with their kids. Schools have to do a better job with discipline and punishment of bullies and bullying behavior. Parents and Schools have to send a message to kids that it’s OK to be different and it’s not OK to make fun of people who are different.

We can’t let kids in school be bullied/teased to tears. We can’t accept that it’s OK to film your college roommate and broadcast it world-wide because he’s a fag.

We just can’t

The madness has to stop.

Starting today, we begin training for a half-marathon.

It's a marathon!  OK... it's a 1/2 Marathon.  That's 13 miles.

OMG. What have I done? I must be crazy. You’d have to be crazy, right? Well, what’s done is done.

I signed up to run/walk the 2011 Pittsburgh Half-Marathon.

I’m excited. I’m freaked. I’m nervous – already?!? FCOL the race is 8 months away. I can do this, right? Right!

OMG – what have I done?

I’ve never done anything more than a 5K.  I haven't even done a 10K yet. Why am I doing a ½ Marathon?

I blame Kristin.  It's her fault.    :-)  One of my high school alums in The Burgh is doing it and we’ve been talking about it (via FB and e-mail) so I thought I would give it a shot. I currently can walk a mile in about 2 min. I don’t jog.  Not even a little bit.  The last time I ran, I was dreaming I was being chased.

I’ve got all sorts of training materials to help me get up to jogging – books, podcasts, e-newsletters, couch-to-5K/10K podcasts, nike sport fob (whatever that thing is called)– but I haven’t begun to use any of it. AT ALL.

The last 2 5Ks I signed up for, I slept in and skipped. (LOSER)

So, the deed is done.

No more excuses.

No more slacking.

Starting today, we begin training for a half-marathon.

Now, where did I putting my shoes?

Brrrr ... Is it Winter already?

My company moved into a new office building. It's newer, prettier and has better electrical and A/C system than the old building. In the new building I get my own office. I don't have to share my office space with another employee. If our company grows, I may need to share the space but I think that'll be a long while off. The bad part? It's really cold. I mean really cold in our offices. I have a clock on my desk that has a thermometer in it. The temperature fluctuates between 67-F and 70-F.  When it's 80 or so degrees outside that's pretty darned cold.  I thought about burning a fire in my office but I don't think my boss or building management would appreciate that very much.  ~:-)

So, I've been thinking about ways to keep warm. I think tomorrow I may wear one of my hats to the office. I'm trying to decide which one to wear. What do you think?

Everyone thinks the bobble on this hat is a pin.  It's actually a Christmas ornament that I sewed onto the hat once I had finished it. 

I like this hat but it is a little snug.  Plus I think it would squish my hairdo and I'd have really bad hat-head all day.  Also the pom pom on it has gotten smooshed and I can't get it to fluff back up.  I tried washing and drying the hat but it hasn't popped back yet.  May be I'll make bigger pom poms next time.

The hat is more comfortable.  I tried to take a pic so you can see the flower pattern but I couldn't get the angle just right.  I crocheted this three small flowers and then sewed them onto the hat.

Here's a close up of the flowers I took for one of my other blog entries.  They're pretty cute.  I think I'm going to use brighter colors next time.

Knit-Crochet-Pray

I'm very excited.  I wrote up a short proposal to the head of the mens/womens ministry for a project that I wanted to do this winter at my church.  I proposed to them that the men/women in the ministries ban together and make hats and scarves this fall and then donate them to the Echo Food Bank.  The Food Bank is one of the philanthropies that my church supports.  Last year I made several scarves and delivered them to the Food Bank myself.  I think I made 15 scarves total.  It was really great feeling.

My proposal was that men (yes some men do knit or crochet :-) ) and women would knit or crochet scarves and hats together but separately.  We would work on them together in spirit but wouldn't necessarily get together for stitch-n-bitch sessions.  Well, they liked my idea so much they said i could do it but only if we opened it up to the whole church.  Ack!  OK.  I can do this. 


I tried to come up with a witty name for the project.  It took me a bit but I decided on

Knit - Crochet - Pray

A neat little play/pray on words :-)

So, now I'm collecting free patterns from all over the Internet and getting my sign-up and informational flyer ready.  I'll be at a table before and after church today hoping to get some people signed up.

Wish me luck and pray for success.