Friday morning things

* Joan, you're the only one who asked about the Sock Club patterns, so if you e-mail me your address, I can send it out. (I have to go to the post office some time next week anyway).

* I'm getting slightly better at the Dance X workout. A couple things I've noticed:
      - It's definitely easier to do first thing in the morning than after I've been through a day of classes. I don't know if that's because I'm less stiff first thing in the morning, or less tired, or what.

      - I do have coordination issues. Some of the moves where you are doing one thing with your legs and something different with your arms are difficult for me, because I tend to concentrate on coordinating one body part and the other tends to flail a little

      - I don't THINK it's beat deafness, I seem to be okay at finding the beat when I play the piano (well, most of the time. I've been trying to play "Linus and Lucy," and there are times I just canNOT get the rhythm. It's kind of odd. Some times I can get it, others I can't.)

      - I still can't do the full time of the Twist, though I think part of that is a friction issue of my really-grabby-soled trainers on the floor. (I have a wood floor, and they talk about modifying the move for carpet. I tried stocking feet but was afraid that was TOO slippery and I was going to fall). And the Irish Kicks are still hard for me to do the full time of.

      - I did the video three times this week and am keeping the option open of doing it some time tomorrow. I want to eventually work up to four and maybe even five times a week. "They" say you should accumulate 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, and the video is actually not 50 minutes but closer to 35. (I had been going by the timer on my dvd but for some reason the workout portion starts when the timer reads 10 minutes....). One hundred fifty minutes of moderate exercise is a LOT, I don't care that "they" say "Oh, you can do it in 10-minute bursts!"

* Most of the knitting this week has been while invigilating. I'm actually close to the divide for the front (the v-neck) on the current sweater vest. This one has almost entirely been knitted while invigilating exams. (I will probably have to find something new for finals, as I am really close to being done with this one).

* I will be SO GLAD to be done with teaching the overload when this semester is over. It does make me really tired to deal with an extra whole class of the intro-level group. (Less so for the GIS class, as it is a v. small class and they are pretty mature students and have pretty much taken the information they were given and then ran with it.) Next semester is going to be really different: three days a week my first class is at 11. I think that's the latest "first class" I've ever had. I'll probably still come in early (though I think I will only do 9-11 office hours those days, leaving myself the option of a more leisurely morning or, even - a shot at doing local grocery shopping EARLY on a weekday.  The other two days I do have an 8 am class, though.

* I decided to go do "big" grocery shopping (in Sherman) again this afternoon. Part of it is I do want to go to JoAnn's (for tiny snaps and narrow elastic, among other things, for future doll-clothes-making) but part of it is I'm kind of turned off of shopping at the Wal-Mart. A little while back, I got a bad carton of milk from them - it was still within the sell-by date, but when I opened it, it smelled and an experimental taste told me it had turned. So I don't know if this was one of those "Oh, I don't want it" followed by a several-hours-later of it being put back in the chiller case, or if it was poorly-handled, or what. And also given the leaked memo this week (about the head management pushing Wal-Mart to even more aggressively discount/push stuff close to its sell-by date, even as many stores don't have enough employees to keep up with it), well, I'd rather drive to the Kroger for my milk. (Standard disclaimer: Green Spray does not carry the organic kind I prefer, and also, I really prefer the waxed cartons to the plastic jugs)

* There's a lot of talk about stores opening on Thanksgiving. I would HATE to be told "You will be working on this holiday" if I worked retail (I suppose some places give employees the choice, and I'd hope there was bonus pay for it. I know some people don't "do" a Thanksgiving and some people are sufficiently estranged from family they don't spend time with family. But it would bother me to have to change up my holiday time to go in and work). The world has changed a lot since I was a kid; I remember how on holidays like Thanksgiving, the ONLY places open were things like the  Convenient, where you could run for milk if you absolutely needed milk (and you paid a premium for that) and maybe Denny's. (I remember traveling with family over one Thanksgiving vacation as a kid, and I think we were delayed and still traveling midday Thanksgiving? maybe? And we needed to stop for lunch but place after place was closed....)

I don't know. If I ran the circus? The "shopping season" wouldn't start any early, Thanksgiving would be a day off for everyone (other than, obviously, cops on duty and ER doctors and that kind of person*).

There's also a guy who is apparently ALREADY camping out outside some electronics store so he can be the first one to get one of a small number of large-screen tvs for a good price. I suppose he's free to do that, but wow, that would so not be my choice. (My Christmas shopping is effectively done; I'm still working on a couple of the knitted gifts and I still need to order some tea). I really dislike the whole Black Friday craziness and the crowds, pushing, and people fighting for 'deals.'


(*One of the nicer news stories of a few years ago that made me smile? In my parents' town, the members of the local Jewish synagogue went to the Salvation Army and offered to do the cooking for Christmas dinner for the people at the shelter there, so the usual cooks and servers could have Christmas with their families. I also remember the quote from one of the women from the synagogue: "We had to ask a lot of advice in advance; we don't exactly have experience preparing hams." Heh.)


* I AM going to decorate for Christmas. I'm going to put stuff in slightly different places (move the old ottoman left over from my old chair away from the front of the (nonfunctional) fireplace and put the tree there, maybe leave My Own Private Ponyville up on the mantel but see if I can find some tiny "snowy" trees to add to it, put the usual mantel decorations elsewhere). I bought a new wreath for the front door - I had to run to Lowe's yesterday and they had these tinsel wreaths. I just liked it. Maybe it's a little tacky, I don't know, but it made me smile and it seemed like a little throwback to the tinsel/artificial stuff decorations of the 1950s, so I feel like it's in keeping with the era of my house (I have a whole book of "decade by decade" Christmas decorations, it's been fun to look at).

I'm going to do the decorating bit by bit, over next week, as I have time. That spreads the fun out more and also means I don't have to worry quite so much about having a big block of time to do it.

(I actually had to run back to Lowe's - I wanted ONE wreath, I paid for ONE wreath, but when I got home, I found I had two stuck together. So I returned the second one, and explained I got two by mistake. Yes, it was a $10 wreath and Lowe's is a huge big-box retailer, but returning it mattered to ME.)

 * I need to call them to be sure they'll do it, but I've pretty much decided to ask Print Shop if they will accept the skiier package for me if I'm out of town while it is supposed to come. (Yes, they will be closed a couple days, but I am guessing UPS will know that, and will not attempt delivery.) The people there are pretty nice so I bet they will say yes, and then I can just call Icon Fitness and ask them to change the delivery address for me. (I need to talk to someone at Print Shop TODAY.) I feel better knowing I think I have this sorted in a way that should work.