December 18, 2014

Well, it's almost 1:30AM and it definitely feels like it.

We got our first real snow of the season last night. Or more like really early this morning probably. We didn't get a snow day, however, which was disappointing but ended up being the right call.

This morning I helped out with kindergarten literacy centers, watched sixth graders practice their typing, had a good conversation with one of the first grade teachers, and looked at really old crochet and cross stitch patterns online. Maybe some other stuff but that was a long time ago now.

This afternoon there wasn't a lot going on. Minus the two kindergarten classes and one of the third grade classes coming to the lab. Throughout the day, I worked on making a somewhat elaborate flower pattern from one of the old cross stitch books, into one of my patterns. One easier to read. Who knows if I'll ever get around to making it but it would look pretty cool.

After work I stopped by Hobby Lobby again to but picture frames. I ordered three signed posters for Doraleous and Associates, one for my sister, brother, and myself. The posters are 11x17, which turns out to be an odd size because I was only able to find one option. There were maybe six of them and only one of them wasn't dinged up in some way. Hobby Lobby is pretty notorious for having dinged up frames. I sorted through and picked out the least dinged ones, figuring I could touch them up with some paint, and started back toward the front. And then I found quick frames, or something like that, and they had an 11x17 size. They were also wrapped up so I didn't have to worry about dings. So I grabbed those. They were also quite a bit cheaper.

I renewed my XM radio today via calling to cancel my subscription. Once again getting the lower price. Someday I'll go all the way through with canceling it to see how low they will actually go. I always give in around five dollars a month.

I actually had a visit with the new volunteer kid tonight. The first in a really long time. It was a bit of an adventure because he and his grandparents moved to a new hotel. It has a name but I guess they are transitioning because the sign is currently blank, which made it a tad hard to find. I drove by it once, and through the parking lot twice before getting enough clarification that it was actually the one I was looking for.

As for the visit, it last an hour and we covered a lot of stuff. Tomorrow is his birthday and it is also his last day of high school. He's technically graduating but graduation isn't until May. He said he's got a job lined up but he wasn't able to start until he turned 18. So we'll see if something comes of that. He still has no interest in going to a university and his desire to go to a vo-tech for welding also seems to be lessening. His new job would be working the third shift, so midnight to seven o'clock in the morning, I think, and he'd have to go from there to school, which would be hard. We'll see what happens. Or we won't, because after tomorrow he'll be out of the system and won't have any obligations to hang out with me. The present I got him for his birthday/graduation should be here tomorrow so I told him he'd at least have to see me one more time.

When I got home I worked on finishing the stuff for my Santa hat. That is why I'm up so late. I had to do the entire “SSSSANTA CREEPER” part, including the border which takes forever, and then had to sew it on the hat. I've never really sewed anything onto something before, and sewing something onto and oddly shaped hat isn't the best introduction to the task, but I think I managed it alright and I think it looks pretty decent. Overall, I'm happy with my design. The Creeper looks really cool sporting a Santa hat and the candy canes replacing the two R's in “Creeper” actually look like candy canes, so I'm happy. I would have been happier if the idea had come to me sooner so I wasn't writing this at almost two o'clock in the morning, but oh well.