Friday, February 25, 2011

Feel Good Friday- I'm Your Hostess, Welcome Aboard!



Wow, I get to host Feel Good Friday for a couple of weeks while thegirl is off creating a new and improved blog for us all to enjoy! Go look at her site- she has the cutest little critter on there right now.  Thank you so much Miss Erika for letting me host this!  I'm learning about the linky tool!

I happen to think Feel Good Friday is a most ingenious creation and I often thank thegirl for inventing such a marvelous thing.  It puts my week into perspective every week.  Even those crappy weeks where I'd rather tell you about the 5 most annoying things that happened.

If you've never done Feel Good Friday, you have a few options.  Tell us about one thing that is fantastic that happened during the week.  Or pick your top 5 things that made you happy during the week.  Or do something in between, but just tell us what made your week!  Grab the button on the side, write your own Feel Good Friday post and then come back here and sign up in the linky at the bottom (ooooh, my first linky!  I'm so excited!).

So, here's the week!

1.  Game Night was last night.  No, I have not been asked by any companies to review these products, but I would be happy to do so in the future!

A few of us teachers like to get together to play games.  But we never seem to be able to get it together to do it, so we've only done it 3 times.  We always invite a variety of people (mostly the women who teach 8th grade- and me(I don't count as 8th grade because I teach everyone) but it's the same 4 of us that keep coming.  And we are lame.  We play crazy games and then make up our own versions.  We do exactly what kids think their lame teachers do in their free time!  

It was at the first game night that I met Bananagrams.  And, as I insist to s-ster, people do FEAR my skills at Bananagrams.  I am LEGENDARY in my circle.   And now I've met its cousin Zip It.  It's very similar to Bananagrams but even faster and more madcap AND for those who like to keep score(Bananagrams doesn't really lend itself to keeping score and it's never mentioned in the directions cuz it's a feel good game, I guess- unless you play it with me and you feel slow and bad) you can actually keep score on the pouch it comes in.  You have to move a zipper to each number as you win, up to 10 points.  I don't own Zip It because it's more competitive than Bananagrams and I have enough trouble trying to get people to play that with me!  However, it is more totable and you only can play with 2 people at a time and there are fewer pieces.  Not totable for plane or car travel, but you could play this on a towel at the beach.

We also played Smart Ass which is kind of like Trivial Pursuit, especially in its circle around the board idea.  But the cards are more fun.  Rather than just asking questions like "What is the capital of India today?" you are given a set of clues.  Everyone listens and everyone can guess at any time.  But once you guess, if it's wrong, you have to keep your mouth shut.  There are like 10 clues, they get easier as you get to the end and the final clue is initials of whatever the answer is.  

We created our own version without the board.  We put the cards out and took turns reading and guessing and then if you got it right, you got a point.  That was how we spent most of our night, actually.  I learned a lot.  We all learned a lot.  Like we don't know a whole lot about geography (no social studies teachers present). 

Between Smart Ass and Zip It, we played Discombobulation.  We played it twice and found it much more fun the 2nd time around, but maybe it needs more than 4 people.  It's like Uno in that you are putting down numbers and then you have wild cards that discombobulate everyone.  Like it will say that the person who puts down this card gets to give everyone a name and everyone must use that name for the duration of the game and if you mess up, you draw a card.  Or everyone gets an accent and has to use it.  Or the player has to start a song and everyone takes a line and the first person that messes up takes a card.  I would rate that as so so.  And maybe if you're with a bunch of people who like to make asses of themselves, it would be fun.  But with 4 of us who make asses of ourselves in front of students but hesitate in front of each other, not such a funny game.

The funny part of Game Night was the location.  L-ster was hosting and her parents have a house they just bought as a summer rental.  OMG talk about summer house.  Beach house.  Lake house.  Completely 1960s/1970s with the dark paneled walls, the 8 track tape player, the cabinetry with it's fine lines.  I felt like I was walking on to a movie set.  And since no one really lives there right now, it felt even funnier.

2.  I got to hang clothes out on the line yesterday.  I know, how on earth is that Feel Good Friday worthy?  Well, if you are a simpleton such as myself,  you know the joy of hanging out the clothes.  The feel of the sun warming them, the wind whipping them dry.  

And the F.U. to the electric company because they don't get to charge me for using the dryer.  Yep, I'll stand out there in gloves and hat putting them on the line if I think the sun is strong enough to dry them.  And the smell- there is nothing out there that can truly mimic the "outdoor fresh" scent that you really get when you line dry.  NO.THING.



3.  This week has been February vacation week and I've managed to accomplish things.  This is big because I often lay out plans for vacations and then can't finish them for one reason or another.  I finished my Mutual Muses projects for the Cultural Center's exhibit.  I created the Americana one first.  A poet got that and had to write a poem inspired by it.  I received a poem called Swimming Lesson and I created Deep Blue in response.  Most people paint.  I don't paint, but I do sew.  And in my head, I have great pictures that I want to create.  Somehow, I can't manipulate the material the way I wish, so I have to create something other than what I originally set out to do.  I love the Americana quilts.  I make them often because they are easy and use up some of my scraps.  The Deep Blue one had to be done completely differently than I expected because I am sometimes D-U-M-B when it comes to spatial concepts.  I can't get into it now, but I am pleased with the result.  And unlike last year, I got them done in a reasonable amount of time so I was not flipping out the day before they were due.


4.  I finally got back on my high horse.  Ok, not my horse, but Tucker.  And I haven't lost my skills!!!  2 months off for a novice rider can be like starting at square one but I've still got it!  I rode twice this week.  Both days were cold but reasonable.  

The first day was the first time he'd been ridden since I last rode, so we took it easy and he spent the time like "who do you think you are telling me what to do?"  He was good but not so good toward the end.  We had some words.  I wanted to go out into the woods but it was still very sloppy and icy and I thought we'd never get down the driveway.  He was ridden two more times and then I got on him yesterday.  He was suspiciously placid.  Fairly cooperative.  And we cantered like I haven't had any time off.  Cantering has been my biggest accomplishment since the summer and it felt like I hadn't had any time off.  And we went into the woods for a stroll when we were done. A HIGHLY energetic stroll.  I have never seen him walk so fast! 


5.  You may have read that I accidentally bought a couch last week but I told you that you had to wait until today to see what it really looks like.  I know, I made such a big deal about the new couch.  But it was totally worth it.  So first, we decided to completely empty the living room.  We have twice moved a couch into this room without taking everything out and it has been a MESS.  So, we figured we'd do it right this time.  I realized once everything was out of the room just how white everything is.  We have very little on the walls.  I have issues with crap on walls.  With everything out of the living room, I did a little happy dance after I vacuumed and then we revealed the previously wrapped pieces and brought them in.  Gwenstopher was very excited with all of the movement.

It's 4 sections and an ottoman.  The ottoman can be moved anywhere and it's on wheels.  We finally have enough sitting space for people if they want to sit in this living room.  Before, we have had couches that fit 3 people, but it's weird to sit side by side on the couch like that.  Now we have more room and people can move pieces if they want.   I was afraid the pieces might slide apart but they don't seem to.  And now we can both put our feet up and sit up against the arms if we want.  Something we sorely missed with the other couch.

And I really think this is the best solution to this room.  We can move this as we need/want, but they can also all be together and you can still move around the room.  Typical of an old house, once furniture goes into a room, people spend a lot of time avoiding banging into things, or climbing/walking over things that are in the way.  Not so much the case now.  

Along with creating space in that room, we rearranged another room.  This room is everyone's worst nightmare.  6 doors, 2 radiators and a window.  Plus an alcove off behind that plaid chair.  It's long, but not as wide as you think,so you can't really create "seating areas" like everyone tells me I can.  We have a piano that we moved into that alcove, which is like a little office, so now we can put the couch on the wall.  There's a green chair you can't see here, it's like the plaid one.  So, being all interior decorator like, I tried to convince k-ster that putting the green and plaid chairs in front of the couch would make a nice "seating area but he didn't like that.  So, once again, we have everything S-P-R-E-A-D------O-U-T all over the room.  Like we could offer ballroom dancing in this room now.

I'm not sure who all of these people are who will be coming over to enjoy all of our new sitting space and freedom of movement, but we are pretty happy with the new rearrangement.  And it's all picked up, nothing cluttered around yet. 

And that couch has spent 1 week totally living up to my expectations.  Which are set way too high for most things.  Totally worth the deal I got on this couch.  It's so firm but not too firm.  Hope it was worth the wait!!
 
So, there's my week.  And here's the linky!  Don't forget to go write your own and come back and link to this so we can all read what made your week!





4 comments:

  1. Wow, what a week!!! I am tired just reading all you accomplished. lol

    I really love your quilts and new sectional seating and I need to get those games so we can have a family fun night!!!

    I hope you'll have time to check out my post :)

    Dollycas
    http://dollycas.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a board game geek, too!! My husband and I are both pretty competitive, so it can be quite interesting at the end of the game! And, I love freshly dried clothes off the line! Today was actually the first day since October that I was able to open the windows in the house to air it out - felt so good!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't believe I forgot to put my link in yesterday. Sorry it's late!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments almost as much as I love summer. I reply to all comments except those ridiculous anonymous comments offering me dirty deeds and real estate. When you leave your comment, please make sure your own settings will allow me to reply to you. Nothing makes me sadder than replying to your comments and then realizing it’s going to the no-reply@blogger address!