October - Already?

So I join the ranks of those who are surprised that it's October already. It's 78* outside, and while I can see trees changing color, the temperature is telling me something else. 

Yoga

My last "formal" training session at Prairie Yoga is this weekend. Hard to believe it, but I'll just have a few workshops to finish, one sequence that I need to correct, and a thesis to produce. A 200-hour certificate is the end result of all of this. Oh, and I have to teach one "karma" class (to an under-served population) and 2 private lessons. Got those mostly covered. 

My thesis will be a video production of a sequence for hand yoga. Brought about for couple of reasons, obviously. First off, I have arthritis in my hands. Second off, the kids asked me.Kid #1 is a welder, and often holds a heavy torch for long periods of time doing precision welds. That hurts. Kid #2 plays bass guitar and practices for long periods of time. That also hurts. 

And the video? I looked in Prairie's stash of thesis documents and didn't see a video. I talked to my teacher and she said nobody she knows has ever done a video. Hubby is a video guy... And I can write a script. There you go!

Will begin research soon. Also, I have to read a number of books (4, I think) and write a short paper on each. The challenge will, most likely, be to keep it short. 

Also, down to teaching once a week. Thankfully. I love teaching, but with a full time job, it got a little hairy there - I was subbing for a couple of weeks, and it was 3 classes/week: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn't realize how exhausting that was.

Anyway, my teacher wants her Wednesday night class back, which is fine with me, since that's the class I usually take -- I taught it for her while she took a small sabbatical. Glad she's back!

Also, waiting on a reply for donations we took up. We asked, since September was National Yoga Month, for donations of mats, blocks, etc. We have a bunch of stuff; I e-mailed the contact, and I'm waiting to hear back. Hopefully, it'll be soon. Otherwise, I might have to start calling around the few prisons our governor has left open - to see if we can get the things to the institutions which might have a yoga program. 

Politics

Really. A shut-down and the spin on the (R) side is "if Obama can negotiate with Syria, why can't he negotiate with us?" Well, as Jon Stewart famously said recently, "...perhaps HE is not the problem."  Check this video out here and see what I mean. 

Not surprisingly, the right is frothing. And finally - FINALLY - the Average American is waking up somewhat to the high cost we'll experience if we sit on our rear ends and do nothing. The Huffington Post did an analysis of the cost for the poorest folks who use the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. See here -- $34... So no wonder the Republicans are scared. It's working. And they're petrified. 

They lost an election. So they're having a tantrum and insisting that the last "administration and a half" be wiped off the books. If some of the more hard-core folks had their way, history would be re-written to just make President Obama's two terms "disappear." 

They want to "negotiate" on points where there's no negotiation needed. The Affordable Care Act is the law. THREE distinct branches of the government said so. You don't get to hold the entire US economy hostage just because you don't like that the Black Guy is in the White House. And you don't get to make our nation a laughingstock. 

But that's what you're doing. You're deliberately doing it because some rich white guys are pulling strings in the background, hoping that Americans are too involved with the Kardashians or Real Housewives to pay attention - or that they're too fed up. Robert Reich wrote an interesting piece on that. Check it out here.  

The Democrats need to just sit tight. Caving in to the Teabaggy demands is not necessary. They didn't win the election. They don't get to make the rules.

Knitting

The Charity Afghan goes well. I'm on the next-to-last square. After I laid it out, I figured I needed 1 more row... so, here goes with 2 more "approximately 12x12" squares. I may crochet the last one. The squares will be put together via crochet, and I'll have to fudge it a bit, since some of our people had kind of a generous idea  of what 12x12 really is. Pictures will come as I do it stripe by stripe.

The Fluffy Scarf Project is proceeding. I'm almost done with the first one. I did remember, thanks, to bring a crochet hook to work. I can stitch up the ends on each of them when I get them home. I find that while the Starbella directions only call for using a crochet hook, I feel more secure if I just take a couple stitches at each end to anchor it. Since most people fluff the scarf by shaking the heck out of it, I don't want the things unraveling.

At some point, I want to get back to my socks, start a sweater for myself and work through some stash. Also, starting an alpaca shawl. I have the yarn, a lovely worsted-weight silvery-grey. 

Estate

Waiting on a call for the home inspection. I have to go turn the water on. I had a bad dream last night and woke up gasping, with a pounding heart...not good. I dreamed that the Nephew (the bipolar/schizophrenic one) was at the house waiting for me. I don't usually go to the house by myself; my brother or Hubby are with me, but in my dream, I was there by myself, because "all I was going to do" was turn the water on. Anyway, in my dream he ambushed me and I had to defend myself. Then, in another version of the dream (not sure where I was having 2 versions, but apparently I didn't fully awaken from one of them) my other brother had a gun... Suffice to say, it wasn't pleasant in either iteration of the dream. 

So at some point, Hubby will talk to Brother and determine the location of the water switch thingie, and we'll take a ride out there to turn it on. Once the inspection is done, we should be able to proceed to closing. Yay... 

Garden

My friend D will have plenty of "fried green tomatoes" material! I've also pulled a dozen carrots for my friend G. We should still have plenty to use for Thanksgiving Roasted Veggies. I may put a carrot or two INSIDE the organic turkey. 

Usually, when I make my turkey, I put in the following: 1 apple, 1 stalk of celery, 1 orange and 1 carrot. I quarter them all up and stuff the cavity. I also shove some fresh rosemary under the skin. We've ordered an 18-lb. organic turkey and I've already alerted Hubby to not have an attack when he sees the price! 

I think we're done with pickles. Finally.