OK, let's see if this works... No comments, so either people couldn't read the last blog entry or nobody had a problem with the font change. 

So teacher training is still kicking my butt. My last Body Reading assignment and my last sequence were...not received well. But unlike Graduate School, I can just re-do them. It's not graded. 

This week, I started the Apprenticeship segment. Now NORMALLY, we'd have a "Head to Toe" yoga class and we (the trainees) would be the apprentices to the master teacher. We'd learn by doing. But, now, COVID has changed all that. Now, there are 8 of us, and we have to figure out how to learn to do these therapeutic techniques when we can't even touch each other. 

So, this picture has nothing to do with teacher training...but it IS a great reminder. Left to right, it's amethyst, green aventurine, and raw black tourmaline. These are gemstones that I got in barter for knitting a baby hat. They're lovely stones. I have them on my table next to my little "yoga gnome." 

Friday night, we had a lot of lecture and a few teachings where each of us was chosen to demonstrate a technique. We then had to discuss how we wanted to go forward. In that, I mean, we need to learn in this module how to sequence for therapeutic yoga, we have to learn a myriad of adjustment techniques...and we have to do this without student to practice on! 

All I can say is that it's going to be interesting. 

But this weekend's Therapeutics module -- today I had fun. Prenatal Yoga!!! I've wanted to teach prenatal yoga since I started my 200-hour training, but I never felt like I knew enough. We've managed to talk to the master teacher who presented today, and might be able to get a class together to do the actual 85-hour certification. Yeah, I know - I'm probably nuts. But it's something I've always wanted to do.  

The Knitting...

Well, Kid #2's Afghan proceeds apace. It's going a lot more quickly. I had a consult with my "color consultant." A/K/A the Hubby. I was trying to balance out the 2 sections of black that The Kid wanted in there but I was having trouble placing them properly. Hubby took a look at it, then we slightly rearranged my notes and you can see that I've got about 10 rows to go, then a 5-row border that matches the bottom border. For once, I think it might work out as a balanced pattern! I mean that on MY part, not Hubby's...his eye for color is amazing and I will usually consult him because I'm not good at that. My mom is actually pretty good at it, too. 

We ended up switching up the black sections; initially I had grey where the black was and it would've been almost 6 more sections (12 rows!) to get the balance right. I am totally winging this color combo. Initially, it was just the red and grey (college colors are red + white, but I try not to put white in an afghan unless it's just a slight accent). But then the request for black...(sigh - a ginormous pain to knit with, even with my lovely Ott stand light). 

You can see my "color list" here, working from the bottom up. It's rough, but if you have a system that works for you? Go for it. You are the only one using it. 

I am anxious to get back to the Baby Car Seat Blanket, because I want to stay on schedule for that. 

And I want to get back to knitting a few things I've set aside -- the Longsands Tee and the February Lady Sweater, along with a couple of shawls. 

The Reading...

I finished the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book series - at least what's been published. Aside from all the yoga stuff I've been reading, I've also just purchased a couple Agatha Christie books. I mean, you can't exactly snuggle down before bedtime and read Ray Long's "The Key Muscles of Yoga." 

Well, you could, but you'd have to be wayyyyyyyyyy geekier than I actually am. 

Anyway, I have "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," which has been called "the greatest murder mystery novel of all time," and "Murder at the Vicarage," the first Miss Marple. 

For me, Geraldine McEwan was the perfect Miss Marple; Joan Hixon was the first one to play the part, and she's my #2. Just as David Suchet is  -- just "is" Poirot. 

I'm looking forward to one of those tonight; not sure which one yet. My other favorite murder mystery author lately is Louise Penny, with her Inspector Gamache mysteries set in Canada. 

And of course, I love the "usual" ones: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I've been reading Sherlock Holmes since high school), P.D. James, Martha Grimes... A good murder mystery is just a balm to my imagination and restful to read. Funny, maybe, but there it is. 

I'm also re-reading The Whole 30, which I'm starting on Monday. Or I should say, "re-doing." I need to get rid of the COVID-19 that I gained. 

I suppose I should have been on the ElliptiKILL or knitting during the shut-down, instead of making (and eating) bread...

So today is "prep day." I have made ghee (so stupid-simple, why would you pay $11/jar!?), and I've got eggs boiling. So why ghee? It's clarified butter. When I was a kid, the Galloping Gourmet (just Google it...) used to talk about clarified butter and it always sounded so exotic! 

It's easy. Take a small saucepan, put in 4 sticks of butter (you can cut them up if you want). and simmer over medium-low heat. The worst part: DO NOT STIR IT. Seriously, that's the hardest part. As it simmers, you'll notice a froth on the top - that's the dairy solids, which you don't want. Skim them off the best you can; you just toss those. 

Then, put a strainer over the top of a canning jar, stick some cheesecloth in there (it's way easier than a coffee filter - ask me how I know that...), and strain the now-clarified butter into the jar. Cool before storing it in the fridge. You can keep this in the fridge for 6 months, or at room temp (easier to use) for 3 months. 

The biggest thing is to prep. If you try to do this on the fly, it usually won't work. I'm really in need of a  re-set; I've gotta get my sugar demons under control, and I think I need to do something about gluten. It doesn't make me sick, per se. But it does make me bloat. Is that a problem? Not sure it's a real medical issue; just more of an intolerance. Either way, I'm over it. 

And if I don't do something, I'm setting myself up for a gigantic lecture by my cardiologist. Wish me luck...

The Politics...

So #WeezyMussolini violated (again) the protocols and held a rally.... a "rally" on the WH lawn. In the middle of the COVID pandemic, while he's still contagious (and no, I do NOT believe the "doctor" who said he was fine). And --- he PAID THE ATTENDEES. 

Dude was supposed to speak for 1/2 hour, made it to 18 minutes. He's still got pneumonia, I'm tellin' ya. I've had it (pneumonia, minus COVID) and it's bad when it's "regular" pneumonia. I can't imagine COVID pneumonia. 

November 3rd can't come fast enough. We need a landslide and Electoral College victory that cannot be denied. And then the Secret Service can move the mendicant crime family out of the White House, fumigate it, and we can get back our democracy. 

I'm not sure we'll ever get back our "original" pride in our country. And it's goingto take years to get back our reputation - even a shadow of it. But we can start the process by ending the reign of mendacity that's occupied our country for the past 4 years. 

Maybe we will have learned something profound during this time. We've certainly learned the ugliness of our nation was really just under the surface. Maybe now we've learned that it takes all the good people to get up off their sofas to make the changes necessary for us to live in a better world. 

I watched the VP debate. God, it gave me flashbacks of every moron male boss I ever had... Mikey P. was a total jerk. Kamala's "mom look" was perfect, though sometimes, you really wished she'd have just said "SHUT. UP." 

The problem is, "angry black woman" is a real stereotype. But what angered me even more was the rubber spine of the moderator, who was a prior donor to the Republican party. I swear, they should've gotten a mom in there who's been home-schooling her kids. Pence wouldn't have stood a chance if my mom was the moderator. Then again, my kids would say the same if they thought I was the moderator! 

Vote. Please. 

The Random Picture...

Well, Raisa was not looking for toast. I actually had her huge Kong bone in my hand. The one she flung at me and that clocked me in the shoulder. She knows how to pitch. 

Her problem is that her aim is off. You're more likely to get whacked with that bone as she uses her skills as a doggie baton tosser. She'll roll the bone around her neck and then toss it up - and that's cool. It's when it goes on an angle where it gets dangerous - then, it could land on your foot. In your knitting bag. On your lap. 

Or, as frequently happens, bounces off your head. 

That's always fun. 

And remarkably, as with buttered toast...the bone always hits you with the slimy end that she's just gnawed on. 

It's a good thing she's cute...

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