Weeknote 5/11/11

This week I have been mostly....

Knitting:
Very little! I took my Christmas socks to Austria but then broke my Kindle at the airport (boo*) so had no pattern to follow. I am currently knitting The Louzle - balaclava #3 - but it is cow print which I am knitting freeform and I am not enjoying it very much. To demonstrate, today at knitting group I spent 15 minutes weaving in all the ends rather than continue knitting it. It's going to take some manning up.
Today I bought the yarn to knit some Yule Trees from Interweave Holiday Gifts, so I might sneakily start those. At least I can take them to work.

Going to:
Dinner with my now very-pregnant friend, Parpy Jo. She has a month to go, but I am struggling to see how she can get any bigger! She is insistent on going out as often as possible before the baby appears. I am enjoying calling her Fatty, while I still can.

Eating:
Hoummus-themed Bento lunches. I wanted to put a picture in here, but close inspection of my camera revealed I didn't have any, so a description will have to do.
Top layer: Breakfast - Overnight Oats. Now almost always chocolate soy milk and pears.
Middle layer: Silicone cupcake cup of hoummus. Olives. Mini breadsticks. Cherry tomatoes.
Bottom layer: Dried figs, almonds and segments of satsuma. Very Christmas-come-early but having spent two weekends out of the country, supplies were low.
This little combo was surprisingly filling, and made a tub of hoummus last 3-4 days.

Excellent pumpkin soup, home-made by Mr Z. It is heavy on the thyme, and surprisingly filling. Mr Z says this is due to the sock he blended in with it, but I suspect he is having me on.

A new slow cooker dish we are loving. It's very simple. Slice an onion and layer over the bottom of the slow cooker; put two pork chops on top and pour over some chutney. Add a splash of water and cook all day. Delicious, and a good way of using up last year's leftover chutney.

Learning:
More about American Foreign Policy. I am finding it really very interesting, so much so that I want to read about it all the time, and I don't really have the time. It helps that one of my upper 6th groups is almost exclusively gifted pupils, so they are really pushing me to be better read, so I can continue to challenge them.

Obsessed with:
Words With Friends. It may not be Scrabble, but it'll do.

Entertained by:
Educating Essex. I have really enjoyed this series because the main staff in it seem to espouse the same views on education as me; and it reminds me why I love my job, and why I do it; and it gives me ideas on how to be better!

Feeling:
Frustrated that this stupid tickly cough won't abate!


* Tom commiserated, and then pointed out Dixon's were selling them and they would be VAT free, so I replaced it immediately, before I could talk myself out of it. And bought a warranty.