Catching up ~ or catching my breath

Report cards went home today, and surprisingly, kids seemed pretty happy about them. Not that they were great report cards ~ my students this year just don't seem to realize what they don't know, and don't seem to care. And nothing I say or do or show them seems to change their minds. Oh, well.

I was too busy last week to get any knitting done, although I have started a small, summer sweater using Plymouth Yarns Bella. Got it at DiscountedYarns, which I learned about on Betsy's blog (You Can't Read My Mind...). I like the yarn, and the pattern (rather mindless ribbing, which is soothing), so hopefully I can get back to working on it. I've only got about the first 5 inches of the front (or back) done so far, but it's going to be either sleeveless or very short sleeved, with minimal finishing, so it should go quickly.

Of course, now that I'm knitting a summer sweater, it's gotten cold and rainy. Not encouraging. But this is SoCal, so it should be warmer soon. And too warm, just after that.

My students and I are travelling to DC/Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown in just one month. We spend a week there, exploring America's past, and all the monuments and buildings in DC. It's a wonderful trip, and I wish all my students, and all my teaching partner's students, could go. But it's also an expensive trip ~ $1,475 this year ~ so I do understand that not every student can go. And often parents who can afford to let their child go, won't let them go because it's too "scary" to do so. For most kids, it's their first plane trip, first hotel stay, first overnight away from parents. And it's a full week away. They do get homesick (although most of them don't notice that til they call home ~ then it's 'lump in the throat' time!) But the trip enriches the kids understanding of our history so much, I want them all to go. My partner and I fundraise constantly, to help kids raise the money to go. We've already started the fundraising for next year's trip ~ several kids have raised a couple of hundred dollars already, with more fundraisers planned before summer. Never a dull moment, at my school!

Between report cards, a landlord error that nearly got *me* evicted, the tragic news out of VA, and the ongoing fight with the IRS, this hasn't been a good month for me. But, it's almost over (yay!) and I am just positive that May will be much better. Maybe, at long last, some pictures of actual knitting!