Monday, March 20, 2006

Boredom and the Internet....

I really shouldn't get on-line when I'm bored. I apologize in advance...





In a Past Life...



You Were: A Genius Assassin.



Where You Lived: Russia.



How You Died: Decapitation.





You Are an Espresso



At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic



At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung



You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping



Your caffeine addiction level: high





Your Japanese Name Is...



Yuriko Shigenoi


Sunday, March 19, 2006

Today, I Love my job.

I am busy sitting here doing, well, this. There is absolutely nothing going on, yet I am not allowed to leave. So I am getting paid to sit here and blog. And yes, I did ask if I could do "personal business" while at work since we're slow.


The baby is crawling now - and loves the kittens. We have actually gotten rid of 9 of them, along with both mamma cats. We kept one ( not this one though). The one we kept plays with her, and she couldn't be more thrilled.

Her mom is pulling her hair out - and going to buy a safety gate today to block miss priss out of the kitchen. I'm so enjoying it. I just can't wait until this baby is 12 and my daughter calls sobbing because her daughter hates her.

I'm out for spring break this week - I only have to work. This is nice because the kids are out too, and I'd probably lose my mind if I had to spend 11 straight days with them.

Hat is going OK, still found the black hole at around 6 inches. I've been at 6 inches for days. I know once I escape the black hole it'll all be over soon, but I'm getting startitis REAL bad.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Stalling Out

I have been so useless this past week. I've gone to work and school, but have done nothing useful around the house, and my studying has dropped to absolute zero. I have spring fever soooooo bad. And I'm not even going to go on vacation or anything - I'll actually be working extra. But I will be off of school, and those blessed three days I don't have to work will be spent sleeping late as I won't have to get the kids up for school either.

If blogger weren't being such a pain - I have some great pics of the baby. She's actually crawling now, and pulling to standing. So cute - and she's teething too. People keep asking me how often she's up at night - and I have no idea. I love being a grandmother.

Had to frog the hat down to the band - another picture I can't upload right now. I had knitted it with the cable facing out instead of in. Bassackwards. I discovered this as I started making the decreases for the crown. I'm knitting with Lion suede on plastic Lion Brand needles. Very squeaky. I can only knit so much before I have to quit because it makes my teeth hurt. Why do I not et some bamboo or balene (my favorite!) needles to knit on to avoid the squeaking? Because I took this up as a stash-buster project and wouldn't buying new needles defeat the purpose of knitting something to use up stuff i already have? No?? Guess in the morning after clinicals I'll stop by the LYS and pick up some squeak-free needles.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Taking One for the Team


Team DPN has its own medals - I love it!!! I really enjoyed the knitting Olympics. I hope we do it again. I know that even if there's no concerted world effort, that I could do it on my own. But it was so much more fun to think of all the other knitters out there doing the same thing, reading about everybody else having the same knitting trials and tribulations, and being part of something so big. A big thanks to Stephanie for the idea.


My knitting time has actually been crunched a little the past couple of days . I discovered this book by Maggie Sefton. I'm not usually into mysteries, my tastes run more to fantasy and sci-fi. But this book was delightful and prompted a trip to the local bookstore for the next in the series. I know, I know. I should be studying, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping, whatever. But sometimes you just need to read a good book.

Finally took the girls to see Narnia yesterday. They totally loved it. I know it's coming out on DVD next month, but it is still in one of the local theaters, and still had a pretty good turn-out in spite of the fact that it's been playing forever. They have both read the books so they knew the story, and they both thought the screen rendition was spot-on, as did I. It was great. The only thing that bugged was that when the kids were standing outside looking at whatever vista, it looked like they were standing on set. You could really tell they weren't "there". All of the creatures were great though, the kids were fantastic little actors, and the script was faithful to the story.

I was going to post a pic of the grandbaby, but a link to my dd's web site will have to do. For some reason blogger is eating my pictures right now.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The medal stand


Yes, I cried as I stood on the medal stand and heard the National Anthem. All the blood, sweat and tears were worth it as I accepted my medal for Team DPN and for my country.

I'd like to dedicate this medal to my teachers, who had such boring classes I could sit in the back and knit, to my children, who didn't bother me too much. In spite of having to work, study, and provide basic care for my children and grandchild. In spite of having my wisdom teeth pulled, my dog eating my yarn, and the kittens in the house turning it all into a hue mess, in spite of needing sleep and food, I managed to make it.

I learned alot about my knitting through all this. I had picked a simple project because of everything I knew was going on in my life, but I think I underestimated myself. As a result of this, I have attempted my very first cable. I have re-organized my knitting stuff to make it more user-friendly, and less "pretty-looking". I have realized that I can do way more than I thought - and that it's good for my kids when I knit, because I'm actually sitting in the room with them instead of running around the house trying to catch up on all the housework I miss when I'm at work and school. Yes, the house is a disaster. But you know what? It's always a disaster. 10 minutes after I clean it's a mess again. Maybe I need to accept this as my BML (base messiness level) and just deal with it.

I have decided that knitting time is valuable time, and that I will try to make time to knit at least a couple of times a day. It doesn't matter if I have a bunch of UFOs. I will knit because I love it, and I will enjoy the process.