Finals

ewww.... they're happening.

Pintrest is sucking away my life. So I got mom involved in it too. Because that's how we roll, as a family.

And I had to borrow.

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/index.php?&page=3

I flew away with the wind

So it has been a long time. With traveling and family visiting, then back to work, and starting a new semester, life got away from me. But I'm back and thinking about an overhaul....

Today it is super windy.... 35mph sustained with gust in the 50mphs, which may cause power outages. wow, look at all that crap in the sky. Yep it there, dust, I really thought that maybe we were having a dust storm today....

St. Louis

I love St. Louis. I love the family that is here and I love the way it always feels like coming home.

I got to see my cousin and the new baby, who is sooooo adorably cute that I just want to eat her up. Instead I made her a little dress, which I will take pictures of tomorrow, because it is still drying.  And the 5 year old, is such a big girl now. Of course she didn't remember me, the last time  I saw her she was like 18 months.  But it didn't take her long to warm up to me enough that she was begging my cousin and her hubby to sit next to me at dinner. Apparently I attract 5 year olds like a bug zapper attracts bugs... they just can't help it, I have a shiny personality.

And randomly I found out that my great-aunt's brother (not related to me, as she married into the family) lives in Mesilla Park, right around the corner from me. How crazy is that? Totally!

And I am loving this video at the moment.

St. Nick

Happy St. Nicholas Day!!
And pictures of snow to come, after finals are over. 48 hours to go.

Decemeber

Classes are almost over, so exciting. And I am head off to STL in less than a week!!!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving*!! Hope everyone had a wonderful day with friends and family.  This year was the first Thanksgiving without my mom, so it was super sad. And it was my first Thanksgiving in the US since the early/mid 90's. Ana, Aaron and I went over to Penny's house where we were 3 of 18 people.  It turned out wonderful with lots of happy laughing moments.

I found out early in the week that the night before Thanksgiving is the busiest night of the year at bars and clubs. It didn't say why, so I just thought that because everyone was home, seeing family, that they needed alcohol to deal.  But apparently it is because people are in their hometowns and want to catch up with friends.... I like my theory much better. It makes sense, I thought about drinking yesterday.

This year I am thankful for my parents, my brothers, my Picasso and Mickey, and my family in general.  I am also thankful for the ability to go to grad school and get an advanced degree when there are places in this world where girls aren't even taught to read.




*I like to call this day Happy Dead Bird Day, Happy Animal Carcass Day and others of such nature.

Knitpicks wishlist

Because Christmas is just around the corner.
http://www.knitpicks.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=9476B694-BD9B-3829-B713314F273A52C5&media=WLBL

Wilton's Dye

My next try at dying was with Wilton's icing gel coloring. I started with a wool/alpaca blend, water, vinegar, and dye. And got this. 

Not nearly dark enough again, but it was my first try with Wilton's and didn't want to go over board. 

Dyeing Roving with Kool-Aid

Yes, I dyed wool roving with different colors of Kool-Aid. I used Blue Raspberry and Grape the first time, and decided that the color wasn't anywhere near dark enough. So I re-dyed parts of the roving Ice Blue, more grape, and Cherry.

This is what I started with. 

My different Kool-Aid concentrations. 

First color mixes put on the roving. 

After about 40 minutes in the oven and then left to cool overnight.  Even though this is still partially wet you can see how light it is.  

This is after re-dying it.  This doesn't show all the dark purple parts, but shows that it is somewhat darker. 

Class

Yes, I would like to take part in an expedition to another planet.  I think that it would be a great learning experience to explore new lands and meet new life forms.  I really like to travel around the world, so I think that the next step would to be to travel into space.  My grandfather always used to joke that if my dad was offered a job on the moon, we would move there.  And I say why not? There is only one life and we need to explore. It would be like a real version of Star Trek.

Hey Party People!!

Yeah!! Birthday!!!

Plans for today. Celebrate. Make French Toast. Dye roving. Celebrate. Get a head start on homework and finals. Knit. Talk on the phone. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Can you tell I'm going to be celebrating a whole bunch? So much so that it will continue into tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I'll be officially 25 years old at 10:13am CST tomorrow. A quarter of a century old. AHHHH!!
Some things I'm thinking about right now.

Birthday : OMG, I'm 25. I'm mid-20's. Holy Pooh! I remember crying over being 20 because I was 20-something, this is sooo much worse.  It doesn't help that my students look stunned that I am that I'm in my 20's.  Well, I can't really blame a bunch of kindergartners for not being freaked out, they're only 5.

Halloween : Super excited for Halloween to happen. Big party going down next Saturday.  It will be great, very spooky and hopefully, fun. Now I just need to get the invitations printed. I'm using this as the front.

Christmas :  The family's going to be here. I can't wait. So much to do.

Holy Cow, I'm 25.

Knitting : This week I am going to dye some roving with Kool-Aid. Prepare yourself, it will be amazing. (I hope.) Also, I am running a KAL right now, and the color my recipient picked out is totally fabulous. (Yes, I know its October and I am really behind on Christmas presents, keep walking.) I completely forgot about Socktober Fest and didn't make any socks this month, and I have no time to make any before the month is up. Oh well, next year.

Let's put 25 in perspective. When my mom turned 25 she was pregnant with me, about to finish her Master's and totally super accomplished.  Not that I'm terribly far behind. I'm working on my Master's, I'm a Presidential Award winner for Service Learning and will be presenting at a conference in May.  Still not as awesome as Mama, and while everyone I know seems to be on the baby-making bandwagon, (please don't misunderstand, I am SO happy for everyone I know that is pregnant or just given birth),  I really don't think I could handle anything more than what I already do, especially a kid.  But  I still feel not as grown up as I think my mom did.  Will have to have a chat about this with her.

PS. Take that Mayo Clinic doctor!

Petsitting

How I love animals. I love how warm they are and how they snuggle.  As anyone in my family can attest to, I love snuggles.

Since last Thursday I have gotten to take care of two Brussels Griffons, Pricilla and Motley.  Today is the last day, and going back to the dorms after all the snuggles is going to be very difficult.  Maybe a bit lonely.
I remember a song from primary school:
"There's nothin' better than a nice warm pet, all curled up at the foot of your bed..."

An example of Brussels Griffon little doggy.

Sugarsync Play

Sugarsync

We Remember...

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/september-11-helping-students-pay-tribute-ben-johnson

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/september-eleventh-teaching-resources-suzie-boss

Gefeliciteerd!!

Today is my little brother's birthday.  And while I can't be there with him, I'm sending him lots of love and good thoughts.

THE BIG 1-0!!!!

Happy Birthday little brother. I love you.

Gefeliciteered mijn broerje. Ik hou van jou. 

August

Well, August is over. It is done. There is no going back. Hallelujah!
Monthly round up.

1. Finished Summer Session 2 with 2 As. Which match the 2 As I got the first session.  Unfortunately my school has done away with A+ and they have changed A- so that it is not a 4.0 anymore, but a 3.7.   That sucks a WHOLE BUNCH! But luckily didn't apply to me this quarter. I think that an A+ should count for a 4.3 now. yep, it should.

2. Went to Maine, fell in love with the green-ness and the ocean.

3. Started back to work at ETK with more hours, I like this. AND I get to work with Kindergarten! Most days a blessing, some days a little, teeny, tiny bit of a curse.

4.  Started Fall Semester with 5 graduate classes. In case, people haven't figured it out by now, not that anyone reads this..... but anyway, I am crazy and an overachiever. The latter I get from my mom, who was Valedictorian (woot woot) when she went back to school, and graduate student of the year.  She rocks all peoples socks off. Yep, is true.

5.  Took a CPR/First Aid class and got re-certified. Not a requirement for my job, but a plus.

6. Made a cowl for Grandma Barb, a shawl for Ana, a hat for me, another hat for me (which is bright, burn-you-eyes-out-of-their-sockets orange), and almost finished a shawl (in fact I could technically finish this tonight, but I won't. Too tired and I want to enjoy that last repeat with the yarn, not rush through just to be done. Oh, and I participated in a FFtC KAL (Fresh from the Cauldron Knit-a-long).  Totally fun!

7. Had lots of doctors appointments and such. Not anything new, but a necessary evil... I mean thing.

8. Started my Service Learning again, I working towards the Presidential Award, which I think is super cool (it is signed by the President OMGosh!!!). It is after 100 hours, I think I have 80something(?).  I'm sure I'll keep going afterwards, but that is the next milestone for the hours.

Maine

So I went to Maine to visit my Grandma Barb.  It was just by happenstance that the weekend that I flew in and drove up the coast was the same weekend of the Fiber Festival in that area. Seriously, I did not plan this, I only found out about the fiber-y goodness about a week before I was leaving. The fiber gods and goddesses were smiling on me, inviting me to come to Maine. 

So first I saw Alpacas. Which I had never seen before, and I got to pet one. (And of course, buy alpaca yarn, but that is another story entirely.)

Cute alpacas. I got yarn in each of these colors, how nice of them to get in one picture for me.  

Actually the white one is the one I got yarn from. How crazy that I got to pet her, take pics of her and by her yarn?!?!? Totally crazy.  

(If you look closely you'll notice that the black alpaca with the white face is sitting on a little brown alpaca's head. But she's not technically sitting.... um, she's dominating the other girl? or something strange like that.)

This is her. Trillium. The White Lama of Love with fiber so soft I want to cuddle up in it. 

The way a Maine lighthouse should be seen. In a heavy fog, with the fog horn going.  This is Quoddyhead Lighthouse, the most eastern lighthouse in the US. I know, it IS super cool. And surprisingly not that tall, unless you factor in that it IS on a cliff, and the winds DO pick up from time to time. 

It rained (a whole bunch) while I was there. I love the rain. 

This is Molly, my grandma's cat. She is super cute, and loves to sit with her front paws on the armrest of the couch. Strange girl. 

This is the hospital where my grandma studied to be a nurse 1958-1961. This is actually in St. Stephens, Brunswick, Canada.  

We had to cross international boarders and brave The Wool Emporium (conviently located on Main street less than 3 blocks from the boarder), to get to the hospital.  oh, the woe.  Did you know it takes longer to get in to the US than it does to get out? Even on bridges to Canada. 

Grandma wanted to learn how to knit. So I taught her. 

Molly was very proud of her mama for learning how to knit. 

So was Grandma! Look at that happy face of a new knitter. 

This is just up the road from my grandma's house, and it was the one-room school house she went to as a child. It is falling down and it was very wet the day I took this picture, so I couldn't get any closer.  But I have this romanticized version of one-room school houses in my head and I couldn't resist. 

Crisis averted, barely.

So, the Maine pictures were recovered.  There was crying and googling, and more crying and talking with the parents. I don't have time to post them up right now, but tonight after class sounds like a good time to me.

So Blonde

Well, I'm a dumb blonde and deleted all my pictures from Maine. Seriously, this week sucks. I'm going back to bed.