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.