Change of address...

I have decided to relocate my blog to wordpress. I like that I have more control over various aspects, and can customize things easier. So, please change your links and head over to the new blog at http://julieanne.wordpress.com!

Riley

Happy Birthday baby Riley! I love you so much, and don't know what I would do without you.

Terrible twos, here we come!

(I hope to have a much more involved birthday post tomorrow.)

I be educated

Graduation was great fun, except for the fact that it was crazy hot and I ended up with 4 blisters. It seems that cheap shoes and walking across campus don't work too well together. But I have pictures!

This is at the main campus graduation. Everyone started out over here (if you wanted to go), then the grad students were dismissed to their own diploma ceremonies elsewhere. The flags at the front represent each of the colleges. Peabody is the light blue one third from the left. The light blue represents education, and is the same color that was on my hood. While we were there, each school and degree was announced. The med school whipped out the beach balls and silly string when they were called to stand. Everyone laughed, and it wouldn't surprise me if this is a med school tradition. I can only imagine how excited they must be to be finished with med school.

There's me, all fancied up in my regalia. I have a picture from the back as well, because you can't get the full effect of the hood. The back picture is on my dad's camera, so I'll post that one later.

Me and my parents. If anyone was wondering how I ended up as short as I am, now you know. =)

Me and my mom, with my diploma.


These two are me and my friend Crystal. The one on the right was a self-portrait that was taken at our banquet the other night. The was one on the left was at graduation, obviously.

It was a good day. My parents and I went to eat at Cheesecake Factory afterwards, then I had TCBY ice cream. Then I went home and took a long nap. Graduation was outside, and sitting in the sun makes me really tired. I'm probably going to spend a lot of time this weekend laying around, watching TV, and trying to come to terms with the fact that I really don't have any papers due. Of course, I should work on cover sheets for resumes, but that's different. I should set aside time to work on that though, considering it would be nice to have a job sometime in the near future.

That's all for now! I'll probably have more pics later this weekend. Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

The day is almost here. I have my cap and gown and hood. My tassel is a light blue color, which I really like. My hood is light blue velvet on the outside, and black and gold lined on the inside. There is no way I'm going to be able to get dressed by myself tomorrow, due to the fact that you have to strategically flip part of the hood so the inside and outside shows. I have the diagram that came with it, so hopefully Cassie and I will be able to figure it out. I mean, we're getting our Master's degree. Surely we can figure out how to get dressed for the ceremony...right? =)

I had a surprise visitor in my classroom yesterday. Mayor Bill Purcell was in the building for most of the day yesterday, and he (along with the principal, assistant principal, resource officer, and someone else) came in during my 4th period class. Yesterday's topic (from a program that's put out by RASAC) was sexual abuse and all the issues (emotional, reporting, etc) that go along with that. Luckily, I had finished the part where I had to explain what actually qualifies as abuse, and was talking about mandatory reporting/limits of confidentiality (meaning that if a child discloses abuse of any type, I HAVE to report it to the authorities. There's absolutely no way around that, and I think it's important that they know what my legal and ethical obligations are, so it doesn't come as a huge shock that I can't keep this a secret like I do with everything else). This is something that has been drilled into my head from day one of my program, and I've given the speech numerous times already, so I was able to keep it together and keep teaching. Until they left, of course, when I had a moment of hyperventilation. Then we finished the lesson.

As of today, I have officially finished my internship hours. I go to graduation tomorrow feeling free and relieved. I'm still planning on going to internship on Monday, just to say all my goodbyes with the kids and thank everyone for allowing me to work and learn there this year.

I've been knitting on the sleeve of my Central Park Hoodie. It's going well, except for the fact that it's like 90 degrees outside (maybe not that hot, but too hot to be thinking about wearing a wool sweater). At least it'll be all ready for next year! I've slacked a bit on my socks, and I guess I currently have a bit of SSS (second sock syndrome). I recently ordered some Yarn Pirate sock yarn in the Mermaid colorway, so I'm excited to see what that looks like. I'm also thinking about buying myself a set of the Knitpicks Options needles that I've been eyeing pretty much since they came out. Hehe...I just went to the knitpicks web page, and see that they've changed the "view shopping cart" to "view stash." I think that's pretty cute.

Riley got mail today. He has a birthday coming up on Monday, and the vet sent him a birthday card. He'll be two years old. Maybe that's why he's been barking and being a bit irritating lately...it's the terrible twos! I'll have to get him a present. His gotcha day is in July, so I'll have to celebrate that too, of course. I can't believe I'll have had him for 2 years in July. Time is going so fast!

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have lots of graduation pics to post!

Riley

This is what Riley looks like after a bath. This video is pretty old, but he does basically the same thing now. This is definitely one of the most entertaining parts of having a dog. =)

It's been awhile...

So I've neglected the blog for a bit, but hopefully I'll be able to remedy that. Look! Puppy pictures!




These were taken at Riley's Delta Society graduation back in March. I'm a little slow, obviously. Riley took his test on March 31, but unfortunately he didn't pass. The test is going to be really hard for him, just because he's pretty much by himself in a room (with me and the tester) and people walk towards him. The same for the neutral dog part of the test. Riley does great when he's out in public, I guess because the people are just part of the scenery...but if someone walks towards him, then they're obviously coming to see him. He got a little too excited when the neutral dog came in and whined at her. It wasn't aggressive, but they're still not allowed to vocalize. I'm hoping to get him tested again soon, but I decided to wait until I'm out of school and not stressed with all that. Next time I'm going to wear him out before the test, to see if that helps. Oh well. He's a good doggie, and I know he'll pass when he's ready.

School is going well, especially considering I'm done with classes! This semester's ending was kinda anti-climactic, especially compared to last semester. I had papers due throughout the semester, and everything lined up so that I had time to focus on each thing. It wasn't like last semester when I had 13 assignments in a month so I was counting down. All of a sudden, I was just done, and classes were over. I'm still doing internship hours, but I hope to have those done a day or two after graduation. I'm having to play catch up a bit, but it's all working out. I really love getting to know all my kids, and I wish I could've done more of this earlier.

I haven't been knitting as much as I would've liked, partly because I've started reading more. I recently read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and now I've moved on to The Golden Compass. This is a re-read, inspired by the fact that they're making a movie out of the book. This scares and excites me at the same time. I love Lyra and Pantalaimon, and being the visual person that I am, I'd love to be able to see them. At the same time, book movies have the potential to be majorly messed up. Let's hope this is one of those movies that does the book justice.

I've been pretty tired lately, which isn't fun. I don't know how I managed to go to school all day every day when I was in middle school. Maybe I'm just getting old. =)

I went on a shopping spree this past weekend, which was great fun. For some reason they decided to do the tax-free weekend thing, which was nice, and people also had some big sales going on. I got some new pants, and even found a dress for graduation! This weekend I need to get shoes, because the ones I have gave me blisters again today. I'd rather not be hobbling across the stage because my shoes hurt. I have to process from main campus to Peabody, which is enough of a walk that I'll have blisters by the time it's over. I haven't decided if it's the style or the place I bought them that's the problem.

In other exciting news, my dad and I celebrated a milestone this weekend. Check out the odometer on his 1983 Nissan. It still has the original engine, too!


This is the car that I rode in on the way to school for years and years. It's been a good one, even without the power windows/door locks and air conditioning.



It turned the big 30(00000)!

There's a first time for everything...

I have the influenza. I don't think I've ever officially had it before, although there were times that I wondered. I knew when I spiked a fever that something was definitely wrong, because that's really rare for me. I may feel bad and have sinus stuff, but never a fever. It topped out today at 102.2, before I dragged myself off the couch to down some advil. I have a renewed love for advil gelcaps, because they have gotten the fever down some, and make me feel like I might actually not die. The sweats/chills junk isn't cool though.

I was dreading the TCAP (standardized testing) process, but at this point I cannot wait to get back and count answer sheets. I guess that's what I get for complaining about it.

I forget if I mentioned that I finished my Monkey socks. They've been done awhile, but I haven't taken a picture. I'm planning on ordering some sock blockers, but the person that makes them is out of town right now. They're going to make me an extra-small size, so that'll be nice. I'm currently working on my Dublin Bay socks in Sweet by Sunshine Yarns, and the Central Park Hoodie. I finished the back and one of the fronts, and am only on the second ball of yarn. I love that Cascade 220 goes such a long way. The hope is that I'll have some extra yarn that I can switch out. I think I've also decided to make a mitered square blanket from Mason-Dixon knitting. It seems that other people (*cough*enablers*cough*) have started on the mitered bandwagon, so I'm going to too. I have some yarn money left over from birthday/Valentines, and the Easter bunny brought me a little too. So, the next thing to make will be a mitered square afghan out of Tahki cotton classic.

So the laptop feels like a furnace, so I'm going to go sleep some more. Riley's been keeping watch over me today, and has been stopping to look over at me every time I move or turn over. He's a good boy.

I thought I had a few years...

...before my kids started taking my credit card. I left this on the couch after signing up for Netflix (more about that later) and Riley decided to walk off with it. Smart dog. =)

I finished these socks last Thursday when I was at Threaded Bliss. They fit really well, and he seems to like them. He did say that he was afraid to wear them, but I didn't make them to be looked at. The yarn is Lana Grossa, color 1008 (I think...the Italian's throwing me off). I also finished my Monkey socks (except for weaving in the ends), so I'll hopefully get pictures of those tonight.

On Saturday I went out to Montgomery Bell State Park for a fiber festival. There was a sock dying/knitting class with Charlene Schurch (!) that I *really* wish I had known about. That would've been awesome to take. There weren't as many vendors as I'd hoped, but I did get a skein of really pretty yarn. I bought the Roses n Thyme colorway from Knitting Notions (it's actually the colorway that's knitted up in the baby sweater at the top). I'm not usually much of a pink person, but I like the way the pinks and greens work together. I'm also planning on ordering a swift from them, due to the fact that the one my dad made (twice) still results in tangled yarn when it's used. I spent a few hours unknotting yarn last night, but I'm very grateful that it wasn't as knotted as it could've been.
For my next pair of socks, I'm using the color Sweet from Sunshine Yarns, which was the February colorway for her 2007 Sock club. I'm going to make the Dublin Bay Socks (link goes to the pattern PDF, but there's a picture). It's very spring-y, so that makes me excited. I'm also going to use size 1 needles for the first time, hurray!
I guess that's about it for today. I should hopefully know something about comps scores this week, and Riley takes his Delta test on Saturday. Let's hope everything goes well!

Oh, and I need some help. I recently signed up for Netflix, and I need help making my movie list. I made it through the 80's and 90's without seeing lots of the big important movies, so odds are that if you like it, I haven't seen it (I did see the Princess Bride about 100 times, so that may be the exception). Any movie suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

New girl in town...

Meet Hope. Hope is the newest addition to the family. She lived with some of my dad's tenants, and he convinced them to give her to us. I'm not totally sure where she originally came from, but I know she was pretty sick for awhile. She seems to be in good health now (she hasn't been to the vet yet), and she is so sweet. She's smart, too. She knows her name, and is really good about coming when she's called. She's a lot calmer than Riley, but I still think she has a lot of spunk. She and Riley got to running around today, and I think they like each other. They're pretty close size wise, so I hope they'll be good friends. Hope hasn't met my dad's cat yet, so we'll see how that goes. Riley and I will definitely have to visit her a lot!


Speaking of Riley, he's still running the house around here. He likes to look out the window, but I don't let him do that too much. He tends to get excited when people walk by, and I'd rather him not bark at people and cause a disruption like that. Riley also loves it when I take pictures of us. =) He went to the nursing home last weekend on a Delta visit, and he did *so well.* I was exreely impressed with how well he did, and we had some good visits with the residents. He was very still and let me hold him a lot longer than he normally would, and loved having people pet on him. He also rode an elevator for the first time, which kinda freaked him out. His legs sprawled everywhere and he hit the ground when the floor started moving, but he did fine. I just think it surprised him. He didn't hesitate getting on at all, so it must not have been too big of a deal to him.

I finished Trogdor awhile ago, but I didn't get around to posting pictures. The pattern was posted on Crafster.com, and the author's blog is here. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I'm glad that it really does look like the real Trogdor from Homestarrunner.com!

I'm on my second spring break right now, because grad school spring break and middle school spring break weren't at the same time. I need to do some work this week, but I also plan on doing a decent amount of knitting. I started working on the Central Park Hoodie from the Fall issue of KnitScene. I'm using Cascade 220 in a periwinkle color. I think it'll be really pretty. I missed knitting at the library this month due to comps, so that made me sad. I'm thinking on going to some knitting meetings this next week since I won't be at internship all day long.

So I guess there's not too much to update...I keep thinking about things I should write, but then I forget when I actually have time to update. Heh. Basically lately life has been all about comps, but now that it's over I just have to go back to writing other papers. I seriously can't believe that it's mid-March already. It'll be graduation time before I know it (yay!).

14 pages later...

Written comps are OVER!! I still have the oral part to do tomorrow, but if I don't know that info by now there's not much I can do about it. My special topic question was 9 pages long, and my personal theory was 5 pages. I finished in 3 hours, with an hour to spare. Considering all we really have to do is pass (who needs a high pass when everyone gets the same diploma?), I'm not too worried. We'll see how the oral part goes.
I still have tons of work to do before I graduate, but at least I can see the light. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll have a chance to put some pictures up. Special thanks go to my blog stalker Sula for all the well-wishes. =)

For my Lime and Violet swap partner...

So unless you're my swap partner, please disregard this post (unless you want to know what yarn I like). I'll have a real post coming soon.

1. What kind of fibers do you prefer?
I like wool (like merino), but I'd also be interested to knit with some of the tencel or other blends. As to the color of the fibers (I had to get this in somewhere!), I'm not much of a red/pink person. I love blues and greens and purples, and have recently developed a fondness for fall colors (the muted reds/burnt oranges and such).

2. What kind of weight do you prefer (sock, worsted, bulky)?
Sock weight, please. Anything bigger than that makes my feet hurt (sad, I know).

3. Do you spin?
Nope.

4. Do you crochet?
Nope.

5. Are there any books, patterns, magazines would you like to own that you don't?
I don't think so...the ones I want aren't out yet. =)

6. Are you participating in any themed a-longs like the Project Spectrum? yes, I'm in Project Spectrum, as well as socktopia. Yarn doesn't have to follow either of those though.

7. Do you have a wishlist on Amazon.com or Half.com? (provide a link)
All the books on there are psychology/counseling related, so that doesn't really apply here.

8. Any Etsy stores that you would love to get something from?
I'm going to answer this question as "any stores," not just etsy stores. =)
I'd love to try some Yarn Pirate. I also love a lot of things at Sunshine Yarns (on etsy, and I'm in her sock club). RubySapphire is nice too, but I already have Julie and Julie Anne. I've also wanted to try Socks that Rock. Or, if there's a brand/dyer that you love, that works too! I'm all about branching out to new yarns.

9. What other crafty things are you involved in (quilting, drawing, painting)?
Not much else right now.

10. What is your favorite sort of scent?
I like "bakery" smells, like chocolate, coffee, vanilla, etc. I also like citrus.

11. Do you have a sweet tooth and what kind of sweets do you like best?
I sure do, except for the whole weight watchers thing. Some of those new Hershey 100 calorie packs are good though. A few pieces of chocolate or a bag of fruity candy (starbursts, skittles) would be ok, but I'd rather not get tons of candy. I have a puppy dog, so "dog sweets" is another option. =)

12. What kind of music do you like?
I mainly listen to country, and love Rascal Flatts. Recently I've been getting into podiobooks.

13. What do you like to knit? And for whom?
I like to knit socks, and I'm about to start on another sweater. I usually knit for myself, unless someone specifically asks me for something. I like knitting for other people, but I want to know that it's wanted before I spend the time and money making it.

14. What sort of things do you like to collect?
I collect miniature clocks, and love little things in general. I also like stuff that's Japanese related.

15. Do you want needles? And what kind do you prefer?
Needles would be fine. I don't use DPNs, and so I'd want a 40 inch circular for magic loop. I've wanted to try out some of the Knitpicks needles. Size wise, I don't have any US1s, (haven't needed them yet), and I would be glad to get some more US2s.

I think that's it! Let me know if there are any other questions! I'm excited. =)

Amazing...

Some people have too much time on their hands..

Mario!

It's a video, so make sure the volume's on. This takes me back to my childhood. =)

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Which means that I'm probably not going to type too much this post (we'll see if that actually happens).

It snowed!





I only had to work a half day. Yay! Also, this was not today. It was two Fridays ago.

Knitting
I've had a lot of people say that they voted for me in the "Best Sporting Event" category of a contest.

This is most of the prize, besides a pen that was already in my purse when I took the picture. The pattern is for a beaded hat.

I finished the mittens for Grandmommie. She was asking about them the other day, so I'm glad they're done and ready to be sent out.

This hat and booties set will be going all the way to the Philippines. My friend Lilymae had a baby girl recently, so I had to knit her some accessories. I don't know if it'll ever be cold enough for her to wear them, but at least they're little and cute to keep as a memory.

I got my first skein from the Sunshine Yarns sock club. This one is called Sweet, and looks prettier in real life. I haven't figured out how to get yarn to actually look right when I take pictures. Although, I'm sure taking pictures during the day would probably help. I don't have many lights in my house.

I started Jaywalkers in the Riley sock yarn.

Then I unstarted them. These colors are actually pretty close to the true colors. The sock was coming out too small, and I wasn't really liking how the colors looked in that pattern. I restarted them in Monkey from knitty.com, and I really like how they're looking. The only problem is that I make crazy stupid mistakes (like changing the pattern in the middle of a round) when I knit late at night. So I've made a new rule: no knitting anything complicated after 10pm. I recently started a pair of basic socks for my dad, so those can be my later at night knitting. Since there's no pattern changing, I'd hope I wouldn't be able to mess them up too bad.

Anyway, school's crazy. I need to get started setting up an internship site for next year, which seems crazy. I'm still hoping that I can get an interim (meaning I get paid), but I've been told to not count on it. So, I've been thinking about what to do on the 2 days a week that I'm not in internship. Substitute teach? Get a part time job somewhere? See if I can pick up some clients/groups somewhere? I think I like the last option the best, considering it's in the same field. I guess I'll have to take it as it comes.

Riley goes to his second training class tomorrow. He did a really amazing job last week, so hopefully things will keep going in a positive direction.

I almost forgot. I bought more yarn. I tried to resist, but it just wasn't possible. The yarn's called "Julie Anne" and it's from RubySapphire at etsy. If you like yarn and want to have money, don't click on the link. Their yarns are beautiful, and they have great customer service. What more could you want?

Look! A mitten!

I made a mitten! After I made Grandmommie a sweater, she decided that she wanted mittens too. I stopped by Angel Hair yesterday before class and picked up some pink alpaca. This yarn is *so* soft, and should be really warm for when she's outside. I could feel my hand warming up during the short time that I was taking the picture. Hopefully it'll fit. I made it based on my hand, so it should be close. This is just a very basic mitten pattern, and the bulky yarn made it go really fast. The good thing is that I still have 55g left in the skein (out of 100g). So assuming I follow the pattern exactly the same, I'll have enough yarn for the second one.

In other news, I have a ton of school work. I started stressing about it, but I've realized something lately. I've realized that it's amazing how much time I have to do stuff when I'm not tired/exhausted/unmotivated. I really think I'm starting to feel the benefits of my c-pap machine. I came home today and wrote the first of my 3 essay questions for a midterm, which was a little over 3 pages. I also got started on reading stuff for one of my other papers. Let's hope things get even better as I use my mask longer!

I have a pretty packed weekend coming up. Friday I have Shabbat (aka Jewish church), Saturday I have Mass (aka Catholic church), Sunday morning I'm going to a peace service (aka Buddhist church), and Sunday night I'm going to an African dance troupe performance. I'm doing this for my diversity class, and I'm actually pretty excited about experiencing all the different things.

So that's it for now. I'm going to snuggle with Riley a bit before I head to bed.

So much for the resolutions...

Well. I was all proud of myself for sticking with my journaling resolution when life decided to happen. I've been a lot busier than I expected to be this semester (probably because of that weekend class). I do have some pictures over the past week and a half. I've decided not to be a stickler about the picture a day thing, and instead just to take my camera everywhere and get the ones I can. So, on to the pictures! (Cause it's late, and I'm tired)

Up first are the Celebration socks. These were made for the month of January, for the knitalong at socktopia.net. There's a link over in the sidebar there.

This is where Riley decided he wanted to sleep when he was at my parents' house. I guess newspapers are comfy?

And these are Riley sitting with the "Riley" colorway from Sunshine Yarns. I rolled this yarn into two balls last night (which took about 5 hours...long story). It's really pretty, and it'll be my February socks for Socktopia, as well as meet the Blue requirement for Project Spectrum in Feb and March.

That's all I've got for now. I started using my breathing machine on Monday night, and things seem to be going well with it. I'll take a picture of it later. Riley's conked out beside me, so I think that's my cue that it's bedtime. It's sad when 10:45pm is past your bedtime. I'm getting old.

Another year down...

First of all, I'd like to say thank you for all the birthday wishes, both on facebook and livejournal. =) I had a very good birthday. I was in the classroom during internship today, and my supervisor told our second class that it was my birthday. They all sang to me, which kinda embarrassed me. After we left, we had to go back in the first class because "someone didn't finish their test." Actually, I think that was a set up, because as soon as I walked in the whole class yelled "Happy Birthday, Ms. Julie!" then proceeded to sing. It was really cute. During lunch Tara brought out a cake (which was really good), and I even got some presents! The lunch group got me some yarn, and Dominique (the other counselor) gave me one of those mini sharpies and some of the new 100 Calorie Hershey bar things. I really wasn't expecting anything, so it made me feel really special that they went out of the way to do all that for me.

I came home and laid around a bit, before I headed out to pick up my pizza. This is the first Papa John's pizza I've had since I started Weight Watchers last July. It was SO GOOD. I have to admit that over the course of the night I ate the whole thing (it was a small, so that's not too bad). I'm really full now, so that might not've been the best idea, but oh well. It was good. =)

I was planning to rant a bit yesterday about my future, but I forgot. I'll do it now. So it seems that there is a list out there that shows which schools are eligible for Interim positions (that's where you get hired without a license, with the understanding that you'll get it within a certain period of time). I was hoping to get one of these positions next year, since I'll have a Masters degree and all the course work except for internship. That way I could be working and be paid, as well as finish up my school internship. It seems that nother department at Vanderbilt had some big major discussion (without consulting anyone in my program), and decided that their students weren't qualified for Interim positions. The result was that Vanderbilt was taken off the list. So the way things stand now, I can't even apply or interview for these positions, because Vanderbilt is not on the list of qualified schools or whatever. I get the reason for students not being ready to work in the field while they're still in school, but there are those of us that will be qualified (due to having a degree) who won't even get a chance at these positions now. I'm going to stay on top of this situation, and hopefully things will change before it really impacts me. But still, it's just really irritating and stressful to know that something has to change for me to even have a chance at a job next year. If it really comes down to it, I'm going to do my 20 hours a week of internship and hope an agency will hire me part time to do groups or see a few individual clients. I'll make it work somehow, but it would be nice if I had more options.

In happier news, CONGRATULATIONS!! to Cassidy Riley, who made his ECW wrestling debut tonight. Scott called me freaked out telling me to change the channel, and there was Cassidy! This is who Riley's named after, and it was great to see him getting a hance to be on national TV. Good job Cassidy! Hope to see you on TV more often!

What a bad time to be stuck in traffic...

I was watching the Golden Globes, Prince wasn't there to accept his award. It seems he was stuck in traffic. What horrible luck.

My ear hurts from my sleep study. Between the scrubbing and tape and such, that sensitive skin behind my ear doesn't feel too good. Anyway...the study went well. I managed to sleep with the machine, even though it started out too tight. I should have my own in a week and a half or so, once the test is scored and the machine people call me. After that I start working on the 30 days that it takes before you should feel better. I'm hoping it doesn't take that long though.

Before I went to the study Scott and I went over to Julie's house to watch the TNA PPV. I only saw about 30 minutes of it, but it was pretty good. While we were there Scott, Riley, and I got presents! Yay! I really like mine, and Riley did too! I just wanted to post some pictures for Julie and Jana to see how much Riley enjoys the cookies.

I was hoping to have my socks done by tonight, but it didn't happen. I messed up the heel the other day, so I had to take it all out. That got me really behind. I've got the heel turned now though, so I'm hoping I'll be able to finish them tomorrow. Scott's going to order Papa John's pizza for my birthday dinner, which I'm really excited about. Mmm, pizza!

I had my first Intro to School Counseling class tonight. There's a decent amount of work, but it seems like the class is going to be really informative. Today's picture is the Wyatt Center, which is at the end of the big lawn on Peabody campus. I think it's a pretty building, and this is the first class I've had there. So, I figured I'd take a picture.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but I joined the first Sunshine Yarns sock club. I noticed on the Lime and Violet message board that people had canceled, so I e-mailed to check the status. There was *one* spot available, and I got it. My dad is paying for 3 months (as my birthday present) and I'm paying for 3 months. This is my first sock club, and I'm really excited that I'll be getting packages for the next six months! There will definitely be tons of pictures. =)

While Scott was here he set up the grooming table for me in my extra bedroom. I'm going to go and attempt to trim some of Riley's scraggly eye hair. Hopefully I won't mess anything up!

In a hurry...

I'm packing up to head to drop Riley off with my parents and head to the rec center before I go to watch a bit of TNA pay-per-view and then go to my sleep study. So, this is going to be a quick post.

This is yesterday's pic of the day. I accidentally knocked over the box that had Riley's little bones, and a lot spilled on the floor. I was doing other stuff, so I left them there for a minute to see what he'd do. I noticed that he had moved one away from the pile and was going back from more. When he stopped to put it down, 3 bones fell out of his mouth instead of one. So here's Riley, guarding the 3 bones that he can put in his mouth at one time.

I was a little busy last night because my mom brought my birthday present over. I pointed out some fabric that I liked when we were last at JoAnn's, and she got it on sale to make some curtains. We got them done pretty late last night, so that's going to be today's pic of the day. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it's kinda a see through fabric with stitching on it. They're really nice, and it was on sale, too! We had enough to put them in my bedroom, too, we just ran out of time last night. I really like them!

Oh, and yesterday's class went really well. It's definitely an enjoyable class, which is a very good thing. But at the same time, I'm glad that there's only two more weekends. =) I have to write journals for class, so I'm going to save my thoughts and write them there instead of boring everyone with class details. =)

It seems that this letter took the scenic route...

Please notice the date in today's picture...20 Nov 2006. This is what was posted on the invitation to Marisa's wedding. Obviously, I didn't RSVP by December 1, 2006. =) It seems that the zip code was one number off, so the letter ended up taking almost two months to get here. I can't remember ever getting a letter like this, where I got it so long after the original sent date.

So here's a quick recap of my day. I went to WW, and gained .6 pounds. That's ok though, because I know I drank more coke zero (and therefore less water) than I should've, and also that it was my first week back to school. I'll take care of it next week. I went to daycare for 3 hours, then headed to class. I'm taking Counseling Diverse Populations, and it'll meet for 3 weekends. I was dreading the class, but if tonight is any indication of the rest of the class then I think I'll really enjoy it. So far it was more of an experiential class as opposed to a "let's read from the book and highlight" class. We're going to have lots of speakers, which is always good. I have to do 10 hours of experiential learning, which means I have to go to/do things different from my culture. I'm hoping to go with my friend Crystal to a deaf church, and I think I may go eat at a Japanese restaurant. I need to figure out a few more hours, but that should be a pretty fun part of the class.

So that's about it. I have class until 5pm tomorrow (thankfully the hours we were sent are longer than we'll actually be in class). Let's hope things go as well as they did today!

omgGrey'sAnatomy

First off, I must squee over Grey's Anatomy. Supposedly something that caught me totally off guard was in the commercials, but I managed to miss that. I'm glad did though! It's much better to not have any idea what's coming.

Two pictures today, taken pretty much one after another. I put my finished sock on Riley's back when he was sitting on the couch. He jumped to the ground and the sock fell off, and he decided to pose on top of it. He looks a bit irritated that I was taking his picture, and I guess he was bored. So, he decided to take a nap. Riley definitely keeps my life entertained.

I had my first class today. We basically did schedules, got freaked out about comps, and went home. I hung out with Scott and watched the wrestling show before he went home. The big surprise was that Scott shaved his goatee! It was an accident (he sneezed and didn't move the razor far enough away from his face), but it's the first time I've seen him without it. He looks fine, but he doesn't like it (hence no picture for the pic of the day). I do like the goatee better though, and he's planning on growing it back.

That's pretty much it for now. I have class tomorrow from 4pm-9pm, and then on Saturday from 8am to 6pm. I'm really really hoping that she'll let use out early. I'm going to have a really hard time staying awake sitting in class for that long! I just hope the class is interesting so I can stay involved and have the time go fast.

In other news, Grandmommie likes her sweater so much that she wants matching mittens. I guess I know what I'll be making once I have some money to buy yarn. =)

So sleepy...

I've really been dragging today. As much as I didn't lie having classes after internship last semester, it actually helped keep me awake. I fell asleep for almost 2 hours earlier this evening, because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. That's really not fun. I would've much rather been doing something productive.

The day started off kinda scary. I walked to my car (which is pretty much outside my front door), and saw a cop talking to the lady that lives diagonal from me. Her parking spot is next to mine. As I walked around my car spraying my windows with the de-icer thing, I noticed that her passenger side window was broken in. That's the window on the side where my car is. Luckily, the only thing that was stolen was her radar detector. I'm really really glad they didn't chose my car instead, because all my purse valuables were in there. I've changed that habit (obviously), due to recent events. At the same time, it's kinda scary that someone was stealing things right outside my door. I don't know what I'd do if he'd decided to try to come in my house. It made me feel a lot safer to have Riley, because he'd bark his head off if someone tried to get in. I think I'm going to start making sure my cell phone is in my room at night, too.

Internship went well. I'm still feeling the "getting back into the swing of things" dragginess, but I hope I'll get over that. I think I'll be better next week when I'm in the classrooms. The drive home today took me right at an hour, which is ridiculous, but there's not much I can do about it. Luckily a new episode of Lime and Violet came out last night/this morning, so I could listen to that on the way home.

I called the sleep doctor today to see if my sleep study had been scored. It turns out that I'm actually in the severe range when I'm in REM sleep (and REM sleep is really important). They level of severity is based on how many apneas you have. I was told that their cutoff number for naming it "severe" is 30. My number is 43. It's not as bad as 70 or 100, but that still enough to explain why I always feel so tired. She also said that my oxygen level went down to 80%, and it's supposed to be at 100%. The next plan of action is to do my c-pap study this Sunday (basically the same study as before, except I do it with a breathing machine). After all that is submitted to the insurance, I'll get set up with a machine a day or two later. I am *so* ready to try sleeping with this machine, just to see if I really feel different after using it. Hopefully I will.

Today's picture is kind of a cop out. I didn't really have anything big happen that I wanted to remember with a photograph, so I decided to go with the cute puppy pic. He's so scraggly, and I really need to work on grooming his head. Doesn't he look so happy to be in this picture? =)

Not much to say today...

Here's today's picture. My pictures aren't really fancy or artistic or anything, but I'm glad that they show some happy/important/funny things that happened that day. This is a thank you note that I received today. First of all, it's really cute. Second of all, it let me know that the husband's favorite baby gift from the shower was the knitted hat and bootie (only one, cause I ran out of time) that I made. It really made me feel good to hear that, and it's so nice to knit for people that appreciate it. I need to get that second bootie done before the baby's born!

Other than that, today was pretty uneventful. There wasn't much for me to do at internship, and the afternoon consisted of playing on the computer and watching the two hour House extravaganza. I really liked the twist at the end. =) And for other House geeks, look who's engaged! I totally squealed like a little fangirl.

That's about it. Time to knit and watch Miami Ink.

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

I started off the day by actually getting up at a decent hour (meaning 9am). I walked Riley, then headed to my WW meeting. I got my 20 pound star, which was nice. Maybe in a week or two I'll get my 25 pound magnet. Hurray!

After WW I ran by Vandy to turn in my exam form/check, and to pick up my books. There was actually a parking space close to the bookstore (there's only 8 or 10 spaces, and they're usually all full), so I was able to get in and out a lot faster than I expected.

I headed downtown a little before noon to participate in the monthly knitting group that meets at the public library. Two of the knitters celebrated Elvis's birthday by either knitting Elvis hair or making sideburns that attached to their glasses. Ann wore the knitted Elvis hair while reading poetry that was written about Elvis. I forget exactly what was said, but there were some done in haiku form, as well as one titled "Elvis, Take My Hand." The tribute lasted about 2 minutes, because that's about all the bad poetry we could handle. =) I also won a book! There were door prizes, and my number was chosen. The book I chose was Threadbared: Decades of Don'ts from the Sewing and Crafting World. I didn't think I'd use either of the other books, and this one looked amusing. I also finished my sock while I was there! One down, one to go!

I checked my mail when I got home, and I had two packages! One was the jewelry scale I got off ebay (to weigh my yarn...a postage scale isn't sensitive enough), and the other was the custom order yarn from RubySapphire. I ordered the colorway named Julie (pink, red, orange, and yellow), and they created one for me called Riley (yes, dork. I know.). I love what they did with Riley's. It's muted colors, and has some light browns/tans in with some muted blues and greens. There's a bit of white in there, too. I love it because Riley's harness is blue, and the leash I use the most is a light green color, and then (obviously) he's brown with white on him. I think the yarn is really pretty in and of itself, and even better because it was made with Riley in mind. I even showed them Riley's picture as inspiration. I'm totally going to move on from this topic, because I'm sounding dorkier by the minute. =)

That's the big stuff that happened today. I also went to the store and got seriously ticked off because I wasn't able to turn where I needed to (due to a wreck earlier and police people working on the light). A little later I went to the rec center and rode on the bike again. I started reading Wicked while I was there. It's pretty interesting so far, and maybe it'll be good enough that it'll make me want to work out so I can read more. That would be nice. =)

Tomorrow is my first day back at internship. Right now I'm kinda dreading it, but I know I'll have a lot of fun once I get there. I think last semester burned me out so much that I haven't totally recovered...or maybe it's that I feel like I'm going right back into the same situation, even though I know it's not going to be. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get going and realize that it's not nearly as busy or crazy as last semester.

Two weeks until Heroes comes back! Are you on the list?

My last weekend day before the craziness begins again...

Today started late, since I stayed up so late last night. After I dragged myself out of bed I headed to the rec center. I met my mom there, and we rode the sit down bike thing. I rode for 45 min for a total of 5.5 miles. Yay me. I hope to start going on a semi-regular basis. I've been listening to my ipod, and I realized that I can knit basic stuff, too. I may start a pair of plain socks so I can knit while I ride. That would make it so much more enjoyable (me=addicted).

After the rec center I hung out at my house for awhile. Scott came and picked me up, and we headed to the mall. I exchanged some sweaters that were too big (nice problem to have), then headed to dinner. We forgot that it was Sunday, and all the stores closed about 15 min after we got there. Oh well. We ate at Macaroni Grille then went to wander around Barnes and Noble for awhile. That's where I found today's picture. It's kinda hard to see, because this shelf was above my head, but the three sets of books in the middle (the blue, yellow, and orange) are actually knitting mysteries. If they'd been longer I might've bought them, but I have a hard time paying $6.50 for a book that will be read pretty quickly. Maybe I can get them off amazon or something. I did buy a book called Wicked, which is supposed to be the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. The play is on Broadway right now, and it kinda intrigued me. I think it's interesting to have this view of a character (such as how horrible she is) and then go back and read and understand why she might chose to act the way she does. Hopefully it'll be a good read. After that we headed to Dave and Buster's to play the horse game for awhile before our movie. We saw Pursuit of Happyness, with Will Smith. It was a good movie, but I thought it dragged some. I'm one of those people that needs to have a lot of stuff going on to stay interested in a movie. Will Smith's son is adorable, and they both did a great job in the movie.

I guess that's it for now. Tomorrow will be a busy day (especially considering I realized that I haven't gotten my textbooks yet...denial's really working for me). I also have to turn in my form to take the NCE, which is a huge thing that comes up in April. But then, I'll update about all that craziness tomorrow.

Go Toppers!

Today's picture is of me and my friend Lisa. Lisa and I met at the daycare where we both worked. She and her band were playing at French Quarter tonight, and I went to watch the show. They all did a great job, and I hope I'll get to see them perform again soon.

Now for the big news. Scott's going back to school! He called me yesterday and told me that he'd been accepted at Western Kentucky, which is where he did most of his undergrad work. He's going to be taking one class, which is all he could get into this semester. He only needs 5 or 6 upper level classes, so they may be offered certain semesters and not others. Anyway, I'm really excited and proud of him for deciding to finish up his degree. I want him to walk at graduation, but I don't know if he'll decide to do that or not. Yay for Scott!

I didn't do much today except sit around and knit. Scott came over for a few hours before he headed out to his wrestling show. In our typical exciting way, we sat around and watched a House episode he hadn't seen. I'm so ready for all my shows to come back with new episodes!

The first Harry Potter movie is on right now. I absolutely love those movies. I found a yarn dyer that sells a set of 4 skeins based on the dragons that are involved during the Goblet of Fire quest. They're really pretty, and I love it when one thing I really enjoy overlaps with another. Maybe that can be my graduation present to myself. =)

Look! I'm vague!

So I have a photo of the day for today (meaning January 5), but I'm choosing not to post it for the following reasons.
1. The subject is a 3 year old, and I don't think I have the right to post his pic without his parents' consent.
2. Said child's father is a well known professional athlete.
3. Fairy wings were involved.
And that's really all that needs to be said on that subject. =)

So something really exciting happened today, but I haven't been given the ok to announce it publicly. And, since it's not my news, exactly, I feel I should wait. Once I get the go ahead, I'm sure I'll have lots to say about it.

Wow, I'm being all ambiguous today. In more concrete speak, I'm almost done with the gusset decreases on my sock. I *might* be able to finish it tomorrow, depending on how much time I have. I definitely want to be well into the foot by tomorrow, at least. I tried it on earlier, and I really like how it fits. It's a lot tighter than the other socks I made, and seems to be perfect. I also love how the yarn is striping. It seems to be all the same colors, but it's not. I keep thinking I've found a repeat, but nope. The yarn feels really good, too.

I'm really tired all of a sudden. I think I might let Riley sleep with me tonight. Either way, it's definitely bed time.

This is always the hardest part for me

Titles are complicated.

I forgot to take my camera with me for part of the day, so I missed some photo ops. Today's picture is kinda boring, but that's ok. This is a pic of my knitting area. Riley likes to help, as you can see. He snuggles right beside my leg, and twitches if the yarn or needles touch him. The sock in the picture is my current project, and is being made in Trekking XXL color 109 in the garter rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's actually neat to look at this pic, because I've gotten a whole lot more done since I took it earlier tonight.

I got some of my Japan pics printed today, but they don't fit in the frames. Wonderful. I need to get mats for two of them, and cut off the white edge on one. Maybe that'll get done tomorrow. I also cashed in two of my savings bonds (which, btw, are the best things in the world. I'm totally going to do them for my kids) to pay for the National Certified Counselor (NCC) exam in April. It's $230 (!), and I really hope I pass it. If I pass, then I"ll have fancy letters after my name. Besides that, I basically sat and knitted on my sock.

Tomorrow I need to renew my Weight Watchers membership for another session or whatever. I'm hoping this is my last, as I'm around 6-8 pounds away from goal (depending on where I decide to stop). After I hit goal I have to maintain for 6 weeks. Then I'm a lifetime member, and don't have to pay unless I gain more than 2 pounds above my goal weight. Yay for free! I plan on going to meetings at least periodically so I can keep up with everything.

I guess that's it for today. Back to sock knitting!

Houston, we have a problem...

Last night was sleep camp. I ended up very frustrated, due to the fact that the directions were absolutely horrible (it said I had to turn onto roads, when in fact the roads just changed names and I should've just kept going straight). Anyway, I finally got everything figured out, and got in around 9pm. I filled out some forms, and started getting all hooked up around 9:30pm. My mom decided to stay the night, due to the fact that it would've just been me and Mike (the sleep tech) in this big building by ourselves. I wasn't worried about it, but it made her feel better to stay. The three of us chatted while all the wires were getting hooked up. Anf if you ever wondered what a person would look like during a sleep test, well...there you go. I had two more electrode things on the back of my head. At this point I am "unhooked" from the machine so I could go to the bathroom. All the hooking up finished around 10:15pm, and lights out were at 10:30. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get to sleep, because I got up late. Anyway, the night went pretty well, except for the fact that I woke up a few times when all the wires would pull on my head when I'd try to turn over or move around too much. Mike woke me up at 6am today and told me that I was going home and not staying for the daytime study. He told me the night before that if the results indicated sleep apnea (where you stop breathing) or hypopnea (where your breathing slows down). Based on what he saw, he figured I was on the border between mild and moderate. I don't have my formal results yet, but he saw enough to confirm that it's probably sleep apnea and that that's the reason I've been tired. So, the next step is to wait and see what the doctor wants to do after my study is fully graded or whatever. I figure I'll have to get a c-pap machine to make sure that I get enough oxygen at night and stop waking myself up. I really didn't think I had sleep apnea because I don't snore, I'm not a lot overweight, and I'm not older. It does seem to run in families though, so I guess I got the genes for it. Anyway, I have another sleep study (this time with the c-pap machine) tentatively scheduled for January 14. I should hear before then what the doctor thinks the best plan of action is. Part of me is like, "Great, something else wrong with me, and I don't want to wear a stupid mask thing," and part of me is like, "Woohoo! They finally found the problem! Now they can fix it!" I'm ready and willing to try it though, especially if it makes me feel better.

The other day I was reading on a knitting blog and came across this thing called "Project 365." Basically, you take a picture a day for every day during the year. The picture should sum up the day or represent something about that day. I would like to do this (and will try) but I'm not going to formally commit or anything. I don't want to be all stressed out about it. That also goes along with the resolution I forgot, which was to update the blog more often. But anyway, yesterday's picture is the one above.

Today's picture shows what's under my sink. See that big black thing on the left? That's one of the things my dad got me for Christmas (aka a garbage disposal!!). He installed it today, and I'm really excited to use it. I hate having to scrape the leftover bits into the trash, and now I can just disposal them away! I've been asking for one pretty much since I moved in (March 2005), so it's nice to finally have everything hooked up. It also only required two trips to the store to get all the parts.

For my day today, I basically did more cleaning. My house loves me for finally paying some attention to it. The big project for tomorrow is to vacuum the daylights out of the place, and make sure I get up all the little leaf bits that Riley brings in. I also want to hang more pictures (and get some framed). We'll see how much of that I can get accomplished tomorrow. I also went to the rec center, where I rode the bicycle thing and listened to the new Lime and Violet podcast.

Now it's time to go work on the Celebration socks. I didn't have the hours to sit and knit today like I wanted, and all I've managed to do is cast on. Oh! I got my package that I ordered from Borders via Amazon. Scott gave me a $25 Borders gift card, and I ordered Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch (and I currently want to knit every sock in this book) and Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'm excited to have these two additions to my knitting book collection!