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!

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!).

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.

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!