An Informal Poll

When you find you are in the middle of a book that is boring/not well-written/just isn't what you are in the mood for, do you...

A) Drop it! Life is too short for bad books!

B) Pick up another book and plan to come back to the set-aside book later (whether you do or not is another question).

C) Keep on, keepin' on. Show some fortitude and finish the book.

Just curious. No, I'm not in the middle of a book and seeking an enabling comment so I may put it down...nope, not me. Ok, it's me.

Much better, thank you.

Quiz is over (I think I played it in the key of 'B'). Tire is holding air. I have an appointment this morning to fix said tire and I am looking forward to the time to knit and work on my school paper. A blessing in disguise, eh?

I am always happy when there isn't a full appointment book for the weekend. The only things penciled in are a sweet girl's birthday party and some bread making. There are about half a dozen 'you really should' type things that could use doing, but I think I'll let the weekend pull me wherever it would like to go. Pssst...weekend? Want to go for a drive to the mountains to look at leaves and eat cookies? Yeah, me too.

Yeah...THAT kind of day

Upon the advice of Dominique, who suggested I visit Nina today, I drove over to my favorite bakery to take a break, have a gelato and study for tonight's quiz. I get back to my car, "Hmmm, that back tire looks a little low." Yeah. There's a gigantic industrial-sized nail poking out. I drive to three gas stations, attempting to find air. As I wrestle with the air hose, I see blood on the hubcap, "Hmmm, strange." I have somehow scraped a finger and am dripping blood.

At least I didn't have to go to school this afternoon to do work on my project. The day is looking up, right? I had gelato, for goodness' sakes.

Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one. Must remember that.

Today

I awoke at 4 a.m. and didn't fall back asleep until 20 minutes before the alarm went off.

My hair is tucked under a scarf, due to the most unfortunate hair cutting event two weeks ago.

I fell down the stairs at work.

I have leave work in the middle of the day to look at research paper materials, meaning that I will have to pay for parking at school twice.

I have a quiz tonight, for which I have not studied.

Is it Friday yet? I'll even settle for 10 p.m. tonight, the time that I will I get home (and pour a glass of wine, wrap myself up in my clapotis shawl and sit on the patio by the light of the moon).

Autumnal Ramblings

This morning there was a breeze coming in from the north, carrying the scent of wood smoke and damp. As I sit here now, I hear the calls of geese. This is all a bit unusual for here, but could it be? Happy Autumn, y'all!

Another harbinger of autumn...I attempted to buy new jeans this weekend. Note, "attempted". If they didn't make me look matronly, they showed bits that really don't need showing. Ten pairs tried, empty hands on the way back to the car. Do you have a brand by which you stick?

Kidlet and I started a project last night, making a spooky haunted house scene out of cardboard. It's going quite well. We have the house cut out and it has its first coat of paint. We'll reveal our results when we finish.

Kidlet's obsession with Halloween continues. Yesterday she told me she wanted to shelve the fairy costume (which is 90% assembled) and wants to be a witch. I told her when we made our decision with costume number one, we would need to stick with costume number one. Thankfully, we've come up with all sorts of details that have kept her interested in sticking with the fairy, such as carrying a little bag of 'pixie dust' (glitter) to sprinkle on the streets.

Enjoy your first day of fall. Eat some candy corn or bake an apple!

The Change

My favorite tidbit learned in class...

The trees, bushes and grasses that turn brilliant colors in autumn, whether frost touches them or not, are the plants that are native to our country. The flora that stays green (excepting conifers, of course) was imported with the Europeans. As the European climate tends not to experience the vast range of temperature that the American climate does, their plant life stays green until it just gently withers away. Basically the native plants know what's coming (bitter winter) and the European plants have no clue.

I'm dressed like an autumn leaf today: deep purple t-shirt, yellow cardigan and red mary janes (and jeans). It's really only about 5 degrees cooler than usual but I'm trying to embrace the upcoming change.

Busy times ahead with school and life. Today on the way to school, Kidlet asked me if we could go camping in the distant mountains and look for rubies. I thought it was a brilliant idea but it will have to wait at least two weekends, possibly more. I need to make an effort to get us outside more often. We are able to easily access the outdoors but it feels like we haven't spent much time in it lately.

Here's to hoping we all get outside this weekend and breathe in the fresh air. Enjoy the last weekend of summer. Celebrate with an ice cream cone perhaps? You know I like my ice cream.

Yellow

...a little later than last year. Today, I spotted the first spot of yellow on the mountaintop aspens while driving back to work from a short library trip.

I'm Collecting a Collection

A "one hour" collection inspired by echoes
Quiet weekend, no obligations. I got a limited amount of schoolwork done (my internet browser locked up and I lost about an hour's worth of research) but on the bright side, I did get my milkshake (boysenberry). I didn't finish the scarf but that's primarily because I'm not sure when to stop. What's a good length? Every pattern I see says "knit until it's long enough". As this is not for me, I don't know what is 'long enough'. Any thoughts? We're at 65" right now.

About the one hour collection...Kidlet and I went to the park on Sunday afternoon. The playground was filled with boys with toy guns, dramatically groaning and flopping about on the ground when 'shot'. Kidlet was scared of them so I suggested we go to the arboreteum. We walked through all the 'secret' paths and pretended we were fairies. First we were forest fairies, then night fairies, then water-mermaid fairies. Kidlet collected the magic leaves and I found the piece of pine. Goodness, it was a beautiful pine with long, drapey boughs that gently swung in the breeze. It was an excellent way to spend an hour.

Three things I love right now: the cooler evenings/mornings, my new top with a hood that makes me look like an elf, Monday night dinners alone with the Hubby. What are you in love with right now?

"Culinary Schools Want You"

...was the subject of a spam email I received this morning. As I was driving home from class last night, I thought "What the heck am I doing? I'm going to be going to school FOREVER. I want to be done and moving into a different career NOW." I got that spam this morning and thought, "Hmmm, maybe I need to go back to an old career...cooking." Hmmm, probably not. Despite the work being enjoyable, I could never do it again as the pay and the hours are terrible.

A roller coaster-y week. I got a hair cut that I despise. My hair girl left town and I am in-between stylists. There is a girl at work that has hair similar in texture to mine and she has a wonderful cut. I went to her stylist who chopped and thinned my very thin hair into nothing and now I look like a chubby old squarehead. A coworker remarked yesterday, "Are you gaining weight?" Lovely.

I got some work done on my term paper by taking a half day off work. I think I could eek out 3, maybe 4, pages of the 10 that I require. I've got a long way to go but at least I feel I have a foundation on which to build.

Looking forward to a weekend with limited commitments. Might go look at a new dining table (our ancient 50's dinette is on its last legs, for real). Work on school, school, school. Try to bust out the rest of the charity scarf. I really need to do yard work but probably won't. Maybe I should gain more weight and make these Raspberry bars that Tracy made? Or get a milkshake? Whatever I do, it's going to be low key. Hope you have a relaxy weekend too.

I'm Gonna Knit Me a House

With the cooler mornings, I'm dreaming of knitting, knitting, knitting. It's not really cool enough to wear a sweater yet, but I like to think ahead. While browsing Soulemama, I saw the beginnings of this sweater, the February Lady Sweater. Gorgeous! I decided that once I am done with my charity scarf and hat, unraveling and restarting hubby's socks (more about that in a moment) and Fantine, I think I may cast on. I think it would make a lovely spring sweater in a robin's egg blue. Or better yet, I'll knit it in "Miller and Paine blue" which is pretty much robin's egg blue but with a hint of grey (my mom and I named the color after a department store in Lincoln, Nebraska, that wrapped your packages in light blue boxes). One of the the things I love about the February Lady Sweater pattern is that is "made to fit a grown ass woman" (heh heh). Pamela also entreats you to "immediately" purchase Elizabeth Zimmerman's A Knitter's Almanac. I figured I can't cast on right now, but I can at least buy the book. It's long been on my 'need to purchase' list. It arrived yesterday but I haven't had time to take a peek yet.

I'm not feeling the love for the sorta-kinda cable pattern I've been doing on hubby's socks so I'm going to start over. I think I may just do a basic rib pattern instead. I feel like the cables are holding me back. I put them down ages ago and it's been so long that I can't remember where I left off. I need something that is portable and pick-upable at a moment's notice without needing to refer to a pattern.

And no, I'm not going to knit a house but at our friends' house, we discussed knitting projects we had seen online. The latest one I had seen was a gas station (note: not entirely knitted but still interesting).

Flying

It was such a wonderful weekend filled with friends old and new, all mixing together in a happy bunch under the balloons and over chocochip cookies and later, breakfast. I was a little stressed out attempting to clean the house and get everything ready for balloon day festivities (Kidlet "Every child must have their own flashlight"...me thinking "Oh crud! When will I find time to get every child his or her own flashlight?") but it all fell together quite nicely and a good time was had by all (I hope!) .

I didn't get many good photos this year, thanks in part to the Polaroid. It started acting up, spitting out film without exposing it. I was counting dollars as each unexposed photo popped out. Grand total: $8 and change. When I started a new cartridge, strange shadowy streaks appeared along one side of about half a dozen photos. I let the Polaroid go and used the digital. I could see I was taking the same photos that I took last year so I stopped trying so hard and just enjoyed the company.

Kidlet has the first sniffley crud of the school season and I have a dash of it as well. Poor thing was pretty limp this morning but rallied to go to school. Hope we can overcome quickly, things are too hectic around here to be down for long. Speaking of it, off to the land of hectic right now...

So Good

We went to Fairytale Town (always a lovely time) and the zoo (mixed feelings about zoos). Kidlet and I ate cotton candy and cookies.
We had dinner at a friend's house and watched bits and pieces of Fantasia via their projector. 'Twas magical.
I did a bunch of yard work and random house chores (felt so good to be done!).
I baked the bread. Not one of my usual recipes, but it was still tasty.
And may I mention again, I dropped a class! Woot! Woot! Woot!
Enjoyed cool weather. Shared laughs and yummy food. It truly felt like a long weekend.

I snapped a pack and a half of Polaroids. It felt extravagant but good. Using expensive film makes me hold back my itchy trigger finger which means that I am probably missing out on the really good shots. Despite my 'holding back' in the hopes of saving film for my supposed can't-miss shots I had several failures and as that film is like gold, it was disappointing. I'm noticing that even mediocre photos get a nod of approval from me just because I like the tones that the Polaroids get. Maybe I need to find a cheaper way to get that tonal satisfaction with photos that are properly composed, eh?

I'm trying to get started on my paper for my remaining class. It's a very small, local topic and all my searches thus far have brought up next to nothing. Looks like I'm going to have to do some research away from the computer. It's been so long since I've had to do this sort of thing, I've forgotten all the basics. See, if I had stayed in the dropped class, I could have been getting my refresher course in all this. And if I had stayed in the dropped class, I could have lost my sanity too. Bonus! Or wait, didn't my sanity already made its way out the door ages ago?

Ok, onward...short week countdown to the balloon races!

New Day

Robins are eating the grapes we left for them on the grapevines. I've been hearing their voices coming from under the leaves all morning. I'm starting to think we should have left more; we harvested too early so the grapes we've been nibbling are pretty tart. Yesterday I saw the brightest bird that I have ever seen. I couldn't identify it. It was entirely bright orange with two black bars on its wings. Beak was small and rounded (grosbeak or finch style) and it was similar in size to the sparrows that were desperately trying to chase it off.

I will no longer be complaining to you about school stress. I'm going to unload myself of the burden of one class later today (horray!). I feel miles better already.

The photo on this post is just the result of some strange settings in my camera. I haven't been taking many photos lately. I'm really pining for a Holga and many other film cameras right now (despite the fact I have a borrowed Nikon under my desk). Maybe I should pick some film up for the Nikon today.

Enough procrastinating, back to my school reading...

Hello, My Name is...Stress (and other tidbits)

Whoa. I spent most of last night trying to escape the panic attacks and force myself to sleep. When I did fall asleep, I dreamed of stacking up slippery mattresses so I could climb out of rooms that had doors up by the ceiling. I keep trying to bring myself back to reality. I read quickly and can organize my time well. I remind myself that there are only two papers and the drafts we need to turn in are just part of the process, not separate papers. I'm just not used to having to balance the work of two classes. I told myself I was going to push, pull or drag myself through this semester no matter what, but...well...I'm nervous. What am I doing on this path? Sometimes I'm not sure.

Ok, I've spewed enough.

When I was talking about knitting the other day, I forgot to mention the new Interweave Knits. I adore the Estes Vest. It looks awfully tough to make (pockets!) but I'm tempted.

Whatcha got planned for the weekend? I'm so excited that there's a cold front coming, cooling the area down by 20 degrees on Monday. I plan on baking bread and making a fish stew. Kidlet has requested a park trip and we are going to tackle the annual craft closet organization. AND get this, I just found out I get to leave work early today. Now, how's that for extended weekend! Woot! Hope your weekend is full of lovely surprises! Hugs!

The Last of the Pleasure Reading

I've been cruising through a few books and thought I'd relay my thoughts before they become entirely muddled with environmental history texts.

I picked up on a friend's recommendation The Golden Compass. I'm so far out of the loop, that I didn't even know there was a bunch of hub-bub over this series and that it was made into a film. Well, now that I read it, I can understand why there was a bunch of hub-bub. Such fun! It's vaguely Narnia-esque, with its talking animals and adjacent worlds. I would have loved this as a kid but I'm still really enjoying it now at my advanced age (ha ha). I raced through the first book, took a break to read A Moveable Feast and then dove right back in to read The Subtle Knife, the next installment. The last of the trilogy is sitting on my nightstand now, but it will need to wait.

So, as I mentioned a while back, I wanted to reread some Hemingway. I picked up A Moveable Feast, started it and then stopped for The Golden Compass. I picked up the Feast again and, eh. It was ok. I like the straightforward style of writing but I never was moved by any of the characters. I feel like a fool criticizing Hemingway but there you have it. I was indifferent. I'd like to give To Have or Have Not a reread over Christmas break just to see if something that was less of a memoir would be more enjoyable.

In my 'let's reread what we read when were a teen' vein, I've started The Great Gatsby. I can't remember what I thought of it the first go 'round (maybe I shouldn't have burnt all my journals at Burning Man after all? Just kidding, it was the best decision ever.) but I am liking it well enough so far. However, I'm only about 40 pages in and I'll be stalling out to read Children of the Sun for the enviro history class.

Speaking of class, off to the first one in three hours...

Can't stop sneaking bits of chocolate today. Nope. Can't stop.

Shall we talk about knitting and other clothing matters? Let's!

I finally finished Clapotis (only 8 months after starting it! woot! I'm such a fast knitter...ha ha...). It's so soft and cozy. I can't wait to wear it! I'm so anxious to try it I might even try it at the upcoming Balloon Races, since it starts before dawn and is chilly-esque.

I'm chugging away at my charity knitting. It's a scarf using the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf Pattern. I started it this weekend and it's about a foot long. As I was knitting on Sunday, I somehow discovered how to purl continental. It's funny, I've been knitting continental for the knits but the purls...I just never got around to really figuring it out or even investigating it through online tutorials. Well, I just happened upon it and boy howdy, I'm thrilled. I'll never need to let go of my left needle to purl again.

I'm already dreaming ahead to the next big project (after the matching charity hat, a couple of tiny kitties, and oh yes, I still have a sock on the needles for hubby). I'm definitely thinking 'sweater' and I believe I have made my final decision: Fantine. I already have the pattern and I think something that's so simple (and fast with the bulky yarn!) will be exactly what I need in November when I'm freaking out over term papers. Oh wait, I take that back...it will be perfect in November while I lounge around looking at my neat and tidy stack of finished papers (all with the grade of 'A', right?).

Lastly, I'm in love with this and this. Wow. Now that's a pair of seriously talented ladies.

Oh dear. Oh dear, dear, dear, dear. Ohhhhh...dear.

So. I'm figuring I have until Thursday to knit like a madwoman and then it will be all over. School will start, I will have my two classes and then I will be a crazy historian. Well, yesterday morning in my email box there is an email from one of my professors. I have 70 pages of reading due on Thursday. I stayed up last night and got it done but whoa! Slow down, speedy! We haven't even met for a class yet! Since this professor said the syllabus would also be ready, I decided to log on to the school website. I see my other class in there so I figure I may as well know what I'm going to be up against in total. I find out that the other class is going to be some crazy writer's workshop with peer reviews, meetings with professors and oral presentations. We will be laying the ground work for our senior thesis. Huh? I had some African history waaaaay back (20 years ago, for those keeping track) but I certainly don't know on which subject I want to write my thesis. I haven't had enough history classes yet. As I was busily freaking out, I was trying to ponder what I would work on for this class. Right now, I'm tossing about culinary history in 20th century America. Thesis, schmesis.

More posts upcoming...a knitter's update, book reports and general life and love.

Coffee and a bear claw for breakfast. My hair is soft from the rinsing it got at the icy, cold mountain lake. Salty french fries and a Dr. Pepper. Catching up with friends down at the park. A ton of polaroids stacked on my desk and photos still in the camera. 8 rows knitted. Yesterday was pretty good.

This Morning Before Work I Knit Two Rows and Wrote This Post