I really hate cleaning. My kitchen always looks like a disaster area. So, when I can find something fun to help ease the pain, I usually buy it. Thus, the mouse palm sponge entered my domesticated life. It's cute, it sort of makes washing dishes more fun, and it's
Yeah. well. I don't really intend either condition. You would think with only four days of work last week I'd have been more on the ball. But, two of those evenings at home I didn't even turn on my comptuer! And why is it that as I fall asleep at night I can calmly think of all those things that need to be accomplished the next day. No problem. I'll remember. They are important. Then, I get to work and they are out of my head! I think all I did last week was try to stay warm. I got so cold at work my face was hurting (those were the nights the computer stayed turned off). I did spend a good day with my sister on Saturday; she heads back to Hawaii today.Obviously, I never finished it, nor posted it. Sigh. Did get all the 24 watched and am ready for the new episode. On the weekends I like to catch up on the prime-time things the DVR caught during the week; I really don't like watching them in the evenings.
We did get all of Season 5 of 24 watched, but not the four hours of Season 6 on the DVR. Maybe by next Monday night we'll be caught up to watch the episode when broadcast.
1/22/07 9:20AM
ETA: Forgot a photo! I (thought I had) posted my student id photos here (but can't find post or photo online), and meant to post my staff id photo before now, but here (are both):
November 2006
Yuck! I look miserable in both! Rissa, let's try to get a decent photo of me while I'm in Jackson next month, okay?
Yesterday, after Rissa and Karin left, I wound off and weighed the ball of MegaBoots Stretch I bought at Yarn Barn (VA) in October in order to have two working balls. I am making Marguerite's Shetland Lace Rib socks. Since there is such a difference in the two green socks, I have decided to knit both socks of this pair at the same time. I've alread got about half the foot done on one, so I started the second one last night to catch-up.
Oh dear. I drafted that last Sunday night at 10pm, intending it to be the beginning of my Monday entry. (I did manage to finish the toe for this second sock before I went to bed Sunday night.) Almost a week later, I am finally getting back to my blog. It has been a long week, and a physically exhausting one, though it began easily enough work-wise, as the university was closed until noon.
We began this week to measure the library collection, that is, how much space on our shelves is being occupied by the holdings. My partner and I had half of the fourth floor as our assignment: approximately 54 seven-shelf sections per range and 16 ranges. We only got into the second range the first afternoon; then I worked alone Tuesday morning. We finished by Thursday lunch break. But then, I -- nor anyone in our department -- could not do my work because the network went down. Actually, it seemed like it was up and down all that afternoon. On Friday was working okay in the morning, but by the time I got back from orientation for new graduate students, it was crashed again. So, after lunch it was back to the measuring project.
The good news was that I went over 7000 steps on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and over 5000 on Thursday. I haven't been entering my steps at walkertracker.com, but I average 3500 steps a day (i.e., without specific exercise effort). I'm looking forward to yoga classes beginning, and hope to check out the BD classes.
The bad news was that I have been fighting sinus pressure and pain on the left side of my face and left eye since Wednesday evening. It is better this weekend, but still not gone completely. I took a variety of medications but nothing really seemed to help the pain; it was a miserable way to work. The spicy Thai sauce on my Basil Cashew Chicken wrap at lunch Friday did more to help than anything else!
Between that and the weariness of the physical effort, I was in bed earlier than usual this week! The worst though is no time/energy to knit or anything else. I did, however, watch the first two discs of season 5 of 24, and am now DVR'ing the Season 6 opener tonight (and tomorrow night). Will pick up the next two discs tomorrow, I think, with a free rental coupon. Maybe by next week I'll be on track. I'm finding season 5 much better than 4!
So, back to the socks. Here's what the second Senso sock looks like when stretched to "fit" (think Cinderella's Stepsister trying on the glass slipper):
See how tightly my great toe is poking out the toe, and how the leg ribbing starts way down on my foot? Not good. Not attractive. Not comfortable.
Here, though, is how it looks when not forced to fit:
I will be ripping back to where the heel begins, adding another round of pale green rows, and then start the ribbing further from the end of the heel--but if I do that, I'll have to rework the leg on the other sock as well...perhaps I'll pull the whole thing apart and try to work it more losely, like the first sock. I did the toe wrong, too. I'll try to remember to take a side-by-side shot of both socks before I rip so you can see how much tigher I knit the second sock.
I suppose the lesson is that if I'm not going to work both socks at the same time, I need to check my gauge often to be sure the two sock are working up the same! And make notes rather than relying on my memory because I may not make that second sock soon enough to do so correctly.
That's what Momma always said. And tonight it was true for me, for the first time in a long time. However, I think I discovered what I'm doing wrong on my sock toes. Updates to follow.
Yes, Momma, I know. It is time to go to bed. Let me get the stitches back on the needles and ready to go for tomorrow. Just a couple more stitches...
Remember in The Great Gatsby when Daisy laments that she never remembers to have a party on the longest day of the year? Well, I always mean to celebrate Twelfth Night and rarely remember to do so. Now, thanks to spinning/spindling friends I know about ROC day: Return of Chores. The Christmas season is officially over, so back to work, folks.
Momma never put up any Christmas decorations before December 1st, and once that day arrived it was a slow build-up rather than everything out that day. Tree didn't go up till closer to the 25th -- even closer for a real tree. But, come January 1st EVERYTHING came down and was put away... it was bad luck not to do so. I'm living proof that this is not true (or that it IS??), for I do not like to take down my Christmas decorations on New Year's. (I believe it is the principle of ROC that was also behind my mother's tradition of doing on New Year's day a little bit of everything you want to do all year.)
Stephanie, like many others, says she does this on Twelfth day to avoid bad luck. But as I think about Twelfth Night celebrations and ROC, I'm thinking that you can't take down the decorations if you are celebrating the Epiphany! So, as I move the decorated mini-trees to itheir storage places on the top of the bookcases in the library tonight, I am ROC'ing. No bad luck for me.
As for ROC day... well, it was nice to be with friends. Even better if Lisa had been along. It was nice to see the pretty wool and yarn. I was, however, hoping to find a spindle to purchase, and there were none that I wanted. What I want is one of Jen's Mantra spindles, but I have been trying to contact here since October without success. (Obviously, if anyone can help me reach her I would be grateful.) The day would have been better if Lisa had been along, and if there had been more vendors, and if there was... I don't know exactly what I had been expecting, and don't know what was missing. Perhaps it was only me. Still glad I went. Lunch was delish!
Evenso, I did not come away empty handed:
Last evening, Rissa, Karin and I stopped by to the stash we'd heard someone was selling off. Talk about pay-dirt! I was very good and only bought a cone of dark rust-colored alpaca. The woman brought out some mohair and mohair blend when she heard me say I was a knitter more than a spinner/weaver. Then a pile of needles. I picked through to find the smaller circulars and ended up with 11 packages. I had to force her to take a very modest payment. She seemed so thrilled that we were so interested in her treasures (she is having to destash for health reasons). I found myself guessing that her own children/relative must not have any interest. Perhaps like me, she had only sons who aren't interested in fiber arts. It was kind of sad, but she is such a sweet lady -- and honestly, I think she is probably a hoot as well, judging by a few passing comments. We are all three thinking of having another look soon.
An unexpected event along life's path, another person passing through one's life.
Only a half-day of work tomorrow, though it's an afternoon half, not a morning half. The university football team is playing in a bowl game in Mobile, AL, tonight and the university will be closed until noon. I won't even try to make sense of this.
I will enjoy an extra hour or two of sleep in the morning, have a long lingering cup of java at the coffeeshop near the college, run an errand or two nearby and have a bite to eat before I go to work.
I think most everything is back where it is supposed to be on the sidebar. Just a quickie post to check it out, and to show y'all the photo From June Week that I promised yesterday. We weren't going to the fanciest of the dances, but it's the only photo I have of us dressed up.
Time for this ol' lady to get to bed. We've got a lot of rain on the way, they say, but at least it isn't cold. Of coures, cold is good for cuddling. Don't go asking me how I know . . .
(I hear the thunder rolling as I type.)
yes, things are looking different today. I am fiddling with the template, so be please be patient. it will take me a bit to get the sidebar back in order.
[photo for this post is the new banner, with artsiness by Rissa]
On the job, I work with names. Names of authors at the moment. Every once in a while a name sparks a memory of someone I know with a similar name. Just now I came across a first name that brought back pleasant memories: Reed. First name in both cases, not last.
More years ago that I want to count, I attended Heritage Baptist Church in Annapolis, MD. The church had a special outreach to the midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy -- don't judge me too harshly, but that IS why I went attended services there. Of course, there was an outstanding Mississippi Boy doing the preaching, and another good ol' southern gent running the Baptist Student Union. Thanks to my swiss-cheese brain, I can not bring either one's name to mind, though I can picture them both!
So, it came to pass that in the Spring of 1975, I began to date one of the midshipman (not my first, but the nicest) and luckily for me, he not only was he a First Classman, ie., a senior, but he didn't have a girl back home. See, lots of those jerks, er, I mean fellows, only dated the local girls through the year, on the weekends when they had leave time. Then, when it came time for the BIG dances and especially June Week, The Girl Back Home was brought to Annapolis. Since the jerks, er, I mean fellows, who did this weren't so very upfront about The Girl Back Home it was usually too late when the local girl found out about The Girl Back Home. But, I digress.
Because of Reed, I was able to experience that which is June Week. All the dances, all the parades, all the receptions, and finally, the graduation, complete with the sea of Navy (pardon the pun) dress white hats tossed into the air. We were never too serious, so I didn't pin on his wings; his mother got that pleasure, as she should have. I was just happy to be there. (My best friend's fiance graduated the same year, though the two guys didn't know each other well or run in the same circles.) I even stayed the week at the cottage on the water his parents had rented, it being much closer to Annapolis than where I lived.
The internet being the wonderful place that it is, and knowing a little about what Reed did post-Navy, I was pretty sure I could find out something by searching Google. I did! Even found a photo; he still looks the same. He's working at a university in VA, is married with two teenage sons -- so he obviously waited a while to have children, as did I. I knew he was married, and that he was at one time in the past in foreign mission work (hospital administration) with the Southern Baptists.
Will I contact him? Not likely. But it's a pleasure to see he's 'done good.' Not that I doubted it for a second. Hard-working and dedicated -- which, with what little I have learned online about his accomplishments, is still his personality.
I'll have to wait until tomorrow to post a photo of us from June Week. The scanner at home is not compatible with XP, so I'll have to do it on campus. Until then, another blast from the past . . . The univeristy has a special collection of children's books, DeGummond Collection, so I also come across books that we had in our house . . . like this one I worked with this afternoon:
back later . . .
And so that I don't break #2 right on the first day, here's another shot from commencement. #1Son is on the right (my left), #2Son is on the left (my right):
If you are lucky, I'll have a new look tomorrow. Now, I want to knit for just a bit while I have my snack. I have everything but the cuff done on the pair of sock I'm knitting with the DMC Senso. I want to put both on the needles and do the cuffs at the same time. Maybe. I've not yet been able to work like that without getting confused. But I'll never get it if I don't keep trying.
Oh! Did I mention that I got the result of my last blood test and my A1C was 5.2%? Sorry to repeat if I did, but I'm pretty happy about it.
(I edited yesterday's post to add a photo of the 'sweetheart' I was talking about, so scroll back to have a look at my DH. It's been a while since I posted a shot of him. I even left it big so you can see him well. Go look. Go now. Go!)
(1) to remember birthdays ON-TIME
(2) to use my creative skills to give tangible results to those around me
(3) to delve deeper into my personal spirituality in order to attain resolution, for myself at least, over several personal situations
(4) to be content -- always my primary goal
Four is enough, I think: "Four has long been a number of completion, stability and predictability, as well as the representation of all earthly things."
I read somewhere that the urgent things of life keep us from doing the important things. If I was going to make a resolution for 2006 it would be that I would make time for the important things.
