Holy Exhausted Batman!

Well, first day of class is over. Little bit exhausted. I woke up at 5:15am; I didn't have to be up that early, but it's when my internal clock woke me up. Much to my dislike, my internal clock is really good at going off early. I regularly wake up at least a half hour before my alarm goes off. Maybe my body knows it needs a good half hour to lay there and wake up. So this morning, I laid there, waking up... wishing I wasn't awake because another half hour of sleep may have made today a little less, well, exhausting.

I got to work this morning at 7am. I have to say there is something so nice about going to work when no one else is there. You can get what you want done, when you want it done without people bugging you or the phone ringing off the hook. I could definitely get used to the going to work early thing.

I left work and drove up to class, which was about an hour drive. I left myself plenty of time, but I didn't take into account that there was construction, basically because I didn't know that there was construction. There's something very uncomfortable about walking into a class on the first day a few minutes late. Fortunately, another kid was walking in the same time so that took a little bit of the pressure off. Then when you have people walking in 15 to 30 minutes late, it makes your 2 or 3 minutes late look like nothin'.

Class today was nothing more than going over the syllabus and getting to know each other. After going over the syllabus, I know it's going to be challenging, but I think I'm ready for a good challenge. I feel like I haven't been challenge for a couple years now and I'm due for it.

Funny how we bring to ourselves exactly what we need. Though this will be physically exhausting and mentally challenging, and I'm sure at times I'll wonder what ever made me do this, but despite all that I feel like it's bringing me closer to what I want and who I want to be. And if I'm not working towards that, then what the heck am I working towards?

A little bit of everything

I feel like I've been gone for so long! There is definitely something you miss when you stop blogging for even a week.

Well, this is it kids, this is my last week of freedom. And when I say freedom I mean freedom from school work, papers, tests and everything else that goes along with going back to school. Then again, who am I kidding? I loved school. I'm postitive I'm going to love it again. Even all the work, papers and test I'm going to love. And there's an added bonus of working with animals. At this point, I can't see a single bad thing about going back to school... except for all the driving. It's almost an hour commute, but my faithful little Honda can handle it.

My classes start on Monday and I'm very excited about the whole thing. I know it's going to be great. Of course, underneath my over-positive, calm exterior there's an emotional hurricane going on. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I have a million and one things going through my head every minute. And even though I don't feel stressed, my body has been doing everything it can to let me know I'm stressed despite what I may think I feel.

And of course, when life gets a little crazy and uncertain I turn to my feel-good stress reliever. Don't think that this past week where I haven't blogged at all means I haven't knit. In fact, I finished the off-white Branching Out scarf and started this one. This is the last of the branching out scarves. These are Christmas presents and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing any Christmas presents before Halloween. I'm usually not this prepared. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that once school starts I know I won't have as much time to knit as I used to and I'll have just as many Christmas presents to make.

It's almost time again for me to start making Mitten Cakes. My mom commissioned me to make some for my aunts and uncles for this Christmas. So, don't be suprised if you see me start some mittens in the near future.

I also have finished, well, sort of finished, I just need to do the edging along the armholes and sew in the ends, the shell that I started at the beginning of the summer. And of course, which is just my luck, or maybe just the way knitting works for me, I finished my summer shell just in time for... well, fall. Perfect. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of that this Thanksgiving.... I really hope you're picking up the sarcasm here.

No worries though, I'm sure it'll still fit next summer when I'll actually wear it. And maybe by that time I'll actually have the ends sewn in. Ok, don't count on it. You never really know with me.

I also started a little side project. Just a pair of socks, but it's a pair of socks out of some truly luscious yarn. It's called Mountain Colors Sock yarn and it's yummy. Most of the socks I make are out of this stuff because I love it and it wears well.

Did I not say I've been pretty busy on the knitting front? And you almost didn't believe me huh?

I now have my own computer again at work so I'm back up and running on that front, though I won't get into the complete incompetence regarding that. I can't say I'm all that suprised, judging by how well they've handled other things in the past.

I know this post has already go on and on, but just a couple more things. I'll be away this weekend at a BBQ, which should be fun. Hey, it's supposed to be nice weather, there's going to be a pool and a bonfire, oh and it's on the same day as my birthday. I suppose I didn't mention my birthday is this Saturday. It's not really going to be an eventful year. I'll be 24.

I remember in middle school and high school thinking that 24 was really old. That really makes me laugh now, mainly because I don't feel old at all. In fact, I still feel like I'm much too young to even get married or have kids though I know that my sister was already married and pregnant by my age. I guess all that means is I'm at a different spot in my life than she was at my age. Nothing wrong with that.

I hope you all have enjoyed my babbling on. I'll leave you with a picture I took last weekend that I really love.

Not my idea of a good time...

This is just a warning in advance. I have not had even a small amount of time to blog or to read anyone else's blogs. I've been leaving comments here and there, but I haven't had any time to really delve into my blogging time like I used to.... Reason? Well, as we all know, my job is slightly boring and on off times when I have to save myself work just so I'll have something to do the next day, I'll go online, catching up on blogs. Unfortunately, this week I've been training my replacement.... not only have I been training my replacement, but it has also fallen upon me to train another person.

Do you happen to remember me mentioning the person I worked with originally and that she left? This was only about two months ago or so. Since then, a new person came. She was trained in just fine, she did the job relatively decently. The only problem I found was we didn't get along so well, but that really didn't matter because I knew I'd be going to a part time position during school.

The week before my vacation this new person, who's only been working in that position for a month, lets keep in mind, announced to everyone that she was putting in her two weeks notice. She apparently decided to only do one week because when I came back from vacation, she wasn't there.

So here I am, training two people in a department. So needless to say I have very little time to catch up on my blogging. I'll try my best to get around to reading everyone's blogs, but if I don't, you know why. I hope everyone has a good week.

Why the heck does time have to fly???

I'm back and it was fabulous. Somehow I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that it's over and I have to go to work tomorrow. I've been looking forward to it for so long that it just seems crazy that it went by so fast. Well, that's time for you...

It really was a great vacation, visiting with family, relaxing, knitting, reading and lots of other things. One of which I'm sure you won't believe. My family is all about making each other happy and my aunt knew that I am into spinning, and fiber and knitting, so she suggest we go see a couple of these:

Oh yeah, baby, I got to see me some alpacas! And not only that, but we got to go into the barn and feed them. What cuties... what expensive cuties. One breeding female can cost you $14,000. Umm, yeah, my car didn't even cost that much... But they sure are cute...

My aunt thought that the babies were the cutest (and who wouldn't with a face like that?) because they had these mops of fur on the top of their heads. And they were the softest things ever. Very, very timid though.

This one was my favorite. Ok, who am I kidding, I loved them all, but this one was definitely in the running for the cutest one among them!


He definitely had the mop-head thing going on. Although I thought this little alpaca trip was just for me, I was completely dooped because my aunts/grandmother/mother enjoyed themselves just as much as I did. (The guys went golfing and were in no way interested in seeing cute, furry animals... leave that to the womenfolk)

And don't think that this little excursion was without any sort of purchase. THERE WAS FIBER FOR SALE!!! Excuse me while I drool for a little while just thinking about it. The woman who ran the farm was nice enough to let me use her spinning wheel to test some of this luscious stuff out.

That was a great day. And it was only the first day I was there! The next couple of days were filled with things like, renting a jet ski and cruising around the lake, whitewater rafting, ATV riding (which, by the way, was awesome!), mini golfing (it's known as putt-putt in my family, I've heard it both ways), marshmellow roasting, and lots of card playing. It was definitely a classic family vacation.

A bunch of knitting was done as well, but that's going to have to wait because I am in for some much needed rest. Funny how you're always a lot more tired coming back from vacation than you were going to it! Maybe that's just another one of those crazy things like the time flying when you're having fun, only in this case, the more you relax, the more tired you are!

Enough Branching Out already!

I must say, lazy weekends are the best and sometimes you get lucky and they're the most productive as well. I can't say I necessarily did a lot this weekend, but I did get a lot done. Mainly, I didn't do much besides knitting.

Last weekend I finished these.


And I'm sure you all know, that when I say finished I mean the knitting part is done. I never, ever count sewing in ends. And please, ignore if you can, my pastey, white, slightly blinding legs. Me and the sun have never gotten along.


On top of these being finished, I've also finished and blocked yet another Branching Out scarf. Something clicked with me this weekend (perhaps it's the fact that I've spent an ungodly amount of time knitting these stinking scarves) and I was able to finally understand the lace pattern to the point where I could knit it without concentrating so much on the pattern. And I was able to fix the mistakes without ripping back. And I was able to knit while watching TV, talking to people and otherwise be distracted from the pattern. It was good people, it was really good.

I love blocking these lacy scarves because the pattern really shows when the stitches aren't all bunched up. Of course, the real challenge was trying to keep the animals off it while it dried. I suppose, to them, anything on the floor is free game.

In fact, it seems, even things that aren't on the floor are free game as well. For instance, a hank of the alpaca/wool to make another scarf is perfectly acceptable to them as fodder for their games. I'd like to know how an animal such as my cat has the ability to get into a sealed ziploc bag and do this to a most precious skein of wool...


This is a serious offense. One that I wouldn't take lightly if I were the cat in question. And what's more is, it wasn't even a skein. A skein would have been slightly better because it would at least resemble itself and may even been easier to untangle. But a hank? A hank that has never even been unwrapped???? Now that is serious.

But does the offender care?





I think not...




And the victims? Well, they just have to move on with their lives. I, myself have moved on. Though many hours of my life were spent untangling the mess this cat has made (ok, so I exaggerate, it probably didn't take me more than a few minutes, but dramatic effect had to be made)

In fact, I've moved on and started yet another Branching Out scarf.


This one is just flying off the needles. And I owe that all the the unfathomable amounts of time that I was allowed to spend on it this weekend.



On Tuesday I'm going down to Deep Creek, MD for our annual family vacation. Unfortunately I have to wait until Tuesday because there are things at work that I need to finish up, vacation time that I didn't have and needed to plea for, etc. and I am supremely jealous of my parents who left on Saturday morning. Here I'm left caring for the animals in a big empty house thinking about all the fun my entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother) is having without me. It's alright though, such is the price I pay for using up my two weeks worth of vacation to go to England. I'd say it was worth it.

I hope everyone has a great week and an even better weekend. See you next Monday!

And the hunt begins...

Yesterday D and I met with his realtor for a couple of showings. She is the sweetest woman who's ever had a face lift that I know. I've only ever known two people with face-lifts and she's the sweetest one, not to mention fairly sweet on the non-face lift side of things as well. She's probably no more than five feet tall, impecably dressed and has a vanity license plate on her Mercedes (Mercedes? umm, yeah, I guess that explains where she got the money for the face lift) proclaiming to the world that she's pretty much the best realtor there is. Despite her sweet demeanor and wonderful personality, I couldn't help but stare blankly at the stretches of skin coming from her eyebrows to the bridge of her nose. And I'm usually one of the most discreet people you're ever going to meet. Let's think back to when I saw Vin Diesel in Paris and instead of rushing up to him for an autograph I hung back and pretended he wasn't famous. 'Sorry Vin, it's not you, it's me...'

She first took us to a very cute house, on a very cute street in a very cute neighborhood. The house was wonderful. The guy who lived there put a lot of work into it and it showed. However, things that are generally 'cute' are generally small. And I haven't got a clue where D would have put all his stuff.

On to the next house, which was interesting, but I would have needed a handheld GPS to get myself in and out of that neighborhood. What a freakin' disaster. It's like a toddler decided where all the houses would go because the streets were all swirly and pretty and would have made a good finger painting but were a total mind bend when you're actually in them. In fact, our realtor-with-the-freaky-eyebrow-skin got lost and needed D to get her unlost. However, the house was interesting, but there were things like painted over countertops in the kitchen that weren't exactly pretty, and major fix-er-upper issues.

Our next showing was in the same neighborhood (dear God, save me from the neighborhood where you have to use star charts if you ever want to go anywhere!) and let me just say, yikes. This was by far the worst house we saw. Oh it was big enough, but we would have had a hell of a time trying to get the old lady smell out of the house, not to mention the redecorating so that you didn't feel like you just stepped into the 70's. But the smell, holy lord, it was eye-watering. Needless to say that was our quickest showing of the night.

Lastly, there was the house that was our number one pick if everything panned out. It was gorgeous, the siding was redone, the inside were extensively remodeled, new carpets, new doors, new windows, new, new, new. Except the house was built in the 70's... You got the distinct feeling like they were trying to hide something. And when we got to the basement, we figured it out. There was water damage in the basement, so bad that the insulation was falling from the ceiling. Our eyebrow-skin-stretched-realtor wouldn't allow us to even think about that one, because that sort of work is major and she wants D to have the best house he can get for his money.

So back to the drawing board to look at what other houses he thinks would do... It's hard not to get discouraged, but that's what house-hunting is about right? A mix of discouragement and excitement with a dash of stretched-eyebrows?

What was that sound?

It was the sound of the weekend speeding past you.

Why is it that weekends fly by without you even realizing it's over? I do feel like I got a lot accomplished, but damn! I could have used another day!

I did some knitting on Saturday. Fabulous weather yet again. Then I got my hair cut. Let me tell you a little something about me and haircuts... I only ever get my hair cut when I absolutely can't stand the way it's looking and how it's not doing what I want it to do. This means I get my hair cut, roughly, every 7 or 8 months. This time, however, I think the last time I got my hair cut was last September, so I was going on almost a year! I suppose that's the beauty of long hair. What I found particularly funny was no one even notice I got it cut! It just doesn't look that different!

Saturday night I did a little relaxing, a little knitting and a little going to bed early. Yes, I am just that sad. But I definitely needed the sleep.

Sunday was a bit of a crazy day. D and I went to the real estate office to meet with his realtor. She showed us some more properties to consider and we spent the afternoon just doing drive-bys (It sounds gangsta'...yeah, um....it's not) Tuesday, we have an appointment for actual showings. D's really excited and I'm so excited for him. It's just fantastic.

I did some knitting too, but that's just going to have to be for another post.