Day One of School, down for the count!

Yep, today was the first day of classes at school.  It was kind of weird getting back into the swing of things, but I managed.

I’m totally in love with my statistics professor.  He’s from Russia, is totally cool about me missing seven days of class and totally rocks because our entire class is on the computer.  No turning in papers, no having to work in groups all the time.  Everything is online and is turned in online.  I love him.

My writing professor is totally cool as well.  That class is strictly online but we do have two face to face conferences this term.  I guess she does like to see us now and again.

As far as homework goes, I had it, did it and now it’s knitting time! (Some people have Miller Time, I have knitting time!)

I totally enjoy school (yes, I’m a GEEK) and really missed it.  Sigh, I wonder if I can just stay in school till I die?  I would love that, I think?  Lana gave me some cool “novelty” yarn (she is so not a fuzzy yarn kind of girl) and I figured out that I would knit a Panta headband out of it.  I have just enough of it to whisk one of those off the needles and it would look totally great with my red hair!  If I have enough I might knit a pencil pouch of the leftovers and put a cute little lining and zipper in it.  One can always use a new pencil pouch (especially me!).

Oh my Goddess, everyone can expect either some type of eclipse or earthquake or something…..P actually asked me if I wanted to go to Powells Books.  Get this, HE ACTUALLY BOUGHT A BOOK!!!!!  Yes, you read right, my husband who hates books actually bought one.  I am still in shock over it.  Hmmm, is the world ending and I just haven’t gotten the memo yet?

Alms for the poor and books for me!

P and I delivered cat food to Lana’s today for her raccoons. I can’t stand to see animals going hungry and it’s not fair for her to foot the bill for the raccoon family, so I decided to help with the cause. Of course, that lead to an interesting conversation at the grocers the other day.

Me: We need cat food.

P: Are you sure, I thought Ford had plenty of kibble.

Me: It’s not for Ford, it’s for the raccoons

P: What raccoons?

Me: The ones that live at Lana’s.

P: And why are we feeding them?

Me: Because one of them is a mother who has babies.

P: And?

Me: The mama raccoon has mouths to feed and it’s not like she can go get a job? What is she supposed to put on her resume, dishwasher?

P: Sigh…get the cat food.

I’m a sucker for animals, I can’t help it. I know Lana was laughing at me and my concern over the raccoons. I would feed the four legged world if I could.

After our jaunt to deliver raccoon food, it was off to Costco and a browse across their book selection (always a treat). I found several books, thank the goddess, because I was quite bored with everything I had on hand. I got “Savannah Blues” by Mary Kay Andrews, “Polar Shift” by Clive Cussler and “The Diana Chronicles” by Tina Brown.

Total Addiction

I’m totally addicted to iTunes!  I’ve discovered you can buy television shows from it. (yes, I’m a late bloomer, sometimes)  I have all of the starter wife now (or at least up to the current episode-which is what I’m doing tonight-watching it with my popcorn!

On a side note, I’ve discovered something in the last two days…people are nasty.  Not nasty as in their words, but their living conditions.  Since I’m now the assistant manager of our apartments, when we have no cleaning  person, I get to do the job.  I have spent the last two days cleaning out two apartments.  My God!!!  The manager and I were shocked to see the condition of that apartment…gross!  Needless to say, I wore a dust mask and rubber gloves.   So, for the record, here are a few tips if your an apartment liver:

1. Clean out the oven every few months.  Mr. Muscle works wonder, you spray it on, leave it for 2-4 hours and everything pretty much wipes up.  If it doesn’t, you can actually scrap the stuff off. Trust, me, it will save your deposit.

2. Clean out the window sills..you know that thing your windows slide around in?  Yeah, give it a swipe quarterly, again, a huge deposit saver.

3. Mini blinds-you can actually take them down and soak them in the tub (yes, they will wipe off easily, then).  This is a HUGE deposit saver.

4. Mold/Mildew in your tub…I have one word…bleach…use it generously.

5. Clean your toilet…yes, some people have to be told this.

6. Wipe out your cabinets peridodically.

Six simple things that will make moving easier, trust me.  Sheesh….

An interesting me-me

The rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.

Events:

• 98 – Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
• 1880 – Thomas Edison files a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
• 1967 – Apollo program: Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center. (This was actually the day I was born!)

Births

• 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
•  1832 – Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)

Holiday

• Monaco, day of Saint Devota, patron saint

Laughing my yarn off the needles!

The postman brought a surprise for me today.  “No Sheep For You” by Amy Singer, courtesy of my pal, Theo, who has known me since I was exactly 6.5 years old!  That 1/2 a year was quite important in our pecking order in school!  Anyway, she has been with me through all my arts and crafts endeavours.  She never ceases to amaze me that’s for sure.  I had mentioned that I was lusting after this book and voila, it appears.

It’s a fabulous book!!!!  Amy has definitely hit the nail on the head. The patterns are fabulous and I’m just “itching” to get my hands on some of this yarn (no pun intended).  I’m starting to think that Amy can do nothing wrong in the knitting world, everything she does is humourous, well thought out and just downright creative.

I was knitting and reading (cookbook holders are fabulous) and was reading the part about the cotton.  I start laughing so hard, I slipped some stitches off my needle! Gah!  She was toodling along with how we get cotton from the little plant.  Pretty informative and pretty much accurate.  The funny part is she neglected to talk about the “picking” part. Oh yes, most cotton is corporate grown and picked by machinery.  Alas, there are still parts where it’s picked by hand afterwards.  Yes, I have been farmed out to a relative to pick the “shards” of the fields….and let me tell you, picking cotton in Mississippi in July/August is no picnic!!!!  Those damned plants are prickly and it’s hot and it’s humid and there are bugs and those damned bolls don’t come out so easy.  Gah.  Even now, I shudder when I contemplate a “cotton” project! LOL…I guess old memories never die out.

I’m going to fix my boo-boo and go back to reading and knitting!

It’s a tad bit bright outside.

I hate this time of year.  It’s literally daylight most of the day here now.  It was actually light out about 3am this morning and then glaringly bright by 6am!  Gah.  I have dark curtains and I had to even get up and shut the blinds too.  Gah.  At least today is the Solstice which means that by tomorrow, the days will start to shorten!  Yippee!!  It’s the downhill slide back towards my time of year!  Yippee!

I seriously have to go to the grocers today, I mean really.  It’s rather sad in my kitchen, LOL  So, I might as well bite the bullet and just do it and get it over with.  I just hate grocery shopping.  After that I have laundry and some serious knitting to do.  I have a Harry Potter Scarf to finish up (I’ve just finished the first “trapped bar” section and only have twenty more or so to go!  Each trapped bar section is 26 rows in length, so it’s quite a bit of knitting. I’m not doing the circular scarf, I’m doing a ribbed version, quicker knit and I hate that circular thing, I knitted forever on that thing!!!  Gah.  It’s a long tedious knit that’s for sure, but the scarf is gorgeous and extremely warm.

I guess I should get dressed and get moving before traffic builds up.  You have to time your trips here in between traffic build ups.  Ah, the joys of living in a city! LOL

I could wire Portland if I wanted to.

I crawled into the Temple of the Black Wire this afternoon (otherwise known as “under my desk”). I had to install the new printer and I finally installed my new speakers (I’ve only had them for two months). Hey, I was happy with headphones, you know? I figured while I was down there, might as well, you know? Wow…I had forgotten what good sound was like. I have a subwoofer and five speakers, one of which hangs off the top of my monitor, it totally rocks.

Remember the noisey neighbors? Muahahahahaha…oh it so sucks to be them now!!!!!  I triple dare them to turn that stereo up now.  Can anyone hear the evil laugh that is eminating from that last sentence?  And, I’m moving my television and stereo to the common wall….and I’m hooking up the surround sound with the subwoofer…right up against the wall!

Other than that, I chatted with L today, always a treat, we have a “chat” scheduled for later tonight.  Peace and quiet and cool times…best for chatting if you ask me.

Thank you Mo for the picture of U!  I was starting to think you had done something evil with her! LOL  From the picture, I could definitely tell she had been on an international flight, she looked just like I do when I have been on a long flight. But tell her she looked totally gorgeous to me!

Flexibility is the name of the game.

I had my week all planned out.  I was going to do yarn yesterday, bedroom today, living room tomorrow and laundry on Friday.  Hm, no. P came home four days early which totally upset the whole game plan.  I’m glad he was here because we got our new bed early, so that was a plus.  On the other hand, my whole “cleaning” thing is thrown off.  With P home, I can’t really clean like I like to clean.  I usually spread it out, go through it, sort it and then put it away.  Nothing is allowed to be left out or in disarray overnight.  I’m kind of a later afternoon/early evening cleaner..so that’s why I wait till he’s gone.  I can disrupt the house all I want all night and it’s good.  Plus, T is a day sleeper because she works graveyards at Starbucks…so therefore she doesnt’ even stir until 2pm…so no loud thumping or hoovering or such till after 2pm. Another reason we get along so well…she and I are both afternoon/evening people whereas P is a morning person ( a disgusting filthy habit I might add).

And another total surprise for me.  I had an HP photo printer that just stopped working well.  It would print, but it was a fight to get it to do it nicely.  So, I had purchased a four year protection plan for it.  I emailed HP, they sent me a “cash card” and told me to go to my nearest dealer and get a new one.  That was it, I could trash the old one and just get a new one!  Whoo Hoo!  Now, since it’s been four years, they dont’ make my model anymore, so I had to upgrade which is totally fine with me!  I was able to get an HP D7160 for basically the 29.00 I paid out four years ago!  Talk about a deal.  Naturally, I purchased the same protection plan for the new one.  Considering what ink costs, they still make out like bandits without charging an arm and a leg on the printers.

I have to dig out all my photo paper and see what I have.  It’s been forever since I printed photos, I do everything digitally or if I really want a print of it, take it in someplace and have them do it.  It will be nice to be able to do it myself again, though.

I’m feeling kind of “sewing-ish” today.  I need to make some tool holders for P’s new tools.  I thought I would take the same concept as a knitting needle roll and make it to fit wrenches and such?  I have some lovely tapestry material that would handle the abuse well.  Not sure if he’s going to like roses, but that’s what he’s getting.  He need not complain, he is getting custom fitted tool pouches and custom made. LOL.  I figured I would just do up the tapestry roll and use double bias tape for the ties.  I had considered fleece, but that would not wear well over time, so tapestry it is.  The stuff is practically indestructible as it is.

I also need to go to the grocery.  Our fridge is almost empty.  I have 1/2 a pitcher of tea, about 1/8 of a gallon of milk, a pitcher of lemonade, some mayo, some grape jelly and some cheese and that would be it!  Yeah, it’s been awhile.  At least it easier to clean this way, right? I’m trying to avoid going to the grocery until the 1st though. My pantry shelf needs to be tided out as it is, so I’ve been trying to only use stuff from it. As soon as that thing is pared down, I’m going to get some type of shelving so that it will be better utilized as far as space goes.  I hate going to the grocery, it’s always full of people that don’t know the “grocery traffic pattern”, gah.  You know, stay to the right?

The commissary in Norfolk had the right idea, each aisle was one way, literally.  They had huge arrows on the floor indicating direction.  It worked very, very well.  If you didn’t need an aisle, you could skip to the next one going your direction.  At least the Navy got that one right!  Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a system like that, now.

I’m convinced, I’m convinced!

Movers are a necessity of life.  Our new bed arrived today.  Only problem is they weigh a ton and have to go up two full flights of stairs.  We had to call Les in for help!  Les is Lana’s hubby, and he is an angel!

Ford on the other hand, is less than amused.

and we have this:

As you can clearly see, the cat is not amused that his bed was leaving and the new one was coming in.  In fact, we had to rouse the cat off the bed in order to get it out of here.  He would not give up position until the sheets were pulled out from under him!!!!  Talk about stubborn, he definitely is his father’s cat!

When we move from here, I’m hiring movers, that’s the bottom line.  If I have to eat noodles and beans and rice for six months in order to afford it, I will!!!!!

I did NOTHING today!

Seriously, I did nothing!  I made toast, some tea, emptied the ice trays and played Sims all day.  I did get caught up on “The Starter Wife” on iTunes.  Oh my goddess, I love that show.  Yes, it’s somewhat like a soap opera, but, once I started watching it I was hooked.  I’ve never been a huge Debra Messing fan, but I’m totally loving her in this show.  It’s listed as a mini-series, but I would so love to see it made into a show!

Tomorrow is “stash” day.  I’m officially taking stock of what I have an officially cataloging it!  It’s going to be embarassing, I can tell you that much.  I’m pulling it all out from everywhere it’s hidden/stashed/stuffed and or wadded into and taking stock. Actually, I could start doing it right now, as I’m not the least bit sleepy and it’s still rather early in the evening (by my standards).  I’m just not sure I want to tackle it at this time of night.  With my luck, I’ll pull it out then get tired!  I can’t leave yarn out or Templar will have the equivalent of a “super bowl party” with it.  That dog adores fiber of any kind.

I did get some knitting done while watching the show.  Because I was watching it on my computer, there was just enough light coming from the monitor to knit by.  No need for a lamp on or anything.  My kind of evening.  No lights, no noise, just me, my computer, my pooches and my knitting.  It totally rocked!  I had popcorn and ice tea for dinner, it was just great.

Now, I’m off to see if there is a movie that can entice me or I just may toss on some meditation music and zone out for a bit.  I love sitting in the dark in the quiet and just letting my mind clear.  It feels so very wonderful.  Even the dogs zone out when I put the music on (and that’s saying alot for a sixteen week old puppy!).–or I could go for a Starbuck’s?  Hahahaha…wind down or wind up–choices, choices, choices?