yea, it is friday

The Younger Twin will no longer be having speech five days a week. She does not like the lady that comes to see her at school, so we are just going to send her to the public school twice a week for speech.

I spent the day at a local private high school library. The librarian there is one of the Matriarchs. She is more than happy to let me volunteer there a few hours a week. We are rearranging the Accelerated Reader (commonly called AR) books and later next month, we will add the non-AR books later. I plugged into my iPod and sorted books while listening to Aunua and Bach.

SnB at Stash last night was fun, as always. I had to leave early since I felt like I was going to fall asleep knitting. Then again, perhaps I should have stayed. If it was discovered I could actually knit in my sleep, we might have struck gold. Nothing on the needles right now is worth taking a picture of. Maybe later. Or not. I am waiting rather impatiently for Interweave Knit's book, Cables and Aran Stitches to come out.

And I'll be spending the weekend in the books. That JMB presentation on Wed needs to be brought up to scratch.

Highs and Lows

Early this morning, I took Puppy to get her bandage off. It was not a nice ordeal for me to undergo. She was up on the table shaking then the vet assistant put a muzzle on her. This is all before the vet came in. Puppy now has some very tender red spots on her belly. We go back next week to get her stitches out. Someone else will have to take her, I know I would not be the best person in the room for her.

On to brighter things. Such as the fact that my Modern Brit Novel prof really is going to rock. Next week, I get to present Sir Barrie's text to the class. How cool is that? Well, not very actually. Most of my classmates think he is 'weird' and has 'creepy relationships.' Obviously, they have not read most of his works. If they had, they would not say such horrible things. Barrie is fanciful, yes. But 'strange' and 'creepy'? No.

I am having the worst time trying to cast on socks today. After a dozen attempts, I opted to knit a random amount of stitches in garter stitch. Lucky for me, the yarn is Lion Brand's Cotton Ease and I only need another 1.5 inches to make a washcloth. Pretty dull decorative wise, but still very much usable.

Oh, I nearly forgot. The Elder Twin's apple pies/tarts were a big hit yesterday. Her JRA is looking pretty good as well. She does have a sinus ifection but nothing to be concerned over.

I Love the 1st day of Classes

Ok, so that marks me a dork. Reading over all the work load, and it does not (on the surface) appear to be all that tough of a semester. Granted, it is due to the fact I pre-read for one of the heaver classes and therefore I must strive to stay ahead. Naturally, the profs reseve the right to change the reading requirments that were posted at the end of the Spring semester. Great.

Over all, I think I am going to like having classes Tuesday through Thursday and getting home before five on most days.

The Younger Twin now has a small 1-gallon fish tank in her room. She was deistated when her 'obtomistic Johna fish' from Sunday School died. She was very attached to this fish, carring it around for a day, talking to it all the time. Now she has two of them in her own room.

The Twins had to take something that started with the letter 'A' today. The Elder took apple pies/tarts for everyone (made in large part by the Maternal Grandmother). And the Younger? She took a plush alligator.

yet another day...

...in which I just want to scream.

Saturday was jam-packed, even though I had no plans whatsoever. I was volunteered to be the bouncer on one of those Bounce 'Rounds at the church building. The Mothers-of-Children-Under-the-Age-of-Seven had a party that was not well thought out. Did they really expect a lot of children to automatically form a line and wait their turn? There were close to 10 children in that thing when I walked over there; as well as anytime I walked away to get a coke. Not fun at all.

Sunday, there was a preacher-tryout. He seemed decent enough. Sermon was not all that bad.

Today, the I-40 bridge was down. Something about a support column, but I haven't heard two stories alike enough to say what was going on. I ran over to campus to speak to the new prof who was very cool. Nearly all of my books have been bought, which is extremely nice as classes start tommorrow. My TA buddies are very nervous and not completely sure what to do just yet. No surprise there, as they started teaching today and their first class where they learn how to teach starts tommorrow afternoon.

Pictures

Since one of my SnB buddies demanded pictures, I thought I'd just posts pics. And an update about The Twins in Kindergarten.

Tuesday morning, when Mom woke the Elder Twin up they had a short conversation along these lines:
Mom: It's time to get up.
Elder: What day is it?
Mom: Tuesday.
Elder: I don't think I go to school on Tuesdays.
Mom: Yes, you do go to kindergarten on Tuesdays.
Elder: We should make it a law. No school on Tuesday.
Mom: That's a good plan, and a lot of people would like that plan. But you have to graduate from kindergarten before getting Congress to pass that law.
Elder: Ok.

And now for the pictures...

Younger Twin's finished sweater

The Elder Twin's skirt, still a WIP

Another Hot Day

I finished Jean Rhys' Good Morning, Midnight. It has not done much to put me in a better mood. In fact, after finishing the Part I; I had to escape me for awhile. Meaning, I spent two whole hours at Stash. The owner was cool about it, so no worries there. However, since I did have to finish the book before the semester starts on Tuesday, I sat down this afternoon and forced myself through the rest of it. Don't think about the words, just read. Underline key points and start important paragraphs. The words are dead, they cannot affect me unless I let them. So do not let them.

The Elder Twin's skirt has been blocked, therefore I may seem at the SnB tonight. I am really hoping the knitting matriarch will be able to come today. She needs an hour and a half holiday.

As for WIPs, well there is just the scarf in my purse. Saturday I am casting on some sale yarn to make the City Shrug in the Fall 2006 Knitscene. It will probably look horrible on me, but I want to make it.

Getting Ahead and Behind

Yea! I finished both the Ford novel (The Good Soldier) and Barrie's novel (The Little White Bird). Of course this means that now I must move on to other readings and such.

I have somehow managed to get behind in my knitting projects. Somehow this is related to getting my yarn ball winder back. I had hopes that I would be finished with The Elder Twin's skirt, but there are at least another five inches left to knit, then the seeming and blocking. Or maybe I should block and then seem. Either way, I need to outline the pictures in black embroidery thread. I did pick up a project that actually fits in my purse, a scarf that will be a Christmas present. Cream cashmere/merino wool in moss stitch.

Let's see, I went with Mom to the allergy doctor today. She is officially allergic to life. The only test she has to fail now is the thyroid test. But the doctor's new office is in a quaint little shopping area and I found a stationary shop. Now I can return to my letter writing, owing to the fact I now have sealing wax. I hate not being able to seal letters.

The Elder Twin is at the eye-doctors getting her biannual eye examine. (To make sure her JRA has not spread to her eyes.) Then both Twins are headed here to Mom's house for me to babysit until the StepDad comes home. Mom is showing tonight and has three closings in the upcoming week. Cool for her.

Big Stressful Days

Wednesday, I came to a life-altering decision. I am not going to be an English professor. I am going to be a librarian. Everyone I have told this to, thus far, has been very supportive. But most importantly, I feel a thousand times better. The whole, TA not working out thing just felt wrong. Besides, I can always research, conference, publish. At least this way, I will be missing the pressure to do these things while teaching. All the same, it feels as though I am copying a page from my friend, the Pirate Liberian. While I have been working all summer to read as much of the Fall's required reading as humanly possible; she has been reading for fun. I am so jealous.

Since I have changed lanes, I had to drop the class on how to teach writing (took that as an undergrad anyways). This means another class had to be added. A whole new class with a whole new book-list to read and a large dent in my credit card. May the books please be in on time. At least I know the prof comes with high recommendations. Stars, I just realized I need to drop my fluff class.

I spent most of Thursday, seeing my Sister and Step-Siblings off. After that, I watched The Twins until Mom got home. SnB felt like a much needed holiday, even if I spent most of my time knitting one swatch.

This morning, I helped Mom get The Twins to their first day of kindergarten. The Elder gives education a week, then she plans to talk about other options. I do not want to be present when she finds out education takes a bit longer than a single week. Mom and I also took Puppy to the Vet's to brush her teeth and remove a growth. That was far more upsetting/nerve-racking than kindergarten. However, the Vet says she can go home in a few hours and everything was just fine.

Quick Update

And my car is in the shop. Again.

The good news is, that I did find my phone after being without it for 36+ hours. Let's not actually go into how long I could not find it. It was bad.

Sister seems to be enjoying her trip. At least The Twins and other Family Members are enjoying her being here.

She, the Maternal Grandmother, and myself saw the movie Stardust this afternoon. This was the second time I saw it and would very much like to see it again. The first time, I had to quit knitting as I was dropping too many stitchs. This time, I only dropped one...and added about ten. Oh well. It was a good movie.

I have roughly 200 pages left of The Good Soilder and 100 of The Little White Bird. Not bad at all.

Ah!

The DC family is due in before midnight, and all I can think about is my next knitting project. That's right, I finished the Younger Twin's sweater. She wanted to wear it home, despite the 102 degree Fahrenheit temperature. I might have to re-knit the collar, it should be knitted on a size 3 but I did it on a size 6. It really looks off. Oh good, another day to think about the next project. I like that.

My Maternal Grandfather took me to SnB last night, since my car was still in the shop and has to go back there on Monday. I use to drag him to LYS-s with me, where he read the articles in knitting magazines. To think, I usually just look at the pictures. If this keeps up, I shall be forced to make him an honorary knitter. Or just teach him how to knit. That way, the jargon will not be so strange to him.

Ok, so I also have the next text for my Mod Brit Novel class that came in today on my brain. I ordered these books on Tuesday and already two of the five have come in. I am not reading near fast enough on them. Today's novel is The Good Soldier, A Story of Passion by Ford. Never heard of it. However, I have read three chapters of Barrie's The Little White Bird. Simply delightful.

I wonder if iTunes has Anuna for sale. Just heard a song by them and it was incredible.

Finishing Stuff

The sleeves are too short, by about 2 cm. At least I found this out before doing the seem work. I loosely crocheted the seems and put it on the Younger Twin to see how it looked on her. Cute as could be in it, but the sleeves needed more length. Glad I thought to look before leaping.

I finished (finally) Swift’s novel. See, it even got taken of my list on the right. And the texts for my British Novel class have started to arrive. Too bad the first one in is Joyce’s Ulysses. Why do I feel like starting Virginia Woolf’s Ms. Dalloway? Better yet, I could also start Barrie’s novel. Oh the temptation.

The Maternal Grandfather is probably going to take me to SnB, since my car is still in repair. I really want to finish the sweater by then but that is unlikely to happen. Maybe they have some tips for me.

In other news, the Twins are spending tonight with us instead of their regular Friday night adventure. This is so that we can pick-up Sister at the airport. Warning, sis; they might be camping out on your bed when you get to Mom’s. They are so excited about you coming.

Oh look, another early post

Why is the Swift novel taking so long to finish? I know that I am taking the time to actually make notes, but I feel as though pages are being added without my notice. The fact that I have both a Virginia Woof novel and Barrie’s waiting to be read does nothing for my patience at all. Okay, so I have several of these authors’ works I want to read. And books from my Fall Novel class are on their way. I really, really need to finish Swift.

I wish yesterday could be blotted out from the calendar. Mom had one of her migraines yesterday, and while I have more of them than she does; mine at least allow me to keep going—somewhat. Hers, by contrast, give the impression of a stroke and she pretty much has to sleep them off, no meds. Since I lack wheels at the moment and was already over there, I took care of the Twins while she took care of her migraine. The Twins did not seem to care either way. After Mom woke up, we went to the local hamburger and milkshake place. It was Bike Night and we know some people that show up. With all this, and The Twins being tired and clingy, the day just refused to end.

The stash has experienced an explosion. I do remember buying each and every new skien of yarn, so there is none of that 'yarn-amnesia' sort of thing. You know, when you find yourself in the car with either no memory of being in a yarn shop or no memory of purchasing the yarn. Yet there it is, all nice and neat in a bag with a credit card receipt in the passenger seat. Therefore I should not be surprised to discover that the trunk is getting full again, despite the 4 travel and 2 medium size Space Bags used to sort the stash. Speaking of sorting the stash, I really need to take pictures of it. The truly sad part is that with the exception of Stash (the new yarn store in town) and that huge break-down at Michael's when I just had to start a big project, I have not bought more than $15 at each yarn shopping spree. Is that even considered a spree? No matter what, it does appear as though there has been quite a large growth spurt inside the trunk.

Wow a short post

The Twins and I are on Mom’s bed watching Cars. We are tired, hungry, and irritable. The party at Chuck E. Cheese was a big hit; the b-day girl loved it. Several of the other kids there crashed during Chuck’s appearance. That was cool; it made the party look that much bigger in the pictures. Between myself and this week’s Sitter, we made as many tickets as there are days in a leap-year. Mom and the other moms laughed when I told them. Then again, I was listening to Bach as I was playing the games.

Stars what a migraine, it has stuck around since last night. The flashy lights on the pinball game did not help it. Guess from here on out, I should stick to the computer version.
I was able to knit up a cable bracelet going to and from the party.

Why are all my recent posts so long?

My book came in today! I now have in my library, The Plays of J. M. Barrie printed in 1948. So it is not a first edition, but I have it. Best yet, it is an old library book and has that pressed on laminated dust jacket therefore the scrapbook tape I use to secure a page and fix a tear is beyond acceptable. No real value, but I love it. Thus far, I have read three of his one act plays. Each and every one of them is brilliant in its own way. He manages to capture the human experience, though only one instant in each plays; it is completely universal. And guess what? My Modern British Novel prof posted a booklist, and Sir James M. Barrie’s The Little White Bird made the list. I was beside myself with joy, as several people can vouch for. Not even the fact that I lost the eBay auction on Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Garden can dampen the day.

In any case, I finished Part II and started Part III of Swift’s novel. I must say that his poetry is much better, despite his harsh criticism of the human race.

I have managed to finish 10 of the 27 cm needed for Younger Twin’s sleeves. I am determined to finish them by Friday night. Really before Thursday’s SnB. BTW, it is really hard to keep track of my knitting while reading Barrie. Any other text or author I can manage both.

My car won’t go backwards. The mechanic is set to take out the trans-thingy in the morning; probably when The Twins, Mom, this week’s Sitter, and I are arriving at Chuck E. Cheese. The Younger BFF of The Twins is having her b-day party there.

The regular Sitter is having an operation this week and will not be back for six. The woman who was suppose to watch them (she is like a sister and was married in late December, we carpooled last semester before the world fell apart) for this length of time cancelled last night. I did not catch all the details, and really do not care to. I am just glad that the regular Sitter’s granddaughter could step in this week as the Elder Twin has decided that I exists to annoy and do her bidding. Little sisters.

warning: long post

Animal Control had to take the white cat away after it scratched the Younger Twin; she did absolutely nothing to prompt the episode. I am not sure if Animal Control actually caught the cat or if it just left. I do know that the animal people were called twice. Thankfully, the Twin has recently gotten all her kindergarten shots and is on antibiotics. And it was a scratch not a bite.

The job interview went well, I suppose. I am working for the StepPaternal Grandmother this afternoon, though.

I have finally gotten to the body of the mommy giraffe and the baby’s neck. Younger Twin loves it. I personally cannot wait to be finished. I think I’ll knit both sleeves at the same time. SnB was great; we ended up at a newly-reopened yarn store called Stash. It has a killer sale and they let us stick around and knit on whatever until the store closed at 8. The cool part was knitters from the regular knit-night they have there came as well, so there was a whole new group of people to knit with. One knitter that did not stay got a little overwhelmed when we started talking about the different sock techniques we use.

But not to exclude the Elder Twin, here’s a story that took place while I was SnB-ing last night. Mom and the Elder Twin were at home by themselves, the Younger was at the Maternal Grandparent’s. Mom was feeling pretty good and was trying to get some work done when the Elder comes in and says, “I need to catch the bus for school.”
Mom: School hasn’t started yet, the busses aren’t running.
Elder: Well, I better call them.
She goes to the phone and starts dialing.
Mom takes away the phone: The busses aren’t running yet.
Elder: Well I’ll just walk to school.
She gets her backpack on and goes out the door, heading down the road. Mom has to run out the door and drag Elder back. They go to the Maternal Grandparents, Mom with an armload of papers to work on and the Elder Twin upset that she missed the bus.

Well, I am off to get my computer and run some errands.

I failed my job as Dog Restrainer. That’s right, I was told to hold the dimwitted dog while Mom went out the door with her arms full and I let go too soon. The last time the dog ran out, he was caught by some neighbors and spent the day with them. Unlike my Puppy, this dog takes an hour or two to come home when not detained by someone. Younger Twin is distraught and not even the honor of feeding the outside cat has cheered her up. This white cat has been here a week and shows no signs of leaving anytime soon. Mom told the Twins not to pet or let this cat in, but they could feed it. It has been here so long that I have started calling it Porcelain. If the critter is going to be here awhile, it might as well have a name.

The Younger Twin’s sweater is coming along quickly. Taking the advice of the SnB, I am putting spots on the giraffe. I think it looks hideous and want to frog it; however, the Younger Twin thinks it is so cute and the non-knitters think it looks fine. Hence the decision to wait and see how it turns out: I can always frog later. I really wish I had a working camera and laptop to show it off. But I should be getting the laptop back before the weekend. Another nice thing to have was a pattern for a little girl’s skirt that does not involve working in the round.

Oh good, the black pom-pom has returned. And in less than an hour--what a record.

i <3 Sir Barrie

He must have been a knitter. In Part I of his play, What Every Woman Knows the lead female (Maggie Wylie) is seen mostly knitting. Barrie even has her 'lose a stitch.' How cool is that? And it is not just in this play. So far, he has had a character in each of the works I've read who knits. In Window one minor, briefly seen character dropped the stockings she was working on; she was that excited. Grizzle, from Tommy and Grizzle, was often seen knitting; epically after Tommy went away and she moved out of the doctor's house. Either Barrie himself knit or he was very much aware of the life and habits of knitters.

My knitting is going much quicker. The intarsia image of the giraffes is making the front of the Younger Twin's sweater just soar. If only I did not have to refer to the chart as often. However, with a 50 stitches and 70 rows image; not looking at the chart just creates problems.