Hectic

Wow! Ever since I got back to school I have been moving nonstop! I thought only taking 9 classes this semester would help me slow down but I guess I was wrong. I am taking three music history courses this semester out of those 9 classes and it is tough keeping everything straight. However, I really need to take them all this semester since they are not offered next semester and I want to take my Praxis II in the summer.
I have no time to even breathe on Tuesday and Thursday because I have so many classes and they are all back to back. Monday, Wednesday and Friday don't have as many classes, but I go to the gym in the morning before those classes and do homework all afternoon and evening. I start my work study job tonight and will probably end up working Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
I went home this past weekend since it was a long weekend and helped my mom finish putting in the fence we started building this summer. I also discovered that my dog had been injured while I was gone. Mom took her to the vet today and told me that it is a bulging disk in her back. It will go down and she'll be ok but it will never completely go away. From now on she needs to get a lot more exercise (something she doesn't get when I'm not home due to my mom working all day, my dad sleeping all day and working all night, and my little sister either in school or hanging out with her friends). Hopefully they can work out a good schedule so that she gets more walks because she is loved by all of us and is as much a member of our family as the humans of our family.
My knitting has come to a stand still for now. I get a few rows done on my dad's scarf every few days but until I work out my schedule there isn't much time for knitting. Once I settle into a more concrete schedule the knitting will find its way out of the drawer again.

On The Road Again

I think I have nailed down the projects that I want to take on my trip to St. Louis this weekend. I am going to start and take one of the pillow covers for my bed. I am also going to take cotton yarn for washcloths. AND I am going to take the beginning of the Batman blanket. There are 63 rows of nothing before the symbol starts so I can work on that mindlessly. I already have 14 rows down but it still leaves 49 for the trip (I know I won't get all of it done). The new car we got has AC that works a little too well so it will be nice to feel this growing in my lap. Due to my knee problems I have shotgun the entire way.
Now, about this Batman Blanket. This is the first time I have ever designed a pattern on my own. I used an Excel spreadsheet and made many many MANY mistakes before I decided that it was good enough to try. The background of the entire thing is a dark grey. I have it as the Bat symbol being cast from a building up into the sky (beam of light and all) there are 4 buildings of various heights in the foreground with a two lane road running across the bottom. I am doing the blanket it stockinette stich so I have a border of garter stitch around the entire thing. I know it is a VERY simple pattern and will be pretty painless to execute, but I can't help feeling quite proud of myself for creating it.
My stash reduction this summer has worked wonderfully and I know only have the amount of yarn that will fit in the two drawers I am allowing for it in one of my 3 drawer organizers (the top drawer is filled with fabric and shirts for making shirts for my sorority). Now, when I move in on Monday I need to find a good place to hide this blanket once it gets bigger. It's for one of my college friends that is always coming over for dinner ( I love to cook and he loves to eat) so I need to make sure it is hidden so he doesn't find out about it until I give it to him!
On yet another tangent, I have lost 2 more pounds! I tried on the dress for my cousin's wedding today and discovered that it is quite big on me in the midsection. My mom is going to help me tack it so it doesn't hang funny now that I've lost the weight. I treated my parents to a dinner out tonight with just the three of us since I am leaving next week and I felt ready to explode before I was even close to halfway through my entree. It's a nice feeling to actually feel full without actually eating a lot.
Well, for now I am off. I'm hoping to get a little more packing done ( I did quite a bit of laundry today so I can pack most of my clothes) before I head to bed.

MILEstone

This event is definitely blog worthy! For the first time in my life I ran a mile without stopping! I used to be in terrific shape but for the mile run at school you tried to get the best time so I would run as fast as I could until I got burnt out and then would have to slow down for awhile. Then I had all of my knee surgeries and there was no chance of me running a 1/4 of a mile, let alone a whole mile without stopping. This summer I've been working really hard at finally losing all of my surgery weight. I am very very far from my goal but instead I reached something I wasn't even trying for. In an earlier post I said that I bought the Wii fit. I have been using that as much as possible and finally tackled the running portion of it. You run in place and the screen goes through a landscape based on your pace, as if you are really outside running (much more interesting than the treadmill). I pushed through the long distance run without stopping and now I feel a tremendous feeling of accomplishment! :)
Now I'm off to drink about a gallon of water!

When it Rains....

IT POURS!!!!!! The last couple weeks have just been filled with rain! We have one nice day and then 4-5 days of rain. And for this title to have a double meaning....an earlier post was a rant on boys that just can't make up their minds. Well, I just had another very, very old acquaintance find me on facebook and Yahoo and start talking to me out of the blue. He is very flirtatious and I don't really know where this is coming from!
I find it very interesting that you can go for months/years without anyone seeming to be interested in you and then all of a sudden everyone is paying attention! It's very weird for me and I am definitely out of my element here. I'm just gonna go with the flow on this one and see what happens.
On another note, I am heading back to school in 2 weeks! I'm a little nervous for the upcoming semester, but I'm also very excited. I will be living in my own apartment this year so I don't have to deal with roommates. I also have a much lighter schedule than usual and am looking forward to the free time to do more studying, practicing, knitting, and working out (probably in that order). It will be really nice to actually have some time for myself for a change. I love to work out but never have the time. It's relaxing for me because I can just get away from everything. If I'm mad about something I can just go hit a punching bag until I'm too tired to be mad.

Mini Road Trips

This weekend was filled with mini roadtrips for me. On Friday I went to Erie with my mom for some shopping. I ended up getting a few more things for my apartment and some new yarn for projects.
Saturday we went to Clarion to our camp to see my aunt and uncle. They brought their puppy with them. His name is Tucker and he is a golden lab. I have never seen him, only pictures of when they got him. He is now 4 months old and 50 pounds. He is now the size of my 6 year old dog and does not look like a puppy! But he is absolutely adorable and full of energy!
Sunday we went over to Ohio for a family picnic. On the way I got some knitting done. I completed a washcloth out of my new book and started another one that I have been working on a bit today and am almost done with. The patterns have pictures in them so the first one I made is a frog and the current one is a birdhouse for my mom.
I really need to get better about posting pictures on here and Ravelry! But I never seem to know where my camera is when I'm thinking about it and by the time I find it to take pictures or upload them my little sister has taken the computer hostage!

Boys, ugh!!!!!

I have decided that I cannot date until I am 30, or else I just have to date men that are way older than me! They say that girls mature faster than boys and I fully believe that! I just need a major vent, and what's more perfect than my own blog?
There are a couple guys that I used to have crushes on from high school that have just started talking to me again and both have decided they would like to try a relationship. The thing is, I am no longer into them. We don't really have anything in common, it was only ever a crush, it would never actually work. Then there is an old ex of mine that wants to get back together and says he never got over me. I feel bad, but I have no feelings for him anymore. Then there is a guy that I dated a little bit this past year but we just have nothing in common and to be quite honest, he bugs me to no end. What's a girl to do? I am not looking for my "soul mate" right now, I don't expect to find him at age 20, but still I have no interest in dating these guys. When I try saying that I am told that I have led them on and I'm just playing with them. That's not what I'm doing at all and I don't like being guilt tripped about my feelings.
I love being Methodist but all of this drama is almost enough to make me consider converting to Catholicism, joining a convent, and becoming a nun!
Ok, rant over. Time to go finish making dinner for the one man in my life I'm not completely frustrated with, my daddy!

Chocolate Frogs...a plague on my thighs!

Frogs may have been one of the plagues of ancient Egypt, but now they have come back as a plague on my thighs! I made them for taking to my friend's house last week and they were so adorable and so much fun to make! So of course I will be making them again in the future! Here is a picture of them for those of you that asked.

Heading to the doctor in about an hour and then a hair appointment for my mom. Riding along to get an opinion on me getting a loose perm. I love doing my hair with my spiral curling iron but it takes so long that it just isn't practical in accordance with my school schedule.

After that I think I am heading out for a bike ride with my friend Crystal. Hopefully the storm holds off so that we can. We haven't gone in over a week and we are definitely due for one! Especially after all the frogs I ate!

Long time no blog

The few days leading up to the Harry Potter party and the days following have been crazy so I'm just now getting on to catch up. Everyone loved their scarves! And the cute little chocolate and peppermint frogs I made. We had a ton of fun and I'm very glad that I stuck with it and got the scarves done.

Then my cousin's fiancee's bridal shower was on Saturday so we went to Ohio for that. She was adorable and I think she will fit in with the family perfectly.

I finished another booga bag except for the felting and have started yet another. Now that I made one, everyone wants one. My friend's mom saw her daughter's and really wanted one so I am working on that now and will felt it at the same time as the one that is already done. (save my parents some money on that water bill!)

I am happy to report that I ate in moderation while at my friend's house even though there were some very delicious things, and am still on track with my weight loss goal!!! :)

Temptation

I bought the Wii fit last week and have been playing every day, along with my bike rides and walks over the last several weeks and the result is that I have lost a size! I am very excited. Now, comes the hard part. I am leaving tomorrow for my friend's house to celebrate the release of the new movie. To celebrate each of us is making several items from the books. I am bringing the chocolate frogs, peanut butter fudge, and chocolate fudge. Cami is making pumpkin pasties and acid pops. The other Chelsea is making Butterbeer (non-alcoholic). I am also making peppermint frogs. All of this adds up to packing on all the pounds that I just worked so hard to lose. I have a huge sweet tooth and I feel this week will be my downfall! I'm taking my knitting with me in hopes that if I knit while we are watching the previous movies I will be less tempted to reach into the goodie bags! There will probably be another post later after I am done with the fudge and frogs. I would like to post pictures of the frogs because they are going to be cute, and also the Hufflepuff Scarf that is waiting to have its picture taken.

Shopping

Yesterday my mom took me shopping for various things. I went to AC Moore and found a frog mold for making candy so I can make the chocolate frogs and peppermint frogs from Harry Potter for this week. I also found some gorgeous wool that I will have to take a picture of and post before too long. My mom also found some wool that she bought for me to make her a bag. We also found colors of Red Heart yarn to perfectly match the comforter I bought this year so mommy bought some and promised to make me a blanket. I taught her how to crochet a couple of years ago and she loves making blankets for people. She makes a bunch of baby blankets and donates them to my older sister for auctions they do at the hospital where she works. The auctions benefit the American Cancer Society. I guess they make a couple hundred on each blanket. I believe it's a Chinese auction ( I get confused on what type is what, but people buy tickets and put the tickets in for whatever items they want and a name is pulled).
I also bought a ton of things for my apartment. WalMart was having a sale on dorm related materials in really fun colors so I went and stocked up on all of my blue items (blue is my favorite color and one of my school colors) I bought rugs for my bathroom, new towels, a 4-in-1 stick vacuum that works on tile and carpet (ideal for my apartment this year) a new lamp with a blue base, a new saucer chair in black (alas they were out of blue), measuring cups in blue, a new lasagna pan (blue lid) silverware (to go with the blue dishes my older sister is giving me), and then some of my school supplies. I didn't have some of these things because when I was in the dorms I shared with 3 other girls and we didn't have a kitchen. This past year I lived in a house and upstairs there was me and another girl so we split what we needed to buy. This year I am in a small student apartment on my own so I needed to buy the things that I didn't buy last year. I had a lot of fun picking everything out, especially since everything is made by the same company to match.
I also went to the mall there because I had a great coupon for Bath and Body Works. You spend $15 and get a free wallflower scent. So I bought shampoo and conditioner to try because I like all of their other products. That was $10 so I bought body wash for my mom that she wanted so that I was up to the $15 and then bought Warm Vanilla Sugar wallflowers for my apartment.
I am very excited for this year. I can't wait to live on my own. I am a neat, organized person and living with people tends to wear on me because they tend not to be as tidy as I am. At the same time, however, I won't really be alone. I am only minutes from campus so my friends can come over. Plus, it is a student apartment complex and a lot of my friends will also be living there. I am also excited because I was looking over my schedule for this semester and it will be "light" in comparison to this past year. The fall of last year I took 14 classes and this past spring I took 13 (not to be confused with credits, this is actual number of classes). This semester as of right now I only have 9. I might add one or two more but I'm not sure. Right now I only have one Friday class so I am very excited. It is over at noon so I will have the whole afternoon to study and then be free for the weekend. With not doing marching band this year and having only one class on Friday I will actually be able to go home more often and I am very excited. I only go to school an hour from home but my schedule only allowed me to go home on breaks and maybe once or twice besides that during each semester. My older sister (the one that works in a hospital 5 hours away) comes home more often than I do! Mom is very excited about my schedule as well. My parents try not to play favorites, but out of the three of us I am the one that is most like my mom so we spend as much time together as possible.
Oh my goodness this is getting long! I better be off. I promised mom some home made pumpkin bread for putting up with taking me all over creation to get the things I needed.

Wii Wii

I went on a 5 mile bike ride today with my friend Crystal and her mom to Walmart (2 1/2 miles one way). While we were there I saw the WiiFit and know that my mom and little sister really wanted it so I decided to splurge and bought it for the family. I'm not home 9 months of the year but I figure it will be a good investment for the rest of the family and I can use it when I am home on break. We got it out as soon as I got home and mom, dad and I all had a blast with it. Hopefully this will help my dad (and all of us for that matter) get in better shape. My dad is diabetic and does not take care of himself like he should. He exercises little and eats junk all day long. He likes this and thinks it is fun and we bought him a Wii baseball bat for Father's Day to play Wii Baseball so hopefully he will get in the game and get back to a more healthy lifestyle.

MIA no more!

My Camera has finally been located!!!!! I am so excited. I tore the house apart today looking for it because my mom's memory card turned out to be full and I wanted to give Crystal her bag ASAP.

So here are the pictures I've been waiting to put up....The Slytherin Scarf, the Ravenclaw Scarf and Crystal's Booga Bag!!!!

Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July to all of you who celebrate it! It was a cold but clear day here so our parade was nice in the thick band uniforms. The only problem is that somebody thought it would be smart to put the horses at the beginning of the parade...it wasn't! I made a family dinner for us of hamburgers, homemade dip, watermelon, apple pie, and baked corn. Even the dog got her own little hamburger! We tend to spoil her, haha. At the moment she is curled up under my chair waiting for me to go up to bed so she can hop in with me and cuddle. She is a very cuddly dog and loves to be around us at all times.

The Booga Bag dried much faster than I thought it would and is now completed and waiting to be given over to my friend Crystal. My mom has promised to take a picture of it before I give it away so I can put the picture here and on Ravelry. I can't wait to be able to show it off, along with the Harry Potter Scarves.

I hope all of you had a safe and happy holiday!

Knitting Frenzy

I finished the body of the Booga Bag last night because I just couldn't put it down. I made the i-cord for the handles today and it is currently all in the washer for my first attempt at felting! Fingers crossed! While I wait for the results I am going to head over to my favorite chair and work on that pesky Hufflepuff scarf.
I've got a lot of knitting ahead of me. After the Hufflepuff scarf I have yarn on the way for another Booga Bag and a request for yet another and also a pair of socks. And after all of that is done I need to destash by making a lot of my regular scarves. I have enough for at least 5, if not more hidden somewhere. I need to seriously destash before heading back to school because I am moving into a much smaller apartment where I will have far less room for all of my stuff. It is the perfect size for a single person, but there isn't much storage space and I hate rooms that look cluttered. I will definitely be on a "yarn diet" until I graduate and move into a bigger place in a few years. Until then it will be a "buy as you use it" kind of deal. I don't have the space or the money to build up a large stash.
Well, my needles are calling so I am off to answer!

Booga Booga!

I told myself that I would not start any new projects until I finished these scarves but the yarn arrived for one of the Booga Bags and I just had to cast on! I feel less guilty by considering that I am so sick of those scarves that I am not very productive while working on them. This way, I will get a small break and will come back refreshed and ready to knit away on the last scarf and get it done faster. I already have the bottom of the bag done and a few rows of the sides.
I am taking it over to the hospital with me and will work tonight and I think that will give me enough of a break that tomorrow I can be a good girl again and get back to the Hufflepuff Scarf.
After these scarves and the 2 Booga Bags I am planning on making, I will be reducing my stash by using leftover yarn from projects to make my "regular" scarves that only take a couple days. I just knit these in K2, P2 ribbing and my friends love them and want them much faster than I can ever crank them out!
My camera is still MIA and I am getting very frustrated! I have torn through all of my boxes and totes from school and can't find it anywhere. I know it made it home because I saw it once, but that was over a month ago and heaven only knows where it is now. That is the one disadvantage of coming home for the summer, I have no room anymore so my stuff gets moved all over the house sporadically and I never know where anything is. My box of towels ended up in the dining room and my box of dishes ended up in the upstairs hall!

Chiropractor

Once again I am heading off to the chiropractor. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should continue going as often as he says I need to. My mom swears by this guy but I'm just not sold yet. This week and last week I was to go 3 times a week, then the next 2 weeks go twice a week. After that he wants to see me once a week for the rest of the summer. I already have my appointments set up for the next two weeks and I think after that I will compromise and go every other week. He has definitely helped so far but I think at this stage in my life I do not actually need all of the correction that he says I need.
After my appointment I am heading home to knit until that darn Slytherin scarf is done! I am 4 inches from it being complete and I am determined it will be done today so I can get that Hufflepuff scarf started! Hopefully my yarn will be arriving soon for 2 Booga Bags off of Ravelry and I can get those started. I also have a blanket I have been crocheting that I just can't get into enough to make any progress.
The story behind the blanket...I was dating a guy (that I thought was absolutely great) and had already made him one blanket that he loved and he asked if I would make another one for him. I bought all the yarn and got very far into it. Then he dumped me. He had known for several weeks (the entire time I was making the blanket) that he was going to dump me but he couldn't work up the courage until he was back at school and we were talking online. I was so disgusted that I packed up everything he had given me plus the blanket and yarn into a box and wanted him to pick it all up. He never did because he didn't have the courage to face me while he was home and all of it is still boxed up except the blanket....I took it out one day and unraveled the entire thing. I didn't know what to do with the yarn so I decided to make another blanket, in a different pattern out of it. I got started but I just can't be motivated.

New to Blogging

I attempted a blog once before and found that I didn't have the time for it when I began so it quickly fell apart. Since it is summer I am hoping to get in the habit of updating frequently so it becomes a habit that I can remember and keep up with when life gets hectic again at school.

Currently my camera is MIA among all the boxes from school that have not been unpacked. My parents are currently in the process of redoing their house and therefore almost nothing has been unpacked from school so it can be moved easily as they redecorate. As soon as it is found (which might not be until September) I will post pictures of my various adventures in knitting and life.

Right now I am working on a monumental reading list that I hope to complete by the end of next summer, after which I will begin taking the classes required for my english literature minor. The List started as classic novels that I have always wanted to read, then some books for fun were added, then some books suggested by my Literature for Young Adults professor, and then finally more suggestions from friends and family. The list is 150+ books at this point and hopefully won't grow much longer for the time being! I have been prowling the used book stores in the area trying to hunt down these books and have come up with about 50 of them. With such a wealth of literature it is hard for me to pick the order I will read the books in! Mostly I go with hardback books because they stay open on their own so I can knit at the same time!

I'm off to curl up with the Slytherin scarf to finish it off and watch Little Women. The scarf pictured above is what I am making, although I did not actually make the scarf in the picture.