|
|
Monday, August 30, 2004
In Case There Was Any Doubt......I am SO not Michael Phelps. Aside from the obvious physical differences, he can swim 17 olympic races, and medal in all of his events, and I can barely splash my way up and down the pool for 20 minutes. And now? It hasn't quite been an hour since I got out of the pool, and I can't raise my arms above my shoulders, and my legs are shaking. But besides the obvious physical limitations I'm going to have to acknowledge, I am LOVING the pool. I am definitely going to have to commit to swimming twice a week... provided I can move, of course. :)And no, I'm not going to pull a Rachael and commit to swim the Chesapeake Bay, or anything... ;) And in other good news, I busted my @$$ this weekend, and I'm actually AHEAD in my studying. AHEAD. Let me just let that soak in for a second. I still have tons of work to do this week, but I can take tonight off, and I can take Wednesday night off to hang with the gals over at the lovely world of Knit Happens. Oh, and Mom's home, and doing much better. Things are definitely looking up in the world of Maeve. I might even get some knitting in tonight... 0 comments || # Friday, August 27, 2004 Even More Studying!At some point, perhaps I will have time to knit. And shower. And sleep. Ah, it's the little things in life...Of course, Cricket is quickly figuring out how to make this whole "study thing" work to her advantage... 
Not only has she figured out that, by simply sitting on all those papers on my desk that I'm trying to read, I'm FORCED to pet since I can't study anymore, she's also figured out that if I try to move her off of the papers, she can get all "psycho kitty" on me, and then I'll have to play with her so she'll stop trying to bite my arm. It's a fun little game we've been playing. (cricket - 4 , maeve - 0). ;) 0 comments || # Thursday, August 26, 2004 Actual Knitting!!Now, don't get too excited... just a few rows on Trinity last night while watching the Olympics (in my world, it's still Saturday night. At this rate, I'll be watching Olympics until October.) But yes, I think Wednesdays will be my "vacation" night from studying like a madwoman... hopefully this will enable me to join the girls at Knit Happens, but last night I had to go to the hospital and visit Mums... she's doing much better, but still can't go home yet. Apparently her appendix was one of the "messiest" the surgeon had dealt with... I'm sure she's so proud. But of course this means that they have to be even MORE careful lest any nasty infections develop, so they're not saying when she'll be ready to go home yet. So I swung by and brought her a kick-ass audio-book biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine... hopefully it'll help pass the time and help her to ignore her roommate who seems to have a penchant for innane daytime tv.So by the time I got home from the hospital, I was wiped... so I turned the clock back to Saturday night, and spent one last evening with my boys in the pool... ah, olympic swimming, I'll miss you! And for a few minutes before Cricket decided it was snuggle time, I actually managed to knit- I think for the first time in about a week. It felt so good. But now, to make up for my break last night, I must study. At 7 am. Ugh. 0 comments || # Sunday, August 22, 2004 More StressSo just when I was beginning to get a little overwhelmed by all of the work I have to do for Monday and Tuesday, I get a call from my dad. Now, we were supposed to get together and go out to dinner tonight, so I was expecting him to ask about restaurant choices or something like that. No, he's calling to tell me that they're in the emergency room, and that my mom has appendicitis and is on her way to the O.R. Luckily, the operation was a success, and hopefully she'll be home in a few days, good as new... but definitely NOT what I wanted to hear on the eve of my first (and busiest) day at law school.And now I have to try and concentrate on studying. It's so not happening... At least, though, I have a good study-buddy! ;) 
0 comments || # Friday, August 20, 2004 Whew!Well, law school orientation is finally over, and I'm as tired as I've ever been in my entire life. This is partly a result of the hectic schedule of the past 3 days, but really, the blame rests in the little paws of a certain black kitty. You see, we had a little bit of excitement last night. As I came into my bedroom and went to the closet, I saw a little brown streak run across the floor. It was possibly the tiniest little mouse I've ever seen... you know, the kind that has the huge circular ears and a TEENY body. Well, it ran along the wall and got stuck where my bulletin board was leaning against the wall. That's where Cricket cornered the poor little thing, but luckily she couldn't quite reach the little mousie, so she was just trying to poke it. I felt so bad when I heard the little squeeks of terror from the mouse, so I deputized the boyfriend to secure the mouse while Cricket and I took a little walk into the other room. All ended well... sort of. Little mousie was set free FAR away from my apartment, and Cricket got lots of treats for being such a fierce and brave kitty. Then I went to bed. Unfortunately, Cricket thought the mousie was part of a fun new game, so she kept sniffing around the room and pawing at things... making plenty of noise... and when she didn't find another fun and exciting little toy, she repeatedly jumped up on the bed, squeeked at me, walked over my chest a few times, and then proceeded to run around the room making MORE noise. Then, of course, she spent the entire day sleeping on my bed while I was running around {sigh}.I also decided that there was NO way I was willing to ruin my back in order to make it through law school, so I went to REI and bought myself the rolls royce of day packs. For a mere $100, I now have ultra-padded body-contoured shoulder straps, the all-important hip and chest straps to distribute the weight, and a 38 cubic litre capacity. Plus, just in case, I have an ice-axe loop. You know, for my ice-axe. I'm sure you have one too. I'm hoping that, eventually, there might be some sort of knitting content again eventually. But for the next few weeks, I'm fairly certain I'll be spending the majority of my time either studying, or sleeping, or watching olympics. I'm currently watching the events from Thursday afternoon. It's getting really hard to avoid hearing the results, especially when they're as exciting as PAUL HAMM's amazing performance... but somehow I'm managing to mostly keep the surprise. At this rate, though, my olympic experience will last well into September! In the 'good news' column, it looks really likely that I'll be able to keep whooping it up with the ladies at Knit Happens on Wednesdays. Luckily, my schedule is fairly light on Thursdays, so hopefully I'll be able to clear out the evening... at least MOST of the time. ;) 0 comments || # Thursday, August 19, 2004 OverwhelmedWow. I'm in the second of 3 days of orientation, and somehow I'm managing to feel a bit MORE confused than I was initially. Plus, I have nonstop things to do each day. But really, it'll all be fine. We had our first "practice class" today, and, once I was actually in the classroom, it all felt ok.But what didn't feel ok? Spending $675 on books. OUCH. They were so heavy that my roommate and I had to catch a cab home. I'm definitely going to be hitting kinkos to get my books chopped up- or else there is no way I'm going to be able to carry all of my books for class each day. Plus, I think I'm going to have to get a cushier backpack... damn, all this stuff is HEAVY!! Hopefully, life will soon seem more manageable... but right now, everything is just a blur. Whew! 0 comments || # Monday, August 16, 2004 What A Way To CelebrateSo this is my first official non-vacation day where I'm not at work. It feels pretty strange, but definitely good. REALLY good. Of course, it would feel a lot better if I didn't have a cold... or maybe it's due to the lovely bouquets of ragweed that are beginning to blossom everywhere. Regardless, I feel like I've been run over by something large and heavy. Well, at least I didn't have to drag myself anywhere today- I cancelled my planned bike riding excursion and curled up alternately on the bed and couch and enjoyed the olympics (taped from last night), kitty snuggles, and knitting. Actually, all things considered, a pretty good way to spend a sick day!I also got to try out a present my dad got for me in Oregon... isn't it cute? 
But the best part is inside... perfect for those pesky little things like stitch markers that always seem to either get lost in the shuffle, or somehow end up as kitty toys and are never seen again. :) 
Speaking of knitting, I finally finished the knitting of my dad's vest... I still have to assemble it and do the arm and neck bands, but that is definitely not suitable knitting for the olympics, so I'll put that off until later. 
I also have 2 pairs of socks to finish (leftover from the trip)... but I figure I can work on those while I'm running around for orientation and stuff like that. So instead, I started on my next sweater- it's Trinity from one of the Rowan books. I'm too lazy to look up the title, but it's the one with like 80 patterns in it. I'm not sure how I feel about the bobbles in this pattern... I've never thought of myself as a bobbles type of girl... but the pattern, written for Rowan denim, seems perfect for the cotton blend yarn I used for both my ribbie pullover and my ribbie cardigan, since that yarn also (like the Rowan), shrinks lengthwise. But we'll see... 
0 comments || # Saturday, August 14, 2004 Randomness from 11:42 p.m.First of all, let me just say, emphatically, that I LOVE the Olympics. I'm almost finished watching the coverage from this afternoon (and my parents taped some more for me), and I'm taping the prime time broadcast at 2am (no, I'm not quite crazy enough to get up and watch it!) And the best part about taping it all is that (a) I can use the bathroom without missing anything exciting, and (b) I can fast forward through the inane commentary and extra long commercial breaks, and just get to the good stuff.But seriously, I am SO excited... I am officially an Olympics dork. One of the highlights of my life was attending the '96 games in Atlanta. If I ever have more money than I know what to do with, I'll be attending Olympics like a madwoman. On the bright side, though, all the tension and excitement of the various events make for some great knitting. On a completely unrelated note, I'm making great strides in outfitting myself with some halfway decent clothing for the upcoming school year... I figure this is the last month where I'll feel like I can buy anything, so I might as well get some new duds. ;) My biggest goal... getting clothing that REALLY fits and that I really like... rather than a lot of the "it's good enough" stuff that I accumulated for work-related purposes. I want clothes that make me feel good, and that I'll actually pull out of the closet every once in awhile. (Hmmmm... clothes that actually fit AND that I love? All of this custom-knitting must be getting to me!) I started a few weeks ago by getting some bras that actually work, and I've moved on from there. Today, it was some serious great shopping... 5 pairs of underwear and 2 tank tops (the best kind- the ones with the built in bras!) for $35 (thanks to a fantastic 30% off coupon that lured me to the store in the first place), and then I got a bonus $15 store credit that I can use in a couple of weeks. :) Now if fall would just hurry up and get here, I could pull out the sweaters! 0 comments || # Friday, August 13, 2004 Back!It's so good to be home... even though the trip was fantastic. There's nothing quite like waking up in your own bed with your own little kitty saying "hello". :) Of course, I came home just in time to drown in the 2 hurricane leftovers we're supposed to get in the next couple of days... I guess I shouldn't have bothered asking my roommate to water the tomato plants...I haven't had a chance to go through all the pictures yet, but here are a few to prove that I actually did go somewhere over the past 6 days... First, I grew a mountain (Mount Rainier) out of my head... We had the most amazing weather and all of the wildflowers were blooming. I think I could have spent the entire trip walking in the sub-alpine meadows. 
Plus, we had a real-life wildlife experience... we saw HOARY MARMOTS! I'm not quite sure what makes them hoary, and I'm not quite sure what a marmot is, but the 2 babies that we saw playing in the stream were adorable. 
By far, though, the coolest wildlife experience happened in the Japanese Gardens at the arboretum in Seattle. We were all sitting on the benches looking at the turtles, ducks, and giant (think 2 feet long!) koi in the beautiful pond when a gigantic blue heron swooped over our heads and landed on the island in the middle of the pond. That was cool all by itself, but then the heron made its way into the shallows, and, after apparently standing perfectly still for several minutes, suddenly dove into the water and came up with a smaller koi. It was like the discovery channel live, right in front of us. I did feel a little sorry for the koi, but the heron's gotta eat too, right? 
And here I am at the top of the Space Needle... 
...and here I am knitting with my brother and sister-in-law at the lake shore. 
What a great trip... now if my laundry would just do itself, I would be all set! 0 comments || # Thursday, August 05, 2004 
0 comments || # Tuesday, August 03, 2004 Want Some Strawberries With That?
Yippie! I have an (almost) fininshed Strawberry Lace! I love the way it fits! It was definitely worth re-knitting the entire bottom section to get the right fit. I still need to do the finishing touches, including adding a bit of reinforcing on the center of the v's (both front and back) because it looks as if it is stretching apart a bit too much. But I'm already planning on wearing this one on the plane to Seattle on friday! Oh, and anyone planning on joining the Wednesday night group at Knit Happens tomorrow, be forewarned... 
Ok, so it might not be initially obvious, but that's brownie batter.... specifically "no pudge" brownie mix (made with yogurt instead of eggs/oil)... so it's fat free. Well, the BATTER is fat free. The 3/4 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips I added to the fat free batter probably changes things around a bit. ;) But yes, I will be baking these bad boys and bringing them tomorrow... so there will be chocolate-y goodness for all. And now that I've publically committed to bringing the brownies, I can't "forget" them and eat them all myself. In fact, that's why it's in the fridge right now- I don't want to bake it until later when I'll be less likely to eat 1/2 the pan. ;) Cricket is way too busy soaking up the summer sun to worry about brownies... do they sell kitty sunscreen? 
0 comments || # Sunday, August 01, 2004 Happy August!So this morning as I was driving to my parents' house to mow their lawn, it was already 77 degrees... at 9 am. At least it was cloudy when I was actually mowing, and then it didn't start pouring rain until I was done. But now, given that it is now not only HOTTER outside than it was this morning, but, thanks to the rain, the humidity is now unbelievable, I'm planning on spending the rest of the afternoon inside, preferably watching a mini-marathon of this guy:
... who reminds you that skin-tight purple-striped spandex will ALWAYS be in style (when accompanied by a guitar). ;) I'm still working on Strawberry Lace, and hoping it might be finished in time to come to Seattle with me at the end of the week. I think I should be able to manage it since this is my last week of work, meaning that I will be spending very little time actually in the office. Cricket suggests that you spend YOUR time in an empty cardboard box... apparently, there is no better place to play, sleep, bathe, or just hang out looking cute. ;) 
0 comments || # |
|
