Christmas approacheth

Okay, you guys know it's only a few months until Christmas, right? A few months seems like a long time, but it's really not. I know because I make the same mistake every year and put off starting Christmas presents until way too late because I keep thinking that there's plenty of time. What I forget is that time passes quickly (what's up with that? I swear it's passing more quickly now that I'm older).

So, I give you....

One sock for my husband:


The pattern is Whitby from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road (sorry, I'm not feeling up to putting in the links today. Maybe I'll add them later). I'm working on the leg of the second sock. These are knitting up pretty fast. I usually knit socks on size 1 or 0 needles, and these were on size 3. I feel like I'm flying through them! It helps that my husband's feet are only slightly larger than mine so it's not like I need to make a humongous pair of socks.

I've also been working on some sewing projects. I've made some coasters from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book.

These are for John's grandmother who used to be a French teacher:



These are for my grandmother:


I went to Loopy yarn store today and got these:


On the left is Euroflax with which I'll be making a pair of handtowels for my mother-in-law, a la Mason-Dixon Knitting (the first book). I've never worked with linen before--should be interesting. On the right are two balls of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock which are destined to be a pair of socks for my mother who has enjoyed the socks I've given her the last couple of years.

Not shown: a set of coasters for my step-grandmother. They are next on my list of sewing projects.

Finally, I give you my cat's new favorite sleeping spot:


I knew there was a reason I was keeping a box of yarn lying around the apartment.

Little Purple Shrug

I started this shrug from Lace Style earlier in the month and finished it today. I'm going to wear it to a wedding I'm going to in Sept. Here are a few pix of the completed shrug. In the photos, I'm wearing the dress I'll be wearing to the wedding.


Specs

Pattern: Little Lace Shrug from Lace Style
Yarn: Tapestry by Rowan
Colorway: Highland (SH179)
Fiber: 70% wool, 30% soy

It was pretty fun to knit although the lace pattern did start to get boring after awhile. Still, it was easy and turned out well and that's what I really needed right now in a knitting project (who doesn't need a project that turns out well?!)

In other news, I'm having an okay Labor Day weekend even though I've been into lab a couple times now. I think I'm going to take a half day off tomorrow (yeah, I'm wild like that). The yeast are behaving in one experiment and totally misbehaving in another. Oh well.

Dusting off the blog

Well, I've been silent for awhile now and while I'm getting lots of work done in lab, I miss the blogging community a lot. So, I'm dusting off the blog and sweeping the cobwebs out of the corners. I'm not going crazy with it, though. My current goal is one post a week. If I can manage that then I'll feel like I'm doing okay.

So, what have I been up to? Lab. That's pretty much it. Oh, every once in awhile I do necessary things like laundry and washing dishes, but mostly, I'm just in lab. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. So far, I'm holding on to my sanity by the skin of my teeth, but I am still holding on to it! Last weekend (Aug 16 and 17) I was in Iowa for my nephew's first birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year already. I still remember the seemingly endless waiting for the phone call from my mom to tell me my sister had gone to the hospital. Where does all the time go? Well, we celebrated his birthday with a cookout at a park and then the next day went to the Iowa State Fair and saw all manner of farm animals (and even petted a few--hey, does anyone out there know why they shave llamas to look like poodles?) and prize-winning dahlias and ears of corn. I ate a footlong corn dog, a funnel cake, some ice cream, a honey stick, a hard-boiled egg on a stick (given away for free at some booth), a real lemonade, and a strawberry smoothie. Yum! We saw the butter cow (life-sized cow carved out of butter) and the butter Shawn Johnson (she's from Iowa) and an ice-sculpture carving demonstration. And contrary to normal state fair weather it was actually pleasant out and we didn't go home hot and sweaty and on the verge of a heat stroke. I wish John could have been with me. I think it would be fun to drag his city boy ass all over the state fair and make him look at 1200 pound pigs.

Speaking of John, right now, I'm sitting on my balcony in California. I came here just as soon as I got back from Iowa. I needed a break from lab in the worst way (I believe I told my advisor, "I need a break or I'm going to shoot someone.") so I decided to take a total of 10 days and go to Iowa and then California. I'm hoping it's my last big break before the final push to get everything done in lab. We'll see how it goes. My labwork has been giving me fits and I've spent the last three months troubleshooting an experiment that used to work before the Powers That Be took away one of my resources and turned the space into an office. I'd like to find the bureaucrat who thought that was a good idea and tell him a thing or two.

So, I've spent the last several days in California knitting and shopping and going to craft stores and swimming the pool at the apartment complex. Can't wait until I get to do this full-time!

Still alive

Just not blogging. Or reading blogs (I'm so far behind in my blog-reading, I may just skip all of the back posts. Maybe.). Or knitting. So, not much to talk about on my knitting blog--that's for sure. But, I thought I'd better check in so that people don't think I've been eaten by a giant mutant yeast or spilled a bottle of acid on myself and ended up dissolved in the drain by the safety shower in lab or anything else untoward. I had a spot of depression, but thanks to some new meds, that cleared right up except that now I can't make my legs sit still.

I really am barely doing any knitting at all. I've made a few plain, square washcloths--knit on the bias with a yarn-over border--you know, the classic. That's been about all I can handle lately. I'm feeling a little brain-dead from the lab stuff. I'm spending a lot of time in lab (it's 9:30pm on a Friday and I'm still in lab--that tell you anything?).

Also, I'm crocheting a granny square afghan for the couch in the conference room because it's chilly in there when I take a nap.

That's it. That's my life for the moment. Boring as hell. Don't worry, I'll let you know if something exciting ever happens.

Tilted Duster Progress Report

I've been working on the Tilted Duster from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. By "working on" I mean knitting for 10 minutes here and there. With some relaxation time in California, I was able to complete the back:


I tried to get a photo of it that showed what it was sitting in front of but, I wasn't able to get both the knitting and the fireplace in the same photo (it does get a little bit chilly in the evenings and my husband is a delicate flower, so we turn on the gas fireplace in the evenings). I pinned it out because otherwise, it looked like a big magenta lump. I took some measurements and so far, I seem to be on track for fit. Stay tuned.

Dear Mother Nature,

Please make it stop snowing in Chicago so I can get on a plane to take me to see my husband tonight. Thanks.

Love,

Elisabeth

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I'm heading for California this evening (hopefully). Last night, the undergrad in the lab pronounced me "lucky." To which I said:

"Yes, I'm incredibly lucky that my husband lives in California while I live in Chicago."

He hadn't really considered it like that before. Still, it's better than my husband living in Nova Scotia while I live in Chicago, I suppose.

I've gotten so used to these trips, they barely phase me anymore. I haven't even packed yet because I know I can do so in about 15 to 20 minutes. It helps that I don't have to pack toiletries.

Words fail me

From an article about a toy rental company:

Pope also keeps a close eye on the merchandise, yanking toys that are broken or more than "gently worn" and donating them to needy families nominated by her customers.

"If it has a little scratch on it, we're not going to take it out of the program," she said. But, "we're not going to ever send anybody anything that they're going to feel like is junk."

But apparently it's okay to give "needy" families broken toys. They have to take what they can get after all. I mean, it's practically a waste to give poor people something that's fully functional. Especially poor children. Might as well start them out crap since that's all they're likely to get in their lives anyway. Wouldn't want to raise their hopes and expectations or anything like that.

Okay, maybe words don't fail me.

I finally succumbed

I'm now on Ravelry. My name is E-beth (Elisabeth was taken and it was too late at night when I signed up for me to be more creative). I've managed to put up my two works in progress and entered a few of my books and some of my needles. Nothing listed in the stash or queue, though. And I've joined one group--Scientific Knitters.

I can see how this site could become extremely addictive, so I'm going to try to restrict the amount of time I spend on it. We'll see how well that works!

Mittens Accomplished

I finished the mittens for R:



Specs:

Pattern: Flap-top Mittens, designed by Kim Hamlin, found in Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick.

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulk in Blue Flannel, and Manos del Uruguay #103

Needles: Bamboo dpns size 6 and 7

Total project time: 15 hours and 30 min.

Modifications: There was no way I was going to get gauge with the yarns I had chosen, so I knit a nice gauge swatch, then calculated the number of stitches I would need based on that. Since this is the first time I have ever manipulated a pattern that way, it took me awhile to do the calculations and some test knitting when I got to the flap part. This is reflected in the total project time (as is the fact that I had to rip them out a couple of times!). Also, I put a couple of decreases in the fingerless mitten part that goes under the flap so it would fit more snugly. Otherwise, I knit them more or less according to the pattern.

Next time: Well, I would probably use different yarn. The Manos and the Lamb's Pride, while supposedly knitting up at the same number of stitches per inch did not behave in the same way. Mostly, I think this is because the Manos is a "thick and thin" yarn and that made the fabric it created a bit more loose than the Lamb's Pride which was dense. At the gauge I knit the Lamb's Pride, I got a fairly stiff fabric. While this produced a very warm and more wind-proof fabric, it made it somewhat challenging to incorporate the flap in a way that looked nice. As it is, I'm still not particularly pleased with the way the flap is attached. The pattern calls for double-wrapping your stitches then, on the next round, setting aside every other stitch onto a stitch holder. Those are then live stitches that you use to start the flap. But, those stitches ended up looking very loose compared to everything else. If I make flap top mittens again, I'll have to work on finding a different way to make a flap.

I really do like the Lamb's Pride, though. This is the first time I've worked with it and it's a very nice yarn to work with. It feels good while knitting it and it gives really great stitch definition (which can be good and bad depending on how even your stitches are!). I grossly overestimated how much yarn I would neeed for the project and I have an entire skein of the Lamb's Pride left just begging for me to make something for myself. I really liked the Manos, too. The colors are wonderful and I think that used alone or coupled with a more complementary yarn, it would be great for any sort of warm, winter project. I've got quite a bit of that leftover, too. I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet. I'd love to make a hat for my nephew with it, but it's not machine washable and I really don't like giving babies things that have to be handwashed.

R loved the mittens and put them on right away. I was a little worried they would be drafty where the flap edge meets the rest of the mitten, but she says not.

So, now Christmas is finally over!

Just in time for Lent.

More knitting time?

Everytime I start to get sick, I think, "No problem, just more knitting time!" Apparently, even though I have been sick many times in the last 5 or 6 years since I learned to knit, I have forgotten that being sick does not mean extra knitting time. Being sick means sleeping all day and all night and spending what little time I am awake blowing my nose and taking completely ineffective cold medicine.

All of this to say, I'm sick. :(

I really hate being sick. I'm not sure that many people actually enjoy it, I suppose, but I would just like to state for the record that it is not my idea of a good time. In addition to feeling like crap, I'm missing perfectly good days of work in lab--just when I finally, finally got an experiment to work right. And, on top of that, it finally got really cold in Chicago and I may have missed my only chance to go ice skating this winter.

Yes, I would like a little cheese with my whine. Pass the Brie.

In knitting news, I am still working on the mittens. These are the mittens with the flaps from Handknit Holidays and I just need to knit the flap for the second mitten. Let's not discuss the fact that it'll probably be spring by the time I finish them. At least she'll have them for next winter.

Mittens? What mittens?

So, unless I get really inspired, the mittens will not be done today (which is the last day of Christmas. And since it is--I kid you not--50 degrees here in Chicago today, I sincerely doubt I will be really inspired to knit warm, wool mittens.

The weather has been really screwed up here this winter. Actually, it's been pretty screwed up the last couple of winters. It's rarely below freezing, and sometimes it warms up to the absurd temperature of 50 degrees. We have gotten some snow and there was an ice storm, but those things are anomalies. Mostly, it's been pretty reasonable. You'd think I'd be happy about that but....it's creepy. It's not supposed to be mild. It's supposed to be ridiculously cold. This is Chicago, for cryin' out loud! The past couple of winters, I haven't even been able to go ice skating because there haven't been enough days below freezing. WTF?

1 out of 3 Christmas knitting goals attained

Well, I finished the socks I was making my mother for Christmas. I barely even started the ones I was going to make for my grandmother. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought that I would get those done. I have no idea when/if I'll ever get those done. Finally, I'm still working on a pair of mittens for a friend. Technically, according to the Catholic church, it is still the Christmas season (the days leading up to Christmas are Advent and the Christmas season starts on Christmas day and ends 12 days later on the Epiphany). It is marginally possible I'll finish the mittens by the Epiphany (this Sunday) but I rather doubt it.

I really didn't do much to celebrate Christmas this year. Very little decorating. No baking. No cards. No tree. Just labwork. Always, everyday, labwork. So next Christmas (when I will NOT be in grad school, God willing), I am going to go all out on the Christmas stuff. I'm going to fill dozens of tins with homemade cookies--sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies and spritz and those ones with the Hersey's kisses in the centers. I'm going to send Christmas cards to everyone I have ever met in my life. I am going to have two Christmas trees. I'm going to cover every window and the balcony with lights. I'm going to wrap presents in the most elaborate way possible with fabric wired ribbon and who knows what else. In short, I am going to whoop it up bigtime. Martha Stewart will look at my apartment and say, "Whoa." She will wonder how I find the time to do everything.

That's my plan, anyway.

Going to Iowa

Well, I leave for Iowa in just a few short hours. I never blocked my mom's socks, but that's okay. Grandma's socks were a failure. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought I could get those done in a week. I didn't even finish one toe--and I'm doing them toe-up! It's okay, though. Grandma will understand.

In addition to family Christmas tomorrow, my nephew is getting baptized. And I get to be his godmother! I'm very excited!! Yesterday, I went downtown to the Catholic bookstore to get his present. It's hard buying a religious gift for an infant, let me tell you. I finally settled on a little pin that can be pinned onto whatever he's wearing for the baptism and some books. They're those kind of books where all of the pages are really hard so that kids can play with them. One is little prayers and the other is something like Baby Goes to Church.

But, before I can go to Iowa I have to:

• Pack
• Go to lab for lab meeting
• Pick up the rental car

That's a lot to do, so I'd better get to it!

It only took 3 hours

But I finally got the toe of the second sock done, with the exception of the grafting. I ripped it out several times and ended up having to rip back some of the foot because I realized that the second sock had one extra pattern repeat in it. Ugh! I left the grafting until today because it was pretty late when I finisheed the toe and I wanted to make sure that, in my sleepiness, I didn't completely screw things up. I haven't had the courage to look at it yet in the light of day....

I also wound one of the hanks of yarn for the next pair of socks into a ball. I really need a swift.

Sock Toes

When I get to the toe of the sock, I like to do paired decreases at each side,* sometimes with a round (or two) of no decreases in between and sometimes not, depending on how long I need the toe to be. In other words, I just make it up as a I along. The smart thing to do would be to record what I did on the first sock so that when I come to the second sock, I can do the same thing. But noooooo, I just wing it, don't write anything down, then try to figure it out when I come to the toe of the second sock. Why on earth do I do this? I really need to keep better notes on my knitting. I need a lab notebook of knitting. Perhaps I should start that today.

A solution that I had come up with was to knit both socks at the same time using magic loop (I prefer magic loop to dpns for most circular knitting). I stopped doing this because I mostly knit socks on the go. Because they are so small socks make a good travel project. Well, knitting two socks at the same time means two balls of yarn which would sometimes get messy (I also tried using one ball of yarn and knitting with both ends at once and that was okay, but still not ideal) and could be especially problematic when I was knitting during a seminar (because they have the lights down so we can see the slides). Having to carry around enough yarn to work on two socks at once also make the project a bit more bulky. Finally, it felt like it took forever to make progress. I usually knit socks with fingering weight yarn on size 0 needles which means A LOT of stitches. And since I was only working on the socks on the go, I would only be able to knit a little at a time and therefore it seemed like I was making no progress at all. Still, I might go back to it because it does make it easier to make identical looking toes and it's a good way to avoid Second Sock Syndrome.

I bring this up because last night I was working on the toe of a second sock and had to take the time to minutely inspect the toe of the first sock to see how I did it (and I really wanted to know exactly how I did it because I thought I had done a really good job on that toe). I finally gave it up and started to wing it. We shall see how the toe of the second sock turns out! I can't show you a picture because it is a present for Christmas. I'll show you a picture after I give them to the recipient.
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*What this means is that, using the magic loop method, I divide the stitches evenly on the two needle points. I knit until the last three stitches, do a left leaning decrease, knit one, switch to the other side in the manner of the magic loop, then knit one and do a right leaning decrease. I then knit on that side until the last three stitches and decrease in the same manner as before. Therefore, I decrease four stitches per round.

Holiday Knitting

*Kristen over at Procrastinating in Pittsburgh just had to put to sleep a beloved pet. Go give her some love.

My family is celebrating Christmas early this year. On the 15th, actually. Needless to say, this is not conducive to knitting gifts. It is, in fact, really the opposite of the ideal scenario for a knitter. Ideally, if your family isn’t going to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, then a knitter much prefers it to be celebrated later. After New Year’s maybe. Certainly not 10 days early in any case!

Unfortunately, while I knew my family was celebrating Christmas early this year, that fact did not connect to what my knitting deadline was until a couple weeks ago. I knew Christmas was going to be on the 15th, and yet I was still somehow thinking I had until the 25th to finish making my gifts. Once I put 2 and 2 together I realized I was not going to be able to make all of the gifts I had intended to make. The one that got cut was nephew Benjamin’s baby bunting. It’s this really cute little winter weather thing from Dale of Norway and I was very excited about it, but I hadn’t even started it and since it is a large item, there was no way I was going to finish it by the 15th. I still plan on making it, just not for Christmas.

Some knitting

Despite being very busy in lab (where I'm certain I'm going to do a real experiment any day now), I have managed to get a little bit of knitting done. I decided to bite the bullet and knit myself a sweater.

I'm knitting the cover project from the fall Interweave Knits magazine. Well, I will if I ever get gauge. I've knit 2 swatches and I'm still going down needle sizes. I'm even being good and blocking the swatches. Normally I don't go in for this whole swatch thing, but I figure when knitting such a big item it's comforting to know that you did your best to make it come out right. The yarn is Andean Silk in Sangria from Knitpicks. It's an alpaca and silk blend and very soft. On my screen the yarn looks more purply than in person.

In other news, my nephew is the cutest baby ever!

Iowa trip

Last weekend, I went to Iowa for a craft festival. The festival was held in Van Buren County Iowa which is in southeastern Iowa on the Des Moines River near the Missouri border. This is the part of Iowa my step-father grew up in and he and my mom go every year. For the last four years, I have gone with them. The festival mostly consists of various craft and antiques/junk vendors who set up in the towns of the county. The towns themselves organize some events, including a parade and covered wagon rides and, in my step-father's hometown, a lunch consisting of bean and ham soup slow-cooked in a big black kettle over a bed of coals and cornbread baked over coals. And homemade pie. Yum.

None of Kelly's (step-father) family lives down there anymore (his parents have migrated to Arizona and his sister lives in Des Moines) so we stay at an inn/bed and breakfast in the town of Bentonsport. Bentonsport is home to about 35 people (and that's if you include the people up on the hill). The inn is less than 100 yards from the banks of the river has been there a very long time and on the side of the inn; there's marks on the side of the inn commemorating various floods and how much of the inn was under water.

While trying to navigate the roads to Bentonsport on Friday night, I got a phonecall from B who now lives in South Carolina and who I haven't talked to in quite some time. This is how our conversation went:

The usual hi, how are you's and what's going on, then

Me: Oh my God, that's a deer!

B: What?

Me: A deer just ran out in front of the car, oh wait, there's another one, is it going to cross the road?

I successfully navigate past the deer and we talk a little longer, then

Me: Wait, I think I'm supposed to turn here, but it's so dark, I can't see the road sign.

B: I feel like this is the beginning of a bad horror movie.

More driving and talking, then

Me: Hey, I'm in a town I recognize, I guess I'm going the right way.

B: Is it deserted?

Me: No, there are people here.

B: Are they zombies? (B has an obsessive fear about zombies)

Me: No, they seem to be perfectly normal people.

We continue talking and then I'm really close to Bentonsport.

Me: Okay, I'm getting close to town and in the past I haven't gotten any cell phone signal in town near the inn, so if you suddenly don't hear from me, that's why.

B: Where the hell are you?! Is this some sort of Bermuda Triangle of Iowa???

Me: No, it's just a really small town and the only way to get cell phone signal is to go out on the bridge in the middle of the river--Ben, Ben?

I had lost the signal. So, I go in to the inn, check in, then walk out onto the bridge, call B and leave a message saying that I'm fine but I have no signal in town. I'm wondering what he thought of this whole conversation.

It was probably a good thing I didn't tell him that the inn is haunted.

Cute Baby in Jack-o-lantern Hat

Last weekend, when I was in Iowa, I got to see my little nephew for a very short time and he graciously agreed to model the hat. But the flash hurt his eyes (his grandma was snapping pictures every few moments) so he closed them. The little mittens he has on have ghosts on them.

My sister has gone back to work so he's been going to a sitter where he seems to be doing well. He is a little bit bigger, of course, but still so tiny, although he has very big feet. I've got to get working on some socks for him--can't have my nephew going about in store-bought socks! My mom has made him a little sweater and is in the process of making a matching hat. Between me and my mom, the kid will never have to wear a store-bought hat.

Not that there was ever any doubt

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

The code doesn't seem to be working right on my blog so you can't see the little bars for how much I am each of those choices. I'm probably about 90% of a obsessive-compulsive bookworm and 10% of a fad reader.

Who knew?

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

Not as much as some people's but still a respectable amount. Sadly, the labwork blog is only worth around $500. I guess knitting pays better than science. Who knew?

October

In honor of the first day of October I bring you:

Pissed Off Black Cat with Jack-o-Lantern Hat

I almost laughed myself silly when I downloaded this picture. I didn't see Ghiradelli's expression when I took it because I was too busy trying to keep the hat on him.

The hat is actually for Benjamin. A slightly better view of the hat:

If you can

My brother, Eric, (not the one who just got married, a different one) is doing a charity walk for NAMI, an organization dedicated to helping people with mental illness. From their website:

NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness, a national organization including NAMI organizations in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to meet the NAMI mission through advocacy, research, support, and education.

He is looking for donations for this. Here is his fundraising page.

We all have causes and organizations that are important to us in some special way for one reason or another and this is one of those for me. I have mentioned on occasion (I think) that I suffer from mental illness. I talk a bit more about it here (this post was part of a web-ring called the ABC-along which I unfortunately flaked out on less than halfway through).

Please donate if you can. Thanks!

Not even interesting to my husband

What does it say when your husband doesn't read your blog? I set up this other blog for lab stuff because he wanted to know what was going on in lab and if I'm making progress and it's too hard for me to talk about. But he hasn't said much, just mentioned my first post. And you know how, if nobody ever comments, you start to feel like maybe you're talking to yourself? (That was NOT a hint for comments, btw) Here's how the conversation went:

Me: So, having you been reading my blog?
J: Well, I read that first post about your paper, did you put more on it?
Me: Yes! Lots more!*
J: I didn't realize you were going to post so frequently
Me: It said right there on the blog that I was going to post frequently!!**
J: Oh, I wish I had known, I was bored up there on the mountain sometimes, it would've been nice to have something to read***
Me: Well, I thought you would just check it to see if I had posted anything new!
J: I never think to check things like that.
Me: I had a cold! I got a cold, had the cold, and now I'm mostly over the cold and it was all there on the blog and you never even knew!!****
J: Sorry.
Me: You said you wanted to know how things were going and here I am telling you and you're not even reading it!
J: I'm sorry, I'll read it more often now.
Me: You need a newsreader.
J: (silence)
Me: (accusingly) It has an RSS feed!
J: Oh.

Carrol, if you're reading this, I know you're sitting there shaking your head and thinking, "That's John." Or laughing your ass off. Or both.

ANYway, the point is, now that I have the blog, it's like it's one more way for him to not pay attention to what I'm saying. I mean, I can't force the man to read it. I'd give the whole thing up except that now I enjoy writing it. *sigh*

*There are now fifteen posts there
** From my first post, "I'm hoping to post daily or every other day about what it is I'm doing in lab. " My first post was on the 6th.
***He's been in Hawaii the past week for an observing run (astronomer, remember?) and the telescope is at the top of the mountain
****We don't talk on the phone much when he's observing because of the time difference and because he's either at the summit doing work, or sleeping

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In knitting news, I'm going to see the Yarn Harlot at her book signing this Sat. in LA! I missed her when she was in the Chicago area because it was out in the burbs and lab and all that, but I'm heading to LA tomorrow (to visit my husband who doesn't listen to me) and there's no way I'm going to miss her twice.

Speaking of going to LA, I have the vacation knitting dilemma. You know how it goes, you want to make sure you have enough projects to work on while you are away. This number is not necessarily the number of projects you think you'll finish plus one but more like the number of projects you need in case you get bored with one or more of the ones you are working on. And then there is the knitting on the plane. It's quite a long plane ride (plus time at the airport) so you don't want to run out of stuff. But, it needs to be easy to work on while crammed into a small space. Decisions, decisions.

Great.

Little knitting

Some socks for Benjamin. The pen was included for scale. No real pattern just general sock shaping--a 2x2 rib in the cuff and stockinette for the foot. Short row heel because that's the way I roll.

I've started Christmas knitting but I can't tell you what it is in case my family reads this blog. :)

In other news, I've started a lab blog over at livejournal. It's mostly for my family, to keep them updated on my progress because it's too hard for me to talk about how long it will take me to finish this damn PhD. But, if you're interested in what it is I do all day, feel free to wander over. I'm trying to make it as friendly to lay people as I possibly can (except for the first post in which I outline my paper/thesis, but I said it probably wouldn't be understandable at the beginning of the entry). I decided to try out livejournal on a whim and I can't decide if I like it or not. You can't upload pictures unless you have a paid account, but you can upload them to photobucket and embed them that way. It's a little roundabout, but not too bad. It's not for people who are sensitive about their lack of friends, though. My homepage says: You have only made 0 friends. Thanks. Anyhow, I've posted a pic of my lab bench in its natural state for those who wonder what it really looks like in a research lab.

How depressing

You're The Grapes of Wrath!

by John Steinbeck

You're mired in a deep depression that encompasses you and everyone
you know. You're trying to get out of the depression, but your idea of help is, in
itself, pretty sad. While some are convinced that this all has a deeper meaning, you're
really just dull and tedious. And utterly obsessed with dust. You really need to focus
on something other than dust. Your best moments center around turtles.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

While I realize this is technically correct...

You Failed 8th Grade Spanish

Sorry, you only got 5/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Spanish?

...considering I've never actually studied Spanish, 5 out of 8 seems pretty good!

Back in Chicago

Actually, I've been back for a few days now, but I'm just getting around to posting. Meg and Benjamin went home from the hospital on Sat. and were doing very well when I left. He's mostly a good baby and not fussy, but when he gets mad, he gets MAD! He'll go from nothing wrong to screaming in no time at all.

The bibs I made from Mason-Dixon Knitting are too big for him right now, so no pictures of him wearing them. I made a little spring green hat from Knitpicks Shine but no pictures of that or of the little purple hat and socks I made a couple of days ago because I didn't manage to take pictures before giving them away. I'll try to be better in the future.

I've made a decision to stop knitting for charity in the short term and knit for Benjamin instead. They really have very little and minimum wage jobs don't get you very far these days, so what little they have for the baby are gifts from other peole and various hand-me-downs. So, in a way, I'll still be knitting for the disadvantaged, I just know who the person is.

P.S. I know I'm just a little biased but I think Benjamin is the cutest baby there ever was!!!

No pictures yet

But, Meg had her baby yesterday morning!!!

He was born on Aug. 16, 2007 at 10:25 am. He is 7lb 9oz and is 21 1/2" long.

Soon now

Well, I just talked to my mom and she says that Meg has finally started pushing. Apparently things are moving rather slowly (poor Meg--I hope she had an epidural). Anyhoo, hopefully it will not be much longer.

I'm going to leave for Iowa this afternoon but this time I'll be staying with my mother who has internet access. I'll keep updating and of course there will be pictures of the baby!

Oh, remember how I said I was going to try to get some good sleep? Yeah, right. I fell asleep sometime after midnight. Good thing I'm wired on adrenaline!

HE'S ON THE WAY!!!

Mom just called and the contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and Meg is heading to the hospital!! This is it!!!

Mom is heading to the hospital too. I'm sad I can't leave until tomorrow morning, but it's probably for the best. I worked really late last night and there's a storm here and it's a 7 hour drive. Not a very good combination. I was really tired. Now I'm pumped up, but I'm going to try to get some sleep so I can be fresh for the drive tomorrow.

Will let you all know more when there is more to know!

*starts running around the apartment waving arms in the air*

MY SISTER'S HAVING THE BABY!!!! WHOOPEE!

On the way???

Contractions are 7 minutes apart! She's supposed to go to the hospital when they're 5 minutes apart and hard. But, my mom says that it all could stop even after getting to the hospital and then they'll send her home. So, I'm trying (very unsucessfully) to not get too excited. I'll keep updating as news comes in. Since it's too late for me to rent a car tonight I haven't got anything else to do.

Squeee!!!!!

He's coming out whether he wants to or not

Just got a message from my sister: they are going to induce next Monday if she hasn't gone into labor by then. So, I should be an aunt by Tuesday at the latest!

Still no baby

Ya'll are probably wondering about the baby situation. Well, babyBen has yet to arrive. Meg was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today so I'll try to call her later and see what the scoop is.

Dear Sock Pal Jean,

I am sorry I haven't written before. I got your package last week and I love all of it!

The socka are a wonderful, spring-like color and the yarn is soft and yummy. The pattern is beautiful and they fit very well. I love the little baby socks and I will put them aside for the day that they are needed (hopefully sometime in the next year!). The UC Davis magnets are all on my fridge. And the chocolate! Sooo good!

Love, Elisabeth

P.S. Since my cat has had all but about four of his teeth removed (I got him from the pound and he was in pretty bad shape) I have great respect for vet dentistry! ;)

--------

Someday soon, I will take a picture of my sockapalooza loot and post the pictures of the socks that I make for my pal.

Baby Alert

My sister will be going into labor ANY MINUTE NOW and my entire family is on standby. Our phones are nearby, and we run to answer them, hurdling chairs and and pushing people out of the way. Of course, it is mainly us calling each other, "Have you heard anything?" Today I called my mother on her cell while she was at work because, it turns out, I don't have my sister's phone number (I could've sworn I had it around here somewhere; I'm not known for my organizational skills or rather, I am, but I'm not good at organizing my own life). My mother, somewhat annoyed that it was her older daughter calling rather than her younger one demanded, "What do you want?" I told her to call me back later.

This is the first baby in my immediate family. I am beside myself with nervousness and excitement and I can barely get any labwork done, because I am thinking about Meghan and the baby all the time. She has been having contractions 20 minutes apart for days now. She's supposed to see the doctor tomorrow if the baby doesn't come before then.

This is a marked contrast to when Meghan herself was born. It was a Sunday, and I woke up because there was a commotion out in the hall. I went out and asked what was going on and Jason said, "Mom's having the baby!" To which I replied, "I guess we're not going to church then," and went back to sleep. I was 12 at the time and this being my third sibling and possibly another brother (Mom didn't ask what the sex was) I was not so enthusiastic. I made up for it later though, by inviting my friend over and we waited by the phone while baking a cake to welcome my mom and the new baby (don't worry, I cleaned up the kitchen) and when my father called to tell me I had a new sister, there waa much jumping up and down and screaming followed by, "Does this mean I get a new room?"* And then more jumping up and down and screaming.

This is very different. It's getting to the point that when they call me to tell me she's in labor, I might just rent a car right that minute and drive to Iowa (unless it's the middle of the night in which case the car rental place will be closed). For her sake, I hope it's over by the time I get there (it's a 7 hour drive), but I wouldn't mind sitting up with someone waiting. If it happens in the middle of the night I don't know what I'll do becuase I'll want to call someone and it's considered bad form to call your friends in the middle of the night unless you are dying or your heart has been broken. I had been iffy about whether I was going to go see the baby right away or wait until the baptism, but I now realize there is no possible way I can wait.



*My two borthers shared a room, but I had always had my own. However, my room was too tiny to be shared, even with a baby (my bed and dresser fit in there and that was about it) so if the baby was a girl, we were enclosing the back porch and that was going to be my new room and I was going to get to decorate it.

It appears I don't exist

Top 5 facts:

Are you Well Envoweled? We checked 1,000,000 names and 60.1% had more vowels than 'Elisabeth Montegna'. That means you are averagely envoweled. Check your envowelment, find your Power Animal, and see your name in binary at isthisyour.name

2. Backwards, it is Htebasile Angetnom... nice ring to it, huh?

3. In Pig Latin, it is Elisabethway Ontegnamay

Your name in Binary? In Binary, Elisabeth Montegna is: 01000101 01101100 01101001 01110011 01100001 01100010 01100101 01110100 01101000 00100000 01001101 01101111 01101110 01110100 01100101 01100111 01101110 01100001 . Encode your name, find your Power Animal, and check your envowelment at isthisyour.name

5. People with this first name are probably: Female. So, you are constantly overcharged for beauty products.

3 things you didn't know:

What is your Power Animal? Elisabeth Montegna, based on your name and a process known to only three people on the planet, we can tell you that your Power Animal is the: White Rhinoceros. Find your Power Animal, check your envowelment, and see your name in binary at isthisyour.name

2. Your 'Numerology' number is 8. If it wasn't bulls**t, it would mean that you are motivated by material success and have an aptitude for business, managerial and financial matters. This comes through your uncommon discipline and persistence.

3. According to the US Census Bureau°, 0.023% of US residents have the first name 'Elisabeth' and fewer than 0.001% have the surname 'Montegna'. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 0 'Elisabeth Montegna's.

What ancient language are you?

Your Score: Hieroglyphics

You are Egyptian Hieroglyphics! Monumental, ornate and even in technicolour! Your users contributed virtually all ancient knowledge on inks, dyes and writing surfaces - to the point where the popular reed of Papyrus became the universal name for organic, manufactured writing surfaces in the western hemisphere for thousands of years. Proud, upstanding and dignified.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

I'm not sure what to think about this....

Your Score: Dr. James Wilson

50% Eccentricity, 30% Confidence, 80% Kindness

Congratulations, you're Dr. James Wilson! You've got the tough role of being the conscience and best friend to Dr. Greg House, which proves that you must be secretly (or openly) insane. You're always a good person for providing advice, witty remarks, free lunches, lectures, and (wanted or unwanted) psychoanalysis. You are about as confident as the average person, but you have some big issues with yourself, and may have problems living up to the ideals you have in your head. You do really care about other people, though, even if you sometimes express that caring by trying to get into their pants.

Link: The House, MD Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

It's done

Not the shirt, The Book. I finished it in 8 hours.

I was right about some things. I was wrong about some things. Some of the things that I was right about, I wish I had been wrong about. Some of the things I was wrong about I wish I had been right about.

Since I have no desire to ruin the book for anyone, I won't tell you what those things were. However, I will say that I liked the book. But, I'm kind of sad it's all over, now.

TOTAL MEDIA BLACKOUT STARTS NOW

I you haven't read up through book 6 in Harry Potter, you might want to skip this post.

I haven't discussed it much here, but I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan. Well, "a bit" might be an understatement. I'm not going to be naming my first born child Harry, Ron, or Hermione (although Sirius might make it, you know, because my husband is an astronomer--kidding!) but I've probably read each of the books at least five times and some of the earlier ones more than that. And I went to a midnight party for each of the last two books. And, as anyone who is not living in a cave is aware, the seventh book will be released at midnight Friday.

But, I will not be attending a midnight party. Instead, I'm going to be at the rehearsal dinner for my brother's wedding on Sat. I'm a little sad about this, but that's the way it's gotta be. So, I've decided not to read the book until after the wedding. On Sunday, I'm sitting down and reading the entire thing with no stops (I'll be carrying it to the bathroom with me in case you are wondering). This is what I did with the 6th book, then I handed it over to John and said, read it as fast as you possibly can because the ending won't stay secret for very long. And, fortunately, he managed to make it through the book without reading any spoilers.

Today, a labmate told me about a website he found through CNN that has the important info from the book on it. And, being unwilling to resist, he went there and read it (he's filled with all kinds of remorse about it, now). The person had a photo of the book as some sort of confirmation that they were telling the truth. Now, I don't know how much I believe that the person truly had a copy of the book. They do have some pretty crazy security surrounding the book. However, just to make sure, I'm not turning on the tv, listening to the radio or looking at a newspaper, magazine, internet news site or reading anything but knitting blogs until Sunday. I'm also considering just wearing earplugs in between now and then to avoid overhearing anything (the wedding kind of scares me for that reason, maybe someone will have read it and they will discuss it and I'll overhear it, so to keep that from happening, I'm just going to get rip-roaring drunk so I won't remember anything anyone says anyway--though reading the book with a hangover might not be the most pleasant experience).

I'm a little fanatical about reading. I love to read and I love books. One of the things I hate about grad school is that I don't have time to do much reading for pleasure (I don't have much time to read scientific journals, either). Reading is my escape. There are certain books I only read when I'm sad or upset; they're like comfort food for my brain. I have several copies of certain books (usually a paperback and a hardcover; although I think I have four separate editions of A Wrinkle in Time, why yes, it is my favorite book, how did you guess?). I love the smell of books (books printed years ago have a different smell to them, have you ever noticed?) and the feel of the paper and the weight of the book in my hands. This is not to say that I treat them very carefully. You can tell which books I love most because they are the most beat-up (my Velveteen Rabbit books I call them). Lately, I've been listening to books more than reading them because I can do it while knitting and while on the bus and while driving and so on. It's not nearly as satisfying as reading them, but sometimes you have to make compromises.

So, what do I hope to see in this, the last book of the Harry Potter series?

• Resolution of whether Snape is good or evil. More on that later.
• Reason why Dumbledore trusted Snape.
• More about Lily. There were tantalizing hints in the last couple of books, but I'd really like to hear more about her.
• What's going on with Aunt Petunia? She seems to know more than she's letting on.
• What happens to the relationships? Who ends up marrying whom?
• What are all of the Horcruxes and where are they hidden? It seems like this would be a given, but I can't figure out how, in one book, in one year, Harry will find all five of the remaining ones when it took Dumbledore years to find two and destroy one.
• The final battle between Harry and Voldemort (again, this is a given, but it is something I'm looking forward to reading about).

And, for the record, to keep me honest, here are my predictions:

• Snape, while a mean old bastard, is on the good side. There are many, many reasons why I think this, but I think deep down the real reason is I don't want Dumbledore to have been wrong.
• Dumbledore is really dead and is not going to somehow show up and say, ha, ha, just kidding, I've been alive all this time.
• Harry will somehow be able to get advice from Dumbledore--most likely through the portrait in the headmaster's office.
• Dumbledore will have stored some key memories in jars (like why he trusted Snape, for instance) and Harry will be able to access these through the Pensieve.
  
• Lives or dies:

• Harry: lives
• Ron: lives
• Hermione: lives
• Ginny Weasley: lives
• Neville: lives
• Luna: dies
  
• Snape: dies saving Harry or dies in such a way that allows Harry to defeat Voldemort
  
• Other teachers (including McGonagall): live
  
• Lupin: lives
• Tonks: lives (marries Lupin)
  
• Percy Weasley: dies (okay, I think at least one of the Weasleys dies and I like Percy the least, so I'm going to say him; I'd be okay with Charlie dying, though, too)
• Draco: lives
• Bellatrix: dies (Neville gets to kill her)
• Lucius Malfoy: dies (Voldemort kills him)
  
• Rest of the Death Eaters: live (they will still need to be hunted down at the end of the book, or they will be in prison)
• Voldemort: dies (of course!)
  

That's it. That's all I'm willing to go on record saying. I think, in some ways, finishing this book won't be nearly as fun as finishing the others because we won't all be able to sit around and offer our theories on what's going to happen. That's been a large part of the fun--for me, anyway.

So, I might not be on the blog for awhile, seeing as how I'm leaving for the wilds of Iowa and don't know what kind of internet access I'll have. Have a good weekend everyone and happy reading!

Armholes--The Next Great Adventure

I took that collar and showed it who's boss. It only took me about five times, but I finally got it in to my satisfaction. Well, there is one little thing that I feel could be better, but I decided I could live with it. Then, I sewed up the sides and tried it on and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. So, on to the armholes! This shirt is sleeveless, so I have to finish off the armholes nice and pretty. Then, I "just" have to hem it and put in the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.

I have to say, I would probably not have stuck with the shirt if I was not so desperate to have decent clothes that fit that don't cost a fortune.

Socks? What socks?

Collar: 3, Elisabeth: 0

So, um, I spent quite a bit of time on the collar last night and it still isn't permanently attached to the shirt. I'm having some difficulty attaching it so that the seam looks smooth.

Also, I knit several rounds on the Sockapalooza socks and ended up ripping them all out again. *sigh*

Perhaps I should have realized that since it was Friday the 13th, no good could come of me working on craft projects (especially with a black cat in the house).

Adventures in Sewing

Since I have been feeling ambivalent about knitting, I have decided to work on another craft: sewing.

I'm a beginner sewer seamstress. Last summer, I sewed a dress with the help of my mom while she was visiting Chicago. It was at that time that I bought my first sewing machine. Since then, I have made one skirt. Which really doesn't make up for the cost of the machine. So, I've been wanting to sew more. Then, a few weeks ago, I went clothes shopping. It was a less than pleasant experience. I have come to the conclusion that in order to buy clothes that fit me, I will either have to lose 30 pounds or gain 30 pounds (because, I had no luck at Lane Bryant, either, though it did make me feel skinnier). At the time, I dreamed of creating a new line of clothing stores called, "Just Average," or "In the Middle" for women like me who are not lithe little stick figures, but are also too small to fit into "Women's" clothing. However, given my current time constraints and the fact that I have virtually no sewing skills and absolutely no designing skills, I decided the better approach would be to make as many of my own clothes as possible.

This is easier said than done (see: Beginner Seamstress).

Currently, I am working on a sleeveless, collared button-down shirt with bust darts. So far, after many, many hours of work, I have:

• Figured out the best way to cut out the pieces since it was NOT the way the pattern suggested
• Cut everything out
• Read the directions for ironing on the interfacing several times
• Disintegrated the interfacing when the iron touched it directly, ripped off that interfacing
  
• Cut out and ironed on more interfacing
• Sewed the shoulder seams
• Finished the edges of the shoulder seams
• Put in the bust darts
• Tried on the proto-shirt (this involved pinning the sides together, too, and the facing on the inside so that it would hang approximately like the finished product), realized the bust darts ended exactly on my nipples such that it looked like I had pointy breasts
• Took out the bust darts and put them in again, shorter this time
  
• Tried on shirt again only to find that by making the darts shorter it changed how the shirt layed such that the darts were pointing at my waist
• Spent a heck of a lot of time trying to figure out how I could mark where the "fullest part" of my "bust" was without having permanant dots on the shirt over my nipples and settled for pins
• Spent even more time in front of the mirror making sure I had the pins on the "fullest part" of my "bust" so I could aim the darts in the proper direction
• Took out the too low darts and put in darts that actually fit right.
  
• Tried on the shirt again. Victory! I made darts that point at my nipples--hooray!
• Sewed the pieces of the collar together
• Spent a very long time staring at the pattern trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to put this collar on the shirt (I need more explanation of what those figures mean, please!)
  
• Basted the collar on the shirt backwards such that the seam allowances were facing the right side
• Ripped out the basting and re-basted it
• Pinned the collar to the facing and sewed the seam to attach the collar to the shirt
• Looked it over, didn't like the way the collar seam looked and ripped it out.

I should probably mention they bill this as a "Quick and Easy" pattern. I'm sure it is for someone who's been sewing for awhile, but for me, not so much. The collarless proto-shirt has been hanging in my hall closet since Wednesday. I may be ready to work on it again tonight. I think I can devote 3 hours to it in which time I hope to attach the collar.

Can't wait to get to the buttonholes!

In knitting news, I need to knit 0.5 inches on the foot of the 1st Sockapalooza sock and then I can start the heel (I'm knitting it toe-up). I have decided that I'm going to knit each foot up to the heel, then do the heels, then knit both legs at the same time and stop when 1) I run out of yarn or 2) I run out of time, whichever comes first. Sadly, although I like the feel of the Panda Cotton, I don't so much like knitting with it because it has a tendency to split. On the other hand, it's one of the few cotton sock yarns out there that doesn't have wool in it. And since one of these days I'm hoping to move to California, I don't so much want socks with wool in them. Yeah, I know I'll be visiting cold places, but I probably won't need 20 pairs of socks for those visits (I can just see it now, I change socks twice everyday so I can get through them all when I'm visiting Iowa or Boston). And it does come in a nice range of colors, soooo, I probably will still knit with it a lot, or at least something else comes along that I like better.

Long absence = Long post

I have been operating under the delusion that since I've been gone a long time, I need to write a long blog post to tell you everything that I've done since last we spoke. And, since I haven't had a nice stretch of time in which to write this long post (or when I did, I was not "inspired"), I haven't written. And the longer the amount of time I've been gone, the longer the post would have to be and so on snowballing into me not posting in over a month. None of us are very happy about this.

Knitting News
Adding to my blogging apathy is my knitting apathy. I just haven't felt like knitting for awhile. So, I haven't. Instead, when I come home from lab, I plop on the couch, turn on the tv and sit staring blankly at the tv screen. Sometimes I think about knitting, but the thinking usually goes something like this: [with regards to a plain stockinette sock] "That just seems too complicated," or [when contemplating getting off the couch to find my knitting] "That seems like far too much effort." Pathetic, but true. So, not much knitting going on.

However, here is what I have on the needles (no pictures because that would involve more energy than I have these days):

Sockapalooza 4 sock: Knit in Panda cotton in the Fruit Salad colorway; pattern--Chevron from Sensational Knitted Socks. I have got to get cracking on these because I'm supposed to mail them out the first week of August!! So far, I have the toe and half the foot of one of them done. I'm knitting them toe-up because I was planning on knitting the leg until the yarn ran out, but I think what I'm going to do is start the second sock when I have the foot of the first sock done and then knit both legs at the same time until I run out of time.

Afghan square: Rebuilding Greensburg project (button in sidebar). I've gotten one done and I'm over halfway done with a second one. I should be able to cruise through these, but... (see apathy).

Mystery Stole 3: Technically this isn't on the needles. This is actually still in the shopping bag with various bits all over the apt. I'm not sure why I decided to join this, all things considered, but it sounded really cool and fun. Although I may or may not start it before the knitalong is over, and the newsgroup has far too many posts for me to keep up with.

Non-knitting News
I'm still in lab. Still in Chicago. Still no PhD. Please do not ask again. *sigh* I know people mean well, and they are just trying to show that they are interested in my life, but I thought I would be done several months ago and every time somebody asks when I'm going to finish, I am reminded that I am here way longer than I wanted to be. For me, it's the equivalent of asking, "So, when are you going to get that grotesque, horribly disfiguring birthmark removed from your face?" Or possibly, "So, when are you going to start that diet?" Anyway, partly because of this, I tend not to want to be around people much except for my really close friends and my labmates. My brother's wedding is coming up and I'm not looking forward to giving everyone the spiel. Perhaps I should print my answer on business cards and hand them to people when they ask.

John is well. We see each other once a month. That's about all I have to say about that.

My friend from lab, R, has now given me two riding lessons on her horse! I've always wanted to learn to ride a horse and I'll be definitely taking lessons when I get to California, but in the meantime, R is happy to take me out every once in awhile. This last time, I successfully sat a trot (western style) which I have never been able to do before, so that was pretty cool! It takes every bit of my concentration in order to do it and I can barely pay attention to steering when I do it, but hey, I'm a newbie.

Hmmm....I guess that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again.

Don't Fence Me In

It seems I am not the only one who yearns for those wide open spaces. But, Imbrium, I'm sorry to say that mountains make me claustrophobic. It's not so much being able to see the open sky as seeing the flat, flat land stretching for miles and miles that I miss. As you might imagine that means I'm not a big fan of the mountains in the LA area (well that and because they keep the city smog from blowing further inland and therefore all you see is this nasty brown haze--yuck!). Don't get me wrong--mountains are beautiful. And I'll never cease to be fascinated by them (topography is very two dimensional in Iowa), but they make me edgy. I guess I'll always be an Iowa girl.

This weekend is graduation weekend and so A (Temporary Roommie) and M (former Roommie) are in town. I'm very happy to see them, but it's rough hearing them talk about graduation when I am not graduating. And watching them graduate tomorrow is going to be hard, too. Which reminds me. I don't believe I ever introduced:

Dr. MRR! She has been part of my core group of friends that have been with me from my first day at grad school (M and A are the other two). She actually defended way back in the middle of May, but I've been busy going crazy over lab work and not posting regularly.

So, getting back to the whole not graduating thing. I've known for awhile, of course, that I would not be graduating this spring. I made that realization several months ago and most of the sting had gone out of it, until these last few days when I suddenly felt very very sad I was not going to be in my cap and gown with the rest of my friends. I think it might not have been so bad if only one or two of them were graduating but with all three, I definitely feel left behind. And I know I have to move past this--life is what it is, right? I mean, there's really nothing I can do to change this so I dwelling on it and getting morose and crying into my beer (wine, actually) is not doing anyone any good, least of all me. But no matter how much I tell myself this (and that it will not be the end of the world) it still bothers me.

The sister, she is very pregnant

Due date: August 9 (the day before her birthday)

I went to Iowa this weekend for my brother's fiancee's bridal shower and as much family time as we could cram in without killing ourselves. And, of course, pictures.

It takes an amazing astological event for the circumstances to be right for my entire family to be in one place at the same time. Hell, it takes an amazing astrological event for me and my siblings to be in one place at the same time. Jason lives in Atlanta and I live in Chicago. Meghan is in Iowa and so is Eric. So, it's really getting me and Jason in one place at the same time that's the issue. Anyway, anytime we are all together, there has to be a picture to commemorate the occassion.

Left to Right: Me, Jason, Eric, Meghan

Even more rarely, we are all in Iowa and my stepgrandparents (stepfather's parents) are in Iowa at the same time (they live in Arizona and come back to Iowa for a couple weeks out of every year, but I am usually not there at the same time).

Me and my sibs, plus Mac (in the back), Derek (step-cousin), and Pat

While it was good seeing everyone, it was pretty damn exhausting.

Here was the schedule for the weekend:
Thursday--pick up rental car (it was cheaper to get it on Thursday than on Friday, very strange)
Friday--Go to post office to pick up I-pass that they are holding hostage there waiting for my signature (the I-pass is a device that allows me to go through tolls without change, it basically tells the toll that I have money in an account then deducts money from that account; John had it in California where it was useless, so he sent it to me) drive from Chicago to Grandma's in Iowa (6 hours due to traffic)
Saturday--drive from Grandma's to shower (2.5 hours), have fun at shower, go to aunt's for dinner (fortunately, she lived close to the shower location), drive to Ames to stay at a hotel for the night (1 hour)
Sunday--Go to church in hometown with Mom, Meghan, and Grandma (very close to Ames, that's why we stayed there), talk to people I haven't seen in 10 years, go back to Ames for family lunch, drive back to Grandma's (about 2 hours), sit and stare at the backyard for awhile because we are both dead tired
Monday--get up early and drive back to Chicago (5 hours--traffic was much better), return rental car, collapse in my apt. and go to bed early

One thing I have discovered about myself after living in cities for the last 15 years is that I really miss wide open spaces. Therefore, I decided to try to take some pictures of them as I was driving back to Chicago. All of these were taken while driving (drive-by pictures, if you will).



That last one is the Mississippi River. The pictures really don't do the landscape justice, but I think I'm going to make them the screensaver on my computer anyway, just to have a little wide open space in the city.