Maomao's my Bubu!

As much as I want to say that I'm above that "my pet is the cutest" craze, I'm not! My Maomao is so cute!

I accomplished a lot today! I got five (very substantial) pages done on my thesis, cooked a four course meal, cleaned the kitchen, and even made a candle.

I tried my hand again at stir-fried eggplants. Every time I make them, they end up soggy. However, when I was in China four or five years ago, one of my aunts told me that I had to dry it first. What she does is cut them and let them dry for eight+ hours under the sun. I never tried it, but kept it in mind. And today, I did try it! Of course I didn't have eight hours, but two or three under the TX sun worked fairly well. They were a lot less mushy when they finished sunning, and I substituted the pork with fried tofu. It turned out well! Joey doesn't like it, but then again, he doesn't like most of my Chinese dishes.

I also made hot and sour soup, catfish, and a milk-tea. And now I have leftovers for the rest of the week. Yea for accomplishments!

Other than that, summer is coming to an end. When June first started, I thought it was never going to be August, so I waited and lounged and lazed around the apartment and did nothing. Then August hit and I didn't do crap all that time! Oops!

But I did do this:


Aww! The squid and octopus are for Joey, and the rabbit was just an experiment so stuffed animals.

That and I just lost my husband to StarCraft II.

A new goal

For the past couple years, Joey and I have been spending the winter holidays far away from home. While that has been fun, Seattle and Beijing were absolutely fantastic, I really want to spend it at home this time. Also, I want to go all out on decoration this year!

That's right, once December hits, I'm going to make sure no piece of our apartment is going to show underneath all the decoration! I want tinsel and ornaments everywhere! EVERYWHERE!

So I have to start collecting now.

This year, I'm going to celebrate Christmas until I'm blue in the face.

Humph!

Pet peeve number 39:

"I'm taking Chinese at school, but only because they're not offering Japanese."

Grr!!

What the hell?? What's so bad about Chinese that it's considered a fall-back option for Japanese. It's two different but equal languages, people! For people who say that, do they realize that Kanji IS traditional Chinese? It's not like Chinese is some inferior version of Japanese. And also, for anyone who tells me any more Japanese equivalence of a Chinese word when I didn't ask for a translation are going to receive a butt-kicking from Joey.

Aaah!!!

I'm Chinese, but I hold no crazy thought that the language holds any superiority to any other language. It's just as easy and hard to learn as any other language. If you grow up with it, it's going to be easier to learn it.

So here's my thought of the day, for anyone who says:

"I'm taking X only because Y isn't offered."

should probably STFU. Because you know... it sounds rude.

//hops off soap-box

Good news, everyone!

I just got a letter from Riversedge of UTPA that they are publishing my story in their December volume!

Yea! A legit journal publishing my story! I didn't even have to grovel to no vanity publishers.

The story was from fall of 2008 when I took a creative nonfiction class. We wrote lots of personal essays. It was like group therapy where I got graded for my feelings. Instead of a final paper, the professor told us to submit one of our papers in for publication so we'll "get used to process".

Yea! So far so good!

This totally makes up for the fact that I still haven't found a job yet. I've been looking all summer and no one's hiring me. I know I'm over-qualified for most of the jobs I've applied for, and that might be why they're not hiring me. Maybe they're afraid I'll leave right after training or something.

Oh well :(

As far as projects go, I recently got a top-whorl spindle to spin lace. I was so excited because the people in the Youtube videos made it look so easy. I've found out that they've all been lying to me. I'm spinning and spinning, but all my lace looks like worsted. I guess I'll have a nice cozy hat by winter. I'm still pretty excited about it though. Soon when I have more practice, I want to get all the pretty roving from Etsy.

Last thing! My parents got a puppy! A PUPPY!! She's too cute, her name is Birdie and she loves people. She's a Labradoodle mix and she's so small. Right now she's about Maomao's size but so innocent and clueless all the time. Cute little Birdie, she's still figuring out life.

Here's a picture!



She sleeps a lot!

Jalapeno 1, Dawn 0

Yesterday Joey and I went to a friend's place for a BBQ. I decided that we should bring an appetizer. After all these years of going to parties, flipping through cookbooks, and just being aware of the world, the only appetizer I really knew how to make were Jalapeno stuffed peppers I learned from my knitting buddy.

We went out and bought the peppers, cream cheese, shredded cheese and turkey bacon. Upon coming home, I threw all the peppers in the sink to soak just like I learned. I worked with jalapenos earlier in the week and did not use any gloves, so I thought, "I don't need them now either!"

After cutting and seeding 23 large peppers, Joey and I stuffed them, skewered them, and put them in the oven. I then went upstairs to get ready for the BBQ.

I noticed a slight tingle in my left hand right away, but disregarded it as allergies or the hard water. However, the tingling soon turned serious and I thought my hand was going to burn right off. It was BURNING!!

BURNING!!!

BURNING!!!

I ran downstairs with my hand in the air screaming, my upper lip where I briefly brushed it with my hands was also burning, as were my right hand in certain spots. No amount of ice or running water could alleviate the pain. I then went upstairs to look for remedies online.

I pretty much poured the whole kitchen onto my hand after that. I tried: vinegar, lemon juice, milk, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, Vodka, sugar, salt, anything ... anything!! Everything worked, but only for about thirty seconds. The only thing that was consistent was just soaking it in ice water, but even then I suspect it was because my hand was numb from the cold rather than it curing anything.

My hand was ice cold, but I could barely stand to touch it. Any skin-to-skin contact felt like it was going to burn off.

Nonetheless, Joey and I still went to the party where I was confined to the kitchen with my hand in a bowl of water. I warned everyone there of the dangers of not using rubber, and they listened with eyes wide open. At her place, I tried... margarita, pina colada, and hot dogs. They didn't really help my hand either, but at least I was full.

I finally admitted defeat and left with Joey to go see his parents. There they gave me... lots of attention, Aleo, and drugs! Yea! I took two painkillers and soon had an excuse to say whatever came to mind. Even it what I said sounded crazy, I could blame it on the painkillers. I watched the everyone play Rockband and almost dozed off, but we had to come home to feed the cat.

All this time my hand never stopped burning, but certain things made it bearable. I slept with an icepack in my hand for about five hours before I could finally handle the pain without grimacing.

So 19 hours after seeding the peppers, my palm is still warm, but it certainly is bearable now. The bug bites, however, are another story. The worst thing about the whole ordeal was that it's hard to convince people how much my hand was burning because it didn't show up at all. It didn't look red at all, and anyone who touched it said it felt normal. It finally started heating up red, but I think that was because of the ice rather than the peppers.

SIGH!!

I hate summer.

Update

I'm finally done with the semester. I finished the grades a couple days ago and entered them in with the professor, got all my own grades, and even finished cleaning the apartment! As of it I still do not have a job, but I think it'll be OK. I'm going to start looking seriously in June, but I believe I deserve a break for now!

About a month ago I went through a serious doily phase.



They are all double stranded with size 10 yarn. It was my fairly successful attempt to destash much of my doily yarn. It's worked pretty well so far. And I am finally convinced now that knitting takes much less yarn than crocheting. While I cannot vouch for the single knit = single crochet, but with the sizes of some of those doilies, I would've never gotten that much out of crocheting.

After the doilies, I decided to try my hand at hats!





Not too bad! Now both Joey and I will be ready for this winter. I also made a matching scarf with my hat.



~~~

Life has been pretty decent so far. I bought Michael Fuller's book and will be continuing my classical Chinese over the summer by myself. I'll start by slowly translating Confucius's Analects and some of Mozi from the school library. These two have been translated enough by professionals that I can double check without bugging the professor to death.

Classical Chinese is crazy! But once you learn the rules, it's surprisingly easy to read. While there are a lot of ambiguous translations, the grammar is fairly straight forward once I churn through all the crazy participles.

And Maomao lost 3 pounds! She's so cute.

Quick Update!

I fit everything in a fairly neat rectangle! I'm so proud. I live for making JPG rectangles.

I am now adequately equipped for the Texas winter. I have two pairs of warm socks and a neck warmer. Joey has one pair of wool socks. We're good to go!

So it's that time of the year again. It's when Joey and I tell each other of all the conventions that we want to go to, and then not go. A-con, yeah! But once June comes, we'll miss it for ... crepes or something. Fiber fest? Yeah! But we're going to dim sum instead, and then I have a dinner to go to after. Next year then!

I have an interview at the school tomorrow for a staff job. It pays pretty well and I'm quite excited. I'll be working with the same people from back in Enrollment services, except now they all moved to the Registrar's office!

Last of all, I like to celebrate finishing projects by making small doilies; around 12 rows for a crocheted doily, 40ish for a knit one.

Back to School

Spring break! The usual happened.

1) Mom fed me too much
2) I got nothing done
3) I didn't find a spring break buddy

Oh well!

I did do one useful thing. I unraveled seven project last Friday. I went through my progress bucket and frogged everything I was never going to touch again. That included nearly everything except two scarves and a pair of socks. One of the scarves were saved only because I put too many beads on it. You're safe for now, scarf!

I want to tear apart all the stuff I haven't finished and start all over again! Some projects stayed in the bucket for so long that I completely forgot about them, and when I saw them again, all I could think of was.. "damn!"

That said, I had a great bundle of fun unraveling, especially now that I have a ball winder.

I did finish some stuff! I went through a doily phase a month ago and made four miniature doilies. They're so cute. Joey's reaction upon seeing them was: "they're multiplying!" I believe I'm sucking the masculinity out of the apartment, but he does have the garage for all his tools. I think his tool stash is starting to catch up to my yarn stash. Just how many drills does a guy need?!

I need at least two, because then I can have a set of single-pointed needles.

Here's the stuff I finished! Warning, there's lots of pictures. Here they are, never in any particular order:









The two doilies with the teacups actually brings me to another issue. That table looks like crap. Joey and I bought it for ten dollars at the Goodwill. It's painted in two colors. The top of the table is what I assume the natural wood color, and the legs are a hideous pastel yellow. It's a bit ... meh, but I still love the table. It's the most sturdy thing ever, I suspect there's lead in it, but I could be wrong. I bought a lot of stuff at Home Depot the other day to redo the table. I bought a sander, varnish thinner, and new taints! I hope it all goes well. It'll be my post Scarf Exchange project.

I want to finish all my obligatory projects so I can start stuff for myself again! I just wound up some silvery yarn in order to make this! I'm so excited. I think I can finish it just in time for the New Year's party!

~~~

As far as schooling goes, I'll say.. meh!

~~~

Crossfit Richardson is starting something fun on April 1st. We're doing a Fifty Day Challenge to get ready for the summer. There's not much detail yet, but one of the things we will do to accumulate twenty five miles of running during the whole thing. This is definitely relevant to my interests because I've been having zombie nightmares lately again. I can't run very fast, but if I can outlast the slow ones, or at least run faster than the slowest survivor, I think I'll be OK.

Ah! It's good to have goals!

~~~

And finally! I loved my wedding cake so much that I want to put it up again! For some reason, it's been jumping out at me for the past couple days when I'm on my Facebook account. I must be going through another pink phase.



And and and! Lauren and Brad are getting married... yea!
And and and... we're going to Austin in a couple weeks!
And and and! Mel's going to Louisiana in the summer! Yea for excuses to go to LA! Let's eat at least 10 pounds of crawfish!

I'm back on Ravelry!

Yea! My account just got cleared and I'm back to full access. Now I can concentrate wholly on my Saoirse shawl and my scarf for the scarf exchange.

Yea!

(Still) Suspended from Ravelry

When I discovered that Ravelry suspended my account on Saturday, I was pretty confused! I don't remember doing anything against the Term of Use. I investigated the best I could with only Google at my disposal. All that is mentioned were from people who were directly involved in the banning. Apparently the interaction between a group and the rest of Ravelry got out of hand and resulted in their accounts being banned. I'll refrain from commenting on that since I don't really know all the details from those events. I take my Internet facts with a grain of salt!

However, if that were the reason why so many people were banned, then why was I, Mel, and our friends banned also? I've never heard of the said group until yesterday. None of us are involved with any political groups on Ravelry nor do we post that much. Sooo... it has to be some kind of IP ban. But then I wonder, how did I get swept up? It must have been when I logged in from UTD, and someone associated with that group logged in at UTD? And that's where it started? I have no idea!

Oh well, no biggie I guess. I won't make a judgment until I get an official response from the team at Ravelry.


~~~ (Line breaks! Mel always has such ingenious ways to separate sections)

Crossfit was fun today! It was another Crossfit total day.

Back Squat: 155
Shoulder Press: 85
Deadlift: 155

28 more pounds and I can deadlift Joey! Ah goals, everyone should have at least one.

~~~

I started the Saoirse shawl with Linares yarn, the peach-apricot color. It's so fun to knit with even though it kind of splits a lot. Also when I get around to the last fifty yards or so, the little ball goes completely crazy and I end up with a big knot. Thankfully the ladies at Woolie Ewe helped me with that problem. I can't wait until I finish it! It's going to look great!

~~~

Yea for spring break!

Knitting is so yesterday!

After nearly a year of nonstop knitting, I'm taking a short hiatus. As I am thinking about this, I am already almost finished with a crocheted doily!

I don't have any update pictures because I have been incredibly lazy about it. I finished one of Joey's socks and about to finish the other, but ... knitting! Bleh! I'm burned out!

I haven't finished too much stuff recently. Ever since I discovered Phantasy Star Universe, other hobbies kind of took a back seat. I think my true calling have always been mindless RPG grinding.

The last couple weeks were exciting and a bit stressful. Joey and I celebrated my birthday and our wedding anniversary last weekend. For the birthday, we went to an Asian-fusion buffet. Translation: sweet and sour stuff, some sushi, and pizza and chicken nuggets, just what you'd expect from a Chinese buffet in Texas! But at least it's not drenched in mayo.

Joey and I have stopped going to buffets since before our wedding. He can't control himself, so I have to suffer indirectly. So now we reserve buffets for special occasions that only comes once a year!

On Saturday we had CiCi's, another one of which we haven't had since my birthday last year.

Later that night we went to Medieval Times. For those of you who have never been there, it's a stadium type place where you can enjoy a dinner and a show and whole lot of screaming. The theme for this place was Middle Ages European jousting and such. It was ... noisy and messy as you're allowed one piece of napkin for your whole chicken leg and ribs. We got really nice seats right at the front and a memorabilia picture taken beforehand. We chose to do the costumes. I was a princess and Joey dressed as a dual-wielding barbarian nobleman. It would have been more convincing if not for his fair skin and obviously well-nourished physique. This king seems to be enjoying the booties of his pillage from the years past.

On Monday we went to Fogo de Chao, a fancy Brazilian meat buffet type. Waiters come out with huge hunks of meat for the customers, and you can chose which ones you want! It was very delicious, but as I'm not a big beef eater, I didn't get as much fun out of it as Joey did.

That's where the fun stopped. After four days of merrymaking, Joey got food poisoning. We're not sure how, especially because I haven't gotten sick at all despite eating the same things. But he's been ill since last Tuesday and have since driven us both crazy. His doctor finally gave him some antibiotics, and I haven't heard any groaning for the past hour or so. Either he's gotten better, or deaders.

Let's see... what else?

Classical Chinese is going great! It's not as hard as before now we're moving into prose. Translating phrases and short sentences were so difficult! Mainly because there's no distinct pronouns, and I can't figure out which it's suppose to be without more context clues. Even though that should hardly matter, but I need my pronouns in my sentences.

I'm also a little burned out on my Master's. My plan is... if I don't get a summer TA-ship, I'm going to find a full time job and finish my Masters slowly on the side. However, if I do finish up by August as I planned, then .. I might just go flip burgers for a few months until I feel like going back into academia ... I keed!

One thing I do regret though was not getting an accounting degree for my undergrad. If only I did, then I can be an FBI forensic accountant! All the ass-kicking without being in physical danger! If only I watched Law and Order earlier during my undergrad. Curses, World of Warcraft!

New Year Resolutions.. kind of...

The secret to happiness in life is...

Lowering your standards!

Teeheehee!

Every year I tried to make and uphold new year resolutions, and they always disappear at some point. So this year, I'll make them more obtainable.

As far as crafts go, I have no goals. However, I will make a goal for yarn. I will only buy them either in the case of going to Crossfit sixteen times a month or to finish off at least five skeins. I'm donating most of my acrylic stuff.

Hmm... other than that, life is happy! We're going to Medieval Times for our one year anniversary. This time, I'm sneaking in hand sanitizer!

Bittersweet are the finished projects!

I finished two projects the past week.




I'm not quite sure what to feel. During the last one percent of the stitches, I felt accomplished. However, once the last loose end was woven, the happiness I felt disappeared. I was left with a deranged form of postpartum depression.

This was ... it. Weeks of hard work and anticipation dissipated right before my eyes. I no longer had something to look forward to each day. There would be no more updates, no more showings of each row to Joey. It is ... complete.

Joey doesn't really understand, and to be honest, I don't understand either. People speak of gratification upon completion, but all I saw was a piece that didn't live up to expectations. Of course this sounds so melodramatic, but every time I finish a big project, I go through a bit of a difficult stage until I find a new purpose.

And I have! I found out the perfect way to deal with this situation was to start new things, new projects. I have a filet centerpiece on the hooks for Grandma Berglund and a butterfly cross stitch kit ready to go for Aunt Maxine. On top of that, I have plenty of other kits and patterns I need to work on once I finish up Ladydurer's butterfly.

I'm prepared.

Happiness is a pair of socks

I finished my pair of socks last night! I can't seem to find my camera though, so I'll have to update the picture later.

I was dubious when I first started knitting socks. I didn't see the point or the necessity for handmade socks even as a hobby. The yarns I first looked at seemed to be too warm for Texas. But I have a competitive nature, if someone out there is making something, I have to be able to make it too.

My first dozen attempts were horrendous. I tried nearly every method at least five times and unraveled each in frustration. However, I didn't give up and persevered. I managed one sock for Joey with only a guideline for toe-up sock and created my own pattern. Soon after that I made the sock a deformed twin. Joey's first pair of socks did not match and did not fit very comfortably. The yarn, while soft to the touch, did not breath very well and I never even wove in the ends. Nonetheless, I was proud and ready for a real pair.

I went to Woolie Ewe and looked around for affordable sock yarn. Most of the stuff they had were merino wool with a mix of nylon. The yarns were pretty but did not feel too comfortable to the touch. I certainly didn't want to spend so much money that's going to feel itchy afterward.

I soon found a little section with Panda products. I've seen the Panda Cotton before but never found it appealing. Experience from crocheting doilies tell me that cotton yarn was not a prime candidate for clothing. However, underneath the Panda Cotton was a new product I never saw before. Panda Soy was its name and softness was definitely its feel. It is a bamboo, soy, and nylon blend. I bought two skeins of Tibetan Red and started right away.

I love it! Even though it's not plied very tightly, the sheen and softness of the material won me over. Now that I have a pair of those socks on, they feel extra nice. They breath really well. Each skein comes in about 185 yards, and I needed
only one and a half to make my socks, which meant I only needed to buy one more to make another pair. I bought a yellow skein the other day in order to make myself a pair of red and yellow argyle socks.

In other news, Ladydurer has her own blog now!

Ramblings from a Deranged Mind

Joey is a wiggly weight bar and other abnormalities

A couple nights ago I tried to dead lift Joey. He sprawled on the floor after his workout and eventually asked me to help him up. I have been working out for the past month on various skills, and I finally had a chance to put them to use. I got behind him and placed my hands beneath his armpits and attempted to pull him up. I did not consult him about this beforehand, and both us were shocked when he slipped from my grasp. All the training of "push on your heels" and "don't use your waist" disappeared in my mind during the process, and I almost pulled my back.

The lesson of that night was: 180 plus pounds of wriggly flesh is much less complacent than a 45 pound bar.

A few days ago Joey and I attempted to watch In the Name of the King: a Dungeon Siege Story. Despite the impressive cast ensemble, the movie did not deliver its full potential. The computer generated graphics in the movie were seamless, and the costumes and setting were grand and impressive. As far as entertainment value is being graded, I enjoyed it despite the terrible acting.

Even though the plot line was trite, that did not deter my enjoyment. I don't mind predictable story lines as long as there is enough eye candy in terms of stunning fight scenes and over abundant fireworks. The acting and casting however, nearly killed the movie. Like most Middle Earth movies, the story is set in Medieval era Europe, most commonly England. Jason Statham had the accent, but his thuggish demeanor did not convince me of his royal lineage. Ray Loitta convinced me of his evil personage, but his Midwestern American accent ruined the credibility of the setting. I focused so much on the inconsistency of the accents that I did not even notice the plot holes that Joey pointed out later.

However, I'm not one to over dissect action movies, and this movie did try to over exert itself into some racy plot elements. The sexual tension between the battle maiden and the Moor (I can only assume due to historic context) general could develop into something larger, but the director did not press on it any further than one symbolic fencing scene. I also admit to be completely shocked when the antagonist killed the main character's young son. Most Hollywood movies have spared children from being killed unless it's in cases of specially sadistic movies, but I did not expect Dungeon Siege to fall in that category.

Plus, for a movie to have ninjas, Moors, and battle mages, I would have expected to see dragons and pirates, both of which were disappointingly absent.

Last of all, Joey is starting his own blog!

The Den of the Arch-Bear

I'm such a bully.

I almost made a little girl cry today, or at least, I think I almost did.

I went over to a friend's place, and events led me to tease her youngest child a little too much. I jokingly told her that for everything the parents do wrong, their penalty was to give away their youngest child, and that's why Joey does not live with his parents anymore. At first she was incredulous and laughed, but for some reason, I couldn't quite stop myself from continuing what I thought was a funny joke. After all, I tease Joey all the time about selling him for my craft habit. Apparently at some point in life I lost my ability to differentiate the age and the gullibility discrepancy between young children and adults.

I continued in a serious manner, and her laughing eyes eventually turned to horror and worry. My friend slapped me on the arm and told me that if I made her child cry, I had to take her home. I stopped and told her I was joking. Almost instantaneously, she put back on her goofy smile.

I feel kind of duped. I noticed the troubled look in her eyes, but the immediate change of expression afterward makes me feel like I was tricked. Though of course, I didn't want to finish my teasing; I certainly do not want to deal with a crying child. There's got to be a special place in Hell for grownups who tease kids too much, and even though I'm not a believer, I've always been a firm practitioner of not testing the limits.

I do feel slightly guilty, and like a bully.

An Update on Nothing

Now that I do not have a job with routine hours anymore, it's hard to find time to blog. Well, I take that back, it's now hard to blot out precious lounging time to blog.

It's nice to be back in the department as a full time student again, except this time I get paid for it. There's definitely something to be said about being around people who are just as divorced from reality as I am. Though I think I jumped the gun a little more and have completely alienated reality now that I have time for zombie movies again.

This semester is already coming off to a good start. I understand the readings and the subjects are quite enticing. The class I am unexpectedly looking forward to is the Creative Nonfiction class. We are to write quasi-reflective pieces that would in some way describe the human condition. I already have some ideas for my pieces, though I would definitely do some research on the genre before hand.

Once again, I'm taking a class with Dr. Farmer for a Chinese related class. The first book is already good! It's about flood myths and awesome bawdawesome. Once I'm finished, I'll have a more substantial summary. There is a girl that knits in class. I'm widely jealous yet still have too much shame to knit in such a small class. One day! One day I'll throw off these shackles of conformity and civility! And wear nothing but a burlap sack with argyle socks!

As far as crafting goes, I haven't finished anything in a long time. I started plenty of things though, but that's pretty normal. I've finally come back around to the cycle of cross stitch again. I really want to finish the Zelda cross stitch sometime this year, but I suspect it'll be harder as the semester progresses.

Let's see, other than that, life has been pretty much the same. I started working out at Crossfit Richardson after hearing Mel talk about it so much. While there are no physical results yet, I feel much more energetic and tons more talkative, much to Joey's dismay. But now that I have more energy, I feel like I can do everything with gusto. Like... bumming around... HARDCORE!

So.... lalala!

La-dee-dah!

I am starting my new job this Thursday! It'll be my first meeting with the professor whom I'll be assisting. I'm quite excited and I hope I'll do well this semester.

I attended the first part of the orientation for new TA/RAs today, and there were a lot of people. I think altogether, there were about two hundred grad students, but I definitely look the smartest.... Joey will testify!

On Saturday we went to a Greek restaurant called Kostas, and it was absolutely great! The environment was classy, the service was fantastic, and the food was absolutely fabu. I can't believe we never went in before. The only thing I was a little disappointed with was its outside image. Even though it was nice and clean, there's really not that much to suggest it's a restaurant. In fact, for years I thought it was a garage... but without mechanics hanging outside.

I also went to Woolie Ewe on Saturday and I was completely overwhelmed, in the bestest of ways, by the great service. Sue, the owner, helped me out for nearly an hour and did not gripe at all about my cluelessness. She not only helped me revise the sweater pattern I had, but also helped me pick out the yarn. I ended up making the purchase on Monday instead because the yarn I was eying was being held for another lady.

Here's what I came home with! And of course, my quality control officer was the first to arrive with some... quality control.



It's a nice bamboo and wool blend that is soft to the touch yet very durable. Perfect for my Joey. He's already seen it and knows what it's for... anniversary present come this February. A while back we got a sweater for Joey from Burlington Coats Factory. It was the most worthwhile twelve dollars he spent, and he wore that sweater to death until it finally broke from his love. I'm hoping I could replace that trooper of a sweater with something handmade.

Last week of work!

This is my last week of work at the Office of Enrollment in UTD. It's slowly sinking in, but... not quite.

Joey and I finally went to the store and bought patio stuff. We got two super size camping chairs and a little gas grill.





Guess which one is mine! We grilled a couple times during the week, and it was a lot of fun just sitting out there... until the bugs killed me. I'll wait a couple more months before sitting outside again.

So August 9th was our six month anniversary! We went to Home Depot and bought a fern together. :)



I'm going to try super hard to keep this baby alive... but I'd be lying if I said I had done any research.

Carol also gave us some cat grass. It's a mixture of barley, wheat, and oat. Her cats really like them, so I hope Maomao will like it too! But hopefully not enough to hurl it up every where in the apartment.

Here's a picture. The top left has already sprouted a little.



Finally I move on to my knitting!




The top one is my Ravelympics entry. It's coming along quite well! I had quite a hard start up with it due to not reading instructions. (Instructions are for tooooooools!) But I persevered and conquered at the end. Every now and then I worry about not having enough yarn for it, but damn it if I were ever caught measuring gauge... or even reading instructions!

The second one is more progress on the flutter scarf. I made a booboo a while back and just went on with it, hoping that no one would ever notice. But Mom made a comment about my quality control team (me and myself and me). Even though I hold to the philosophy of "all problem can be fixed by ignoring it", I eventually broke down and unraveled back to the bad part. Because even though I say it's for myself, I might gift it at the end, and I'd hate for someone to talk about the mistakes later.

On Friday I went over to Burleson to watch the Olympics opening ceremony with mom, and I brought a gift along for her. I worked on it all week! It was my ambitious "one dishcloth a day" plan, and I managed! Along with the washcloths, I also added a pretty soap and other toiletries.



The soap actually smells pretty strong, but I got used to it after a while. I have two more of that brand and am planning to use one at some point. Unfortunately, Joey doesn't like them, so I'll have to think about it carefully. While I like to use new bath products, I also like to be hugged and being close to my husband. Hmmm! Dilemmas!

Yarn Galore!

Before I start with anything else, let me say...

Good news everyone! Quackers is almost fully grown.



Tonight will be the "release" night when Joey and I send him off at the apartment fountain where the bunnies and the dogs will... ignore him and what not.

This Wednesday will be my language proficiency test for my Master's. It will consist of four hours of translating in a small room with just me and my dictionary. I really hope they didn't choose something that's in archaic Chinese. I told them I could handle either simplified or traditional Chinese, but if it's written in ancient dialect, I'm screwed! But other test takers have said that the excerpts were always relevant to their field, and I have made it clear that my field was post-Qing dynasty. So hopefully the chosen material will be... understandable!

I came to an uncomfortable yet inevitable conclusion yesterday... I have too much yarn.

It's finally gotten to a point where the amount of yarn I have is overwhelming me. I am also no longer excited every time I look at my stash because ... it's just so damn huge! There's only two more things I want come September, but until then, I'll start destashing by working on my queue.

So here are some updates!



Well, I guess it's just one thing. It's my first attempt at socks! I tried it leg first before, but after looking at Mel's project, I was intrigued by the toe up method. I have to admit, it's a million times easier! I already started on the second sock, albeit with a different pattern, but Joey doesn't mind if his socks don't match.

Here are the new yarns I got over the weekend!



I bought this for my friend's daughter's scarf. She bought the same thing but in alternating colors for the other daughter. I'm so happy that the brand is carrying cotton yarn now! They are a lot smoother and softer than the Sugar 'n Cream brand, so it'll be more suitable for a light garment such as a scarf. The beads are so cute also!



The goldish yarn is actually from the scarf exchange. It's so soft! I've been really interested in a ruffle scarf lately, and the image of a gold ruffle scarf look the best in my head!



This! I have no idea what to do with this yet, but it was so pretty that I had to get it. At Woolie Ewe, there's a small section by the knitting tables with these caked up lace weight yarn, and it looks so delicious there. It's about 630 yards, so I think I can make a substantial shawl from it as long as it's not overly huge.

Finally!

I joined the Ravelympics yesterday with Team Woolie Ewe. This sounds so fun, I'll finally feel obligated to finish something in a set amount of time. Cast on is August 8th during the opening ceremony and I have to finish before the closing ceremony.

The project I chose is a pretty shawl intended for Jeff's mom. She baked our groom's cake for our wedding and I feel that I never thanked her properly. So now I have my chance!

The yarn I'm planning to use is this:



Maybe I'll wind it up tonight...