My new room mate

Before I say anything else, I want to wish a Very Happy Anniversary to Missa and her dear hubby, Lee, who, as of today, have been married for... well, a long time. But not quite as long as I have. So somewhere around fifteen-y sixteen-ish.

Hi, my memory is crap!

I was Missa's matron of honor at her wedding, and anyone who has ever stood up at a wedding will appreciate this story of just how freaking cool my awesome BFF is:

When she was planning her wedding and asked me to stand up with her, I asked her what her colors were and what my dress might be like. She said, I don't know -- you're the only one standing up with me, so you pick out the dress you want to wear and that will be the color I use. There were a few caveats, of course -- no fuscia, etc. -- but considering that she knew my taste at the time, it wasn't really an issue. I found a simple, dark green cocktail dress in the JCPenney clearance catalog for 24.99, she loved it, and that settled it. And I officially had the best bridesmaid experience ever. Missa 'da bomb!!!

And now, while we're all feeling all these warm and fuzzy thoughts for Missa, let's throw a few in the direction of my awesome new roomie, Benny! Who's Benny, you ask? Why is he living with you? What sort of scandalous things are going on up there in Beer Town, anyway? Am I going to have to start filtering this blog, you wonder?

Never fear, dear friends! As I artfully communicated in my last post, I went to the greenhouse on Saturday. I went with a friend and had no intention of buying anything because my thumb is notoriously black and the thought of killing something I was attached to, even a plant, at this point makes me unbearably sad. But then I saw Benny. He called to me. "Hey, nice lady! I'm small and cute and springy and you can talk to me and not feel so crazy in your little apartment! And, really, with all those south-facing windows, not having a plant is a kind of a crime against the Planta kingdom." I swear, he really said all of that to me. But I took Benny home with me, so the men in white coats can't come get me because then I won't be able to take care of Benny anymore.

Yes! Stay away from me, social workers! I'm protected by... A PLANT!!!

My room mate, Benny, is cute, yet fierce.

Then I went to TJ Maxx, the home of all the stuff no one wanted to buy at other stores, and found a great little pot for $4. I think it matches the decor delightfully:


In case you're wondering, that is a ceramic fish in the upper left. A wonderfully effed up ceramic fish by a locally famous artist in my hometown. It's awesome, trust me. So is the terra cotta ball thingy in the lower right -- also by him. It jingles if you shake it. Such cool stuff I've been given over the years.

Now that there's a plant on that table, I shall start referring to it as my sculpture garden. And the men in white coats can just try to stop me.

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I dreamed I got something right, but I was wrong

Last night, the weirdest thing happened. I had a blog-related dream. My first! Most of it is a little fuzzy now, but the most important part was that I went to visit Becky. She was at home and wasn't expecting me, but I knew she had people dropping by all the time and I wanted to meet her. So I went to her tree house, where she lived. Of course. When I got there, Buck was already visiting which could have made things crowded, but I knew he'd be staying in his RV so it wouldn't be a problem. They were watching football and we all sat around and tried to figure out who the players were and where they were from and what the league was because, as everyone knows, the Pro Bowl was last week so regular NFL football is over. Much to our dismay. Then Becky announced that she had to go to her other house in Minnesota and Buck and I would have to leave. I got mad at her because Minnesota is much closer to my home than her tree house and I could have saved a lot of travel time, had I known.

The end.

Perhaps I spend just a smidge too much time in the blogosphere. Ya' think?

Scawy.

In news of the more, oh, I don't know, sane, I finished the Baby Girl's First Christmas Stocking and it's all ready to be sent to my former professor and join the one I made for her baby boy in 2006.


I think these are pretty, especially for how quick they are to make. I think I may have to start making them for adults, too!

This project finished, I was itchin' to get started on the latest baby gift -- an afghan for my labmate who recently announced she's pregnant with her first child! I'm so happy for her! She is from China, and I had thought that I would find a way to incorporate something about the Year of the Rat, but I couldn't really figure out how to do that attractively. Then I read that, aside from have the 12-year animal cycle, the Chinese also observe a 4-year elemental cycle. Each year is a year of either water, air, earth, or fire. This year is an earth year, and the color for earth is yellow. Perfect! Subtle, appropriate, pretty, and non-restricting (from a knitting perspective)! I have never knit an afghan, I've always crocheted them, but I've been itching to knit something large from Cotton-Ease, one of my favorite yarns. I just love the way it feels. And it comes in a rich yellow called Maize, which I love. It just all fell into place!

I got the yarn, cast on Sunday morning, and this is how far I've gotten so far in my fun and pretty feather and fan pattern:


I really like it so far. (Click pic for biggie view.)

Then, yesterday, talk in the lab turned to the Chinese New Year (which was just last week) and the Chinese zodiac. I brought up the 4-year elemental cycle and my labmate said, yes, there was something like that, but no one paid attention to it. LOL! Foiled again! Oh well, at least it's just a color choice -- and a pretty one at that! I think it's hilarious.

Maybe someday I'll visit her in her tree house and tell her all about it.

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Don't worry, I know what I'm doing

Classes start next week which, while I'm not really enthused about because it will take so much time from my research, is not really too stress-inducing. But I also start a teaching assistanceship, which I am a little freaked out about. I've never TA'd before and, in order to do it right, I'm sure it will take a lot of time. The thing is, no one in the department wants anyone to spend a lot of time on their assistanceship because the priority is research. Now, apart from the educational priorities in higher education debate this could start, I am, of course, more concerned about how this affects, well, me.

See, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Those who know me well are now howling with laughter at the understatement. And if I can't always be 100% competent, I like to at least appear 100% competent virtually 100% of the time. Now, we don't have official TA assignments yet -- we should get them today (and don't even get me started on why they wait so long to let us know what we'll be teaching -- classes start Monday, for Goodness' sake), but I'm fairly certain that I will be TAing Cell Biology. This is all well and good -- it's an upper division class, populated by fewer students than the survey courses and only biology majors, so they should be more dedicated, but there's a reason that this strikes some fear into my heart. I took cell biology as an undergrad in 1989. Oh, I know the basics, plus anything that I use regularly in my research or that applies to classes I've taken more recently, but there are a lot of details I've forgotten. The professor of the class thinks that this means that TAing this class will be particularly good for me, as I need a refresher on this material and this is an excellent opportunity for that. She's absolutely right. However, my stress level has ratcheted up several notches at the prospect.

So much so that last night I had a nightmare about it. Granted, in true dream fashion, it was ridiculous, but it was definitely a manifestation of my current apprehension. In the dream, I met my class in the proper room, only to find that the proper room was an ice cream parlor and that I was to teach them how ice cream was made and sold at said parlor, except I had no idea how ice cream was made and sold at said parlor because I had just gotten the TA assignment previous to entering the room. So, while under the guise of waiting a bit for latecomers to arrive, I tried to surreptitiously quiz the employees about the material and considered just delegating the actual instruction to the employees. While I debated whether this plan was smart or just lazy and whether I would look more incompetent if I tried to bullshit my way something I knew nothing about, or if I handed off instruction to a high-school age part-time worker, one of the students announced that my friends had arrived. (Never mind how they knew they were my friends -- this is a dream, kids. Wherein I'm TAing Ice Cream Parlor 101.) Sure enough, my friends, Meredith, Liz, and Laura were walking down the hall. I excused myself and went to greet them. As I explained my predicament to them, they all just looked at me like I'd lost my mind and told me that, no matter what, I had to go back and teach the class. I was disappointed that they hadn't seemed more compassionate to my plight when it hit me: They are all teachers. And that if I didn't somehow pull this out of my ass and find a way to be successful, I was not only going to look like an incompetent loser in front of my students, but I would also seem that way to my friends.

And then I woke up.

Not that I have issues, or anything.

Nope, not at all.

I've got it completely under control.

I know exactly what I'm doing.

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Insane knitting!

And not as in, "Wow, look at all the knitting I've accomplished -- It's INSANE!"

No, not like that at all. In fact, just the opposite.

Now, granted, I've not been spending very much time knitting. I've gone to two day-long Brewers game events this week (we won both games and a BLAST was had by all!!!) and have been running around the lab like a madwoman trying to make up for the fact that I've gone to two day-long Brewers game events this week. But, during two hour-long phone calls to Gator, plus an episode of the X-Files on DVD, I have managed to successfully trim one third of the neckline of the Zodiac.



I have frogged this trim no less than six times. I told you this applied I-cord was my nemesis. The worst part is, I like making the I-cord. I just apparently suck at it. I lose my place and skip a step. I drop a stitch and pick it up incorrectly. It's really testing me.

But I shall persevere! I shall beat this silly I-cord! And then, I shall drink beer.

Fo' shizzle.

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Insane addiction with flakes at the end

Hi!

How was your weekend? Mine was ridiculous!

How's that? Well, my loser-dom reached new heights this weekend. I only had a little bit of work in the lab, so I should have gotten a lot accomplished and I should have another strip of the Crazy Quilt Coverlet to show you. But I don't. There was a challenge at simplysnowflakes to create a pattern based on an actual snowflake from nature, but I didn't do it. I have to return the book I'm reading to the library today and I wanted to finish it this weekend, but I didn't do that either. Why not? Why didn't I accomplish any of these perfectly enjoyable things that I really, genuinely, wanted to do? LOSER! That's why.

I became addicted. Stupidly, insanely, completely, ridiculously addicted. To what, you ask? The beautiful outdoors which displayed lovely springtime weather this weekend? Friends, food, and fun? A horrible drug that left me unable to function in society as we know it? No. Well, maybe sorta on that last one.

I became addicted to YouTube episodes of Judge Judy.

I'm so ashamed.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have loved the judge shows for a long time now. When I had a TV, I would watch whichever one was on, including Divorce Court (so you see how bad this is). Since I moved up here TVless, I was thrilled to learn that the local FOX affiliate broadcasts their entire TV schedule on the radio AND they have a healthy line up of judge shows. Good deal. But with TV and the radio, the shows are on when they're on, I catch them when I can, or I don't, and life goes on. Not so with YouTube! It just goes on and on and on and on!!!! It's crazy! "Just one more" episode becomes four hours later. Seriously, yesterday, this was all I did. I am a complete reject.

I did knit two dishcloths while I watched. Here's the evidence of my shameful weekend activity:


Luckily, I did get something done during the week last week, so I have two -- count 'em! -- two snowflakes to share this Snowflake Monday:

simplysnowflakes sign-up flake #2

#40 from Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes


Check back often. There's no telling what stupid crap I'll do next!

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PS -- Becky, I'm doing it tomorrow, I promise! I was distracted by insanity and also being a complete loser! Sorry!

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