Have sock will travel

This will be short and sweet so I can go spend quality time with my sweet hubby on our last night together.

I have a sock:


It is the Primavera sock pattern by natalja executed in Berocco Comfort Sock in some kinda bluish shade and contains my first ever short row heel. Notice I'm showing you the good side. The other side is somewhat... lacier. Yes, I'm going to call it a lovely lace feature and leave it at that. I've started the second and hopefully will get to work on it some this week.

And I will travel. Tomorrow I leave MO and my boy (boo hoo!!!) and fly back to Beer Town. After a couple of hours with my gal pals, I go home, repack, print my conference packet, visit Benny, and go to sleep. Because, the shuttle to take me to the airport for my 7-hour, three flight jaunt to Santa Barbara for a week-long genetics conference comes to pick me up at 4 a.m. Argh.

So off with me. More cuddling must be done! G'night!

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Crappy bloggers, unite!

I should really start some sort of union for bloggers of low update number. It's gotten ridiculous, I know. Now, rejoice in my excuses!

1) I wrote my qualifying exam, which was a big 'ol thesis proposal, and had to defend it to my committee. I was successful! I won't tell you about it because, frankly, I know you don't really care. It's okay, though! My committee barely cares! I'll just entice you with the title:

Endoreduplication in Tetrahymena thermophila: A model of the endocycle?

Oh. I know. It's just that good.

2) Two days after I passed quals, I hopped on a plane and took off to KC then traveled to Maryville. I spent some time with my great-niece and great-nephews.

Athena and I are being models:

George joined us for one shot:

Athena took a picture of me -- she's pretty good for 4 1/2, no?

Zane and Aiden wanted to be crazy (though Zane looks pretty bored by all the craziness, it was his idea):

Then the boys dug a hole. This is the aftermath:

So I had some great family time. I also got to see my sister, aunt, and nieces, but I guess they didn't really score photos. That's the way it goes when there are kids around to steal the show!

Then I went to my ::shudder:: 20 year high school reunion! It was a really great time and amazing to see so many people I hadn't seen for years! Everyone looked amazing. For the most part, the years have been extremely kind to us. Only about a third of our class showed up, though, which was sad. But I think we made a rather attractive little bunch:


So after a few days in the 'Ville, I grabbed a ride down to Columbia, MO, to...

... SEE MY BOY!!!!! (who I have not seen since Thanksgiving!!)


Aren't we cute?

So I'm here, with him, until Saturday. Then I go back to Milwaukee, repack luggage, and take off on Sunday for UC-Santa Barbara for a week-long Tetrahymena forward genetics mini-course. Whirlwind, I tell you.

So, I haven't been blogging. Sorry 'bout that. But I've got a crazy-cute boy here to love.


Sorry, but you lose. ;)



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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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Memorial Day and MeMe

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a nice holiday and yet takes a moment to remember the real reason we have this day off. I am sad that I am too far away to decorate the graves of my ancestors, but I trust that, wherever they are, they understand and forgive me.

On a lighter note, I was tagged by Becky for a fun little meme. The rules are: You must answer the following questions using only pictures or graphics. NO WORDS ALLOWED!!!

1. What is your current relationship status?


2. What is your current mood?


3. What is your favorite band/singer?


4. What is your favorite movie?




5. What kind of pets do you have?


6. Where do you live?


7. Where do you work?


8. Who do you look like?


9. What do you drive?


10. What did you do on Saturday?




11. What did you do on Sunday?



12. What is your favorite network TV Show?


13. Describe Yourself.


14. What is your favorite candy?



If you read this, consider yourself tagged!!

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Marquette in bloom

It has been sunny and spring-like this week and I have loved every minute of it. The world has greened up and the flowers are out in force! It's too beautiful for words, so I won't use any more. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Pretty tulips welcome you to Marquette by the library.


The engineering building peeks out over trees in bloom.


These trees are right in front of the building my lab is in. They smell fabulous.


This view of the Pere Marquette statue in front of St. Joan of Arc chapel is always particularly lovely.


The library peeks out over another gorgeous blooming tree.

It's easy to get into a good mood when you walk around in the midst of all this. :)

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Well, hello,there!

I know, I fell off the face of the planet. But, I did warn you a while back that this would happen. It's going to happen some more this year, I'm afraid. But today I'm here and I've got some things to show you.

Blame my appearance on Gator. I've been telling him about some things and he thought I ought to just blog about them so he could see them. That was the point of starting this blog, after all. What a novel idea to use it for its intended purpose!

I still feel like I disappeared only to pop back in just to show off stuff. Oh well. I am really kind of like that, after all. Be thankful most of you don't have to live with me. (Hi, sweetie! Thanks for wanting to live with me anyway!)

Part of my absence has been business, but not all of it. I've been in a funk (missing my sweet husband a lot, mostly -- and I'm not just saying that for Gator's benefit, it's really true), I've been sick (there has been some nasty stuff going around up here), and I've been in that place where I don't really know what to say so I just don't say nuthin'. We've all been there, I'm sure.

I'm supposed to be studying for qualifying exams which is a totally overwhelming prospect where I have to come up with two research proposals by the middle of May for my committee to judge, question me on, and then they pick one of them for me to write a 30 page grant proposal that I defend at the end of June. On any subject in molecular biology or genetics that isn't too close to the project I actually do. I haven't even really found a good topic yet. So I stress. And, sometimes, I escape into X-Files DVDs and do handwork. But I really need to stop that. And, no, there isn't sufficient molecular biology or genetics in handwork to officially fit that into my proposal. I've looked into it.

So, I finished the afghan I started for my labmate, who is due with a baby boy in July. The late afternoon sunlight makes the color come across more true than the picture in my last post. It's a mellow gold.






(Click to embiggen -- they look better!)

Lots of Love afghan from Kraemer Yarns made with Cotton Ease in Maize on size US10 circulars. My first knitted (as opposed to crocheted) afghan. It was pretty fun and I think it's very pretty. I just love working with Cotton Ease -- it's so soft and nice.

I came across this new dishcloth pattern -- the Squidge cloth. I've made a couple and sent one to my sister, Jane, for her birthday, but I haven't used one yet so I can't really report on their effectiveness as actual dishcloths. But they're great fun to make and I like the feel of it made up. And I lurve this giant ball of brown ombre Bernat cotton that I've been making dishcloths from. Neato.


My latest project was going to be a wedding present. But I don't think it's going to pass muster. My friend is getting married this fall and I want to make her an afghan. I am also poor and I also have a gigantic stash. So, I thought I would make a crazy ripple afghan, use up stash, be funky fresh, etc. But, really, I think it's probably just fugly. In retrospect, I should have tried the random stripe generator and I probably could have made it become cooler, but I didn't think about it until about two stripes ago. It's far, far too late. I, personally think it's kind of cool, but I don't really think it's wedding present caliber. Later this summer I'll rustle up the dough to get some yarn for a better design for them. They're huge Packers fans (and Anne's favorite color is green) -- I'll probably do a funky Packers ripple. This one will become mine!


So that's my life. Frantic reading and studying, making knockout strains of Tetrahymena, more frantic reading, sudden overpowering need to escape and ignore all responsibility, watch X-Files and crochet.

Now you know my every waking move. I'll wait til you stop shaking with excitement.

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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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Unfinished business... of AWESOMENESS!

Today we're having a blizzard. Classes were canceled, there were whiteout conditions -- it was a great day to stay inside and, well, it would have been a great day to knit, or (ahem) take down my Christmas decorations (do NOT comment!) or some other nice, indoor, productive thing. So, instead, I futzed around and didn't do anything in particular, really. I did take a pretty impressive nap, though.

But that's not what this post is about, nosireebob! It's about awesomeness, and blizzards are not awesome. Well, they can be pretty great, but not awesome. No, this post is about two things. The first is: Gator got his gift in the mail today! And he loves it! And now I get to show it to you! Happiness all around!


It's a simple rag quilt made with some coordinating flannel I purchased a couple of years ago but had never used. It's not quite bedspread size, but I would totally use it for one. I slept under it (nekkid, even!) the night before I sent it to Gator (you know, for a little extra love in the package. Hee!) and I was not too hot, not too cold. Just right.


The backing is a light grey that makes a subtle border between the squares. The backing is also a courser weave and it frays really well. It gives the quilt a great look, but I washed it four times and the lint trap was as full as full could be all four times. It could probably stand to be washed four more times. It eventually will be. It's all good.

Most instructions online advise cutting the seam allowances every 1/4 inch to encourage fraying. I've made one before following that advice and didn't like the results. So this time I cut ~ every 1/8 to 1/16 inch. Basically, I made the cuts as close together as practically possible. I like the effect much better. Thus, like I said, the full lint trap. But I still dig it.


Purple is Gator's favorite color, so its inclusion is key. And what geek god doesn't love knights and castles and wizards? He asserts that this is a most awesome prize. I hope he sleeps under it and dreams of me. Not riding a unicorn. Don't ask.

My second piece of awesome business is that two people, Laura and Molly Bee, awarded me with the You Make My Day Award! How cool is that? I've never been awarded before! So fun! You guys make my day, too!

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

I pass the award on to Missa, Becky, Sue, Dorothy, Judy, Dawn, Julie, Laura, Steve, and Tricia. You all make my day, every time you post. Pass it on!

I also updated my links over on the right, there. That's a continuing project, but that's what I've added for now. Maybe you can find some new friends in there, too! Wouldn't that be AWESOME?

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Pretty darned random

Does anyone else have the mid-winter blahs? I seem to just be doing the bare minimum that I must, then wasting a lot of time doing goodness-knows-what. I may be PMSing, too, so throw that into the mix. All in all -- blah.

It's not that I've been entirely unproductive, it's just that there's not a lot to show for it right now. Here's a short run-down of what I've been...

... Making:
I finally finished Gator's secret anniversary present and mailed it off yesterday. I can't show it to you until after he's received it. It took a lot longer to complete than I had anticipated but I lurve the results. Is it bad to be really jealous of your own husband for receiving a gift that you made for him?? That seems so wrong, somehow. And yet.

I have not worked any more on the Baby Christmas Stocking, but that should change this week. I've been puttering on another block for the experimental Ballband Afghan and I just ordered the yarn to make a baby afghan for my pregnant labmate. So things are a'brewin'.

... Listening To:
I'm seriously loving Ippy, my fabulous birthday / Christmas gift iPod. I've loaded all my music onto her and I happily listen all the time. I've been listening to some pretty random stuff, especially music from my collection that I haven't listened to in ages. The Church, Bela Fleck, Enya. It's a rockin' good time.

Also, I've just gotten turned on to the audiobooks available at Project Gutenberg. I knew they had a vast selection of E-books, but the audio versions are a godsend for long days in the lab when I have much to do, but none of it requires my entire brain. I've just downloaded all forty million chapters of Jane Eyre -- which I've never read! -- and I'm itching to get started today. Yay!

... Reading:
I just read one of the worst books I've ever had the displeasure to read. I'm a huge fan of Gone With the Wind and I really enjoyed the latter-day sequel Scarlett (NOT the horrible mini-series they made that bears little to NO resemblance to the book), so I was looking forward to reading the next authorized book based on GWTW, Rhett Butler's People.

It is supposed to tell the story of Rhett's upbringing -- how he became the man that appears in GWTW -- as well as what might have happened after Mitchell's novel. A version of the happy ending most of us yearn for. Even though both Scarlett and Rhett Butler's People are authorized companion novels to GWTW, they do not jibe with each other. They are two separate visions of "what happens next". While this apparently really messes with some peoples' heads, I don't really have a problem with it. But that's not to say I don't have plenty of problems other than that.

The author has previously written civil-war era fiction and has been highly praised for it. It apparently took him twelve years to finish Rhett Butler's People. He admits to only reading GWTW once and not liking it. He says he worked off his wife's notes on the novel. He admits he took the job for the money. It SO shows. Worse yet, I don't think anyone at the Mitchell estate or St. Martin's Press did any editing whatsoever. It's horrible. It is quite possibly the most unprofessional job I've ever seen, period.

There are many typos, to be sure. Ridiculous things that the lowliest of editors should have spotted. But worse than that are other errors. A one-legged man, who limps when he walks on his peg-leg, suddenly puts his cold feet into his shoes, "quickly" backs down a ladder, jogs in his stocking feet, and generally does things that a perfectly able-bodied man would have trouble with. Then there are the inconsistencies with the original Gone With the Wind. The timeline is disturbed (he states that Scarlett sold the lumber mills to Ashley before his birthday -- in opposition to the events of GWTW -- but then what excuse would Scarlett have had to go see him that fateful day and cause such scandal? The author offers no reason.), characters are decimated, and important events are left out completely. Then there's this novel's own storyline. It's all too pat and incestuous -- a small group of people seem to be the only people in the world; all their actions come around at the end to tie everything in a neat little horrible bow and nothing else influences anything. By the time I got to the last few chapters, I just wanted to get it over with so I could take the book back to the library. Thank God I got it from the library and didn't buy the ridiculous thing.

So now I'm going to re-read GWTW, just to cleanse my palate, so to speak.

Is it naptime yet? I just feel so... blah.

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Got you on my mi-hind

Happy Anniversary, Baby. It's been seventeen wonderful years and even though there have been downs as well as ups, I wouldn't trade a day. You are my best friend, my soulmate, and my truest love.

And I'm really sorry your gift isn't done yet. You deserve to be showered with love (and material goods) on the actual day of celebration. But I have failed you, and can only send psychic love-waves over the distance and hope that my inabilities serve to draw out the celebration for another week or so, sharpening the anticipation. I hope you think it's worth the wait.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for understanding and accepting my geeky self and knowing that, while others might prefer flowers or jewelry, I am beside myself with giddiness over the receipt of my most awesome anniversary gift (outside of more years with you, of course -- the greatest gift of all!):


Thank you for making me the proud owner of The Complete X-Files DVD box set! I love it! I broke it open immediately and watched an episode while working on a little special something...


Nine seasons of episodes and the movie, special features, deleted scenes, synopsis book, collectors' cards, a comic book -- all in a pretty coolio box. It's like Christmas around here. Only better because it's all only about my Boy and me.

We're the center of our universe. That's pretty cool.

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