It's been awhile...

...so I thought I'd write a bit tonight.

First, I turned in my portfolio last night. It is finished. WHEW! This has been a crazy 2 1/2 years of coursework, internship and finally the portfolio. I've learned a lot and look forward to walking across the stage at graduation to receive my Masters!!!!

Second, with this heat wave that really is meant for July and August, I treated myself to a pedicure and manicure this afternoon. A girl has to have her piggies in tip top shape to wear the sandals and flip flops!

Finally, with so much else to do, I failed to check my email recently. I went through it this evening and came across one that said, "You're a Winner!" Well, it was not from Publisher's Clearing House, but from Knit Picks, a mail order yarn company! I won a copy of Handknit Heroes, a graphic novel about knitting of course (quite appropriate for the librarian to be) and 7 skeins of Wool of the Andes in a color of my choosing. I chose blackberry, a deep purpley color. Not a color I would normally pick, but since it's free (YIPPPPEEEEE!!!!), why not? Now, you're probably wondering what I did to win the contest. Good question. Handknit Heroes is a graphic novel about teens who have powers and knit (of course), so the contest was asking if we could have a superpower, what would it be? I always tease my students that they wish theirs was invisibility when it comes to using their cellphones to text during class, but that was not mine. "If I had a superpower, I would be super fast like the bionic woman! I would be able to multitask and get things accomplished in the blink of an eye. That way I would have more time to knit and actually get projects finished!!!!" Now, if only I were super fast...

And of course, speaking of knitting...I have a few projects on the needles...two pairs of socks (cannot finish one pair because I broke the needles and need to purchase a new set!), a scarf/stole (cannot finish because I need to decide if I want it to be a scarf or a stole...if a stole, I need to purchase more yarn), and three gifts that need to get finished before the end of summer! (Do you see why I chose my superpower????)

Procrastination

No matter what, I cannot stop procrastinating!

I hate this!

I've been working for 3 hours on one assignment while watching the Ravens lose to the Giants...and I'm still not finished-only 1/2 completed. I don't know what to do to stop procrastinating. I can't work without some white noise.

Ahhhhhh....

Just another way to procrastinate...

I've seen this meme before, thought it was cool, never did anything about it. Of course, I have 3 big projects due this week for grad school and here I am procrastinating in every way possible.

So here it goes...




Want to play too?
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

A package!

I received a package from my SP12 pal on Monday! (Sorry it's taken me two days...grad school all day and it's killing me slowly!) I opened my box:

And this is what I received:

A ball-band dishcloth in my favorite colors
with a nicely crocheted border (a new idea for me!)
A pair of knitting needles that say,
"I love knitting!" with a kitty face and a
"gummy" bear point protector
3 patterns-1 for a hat, 1 for socks and 1 for a cozy-and
all of a baseball theme!
a knitting pattern calendar and
2 skeins of wool for the hat and
2 skeins of fun fur for a scarf
all in Orioles colors! (I <3 the O's!)

Thank you, Secret Pal!

The FInal Countdown, Another one for the Geek List and It's a beginning!

The final countdown has begun-I have my final exam in hand! I hope to have it finished by Saturday so that I can enjoy MD Sheep & Wool on Sunday and not have to worry about finishing before our trip to Kansas City next week.

The GeekList #8: Jason and I have this bill to pay. I ask him why we don't round the amount to the nearest $100 mark. He says, "Because it's a great number. It is the blah blah blah of blah blah blah." My brain went into Charlie Brown mode and I just smiled and shook my head. 'Nuf said.

The beginning: I've become a test knitter! I answered an ad and the company sent me a pattern and the yarn to make it. It's not a paid position at least not in dollars, but in yarn. IMO, that's the best payment! I do have a time constraint-the end of May. Oh my...I think I'll be able to finish. I know I will!

Other knitting-almost finished baby blanket #2 of 2008. Only a few more rounds of 600 stitches to go.

New Form of Mail in Rebate?

This has become one of my new favorite snacks. These are snap peas that have been baked and are super crispy. They have the consistency of cheese curls without the cheese. Who knew veggies could taste so good?


Yesterday, I had an all day class for Grad school. I always pack my lunch when I have to go to McDaniel because if I leave, I will lose my parking space. Even on a Saturday! (There was a lacrosse tournament going on yesterday.) Anyway, I've packed most of my lunch and decide to put the rest of the snapea crisps into a baggie. I noticed something a bit different coming out of the bag of crisps. It was this:

A DIME! I guess this gives new meaning to mail in rebate. Or are they just paying me for using their product? This has never happened to me before, but I think I'll be buying more of this product...who knows? Maybe there will be dollar bills in the next bag!?!

New Year, New Semester...New Job???

I've mentioned before that I hope to graduate from McDaniel College with a Masters degree in School Library Media in December. I had a meeting yesterday with the coordinator of Media Specialists in Howard County and learned that I should start filling out transfer forms so that I can be a Media Specialist while I finish my internship in the fall. Oh my...

I have to fill out a transfer form for every school that I would be interested in working at regardless if there is an opening. If I fail to fill out a form for a school and there is an opening, I will NOT be considered for the position. There are 12 high schools and 18 middle schools (I only want to work in a secondary school.) in Howard County.

I went to the principal's secretary this morning to get the forms. Of course, the principal was there when I asked for the forms. Uh oh. He asked me if there was anything that we needed to discuss. I explained that I do not really want to leave The Lake, but that I am nearing the end of my Masters program and have always wanted to be a Media Specialist. If I could stay at The Lake, I would. I have been there for 6 years, but it feels like I've taught there for my entire career (15 years)! It feels like home...

I've filled out 7 forms already, used up the ink in one pen (it was already nearing its end) and my hand is cramping. There are only 20 more forms to go...

***All forms have been filled out, turned in and now, the waiting begins. (1-15-08)

Caffeine does not work!

I am working like a mad woman to get all my assignments completed before leaving on our family cruise vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have had little sleep, caffeine has not helped and am stressing terribly! Does anyone have some toothpicks to prop my eyelids open???? (Preferably non-pointy ones...I don't want to poke my eyes out!) I even stayed at work late this week...one night until 8pm (who knew what went on at my school that late...some students had not left YET!) to get one project semi-complete with my group members, but when you can't find the information that you need, it just plain old sucks. UGH!

I'm a Klutz!

Yes! I admit it! I am the person that trips UP the stairs, trips in tennis shoes, and can even trip in her own bare feet. Needless to say, I am usually careful about where I walk, ESPECIALLY on uneven or grassy surfaces. HA! I wasn't so careful last Saturday at McDaniel, walking back to the car. I've had to park in other places this semester due to football games and homecoming, so I'm not as familiar with the walking paths (grassy areas) and sidewalks. Not 5 yards to the car, I rolled my left ankle and took a tumble also scraping my right knee a bit. After assessing the situation and catching my breath, now seated on a sidewalk, all I could think about was that I hadn't put any holes in my (new) favorite pair of jeans! {That's another story for another day...}

I was able to get myself back to the car and drive home-it helped that it was the left ankle and not the right. I got home and elevated said ankle and iced it with a bad of frozen spinach (Jason couldn't find a bag of corn nor peas). I also took Monday off since I could not walk up and down the steps-coming down was fun-on my bum! (The stairs in the house are a tad bit slippery-thought I was gonna slide down the entire flight!)

The ankle is better although the swelling has not gone down as much as I'd like (I do teach and need to be on my feet) but the bruises have come out-matching ones-lovely purples and greens!

My Stash...another contest

It's contest time once again for Secret Pal 11! Here is my stash...


I've been learning some new "stuff" in one of my grad school classes-Multimedia Design and Production. We have to create a still picture video. This is one of my first attempts using PhotoStory 3. It is a real user friendly program and makes lots of videos from pictures. The one that I am doing for my project will be using photos of Chacchoben, ruins that Jason and I saw in Mexico last summer.

Back to the stash...the first picture is my sock yarn stash. Then all my leftovers that will become some baby gift items (since there are two new buns in the oven amongst friends and family) and of course the plastic containers that are FULL with projects just waiting to jump on the needles. The end of the stash is my newest acquisition...LLAMA FIBER! I won it in a contest here.

Proposal and Lit Review are FINISHED!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Out of my misery, there were two good things that arose from completing the research proposal and the literature review:

1. I have never done any research using APA style. Even the professor was shocked that most of us had never used it before. He says it's so easy to use. (But it's so confusing when you attempt to read any of the research because there's a citation that is about a mile long!) I, like my classmates, have always used MLA style, which makes life just that much more simple, in my opinion.
2. I learned how to create a table of contents using Microsoft Word. Who knew it was that easy?!?! But I don't know when I'll need to use it again, so I'll probably forget how to do it much less how EASY it was to do. Bummer...
   

ZZZZZZzzzz...

...I'm awake now.

I mentioned earlier about the educational research class that I'm taking this summer. Yes, it is a snoozer of a class! I have sat through some awful courses, but this has to be the worst. In my program (School Library Media), we HAVE to take this course for certification. Now, remember, I will be a librarian in a school...when am I going to use this???? In my other course, there are 4 other people taking different sections of the same course. We're all asking ourselves and each other this question. I DO see the relevance of this for some educational personnel, but ME?!?!?!? The only research study I plan on completing is which book is the most popular and why won't anyone check out __________________ (insert any blah blah book you wish)?

I have killed at least two trees personally over the past week (printing out #*!@%$ research studies) and feel awful about it. Thank heaven Jason and I planted a new one a couple of weeks ago. I might need to find another to make up for the ream of paper that got used for the sake of educational research!

Secrets

Although I may not be a lunatic anymore (see yesterday's post), I still am a secret pal today! Secret Pal 10 is a swap of knitting goodies given by someone who is your secret pal over a 3 month period. The secret pal knows what to gift because you answer a questionnaire on your blog. Plus, you can send cards, emails and even post to your pal's blog (having a blog is a requirement for this swap). I got my secret pal info yesterday and sent her an email. I can't wait to start getting all her knitting "treats" and other goodies together. It's like Christmas all over again! I love finding those little things that one doesn't really need, but just brings a smile to that person's face. I already have some great ideas...

Another secret...my grad school class! Supposedly, we're on "Spring Break." HA! That's the big secret. I will be working my you know what off to get two HUGE projects finished by the 20th. Of course, you're saying "you have the syllabus, you knew the workload," etc, etc. Did I fail to mention that we have other indepth assignments to complete as well???? A classmate and I spent 7 hours working on 3 assignments and still did NOT finish everything that we needed to complete. It will all get finished, but probably not on time (which I hate!) I'll be spending my Saturday at the library...too bad they're only open 9-5!

The Madness has BEGUN!

"THE MADNESS" can be many things...

• Sock Madness (started yesterday...many have finished, I sadly have not)
• Grad School (worked all day on projects and STILL have yet to finish all the assignments plus have 2 PROJECTS to work on...UGH!)
• Work...(but that's just insanity no matter how you look at it...)

Plus, we went to see SPAMALOT tonight...that also has a bit to do with "madness." It was fun to see, but it definitely was lacking in parts. (Still wasn't going to see WICKED...oh, wait. DID NOT get to see that one due to the @%$&^*weather here) Oh well...

So much...

I have been quite busy of late. I've been trying to stay ahead with my grad school class, but am not being entirely successful about it. It's tough to do when I am a procrastinator by nature. My BEST work has ALWAYS come at the 11th hour. In high school, my partner and I WON the biology portion of the science fair by putting the whole project together the night before. (Yikes!) In college, my best paper in poli sci-finished the last minute and running to class to turn it in (me? run? I think not!)

Back to the being busy...Jason and I went to the Caps game on Saturday (hockey) with our friends, Niki and Colleen. It was a very sloppy game. I almost got to see a fight (darn those referees!). It's not hockey without one!

I've also been knitting a shawl for MYSELF with the Lion Brand Microspun in coffee and blush. It's turning out well. I'm using the feather and fan pattern that came on the label. I've made it before, but never with double strands. It will be nice and warm when I finish. I also completed two dishcloths for Niki as a housewarming gift-she moved in to her new abode last May (better late than never!). This is one of the dishcloths. I really like how it turned out. The pattern is from Creative Knitting. (I forget what issue and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and look!) Niki posted a pic of the festive dishcloth on her blog. Check it out!